Monday, November 10, 2003

Recommended Reading

Paul Krugman lists some of the ways in which the Bush administration has been slicing military pay and benefits. I don't know how anyone can claim to "support our troops" and not be outraged at this kind of thing.

• Posted at 9:03 PM · LINK

Comedy Clubbing

Here's a pretty good article on Zanies, a comedy club in Chicago. The piece, which was called to my attention by Bruce Reznick, is notable for a good overview of that business, and for an extremely goofy photo of Jay Leno. (Free registration is required. It's the Chicago Tribune site.)

• Posted at 6:45 PM · LINK

Plas

My mention the other day of the Plastic Man cartoon show brought a lot of mail asking me about it, including the inevitable question of why the animation studio placed the stretchable hero with such an odd supporting cast. I'll write something about it when I have more time, maybe later this week. But, yes, I think all of us who worked on that series were a bit mystified by that decision, even after the reasoning was explained to us. (Hint: It had to do with a lady at the network who insisted that the purpose of a cartoon show was not to sell sugar-frosted cereals and exploding toys but pro-social values...a concept that has done more damage to kids than the toys and the cereal.) I think we'd all rather have done something closer in spirit, if not format to Jack Cole's original comic books, and I'll try to explain why that didn't happen. In the meantime, I'd like to recommend this article by the wise and sage R.C. Harvey to anyone in need of a good overview of Mr. Cole's funny comics and tragic life.

• Posted at 2:27 AM · LINK