Monday, March 28, 2011

Today's Video Link

One of the events I'm looking forward to at WonderCon this weekend is a panel I'll be moderating on the history of that fine convention. On Saturday at 11:30 in room 220/224, I'll be interviewing convention founders Joe Field, Mike Friedrich and Bryan Uhlenbrock along with David Glanzer, who's one of the main folks behind the Comic-Con International. Comic-Con acquired WonderCon in 2001 (I think it was) and now operates the annual event.

WonderCon started off in Oakland as a gathering called The Wonderful World of Comics. Prior to the 1989 show, a video was prepared...and that's Joe Field you'll see acting as host. It shows you a little about the earlier conventions and promotes the upcoming show, plus there are brief interviews of Stan Lee, Will Eisner and other early guests. Have a look...

• Posted at 8:56 PM · LINK

Monday Morning

I'm about to run off and direct a voice recording for The Garfield Show...day one of what looks like a pretty busy week here. The best part is that it will end with a trip to San Francisco and three days of WonderConning. If you're anywhere near San Francisco (or even if you have to drive a bit to get there), drop in at the best convention this side of Comic-Con International. WonderCon starts on Friday.

And if you're in that vicinity and interested in a career in animation voiceover work, I'll be teaching a class next Monday, April 4 at Voice One, a fine school 'n' studio where one learns such arts 'n' crafts. I think they still have room for a few more mouths in the class.

• Posted at 8:53 AM · LINK

Go Read It!

For those of you who can't figure out your Time-Warner cable bill, here's a simple explanation.

• Posted at 8:40 AM · LINK

Today's Audio Link

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy didn't do much radio. Some time ago, I linked you to a recording of an unsold pilot they did for their own program. Here's a sketch, reportedly written by Mr. Laurel himself, that they performed once on the air. Laurel and Hardy scholars disagree on where and when this was broadcast but the majority vote seems to be for a 1943 edition of a variety series called Mail Call.

The piece runs about nine minutes and also features Patsy Moran and Edgar Kennedy. As you'll note, there's a blooper in there (this was live radio) that causes everyone to break up. It's a funny sketch but the blooper is probably the funniest part. If the player below doesn't work on your browser, try clicking here.

• Posted at 12:44 AM · LINK

The Times, They Are A'Changing...

The New York Times is about to erect a paywall which will try to charge you for reading more than a certain number of articles per month on their site. I don't think it will work, partly because folks won't understand it and partly because they'll find a dozen different ways around it. This article discusses some of the routes that have already been located.

• Posted at 12:42 AM · LINK