Thank You, America!!!

I want to thank everyone for electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States. I can't say he'll do anything, but he cannot be worse than Bush.... At least he can speak...

I Met Matt Groening!!

I don't usually get this excited about meeting celebrities, but Matt Groening of "Simpsons", "Life in Hell" and "Futurama" fame has been so elusive, that I am impressed that I finally got to meet him. Here's picture proof from the APE in San Francisco on November 1, 2008.

Voting

You now how everyone is shouting "Get out there and vote". Well I say, "Get out there and vote if you are going to vote for Obama". Votes for McCain are not going to do the country any good, and I don't care your level of income. He's a nice enough fellow and I would have voted for him over Bush in 2000, but he's older than my dad and doesn't have any new ideas.

As such, he doesn't give a shit about the US; he just wants to be President just to say that he once was the President and to get into the history books. Otherwise, he's almost ready for the pine box. He was a POW...big deal. That's no reason to vote for him. I'm happy he served his country and probably did things more courageous than myself, but I still don't have to give him my vote.

The other stupid reason is the abortion issue. I'm sorry abortion is legal. My attitude on abortion has always been "If you don't want an abortion, don't have one". In fact, if I accidentally impregnated someone, I wouldn't want her to go through that ordeal. I did once. It's painful, both physically and emotionally, for both partners, if they care. That said, I'm still voting for Obama. I don't think he'll do anything, but then again he might, but abortion will not be on the agenda, just the economy and this stupid war.

McCain on the other hand doesn't seem like anyone who would do anything, period. I think that if you can collect Social Security, you cannot serve as President. If you have to be at least 35, you should also have to be less than 65, or 67 tops.

I don't understand people who say, "Why vote when Obama's going to win anyway?" Well, that's stupid, too. What, you only vote if your candidate's losing and you never vote on the propositions or anything or anyone else?

That's why I say, "Get out there and vote if you are going to vote for Obama". Everyone else stay home and get this stupid election over with already. Make it a landslide instead of a nailbiter.

Finally, get over the color of Obama's skin. If you are in the 21st Century and still hung up on that crap, do us all a favor and gouge your eyes out, so you don't have to look at him while you vote. Idiots!! If Obama was white, he'd be a shoo-in. Vote for Barry!!!

Thank you for your support...(geez, I sound like Michael Moore with all this grandstanding).

BTW, I'm STILL a registered Republican for those who care...

Please Vote for Obama This Tuesday!!!

Obama giving a speech recently to a very receptive audience!!

Julia Child Shows You How to Edit Video Tape

I am posting this blog in hopes that someone can help me to find this elusive gem. When I was taking courses at San Francisco State in the late 80s, one of the instructors, who used to work at KQED channel 9 in San Francisco had a copy of a short film called "Julia Child Shows You How to Edit Video Tape" that was made for NET, the network that preceded PBS.

It was hysterically funny short black and white video in which Julia takes out a huge meat cleaver and literally chops a reel of 2" video tape in two. Then, she cuts it in another spots and splices the two ends together with mashed potatoes. Great, funny stuff!!

I cannot even remember the instructor's name who showed this, and I'm sure he's long retired or even dead by now. This was 20 years ago and he seemed to be fairly old then.

If anyone has any information on how to get a copy of this elusive film, I would be forever grateful. I haven't seen it on YouTube, so it's not there.

Writer's Block

You'd think I'd be having writer's block since I don't write on my blog too often. Quite the contrary, I usually think of things to write about, but don't have time to. Recently, I could have written reviews for "Mr. Hobbs Goes on Vacation" or "The Invasion" or "Capote", but I just didn't do it.

I also could have written about my mother's recent death (on October 7), or going through her stuff, or finishing up my book, or doing any number of things that I usually do.

I could even write about that I'll be working at Lee's Comics this Saturday and again the following week at the APE show in San Francisco.

But I just don't have the time. Pity.

Last Week's Sac-Con

Oh well. It takes me a week to write sometimes. Anyway, I went to last week's Sac-Con in Sacramento, CA, upon the invitation of animator/comic book artist Mike Kazaleh. Mike will be drawing the cover to my upcoming book about TTV (Underdog).

