The great comic book artist Gene Colan is not well. He's currently hospitalized and awaiting some sort of surgical procedure…and his friend Clifford Meth, who has been handling business matters for him, does not sound encouraged.
Cliff is running a Garage Sale, selling off some of Gene's books 'n' things for him. Go take a look and see if there's something in there you want. It's a good opportunity to get a bargain and to help one of the fine talents and gentlemen of our industry.
Several iPad users have written me in the last hour or so about my complaint that the Mute button didn't seem to work on my new toy. They all said to check Settings to see if that button is set to Mute or if it's set to be a Rotation Lock. Well, mine is set to be a Mute and when I'm playing a tune and I slide it to the "off" position, it shows a mute sign on my screen — a speaker with a slash through it — but it doesn't mute the music.
I did an Internet search though and based on what I'm reading on some forums, apparently this is how the Mute button is supposed to work. It doesn't mute music you're playing or certain other sounds that come from an app. It mutes certain tones and notification signals only. So I guess mine isn't busted…but it seems like a silly way to run a mute switch. And it's a good example of something I might have learned quicker if they gave you a little manual with your iPad.
Here's an interview with Gilbert Gottfried that's mostly about how he was fired from his Aflac job for some Tweets he posted about the earthquake in Japan and the resultant tsunami. I've always found Mr. Gottfried very funny though I think I liked him more as an ad-libbing talk show guest (which he never seems to get to be lately, at least on television) and doing observational standup than what he seems to have become, which is a guy who just stands on a stage and quotes Playboy Party Jokes.
I agree with him that the quake victims in Japan probably have had more important things to think about than to take umbrage at some comedian's remarks on Twitter…and I agree with him that some people place way too much importance on actions of microscopic meaning, like putting a flag on your car after 9/11 or wearing a ribbon to cure AIDS. I always think there's a danger when folks begin to equate things like that with actually doing something about a problem.
Then again, the problem with a job like being the spokesduck for an insurance company is that they can fire you any time they feel like it for any reason. They could have dumped Gilbert because they didn't like the socks he was wearing or thought his voice was getting more annoying or because they had a shot at hiring away the Geico Lizard. Firing him because they do so much business in Japan and feared their association with him would alienate clients strikes me as just as good or bad a reason as any…though my guess is they'll wait a year or three, then ask him back.
Getting back to Mr. Gottfied as a talk show guest for a moment, I thought he was one of the best. In Conan O'Brien's early days at NBC, he had Gilbert on a couple of times — this was back when Gottfried was among the bigger names who'd do that show — and they were hysterical spots. I still have — on Beta but I keep meaning to transfer it — a Halloween episode where Gilbert came on and began dumping semi-affectionately on Dick Cavett, who was also on that evening, and hitting on Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch. It was one of the funniest hours I ever saw on television and there's no reason he wouldn't have been just as funny in later years or even today on Conan's show or any other. It's just that he doesn't have a big movie coming out or a series debuting and that's the criteria for being a real talk show guest these days.
Leno occasionally has Gottfried on for short sketches but then they give Gilbert his check and send him on his way…and bring out someone who's in a hit movie and has nothing amusing to say beyond the movie plug and one well-rehearsed anecdote. Right there is a lot of what's wrong with talk shows these days…all of them. And I don't think it's so much the case with Jay but I think some hosts are afraid to share the stage with someone who won't confine his remarks to what was decided in the pre-interview.
A profile of Lorne Michaels. I don't think a lot of folks realize how powerful and important this man has been to the businesses of TV, movies and comedy in general…and it isn't just a matter of the stars whose careers he's launched. It has a lot to do with showing the rest of the industry how to access and exploit (I don't mean that in a bad way) the youth market.
The iPad 2 I ordered arrived recently, about a week before it was expected and I haven't had a moment yet to regret my purchase. I got a black one with 16 GB of storage and 3G connectivity and it's still a little amazing to me to be sitting in a public place surfing the 'net and watching YouTube videos on the thing. Here are some random thoughts about the device…
As you can see, none of my complaints are that big a deal and I expect my iPad will, overall, make life a lot more productive. If it just helps me get something written during the many times I'm sitting in a waiting room, it will pay for itself. I'll update this in a week or three. Right now, I have to go take more photos of Hot Turkey Sandwiches. That's really the only thing I bought it for.
