Last week, many newspapers in the U.S. declined to run a Doonesbury strip that mentioned masturbation. According to this article, those that did run it received almost no complaints. Also: According to this piece, a great many newspapers buried or did not run the recent admission by George W. Bush that there is no evidence […]
Here's an obit for Jay Morton, the one-time animation and comic book writer who is said to have coined the famous "More powerful than a locomotive…" tagline for Superman. This one says he wrote "about 25" of the early Superman cartoons but there were actually only 17 Superman cartoons in that series and Morton probably […]
What did George W. Bush do on 9/11? Eric Alterman wonders. […]
What do Daisy Mae (in the '59 movie) and Red Hot Riding Hood have in common? Imogene Lynn. Imogene Lynn was a popular vocalist of the Big Band era, heard on records by Ray McKinley, Artie Shaw and others. Born in Trenton, Missouri, she began her professional career in 1940, singing with Emerson Gill and […]
Shortly after U.S. forces secured Iraq, we heard reports that the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad had been looted of priceless, one-of-a-kind artifacts and treasures. The extent of the looting was argued by pro-war and anti-war Americans, with both sides apparently throwing out wholly fictitious statistics. For what seems like a more temperate, informed view of […]
Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo weblog offers Part One of an exclusive interview with Ambassador Joseph Wilson on our situation in Iraq. If nothing else, read the first sentence of Wilson's first answer. It summarizes the position we're in with an eloquence and directness one does not often hear from those in a position […]
Above and at left, you see a picture of Leslie Parrish in the role of Daisy Mae in the 1959 movie of Li'l Abner. At right, we see a shot of Little Red Riding Hood as she appeared in several cartoons directed by Tex Avery. Tex reused animation and models, but I believe this shot […]
Some time ago, I launched a section called TV Tickets where I display tickets to TV and radio tapings and, wherever possible, provide little commentaries, anecdotes and historical notes inspired by said tickets. It's a lot of fun and it's inspired a lot of volunteerism. Folks have sent me literally hundreds of scans of old […]
What do Brits do when they find their car has been clamped for illegal parking? Why, they pray for the swift action of Angle Grinder Man! (I gather a clamp over there is like when they put a "boot" on the tire of a car over here, meaning it cannot be moved.) If only we […]
Senator John Edwards announced his candidacy for president on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. (The shocker was not that he's running but that he announced it there.) Here's a link to an online video clip which unfortunately cuts off in the middle of Stephen Colbert's very funny commentary that followed the announcement. (RealPlayer required, […]
The meaning of life is that we are all not compatible. Or at least, some DVDs are not compatible. If you purchase the new DVD of Monty Python's Meaning of Life and find that Disk 1 will not play properly in your DVD player, here's what you do. And thank Kevin Boury for finding that […]
Say, whatever happened to "Grandpa" Al Lewis? Click here for the latest. […]
For those of you who are new to weblogs: When the operator of the page you're visiting is swamped with deadlines and just too busy to post witty observations, pithy remarks and links to items of great interest elsewhere on the 'net, it is traditional to put up a picture of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom […]
Like you and everyone else, I have no idea what the delay in the recall election will mean, or even if it will get undone. Cruising political websites just now, I see opinions are all over the place: It'll help Davis, it'll hurt Davis, it'll help Cruz, it'll hurt Cruz, etc. If the Supreme Court […]
Several years ago, I got a call for jury duty and dutifully reported to the courthouse, even though I knew the chances of my getting on a jury were about the same as my chances of getting on Sharon Stone. Neither happened but I got a column out of it, and I have just posted […]