Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here's an interview with Scott Ritter, the guy who was right about Saddam's alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Some of you may be wondering about Pearls Before Swine and Get Fuzzy. These are two newspaper strips which may or may not be in your local newspaper, both from the same syndicate. Monday's Get Fuzzy (which you can see here) featured a phone conversation. Someone named Alex called a gent who I guess is supposed to be Darby Conley, who draws Get Fuzzy. And I guess Alex is supposed to be someone who works at the syndicate. Alex tells Darby, "I think the FedEx you got last week accidentally had some unpublished Pearls Before Swine in it. Go ahead and destroy those." Darby, who's been busy playing a videogame, is late with his strips for the week…so he gets a fiendish idea.

The rest of this week, every Get Fuzzy strip has been the same day's Pearls Before Swine strip but with the Get Fuzzy characters badly pasted-in over the Pearls Before Swine characters. As an example, here's Tuesday's Pearls Before Swine and here's Tuesday's Get Fuzzy. Furthermore, in Wednesday's Get Fuzzy, we have Stephen Pastis, who draws Pearls Before Swine, making a guest appearance to call Conley and inquire about the duplications.

This is a very funny idea, especially with the bad, obvious pasteovers. Or at least, it's funny if you're reading a newspaper that carries both strips. As Len Wein and I were just discussing on the phone, if your local paper carries only Get Fuzzy — and there are at least a couple that do — you've got to be going, "Whaaa–?" I think I admire the guts that Conley is exhibiting not only to risk alienating a chunk of his readership for the sake of a good joke, but the courage to keep it going all week. Wonder if there's a further pay-off ahead.

NBC is running the last two episodes of Celebrity Cooking Showdown back to back on Saturday evening. If you care.

You're bored…you're frustrated…your approval rating is down to 33% even in the Fox poll…what do you do? Why not bomb Iran? Here's a video about it. (If you can't understand all the lyrics, they're posted here.)

Christina Larson has some encouraging words for those concerned about what's happening with our environment.

NBC has abruptly terminated its (supposed-to-be) week-long event, Celebrity Cooking Showdown. A press release says that the episodes scheduled for last night and tonight can be viewed at nbc.com. Here's a link in case you want to do this.

Jeez. I've done shows that were did poorly in the ratings…shows that were cancelled…but I never did anything they felt they had to yank off the schedule with less than 24 hours notice. And certainly nothing that ever got relocated from a major network to a website. (They couldn't even move it to MSNBC or CNBC?)

In case you're interested, the first night got a 5.7 rating. That's poor but it looks worse when you realize that the show before (Deal or No Deal) got a 9.2 and the show after (The Medium) got a 6.9. Tuesday night, Celebrity Cooking Showdown dropped to a 2.4…so more than half the people who watched the first night didn't bother with the second. Wednesday night, the show got a 3.5. Those are pretty bad numbers.

I didn't see Celebrity Cooking Showdown but I have the feeling someone made a mistake in dropping it this way. Okay, so the ratings may have been dreadful…but it was promised, it oughta be delivered. Not that long ago, NBC did the same thing with the third competition of Last Comic Standing, suddenly deciding to not run the final episode. That caused some ill feelings and this new termination will, as well. Somewhere, there are going to be viewers who will not bother with the next NBC special event series because it's frustrating to get wrapped up in a game and not get to see the ending. It's like reading a mystery novel and as you near the final pages, someone grabs them out of your hand, sets them on fire and just tells you whodunnit. Very unsatisfying.

There have been a couple of times in the comic book industry where I believe publishers have alienated their readerships with hasty cancellations. Something wasn't selling, the publisher panicked and no thought was given to what a fast termination would do to the folks who were buying the product. I can think of at least two distinct periods in the history of DC Comics where, I believe, consumers didn't want to try the new books because new books seemed to get axed so rapidly. It was like, "Why bother?" NBC could easily find themselves with the same problem…especially when they launch their upcoming, fourth edition of Last Comic Standing. And no, I can't explain why they're doing another one when the last round did so poorly they didn't broadcast the final part.

Tonight at 8 PM, where they would have been airing the grand finale of Celebrity Cooking Showdown, NBC will air an episode of Deal or No Deal. According to another press release, it's a rerun of the one from April 12 with the black guy who works as a professional clown. If you've never seen Deal or No Deal and have been thinking of giving it a try, this wouldn't be a bad choice…although they didn't have the usual 26 lovely models opening the briefcases. They had 26 Miss U.S.A. contestants doing the honors. You have to wonder though how much better it could possibly do than the grand finale of Celebrity Cooking Showdown that has been advertised. Not only will Deal or No Deal be a recent rerun but most potential viewers won't even know it's on.

