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August 17, 2002 · 2:00 PM PDT · link

NO, I HAVEN'T forgotten you, my friends.  I've just been buried up to here in deadlines.  (In case the webcam isn't working and you can't see me, I'm holding my hand under my chin.  The third chin from the bottom, in fact.)

We will be back soon with new comments and links and fun things to do.  Just as soon as a couple of assignments stop breathing fire and smoke.

August 13, 2002 · 7:30 PM PDT · link

THIS SITE was down for a few hours today.  I have no idea why but it wasn't anything I could do anything about.

MY GOOD PAL Buzz Dixon sends this link to an article in the Wall Street Journal which details a different way to view Al Qaeda and its motives.  I don't buy all of it, especially in the second half, but I think it raises some sound points, especially with regard to imposing our own thought processes on the actions of others.

I'M MAKING a few changes to the tech end of this site to make things easier for me to maintain it.  Most should be invisible to you, especially if you keep your browser set on the "medium" text size and if you're using reasonably up-to-date software.  (If you're using an old browser, you'll soon be having trouble on a lot of sites; not just this one.)  If any of my changes trouble your browsing, please drop me an e-mail and tell me what seems weird to you.  The changes so far only appear on a few pages like this one and this one but eventually, when I get time, they'll spread over the entire site.

But I won't have the time for the next few days and may not have much time to add stuff to this page.  Deadlines, you know.  As usual, we will more than make it up to you when the crush lessens.

August 13, 2002 · 1:00 AM PDT · link

HOW DO YOU KNOW when political reporters have absolutely nothing to write about?  Answer: They write about Al Gore's chances in 2004.

Isn't it a little early for that?  All this talk about who'll be the Democratic nominee for prez in '04, how he'll fare against Bush, whether Cheney will be on the ticket and so on strikes me as way more than premature.  By the time that election begins for real, there'll be completely different issues and players before us.  We may or may not be at war with Iraq.  We may or may not have had more terrorist attacks.  The economy may or may not have made a solid recovery.  There may or may not have been hundreds more Worldcom/Enron style scandals.  Cheney may or may not be in decent health.  Et cetera, et cetera...

Other, unpredictable issues of equal importance may have — probably will have — emerged.  On September 10 last year, few (if any) imagined that fighting terrorism was about to become Job One.  And when it did, few imagined that fighting corporate corruption would soon become an issue of as much importance as it has.  Add to all this the fact that at least one prominent politician will get indicted for some crime, some prominent politician will say something so stupid their constituents will desert him, some prominent politician will have a sex scandal...

Again, et cetera, et cetera...

I have only one prediction, which I've made here before.  I think, in '04, the question will be, "Do you feel safer now than you did on September 11?"  If most voters feel that, as a result of the actions of the current administration, they're less afraid of annihilation, Bush could get caught humping a sheep and still win a second term.  If they feel not enough has been done and/or that "the war" (whatever its scope at the time) has been bungled, almost anyone will be able to beat him.  The other stuff may matter in terms of Congress because the less the country trusts Bush on the economy, the more likely they are to want Democratic representatives to stop him from running amok.  But none of it has anything to do with who'll win the presidential election of 2004 or even who'll be on the ballots.

I NEGLECTED to thank B. Baker for the tip-off on the article about The Projectionist.  Thank you. B. Baker.

August 12, 2002 · 12:00 PM PDT · link

NICE ARTICLE in today's New York Daily News about The Projectionist.  This was a brilliant but undercirculated little movie made back in the sixties, starring Chuck McCann and the man we now know as Rodney Dangerfield.  It deals with a lonely film buff who fantasizes himself into the movies he's screening, and it has a wonderful low-budget, improvisational feeling — one of those films that is much-loved by the few who've seen it.  Here's the link to the article...and here's a link to where you can purchase the film on DVD.  (I love the fact that Amazon is also selling it in a bundle with Citizen Kane — the best known great movie and the least known...)  Well worth seeing.

August 11, 2002 · 2:00 AM PDT · link

AND HERE I AM with more opinions...in this case, about smoking in public places.  I hate smoke and can't stand to be around it.  But I think we're making a mistake if we keep banning it and treating smokers like they have leprosy.  The greater topic has to do with personal freedoms and that's what we're discussing today over in the NOTES from me section.  (And by the way, smoking in that section is prohibited...)

