Category Archives: Uncategorized

I've received over 700 votes so far in my survey as to whether you folks would prefer that video links on this site be embedded or non-embedded. Voting has been lopsided but I won't tell you which way. I'd like to get as many "ballots" as I can, just to see how this will play out…so if you care at all, read this message and send me a quick e-mail, even if it's only to say YES or NO. The polls are open 'til Noon tomorrow, Pacific Time at which time the bars can reopen and I'll announce the result. And please, no electioneering within 50 yards of your computer.

The other day in this post, I noted that I would soon be watching the 1966 movie Penelope for the first time since 1966. I said that I remembered it not being very good and that my father and I felt cheated because Jonathan Winters, though billed among its stars, was only on the screen for — and I quote myself: "…what seemed like about two minutes. It was probably more than that but I'll bet it wasn't a lot more than that. Four minutes, tops."

I have now seen Penelope for the first time in forty years. By an odd coincidence, I won't be watching this movie again for another forty years. What a non-entertaining piece of celluloid. The single interesting thing about it is Peter Falk, playing a cop and apparently warming up to play Lt. Columbo many years later.

As it turns out, I was wrong about the length of the appearance of Jonathan Winters in the film. Leonard Maltin says in his indispensable Leonard Maltin's 2006 Movie Guide that Winters is on screen "less than three minutes." That's correct but Leonard, you may want to change that line in your next edition. In fact, I insist upon it. The actual, measured-by-a-stopwatch length of time from when we first see Jonathan Winters to when we last see Jonathan Winters is one minute and thirty-one seconds. Exactly.

A couple years ago, back before I learned how to do a frame grab so I could post a TV photo, I posted this item here…

I'm watching a rerun of The Flip Wilson Show that TiVo (we love TiVo) snagged for me this morn from TV Land. In the sketch, Dennis Weaver is playing a Justice of the Peace and Flip is in wedding dress drag as Geraldine, who's waiting for her never-seen boy friend, "Killer," to show up and marry her. Okay, you got the picture?

There's a knock at the door and Flip/Geraldine says, "Come in, Killer." And in comes another guest star on the show, O.J. Simpson, looking very groom-like in a tuxedo. I am not making this up.

"You're not Killer," Geraldine says. (Right the first time, lady!) Actually, Simpson's the Best Man, and he's there to stand in for Killer, who's too busy shooting pool to show up for his wedding. Weaver proceeds to try to conduct a proxy marriage of Geraldine and Killer…until Simpson tries to call it off because "he won't treat you right." Geraldine goes ahead and marries her absent beau anyway.

Geraldine Jones has not been seen in many years. Which proves it's dangerous to stand next to O.J. Simpson at your wedding…even if he's only the Best Man.

TV Land ran the episode again this morning so I TiVo'ed it intentionally and extracted the above photo. And suddenly, I'm suspicious all over again. Because not only has Geraldine Jones not been seen in a long time but that Justice of the Peace recently met an untimely demise, as well.

Here's a short but interesting article in the New York Times about what Bob Newhart is doing these days.

The Max Fleischer cartoon studio was making Popeye shorts and embarking on their first feature when their releasing company, Paramount Pictures, asked about doing something with a new comic book hit called Superman. The Fleischer Brothers weren't all that interested and they also knew that the more realistic style that Superman would require would be very expensive. So, largely to blow the deal, they asked for a price they were sure Paramount would never meet. When Paramount did, they had no choice but to go out and make what may still be the best adventure-oriented cartoons ever made.

Here's one of 'em: "The Mechanical Monsters," an extra-long (10 minutes) Superman cartoon that was made in 1941. You can watch it below or if you want to save it on your computer, go to this page where you can download it in several different formats. Here we go…

Our non-embedded video link for today is on pretty much the same theme. It's this commercial for the new Citroën.

And for God's sake, don't click on this link. Do you understand? I don't know why I even posted it but please, for your well-being and mine, DO NOT CLICK ON IT. Avoid the temptation. Don't think, "Oh, I have to click on it just to see what it is. Believe me: You don't. Show a little strength of character and do not click on it. Please.

My TiVos were upgraded early this morn with the latest software. The big new feature is a "recently deleted" folder which enables you to reclaim a show you deleted by accident. We like this a lot. Matter of fact, a show I deleted two weeks ago was still in there and I thought, "Hey, I'd like another look at that" and — ZAP! — it's back. I don't know why they didn't do this years ago.

I am informed that the TiVo website no longer sells the lifetime service option but that it is still available by phone — meaning, you call the TiVo company — until April 15. A friend of mine speculates that TiVo is getting rid of it because they plan on slowly raising the cost of monthly service in the future. If so, it will make lifetime service an even bigger bargain than it already is.

Here's the latest out of the White House…

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.

And it goes on to say that as with other laws Congress has passed, he feels he can disregard the portions he doesn't like, especially those that say what he can and cannot do.

I've read an awful lot of articles about this interpretation Bush has of presidential powers. I have yet to read one that made what I thought was a reasonable case on his behalf. In fact, I have yet to read a defense written by anyone I thought wouldn't demand the impeachment of any Democratic president who even toyed with this concept.

