"Confessions of a Prairie Bitch"

Alison Arngrim who's best known for playing Nellie on "Little House on the Prairie" has written her autobiography. Now I liked "Little House" as a kid, but as an adult, I'm much more fascinated by her voiceover mother, Norma MacMillan, who voiced Casper, Sweet Polly Purebred and Davey Hansen among other famous cartoon characters.

In her book, Arngrim does talk about her mother a bit, but the photo as seen above is the real prize.

Anyway, the book itself is a quick read and talks much more about a lot of other stuff, but it holds my interest for the reasons stated above.

McDonald's Big Breakfast

Ok, now I'm craving McDonald's Big Breakfast!

Donuts

I was craving donuts all day and finally bought some...mmmmmmm donuts!!!

Rocky and Bullwinkle Season 4 DVD

Ok, since we last spoke I DID get the latest "Bugs Bunny" DVD and yes, I am upset that they made some of the cartoons on this and the aforementioned "Daffy Duck" DVD in fake widescreen. I don't know why Warners bothered to do that. The mind boggles.

Now, the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" DVDs haven't been much better, BUT at least they're trying and they give you a lot for your money. Funny I say this when "Season 4" is only two disc sides while 1, 2 and 3 has more than twice as much, but that's the way it was originally produced.

What's great about this set is that now all of the non-"Rocky and Bullwinkle" segments are now on DVD, meaning "Fractured Fairy Tales", "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", "Aesop and Son", "Peabody's Improbable History" and the "Bullwinkle's Corner"/"Mr. Know it All" shorts.

Of course, the down side is that all of the "Season 5" "Rocky and Bullwinkle" episodes are not on DVD and it doesn't seem like a "Season 5" is in the cards. Grrr. So, no Bumbling Bros. Circus, Fingers Scarnose or Mucho Loma (among others). A few "Season 5" stories like "Wossamotta U" and "Pottsylvania Creeper" ARE on "Best of" DVDs, but not together in one spot...

The MAJOR complaint of ALL the Jay Ward "Rocky and Bullwinkle" sets is the lack of complete music tracks. They have some, but there were alternate themes to "Peabody's Improbable History" and "Fractured Fairy Tales" and even the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" segments that never appeared ANYWHERE on these sets.

Also, officially "Season 3" and "Season 4" (as well as unreleased "Season 5") really SHOULD be "The Bullwinkle Show" with the moose in top hat and tails high-kicking it on stage on the opening credits. This was the opening that was seen FOREVER after 1961 until these sets. The "Rocky and his Friends" opening should only have been used on "Season 1" and "Season 2".

Now, did this deter me from buying this...no, but it is disappointing. Same with the fake widescreen on the "Bugs Bunny" and "Daffy Duck" sets. I suppose I could NOT buy them as protest, but hey, these *%^$ers might just throw in the towel and not issue it at all, and for those who say, "Well, if it isn't issued correctly, I'm not going to buy it!", then DON'T. I still will.

Sometimes they have a recall which Warners did with their "Tom and Jerry" and "Popeye" sets and BELIEVE ME, if they EVER have an exchange program correcting any of this stuff again, I'll be first in line to exchange.

"Mad" is Back and Bimonthly!!!

Actually, "Mad" never went anywhere, but for the common person, they usually ask when I say something about "Mad": "Do they still publish that? I remember reading it as a kid."

Things like "MadTV", though it had its moments, did nothing to change that assessment, so as a promotional vehicle for the magazine, it was a flop. Of course, they never promoted the magazine on the TV shows and after the first year or so, the magazine never promoted the TV show, so so much for synergy, eh?

Anyway, in recent times "Mad" switched from being monthly to quarterly, and they canceled all of the other "Mad" related titles, specials and annuals. Most who did know about "Mad" thought that "Mad" would be canceled shortly.

Recently, an amazing thing happened. First, "Mad" is back up to six times a year, but more amazingly, it's become funnier (still not as funny as it was at its peak, but funnier than it has been in a long time), and most importantly, an animated series is set to debut this fall on Cartoon Network (although I have seen a preview on Cartoon Brew and was not impressed).

Got the Daffy Duck Set...

Where's the Bugs Bunny one? I hate having to buy stuff online because the stores don't bother to get enough copies, or none at all...

Oh well. Amazon here I come.