Two public appeals!  At the Comic-Con International in San Diego, I introduced Ray Bradbury and Julius Schwartz on a wonderful panel and also brought up comics legend Al Feldstein to meet Bradbury for the first time, fifty years after adapting his stories for the pages of EC comics.  A couple of those gents would love to have photos of the panel or the meeting or both.  If you took one, would you please contact me?  Thanks.

Also: Some time ago, for no visible reason, I registered the domain name, www.comicbookwriter.com.  Don't bother clicking on it because it just forwards you to the front page of this site.  I guess I just claimed the name because no one else had and I thought I might figure out some good use for it.  Well, I haven't.  Do you have any brilliant ideas for a great site that should be at that address?  Keeping in mind that I don't have the time to do anything for it?  If so, I'd be glad to sell the web address or lease it for no profit, just so it doesn't go to someone who ruthlessly exploits professional or aspiring comic book scribes.

BILL AND HILLARY Clinton have applied for reimbursement for certain legal expenses relating to the Whitewater investigation.  I'm guessing they are less interested in the money than in tweaking the noses of all those Republicans who have trouble admitting that it uncovered no wrongdoing whatsoever on their parts.  In any case, for what seems like a good explanation of the legalities of such reimbursements — and why the Clintons may not receive theirs — check out this article by John W. Dean.

August 9, 2002 · 2:00 PM PDT · link

THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW, which has lately been sans Charlie Rose, is advertising Jon Stewart for this evening.  He's always a great guest (great host, too) so you might want to tune it in.  If this is too-short notice, most PBS stations rerun Mr. Rose's program the following day, often in the wee small hours.  Since this is a Friday show, that could mean Monday morning.

August 9, 2002 · 11:00 AM PDT · link

IN 1967, the Rankin-Bass studio brought forth an odd stop-motion animation movie called Mad Monster Party.  It was allegedly co-written by the brilliant cartoonist who created Mad Magazine, Harvey Kurtzman.  Kurtzman later claimed that he only worked a brief time on it and that little of what he did was used, but others involved in the project say he was underestimating.  There is no doubt however that his associate, the equally-brilliant Jack Davis, did a lot of the character designs, and that the voices were provided by Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller, Gale Garnett and — most of all — Allen Swift.

The resultant film has moments of wacky wonderment though, like all movies involving stop-motion animation, I find it hard to watch from start to finish.  In increments, however, it's too weird not to like.  So I'm ordering the brand-new, just-released DVD and if you'd like to do so, click here.

And if you'd like to learn more about the film, here's a banner ad to a website that seems to know all, except how to spell Allen Swift's first name...

August 9, 2002 · 12:15 AM PDT · link

NO, THAT'S not a man about to be shot.  That's Bennett Cerf, blindfolded in his role as panelist on the game show, What's My Line?  We have something trivial to say about him and that institution, and we say it in one of those pages we call NOTES from me.  If you're not interested in quiz programs, skip this one.  If you are, you may find it worth a click.

JUST WATCHED a 1977 Saturday Night Live episode — the one hosted by the 80 year old grandmother, Miskel Spillman, who won their "Anyone Can Host" contest.  In the opening, two cast members were playing themselves backstage, discussing the show that was just starting...

JOHN BELUSHI

What if she forgets her lines?

LARAINE NEWMAN

Oh, don't worry, she won't. Let me tell you something.  You should be as together when you're eighty as Mrs. Spillman is.

JOHN BELUSHI

Don't worry. I'll be dead by thirty.

Only missed it by three years.

AS THIS article in L.A. Weekly notes, the Motion Picture Academy ought to dump Price-Waterhouse as the accounting firm which tabulates its annual Oscar ballots.  You wouldn't trust those boys with your nephew's piggy bank.

WHEN HE he was a beginning actor, Stan Freberg did a number of odd roles.  He has a small but important part in Callaway Went Thataway, a lightweight 1951 comedy with Fred MacMurray, Howard Keel and Dorothy McGuire that runs the evening of August 13 on Turner Classic Movies.  (6 PM or 9 PM, depending on your time zone.)  The film was produced, written and/or directed by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, who were responsible for — among other classics — the Li'l Abner Broadway show and movie.  It's most interesting for Freberg's brief appearance, a fine supporting role by Jesse White and a brief cameo by Clark Gable.

