Darren McGavin and Don Knotts

Isn't it amazing that Darren McGavin and Don Knotts who both starred in the Disney movie "No Deposit, No Return" died on the same weekend? Of course, both stars had been in and went on to do greater things, but it almost seems like they worked together at that time kind of like the mid-point of their careers.

McGavin of course had previously been in "The Delicate Delinquent" taking over the Dean Martin role in the first Jerry Lewis solo vehicle and also was "The Night Stalker". Afterwards, he was best known as "the old man" in "The Christmas Story".

Knotts was on "Steve Allen" and in "The Andy Griffith Show" previously and a number of silly 60s movies and then appeared as Ralph Furley in "Three's Company" afterwards.

Interesting...

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

FW: Thompson Twins Hold Me Now Cover Version

I was a huge Thompson Twins fan in their 80s heyday, and was always disappointed
that they just threw in the towel after about 10 or so years, unlike U2 who
keeps going and going and going.... Anyway, I just heard a cover version of
"Hold Me Now" and I'm not sure if it was by Wayne Wonder or Cosmicity. It was
probably the Wayne Wonder version as it sounded kind of R&B and actually sounded
better than the Twins original version. I wish the Thompson Twins (the line-up
with Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway) would reunite for a new album and
tour. I think that they could do great things and be very contemporary with
their sound. Of course, Tom and Alannah are divorced now, so it may be tough. Oh well. At least I can spin the oldies...

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

"Rewind: The Best in Music and Video" Review

For years here in the US, I have begged for a good comprehensive DVD of those early rock music videos and now I have one...sort of. Sort of because "Rewind" is not a US compilation, it is a compilation of Malaysian origin of all things but it does indeed have some of the best of those early 80s music videos. The DVDs that have come out in the US have about 5 videos. Why? When DVDs can carry so much information. This collection has 32! Wow! And the price is right, too. About $23. A US version of this same thing would probably cost over $50 since it also contained 2 CD's of the same music. The US gouges on everything. Imports are great!!

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

King Solomon's Mines (1950) Review

You know, usually I am a big fan of older movies as they were typically made better and had better writing, etc. One strong exception that I just watched was "King Solomon's Mines" from 1950. What a doggy movie! It makes even the lamest Disney movie watchable. Basically, it is "Hey, look at that animal!" and then a cut to some stock footage, except in one case where a giant rubber spider creature creeped along like a relative of "The Tingler". Star Stewart Granger also seemed to understand every African language dialect except when it was really important. And, there was also an emphasis on how much ammunition was left, so the final bullets were used on certain natives to great effect. Once they got to the mine itself, it was still snoresville and basically a letdown. This was made before in 1937 and again in 1985 and in 2004 which seemingly the same results according to other reviews. Why do they keep making this same stupid movie???

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

March of the Penguins Review

This is a good film. It's not too long and it is presented well. If you are not aware, it is a documentary about Emperor penguins who migrate from the sea to reproduce inland at the South Pole, and the troubles they encounter in this process. Lots of excellent photography. What is amazing to me is the success of this film. I mean, these types of films appear regularly on PBS and Animal Planet and Discovery, but this one seemed to take off for some reason. Perhaps it was Morgan "Easy Reader" Freeman's soothing narration, or the simplistic presentation style. Who knows? The DVD has a couple of other documentaries on the same subject that are more graphic and explanatory in nature. The original film kind of glosses over some details for the sake of "cuteness" and for the sake of getting on with the story. Also, the Bugs Bunny cartoon "8 Ball Bunny" which isn't available on DVD elsewhere at this time, is here. Love those ice cube teardrops!

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

President's Day

So, here I am working on President's Day. I have worked a few President's Days in the past, but for this position, most of the people I would contact are not available and on holiday themselves. It just makes me want to revamp the holiday system in the US. This is what I propose as the new holiday system where we have one paid holiday per month that encompasses numerous holidays at one time:

January - New Year's Day
February - Valentine's Day/President's Day
March - St. Patrick's Day
April - Easter/Passover
May - Memorial Day
June - Flag Day
July - Independence Day
August - Martin Luther King Day
September - Labor Day
October - Halloween
November - Thanksgiving
December - Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Whatever...

As you can see, I moved Martin Luther King Day to August. Why? Well, most companies don't get the day off coming two weeks after New Year's, so we should put it in August, where there are no holidays. Besides, August is when Martin Luther King performed his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, which is more significant than his birthday anyway.

Regards,
Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

David Frye is on CD!

There's a new double CD set of two classic David Frye LPs: "I am the President" (1970) and "Radio Free Nixon" (1971). For those who weren't there or have no background to history, these releases may mean nothing to you, but for me who is a fan of political humor and was a wee lad when these were released, these releases are gold. Frye was a zillion times funnier than Rich Little or any other Nixon parodist because of his scathing humor. If you can appreciate classic stuff like the Kennedy material of "The First Family" then by all means buy this set!

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Richie Rich's Vault

I've promoted this before, but there's lots of rumblings going on in the Richie Rich Vault as of late. Check out the Yahoo! group by clicking on the appropriate link!

