I’m watching the episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on Nick at Nite where they get “Rafael de la Ghetto”, the allegedly famous poet, in to read poetry. Of course, it’s really Geoffrey the butler in an afro wig and a dashiki. It’s one of my favorite Fresh Prince episodes.
And with Jazz mentioning that finding someone literate to play Raphael de la Ghetto would cost Will “an extra two Jacksons” reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about lately. Have you noticed that in the two most recent incarnations of the US $20 bill, that they “softened” Andrew Jackson’s appearance? No? Take a look for yourself:
This look most definitely says “Old Hickory” to me. He’s a little more distant-looking due to the zoom, and the cloak gives him a bit of a mysterious air. Compare to the present design:
I call him “Andrew Let’s-talk-about-your-feelings Jackson”. They certainly took the hickory out of Old Hickory.
I don’t know… I just think they need to toughen up Andrew Jackson a bit on the $20 bill. Maybe they’ll make him a little more rough-and-tumble looking on the next design. For that matter, they also ought to give him some more believeable shoulders. Right now, he looks like he’s got a head several sizes too large for the set of shoulders it’s sitting on.
This, by the way, is what happens when you work as a cashier and look at this stuff every day. It makes you think.