Sunday, May 18, 2008

Eight Years Ago...

Let's flash back to an interview with then-candidate George W. Bush from June 28, 2000. Here's the first paragraph...

Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

So how's that working out?

• Posted at 11:03 PM · LINK

Small Deal

A week ago, for reasons too boring even for this weblog, I found myself briefly in a video arcade in Westwood — one of those places where you put in money, win tickets and later find out that no matter how much you played and how much you won, you don't have enough tickets for any of the good prizes. Out of curiosity, I took a crack at the Deal or No Deal game I found there.

It's not a bad replica of the TV game. There are sixteen cases which are opened on the 36" high-def video screen by sixteen models. The models are not the ladies from the TV show and the unseen announcer/host is not Howie Mandel but they have the graphics and music...and of course, you're playing for prize tickets, not money. It costs two bucks to play and top prize is two hundred tickets which, at this arcade, could get you a package of bubble gum worth (I'm guessing) fifty cents.

I got lucky and won the 200 — a futile achievement since when I went to the prize redemption booth, I decided there was nothing there I wanted, even for free. So now I was stuck with the 200 tickets. Last time I was in this situation — Marv Wolfman's birthday party was at a Dave & Buster's — I gave my tix to a random kid to add to his already-formidable accumulation. I think he had enough to get a new Lexus Hybrid.

There was no one else in the arcade so I wandered to the back and played a pinball machine, partly because I hadn't played one in a decade or so, partly because I was hoping some worthy person would come in. By the time I'd run out of quarters, no one had...so I still have my tickets.

What was interesting about the Deal or No Deal game was the pace. The TV version has become excruciating, even when watched on TiVo and fast-forwarding from the first case or so to the last five. It can take up to an hour to play one game, opening 26 cases. I opened the sixteen in my game in well under two minutes. If I'd brought along three friends to consult with me and insist that they knew for sure the million was in my case, it might have taken four minutes.

That pace is the main thing killing the TV version. It's probably not as lethal as the fact that after all these months, no one's won the million dollar prize. On the new prime-time Price is Right, they've given away seven figure checks something like three times in six weeks and the whole hour isn't even about trying to win that amount. They also don't have the problem Deal or No Deal has, which is a tremendous number of games where the big dollar prizes are knocked out early and you have 20-30 minutes of someone playing to maybe take home ten (yawn) grand.

Obviously, winning $10,000 is no small cause for excitement but on a show that's all about winning a mil, it seems like an awful uninteresting consolation prize...especially with Drew Carey over on Price is Right handing out the big checks like they were cases of Turtle Wax. So that's one problem Deal or No Deal has. Another is that though they may try to dress it up with banker stunts and surprise reunions and doing the show from other nations, it's still the same basic game every time. And being on opposite American Idol ain't helping, either.

I don't know why this show interests me at all but it isn't because of the game any longer. It's because I like Howie and I like the way the producers initially put the program together. There was something primal and fascinating about the basic game. At least, it was kinda fun for two minutes at that arcade, even if all I got out of it was a string of near-worthless tickets. (Hey, don't laugh. There are people who've been on the show, played for a million and gone home with about that much.) But all that's gone away now and I'm kinda watching, albeit with mucho Fast Forwarding, just to see if they can figure out how to make it interesting again. Aside from having the models work nude and covering Howie Mandel with bacteria just to see his reaction, I don't see how.

• Posted at 4:31 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

A lot of the great cartoon voice actors like Daws Butler, Mel Blanc and Don Messick have left us. Their characters, however, have not. A whole new generation of voice actors have stepped in to assume those roles...and in most cases, more than one person has spoken for a character. At least twelve different actors have spoken for Bugs Bunny since Mel died.

One of the better folks doing classic voices is Scott Innes, and he does a wide range of 'em, though he has tended to specialize in Don Messick's roles. Here's a little less than five minutes of Scott demonstrating his incredible versatility and the wide range of characters he's been called on to replicate...

• Posted at 11:26 AM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Ezra Klein writes about how politicians are too often the victims of quick sound bites that emphasize their gaffes and characterize them by their worst moments. I think that's all true and unfortunate...but I also think that's unlikely to change. We don't believe in fighting fair in this country any longer. If the guy you don't want to see win says something that can be misquoted or yanked outta context and misrepresented, you do, even if you know it's a bit of a cheat. You may rationalize this by saying "Well, his side does it to us," and you'd probably be right to some extent. You can also justify the cheat by suggesting it represents what's really going on in your opponent's mind and soul, even if the specific example is a bit unfair. But how often do you see someone who wants Candidate X to lose come forth and say that Candidate X is being wrongly criticized for something?

• Posted at 9:23 AM · LINK

A Night at the Opera in Brea

My deadlines and I could ill afford the trek but I had to do it, had to drive down to Brea last night and see Frank Ferrante make like Groucho again. I took along my friend Earl Kress and he was just as impressed as I was, first time I saw Frank. If you knew what a pain it is to drive to Brea, you'd have a good idea of how much I enjoyed the loving and uncanny re-creation of the grouchiest of Marxes that was going on down there.

Abetted by a superb piano player named Jim Furmston, Ferrante walks on stage, turns himself into Groucho and proceeds to Groucho all over that stage for about 90 minutes. He tells great anecdotes as Groucho. He sings and dances as Groucho. Most impressively, he talks with the audience, ad-libbing as Groucho. The best compliment I can pay the guy is to say that in all three categories, he succeeds.

It's quite amazing. I suppose that with enough work, a decent stage performer could master the Groucho moves and learn all those anecdotes. A decent mimic could replicate the voice. But Ferrante goes beyond an imitation, somehow tapping into something primal and essential about Groucho. About three minutes in, you forget it's a guy in a Groucho suit. It's just Groucho. You don't even wonder to yourself, "Hey, how is he able to think like Groucho?" That's not something a mere impersonator could learn.

What don't I like about the show? Well, I don't like that he does it in outta-the-way (for me) places like Brea, for God's sake. He also doesn't do it often enough. Much of the year, Frank is employed as the lead performer in Teatro ZinZanni, which is a fancy and bizarre show performed in San Francisco and Seattle — Frank's usually in San Francisco — in a nightclub setting. But if and when he Grouchos near you, run and see him. According to his schedule, his next Grouchoing will be July 1 in Clayton, New York and July 8 in Mission Viejo, California. Mission Viejo is like Brea only more so.

Anyway, I'd better stop before you get the idea that I like this guy's show. If he's in your neck of the woods, go. And tell 'em Groucho Mark sent you.

• Posted at 9:05 AM · LINK