Bill Oppenheim writes: I'm pretty sure Roger Carmel was fired from The Mothers-in-Law and died years later. It was a drug overdose? Well, since this weblog seems to be in full Death Mode, I might as well answer this. Roger C. Carmel was one of the most prolific character actors of his day. He was […]
The fine comic illustrator Paul Chadwick writes to say… Ritter picked one good script, though. The guy never had better chemistry than with Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade. Funny stuff. It was great seeing such a sunny TV personality do dark Southern Gothic. It would be interesting to hear your insider view on what […]
If you read the Esquire article to which I linked earlier, you might want to also read this piece by the photographer who took the photo that was under discussion. […]
I don't expect anyone to be able to answer this (or even to care about it) but yesterday, the Trio satellite TV channel reran an episode of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In that had as its special guests, Debbie Reynolds, Peter Sellers and Johnny Carson. But it didn't say that in any of the TV listings, […]
Here's an L.A. Times article on why their polling results differ so from the Field Poll. As they note, when you factor in the margin of error, their poll says that the recall is supported by between 47% and 53% of California's likely voters whereas the Field Poll says it's between 50.5% and 59.5%. Thus, […]
Mark Fiore has a wonderful animated Flash political cartoon about 9/11. […]
Here's a link to an obituary for Jay Morton, who was a writer for Max Fleischer's cartoon studio, and who is said to have coined the opening of the Superman cartoons where they said, "Faster than a speeding bullet…more powerful than a locomotive, etc." I don't know if that's true but Mr. Morton had another […]
Yeah, I worked with John Ritter…once. But once was enough to see that he was a very nice guy who oozed professionalism. It was a silly, unimportant project for ABC for low money, and he was doing it as a favor to someone. Still, he was on time and prepared, and even though the producer […]
Disney unveils DVDs that self-destruct in 48 hours. So how long before someone comes out with the technology to copy them onto regular DVDs? […]
The Los Angeles Times poll on the California recall says that the removal of Gray Davis is favored by 50% (boot him) to 47% (keep him). Since the margin of error on this poll is plus or minus three points, it's a statistical tie. On the second half of the poll, they have Bustamante at […]
My pal Buzz Dixon just sent me a link to the online version of the cover story in the current Esquire. It's called "The Falling Man," it's by Tom Junod, and it's about the attempts to identify a certain victim at the World Trade Center who was caught in one haunting photograph. The article is […]
Here's David Corn on how little has been done in the cause of "homeland security." What I find interesting about this issue is that, apart from a few broadside assurances from folks like Tom Ridge and John Ashcroft, I don't see any rebuttal to this point of view. It's one of those topics where if […]
This article in The Philadelphia Daily News asks some simple but largely-ignored questions about what occurred in this country on 9/11/01 and in its aftermath. I think a few of these questions probably have easy, non-controversial answers and to think that they don't is to descend into the crazier conspiracy theories. But I think some […]
Here is a website devoted to the nearly 3000 people who perished on 9/11/01. If nothing else, you might want to just scroll through the list of names to remember just how many human beings that is. […]
The cover of just about every monster magazine ever published except for Famous Monsters of Filmland can be viewed here. Many of the covers for Famous Monsters of Filmland can be found here. The covers for Life Magazine can be viewed here. The covers for a great many issues of TV Guide are over here. […]