I'm up at an ungodly hour, concluding a lonnnnng day of working on the Jack Kirby book I announced back here. Before I hit the linens, I wanted to put out a public appeal. We're looking for interesting and special Kirby art to include in the book. This may be the nicest reproduction of Jack's work we'll ever see and I'd like to feature some pieces that especially deserve that treatment. Several collectors are loaning me originals — and even unframing framed pieces so they can be scanned at a high resolution.

I'm most interested in pieces that are either historic or early. I have access to hundreds of…well, I wouldn't say "common" since nothing Jack drew was "common." But pages that were common for Jack from the mid-sixties onward. But I'd like to locate the original art to some early pieces and especially to things that weren't done for Marvel, or were done for DC in the forties or fifties. I'm also trying to find intricate pencil pieces and one or two really spectacular pages from the Fourth World material. Art does not have to leave your hands if you can get it to a place that does high-rez scans, and we'll pay for expenses incurred and give proper thanks and such.

Please drop me a line if you have something you think oughta be in this book and you're willing to share it with the Kirby fans of the world. (If this explanation seems a little vague, it's probably because I am at the moment. Good time to go to bed. Good night.)

A lady named Alicia wrote to ask if I still have little furry creatures coming to my back door in search of a meal. Yes, I do. In fact, about two hours ago, the above fella (gal?) came around to nibble on the Friskies buffet. I put a dish or two out every evening. When they're empty before dawn, it usually means at least one and maybe several raccoons have wandered by. You can also tell that there have been raccoons because they not only clean the plate, they fling it around the yard, overturn the water dish and leave wet raccoon prints behind. The cat and possums, on the other hand, just eat a few mouthfuls and leave.

I also throw peanuts out every morning for the squirrels and bluebirds. I suspect the reason the peanuts don't get eaten is that some mornings, my back yard is patrolled by crows the size of SUVs and while they peck at everything on the ground, they don't seem to like peanuts. In fact, the way they avoid them, you'd think they're afraid of anaphylactic shock or something.

And hey, what is it with these huge crows, people? Is this a symptom of Global Warming that Al Gore didn't warn us about? I don't recall the crows of my childhood being this large. Two more years of growth and they'll be carrying off dogs and small children. I'll try to get some photos of them one of these days but take my word for it. These are big damn crows. Since I got skinnier, I'm starting to get worried. The birds in your yard should not weigh more than you do.

Not long ago — in this item — we linked to the opening minutes of the Olsen and Johnson comedy, Hellzapoppin', which is not widely available in the U.S. these days. Today, we have the trailer for another film they made, Crazy House, which is an even weirder movie. I don't know why someone hasn't released these in this country on DVD since, with a little drumbeat, they'd probably do quite well. Hellzapoppin' is out on DVD in other nations, including what I hear is a lovely new edition in England. So what's the deal? Is our money not good? Are they all pissed at us over Gitmo?

Crazy House actually came out in America on VHS some years ago…but even though I would have snatched it up if I'd known about it, I didn't. Never saw an ad, never saw it in stores, nothing. General rule of thumb: If there's a weird comedy movie out on home video and I don't know about it, the releasing company has done their best to keep it a secret. I'd hate to think someone is looking at the sales of that, ignoring the non-existent promotional campaign and saying, "Guess there's no interest in Olsen and Johnson movies in America." Of course there isn't…just as there'd be no interest in Three Stooges films if they'd been kept that well-hidden. (Wait'll you see the Stooges DVD sets that are in the works. The complete works of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein will never get such loving treatment. Of course, he wasn't as funny as Curly.)

Matter of fact, one of the ways the big studios could make better use of the Internet and services like YouTube is to circulate teaser clips like the one we're offering you today. I bet that if there was a link at the end of this where you could click and order the whole DVD from Amazon for a reasonable price, a lot of you would click. The film only gets sillier after this excerpt.

So here it is…and yes, speaking of the Stooges, that is indeed Shemp Howard in the film. He plays a guy who's always trying to sell Olsen and Johnson everything that isn't nailed down and being persistent about it. The folks at Universal's home video company could learn a thing from that man.

