Seth MacFarlane Helps LOC Acquire Carl Sagan Papers

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Seth MacFarlane Helps LOC Acquire Carl Sagan Papers

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday June 27, 2012 @05:45AM from the family-guy-still-not-funny dept.

dsinc writes with news of a but of altruism on the part Family Guy's creator. From the article: "Seth MacFarlane once included a gag on his animated TV comedy 'Family Guy' about an 'edited for rednecks' version of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos,' featuring an animated Sagan dubbed over to say that the earth is 'hundreds and hundreds' of years old. Jokes aside, his admiration for Sagan runs deep. The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that, thanks to MacFarlane's generosity, it has acquired the personal papers of the late scientist and astronomer, who spoke to mass audiences about the mysteries of the universe and the origins of life. While MacFarlane never owned Sagan's papers, he covered the undisclosed costs of donating them to the library."

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first knee by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-27 05:47 · Score: 5, Funny

sssshhht Ow. sssssssshhht Ow.
1. Re:first knee by recharged95 · 2012-06-27 07:15 · Score: 2
  
  giggity.
Deserves Praise by MonsterTrimble · 2012-06-27 05:51 · Score: 4, Insightful

No matter what you think of Seth MacFarlane's body of work (early Family Guy is good, the rest is meh at best) he should be commended.

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I call it 'The Aristocrats'
1. Re:Deserves Praise by ackthpt · 2012-06-27 05:54 · Score: 2
  
  No matter what you think of Seth MacFarlane's body of work (early Family Guy is good, the rest is meh at best) he should be commended.
  Always nice to see someone who makes their filthy lucre on Fox doing some good karma. ;o)
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
2. Re:Deserves Praise by Sarten-X · 2012-06-27 06:00 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Personally, I don't really like his style of humor, and haven't been able to watch a full episode of Family Guy in a very long time. It's obvious, however, that he's a guy with a deep sense of personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits - even if his work doesn't often promote such things. This strikes me as just the sort of thing Seth MacFarlane would do. He has a particular ideological goal (that Sagan's works should be preserved and public), and will use any mechanism at his disposal to bring it to fruition.
  Mr. MacFarlane, I find your characters disgusting, but your character impeccable. Well done.
  
  --
  You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
3. Re:Deserves Praise by steelfood · 2012-06-27 07:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  he's a guy with a deep sense of personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits - even if his work doesn't often promote such things
  On the contrary. Family guy satires the lack of morals and intelligence. Not only that, but there are numerous gems spread across the show that hint at these qualities.
  If you think Family Guy is only about some dumb family doing dumb shit (but with a brilliant baby and a smart dog), then you're not watching it correctly. The jokes may often appear to be off-color, but the humor isn't in the joke itself, but in the making of the joke.
  I'd suggest you give it another shot, starting with some of the better episodes. Don't remember which ones off the top of my head, but I'm sure Google can solve that problem. Just beware of spoilers.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
4. Re:Deserves Praise by The+Mister+Purple · 2012-06-27 07:20 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I remember an episode where one of the characters made reference to Benjamin Disraeli. There is the obligatory cut to an animated Disraeli, who looks straight at the viewer and says, "You don't even know who I am." Beautiful!
  
  --
  "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
5. Re:Deserves Praise by fahrbot-bot · 2012-06-27 08:13 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I stopped watching after the episode where Stewie was seriously hurt, and instead of getting him to a hospital they kept on trying to cover it up until the whole thing turned into a dead baby sick-and-twisted animation.
  On other words, you threw the bathwater out with the baby.
  
