Thursday, July 3, 2003

Doonesbury Uncensored?

Remember not long ago, we told you that the Journal American had removed Bill Bennett's name (and therefore, the punchline) from a Doonesbury strip? Well, over on The Doonesbury FAQ Page, Mr. Trudeau says it seems to have just been a printer's error. Who, apart from Bill Bennett, would have bet money on such a thing?

• Posted at 12:05 PM · LINK

Convention Forecast

The Comic-Con International in San Diego is, as you know, July 17-20. If you're going, you might also like to know that the AccuWeather people are predicting clear and sunny skies for that period, with highs in the low eighties and lows in the high sixties.

And this is as good a place as any to direct you this piece I wrote containing ten tips for having the best possible time at a comic book convention. I'll post a few more here over the next week or so.

• Posted at 10:56 AM · LINK

The Weapons

Want to know where the Weapons of Mass Destruction are? Click here.

• Posted at 2:14 AM · LINK

Bettie Today

The great figure model Bettie Page has avoided public appearances for the last few decades, largely because she felt her many fans would prefer to remember her as she was. If you'd like to maintain that fantasy, don't peek at the issue of Playboy that's currently on-sale. On page 11, there's a batch of photos from one of Hef's near-daily birthday parties. The pictures aren't very large but one of them does have a recent, clothed shot of Ms. Page, who looks damn good for eighty. (If you'd like to see her in her prime, www.bettiepage.com has a load of them, plus merchandise one can purchase of the lady. Over the years, she's been ruthlessly exploited and ripped-off by an awful lot of sleazy publishers and entrepreneurs, so it's nice that she has the website where the cash goes to her.)

• Posted at 1:54 AM · LINK

A Great Time-Waster

Have you got about a half-hour of your life that you want to throw away? I don't, but I got hooked on this anyway. Over on the Garfield website, you can wander around a haunted house and try to conquer Garfield's Scary Scavenger Hunt. But don't even click on that link unless you have the time to spare. You have been warned.

• Posted at 12:20 AM · LINK

Comic Website of the Day

I'm not sure if it's morbid or a sad reminder or a nice bit of immortality but a lot of folks die and their website remains up and active. The website of my old pal Lorenzo Music is still operational almost two years after we lost him. The website of Buddy Hackett is of course still there — we only lost him a few days ago — and it provides us a chance to see some neat photos of him and to hear him sing "Shipoopi." (Though it's a little odd to see the pages that tell us he's fine, that he's retired and that he's taking a nap.) And I will also mention the website of Buddy's son, Sandy Hackett. Sandy's a popular comedian in Las Vegas and there's an e-mail link on his page if you want to send a condolence e-mail.

• Posted at 12:17 AM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

Every so often, a cartoonist comes along and something about his work "connects" with you. You don't know the guy but you know you're on the same wavelength; that you find the same kinds of things funny. I felt that way the first time I saw the work of Gahan Wilson. If you did too, here's a link to his website.

• Posted at 12:06 AM · LINK