Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Playing Dress-Up

The Comic-Con International commences Thursday in San Diego. Somewhere between (this is a guess on my part) 110,000 and 125,000 fans and creators of comics, animation, fantasy films and television and video games will be descending on the convention center. Roughly (this is another guess) 500 will be wandering about in some sort of costume, in some cases because some exhibitor has paid them to dress that way to promote a product. There will also be 7,000 video reports and news stories that will make it look like half the people there are dressed like Vampirella or Klingons to live out some sort of personal fantasy.

I attended my first comic convention in New York in 1970 and later that same year, attended the first comic convention in San Diego. I'm among the handful of folks who've been to every San Diego gathering. Shortly after one of them in the seventies, my aunt saw a TV news report on the con and asked me, "What did you go dressed as?" It took me a minute to figure out the question but when I did, I told her, "Myself. I dressed like I always dress...shirt, jeans, shoes..."

"But I thought you had to dress like Superman or Batman to get in," she said.

I explained to her the reality of the situation...but later, I saw the same TV news segment she saw and I could sure understand why she thought what she thought. Since then, a majority of the press coverage I've seen has at least exaggerated the number of people who wander the aisles in super-hero costumes. It's getting to the point where I'm thinking of wearing my Hawkwoman suit to the convention. If you can't beat 'em...

• Posted at 10:48 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Today, we link to the opening of The Alvin Show, a 1961 prime time cartoon series starring Alvin, Simon and Theodore (aka The Chipmunks). The show is rarely seen these days, which is a shame because it was a pretty clever show with some very nice graphics by the folks at Format Films, a company that mainly did commercials. Each half hour featured an "adventure" of the three helium-voiced rodents, plus two short cartoons which were built around their pre-existing recordings. Those records, made by and starring Ross Bagdasarian (aka David Seville) were quite wonderful and they seem to have inspired the animators to match their energy and fun.

Each episode also featured a cartoon lecture by the eminent genius, Clyde Crashcup, voiced by Shepard Menkin. As a kid, I recall being bored by Crashcup but I saw some recently and thought they were pretty funny.

Someone oughta put the 26 episodes of The Alvin Show out on DVD. Until they do, you'll have to settle for the opening, which I think has one of the jazziest theme songs in TV history.

• Posted at 12:50 AM · LINK

Young Harland

Colonel Sanders is getting a makeover. They want him to be younger and more modern. I guess that's easier than making the food better.

• Posted at 12:49 AM · LINK

July 19, 2006 • Current • July 17, 2006