Anyway, as I walked in, I sat on a panel about "The Simpsons" that Mike along with fellow friends Bill Morrison and Phil Ortiz was on. This lasted about an hour and was very entertaining. Voice artist Billy West (who does voices for "Futurama") was also on the panel, as were a couple of artists from the recent "Treehouse of Horror" comic book.

Anyway, afterwards I was thrilled when Bill came up to me and asked how my book was coming along. I am happy that he remembered. I told him it was due at the end of November.

Overall, it was a quick 3-hour reunion with people that I admire greatly in the industry.

No Bailout!!!

Hey I lost money years ago and am still paying for my mistakes. If I can't have a bailout, nobody can. If anything, they should give each and every American regardless if they are working or not $2000 each if you make below $50,000 per year.

It should be sent gratis through the mail or if the IRS has your direct deposit, just put it in. Us poor people will spend it soon enough and it will end up back in the hands of the rich people, but at least we will have a little fun while it lasts and stimulate the economy at the same time!!!

I can't wait....only 110 days left of the worst President ever!!!!

Keith Knight Opening Reception

Keith Knight of "K Chronicles", "th(ink)" and "Father O'Flanity's Hot Tub Confessional" fame appeared last night at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. I went with my friend Heather and showed her my Harvey Art Show in the process. It was a fun evening and I snapped a couple photos of Knight describing his artwork.

Better Beatles

Ok, ok, ok, so I am a latecomer. I've been a Beatles fan for too long, but just discovered the Better Beatles. I had heard their rendition of "Eleanor Rigby" awhile back, but it didn't do much for me.

Recently, I was in Streetlight Records in San Jose, and I picked up the CD. A clerk whizzed by and said in passing, "You've got to buy it, man. It's the best album!"

So, I decided to give it a try. Then, I discovered it was at the listening station, so I sampled a few tracks and felt that it had a "Flying Lizards/Cure" type sound to it, so I bought it, and was hooked.

If my friend, Joe in Amsterdam, reads this (he usually does), he will probably say, "Oh yeah, I bought that back in '81. Where were you?"

My Favorite Mad Comics (#1-23)

I now own every issue of Mad except #1, which is proving to be far too pricey for my tastes. I may buy it eventually.

I was looking through my Mad comics and I would have to say that my favorite issue is #19, followed very closely by #18, 20 and 21.

I do have to say that there is not one "perfect" issue where all four stories are gems. #19 comes closest with three: "Mickey Rodent", "Supermarkets", and "Puzzle Pages", only "The Cane Mutiny" and the cover are a bit weak.

Best cover has got to be #11, with #1, 4 and 21 runners up.

Favorite stories of all time include "Howdy Dooit", "Starchie", "Mickey Rodent", "Mole", "Restaurants", "Puzzle Pages", "Supermarkets", "Believe it or Don't", "Poopeye", "Woman Wonder", "Superduperman", "Frank N. Stein", "Outer Sanctum", "Ping Pong" and "Bat Boy and Rubin".

You have received a YouTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX6oIH2Ozs0

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:    
Fun Ideas Productions - http://funideas.home.att.net
Beatles Blog - http://beatlesbook.blogspot.com/
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Richie Rich's Vault - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/richierichsvault
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629368169
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
ComicSpace - http://www.comicspace.com/mark_arnold/

Buy my Book: "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" -
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Harveyville-Fun-Times/dp/1847283683

Harvey Art Show Opening Reception, SF, 8/1/08

Harvey Art Show Opening Now on YouTube!!

http://www.youtube.com/v/ae3efEArmL4

I may edit this a little further (like it doesn't have my "Fun Ideas" logo yet, and I may add a little music to it), but this is the 4-minute version of what you can see at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, recorded at the Opening Reception on August 1, 2008. It features comments by Dave Holt, Andrew Farago, Trina Robbins, and Shawna Gore among others.

There is a 26-minute version that I will sell on DVD that will feature bonus footage and a narration about the exhibits that I'm still working on, but if you would like to order one, I will be taking Paypal payments for $9.99 at thft@att.net. Hopefully, this longer version will be done before the holidays. It needs the music and narration added.