Speaking of guys who invented TV comedy in the fifties: Whatever Steve Allen didn't do, Ernie Kovacs probably did. There's a new boxed set out of Kovacs rarities and while I haven't received mine yet, I want it and I can't believe you won't. It's called The Ernie Kovacs Collection and it's six DVDs containing over fifteen hours of Ernie. How could that not be worth fifty bucks? I like the fact that while it does contain his famous half-hour silent show, it seems to have a lot of material where he was on camera and actually talking. I'm of the opinion that way too much emphasis has sometimes been placed on Kovacs as a visual comedian, doing things that he wasn't even in like props coming to life or surreal shots of paintings on the wall. All well and good…but I've always found him funny.
Now, I'm going to give you a link to order but don't click until you read all the way through. You can order from Amazon and get the 6-DVD set by clicking here. There's also a bonus seventh DVD that you get only when you order direct from the issuers of this set, Shout Factory. You'll probably want to do this since it contains whatever has survived (two episodes) from the brief period when Kovacs hosted The Tonight Show, plus there are other goodies.
In terms of the basic price, it's only five bucks more to order from Shout Factory but Amazon has free shipping for an item of that price, whereas Shout Factory will ding you for at least six and a half bucks for postage and handling. So it's more like eleven and a half bucks to get it with the bonus disc. Still sounds to me like it's worth it. (By way of Full Disclosure: This site receives a small commission when you order from Amazon through our links but not from Shout Factory.)
Anyway, here's the link to order from Shout Factory. I did.
Want to see some great photos of where you live? Click here.
Are you interested in a book about flies? Well, I know where you could have picked one up for only $23,698,655.93…plus, of course, $3.99 shipping.
Now, that may seem a bit overpriced to you, especially because it's a paperback. But there's a reason it was priced like that and Michael Eisen seems to have figured it out. I think. Anyway, read what he has to say…and thanks to Mark Thorson for the link and also for his frequent corrections of typos I make here. (Thanks also to Rephah Berg, Gordon Kent and Ronald D. Bauerle for proofing. If I make an error here, one of these four folks will let me know within about three minutes.)
Dave Sikula delivers a long and excellent report on the Art of the Cover panel I moderated at WonderCon. A lot of folks love these panels in which artists dissect their work and discuss why they drew this, why they drew that and why they wish they'd drawn something different.
You ever hear of the Guggenhead Museum of Awfully Modern Art? Probably not so let me tell you about it…
Around 1967, two folks named Paul and Lee Anthony in Scottsdale, Arizona decided to open a funny art gallery — a satire on recent trends in art and also in art galleries. I'm not sure if either Anthony created any or all of the works but they put together a bevy of very silly paintings with humorous commentaries on the little cards mounted next to them on display. The "collection" got a lot of press and before long — like, the next year, I think — it was touring the country, mostly turning up in little tents in shopping malls.
In Los Angeles, it "played" for a time at a bank complex at Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights — a big community center affixed to a branch of Lytton Savings, built on the site of the famous apartment complex, the Garden of Allah. There's now a strip mall there with a McDonald's and a Pollo Loco and places like that. Later as I recall, the Guggenhead show moved over to Century City for a few months, and it apparently went all over the country. (I would gather they had many duplicates of the paintings, not just the one set.)
Created in proper deadpan style, it was quite funny if you got the jokes and I'm not sure everyone did. It also made a pretty strong, clear statement about how a lot of what was being hailed as art was probably rubbish…but hey, if it spoke to you, fine. I may have gotten more in terms of lasting imagery and things to think about from the Guggenhead than I did out of a lot of so-called real art shows I attended.
The Guggenhead no longer exists in the real world but I was pleased to find that some of its works are online. Take a stroll through the gallery when you get a minute. It doesn't have quite the impact when you're not looking at the works (most of which were three-dimensional) in person but you may get a chuckle or three.
Okay, it's finally happened. They're bringing Skidoo out on an official DVD.
Don't know Skidoo? Well, understand this. This is not a good movie. It's also not really a bad movie. It transcends the concepts of "good" and "bad." It was directed by Otto Preminger in 1968 in a spectacularly-misguided attempt to capture some kind of youth audience and what makes it odder still is the cast: Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Mickey Rooney, Burgess Meredith, Peter Lawford, George Raft, Frankie Avalon, other folks like that…and in his final motion picture appearance, Groucho Marx in the role of God. Gleason called the picture "the greatest meatball of all time" and he didn't mean that as a compliment despite his apparent love of meatballs.
The DVD will be out in July and you can advance order it from Amazon by clicking here. If you've seen it, you probably want a copy just so you can show it to others who don't know the film and watch their reaction. They will have one. It may be shock, horror, hilarity, diphtheria or disgust but they will have one. I once experienced all those feelings and that was just during the opening titles.
That's Skidoo. It's more than just a movie. It's the reason so many people my age can't remember the sixties.