INTERESTED in the ongoing war between Disney and the folks who controlled the merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh?  If so, click quickly on this link and hustle to the website of Los Angeles Magazine.  It's a long piece but worth your attention.  (By the by: None of these articles ever seem to mention it but the woman suing Disney, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, is not just the widow of Stephen Slesinger, former Pooh merchandising agent.  Her second husband, also deceased, was cartoonist Fred Lasswell, who did the Snuffy Smith newspaper strip for just shy of sixty years.  Interesting sidelight.)

ERIC FORMAN sends in this link to another story of airport security guards who do stupid things that don't make us one bit safer.  Don't anyone else bother sending any more of these.  This is the last one I'm posting here.  But thanks, Eric.  You've helped me make my point.

AND HERE'S a link to an interesting article by Joshua Micah Marshall about the odd correlation (or lack of one) between the popularity of the Bush administration and its achievements.  I agree with most of it...I think.  Some of the comments lately by Bush supporters remind me of a comment Michael Kinsley made on TV at about this point in Clinton's first term.  I can't find the precise text but it went something like, "I know this guy's about to let us all down and see his popularity plunge, but I want to deny that as long as I can."

August 8, 2002 · 12:30 PM PDT · link

I AM OF THE OPINION that "increased security measures" at airports are a sham; that, in an effort to look like something's changed, they're doing a lot of things that grossly inconvenience law-abiding folks...but not a damned thing that will prevent a terrorist from boarding with weaponry.

BBC News is reporting that security screeners at LAX recently disarmed a G.I. Joe doll, confiscating a two-inch plastic rifle as a possible weapon.  I am not making this up.  Click on the link if you don't believe me.

This outdoes an incident earlier this year at an airport in Abu Dhabi.  There, as the BBC News then reported, officials disarmed the guy who plays the cowboy in the Village People for possession of his stage prop pistol.  They actually threw him in jail...which is perhaps where he and his co-stars belong, though not for that.

August 8, 2002 · 1:30 AM PDT · link

HOW BIG was the Exhibit Hall in San Diego?  You could buy a new DC Comic on one side of the room and, by the time you got to the other side, it was out in an Archive edition.  I've posted some more thoughts on this year's Comic-Con International over on a page I call NOTES from me.  Basically, I say that it was huge, that there was something for everyone and that I had a very good time.  There.  I just saved you an entire mouse-click.

REPUBLICANS once complained about Bill Clinton using recess appointments to bypass Congress and install Bill Lann Lee in a post in the Justice Department.  Now, Democrats are complaining about Bush using recess appointments to bypass Congress and put Thomas Dorr in a job in the Department of Agriculture.  At the same time, Republicans who once protected Senator Alfonse D'Amato from punishment (or even much embarrassment) over his ethical violations are complaining, correctly, that Democrats are protecting Senator Robert Torricelli from punishment (or even much embarrassment) for similar breaches.

Add to this the fact that, once upon a time, Republicans felt that every nook and cranny of Whitewater absolutely had to be investigated and, when it was and no Clintonian wrongdoing was uncovered, it all had to be investigated again and again.  Democrats said, "Hey, it's old news, already cleared," but now it's Republicans saying that about old Bush/Cheney business deals and it's the Democrats saying, "This has to be investigated."

You can cite other examples as easily as I can.  The point is that none of this has anything to do with taking a position on principles.  It's all about getting the other guy and saying whatever it takes to make that happen, and everybody knows that.

I'm still waiting for the prominent politician who can rise above this...the one who'll put principle over party, even if if means standing up for The Enemy and/or missing opportunities to bash them.  And despite my cynicism, I think that person is going to come along in the next few years...because, if he or she does, he or she is going to have two-thirds of the nation behind them.

INTERESTING article over at Animation World Network about some of the rumors and reports that disparage Walt Disney.  There certainly are a lot of stories about the man and, since every single person I've ever met who knew Walt has spoken well of him, I tend to believe the version most favorable to him.  That is also, usually, the version that makes the most sense.