Retired General William E. Odom offers about as pessimistic an assessment of the Iraq situation as you're going to find. Pay special attention to this paragraph in which he addresses the argument, "We must continue the war to prevent the terrible aftermath that will occur if our forces are withdrawn soon."

Reflect on the double-think of this formulation. We are now fighting to prevent what our invasion made inevitable! Undoubtedly we will leave a mess — the mess we created, which has become worse each year we have remained. Lawmakers gravely proclaim their opposition to the war, but in the next breath express fear that quitting it will leave a blood bath, a civil war, a terrorist haven, a "failed state," or some other horror. But this "aftermath" is already upon us; a prolonged U.S. occupation cannot prevent what already exists.

This is the Bush administration. They create a situation where no course of action will make things better, then lambaste their opponents for not putting forth a plan that will solve matters. Odom's piece, by the way, is entitled "Victory Is Not an Option."

Regarding the Chaz Chase short that was this morning's video link: Jerry Beck confirms my hunch that the musical track on it is not an original from 1928. For one thing, "Merrily We Roll Along" wasn't written until 1934 or thereabouts, and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" wasn't written until 1937. Jerry sez the track on the Chase short we watched was lifted from a 1946 short, and he knows this stuff.

But that was basically Chaz Chase's act: He came out and ate things, including his own clothes. In his full act as I remember seeing it, he ate a whole pack of lit cigarettes and matches, then belched smoke for about five minutes. I have no idea how he did this.

I remember that Johnny Carson had him on at least once and a quick search of the incomplete database of Carson guests shows that Chaz Chase was on The Tonight Show on May 17, 1974. The other guests that night were Vincent Price, Bert Convy and Joan Rivers. I recall Mr. Carson being quite thrilled to have him on and making some remarks about how even Chaz wouldn't eat at the NBC Commissary.

Christopher Cook informs me that the show I asked about — Hanna-Barbera's Alice In Wonderland (or What's A Nice Kid Like You Doing In A Place Like This?) — will be on Boomerang on Sunday afternoon, February 25. I'll try and remind you when we get closer to the date in case you want to watch it, too. I haven't seen it since it first aired in 1966 but I remember thinking it was pretty good. It'll be interesting to see if I still think that because I don't with everything I liked back then.

Time for another unusual vaudeville act. This is Chaz Chase in a film from 1928 with what may be the original soundtrack. It sounds too clean to be the original but this was an early "talkie" and its soundtrack was recently restored. If it's the real thing, it's especially intresting because both songs that were later used as the themes for Warner Brothers cartoons — "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" and "Merrily We Roll Along" — turn up in it, one right after the other.

Mr. Chase did this act his entire life, right up until he died in 1983. A year before, he had been performing it on Broadway in the musical revue, Sugar Babies. He first did it on Broadway in The Ziegfeld Follies of 1925. The act did not change much over the years.

So what's unusual about Chaz Chase's act? You'll see. This runs four minutes.

Dahlia Lithwick says that support for the Death Penalty is ebbing away across America…but not necessarily in the Supreme Court.

Steve Martin and the 72 virgins.

This message will probably only be of interest to you if your cable company or satellite dish brings you Boomerang, which is the channel on which the Cartoon Network people stick anything that's more than about five years old. The schedule includes lots of vintage Warner Brothers cartoons and early Hanna-Barbera shows…or as they call them on Amazon, "Joseph Barbera Masterpieces." There are also occasionally shows that you wouldn't expect to see turn up there, like they're currently running episodes of Batfink. I'll bet a lot of people who read this site — one of whom was the voice of Batfink — would like to see more Batfink episodes.