Anyway, I HOPE HOPE HOPE that they keep these collections coming at least WITH NO REPEATS! Fortunately this and the Bugs Bunny set do not have any repeats from the six previous "Looney Tunes Golden Collections".

Warner Bros. should just bite the bullet and put out the rest of the "Looney Tunes" on DVD, perhaps through their online only Warner Archive series, just to get them out (I know, I know again I have to order on line)...

UPDATE: I realized after I posted this that some of the cartoons were matted to look widescreen. This sucks because none of them were. Oh well. What to do...

Variety Shows

I love old variety shows. I may have said it here before. For some reason, TV producers have got it into their heads that variety shows no longer work and that the format died with "The Carol Burnett Show".

What they fail to realize is that the reason "The Carol Burnett Show" worked is the writing and the repertory company. Recent attempts include "The Wayne Brady Show". I like Brady as a comedian. Problem was, his variety show came hot on the heels of "Who's Line is it Anyway?" where Brady and crew ad-libbed their way through the show.

This ad-libbing did not carry over very well to his variety show and as a result, ratings suffered.

One of the old ones I picked up on DVD recently for $5, was the old "Tony Orlando and Dawn" show. I found it just as fun as when I originally watched it from 1974-1976. Orlando, Hopkins and Vincent are good at singing and also the light comedy they provided.

It is this kind of show that TV is lacking today.

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson did an homage to old variety shows (particularly "Sonny and Cher") in 2004 and they pulled it off. They (or someone similar) could do it again...

Norma MacMillan

Here's the late Norma MacMillan (1921-2001) standing next to one of the famous creations she voice, Casper the Friendly Ghost. MacMillan is also known for voicing Sweet Polly Purebred on "Underdog" and Davey on "Davey and Goliath".

MacMillan's daughter, Alison Arngrim (Nellie on "Little House on the Prairie"), just released a book called "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch", which features information about her mother and also a different photo than shown above of MacMillan and Arngrim with Casper.

Check it out...

Recent Acquisitions

I went to the Time Tunnel Super Toy, Doll & Collectible Show on Saturday and wanted to mention a few of my recent acquisitions. I bought the first two "Peanuts" calendars from 1962 and 1963.

I bought a Harvey-Toons flannel set, that was sort of a precursor to Colorforms. I bought an oversized Casper Coloring Book (pictured above) and a Ray Bradbury paperback that contained old EC reprints, plus a couple of old Harvey Comics I didn't have yet.

All in all, it was a fun day and I didn't overspend since I sold some of my late mom's old Avon stuff.

Casper Sheets

I was walking around Redwood City on Friday doing my "other" job of selling ads in the "Daily Post" and came across a closed business that had Casper sheets in the windows! I was so tempted to break in and take them! (kidding)

Anyway, these feature the Casper from the 1990s animated cartoon series and are less desirable for me. It's just funny to find an old friend in such an odd place.

Retro Crunch

I was taking a break at work the other day and decided to wonder into the grocery store because it was hot. I also decided to take a nostalgic look down the cereal aisle and lo and behold were "retro" packages of "Cap'n Crunch" cereal!

Quickly, I bought a box.

For those who don't know "Cap'n Crunch" was created by Jay Ward through Quaker Oats. Ward is famous for Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle, but turned to TV advertising when the rules for animated TV shows changed so dramatically during the 1960s. Of course, there was a lot more money in the Cap'n.

Cap started in 1963 and Ward Productions wrote, voiced and animated them all until 1984 when Ward retired. Quaker Oats in their infinite wisdom decided either for copyright reasons or stupidity to give the good Cap'n a facelift and even had TV commercials alerting consumers to this fact. Cap'n even disappeared for a time off his own box!

When he returned, it was a similar, but largely unappealing design that continues to this day. Strangely, although Ward also designed Quisp and his accompanying cereal, no such facelift ever took place. The problem with Quisp is that you rarely find it on store shelves, although now you can order it off the internet at least.

Anyway, three cheers for Quaker Oats!

Time Tunnel Super Toy, Doll & Collectible Show

Santa Clara County Fairgrounds
344 Tully Road, San Jose, CA 95111

Early Bird 9 AM - 10:59 AM
General admission 11 AM - 4 PM

General Admission: $5.00
Kids Under 12: $2.50
Early Bird: $15.00
The Fairgrounds charges $8 for parking.

This is where I be today. Come see me!

