Groo Crew Comin' Through!

Sergio Aragonés, Stan Sakai and I — three-fourths of the squad that makes Groo the Wanderer comics — will be guests at the Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina from June 14 to June 16. This is a rare venturing outta the state for Sergio and me. Stan goes everywhere people know his great comic Usagi Yojimbo…which is, of course, everywhere. But Sergio and I rarely go to cons outside California so this is an outlier…and I think my first time in North Carolina.

Sergio and Stan will be selling sketches and books. I'll be selling nothing but I will be doing some panels, including one with Sergio and Stan. I'll tell you more about it when I know more about it. In the meantime, if you want to make it to Heroes Con, here's a link to their website.

Klepper Maniac

I just set my DVR (which is no longer a TiVo and I'll explain why one of these days) to record Jordan Klepper's new show on Comedy Central. It's called Klepper — which must have taken them months to think of — and it debuts May 9.

I liked Mr. Klepper a lot on The Daily Show and a bit less on his own show, The Opposition. The trouble with the latter was that they had him playing a right-wing nutcase so he was working an area that had already been strip-mined by Stephen Colbert.  And since they ratcheted up the intensity, it made him pretty unpleasant. It's also difficult to parody Alex Jones when Alex Jones is doing such a fine job of that.

Klepper is devoted to field pieces, which Klepper did so well on The Daily Show. These are longer and a much deeper dive into the topics he covers. Advance publicity is stressing that in one, he actually got arrested. In another, he was on a boat that capsized. Say what you will about the guy, he may be the gutsiest person to ever do that kind of thing for television. And when he isn't trying to do Alex Jones, I find him pretty funny. I hope I like this show.  It looks so promising.

Recommended Reading

I see people who are acting like it's a done deal that the next presidential ballot will be Trump v. Biden. I don't accept either side of that as inevitable…but just in case Biden is the guy for the Dems, it might be nice to know a little more about his record on foreign policy. This may not matter since Trump won with no record whatsoever on foreign policy but in case you want to know about Biden's, Fred Kaplan has summarized it for us.

Today's Video Link

Here's a short video about Sid and Marty Krofft, two men I had the pleasure of working for for many years…and as I just typed that, I realize that "working" is the wrong word. First off, you didn't work for the Kroffts. You got adopted into the family. Secondly, I'm not sure I can describe what it felt like but it certainly didn't feel like work.

That's Marty doing the talking in this video. He's right when he says they're the only guys who were doing TV for kids in the seventies who've survived to this day. And he's right when he says they remained independent — fiercely so. There's never been anything else like them and there never will be again…

A Cranky, Rambling Rant – Part Three

Part One was here.  It was about how some people get really upset if you don't love what they love.  Part Two was here.  It was about how some people (including probably most of the same ones) get really upset when you do love something they don't love.  In particular, one guy I know from afar gets upset every time I say I love the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and almost demands that I listen to him, agree it's terrible and stop loving it.

Why I would want to do this, I cannot understand.  Why would I want one less thing in this world that makes me happy?  Shouldn't we all have as many of those as we can find?  I wish I loved coffee because there sure are a lot of Starbucks around.

In Part Two, I predicted I'd get the same reprimanding e-mail from the guy I always get when I say I love I.A.M.M.M.M.W. I was wrong.  He phoned, instead.  I didn't record the call but I think I remember his in-depth analysis well enough to summarize…

This thing in it just isn't funny.  That thing it isn't funny.  There isn't a laugh in this whole sequence.  This performer is especially unfunny.  This particular part is especially long and unfunny.  The people who were sitting there laughing were wrong because it's not funny. And there! I have just proved without a shadow of doubt that the movie is not funny and you have to stop saying you like it.

Well, it went something like that.  And in every other sentence, he kept saying things like, "I know comedy" and "There isn't anyone who knows more about comedy than I do."  And that's really what this is all about. When I don't agree with him, I'm denying the infallible expertise he's so proud of.

You know, I sometimes understand this win-the-argument-at-all-costs mentality with regards to politics and things that actually harm human beings and impact their lives. I don't get getting so worked up over someone liking a movie you don't like or preferring Pepsi to Coca-Cola. It didn't involve me but I once watched a friendship of many years break up over the Pepsi/Coke thing.

Then, as with all of these, I couldn't help but think there was some emotional subtext driving the argument; that someone had some latent need of the "win" and the argument wasn't really about the argument. We might actually be able to discuss the merits of a movie like Mad World if we both agree that in the grand scheme of life, it really doesn't matter a whole heap.

I've been getting off Facebook forums lately because of folks who take things way too seriously or feel they have to give their opinions about every-friggin'-thing that passes under their noses. Please, people. Dial it back. Or at least save it for issues that might occasionally deserve raising one's voice a bit. My second agent had a line he used to use when he found himself in debates that were way outta proportion. He'd say, "Hey, this ain't the moon shot. Nobody dies if someone is wrong." Lately on the 'net, I find that line popping into my head more and more.