August 7, 2002 · 1:30 AM PDT · link

WHEN I FIRST delved into the world of comic book fanzines in the sixties, I discovered the work of Richard "Grass" Green.  A seasoned amateur, his work lacked polish and technical proficiency but he more than made up for that with total enthusiasm.  Even if you hadn't known he was whipping out all those cartoons and stories for free, you could have sensed that the guy loved what he did and did what he loved.  A few attempts to "go pro" did not work out but "Grass" never stopped drawing...not until around 5:00 PM yesterday when cancer claimed his life.  I only met the guy once and then, only for around five minutes.  But I liked him as much as I liked his work and I liked his work a lot.

IF YOU'D LIKE a good overview of some of the legislation that made it possible for scams like Enron and Worldcom to happen, and what's being done to prevent it in the future, here's Molly Ivins with an explanation.

BELOW, I recommended a site whereupon you could learn what popular songs were being used in current commercials.  You can learn even more about current commercials (and even view many of them on-line) over at www.ads.com.  Thanks to Stuart Kaufman for the tip.

JUST ADDED a new page to My Backyard and the latest Groo book to our BUY me page.  Convention report still to come.

August 6, 2002 · 2:30 AM PDT · link

I'VE NEVER FOLLOWED BASKETBALL.  I'm not even sure how the game is played.  Still, my father watched the Lakers religiously and his life was sure brightened by the obviously-impeccable play-by-play descriptions of Chick Hearn.  Hearn was so good at it that, when I passed through the living room and a game was on, I sometimes found myself mesmerized by the mile-a-minute sound of his voice, rattling off every move of every player in a way that sure sounded interesting.  Maybe the games weren't always, but Chick sure was.

One time, I wrote an episode of Garfield and Friends and booked Chick Hearn to play a mouse who called a very silly basketball game played with groceries instead of a ball.  Chick was not altogether delighted to be there and he was utterly baffled by the words we expected him to read.  At one point, I had Garfield hurl a meat loaf down court, zoom down ahead of it and catch his own pass.  The dialogue said, "Garfield passes to Garfield" and Mr. Hearn kept stopping and moaning, "Hold it!  How can Garfield pass to Garfield?  And on the next page, you have the wrong number of points where he makes the free throw with the honeydew melon."  He also, we found, could not talk half as rapidly reading from a script as he could, ad-libbing it all while watching a game.  We finally convinced him he should just read the copy and not worry about the logic...which he did, without ever quite achieving the level of excitement and energy he had for even the most one-sided real game.

Still, when he did what he did best (i.e., real games, not cartoons) he was amazing.  And he sure made a lot of sports fans happy.

THE STORY of the Florida Recount won't go away.  Here's an important article that basically says that Bush and Cheney spent a ton of money (and used the facilities of naughty companies like Enron and Halliburton) to disrupt the vote counting.  The mass media isn't interested in stuff like this, in part because they can't quite explain why they didn't report it at the time.  But it'll all find its way into the history books.

AND HERE'S something interesting: A site that charts what popular records and songs are being used in commercials.  It's so when you see one and you wonder, "Where is that from?", you can look it up.  Here's that link.

ON THE ORIGINAL version of Saturday Night Live (with the original Not Ready for Primetime Players), there were two episodes that producer Lorne Michaels hated and would never allow to be rerun.  One was guest-hosted by Louise Lasser, who was reportedly going through personal problems (including a recent drug bust) and the other toplined Milton Berle, who apparently acted a lot like Milton Berle.  In Ms. Lasser's case, the story is that she freaked out just before the live broadcast, locked herself in her dressing room and refused to go on.  As Michaels pounded on the door, the cast began to improvise how to work around an absent guest host who was in almost every sketch.

The idea they came up with was that Chevy Chase would go on as Louise Lasser, wearing a wig with pigtails on it.  Chase's roles would be assumed by Bill Murray, who was not then a part of the program.  He was merely an actor who was under consideration for some future opening and he'd dropped by the studio to watch the show that evening.  Lasser was finally yanked from her dressing room and forced to perform but many of those involved in SNL later wished they'd had Chevy in the wig, instead.

So why am I telling you this?  Because Michaels eventually changed his mind about letting it rerun.  The Lasser episode was long absent from the SNL syndication package but was eventually added in.  The E! network is running a one-hour version of it tonight...at 4 PM and again at 10PM on my set.  No word on if and when the Berle episode may see the light of day...

A LONG PIECE reflecting on this year's Comic-Con International will probably turn up on this site before the week is out.  Many paying deadlines need to be met before this can happen.

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