Saturday, December 6, 2003

Very Good Advice

Never switch midgets on an unruly crowd.

• Posted at 10:10 PM · LINK

Stuff to Buy

Over the next few days, I'm going to be recommending a number of books by friends of mine so you might want to start marking your Amazon wishlist. Today, we praise Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide, which is a big, handsome and informative book by Jerry Beck. It's filled with rare artwork of Bugs and his pals, all wisely explained by Mr. Beck, who knows more about animation than any other author I've ever read. He manages to give you not only a real feel for these characters (and the way they should be drawn) but a good sense of the men who did the actual drawing. It's another one of those "must-have" volumes for your ever-expanding shelf on cartoon history. You can order a copy by clicking here...and do ignore the blurb on the Amazon page that makes it sound like Mel Blanc was one of the artists whose sketches are included in the book. Jerry didn't write that line. I trust.

• Posted at 11:08 AM · LINK

One More Thing...

Here's an example of the kind of cuts that Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing to make in California's spending.

• Posted at 10:56 AM · LINK

The Arnold Plan

The California State Senate rejected Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed $15 billion bond issue, which may be a good thing depending on what anyone comes up with to replace it. In the meantime, he had already reactivated a Gray Davis plan for the state to borrow $10.7 billion. When he was running for the office, Schwarzenegger criticized the Davis proposal as an example of fiscal incompetence. Now, it's looking pretty good to him, I guess.