The DVD will also have added goodies like the public domain cartoon disc shown at the museum and the Richie Rich image gallery that I presented at the Pop Culture Convention last March with Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:    
Fun Ideas Productions - http://funideas.home.att.net
Beatles Blog - http://beatlesbook.blogspot.com/
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Richie Rich's Vault - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/richierichsvault
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629368169
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
ComicSpace - http://www.comicspace.com/mark_arnold/

Buy my Book: "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" -
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Harveyville-Fun-Times/dp/1847283683

Meeting Harry Shearer

I went to see Judith Owen play in downtown Los Gatos last night for their weekly "Jazz on the Plaz" Summer concert series. She was good and funny, but the real treat for me was the appearance of her bassist, the actor/voice artist Harry Shearer, best known as the voice of Mr. Burns and Smithers on "The Simpsons".

Shearer was very good on the bass and took everything seriously, until the intermission when he was handed the microphone to read the concert sponsors. One of the sponsors was Alameda Funeral Home. Shearer proceeded to read the list in the voice of Mr. Burns, and when he got to the funeral home listing, he said, "I will be seeing you soon!". He also did a bit of Smithers.

After the show, people crowded around Ms. Owen to buy her CDs and to get her autograph. I was more enthralled with meeting Harry. I went up and called to him and spoke with him a few minutes about "Spinal Tap" and "A Mighty Wind". He said that they are working on another "Spinal Tap" reunion.

Harry was very nice and then I asked for his autograph. Not having anything for him to sign, I pulled out one of my business cards and he signed the back. I thanked him and shook his hand.

I told this story to my friend Lee, and he asked if I got a photo. I said no, and now I am kicking myself because I just purchased a new cell phone that has better photo capabilities than my old phone. I've got to get into the habit of taking photos when the situation presents itself.

Anyway, it was a very fun evening.

PS: I just discovered that Harry Shearer has been married to Judith Owen since 1993, so no wonder he tags along to her concerts.....

Re: [Richie Rich's Vault] Harvey Art Show Report

Here's a link to more photos! These were taken by Lee Hester...

http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p299/Leescomics/August/

-Moderator Mark.

At 10:39 AM 8/2/2008, you wrote:

I'm happy to report that the Harvey Art Show Opening Celebration was a success.

I drove up with Aaron Carnes (a friend of mine who shot video footage) and Lee Hester of Lee's Comics in my car and got to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco about 6pm. Andrew Farago and Summerlea Kashar of the museum greeted us while they were setting up the tables with food and drink in the gallery.

The gallery looked pretty much the same as I had seen it in early July, but now my pieces of text about Harvey Comics were professionally mounted on boards instead of the simple paper printouts pasted on the wall. Also, there was a nice banner of the same image from the postcards of all the Harvey characters flying into the sky in the front window and in the gallery itself was a huge stencil on the wall featuring the title of the show utilizing the original "Richie Rich" and "Wendy the Witch" logos.

(Incidentally, for those who have asked, the reason for using Richie Rich and Wendy in the title is to give a male/female representation as well as the fact that "Rich" and "Witch" rhyme.)

As we weren't really needed to set up (besides bringing some cider and copies of my book and "THFT!"), Aaron, Lee and I decided to get a quick bite at a Chinese restaurant a couple of doors down. I'm glad we did, because during the show, there was really no time for me to eat. In fact, the only time I ate, was when we served cake and at the end of the show when I finally got a drink.

Aaron, Lee and I had a good meal, and waltzed back in at around 7:05, five minutes after the show was scheduled to start. Although I had at least two guests with me, I was so happy to find probably 15-20 people milling about the gallery.

I made my way to the back of the room and behind the scenes where I saw the cake provided by Goldilocks, a bakery located next to Lee's Comics in Mountain View. (BTW, to give you scale for those living outside the Bay Area, Lee's Comics is about 40 miles south of San Francisco.)

The cake had a silk-screened sugar layer picturing the Harvey Art Show postcard and my book, "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" in full color on the top. It was pre-sliced and looked great. (Tasted good, too!)