  --
  It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
6. Re:Deserves Praise by FrootLoops · 2012-06-27 08:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  even if his work doesn't often promote such things [as personal morals and an appreciation for intellectual pursuits]
  I don't think you've watched enough of it if to say that. Some counterexamples:
  * A Hero Sits Next Door: a disabled guy gets added to the cast; Peter reacts badly at first but becomes friends later
  * If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin': Peter starts a religion, Lois says it's wrong, God punishes him for his arrogance, Peter repents.
  * The Thin White Line: Brian gets addicted to cocaine and eventually takes responsibility for it by going to rehab
  Some of the MacFarlane characters are pretty much immune to personal responsibility considerations, but they're portrayed as highly unrealistic--eg. Stewie (Family Guy), Roger (American Dad), partly Quagmire (Family Guy). The more realistic characters often have strong moral centers--eg. Lois and usually Bryan (Family Guy)--and I think these are the ones you're expected to identify with. For instance, I'm reminded of Lois in You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives:
  
  Lois Griffin: Wait a minute. Are you saying that two straight people who absolutely hate each other have more of a right to be married than gay people who love each other?!
  Mrs. Pewterschmidt: Well, that's what we raised you to believe.
  I'd say the audience is expected to identify with Lois and take her view on the matter, considering how poor the rebuttal is. The Carl Sagan bit is the same way, and there are numerous other examples where the audience is expected to take a particular (IMO good) stance.
  Family Guy and American Dad morality is a mixed bag, though it's frequently (usually?) good if you throw out the unrealistic characters' lack of consequences. Intellectual pursuits really aren't promoted much though.
7. Re:Deserves Praise by Kozz · 2012-06-27 08:20 · Score: 2
  
  I put up with the Conway Twitty and other overly-long jokes ridiculousness...
  The first time that Conway Twitty went on for more than a minute, I shut it off. It sort of felt like Seth was simply a masochist, relishing in the abuse of his audience. It just felt like, "Ha-ha, you're a fucktard to sit there and keep watching this, but I know you're gonna anyway". So I called his bluff.
  
  --
  I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
8. Re:Deserves Praise by PeanutButterBreath · 2012-06-27 09:13 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  With South Park it's obvious that people put some thought into the satire and try to convey a "moral lesson learned".
  Too obvious, IMO.
9. Re:Deserves Praise by arkane1234 · 2012-06-27 09:40 · Score: 2
  
  No, it's not true, it's opinion.
  That's only true for you.
  The fact that you think like that tells me I would hate to know you.
  
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  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
10. Re:Deserves Praise by Steauengeglase · 2012-06-27 10:08 · Score: 2
  
  It insists upon itself.
11. Re:Deserves Praise by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-27 11:06 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  In all fairness, who amongst us hasn't been sexually molested by a dolphin? This is why I support the tuna industry. It's the To Catch a Predator of the sea.
12. Re:Deserves Praise by FrootLoops · 2012-06-27 20:01 · Score: 2
  
  Well, he's so thoroughly anthropomorphized it's memorable whenever his dog-specific nature comes up--usually his age or expected death. He could become a human without any real changes. In fact a human version of him is shown briefly, I think in the multiverse episode (which is unrealistic because of Stewie's magic, not Brian), and they're basically identical except for looks and longevity. What about his personality itself is unrealistic?
13. Re:Deserves Praise by tehcyder · 2012-06-28 02:56 · Score: 2
  
  An aside....does anyone (some of them are probably posting in here) know any young people that watch the show, love it, and get almost NONE of the references the jokes are making?
  My eight year old daughter probably misses most of the references, but she still loves it. Unlike some people posting here, she is well aware that it's a cartoon and doesn't keep saying "it's really stupid that a dog can talk or that the baby is so clever".
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Win some, lose some by squiggleslash · 2012-06-27 05:55 · Score: 2, Funny

So you're saying he's a phony? A big fat phony?

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You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
should have been free? by Sebastopol · 2012-06-27 05:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

Is anyone else kinda ticked-off that this was even necessary?
Why weren't they just donated by the estate to the LOC? Is there something else at play here, or just a greedy estate?

