I stole this one from the weblog of Earl Kress. It's a link to an eBay auction where someone is selling 15,000 toys. You might want to bid. At the very least, you'll enjoy looking at the photos and going, "I used to own one of those...I used to own one of those..."
Fred Kaplan on where we are now with regard to Iraq and Iran. Mr. Kaplan seems to be one of the few people writing about these topics who understands the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni.
Also over on Slate: Jack Shafer claims that despite legend, there were no documented cases of returning Vietnam veterans being spat upon by anti-war protesters. For what it's worth, I was swept up for a time in those protests — working both sides of the street in a way as my viewpoint morphed from supporting to opposing the war. I met people who were passionate, emotional, sometimes even hysterical. I saw folks who would not have hesitated to expectorate on (or do worse to) Nixon, L.B.J., Kissinger and others who directed that war. But I never encountered anyone who had the slightest anger or resentment of the soldiers for serving in it...just as I've yet to see anyone who has anything but compassion and gratitude for those who are now serving in Iraq.
People sometimes ask what I'm working on. Okay, so most of them are people to whom I owe money. The point is that they ask. In a week or so here, I'll announce another project that I have in the works...something involving a comic book artist with the initials "J.K." In the meantime, the folks at Paws, Inc., makers of all things Garfield, today put out the following press-type release...
Paws, Inc. is thrilled to announce that they have entered into an agreement for Dargaud Marina S.A. (Paris, France) to produce and distribute a new fully animated half-hour television series beginning with 26 episodes for the first season.
The series will be produced in the English and French languages, and animated in CGI with 3D tools. The television programming is intended for worldwide distribution.
Mark Evanier will write the series in collaboration with French nationalist writers. Evanier wrote the highly successful Garfield and Friends series. Garfield and Friends started its first season on CBS-TV in 1988. The half-hour program was so popular, it was expanded to one hour for the second season. Garfield and Friends stayed at the top of the ratings chart for Saturday morning shows for 7 years. In fact, the show was the most popular children's program on television in 1993, with an audience that was 40% adult.
The new series will be animated and produced by Ellipsanime, under the direction of Robert Réa, Director General, and Philippe Vidal, creative director.
Paws has worked with Dargaud Editeur S.A., managed by Claude de Saint Vincent, on Garfield books, albums, journals, calendars, etc., for over 24 years.
Before anyone asks: I have no idea where or when you'll be able to see these cartoons. I haven't even written the first one yet. I will be voice directing, as well. Yes, the new voice of Garfield has been selected. No, it is not Bill Murray and no, Garfield will not look look like he does in those movies. He'll look more like he did in his other cartoon appearances. Also, no, I'm not listening to voice demos for non-recurring parts at this time. And you now know almost as much about this show as I do. I'll post more details here if and when there are any.
My activities were interrupted twice yesterday for radio-type interviews on (mostly) other topics. If for any reason you have the burning desire to listen to me babble, here are two places on the 'net where you can do this.
Aaron Barnhart is the TV critic for The Kansas City Star and a special authority on late night talk shows, Mr. Letterman's in particular. He is also the proprietor of TV Barn, a fine site where he offers news and links to TV-related articles, plus he posts podcast interviews and chats that he does with people, most of whom are more impressive guests than me. The latest podcast, which you can listen to or download in MP3 format by clicking here, is 24 minutes of the two of us discussing the significance of David Letterman having achieved 25 years of late night TV programming.
Then later in the day, my friend Earl Kress and I were guests for two hours of Stu's Show, which is heard on this Shokus Internet Radio I keep telling you people about. We spoke of Earl's career, animation history and obscure TV cartoons. This is not a podcast that you can download any time you like. This is a radio-type broadcast where you have to tune in at a specified hour and listen then. That episode reruns every day for the next week: From 4 PM and 6 PM on the West Coast or 7 PM and 9 PM on the East Coast...except on Sunday when the rerun starts at 10 AM out here and Noon back east.
If you live somewhere else, you can probably figure out the local time from this schedule. And you can tune in to Shokus Internet Radio by going to their page and selecting an audio browser. There's plenty of good stuff to listen to over there 24/7.
The other day, I linked to a clip of the master mime/comic George Carl on The Tonight Show. Here in two parts is George Carl on one the Jerry Lewis telethons.
You know, it dawns on me: I think I saw George perform twice, not once like I said, both times at the Stardust. They're tearing the place down in March but even in its mid-to-latter glory days, that was a great place to see him. Why? Because the Stardust was then the last of the major showrooms with a production show and live musicians. They had an actual orchestra — maybe the last of its kind in that town for a show that featured dancers and variety acts. That was important for Carl's act because...well, listen to the drummer here and on the Carson clip from the other day. You couldn't do that with a pre-taped track and the routine would be so much less without that kind of punctuation and accompaniment.
Further thinking back, I seem to recall that Carl was briefly the headliner in a small revue at (I think) the Riviera around or about 1988. It was him and a line of almost-naked dancing ladies and when I saw it advertised, I thought, "Next time I get to Vegas, I have to go see that." But the next time I got to Vegas, I couldn't see it. It had closed, apparently without much notice. I was disappointed at the time but now that I mull it over, maybe it was for the better. Because he was in a tiny showroom and almost certainly working without a live band so it wouldn't have been the same.
Anyway, here's Part One of George Carl, extracting all the poetry there is to be found within total clumsiness...
That's the first part. Here's the second part. And by the way, what the hell am I doing up at this hour? I had a very busy day. I should be in bed.
I wanted to note the passing of three important writers — columnist Molly Ivins, novelist and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon, and TV writer-producer Bob Carroll. All left us in the last few days and I'm sure you can learn all about any or all three with a minmum of Googling.
Of the three, the only one I ever met was Bob. He was a man who wrote many things during his long career, most of which don't get mentioned a lot because we're all too impressed with the fact that he was one of the main writers of I Love Lucy. A credit that impressive tends to suck up all the oxygen in the room, and I think Bob liked the fact that I talked to him about his other projects like The Mothers-In-Law, a sitcom in that "oughta be on DVD" category. It's probably the obvious cliché to say that his work will be rerun and loved forever but it's also probably true.
As for Sidney Sheldon and Molly Ivins: I never made it very far into any of Mr. Sheldon's novels, not even the one with the thinly-disguised portrait of Groucho. But I sure liked The Patty Duke Show and I Dream of Jeannie. And I sure liked Molly Ivins's writing, especially when she was in high outrage about something Texas-related. I have the feeling we'll really miss her, especially throughout the rest of the Bush administration.
February 2, 2007
