Saturday, August 4, 2007

More Crow Paranoia

I've been telling you here that the crows in my area are getting larger and larger...but are you worried? No. Well, maybe this will get you to start worrying about crows. Two dead ones in Southern California have been identified as carrying the West Nile Virus. Now, granted this is in West Covina, which is about thirty miles from me...but that's thirty miles as the crow flies.

Stop worrying about terrorists, people. Worry about the crows. They're going to kill us all. (Thanks to Corey Klemow for calling my attention to the news item and ruining my sleep for the next week or so.)

• Posted at 2:58 PM · LINK

Sorry, Charlie!

I'm still a bit jet-lagged from last week's Comic-Con in San Diego...an amazing condition when you consider that I drove there. But I've been operating in a semi-fog for much of the week and was in a particularly dense one last night when I wrote here that I couldn't recall a lasting ad campaign where a cartoon character was selling a product that involved the consumption of his own species. Too many of you to list wrote to throw the hallowed name of Charlie the Tuna in my face, and you're all correct.

On the other hand or fin or whatever, I would point out that the concept behind those commercials was that if you bought the product, you wouldn't be eating the lovable cartoon mascot. The suicidal fish (voiced by Herschel Bernardi until he passed away) would definitely not be in the can of Star-Kist Tuna you purchased and mixed with mayo. So that's a little different from Foghorn Leghorn suggesting you rush out and purchase what could have been his own drumsticks and gizzard, battered and deep-fried.

• Posted at 1:00 PM · LINK

Kirby Krunch Time

As many of you know, I have a book coming out later this year called Kirby: King of Comics, an art book about the great comic book creator, Jack Kirby, with a medium-length biography. (A longer bio by me will be along in a couple more years and it will make Bugliosi's tome look like a Big Little Book.) You can advance-order Kirby: King of Comics from Amazon by clicking here.

What you may not know is that the book hasn't gone to press yet. That event is looming large before me and I'm down now to finalizing the contents. I mean, like in the next day or three.

A lot of people have offered me rare, historic Kirby artwork to include in the book...and I must confess and apologize that I was swamped by the response and didn't manage to get back to everyone promptly. I think I've caught up on most contacts but I'm sure I've missed some. Also, at the Comic-Con in San Diego, I spoke to a few folks who were going to e-mail me or I was supposed to e-mail them or...well, whoever's fault it was — probably mine — we haven't connected. And now I have to firm up what's going into the book.

If you have some great piece of Jack Kirby art that might belong in this book, whether we've spoken or not about it, could you send me an e-mail right away? I promise to answer them all promptly. Include your phone number if you're willing to communicate that way. I think we already have an incredible book full of incredible art...but I wouldn't want to miss including some essential treasure because of my sloppy follow-ups. Thanks.

• Posted at 10:20 AM · LINK

Reclaiming My Reading Time

No, I haven't been able to make it all the way through Vincent Bugliosi's new 1600+ page book on the Kennedy assassination and neither have you. The main difference between us is that you were probably smart enough not to try. Not that the text of Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy isn't accurate. From what I can tell — reading as much as I've been able to read and checking out the rather feeble rebuttals around — Bugliosi has made a reasonably airtight case that L.H. Oswald acted alone in offing our thirty-fifth president. I'm just not sure he made it in a way that will convince even the eleven people in this country who might still be persuaded. (Here's an interesting column on some folks who can't be.)

One of the things that helped to break my interest in the case — at one point, a very strong interest — was the realization that most "conspiracy buffs" were intractable in their view that there was a conspiracy. Most were not irrevocably wedded to one theory of Who Killed JFK? A few were irrevocably wedded to more than one but most had their one theory and the view that it was an ongoing investigation; that there was so much that had been withheld or unscrutinized that we didn't have all the facts. They were willing to follow the evidence anywhere as long as it did not lead back to the Warren Commission verdict. Almost anything else was believable but not that.

I came to the conclusion that too many of them — not every person but enough to control the dynamic of that community — had some sort of deep emotional need to deny The Official Version. In some cases, it was a kind of snobbery and status; in others, a distrust of authority that went far beyond a healthy, admirable skepticism. They claimed to live for solid proof of what happened on 11/23/63 but if that solid proof had been than Oswald dunnit by his lonesome, that would have robbed them of something vital in their lives. Some would have lost their incomes and/or their very identities. So it had to be denied at all costs.

The turning point for me may have been an all-day conference I attended around 1974 — a gathering of Kennedy assassination "buffs" that was billed as an open forum and discussion. I was stunned at the extent to which the Closed Mind faction controlled the agenda. If you'd gotten up and argued that Kennedy was slain by four-legged Venusians, you'd have been allowed to talk because "all viewpoints must be considered." But stand up and suggest that Oswald actually owned the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle registered to him and you were hooted down, ruled out of order and almost made to stand in the corner. "We've moved past those lies," someone yelled. At the time, I thought there was a conspiracy of some sort — I would later be persuaded otherwise — but I found the stonewalling unacceptable. If you want the truth in this world, you have to be able to accept that it may not turn out to be what you want it to be.

The problem with Bugliosi's volume? In order to even pick up a book that thick about the case, you have to already have a powerful interest in the topic. And if you do, you probably already have an opinion set in plaster if not concrete. I admire Bugliosi's effort but I doubt he's going to change anyone's mind on any topic except maybe the purchase of books by Vince Bugliosi.

• Posted at 10:05 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Let's discuss cartoon characters and puppets being used in commercials for the eating of their species. But before we do, watch this PARODY commercial from a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live...

Outrageous idea, huh? A chicken selling flame-broiled chicken. But take a look at this REAL commercial from 1987...

Suddenly, the parody doesn't seem all that outrageous...and there have been other real examples. Every so often, some genius at an advertising agency gets the idea that the way to sell some food product is to have the creature that's being devoured pimp for it. (Another that comes immediately to mind is that Denny's spot where Miss Piggy was hawking the Grand Slam Breakfast, bacon strips and all.) I can't recall when one of these campaigns has lasted for any length of time, which leads me to conclude that it's as uncommercial an idea as it is tasteless. But someone will try one again soon. Count on it.

• Posted at 12:05 AM · LINK