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

When a Stranger Calls Review

Though this is not an original idea (it wasn't even original when the movie was made in 1979), it is still well made. A throwback to good horror-suspense before too much gore and shock of movies like "Hostel" and "Saw" tookover the marketplace. As such, I suppose it isn't doing very well, but Camilla Belle is quite the hottie and very easy on the eyes as she goes through the throws. But, as I saw it I thought to myself, why does she answer the phone so much? I guess it's always that curiousity, but if I was in the situation, I'd probably turn off the ringer and watch some TV. I may be dead by the end of the picture, but I wouldn't traumatize myself needlessly. Overall, worth seeing for its good story construction and execution, despite not being original. "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948) is probably a good earlier example of the same concept.

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Wondercon 20

Went to Wondercon 20 this year. While it was fun, it was also a bit of a letdown compared to prior years. I hope that this is not the trend for the future and maybe just a sign that 2006 is getting off to a slower start than in previous years. I am hoping, but I kind of doubt it. Sales have been slumping for years in the comic book industry as with any collectibles considering that people have far less disposable income due to mounting gas prices and credit card bills. I will be attending San Diego later this year and will be at Lee's Comics booth if anyone wants to say "hi".

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Brokeback Mountain Question

Anyone reading this who is not gay, tell me the truth, did you see and
enjoy "Brokeback Mountain"? It seems that every time someone says something
negative about this film, someone always rushes to the defense of it, and
then claims that they are gay, like that reason alone makes the film
better. I feel that a lot of gay people are supporting it in exactly the
same way non-gay people are not, because of the subject matter, more than
whether it is really a good film or not. And that's what's important to me.

I don't plan to see it right away, because I am not a fan of Director Ang
Lee's other work that I have seen, namely "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
and "Hulk". I could give two figs about the subject matter of any film, as
long as it is good, and I thought those two films were bad. "Crouching"
seemed decent until all the characters started leaping about like "Peter
Pan" and that lost me. And "Hulk", with its computer-generated "Hulk" is
just plain bad and stupid, too.

It's fine that it's a romance between two male cowboys, but since Ang Lee
has made such wretched films in the past, I don't trust his directorial
efforts. Winning awards doesn't mean anything either, because usually I am
not a big fan of most "Best Picture" awards even though eventually I do end
up seeing them.

Comments?

Regards,
Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Ray Harryhausen and Political Unrest

Ray Harryhausen is fun. I wish those people who are bombing embassies over cartoon drawings would take a moment and enjoy some fun things that life has to offer like a good Ray Harryhausen movie. My favorites are the "Sinbad" ones and "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans". This seems weird to discuss politics with stop-motion monster movies I suppose, but my point is that the people in the rest of the world need to lighten up. It's strange to have a religion whose basic theme is "kill or be killed". Wouldn't it be more fun to get lost in a good, campy movie for a change?

Don't people in the rest of the world have anything better to do than bomb places, or behead people, or shoot guns in the air, etc.? Why not do something more constructive? Perhaps they could build a Disneyland of sorts? I don't know, but if anyone reading this could start doing something more creative like write or draw or compose music or poetry instead of killing people, life would be more bearable for the rest of us. The next time anybody thinks of killing someone, start with the man in the mirror first...

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Superbowl XL and Censorship

The Superbowl is overrated! Especially the commercials! I think the days of the innovative commercials died with the dot com era, because most of the ones shown were just standard ones shown elsewhere, or otherwise unremarkable. There were a couple of good ones, but you could say that about watching commercials at any time, not just the Superbowl.

"The Rolling Stones" at half-time was kind of fun, but why did they censor themselves. I mean "Start Me Up" has only been played on television about a half a billion times since 1981 and now they think of censoring it? And "Rough Justice" says "cocks", but he's referring to "roosters", and even if he wasn't, so what? I'm surprised they didn't also censor "make some girl" from "Satisfaction" (which was censored on "Ed Sullivan" all those years ago.) to give it a censorship hat trick!

Censorship of this sort is stupid! I agree with George Carlin when he says, "I love this country. I love the freedoms we used to have."! All I can say is bring us more of Janet Jackson's tit!

As far as the game went...eh?

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

Car Repairs

Car repairs suck! As soon as you think your car is in good shape, then something else falls apart on it. I own a Toyota Camry which is considered one of the better cars, but since I drive it all the time, things keep breaking. Unfortunately, since car repairs cost so much, you can't do the repairs on "time", so charging up credit cards happens easily.

My car is currently in the shop. Hopefully, it is nothing and I'll get off cheaply.

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net

The New World

You know, "The New World" could be considered by some critics as movie-making at its finest, but man is it dull. I was squirming in my seat the same way I was when I watched "Out of Africa", which did win Best Picture years ago.

It seems to be fairly accurate, unlike the Disney cartoon, but overall the story of Pocahontas seems to be greatly overrated, especially since Pocahontas didn't live past 22 and didn't really accomplish all that much in her lifetime. It's just one of those characters in history you seem to hear a lot about, but there really isn't that much about them that's remarkable.

That's what "The New World" is like and there's no "Colors of the Wind" to singalong to... Pity.

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Regards,

Mark Arnold
http://funideas.home.att.net