Category Archives: To Be Filed

Number two hundred and sixty-six in a series…

Go watch this commercial.

See those two people? One of them is noted animation historian Jerry Beck. The other is Emmy-winning voice actress June Foray. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which but both of them will be guesting tomorrow with your amiable host Stuart Shostak on Stu's Show, the oft-plugged-here internet radio extravaganza. June will be talking about what it was like to win her first-ever Emmy at the age of 94. Jerry will be talking about the history of the Terrytoons animation studio — the folks who brought you Mighty Mouse, Heckle & Jeckle and Gandy Goose. This is a must-hear for the legions of Gandy Goose fans out there. If you're a lover of June Foray or Gandy Goose, here's how you can hear this thing…

THE FREE WAY: Tune in tomorrow (Wednesday) and listen at the Stu's Show website when the show is first broadcast. It starts at 4 PM Pacific (7 PM Eastern) and runs for at least two hours, maybe more.

THE PAY WAY: Shortly after the show is first transmitted, it becomes a podcast you can download at the Stu's Show website for a measly 99 cents. But while you're there, grab a bargain and grab four episodes for the price of three. If you missed Stu's recent chat with noted comedy writer and sportscaster Ken Levine, make that one of your picks.

But either way, listen. These shows are always fun and this one promises to be one of Stu's best. Even if you don't give a damn about Gandy Goose.

Here's a newspaper report about the hit-and-run accident that's put our friend Roger Slifer into the hospital. Very disturbing. Not that it wouldn't be a tragedy for that to happen to anyone but Roger is such a decent, friendly guy that it's horrible to think of something like this happening to him.

A couple o' folks have written in lately to ask if I'm still consuming Jay Robb protein shakes or if I've found something better. Easy answer: I've been so contented with that product that I haven't gone looking for anything better.

I have modified my "recipe" a bit: I used to make 'em with ice-cold water and now I make 'em with half ice-cold water and half fat free milk. I'm also largely abandoning their vanilla flavor (soon as I use up what I have left) for all chocolate, all the time. I still make them in my Magic Bullet — the only product I've ever encountered via TV infomercial that worked exactly as advertised and proved actually useful. The result is a pretty good-tasting chocolate drink, sweetened with Stevia instead of something artificial, that I consume about once a day, sometimes twice. It may be the healthiest thing that goes into my body not counting my urologist's finger.

The Jay Robb folks have made a few changes, mainly in their packaging. They used to sell their powder in plastic canisters like the one at above left. They've switched for environmental reasons to a reclosable bag that I find somewhat awkward to scoop powder outta. Fortunately, I still had some plastic canisters about so I buy the new bags and refill the old canisters. The Whole Foods Markets I've been in lately still have the plastic canisters on their shelves but when those are gone, they'll have the bags in their stead.

Also, when I've mentioned Jay Robb products in the past, I've noted that while I like their Egg Protein and their Whey Protein, I thought their line of Rice Protein powders was pretty awful. I can't be alone in this opinion because the Jay Robb company has quietly dropped Rice Protein from its offerings.

So there you have it: My update. If you're looking for a good protein drink, give it a try. You don't have to start with the reclosable bags or the plastic canisters because they sell little one-drink packets which you can sample. If you're only going to sample one, try the Chocolate Whey. One friend who started drinking this stuff on my recommendation adds in about half a teaspoon of Nestle's Quik or somesuch product but I don't think it needs it. And sorry about the urologist joke but it's early.

Stephen Schwartz has written a number of fine musicals including Godspell, Pippin and Wicked. Here he is singing what may be my favorite of all his tunes..

Before we say goodbye to some or all of it, let's review some of what's actually in the Affordable Care Act.

But I'm not sure I trust this article. Where's the part about how a panel of evil government bureaucrats will vote that certain people aren't worth saving and will put them to death?

My friend Marc Wielage alerted me to this one. Barnes & Noble is selling Simpsons World – The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20, a hardcover book that lists for $150 for fifteen bucks. That's right…a tenth of the usual price. You can order a copy here.

I don't make any commission on this so if you're grateful for the link, send a few bucks to my fave doing-good outfit, Operation USA. Matter of fact, you should send them a few bucks even if you don't buy the Simpsons book. Operation USA does real good work and I never saw a charity that put my money to better use.

Number two hundred and sixty-five in a series…

Jeez, this is a depressing thing to hear: Comic book and animation writer Roger Slifer is reported to be in critical condition following a hit-and-run car accident last Friday night between the hours of 11 PM and 1 AM in Santa Monica. Roger is best known to comic fans for his work as an editor at Marvel in the seventies and at DC in the eighties, and for writing The Omega Men for DC and co-creating the character, Lobo. In animation, he was a writer and producer on shows including Jem and the Holograms, Transformers, G.I. Joe Extreme and Conan the Barbarian.

He is one of those great guys without an enemy in the world and many of his friends are rallying to his aid with donations and are doing what they can to locate the driver who apparently hit him at the corner of Colorado and 5th, then fled the scene. Along with the obvious reason of justice, it might help Roger if that driver had insurance that could contribute to his care. Reports from the hospital do not sound hopeful for a good recovery. At last word, he was still in a coma. Anyone with information to contribute should contact this address.

Unless I have to come back to post an obit for someone — which happens way too often on this blog — I won't be around here much the next few days. Too much to do in too little time. I'll be even worse about responding to e-mails than usual, as well. Please forgive my putting paying work ahead of blogging. Yes, foolhardy, I know…

Just watched a little of the Daytime Emmys. Okay, I can see why no one wanted to televise this.

Greg Eckler notes…

A decade ago there were nine daytime soaps and now there are four, and at least two of those are clinging to life. I think that largely explains the lack of interest.

I think it explains a certain amount of it…but people are watching something on Daytime TV. They're not watching soaps, and game shows have also declined to almost nothing…but Ellen's show has a large viewership. So does The View. So does Dr. Phil. So do a number of syndicated shows. Those shows draw enough interest to remain on the air but not enough to telecast the awards on E!. I think fans of these programs are simply no longer as possessive about them as they once were. Folks who watch The Price is Right don't care as much if Drew Carey wins an Emmy as they once did about whether Bob Barker did. And I don't think it's the show or the host as much as it is changing times.

A flash mob in Moscow tries real, real hard to be like Gary Cooper. Take this one full screen and thank Carolyn Kelly for sending me the link…

The second of two Daytime Emmy ceremonies airs tonight on the HLN cable channel. The first, which was last Sunday evening, was not televised. That's the one where June Foray won her first Emmy at age 94. I do not know for a fact that they will show a clip of that moment (or any moments from last Sunday) on tonight's telecast but it wouldn't surprise me.

It's interesting that there's so little interest in this ceremony. The first time I was nominated, it was not televised. The event was an afternoon, non-tuxedo event at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City and I found it pretty boring and did not go the next few times I was up for a statue. By that time, they'd begun airing it on TV…and as I recall, it aired during the daytime, preempting The Price is Right or other shows, for a few years until they tried it in prime-time for a while. It's still pretty much the same event it ever was but no one seems to want it these days. HLN was a last-minute deal because nothing more appropriate seemed possible. The E! Network didn't want it. TV Land didn't want it. And even though much of it is about their shows, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox didn't want it.

I understand institutions like the Miss America Pageant losing a mainstream audience. Beauty contests celebrate some kind of antiseptic, phony worldview that most folks today don't relate to. But awards for soap operas, game shows and kids' programming have not gotten any less relevant or any more interesting. I don't think it's a bad thing that folks no longer care that much about such honors. It may even be a good thing. It's certainly an odd thing.