Dave Holt spotted me and yelled (in his normal quiet and reserved way), "MARK, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" I explained that we were eating next door and that we were waiting for the show to begin before we made our appearance. We also met up with Lee's 6'7" son, Lee the 4th, commonly referred to as "the boy" by Lee, Sr. and me.

Just then, I saw Linda Rose (wife of Skeet Rose and owner of Goldilocks) in a back room suiting up as Richie Rich. She said that she would do it if we couldn't find anyone else. Linda's sister was suiting up as Casper. Skeet (who owns the RR and Casper suits as well as a lot of the art pages in the show) was helping them suit up. Linda and Skeet's daughter was there as well.

Soon, they were ready and walked out. I, and many others snapped photos of the two and with the two. I would say the crowd was probably around 30 or so by this time.

I peered around the corner and saw my dad (David) and his friend Janice, and I got them to come to the back and pose with Richie and Casper. My dad was impressed that I was able to pull this off, which is quite a remarkable statement as he usually doesn't give two figs about all the art and writing projects I do.

After many, many, many photos, we finally walked Richie Rich and Casper into the main room where the food, cake and artwork was all displayed. Everyone in the room turned and smiled at their appearance and many more photos were taken.

I started to look around to see if I could spot anyone that I knew. A few people approached me that I knew of but had never met face-to-face in this world of ComicSpace, Facebook and the Richie Rich's Vault Yahoo! group. I'm mention them briefly here as JG Book, Jeff Plotkin and Alex Schumacher. Of course, I met many other people but I either didn't exchange names or (horrors!) I didn't remember their names!

Anyway, a few comic book notables did make their way to the show, for which I am eternally grateful. You never know when you set these things up and promote them who's going to attend. So, I was very happy to see Dark Horse's Shawna Gore there with her husband (who flew out from Oregon especially for this show!) I also saw and spoke with Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha, Fantagraphic's Gary Groth, and  "Emily the Strange's" Rob Reger. I hope I'm not leaving anyone out.

Everyone was chit-chatting about and the crowd peaked at possibly 50 or 60, maybe more. I couldn't tell, nor did I do an official count. People could roam about the entire museum which included exhibitions on the late Phil Frank of "Farley" fame and Keith Knight of "K Chronicles" and "(Th)ink" fame. There is also a fourth room of random artwork from various eras owned by the museum and a room with very rare animation cels and a flatscreen TV that was playing the disc I provided of old public domain Famous Studios cartoons from 1945-1950 that feature Harvey characters like Casper, Little Audrey, Herman and Buzzy.

Around 8 or 8:30 or so, Andrew got everyone into the Harvey Art space and made a quick speech of thanks to Dave Holt, Skeet Rose and myself. I think Dave said a few words of thanks, but I, for whatever reasons did not really say a thing. I kind of wanted to but the moment passed and it would have been hard to get everyone's attention back, so I let it go.

Had I said something, I would have thanked everyone for attending and pointed out some of the people I am mentioning on this write-up, but it worked out all right. I proceeded to "cut" the pre-sliced cake and hand it out to everyone. As I was wearing a suit, I didn't want to mess myself up, so I only did a  row of about six or seven slices before I went back to shmoozing. The last cake I sliced, I ate.

After this short ceremony, people slowing began to leave. I decided to take this opportunity to film and opening and the closing to the show for the video version, so Lee, Aaron and I went out to film this. It took a little longer than I thought and when I got back in, many people thought I had left my own show. I explained about the footage we had just shot.

Aaron was good about getting coverage of everything including close-ups of each piece of artwork and brief soundbites from Trina and Shawna and others.

While shooting this stuff, my friend Cristina Ramirez showed up. She had previously told me she would be coming late, but she did show up and I was grateful. I'm always happy when any friend shows up.

Everything was winding down. A few copies of my book and "THFT!" were purchased as well as a few copies of the Dark Horse collections, all of which were available in the bookshop. I signed a couple of copies as well. At this time, my Art Director for "THFT!" S. Eddy Bell showed up with his wife and we took more photos. I didn't recognize him at first as he was not wearing his glasses.

