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Sunday, August 09, 2009

MOVIES/VIDEOS, TELEVISION/VIDEOS and COMICS: Science Fiction's Presidents Of The 21st Century

I found this from io9surfing the net, and thought I'd share. I edited down. You can read the whole thing here. - OlderMusicGeek

POLITICAL SCIENCE (FICTION)
Science Fiction's Presidents Of The 21st Century
By Alasdair Wilkins, 4:00 PM on Sat Apr 4 2009, 9,296 views

Looking to get a jump on the history books? Science fiction already has a complete list of the men, women, and murderous aliens who occupy the White House in this bright new 21st century.

The late twentieth century had a bit of a rough time when it came to fictional presidents, what with Richard Nixon's controversial five-term administration, the suspected impersonation of a comatose president by some two-bit lookalike, and the short-lived Rigelian takeover of the White House in order to build a giant ray gun for an interstellar war (and feel free to blame me – I'd sooner be blasted into space than vote for Kodos). But with all that behind us, the future looks bright for a brave new twenty-first century of honest, inspiring fictional presidents who could restore honor and dignity to the White House…

42. Lex Luthor (2001-2004)
43. Pete Ross (2004)
44. Jonathan Vincent Horne (2004-2009)
, from DC Comics

Well, that didn't last long, did it? Sure, Lex Luthor seemed like such a refreshingly different choice - a successful industrialist, an inventive genius, and a man so wealthy there was no danger he'd ever have to bow to special interests. He was like Ross Perot without all the crazy except, as it turned out, he was just a little too obsessed with killing Superman. He did have an early success when he led the successful defeat of the cosmic destroyer Imperiex, but his naturally criminal inclinations soon got the better of him. His attempt to frame the Man of Steel for launching a kryptonite asteroid at Earth was foiled by Superman and Batman, leading to his removal from the presidency. Vice President Pete Ross took over briefly, but then it really, really looked like he was the supervillain Ruin, so he had to go. After all this turmoil, Jonathan Vincent Horne rather quietly led the US through two crises, World War III, and an entire year without the world's most powerful superheroes, without once suspected of being a supervillain (although there was that evil robot...).

45. Barack Obama (2009-2017), from pretty much every other comic ever

He teamed up with Spider-Man, shook hands with the Savage Dragon, helped fight back an alien invasion, handed the Avengers over to noted psychopath and goblin enthusiast Norman Osborn (although that might not technically have been him)...and that was just the first three months.

46. Arnold Schwarzenegger (2017-2021), from Doctor Who, Demolition Man, The Simpsons Movie

After accidentally electing a space monster back in '96, I guess a non-natural-born citizen wasn't quite as big a deal for the American electorate (or the Constitution, for that matter). His decision to encase Springfield, the country's most polluted city, inside a massive bubble proved controversial, although this was ultimately revealed to be the work of his villainous head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Russ Cargill. More politically damaging was the secession of Los Angeles, which had never recovered from the earthquake of 2011, to found the new city-state of San Angeles. His sense of fashion was still known and honored in the year 200100, when two homicidally fashion-conscious androids complimented Captain Jack Harkness on his presidential dress sense before trying to forcibly rearrange his face.

49. Oprah Winfrey (2029-2033), from Century City

The short-lived CBS scifi legal series presented a world of fifty-two states, lunar colonies, increased life expectancies, and, most shockingly, universal healthcare. The legendary talk-show host and philanthropist served as America's first female president (she also was one of the oldest presidents ever elected), and her vice president was an openly gay, retired four-star general.

56. Robert L. Booth (2069-2073), from 2000 AD (Judge Dredd)

He rigged the election of 2068, and then he manipulated public opinion by telling the American people that the rest of the world was freeloading. He started seizing foreign oil, killed anyone who got in his way, and ultimately initiated a nuclear war that devastated the entire planet. He then fled to the Rocky Mountains, where he fought his last stand along with his army of murderous robots against the Judges that now ruled the country. He was finally captured, put on trial for war crimes, and sentenced to a century in suspended animation. He's not generally considered one our better presidents.

60. FXJKHR (2093-2097), from Futurama

Like the first robot president, John Quincy Adding Machine, the question of whether this alien would go on a murderous killing spree was a key issue in his campaign. Unlike President Adding Machine, he made no promises he couldn't keep, following through on his pledge to devour as many humans as he possibly could. He declined to run for reelection, feeling he had accomplished everything he set out to do.

61. A President (2097-2099)
62. Victor Von Doom (2099)
63. Steve Rogers (2099-)
, from Marvel: 2099

History has not bothered to record who precisely the time-displaced Victor Von Doom deposed to become president, so completely had the office been taken over by corporate interests. The Latverian ruler's time in the White House was brief, however, as Steve Rogers, the legendary Captain America, reappeared to take back the country and ultimately became president himself. Whether or not this President Rogers was in fact an evil nanotech creation of the mega-corporations is still a matter of lively scholarly debate.

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This is a fairly good sampling of some of the music I listen to. It's missing a few genres I like - such as cajun. I'll work on that later. But it does contain most of my favorite artists. I tried to steer away from the better known songs to give you a better idea of what kind of music the artists play, but I was limited by the songs the website - Project Playlist - had available. But if you want to get an idea of what I listen to, just hit the play or arrow button. - OlderMusicGeek

The internet station that does the best of playing my music is Last.fm. Here's my station if you're interested.

This website, OlderMusicGeek Radio on Pandora.com, does a fairly decent job of playing what I like, although they do occasionally play stuff I don't care for, but overall they're pretty good.