Smothers Brothers "New" Release

I love the Smothers Brothers and I love their old albums on Mercury Records. Unfortunately, Mercury Records doesn't think too much about their archives, so it's up to Laugh.com to resurrect these old classic albums and finally issue them onto CD.

Unfortunately, they take their sweet time and you have to order through Laugh or pay a premium if you order through Amazon and they are (usually) not available in stores, which is also sometimes a drag.

Anyway, "The Two Sides of The Smothers Brothers" is now available on CD, without any fanfare. It is called the "Two Sides" because one side is comedy songs and the other side is straight folk songs. The comedy side is what's great and this is the album that has the classic "Chocolate". If you don't laugh at this, you don't understand comedy. "Chocolate" is what made me become a Smothers Brothers fan when I first heard it on "Dr. Demento" back in the 80s.

I searched for the long out-of-print vinyl record (which is surprisingly easy to find) and soon amassed all of the 12 original Smothers Brothers albums, of which about a half are now available on CD through Laugh.

Here's hoping they speed up the process and get the rest of them out including the great "Tour De Farce: American History" and "Mom Always Liked You Best" albums.

"Thanks for the Memory" Sheet Music

I recently purchased sheet music for the song "Thanks for the Memory". I purchased it because of the song significance and the fact that there are cartoon caricatures of Bob Hope and W.C. Fields as well as Ben Blue and Martha Raye.

The reason for this song was "The Big Broadcast of 1938" which starred all of the above-mentioned people as well as Dorothy Lamour and Shirley Ross.

It turned out to be Bob Hope's first feature film and the song ended up becoming his signature tune. It also turned out to be the last film Fields did for Paramount as he moved over to Universal after this.

Sorry for the cut image, but the original sheet music is slightly larger than 11"x17".

Ringo's "Live at the Greek Theatre 2008"

Yet another live album by Ringo. This one gets high marks because of the first live appearance of "Oh My My", plus good live versions of "Pick Up the Pieces" and "Dream Weaver", both also making their debuts on an All-Starr album. This album also features more Ringo (11 tracks!) than any other All-Starr album.

The full concert is also available on DVD, with more tracks than this CD.

Hogan's Alley

"Hogan's Alley" is a publication that doesn't get as much recognition as it deserves. Now, I'm not writing this because I write for "Hogan's Alley", because even if I didn't, it would be a great magazine.

Actually, I'm not even in the latest issue #17 which features articles about Spongebob Squarepants and "The Bullwinkle Show's" Bill Scott. I have had articles in the past about John Sutherland, Thurl Ravenscroft and Underdog.

"Hogan's Alley" comes out roughly one time a year. It resembles a paperback book and is always worth the wait for the information it carries about comic books, comic strips and animation.

You can read more about it here!

Celebrity Comic Books

While there are a few one-shot celebrity comic books (like I've seen one on Obama, and another one on his dog!), there are no longer any comic book series on celebrities or comedians anymore.

DC had long running series of "The Adventures of Bob Hope" and "The Adventures of Jerry Lewis" (originally called "The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis".

The most recent example that I can think of was "Camp Candy", based on a TV cartoon show starring John Candy.

I think it would be funny if someone (could be DC) did "The Adventures of Will Ferrell" or "The Adventures of Jim Carrey" or something. Maybe the licensing fees are too high, but I really think that comic book publishers don't think this way anymore. Or, it might be because today's comedians are typically too vulgar to headline a comic book series arguably aimed at children. 'Tis a shame.

I would love to see a series like this. What do you think?

"South Park" Update

Since I haven't had cable since 1997 (yes, it's true!), I have gotten behind in my "South Park" watching. A friend of mine is lending my different seasons and lent me season 10 and more recently season 11.

The funny thing was on season 10, I had actually seen three of the 14 episodes, so I eventually see these things by osmosis as I know other friends have shown me these things.

I actually had also grown tired of "South Park". It seemed basically the same over and over and over. These later episodes are much better as they have a theme that usually is something taken from the day's headlines, thus making it a more enjoyable viewing experience.

The humor is still quite sophomoric, but that's the way it is. The most recent one I've watched is the first one from season 11, where Stan's dad mistakenly says the "N" word on "Wheel of Fortune" and all hell breaks loose. Funny stuff.

DePatie-Freleng Book?

I want to do a DePatie-Freleng book. Trouble is, I cannot seem to interest a publisher in it, which is strange since I did the Total TeleVision book. Jerry Beck DID do a DePatie-Freleng book of sorts, but it focused mainly on the Pink Panther and the theatrical DFE cartoons.