Lately, Boomerang has been running one of the "lost treasures" of early Hanna-Barbera…Loopy De Loop cartoons. I put "lost treasures" in quotes for two reasons. One was that they were never really lost. They were just never easy to see in the first place. They were cartoons that the studio made wholly for theatrical exhibition…with the same artists and writers and voice folks (Daws Butler was Loopy) and on production budgets that may have been a dollar or two higher than an equivalent TV cartoon. But they were shown in movie houses so I've rarely seen them. I didn't even see them when I was a kid and avidly devouring everything Hanna-Barbera put out. There were 47 or 49 Loopy De Loop cartoons, depending on which source one believes, and they were produced between 1959 and 1965. I've caught maybe a dozen of them, if that many.

And the other reason I put "lost treasures" in quotes is for the "treasures" part. They aren't wonderful cartoons. I don't even think they're up to the standards of the concurrent H-B shows like Quick Draw McGraw or Yogi Bear. Loopy is just not an interesting or funny character.

Still, it's fun to see something from that period you haven't seen before…and you can now see them occasionally on Boomerang, which may be the only place you'll see them for quite some time. Warner Home Video is still balking at putting out the second DVD volume of Huckleberry Hound and they're dragging their feet (or hooves, I guess) on Quick Draw McGraw. There probably isn't a lot of enthusiasm in the place for The Complete Loopy De Loop. So if you care about such things, catch them on Boomerang while you can. They pop up in shows that consist of early H-B shorts, especially Huckleberry Hound. (One is scheduled for tomorrow's episode of Huckleberry Hound.)

Also, I'm on the lookout for maybe the only other early Hanna-Barbera goodie I'd like to see again and have on a DVD. It's the 1966 prime-time special, Alice in Wonderland (or What's A Nice Kid Like You Doing In A Place Like This?) It was written by Bill Dana (who also appears as Jose Jiminez) and has music by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, who wrote some pretty good scores for musicals like Bye Bye Birdie. The voice cast includes Janet Waldo as Alice, most of the other H-B regulars (Daws, Don, Mel, Alan Reed, Howie Morris, etc.) with Sammy Davis Jr. as the Cheshire Cat and Zsa Zsa Gabor as the Queen of Hearts. This was before Zsa Zsa's husband got Anna Nicole Smith pregnant.

I'm told Boomerang runs it every so often but if so, I've managed to miss it. If anyone hears it's going to be on, let me know so I can let everyone else know. Thanks.

Barack Obama announced today he will seek the Democratic nomination for the presidency. Which group do you think now has the larger number? People running for the 2008 presidency or people claiming to have fathered Anna Nicole Smith's child?

I have no idea if Barack Obama would be my top choice for the office…and you know what? I don't have to decide that now. No one does. The primaries are a long way off and the world will change in many ways between now and then. The issues that concern us most will be different. More candidates will enter the race. Some who are in will embarrass themselves in different ways and get out. We can just about count on at least one sizzling revelation that will totally change everyone's view of a candidate.

To give you an idea of how things can and will change just in regard to the Democratic nomination, consider this. Today is 563 days until the nominee of that party will be voted upon at a convention in Denver.

Now, go read this old post that I had up here, only 232 days before the 2004 candidate was formally selected. And I was only repeating what all the polls and pundits were saying then.

High among the portions of this website that have received the most hits and "thank you" messages are my articles on what I call Unfinanced Entrepreneurs. Put simply, these are people who try to hire writers and artists to work, not for money, but for vague and shifting promises of money somewhere down the line if and when the project is successful. It has been my observation (and, sadly, experience) that few of those projects are ever successful and that even when they are, the promises are rarely honored.

There is no creative person alive who can't tell you a dozen stories of how they got screwed over by accepting such propositions. Still, most of us fall for them now and then, and of course it's the newest people who fall the hardest. Last month, I was contacted by a friend whose son is an aspiring comic book artist. The son is so eager/desperate (pick one) to get into comics that when an established writer of some success offered him the chance to illustrate a 64-page graphic novel "on spec," the son leaped at the opportunity and quit his real job, which paid him actual money. From there on, it's a long, ugly story so I'll cut to where it stands now: The kid spent six months drawing the graphic novel. The writer has the pages, will probably never do anything with them and will not return phone calls or e-mails. Except maybe as a practice exercise, the experience could not have been more of a waste for the young artist. His work will not be published. There will be no payment. He doesn't even have the original artwork to sell or show around as a sample.

