Friday, June 27, 2003

Comic Website of the Day

One of the sweetest, funniest ladies I've ever worked with is Victoria Jackson. You know her best from several seasons of Saturday Night Live. She was part of that show during what I consider its best years...and yes, I'm including the first five in that evaluation. Before SNL, she was a wonderful presence on Los Angeles stages and at comedy clubs...and if you go see her do that kind of act today, you'll see why she was so popular. Over on her website, she sometimes posts where she's going to be.

• Posted at 3:33 PM · LINK

Arnold in Sacramento

Maybe I'm wrong but this whole notion of Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor strikes me as a publicity stunt — one that the muscular thespian would have cut short if he didn't have Terminator III coming out right about now. Assuming the governor's mantle would be a nightmare job. The state's finances are in a mess and it will require hard, long-term planning to even begin to right the ship of state — especially difficult for a Republican who would have to deal with a Democratic legislature. As governor, Arnold's salary would go down, his standard (and locale) of living would decrease, and he would be interrupting a successful movie career in what may be his last few years of being able to land starring roles with multi-million dollar salaries.

And for what? Jesse Ventura jumped into politics but Jesse's wrestling days were over and he needed a new career. Ronald Reagan's days as a movie star were long behind him and anyway, he wanted to be president — a job for which the foreign-born Schwarzenegger is ineligible. Yes, there is a certain prestige and honor that Arnold may crave...but there are too many potential humiliations out there, starting with the possible losing of the election and alienating a large chunk of the electorate in the process. Looking like a loser won't help the opening weekend of Terminator IV or whatever else he wants to do in Hollywood in the future.

Mr. Schwarzenegger always struck me as a pretty smart guy. His success as a movie star has turned to some extent on his willingness to go out and hustle and promote, even to the extent of mocking his accent and physique. He has a lot of years invested in that success. Odder things have happened but I can't see him being willing to risk it all for what could — win or lose — turn out to be a humiliating situation. He just doesn't seem like a guy who's eager to cut short his acting career...especially with so few apparent upsides.

• Posted at 3:01 PM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

Al Feldstein was the editor of Mad Magazine for more than a quarter of a century and before that, he was the editor-writer of most of the EC comics of the fifties, including Tales From the Crypt, Weird Fantasy and Crime SuspenStories. Those are stunning achievements...so it's easy to forget that before he was an editor and writer, he was an artist. And when he retired to a ranch in Wyoming, he returned to art — to painting western scenes and the occasional EC re-creation. You can see some of his lovely work over on his website.

• Posted at 2:19 PM · LINK

Odd Thought

At some point during his long, intolerant career, Strom Thurmond must have said, "They'll legalize homosexuality over my dead body."

• Posted at 12:58 AM · LINK