DFE did a number of TV cartoons, including "Super President", "Baggy Pants and the Nitwits" and "What's New, Mr. Magoo". They even did a couple of animated specials for Flip Wilson and many for Dr. Seuss.

So, anyone reading this...would you be interested in a DFE book? Perhaps I should just interview Dave DePatie anyway on the off chance that I can interest a publisher down the line...

Harvey Comics R.I.P.

With the recent death of Mitch Miller, I wanted to give tribute to the people who worked for Harvey or with Harvey that have passed away the past couple of years. I recently updated my Harvey Comics Who's Who and realized that I missed a couple of people.

Miller recorded versions of "Casper the Friendly Ghost" and "Little Audrey Says" with The Sandpipers for Golden Records back in the 1950s. He was 99. Of course, he's much better known for his "Sing Along with Mitch" albums and TV show.

Here's some more:

Cartier, Edd (1914-2008) – Artist, Harvey horror titles. Also worked for Street & Smith. Active during the 1940s and 1950s.

Frazetta, Frank (1928-2010) – Artist, “Li’l Abner” at the time Harvey was publishing it. Went on to become pre-eminent fantasy illustrator. Illustrated many movie posters. Also worked for EC, DC, Better and Warren. Active since the 1940s.

Kamen, Jack (1920-2008) – Artist, Harvey romance titles. Also worked for EC, Fawcett, Fiction House and Marvel and painted the movie poster for “Creepshow”. Active since the 1940s.

Post, Howard (1926-2010) – Artist, Hot Stuff, Spooky, Wendy. Head of Famous Studios during the 1960s. Also worked for Marvel and DC. Drew “The Dropouts” comic strip. Created Anthro for DC. Active from the 1940s to 1990s.

Rosen, Joe (1920-2009) – Letterer, Harvey Comics. Also worked for Marvel and DC. Brothers Sam and Ted Rosen sometimes helped with his lettering projects. Active from the 1950s to 1990s.

Tuska, George (1916-2009) – Artist, Harvey superhero, romance and Harvey Thriller titles. Also worked for Marvel, DC, St. John, Quality, Tower, Lev Gleason, Fox, Fiction House, Fawcett, Active from the 1930s to 1980s.

Williamson, Al (1931-2010) – Artist, Harvey science-fiction and Harvey Thriller titles. Also worked for EC, Marvel, DC, Warren and Gold Key. Also had long tenures on “Tarzan”, “Flash Gordon” and “Star Wars” comic strips. Active since the 1950s.

"Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years"

I got a cheap hardback copy of this book ($5) and am fascinated by it. I was thinking about diaries in general. Granted, I seriously try to write this blog every day, but I don't really go on at length about my personal life. That being said, I don't think Michael Palin (of "Monty Python" fame) really ever intended other eyes to see his work.

Amazingly, the diary covering Python's first 10 years is surprisingly coherent considering this fact. And although I consider myself a pretty hardcore fan, I still discovered some new facts about Python.

For instance, when they shot the fourth series in 1974 without John Cleese, they considered doing seven more episodes to bring it to 13 like the other series. I knew Eric Idle decided to throw in the towel at this point, but here we find that he actually waffled for a bit before deciding for good to do no more TV Python.

There's other stuff like this. My only quibble is that the diary ends in 1979, when there were still a good four more years of original Python left, so no commentary about "The Contractual Obligation Album" (1980), "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (1982) or "The Meaning of Life (1983).

UPDATE: In searching for the requisite photo for this blog, I have discovered that Palin has released a sequel covering the 1980s.

"Judgment at Nuremberg"

If you haven't seen this film...go see it! It is one of the best films ever made!

Yes, better than "Avatar" and "Inception" and "Lord of the Rings" combined!

This is great drama made better because it is real!

Nuff Said!

"Inception" Not So Original

Boy, I got a LOT of flack for saying that I thought "Inception" was just "ok" and that the idea wasn't original. My dad actually sent me this link that proves that even "Uncle Scrooge" has used this idea before.

Please click on this link to read Uncle Scrooge in "The Dream of a Lifetime".

The article about this appears here.

Universal Gets Into the Act!

I've heaped praise on Warner Bros. for months here because of their Warner Archive series and now Universal is jumping on the bandwagon with their Universal Vault series. There are a number of good Universal Pictures that are unavailable on DVD, until now.