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1. Re:should have been free? by janek78 · 2012-06-27 06:18 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I am not so sure there is that much to be ticked-off by. Sagan's widow is quoted as saying that "...Sagan would have been thrilled to see his life’s work made available to the public." That does not sound like a greedy estate trying to get rich from selling stuff she inherited (not that there would be anything wrong with that). TFA is unclear on what the money went towards, I can imagine that transporting, sorting, filing and displaying the (large) collection is no easy feat and that the money is perhaps to be spent on that? Mrs. Druyan was not only Sagan's wife but also co-author, I don't see her as waiting for the highest bidder to auction off her inheritance.
2. Re:should have been free? by Sebastopol · 2012-06-27 06:43 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Good point: It didn't occur to me that collating and tabulating a lifetime's work isn't something an LOC employee is going to spend a year doing for free... although I assume the LOC has staff to do such things, maybe not. Plus I don't actually know the cost, thanks TFA.
  
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  https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
3. Re:should have been free? by fahrbot-bot · 2012-06-27 08:22 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  According to TFA:
  
  The papers — contained in more than 800 filing-cabinet drawers — include correspondence with other scientists, drafts of Sagan's academic articles and screenplay drafts for the movie "Contact," ... (emphasis mine)
  The cost of donating them might include sorting, collating and preparing the documents to actually be viewable and or some preservation. Often charitable recipients can't or don't want to handle this for private donations. Yes the LOC could probably pay for this, if they're allowed to, which I don't know if they are. (Imagine some idiot right-wing Congress critter, who doesn't believe the Universe exists, complaining about the LOC wasting the taxpayer's money, blah, blah, blah...)
  
  --
  It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
4. Re:should have been free? by ffflala · 2012-06-28 06:26 · Score: 2
  
  At one of my old gigs, we received a donation of archival material from one person that we simply could not refuse. IIRC, it spanned about 90 shelf feet (small, in comparison to Sagan's archives), and it still took a full-time subject-expert archivist with two part-time assistants almost 3 years to process the material.
  
  Making an archive accessible is not simply a matter of moving boxes of papers around. Someone has to go through every last damn page, categorize it, catalog it, and (hopefully) digitize it. It gets more complicated and time-consuming if you're dealing with images instead of primarily text, and I'm guessing that Sagan's archives include quite a bit of image material.
Also, he's the producer of the new Cosmos series by spinkham · 2012-06-27 05:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

Yes, the "Cosmos for rednecks" gag was good, but isn't it also worth mentioning he's currently producing the next Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan?

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Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
Sagan FTW by Hognoxious · 2012-06-27 06:06 · Score: 2, Informative

Sagan was awesome. He knew everything about the cosmos except how to pronounce it.
The Demon Haunted World should be required reading in all schools. If you aren't scared by it, you're the reason why it's scary.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:Also, he's the producer of the new Cosmos serie by iluvcapra · 2012-06-27 06:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

From Hollywood Reporter:

“Never more than at this moment in the modern era have we needed a profound reminder of the colossally important and exciting role that science, space exploration and the human quest for knowledge must continue to play in our development as a species,” said MacFarlane.
Quite a serious side to the man. Clearly, menstruation and holocaust jokes are just his day job.

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Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Re:Also, he's the producer of the new Cosmos serie by Hatta · 2012-06-27 06:10 · Score: 3, Funny

With Seth McFarlane voicing the quick witted effeminate alcoholic globular cluster.

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Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Re:Did they get any of his early poems? by Teresita · 2012-06-27 06:40 · Score: 2

Wheat thins. Whooeeat thins. Wheat thins...
Re:Win some, lose some by dkleinsc · 2012-06-27 06:52 · Score: 2

No, I'm calling him a fizzle. And I'm getting away with it.

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I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
No Obligatory LoC Joke? by Rotag_FU · 2012-06-27 08:40 · Score: 3, Insightful

I'm shocked that I haven't seen a Library of Congress as unit of measurement joke yet. It is unfortunate that the cost of donating the materials to the Library of Congress was undisclosed because then we could have a conversion factor for money to LoCs.