A few loose ends before I disappear for the rest of the day. Yes, I have heard from many folks that George Lucas gets a credit or two on the new Star Wars movie. The point I hope I made clear is that Mr. Lucas negotiated his deal and the sale of his property and that he did so with what I assume is a real, vetted-by-lawyers contract. Someone like Bill Finger back in the early days of comics had a "deal" forced on him — a deal that was not set down on paper and which had its terms dictated by one side. There's a big difference there.
PBS is debuting a special on composer Richard Sherman later today and it reruns a few times over the next few days. I haven't seen it but I'd be very surprised if it wasn't well worth watching.
In a gesture of fairness, I didn't watch the Democratic debate either. What I saw in clips made me think Hillary Clinton has stopped running against Bernie Sanders and is now campaigning against whoever the Republican nominee will be. I still don't think it'll be Trump but I have a hard time imagining it being any of those other folks on stage.
Some of the G.O.P. contenders are trying to rally some support with promises to outlaw Gay Marriage…or at the very least to protect the "religious rights" of those who want to shun same-sex couples or not service them in stores or such. The folks saying they can ban it might just as well be vowing to single-handedly strangle every member of ISIS or abolish all taxes. As conservative pundit Rod Dreher writes, "As a socially conservative Christian, I may not like it, but same-sex marriage is here to stay. Our side lost this battle in the culture war." The latter goal — freeing folks to act on anti-gay sentiments — might be possible but it probably won't rally voters to support a Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio so G.O.P. leaders have little interest in it.
Thanks to all of you who took the occasion of this blog's 15th birthday to donate money to it. We don't do this for the loot (since there isn't much of it) but it's always nice to feel appreciated that way. Barring late-breaking news, I'll be back here tomorrow posting at the usual pace.