My Latest Tweet

  • I'm confused. Is the Trump Administration obstructing justice in a case of obstructing justice or are they obstructing justice in a case of obstructing justice in a case of obstructing justice?

Today's Video Link

I always liked the Kander-Ebb song, "Maybe This Time." Here it is performed on the TV show Glee by Kristin Chenoweth and Lea Michele. The blonde guy at the piano is my buddy Brad Ellis, with whom I've occasionally written songs that were not quite as successful as this one. Just as the ladies are lip-syncing to pre-recorded voice tracks, Brad is miming the accompaniment, probably to his own playing.

Most folks associate the song with the musical, Cabaret but it was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb in the early sixties and recorded in 1964 by Liza Minnelli. When Cabaret was first produced in 1966, the song was not in it. Then in 1972 when the movie version was produced, the song was included and it was sung there by…Liza Minnelli. It has since turned up in many stage productions and become quite the show-stopper…

Revival House Parties

The other day on his site, Ken Levine wrote about revival house cinemas like (in our town) the Nuart and the Beverly Cinema. He got me to thinking of the many evenings I spent at the Nuart and I started to write a blog post about it — then I realized I already did. Here's a little of it…

In the past, when Turner Classic Movies ran a bad or incomplete print of something, it has usually been a matter of the rights holder, whoever it is, supplying a bad copy. It used to remind me of the NuArt Theater over in West Los Angeles. Back before home video, it was the main place many of us saw classic films of the past. They ran a different double-bill every evening so they went through a lot of movies and good copies were not always available. Each month, when the following month's schedule came out, it was a moment of excitement ("Hey, look what they're running!") but also of reservation ("Are they going to have that lousy, incomplete copy that's making the rounds?").

The NuArt had a problem that I suppose plagues every "repertory cinema" house. They have to advertise their schedule well in advance but they don't actually get the print of the film until a day or two before the screening date. If it arrives and is chopped-up, scratched and a mass of splices, what can they do? Often with older films, that's the only print the distributor has. I can recall times when people stormed out of a program at the NuArt and demanded their money back. I also recall one time when we arrived there for an advertised evening of (I think) obscure Billy Wilder films and a hand-lettered sign on the box office announced something like, "We received lousy prints of these films at the last minute. If you want to put up with splices and missing scenes, fine. If you don't like it and want to walk out, we'll refund your ticket price. Just don't get mad at us. It's not our fault."

(The NuArt is still open, by the way, still showing old movies, usually for a week at a time. They're even running The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight every Saturday and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls at midnight on October 13. Here's a current schedule. Sad to say, I haven't been in the place since vintage motion pictures began coming out on Beta.)

Anyway, when I hear of Turner Classic Movies getting stuck with a bad print, it used to remind me of the NuArt. But then I realized: This is the era of digital video. The company that owns the film can send them a copy well in advance. TCM can demand to see that print before they schedule the film and decline to schedule it at all until they have a good, complete copy.

I dunno about the NuArt these days but the Beverly Cinema (aka "The New Bev") continues to project actual film — usually 35mm, sometimes 16. I admire the devotion to the way movies were originally shown but I think it's a losing battle. Good film prints of past movies will only get harder to locate and preserve and if the picture quality of digital isn't already better, it will be soon.

Ken made the point about how great it is to go see a comedy film with a live audience. He's right, of course. I rarely watch my fave, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, alone or on a small screen. When it's nearby and on a big screen with a good audience, I usually go.

Ever since Laserdiscs came out, I've been making a suggestion to darn near everyone I encounter who's in the home video biz. In addition to (or even instead of) a commentary track, offer your customers the option of an audience track. I don't mean canned laughter. Show a print of the film to be a big, hot audience and record their reaction. It wouldn't cost much to do and I'll bet some people would like watching certain movies with that. Since they can switch it on and off, no one should object to it.

So far, every single person in the industry who has heard my suggestion has said, "Hey, that's a great idea" and saying that has been all they've ever done with it. But hey, one of these days…

In any case, I think there's a lot of be said for the old-fashioned moviegoing experience beyond audience laughter. There's something nice about going someplace besides your own den to see a movie, something about making it an event or a date involving dinner before and maybe dessert after…something nice about watching it on a big screen while eating popcorn you didn't have to pop yourself.

Yeah, when you watch it at home you can hit "PAUSE" if the phone rings or nature calls. But some movies are enhanced by taking you prisoner, forcing you to shut out other distractions. I took Amber to see The French Connection for her first time at the Motion Picture Academy theater. I own a DVD but one of the reasons I think she loved the movie was that we largely shut out the real world and the current era.

The future of movie theaters is probably dependent on their offering you something you can't get at home. The multiplexes showing current films can offer the opportunity to see the latest releases — the ones everyone's talking about — right when they first come out. What the revival houses have to offer has changed. Before home video, it was the opportunity to see great movies of the past without commercial breaks, TV Standards and Practices, or cutting for time. Now, it's the experience of going out to the movies. We hope these places stick around forever, if only for that.