I said my goodbyes as people slowly filed out, took more photos, and soon it was just Lee, Aaron, Dave, Cris, Cris' friend (sorry, I forgot your name!), "the boy", S. Eddy, his wife (sorry here, too), and the Cartoon Art staff. It was about 9:30 at this time.

Everyone parted ways and I took Aaron, Lee and "the boy" back down to Lee's and eventually home.

I uploaded a number of images from the Cartoon Art Museum Opening that I took at Photobucket at http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc49/thft_2007/Harvey%20Art%20Show%20Opening%20Reception/

There is a lot of video footage as well and other photos I didn't take. More soon.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:   
Fun Ideas Productions - http://funideas.home.att.net
Beatles Blog - http://beatlesbook.blogspot.com/
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Richie Rich's Vault - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/richierichsvault
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629368169
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
ComicSpace - http://www.comicspace.com/mark_arnold/

Buy my Book: "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" -
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Harveyville-Fun-Times/dp/1847283683




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Harvey Art Show Report

I'm happy to report that the Harvey Art Show Opening Celebration was a success.

I drove up with Aaron Carnes (a friend of mine who shot video footage) and Lee Hester of Lee's Comics in my car and got to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco about 6pm. Andrew Farago and Summerlea Kashar of the museum greeted us while they were setting up the tables with food and drink in the gallery.

The gallery looked pretty much the same as I had seen it in early July, but now my pieces of text about Harvey Comics were professionally mounted on boards instead of the simple paper printouts pasted on the wall. Also, there was a nice banner of the same image from the postcards of all the Harvey characters flying into the sky in the front window and in the gallery itself was a huge stencil on the wall featuring the title of the show utilizing the original "Richie Rich" and "Wendy the Witch" logos.

(Incidentally, for those who have asked, the reason for using Richie Rich and Wendy in the title is to give a male/female representation as well as the fact that "Rich" and "Witch" rhyme.)

As we weren't really needed to set up (besides bringing some cider and copies of my book and "THFT!"), Aaron, Lee and I decided to get a quick bite at a Chinese restaurant a couple of doors down. I'm glad we did, because during the show, there was really no time for me to eat. In fact, the only time I ate, was when we served cake and at the end of the show when I finally got a drink.

Aaron, Lee and I had a good meal, and waltzed back in at around 7:05, five minutes after the show was scheduled to start. Although I had at least two guests with me, I was so happy to find probably 15-20 people milling about the gallery.

I made my way to the back of the room and behind the scenes where I saw the cake provided by Goldilocks, a bakery located next to Lee's Comics in Mountain View. (BTW, to give you scale for those living outside the Bay Area, Lee's Comics is about 40 miles south of San Francisco.)

The cake had a silk-screened sugar layer picturing the Harvey Art Show postcard and my book, "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" in full color on the top. It was pre-sliced and looked great. (Tasted good, too!)

Dave Holt spotted me and yelled (in his normal quiet and reserved way), "MARK, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" I explained that we were eating next door and that we were waiting for the show to begin before we made our appearance. We also met up with Lee's 6'7" son, Lee the 4th, commonly referred to as "the boy" by Lee, Sr. and me.

Just then, I saw Linda Rose (wife of Skeet Rose and owner of Goldilocks) in a back room suiting up as Richie Rich. She said that she would do it if we couldn't find anyone else. Linda's sister was suiting up as Casper. Skeet (who owns the RR and Casper suits as well as a lot of the art pages in the show) was helping them suit up. Linda and Skeet's daughter was there as well.

Soon, they were ready and walked out. I, and many others snapped photos of the two and with the two. I would say the crowd was probably around 30 or so by this time.

I peered around the corner and saw my dad (David) and his friend Janice, and I got them to come to the back and pose with Richie and Casper. My dad was impressed that I was able to pull this off, which is quite a remarkable statement as he usually doesn't give two figs about all the art and writing projects I do.

After many, many, many photos, we finally walked Richie Rich and Casper into the main room where the food, cake and artwork was all displayed. Everyone in the room turned and smiled at their appearance and many more photos were taken.