"The Last Remake of Beau Geste" starring Marty Feldman (pictured above) is one of these. Universal has made an arrangement with Amazon to produce these on DVD-R. Some quibble about DVD-R vs. regular DVD, but I'd rather have DVD-R than nothing at all.

"Last Remake" is a very funny film in the vein of Mel Brooks at his best. Highly recommended.

"Light in the Piazza" Harvey Comics Appearance

I watched a movie at the Stanford Theater as I typically do, every so often. The two movies I watched were "Come September" (1961), a good Rock Hudson-Gina Lollobrigida romantic comedy. Also on the bill was "Light in the Piazza", another romantic comedy starring Yvette Mimieux and George Hamilton, along with Olivia de Havilland. Both were good movies. I preferred "September", but "Piazza" was good for another reason: Harvey Comics!

Mimieux's character was supposed to be emotionally disturbed and also she hadn't really grown up. To show this, they showed her reading comic books. Highly visible was an issue of "Little Max", that Mimieux actually read. I believe it was issue #51, but couldn't completely tell. It was a yellow cover. I also think a copy of "Little Dot" was visible, but I really couldn't see the cover at all.

"September" is on DVD, but unfortunately "Piazza" has never been released to home video in any form, else I would post a screen capture here.

Plop!

I am uploading covers for "Plop!", a comic book DC put out from 1973-1976, and is only remembered now by cultists of DC and humor comics.

It would be nice and I've said it before if DC would do a "Showcase" book reprinting all 24 issues, the "Klop!" story from "House of Mystery" and the "DC Super-Stars" salute to Sergio Aragones (as pictured above).

I've probably written this blog request before, and since the book STILL hasn't appeared, I will probably write it again

"Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart"

So, I finally purchased the "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart" collection on CD. It is an OK album, but lives on as the missing link between "Changes" and "That Was Then, This is Now" on the brief "Monkees" reunion of the 1970s.

One reviewer on Amazon claimed that the sound quality wasn't that good on this CD. I don't know what they're talking about. It sounds fine. I think the original LP didn't have that much dynamic range, anyway, and was kind of quickly put together, explaining the need for covers like "Along Came Jones" and "Teenager in Love" from a group that boasted TWO writers who wrote most of the Monkees hits.

I think the biggest problem with "DJB&H" is their name. Too long and cumbersome. I know that they didn't have the rights to the "Monkees" name at the time (1976), but they should have come up with something more dynamic than this like "Monkmen" or something.

There is also a long out-of-print live CD of "DJB&H", which I have as well that originally appeared on LP in Japan.

Though not the greatest album, songs like "You and I" (redone later by the Monkees on "Just Us"), "You Didn't Feel That Way Last Night (Don't You Remember)" (which sound suspiciously like "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"), "Savin' My Love For You" and "Remember the Feeling".

2010 Comic Con International Part 3

Picture #9: "Sonambulo's" Rafael Navarro (center) and friends.

Picture #10: Comic dealer extraordinaire Ron Murray strikes a pose...

Picture #11: The incomparable Neal Adams signs for his fans.

Picture #12: Len Wein and Maggie Thompson.

Picture #13: Harvey editor Sid Jacobson.

That's it for this year. See you next year...

"Mad" Paperbacks

There was a time in the 1970s and 1980s where pocket-sized paperbacks were all the rage. There were cartoon collections of "Peanuts", "Dennis the Menace", "Hi and Lois", "B.C.", "Crock", "Broom Hilda", "The Wizard of Id", "Beetle Bailey", "The Family Circus" and many others.

Among those were multiple collections of new and used material from "Mad". At the time, I didn't pick up every book, because I figured that they'd be available forever. How wrong I was!

By the 1990s, the pocket-sized humor cartoon paperback faded from view. In 1993, the final "Mad" paperback "Bristling Mad" rolled off the presses and the rest of the line soon disappeared from view.

I decided to start buying them at that time, and of course, since the final books had lower print runs, they are consequently harder to find and sometimes pricier.

Eventually, I will get them all, even with the alternate Signet covers. Currently, I have 51 more to go. Of those, 12 of them aren't truly "Mad" paperbacks, but rather Al Jaffee paperbacks that he issued under his own name roughly around the same time as his "Mad" paperbacks.