Molly Ivins on what's happening to the press in this country. I especially like her opening sentence…

I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying — it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.

Michael Kinsley, who isn't one, tells us why there's hardly any point these days in being a billionaire.

On June 7 of last year, I posted the following item on this weblog…

George W. Bush's approval rating is now a full twenty points lower than Bill Clinton's was on the day he was impeached.

The correct number is now thirty. And according to some polls, more than that.

We're waiting for the results in our survey about embedded vs. non-embedded video links. So far, I've received more than 40 votes and it's unanimous for…well, I don't want to influence the vote. But I sense an early trend here. (On the other hand, I am using Diebold machines to count…)

In the meantime, we're going to offer one embedded video link and one non-embedded one. The embedded one is an intermission trailer for 7-Up that was inspired by an earlier and more famous trailer. It was also, one suspects, inspired by the cartooning skills of Robert Crumb. And yes, I think that's the late, great Paul Frees supplying the voiceover. Here's that video clip…

And now, over on a site that isn't set up to allow the embedding of video links, here's the original intermission trailer. And isn't it odd in this day of product placements in the movies and TV shows themselves to see what's basically a commercial with no product placement?

Walter Cronkite, who once famously told us the Vietnam War was a stalemate, doesn't have as optimistic a view of the Iraq situation.

If we believe his official bio, cartoon mogul-director Joe Barbera is 95 years old today. There are animation historian people who claim Mr. B is a year or two older than that, and that decades ago he fudged a bit on the topic. Either way, March 24 does seem to be his birthday and that's good enough for us.

I had the pleasure of working for Mr. Barbera for several years. Even when we disagreed — and I'm not proud to say that was often — I respected him and found him charming. Ultimately, it was probably a more pleasurable experience to fight with Joe Barbera than it was to get along with some of the other cartoon producers who hired me. I found him brilliant and clever and ruthless and compassionate and…well, I'll tell you what. In honor of his birthday, I'll tell a quick Joe Barbera story…

I had an office on the west side of the Hanna-Barbera building — the side that faced Cahuenga Boulevard. Outside my window was a small forest-like area and sometimes, one might espy sexual activity occurring in those bushes. There was a prostitute who sometimes worked out on Cahuenga — we called her the Hanna-Barbera Hooker and talked about getting her a Wilma suit — and she was known to service her clients without travelling far. Eventually, she got tired of the security guards shooing her away and/or calling the police but for about a month there, she sometimes conducted business not far from my window.

Neither Mr. Barbera nor his partner stood on a lot of ceremony and they both worked long hours and with incredible energy. If something had to be discussed, they often wouldn't stand on the ceremony of summoning you to their offices. Bill Hanna would come to my office to complain that a script I'd written had too many scenes or so much action that it would go way over budget. Joe Barbera would come to my office to say that he loved the script I'd written and he only had a few tiny suggestions which would only mean rewriting every word of it.

One day, Joe walked in to talk about an outline I'd prepared for a proposed series. "It needs a bigger finish," he said.

Just then, I noticed shrubs rustling outside and knew what it was. I motioned to the window and said, "How about something like that?"

J.B. walked over, peeked out the window and said, "I like it but Bill will say, 'It'll cost too much to animate.'"

As you've no doubt noticed, I have recently been embedding video links in this here weblog. You click on the picture and you see a little video clip which is actually situated over on Google Video or YouTube or ifilm. I have mixed feelings on how this is working.

The good thing about them is that you just click and you get to see the clip and it will usually not be preceded by an ad. The bad thing is that the embedded links sometimes cause this page to load slower. The little window I embed calls up a still picture from the other site and if that site's busy, it may not appear on this page immediately.

I don't know which is preferable so I've decided to conduct a survey. The cut-off time will be Noon (my time) on Sunday. At that point, I will tally all the votes and that will be the policy for this site. I will keep linking to video clips of interest no matter how the vote comes down but this will determine whether I embed the video links (as I've been doing lately) or if I just put up a link like this one or this one or even this one. So write and give me one of these two answers…

• EMBEDDED VIDEO CLIPS, YES! – Yes, I like the little windows that I can just click on and watch a video clip on your site, Mark! It does not interfere with my browsing at all.
• EMBEDDED VIDEO CLIPS, NO! – No, I would prefer to just have a normal link that I can click on and go see the clip on another site if I want, Mark! And yes, I know this may mean several more clicks or sometimes sitting through a brief ad.

Send your votes to this special address: survey@newsfromme.com. You can tell me why you feel the way you do but I'll be satisified if you just send me a YES or a NO. Thank you…and please note that this may be the fairest election you've voted in for years.

Hey, wanna see a great job of baseball fielding? It's September 28, 2005, Tampa Bay Devil Rays versus Cleveland Indians. The ball is hit for what should be an easy single and Eduardo Perez is the baserunner heading from first to second. And he would have made it too, but the ball went near infielder Ronnie Belliard and…well, just watch what happened. (Perez was so impressed, he switched teams and joined the Indians.)