One of the most-read articles on my site is my Christmas story about Mel Tormé. Recently, it inspired an artist named Josh Pincus to do an illustration. Here it is...and it looks almost exactly like Mel did that day.
I know three people on the web named Steven (or Steve) Thompson. One of them runs a blog full of interesting artifacts. On it, he recently posted a photo of actors Steve Holland and Chris Noel, both of whom often posed for photos that artists used as reference for the painting of movie posters or paperback book covers or pieces of that sort. (Mr. Holland was the guy James Bama used as model for those Doc Savage paperback covers where his shirt was always torn. Did you ever notice that Doc was always wearing the same torn shirt? Holland only had one.)
Anyway, Br'er Thompson is trying to help someone identify what this photo was used for: What movie poster? What paperback cover? Go over there and see if you can help him.
I've bragged that readers of my site can always come up with an answer to any mystery. Don't let me down. Our honor (yours and mine) is at stake. And while you're there, check out some of the other neat stuff he has posted.
Okay, I just posted my list. Click on the above banner (or here) to see a handy-dandy schedule of the primo events of the Comic-Con International in San Diego. You really don't need to be anyplace else.
The schedules are up for Comic-Con programming on Friday and Saturday. Go...see which panels you want to see are opposite other panels you want to see.
I'll have the full list of mine up later today. Maybe.
Back at the computer after a refreshing three hours of sleep, I find myself reading articles like this one about the "status of forces" negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq. Looks like Bush supporters are going to have to start arguing that setting up a "time horizon for troop withdrawal" (which is wanted) is not the same thing as setting timetables to bring U.S. forces home (which Bush and McCain have always equated with craven surrender). Hey, whatever gets us outta there is fine with me.
Another stumbing block seems to be — and I quote from the above-linked article — "the legal immunity of U.S. troops and Defense Department personnel from Iraqi prosecution for any alleged crime." Isn't this how the FISA law was handled? You do what you want and then you ram through retroactive immunity? After they leave office, Bush and Cheney are planning to begin robbing liquor stores and then having that made legal.
Remember the good ol' days when our government was either so virtuous or so competent at not getting caught that it didn't need retroactive immunity for anything it had done?
I'm up at another ungodly hour, working on something. On my TiVo as I write, I'm watching a lecture by Vincent Bugliosi, who has a new book out called The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. In it, he calls for some courageous prosecutor to come forth — or better still, for Vince Bugliosi to be appointed a Special Prosecutor — and to put Bush on trial. The lecture was on CSPAN2 earlier this morning and it reruns today (Sunday) at 3 PM Eastern, which is Noon on my coast.
I have no idea what to make of this. Bugliosi (who I've met and spoken with, mostly about his book on the Kennedy assassination) can be a very annoying man. He sweats profusely and rarely strays too far from the topic of what a superb prosecutor and smart person he believes himself to be. This is not to say he's wrong. I thought his writings on the JFK case, the O.J. Simpson case, the Clinton-Lewinsky matter and the Bush-Gore Supreme Court were generally on-target and occasionally brilliant. This time out, he seems to be pursuing his case from an utterly impractical angle...one that's unlikely to accomplish anything more than sell a lot of books. I usually purchase whatever Bugliosi publishes but this time, I think I'm taking a pass.
An interesting aside. One of the folks who asks a question of Bugliosi in the Q-and-A section is Steve Rohde, an attorney who's been a major champion of the First Amendment. He's a courageous man who has done much good for Freedom of Speech in this country...and he was the main lawyer who represented Jack Kirby in his famous dispute with Marvel Comics over the ownership of his original artwork.
And speaking of Wally Wingert...Wally is the voice of Jon Arbuckle on the new Garfield projects (like the new show I'm writing and directing — which, by the way, debuts on Cartoon Network some time next year). He was also a guest at CONvergence in Minneapolis last week, and will be on the Saturday Cartoon Voice panel at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. The following video tour of Wally's little Ackermansion will give you some idea of why he and I get along so well...
Speaking of the Adam West Batman TV show, as I was: My pal Rubén Procopio is a master sculptor and he has recently completed a bust of Mr. West that you can see and order at this site.
While you're there, take a peek at the clip of another friend of mine, Wally Wingert, talking about it on The Florence Henderson Show. If you don't know Wally, I'll introduce him in today's video link...
July 14, 2008