This kind of thing happens way too often so we have to keep reminding each other. To that end, one group is doing something about it and about one party in particular.

Gail Simone, a fine writer who believes she was victimized by this party, is one of the key organizers. Also involved are Scott Shaw! and Sarah Beach and several others. They have a website with the glorious, apt name of Unscrewed. It's apt because they're out to turn their negative experiences into positive ones, not only righting some of the wrongs of their shafting but creating a bit of empowerment for creative folks who encounter swindlers. There's a forum over there and details on an anthology they're assembling to raise funds and I'm all for it. We'll never stop this kind of abuse but we can sure make creators less likely to fall for the malarkey.

This is my favorite news story of the day. Just go read it.

Amazon-dot-com and the TiVo people have teamed up for a new joint venture. Basically, the way it'll work is that you'll be able to go to Amazon and pick out a movie or a recently-aired TV show, pay a fee and have it delivered via the Internet to your TiVo. This all assumes you own a TiVo (series 2 or 3) and have it hooked up to the Internet, of course. This page over at the TiVo site will tell you more about how it'll work. And this page over on Amazon will show you some offerings you'll be able to download and what they'll cost you.

What do we think of this? We think it's interesting and inevitable. We also think it's going to be the subject of at least one of the nastiest labor negotiations — and probably, strikes — that Hollywood has ever seen. The Writers Guild wants a piece of digital delivery. The Screen Actors Guild wants a piece. And even the Directors Guild — that wouldn't strike if the studios made directors all wear frog costumes and hop around the set — is talking labor stoppage. (If the DGA stays true to history, they won't strike. What they'll do is make some sort of deal which, by its very construction, creates a payment system that works for directors but doesn't work for writers or actors. The studios will agree to it and then try to force it on the other two unions as a precedent.)

On a more trivial level, we're probably bothered more than we should be by them ballyhooing that you can "Download a Joseph Barbera masterpiece." Here's the sales copy that's presently on the page…

Pioneer animator Joseph Barbera of Hanna-Barbera Productions has died at 95, but his Oscar and Emmy-winning toons are immortal. His partner Bill Hanna had a director's eye, but Barbera was the superior artist and gag man. Unbox presents the world download premiere of the Hanna-Barbera classics The Yogi Bear Show, Huckleberry Hound, Jonny Quest, and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. And making their Unbox debut: The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo.

What's wrong with this? Well, for one thing, there's a certain cash-in-on-the-dead sleaziness, plus the questionable premise that Barbera was a better artist than Hanna. One of the reasons their partnership lasted so long is that they never tolerated that kind of talk. They did sometimes act like the two of them made all those cartoons with minimal assists from others, and you'd think we'd be past that by now. I mean, Joe B. never wrote or drew some of those shows. He was the producer and so, fully his equal, was Hanna. How'd those shows get to be "Joseph Barbera masterpieces?" (I've got ten bucks that says Joe never even saw some episodes of Scooby-Doo or Penelope Pitstop…)

There's also an ad that pops up on the page from time to time that says you can "Download an Iwao Takamoto Masterpiece." Iwao died recently, too.

Another great act of the past! It's Johnny Puleo and the Harmonica Rascals. I used to see these guys on all the variety shows of the fifties and I never quite understood what they were doing…but the music was pleasant enough and the act was silly, so that was reason enough to watch.

The history, as I understand it, is that there was an act called Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals, and that Puleo was one of the many musicians auditioned and hired over the years by Mr. Minevitch. In the late forties when Minevitch retired, he handed the act over to the diminutive Puleo. At some point, there was a trademark dispute over the name and the group became The Harmonica Gang. Ed Sullivan especially liked them and was known to call them in at the last moment if he thought the show that week needed their kind of energy.

Puleo retired in the late sixties and the group disbanded. He made a brief cameo appearance in an episode of SCTV in 1982, a year before he passed away. Here he is with his troupe on a Milton Berle telecast of the early fifties…