Senator Al Franken is demanding answers from Steve Jobs about that iPhone tracking revelation. I want answers, too. I don't want someone who hacks into my iPhone to be able to know how many times I've been over to Farmers Market for the Hot Turkey Sandwich.
Desert Island Discs has been a staple of BBC Radio since 1942. That is not a typo. The premise is pretty simple. Each week, a prominent person from some walk of life is selected to be the Castaway. The Castaway is interviewed about his or her answer to this salient question: If you were to be stranded on a desert island and you could only have five records to listen to, what would they be? Me, I'd pick a "how to" record about how to get off the damn desert island but that's not really the point of this, is it?
Over the years, hundreds of folks have been given their lists…and of course, the show's host will interview them about why they picked this one or that one and will play excerpts. An archive of more than 500 of these shows can be found here and I doubt anyone alive can browse it without finding a few who interest them. Because of music licensing costs, a lot of the tunes have been edited out of the downloadable files or truncated…but there's much there to enjoy. And I call your attention to the current show in which the selections are made by one Stephen Sondheim. Some interesting choices there, made for interesting reasons.
I have a new favorite thing to eat, ranking right up there with Five Guys burgers, the Creamy Tomato Soup at Souplantation and a few others. But before I tell you about it, I have to take you back to a time and place that no longer exists. I'm talking about the Ontra Cafeteria in Beverly Hills in the sixties…a great place to eat. As I explained here, I've always liked cafeterias. I like buffets too, not for the quantity but because I like to see my food before I commit to eating it.
My favorite thing at the Ontra — and almost the only thing I ever had there — was the Hot Turkey Sandwich. A man stood there all day, carving bird after bird. They did such a volume of business that a new one was brought out about every half hour so the turkey was always very fresh and very moist. You could get it served a number of different ways but if you were smart, you asked for the Hot Turkey Sandwich…on white, of course. The carver would lay the bread out on the plate, carve the proper amount of turkey to adorn it, add an ice cream scoopful of mashed potatoes on the side and then drench the whole thing in gravy. That was the recipe and it was a good one. Write it down. Make it. You'll see.
I've eaten Hot Turkey Sandwiches at many other places and usually been disappointed. I've had some okay ones in sit-down restaurants but I don't think I've had a really good one anywhere but in a cafeteria. In establishments where a waiter serves you, you often get turkey that's been around a while. Sometimes, you even get pressed or processed turkey which is an unspeakable horror. I'm against the Death Penalty for murdering human beings but I think it's utterly appropriate for anyone who'd make a Hot Turkey Sandwich with pressed turkey. Table service eateries never seem to have very good gravy, either.
Alas, cafeterias have largely gone away on us. In L.A., they're about as easy to find as a waiter without a screenplay. I actually do not know of a real cafeteria anywhere I ever travel. I do, however, know of a great Hot Turkey Sandwich not far from me. In fact, I walked there tonight and took the above photo of my dinner. (I didn't think to take the photo — with my new iPad, by the way — until after I'd eaten close to half.)
The location? This is the funny part. It's at Farmers Market, a local touristy-type place I've only been visiting all my life. There's been a great Hot Turkey Sandwich there for years and I only just found out about it.
It's served at Magee's Kitchen, which is the oldest business among the many stalls at Farmers Market, having opened when the whole place did in 1934. There's a man who stands there all day carving fresh roast beef, ham, turkey and corned beef…and the corned beef is also quite wonderful, I might add. That's what I've usually had when I've eaten there because while I knew they had turkey sandwiches, I didn't know they had Hot Turkey Sandwiches. Foolish me.
They added them to the menu a few years ago and I never noticed. A friend in town ordered one there, loved it and told me about it. I tried one, loved it and have since been back every few days for another. I like the turkey. I like the gravy. I like the fact that they give you your order on a tray. You really can't have a good Hot Turkey Sandwich unless it's served on a plate on a tray. In fact, I've learned that if you take the plate off the tray, the sandwich isn't quite as good.
Monday of last week after a Garfield Show recording session, I took one of our actors — Gregg Berger, voice of Odie — there for a meal. We both had the you-know-what and I reminded him to leave the plate on the tray while he ate. He liked the H.T.S. they serve about as much as I do. We had another recording the next day and during a break, we got to telling all the other thespians about the great Hot Turkey Sandwiches we'd had for lunch the day before. One of the performers was Laraine Newman, who grew up in roughly the same area as I did at the same time. When she heard me say, "They're as good or better than the ones I used to get at a local cafeteria when I was a kid," she asked me, "As good as the ones at the Ontra Cafeteria in Beverly Hills?"
She knows. And the answer is yes.
I feel like I don't belong. I don't take any of the top five drugs in this country, nor do I have the conditions that would warrant them.