I started to look around to see if I could spot anyone that I knew. A few people approached me that I knew of but had never met face-to-face in this world of ComicSpace, Facebook and the Richie Rich's Vault Yahoo! group. I'm mention them briefly here as JG Book, Jeff Plotkin and Alex Schumacher. Of course, I met many other people but I either didn't exchange names or (horrors!) I didn't remember their names!

Anyway, a few comic book notables did make their way to the show, for which I am eternally grateful. You never know when you set these things up and promote them who's going to attend. So, I was very happy to see Dark Horse's Shawna Gore there with her husband (who flew out from Oregon especially for this show!) I also saw and spoke with Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha, Fantagraphic's Gary Groth, and  "Emily the Strange's" Rob Reger. I hope I'm not leaving anyone out.

Everyone was chit-chatting about and the crowd peaked at possibly 50 or 60, maybe more. I couldn't tell, nor did I do an official count. People could roam about the entire museum which included exhibitions on the late Phil Frank of "Farley" fame and Keith Knight of "K Chronicles" and "(Th)ink" fame. There is also a fourth room of random artwork from various eras owned by the museum and a room with very rare animation cels and a flatscreen TV that was playing the disc I provided of old public domain Famous Studios cartoons from 1945-1950 that feature Harvey characters like Casper, Little Audrey, Herman and Buzzy.

Around 8 or 8:30 or so, Andrew got everyone into the Harvey Art space and made a quick speech of thanks to Dave Holt, Skeet Rose and myself. I think Dave said a few words of thanks, but I, for whatever reasons did not really say a thing. I kind of wanted to but the moment passed and it would have been hard to get everyone's attention back, so I let it go.

Had I said something, I would have thanked everyone for attending and pointed out some of the people I am mentioning on this write-up, but it worked out all right. I proceeded to "cut" the pre-sliced cake and hand it out to everyone. As I was wearing a suit, I didn't want to mess myself up, so I only did a  row of about six or seven slices before I went back to shmoozing. The last cake I sliced, I ate.

After this short ceremony, people slowing began to leave. I decided to take this opportunity to film and opening and the closing to the show for the video version, so Lee, Aaron and I went out to film this. It took a little longer than I thought and when I got back in, many people thought I had left my own show. I explained about the footage we had just shot.

Aaron was good about getting coverage of everything including close-ups of each piece of artwork and brief soundbites from Trina and Shawna and others.

While shooting this stuff, my friend Cristina Ramirez showed up. She had previously told me she would be coming late, but she did show up and I was grateful. I'm always happy when any friend shows up.

Everything was winding down. A few copies of my book and "THFT!" were purchased as well as a few copies of the Dark Horse collections, all of which were available in the bookshop. I signed a couple of copies as well. At this time, my Art Director for "THFT!" S. Eddy Bell showed up with his wife and we took more photos. I didn't recognize him at first as he was not wearing his glasses.

I said my goodbyes as people slowly filed out, took more photos, and soon it was just Lee, Aaron, Dave, Cris, Cris' friend (sorry, I forgot your name!), "the boy", S. Eddy, his wife (sorry here, too), and the Cartoon Art staff. It was about 9:30 at this time.

Everyone parted ways and I took Aaron, Lee and "the boy" back down to Lee's and eventually home.

I uploaded a number of images from the Cartoon Art Museum Opening that I took at Photobucket at http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc49/thft_2007/Harvey%20Art%20Show%20Opening%20Reception/

There is a lot of video footage as well and other photos I didn't take. More soon.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
_________________________________________________________
Please click on my web sites:    
Fun Ideas Productions - http://funideas.home.att.net
Beatles Blog - http://beatlesbook.blogspot.com/
The Harveyville Fun Times! - http://thft.home.att.net
Richie Rich's Vault - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/richierichsvault
Mark's Rare Comics - http://rarecomics.home.att.net
So Rare! Collectibles - http://sorare.home.att.net
Food Shop - http://foodshop.home.att.net
Blog - http://fun-ideas.blogspot.com
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=629368169
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fun_ideas_productions
ComicSpace - http://www.comicspace.com/mark_arnold/

Buy my Book: "The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times!" -
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Harveyville-Fun-Times/dp/1847283683

2008 San Diego Comic Con International Report

I went to Comic Con International for the third and possibly final time with Lee Hester of Lee's Comics. We left on Tuesday, July 22, when Lee informed me on the ride down in his large white van that this would be his last show after 22 appearances at the show. His reasons were numerous but mainly due to three things, little return on investment (although Lee's has shown a growing profit each year at the show, this profit is always paid back to the Con to reserve space for the following year), Hollywood's continued takeover of the Con (effectively pushing out the little guy, like comic book dealers), and the Convention Hall making much tighter restrictions on how and when people can bring in and remove their wares.

