Wednesday, December 3, 2003

Bargain Bud and Lou

Here's some nice DVD news. Next February, some company is coming out with Volume 1 of The Best of Abbott and Costello, which consists of eight discs featuring their first eight films for Universal Studios. The films in question are One Night in the Tropics, Buck Privates, In the Navy, Hold That Ghost, Keep 'em Flying, Ride 'em Cowboy, Pardon My Sarong and Who Done It? (They made Rio Rita after Ride 'em Cowboy but that was for M.G.M.) The first of these is a pretty dreary film in which they have supporting roles but after that, they turn into the Abbott and Costello who became extraordinarily popular and if you ever liked them, you'll probably like them in these films. Hold That Ghost is probably the best of the lot but they're all easy to watch and manage a few comedy highlights...usually an old burlesque bit that is shoehorned into the plot. If you're familiar with the burley-q sketch known as "Crazy House," you won't believe how they managed to work it into Ride 'em Cowboy.

So it's a nice package but what's really impressive is the price for the set: Twenty-five bucks. In fact, you can pre-order it from Amazon for $21.23 by clicking here. (If your order's over $25, you get free shipping, so you'll want to find at least one other item.) Let's hope this becomes a trend. A 4-disc set of four Ma and Pa Kettle movies, also produced at Universal, will be available at the same time for $17.00.

• Posted at 10:51 PM · LINK

Over the Top

If you don't think we're heading for the dirtiest political campaign in the history of mankind, take a look at this. It's a Shockwave video of a political spot on the Dennis Kucinich website. I liked some of the Kucinich speeches I heard a few months ago. Lately though, you get the feeling he knows he has zero chance of winning the presidency, and that his assigned role in the campaign is to throw the mud so the real candidates can keep their hands relatively clean.

Lately, Republicans have been trying to label everyone who opposes their boy as a "Bush-hater" and suggesting it's as bad as Clinton-hating ever was in this country. I don't think it's there yet. But give it time...

• Posted at 10:21 PM · LINK

Sympathies...

...to Ray Bradbury and his family on the passing of Marguerite McClure Bradbury. She and Ray were married on September 27, 1947 and he often said that he would not have had a career or a life without her. I only met her once but it was easy to see she was a remarkable, intelligent woman.

• Posted at 10:04 PM · LINK

True Story (I Swear...)

This afternoon, I was in a Costco in Tustin, which is a city about ten minutes south of Disneyland. Don't ask why I was in a Costco in Tustin. I just was.

Among my purchases was a new CD-Rom that Marvel has issued that reproduces about 100 key issues from the sixties. I'll review it later here when I get around to opening the box.

But I wanted to report what happened as I was going through check-out. A Hispanic gent who was perhaps 35 years of age was packing my items and when he came to the Marvel CD-Rom, he studied it for a second, front and back, then said to me, "These comics are mostly by Jack Kirby. Greatest comic artist who ever lived but he got screwed."

• Posted at 9:57 PM · LINK

Your Name Here Receives Stupid E-Mail

I love form letter advertising, especially the kind where they try to insert your name or address into the text to make it seem like the letter was written specifically to you. My personal corporation is named Horse Feathers, Inc. (Yes, after the Marx Brothers movie of the same name) and every week or so, I receive a letter to "Dear Mr. Feathers," or sometimes to "Dear Mr. Inc.," telling me of the joy that will greet the Feathers family when my purchase arrives at P.O. Box Avenue. One time, I got a letter from a company that charges you to research your family tree, saying that they had made some amazing discoveries, including possible unclaimed inheritances, in the Inc family tree.

The Internet, of course, finds a new electronic twist for every old scam in the world. I presently have about eight website addresses registered. They are all now receiving this form e-mail with little key words from each site dropped into the appropriate spots. The spelling and punctuation are exact, except that I have redacted the name of the company involved, which is a firm that hosts websites on its server. The letter purports to be from an individual who works with the company...

Hello, I had the pleasure of visiting your site "POVonline.com". Its interesting to see that you have created a site, which presents commendable information about a wide range of topics which includes Comedy, Animation, Cartoon Voices and so on. The links "Hollywood" and "My Comics" that you have included has been described well. The "NEWS Archives" section that you have included adds value to your site. I visited quite a lot of sites, and would like to kindly recommend a professional makeover for your entire web site (http://povonline.com). I work at [name of hosting company], and would like to offer you to redesign your complete web site absolutely free of charge. You will only be asked to pay for the monthly hosting, which is only $9.95/mo. There are no other fees, and there is absolutely no risk from your end. If you are not satisfied with our work, you will not be asked to pay anything. Please let me know if you would be interested in this offer (in fact, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be).

Well, how about the fact that you don't write English well enough to put together a coherent website? And that your e-mails are full of line-break codes that shouldn't be there? But apart from that, it's a helluva deal.

• Posted at 9:10 PM · LINK

More Marsh

Recently, I pointed you towards this new website that Jesse Hamm is setting up to salute and chronicle the work of the late comic book illustrator, Jesse Marsh. Here's a link to another site devoted to the controversial Mr. Marsh.

• Posted at 7:52 PM · LINK

Wednesday A.M.

Got a busy day today so there probably won't be any posting here until after dark, California time. But I can call your attention to some old columns that I recently posted. If you're interested in the process of how assistants assist in the creation of comic books and strips, you might be interested in this three-parter. If not, check back here after nightfall...or go look at bad record album covers.

• Posted at 10:07 AM · LINK

December 4, 2003 • Current • December 2, 2003