Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Another Recommendation

Let me tell you about Floyd Norman. Floyd Norman is a veteran of the animation business dating back to the Disney Studios, circa 1960, and he looks exactly like the sketch at above right that someone did of him. Over the years, he's worked as a writer and/or layout guy for almost every major studio but mainly for Disney and Hanna-Barbera. He did wonderful work for their shows and movies and comic books and comic strips but he really distinguished himself in one category: Drawing insulting cartoons of his employers and fellow cartoonists. For years, it's been a singular honor of the animation business to make it into a Floyd Norman sketch, and all hail him as The Master. A while back, a batch of his doodles were collected into a very funny book called Faster, Cheaper. We now have a sequel. Son of Faster, Cheaper can now be ordered at this website and if you have any interest at all in the cartoon biz, I urge you to do so. (I think but am not sure you can order the first volume here. If you buy one, you'll want the other.)

• Posted at 8:39 PM · LINK

Can You Hear Me Now? How About Now? How About If I Stand Over Here? Can You Hear Me? Hello? Hello?

Are you sick of discovering that you're somewhere your cell phone won't connect? I am. I have Cingular service and once, I was unable to make a call while in a Cingular office. The guy behind the counter just giggled, "Yeah, they don't work here." Anyway, you can investigate where cell phones don't work — or add your own data — by entering The Dead Cell Zone.

• Posted at 8:02 PM · LINK

Recommended Nightclubbing

Another great thing to do in Southern California this Friday evening is to go hear Shelly Goldstein sing "Songs for Lovers and Those They've Dumped." That's the title of her one-woman show which she performs here and there — "here" being L.A., "there" being London — when she's not busy with writing-producing assignments. She is a superb singer and a brilliant wit, and she'll be singing and witting for one show only at The Gardenia, an intimate supper/night club located at 7066 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. For reservations, call (323) 467-7444.

• Posted at 7:54 PM · LINK

Jacko in the Box

Reading the news articles about the mess Michael Jackson seems to be in, I noticed the following line in this report...

The 12-year-old boy at the center of the Michael Jackson child molestation scandal may have confessed to his psychiatrist that the pop singer plied him with wine and sleeping pills when he allegedly molested him, according to sources. The boy has also hired Los Angeles attorney Larry Feldman, the same lawyer who represented the family of a 13-year-old boy who made similar allegations a decade ago, the sources said.

"The boy hired that attorney?" The boy is twelve years old. His parents presumably hired the attorney. These are the same parents who let their kid stay at the home of Michael Jackson, reportedly in the same bed, long after rumors and jokes about Jackson and pedophilia were common knowledge. And then these parents did not apparently know about or report the violation of their son. It only came to light when a psychologist heard enough about it from the kid to feel a report to the police was warranted.

If the allegations are true, Jackson ought to be in prison. And I've love to hear a good reason why Mom and Dad should not be in the adjoining cell.

Forgive me for stating the obvious but in this world, some things just make you feel you have to blog.

• Posted at 4:58 PM · LINK

Comic Book Books Reviewed

Over in The Village Voice, R. C. Baker reports on several books about comics, and even quotes me while he's at it.

• Posted at 1:12 AM · LINK