For the more casual collector, I would definitely recommend the earlier Don Martin paperbacks, the earlier "Spy vs. Spy" paperbacks, most of the Al Jaffee and all of the Sergio Aragones paperbacks. The magazine reprint books are kind of a waste of time nowadays since every issue of "Mad" is available in DVD-Rom format.

The rest are a grab bag, but some like "Clods' Letters to Mad" and "The Mad Cradle to Grave Primer" are just classics in their own right, with the ones by Dick DeBartolo tending to be the better non-artist based books.

Caught a Cold!

Too much fun driving to and from San Diego, that I caught a cold. When I am back to "normal", I will write more blog entries. Gotta catch up...

2010 Comic Con International Part 2

Picture #5: The legendary Ralph Bakshi signing autographs.

Picture #6: The original artwork for "Cracked" #91, March 1971.

Picture #7: Dark Horse's Shawna Gore with writer Tasha Lowe-Newsome.

Picture #8: Archie Comics FINALLY had a booth at Comic Con for the first time in almost 20 years!

More pics tomorrow...

Still Buying My Beatles

When The Beatles FINALLY remastered their CDs and released them last September, I decided that I would only buy them used. For the most part, I have lived up to that claim, but I did buy "Magical Mystery Tour" and "The Beatles" (White Album) new.

I also decided to buy them slowly over time, so my latest acquisition is "Sgt. Pepper". "Sgt. Pepper" is either my fourth or fifth favorite Beatles album depending on my mood at the time.

#1 Beatles album for me is "The Beatles", followed by "Revolver". #3 is "Magical Mystery Tour". #4 is either "Pepper" or "Abbey Road". These are all great albums!

Anyway, at this point I still need to get the remastered "Please Please Me", "A Hard Day's Night", "Beatles for Sale", "Rubber Soul" and "Yellow Submarine", plus the mono versions and the apple-shaped flash drive. Give me time...

2010 Comic Con International Part 1

Since I have a few photos, I figured that I would do this in segments.

The first picture is of Dan Goodsell, the creator of "Mr. Toast" and a Facebook friend, and has uploaded a lot of interesting stuff on his blog.

The second picture is of William Stout, who designed the Rhino Records label among other things and has done some great prehistoric animal pictures. A true living legend.

Pictures three and four are of the "Emily" booth. My friend Anne is a HUGE "Emily" fan and these pics are for her.

More pics tomorrow....

"Something for Everybody" Is!

Remember a few weeks ago when I did a review of DEVO's new song "Fresh"? Well, I've now purchased the entire new DEVO album and it follows suit as being a great album; much better than their last REAL album "Smooth Noodle Maps".

This is more on a par with their GREAT albums, but not the greatest, but not an embarrassment, either. Why this album is greater has something to do with DEVO allowing their fans to decide what should go on it.

If you haven't listened to DEVO in a long time, I suggest trying it. It still has Mark, Gerald and the two Bobs, and the always replaceable drummer.

This is DEVO for the 21st Century...at last!

Comic Con International

...is where I will be for Friday and Saturday, so I may not get a chance to blog until I get back.

If you happen to be going yourself, and see me there, please ask me for your free "Cracked" magazine book post card...

I Love "Stuff"

I finally found out that one of my favorite albums came out on CD, but in Japan of all places. The New York session group Stuff with their debut album "Stuff".

"Stuff" first caught my attention on an old episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by Eric Idle. Joe Cocker was the musical guest and Stuff was the backing band, and was also Cocker's touring band at the time. At one point, Stuff played an instrumental that I immediately loved called "Foots".

One of the key members of Stuff was a pianist by the name of Richard Tee. Tee unfortunately passed away from prostate cancer back in 1993, but was one of the greatest pianists I had ever heard. He is one of the key instrumentalists on George Harrison's "33 1/3" album released roughly around the same time as "Stuff" in 1976, another album I absolutely love, largely due to Tee's piano.

Anyway, I found the album on CD...used no less...and am very happy!

"Inception" Ok...just ok...

I was really refraining from reviewing this film because EVERYONE likes it...let me rephrase that...everyone LOVES it!!! and I didn't.

I always have a problem with this because I sometimes feel that I live on a different planet than everyone else because I don't like films that everyone seems to love. Examples that come to mind are the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Avatar", "The Hangover", "The Matrix", etc.