As we left at 6am, the drive was without incident and after a couple of stops, we arrived at the Con about 2pm, making very good time. At the convention, we met up with the incomparable Ron Murry, the nomadic comic book dealer that has been sharing Lee's booth with us for the past few years.

After three or four trips, we moved all of the stuff inside the Convention Hall and started to shape the booth. We left around 7pm and I was already exhausted, but had a great meal at Filippi's Pizza Grotto ( www.realcheesepizza.com), a great Italian restaurant that has meatballs the size of your fist, and family style meals that you can buy with $15 per person or less. Usually less.

We also checked into our hotel at Little Italy, La Pensione ( www.lapensionehotel.com), the last San Diego hotel bargain during the Convention at a little over $100 a night.

Filippi's was so good that we also ate there on Wed. and Thurs. nights. It's also a hit with other Con goers as we saw Marv Wolfman and Jim Valentino there, among others. Jerry Boyd joined us on the Thurs. night meal.

After a good night's sleep, we went back to the Con (usually walking or via Taxi) and shaped up Lee's booth. This literally took all day, but we were ready in time for the "Early Bird" show that last from approximately 6-9pm on Wed. evening.

Lee brought a lot of cool stuff. He brought his stock of Pure Hero shirts ( http://www.purehero.com/) that has been the hit of the show for the last couple of years. He also brought Duck & Cover buttons and stickers (also very successful) and a goodly amount of 50% off comics (comics Lee has had since 2006 that haven't been selling) and his $2.00 comic selection from the "Hey Kids Comics" spinner rack that features choice stuff in great condition from the 50s to the 80s (a REALLY good deal). He also had a brand new stock of recent acquisitions for sale at full price, but always at a fair price and fairly graded. (Lee's is one of the best in the business in this regard. He also does mail order.) Check out www.lcomics.com for more details or visit his shop on Ebay.

Jerry Boyd, Jerry Beck, Maggie Thompson, Grant Geissman, John Lustig, and Amy Lumet among others, all visited the booth.

Thursday morning was the BIG DAY. Long day, too. I met up with Dark Horse Comics, Scott Shaw!, Dan Parent, when I had the chance to sneak away from the booth, but it was a busy, busy day.

Friday was more of the same, but I found out this day that the Charles M. Schulz Museum was giving away buttons with rare "Peanuts" characters. A customer (I forgot her name) who told me about them, was nice enough to go there and try to get me a "Charlotte Braun" button, but they were out. She did get me a "Jose Peterson" on Saturday, and I got my own "Shermy" on Sunday. Incidentally, the Wed. button was "Violet & Patty" and the Thursday button was "3 & 4", but those were LOOONNNNG gone as they only pressed 1000 of each button. They will probably auction off a complete set on Ebay if anyone is interested.

I finally got the Cartoon Art Museum postcards for my Harvey show and began distributing them. EVERYONE who saw one was impressed.

That evening Lee and I dressed up for the Eisner Awards. The presenters included Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Estrada, Joe Ferrara, Joe Field, Paul Dini and his lovely wife Misty, and the festivities were MC'd by Bill Morrison and his lovely wife Kayre.

Saturday I finally made it across the room to the Artist's Alley. I ALWAYS complain that the Artist's Alley is completely at the opposite end of the room from the comic books that they work on with the impassable Hollywood section in the middle. Anyway, I did get across and met up with Pat and Shelly Block, Jorge Pacheco, Jerry Robinson, and others.

Meanwhile, while I was away, Lee gave space to R.S. Rhine of "Girls and Corpses" magazine ( www.girlsandcorpses.com) for a signing, but this really cut into our sales that day, much to Lee's chagrin. Meanwhile, Richard Dreyfus and Peter David were doing a signing one row over from us and I snapped a couple of pictures.

