Saturday, June 28, 2003

Comic Website of the Day

As mentioned a few items back, I saw Fred Travalena this afternoon at the Hollywood Collectors Show. I love impressionists and Fred is one of the best...one of those guys who surprises you not only with his range but with the way he gets inside whoever he's doing. There are some samples of his fine work over at his website.

• Posted at 10:45 PM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

Frank Kelly Freas isn't really a comic artist. He's an award-winning illustrator and painter working primarily in the areas of science fiction and fantasy. But he did wonderful covers for Mad Magazine for years and that's a good enough reason for me to direct you to his website.

• Posted at 10:41 PM · LINK

Strom

Because Strom Thurmond lived so long and managed to occasionally turn on the charm, a lot of people have been able to minimize or rationalize his past as a rabid racist and advocate of segregation. Lest we forget, The Smoking Gun offers us this peek at the platform on which he ran for the presidency.

I wished the senator no ill but if he didn't want people to hold this against him, he should at some point have declared that it was wrong. Even George Wallace (our last major presidential candidate who couldn't pronounce "negro" without making it sound like that other "n" word) managed to repudiate his segregationist positions.

• Posted at 9:38 PM · LINK

So You Want to Be Mel Blanc...

For some reason, I am getting a sudden flurry of e-mails from people who want me to tell them how they can get work doing voices for cartoons. I wrote up a couple of articles about this which are available here and here.

If you go to Google and search for "Cartoon Voices," my articles are currently the second and third listings that turn up. So when people write to me to ask how they can get into the business, I wonder why they haven't even bothered to do that...or if they have but have decided to ignore the part where I ask them not to write me to ask how they can get into the business.

• Posted at 9:18 PM · LINK

How I Spent Today

Dropped by the Hollywood Collectors Show up at the Beverly Garland Hotel in North Hollywood. These are those quarterly gatherings where a wide array of actors and actresses sell autographed photos and books and such. Shirley Jones (squired by hubby Marty Ingels) was probably the biggest "new" name in attendance...though there was also a pretty large line for Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer. They had Mr. Troyer and several other little people on one side of the room and a bevy of Russ Meyer starlets on the opposite side. I was worried the room was going to tip.

Chatted with Fred Travalena, Bruce Kimmel, Eddie Deezen, Stella Stevens, Felix Silla, Leo Gorcey Jr. and a few others. Ran into Chuck McCann, who was wandering the aisles. Bought some autographed books. Fun time. Stopped and got the car washed on the way home. No Spraywax or Armor-All. End of report.

• Posted at 7:38 PM · LINK

Bowled Over

Just back from a lovely evening at the Hollywood Bowl. I wrote up a report about it and posted it over in NOTES from me.

• Posted at 2:04 AM · LINK