Now, what's equally strange is that sometimes I am truly in sync with everyone else and do love things that other people do like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the original "Star Wars", "The Wizard of Oz", "Blazing Saddles", etc., etc.

"Inception" is one of those films that one SHOULD like, but it has the same inherent problems that mar "Shutter Island" and "The Matrix", two films this strongly reminds me of. It also reminds me of "Vanilla Sky", another film that I'm not that crazy about and "What Dreams May Come", a film that was universally panned, yet I happen to like!

The inherent problem is basically one of the age old "it was all a dream" scenario. It's such a cop out and it's usually covered up by elaborate special effects to disguise a trite storyline.

What's really sad is that I like Director Christopher Nolan's other work like "Momento" and "The Dark Knight". I thought those were great. Unfortunately, I didn't like his "Batman Begins" at all.

So, what to do? Me feels that I have seen FAR TOO MANY movies in my lifetime, and that skews my opinions somewhat because basically nothing is new under the sun. Couple that with the fact that I usually have HIGHER EXPECTATIONS than most once a film is claimed to be "the best film EVER made"!

So, go see it and enjoy it, because you probably will. I didn't.

Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman

Ok, at first I didn't like this show, because I thought it was too hyperkinetic, but after watching a few episodes, this PBS children's show really grew on me. The show debuted in 2006, and I sporadically watched it, but I find the animation good and the writing fantastic! It's really a very funny and educational show. So far there are over 80 episodes to date.

The basic premise is that Ruff Ruffman recruits a group of kids to do some sort of task like bake a cake at a bakery or herd cattle in Colorado for fun, prizes and points, so in essence the kids are challenged in a "game show" atmosphere that's actually fun, and surprisingly educational.

I'm highly critical of recent PBS kids shows. I feel that "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company" in their current incarnations are not educational. Same with "Barney and Friends" and "Teletubbies". It's a shame.

"Fetch!" and the previously mentioned on this blog "Between the Lions" counteract this claim and are also fun to watch.

"Undercover Brother" Review

I haven't watched this in awhile, but I was going through my DVDs and said, "Hey, here's one I haven't watched in awhile!" I was wanting to watch a comedy that was guaranteed to make me laugh. I almost chose Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie", but this one go the nod, as I've seen "Silent Movie" much more recently.

Anyway, the basic plot is similar to the "Austin Powers" movies, which is a good thing. There's not as much Mike Myers-type silliness and the movie moves along well. Many of the jokes stem from being familiar with the old "blaxploitation" films from the early 70s, but even those unfamiliar should find something to laugh about.

Though the star is Eddie Griffin, for me the highlight is Dave Chappelle. Chappelle as a comedian fascinates me. He is screechingly funny in everything he does. See his "Dave Chappelle Show" for more of what I mean. But for some reason Chappelle is still not as big as I think he should be. It probably has to do with Chappelle walking out on things like his TV show a few years back. He may be a troubled soul, but he sure is funny.

Everyone does well in this movie, even people like Chris Kattan and Denise Richards, both of whom I don't really care for in other projects, except that Richards is always a cutie.

Griffin really shines when he is pretending to be a white guy, and this is probably one of his better acting roles, too.

And I love Billy Dee Williams as the General!!!

It originally came out in 2002. Check it out!

Whatever Happened to the Television Code?

So I'm watching an old episode of "Petticoat Junction" from 1963 and notice this symbol called the Television Code. I remember seeing the code quite often when I was a kid and wondered what happened.

Wikipedia says: "The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters was a set of ethical standards adopted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) for television. The code was established on December 6, 1951. Compliance with the code was indicated by the "Seal of Good Practice", displayed during closing credits on most United States television programs from 1952 through the early 1970s.

"The code prohibited the use of profanity, the negative portrayal of family life, irreverence for God and religion, illicit sex, drunkenness and addiction, presentation of cruelty, detailed techniques of crime, the use of horror for its own sake, and the negative portrayal of law enforcement officials, among others. The code regulated how performers should dress and move to be within the "bounds of decency". Further, news reporting was to be "factual, fair and without bias" and commentary and analysis should be "clearly defined as such". Broadcasters were to make time available for religious broadcasting and were discouraged from charging religious bodies for access.

"Under pressure from broadcasters, the code was suspended in 1983."

What it doesn't say is why it was suspended and why television has suspiciously sucked more since 1983. I'm talking broadcast television, not cable, which wouldn't have been under this restriction in the first place.