And today's video link is also a plug for something that may interest those of you in the Los Angeles area. We love good magic and in a few weeks, you'll have the chance to see some of the best magic around…and for a good cause.

On May 26, 27 and 28 at the Colony Theater in Burbank you can see the lovely Misty Lee and the outrageous Sylvester the Jester perform miracles before your very eyes. Sylvester bills himself as "The Human Cartoon" and with good reason: He creates on-stage what Tex Avery created with a pencil and a pile of animation paper. Misty presents mind-boggling illusions that combine classic tradition with modern, audience-grabbing innovation. She's stunning and what she does is stunning…so this is quite a parlay. If I were you, I'd click here and get tickets now…because they're only doing the three performances.

And if that's not enough to sell you, here's a little less than five minutes of Sylvester jesting…

We're hearing better news about the health of master comic book and animation artist Alex Toth, who's been hospitalized for many weeks. Alex is easily one of the most respected artists in his fields…a man who's been remarkably influential on several generations of other artists. Word spread recently that he was not long for the world and I'm happy to report that this does not seem to have been the case. He is soon to leave the hospital, much to the relief of fans and friends.

Many of those folks have deluged him with letters and cards wishing him well, and these seem to have helped considerably. If you'd like to add to the pile — keeping in mind you won't be receiving a reply — the address has been posted on a few websites like this one. Alex has written hundreds of encouraging postcards and notes to others over the years, mostly inspiring others with their creative work. It's nice to think about the positive energy working in the other direction.

I just read a number of interesting discussions by mostly-Liberal pundits as to just how Liberal of Conservative John McCain actually is. I didn't come to any conclusion but if you want to read the same articles, read this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one.

My mother had an appointment at a medical facility this afternoon. Do you think the place might have too many signs?

I think it's way too soon to declare George W. Bush "The Worst President in History." But this cover story in Rolling Stone is getting a good jump on it.

That's not Groucho and that's not Ed Sullivan. Those are both photos of Will Jordan, maybe the best impressionist who ever impressioned. Among other comedians it is widely acknowledged that Jordan invented The Ed Sullivan Impression. It's the most-imitated imitation of all time, simulated by amateurs and stolen outright by professionals. Just about everyone who ever "did" Ed, apart from John Byner, was actually doing Will Jordan: The mannerisms, the facial contortions, the movements…even the phrases. People think of Ed as always saying, "We've got a really big shoe for you tonight." Well, Ed didn't say that. Will Jordan said that. (If Ed ever said it, it was because he was imitating Jordan imitating him. One of the amazing things that can happen with a great impression is that the real person starts to sound like the mimic. Happens all the time, just as every year our presidents are in office, they look a little more like the political cartoons.) Here's a video link to about half a minute of Will Jordan in Sullivan mode.

Another top impressionist told me that what he did involved a set of two or three skills. You needed to have the vocal and physical dexterity…that's all one skill. Another is that you need to have the "ear" to listen to the real person, pick out the extremes and know what to emphasize. It's a lot easier to "do" someone else if you hear a good impressionist "do" them…and it works the same way with cartoonists. A professional caricature artist once told me that the first time he had to draw Richard Nixon, it was more useful for him to look at a Mort Drucker drawing of Nixon, as opposed to a photo of the actual person.

The third skill — and this one is helpful but not mandatory — is the ability to do the impression and be funny. I see a lot of impressionists around who can sound like the guy and maybe look like the guy…but that's about it. Absent sharp material, all it is is a stunt. I always found Will Jordan very funny.

I'm really in awe of great impressionists. I have trouble sounding like me, let alone someone else. Recently, I heard from someone who'd read where I mentioned Will Jordan elsewhere on this site and thought I'd slighted the guy. I don't think I did. I think the fellow who wrote misread me. But just in case anyone else does, let me set the record straight. I am in awe of Will Jordan and wish we saw more of him.

Here's a little more than four minutes from the memorial service for Graham Chapman. This was apparently excerpted from a full-length TV special that I've never seen (anyone have a copy?) and I should caution at least one reader of this site that the clip contains a few naughty words. You get the feeling Graham would have wanted it that way.

Carl Bernstein says that the Bush administration needs to be investigated for possible impeachment proceedings. I don't think there's a chance of this happening, and Bernstein drags in a lot of stuff that doesn't necessarily relate to allegations of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Still, there's going to be an impeachment dialogue in this country, if only because it puts Republicans in an awkward position. We might as well get used to it.

Fred Kaplan on negotiating with Iran. One of the reasons I keep linking to Fred Kaplan articles is that I never see anyone rebut them or say he doesn't know what he's talking about…and I cruise some pretty extreme websites on all sides. I visit sites where they twist themselves and common logic into balloon animals, trying to deny every scrap of news that is bad for their team…but I never see anyone say Kaplan doesn't know what he's talking about.