Later, Ron, his friend and helper Ken, Lee, Tom Orzechowski and I went to a different Italian restaurant (forgot the name) and had a nice meal.

Sunday I went over to John Morrow of Two Morrow's Publication to say hi. I am currently writing for Michael Eury's "Back Issue" magazine, that John publishes.

The show was over at 7, but then the real work began of the deconstruction of the booth, but we made it out of there in record time, less than two hours, with Ron and Ken's help. We then ate at yet another Italian restaurant and called it a night.

Lee and I got up relatively early on Monday morning, and headed home. Though Lee was kind of tired, we did make it with a few stops in about the same amount of time that it took to get there, about seven hours, arriving home about 3pm.

I will have to restructure the way I do San Diego should I continue to go as Lee will not be having a table. An early idea is to work for Ron (who is continuing to do the show) and Graham Crackers Comics (who is assuming the rest of Lee's old space), but I have about 355 days to think about it. Lee and I did reserve the hotel for next July at La Pensione and I will either stay with him or other friends, depending on what Lee wants to do, or if he even goes as a spectator. He will not have a booth.

Overall, I had a great time, but as always because of working at the booth, didn't see nearly as much as I could have, had I not been "chained" to a booth. This was a minor issue, as I did get around as much as I could, and made good contacts.

You can see all of the images that I took at the Con (save for a couple of bad takes) on my Photobucket account at http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc49/thft_2007/San%20Diego%202008/ . Permission is given for anyone to use these images, just please give me credit on any photo used.

Regards,
MARK ARNOLD
Fun Ideas Productions - P. O. Box 2616 - Saratoga, CA 95070
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Airplane Animation Cel Help!

This is a scan of an animation cel I purchased about 20 years ago, dating from the 1940s. I've asked a great many animation experts including Jerry Beck what film this animated airplane is from and I have literally stumped the panel.

I can tell you that it is NOT from Tex Avery's "Little Johnny Jet", nor is it from Disney's "Pedro" from "Saludos Amigos".

I have been told that it is probably from a Walter Lantz cartoon, but I have no idea if this is correct or if correct, what title?

I own quite a few cartoon collections and have yet to find a scene with this airplane. Please help!!!

Looney Tunes Volume Six Cartoon List Revealed

Well, it's another year and another year for me to be disappointed, but even less so, as quite a few from my list of 66 two years ago has dwindled down to 44. Here are the remaining cartoons I would like to see on DVD before I die! BTW, if you want to know what IS on Volume 6, check it out at
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Bugs-Bunny-Looney-Tunes-Comedy-Hour-Volume-6/10016

My wants:
1. The Village Smithy
2. Egghead Rides Again
3. Porky's Hero Agency
4. Cinderella Meets Fella
5. Hamateur Night
6. Porky's Picnic
7. Porky the Giant Killer
8. The Timid Toreador
9. Porky's Cafe
10. Fresh Hare
11. The Impatient Patient
12. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs
13. Tick Tock Tuckered
14. Daffy Doodles
15. Hot Cross Bunny
16. Daffy Dilly
17. A Lad in His Lamp
18. The Bee-Deviled Bruin
19. Mutiny on the Bunny
20. Hare We Go
21. Rabbit Every Monday
22. Ballot Box Bunny
23. Thumb Fun
24. The Hasty Hare
25. Fool Coverage
26. Hare Trimmed
27. I Gopher You
28. No Parking Hare
29. Beanstalk Bunny
30. Hare Brush
31. This is a Life?
32. Dime to Retire
33. The High and the Flighty
34. Rabbitson Crusoe
35. Bedevilled Rabbit
36. Piker's Peak
37. Ducking the Devil
38. Hareway to the Stars
39. Bonanza Bunny
40. From Hare to Heir
41. Wet Hare
42. Bill of Hare
43. Mad as a Mars Hare
44. Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare

The best news is "It's Hummer Time", "A Ham in a Role" and "Chow Hound" are ALL going to be on volume 6. Happy day!!