Monthly Archives: November 2010

I'm happy to hear that cartoonist (practitioner and theorist) Scott McCloud is doing better after what sounds like a scary hospitalization. He and his family were in New Orleans attending a 50th birthday party for Neil Gaiman. (I would've been there but for a deposition I had to give in a legal matter.) At the party, Scott was stricken and taken away in an ambulance…which had to have been a horrifying experience for him and his family. It's bad enough when that kind of thing happens close to home — but in a strange city? Far from your own doctors? Awful. His wonderful spouse Ivy Ratafia wrote about it from her point-o'-view in this blog entry…and Scott is now posting on his weblog, which makes us feel better. The final diagnosis was a "celiac artery dissection." I'm not sure what that is…only that none of us want to ever have one of them. We look forward to Scott getting healthier and healthier and never going through anything like that again.

We're on Storm Watch here in Southern California, which means that more than three drops were forecast to fall. If you live here, you may have been mystified by something that I'd like to try and explain if I can. (And the reason I think I can is that I once had a devout and bizarre interest in the field of weather prediction…not so much about how they arrive at the forecast but just what it all means.)

The National Weather Service was predicting a 90% chance (i.e., near-certainty) of rain between Friday evening and Saturday — between .75" and 1.25" in the Coastal and Valley areas with the bulk of it falling between late morning and mid-afternoon. Indeed, as late as 9 AM this morning, they said there'd be about four hours of moderate to heavy rain between 10 AM and 1 PM…and I guess somewhere near me there was. But where I am, we got about a quarter-inch overnight and just a few sprinkles between 10 and 1.

You see, the problem with projecting the weather in Southern California is that it can be pouring here and be fair and warmer downtown. This storm dropped a bit less than a half-inch wherever they measure that kind of thing in Beverly Hills and it dropped .04" in Downtown Los Angeles, which is not all that far away. When storms are very cold, they have a special tendency to do that…to come in as streams of soaking-wet clouds that dump a lot of rain in one spot but miss another right nearby. Partly as a spectator sport — and partly because I was trying to decide what kind of climate we'd be braving to go see Sid and Marty Krofft — I was monitoring the online radar images all day and I kept telling Carolyn, "This next wave just took a left turn on the 405 and it's heading for Oxnard." Oxnard got about a half-inch. The forecast was right some places. It just wasn't right everywhere.

Meteorologists are working on computer models that will largely do away with the whole concept of a weather forecast for someplace as large as Southern California. Though there will be one-size-fits-all cases where most locales here will get roughly the same, there will be enough variance where you'll have to get your forecast by going to a computer and entering your street address. There are already some places where you can do that but it's largely illusory. You enter where you are in Southern California, the computer checks to see where that is…and if you're in, say, Glendale they give you the forecast for Glendale and everything else in a fifty-mile radius that's at roughly the same elevation. That leaves you with a forecast that's much more general and approximate than you're led to believe…but we will see the day when you will get a specific forecast for your area. Some private weather services are already hyping that that's what they're giving you when it's really more general. But as so often happens, the technology will soon catch up with the hype. It usually does.

This afternoon, Carolyn and I went out to the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, a rather old but lovely place that specializes in revivals and rare films, often screened with their filmmakers in attendance. (For those of you familiar with the unsold Superboy TV pilot made in 1961: The movie theater you see in that pilot is the Aero…and it hasn't changed all that much to this day.) The event this afternoon was a salute to my occasional employers, Sid and Marty Krofft, complete with a screening of their 1970 feature, Pufnstuf. If you think that's a bizarre movie when you watch it on TV, you won't believe what it's like on a large screen.

Sid Krofft felt the need to apologize for the print that was screened, grainy and splice-filled as it was. It was, alas, the best one they could find. The other known prints were burned in the June, 2008 fire on the Universal lot and it was necessary to borrow this one from a private collector. The movie itself is in no way lost. In fact, you can order a copy here on DVD. It's just tough to get your mitts on a 35mm copy you could run in a non-video movie theater. Still, I enjoyed the energy and the sheer madness of it. For me, the only major disappointment — which I felt when I first saw it — is that H.R. Pufnstuf doesn't sound right. Lennie Weinrib, who did the voice on the TV series, had a financial dispute with the Krofft at the time and so the voice in the film was supplied by Allan Melvin. (The other voices are Walker Edmiston, Don Messick and Joanie Gerber. By the way, the Internet Movie Database says that Ms. Gerber did the voice of Freddie the Flute. I'm pretty sure it was Messick.)

Despite the bad print, a packed house enjoyed the hell out of the film and rose to its feet to thank Sid and Marty for all that memorable TV programming. Olivia Munn of The Daily Show interviewed them after the flick and Sid recounted some of his amazing career as a puppeteer before he brought his brother Marty into the business and The World of Sid and Marty Krofft blossomed. Another standing "o" went to the fabulous Billie Hayes, who stole the entire movie in the role of Witchiepoo and who was there for the screening. I worked with Billie on a number of Krofft shows and it was always amazing to see her erupt (I believe that is the right word for a force of nature) before the camera. Pufnstuf was also present…and why not? It was his movie.

The Kroffts have a number of new projects in the work including DVD releases and film remakes of most of their old shows. I always found them to be a great company to work for and with. I'm not sure everyone in the audience believed Marty when he explained in the interview how they never cared that much about money; how they'd go deep, deep into the hole if that's what it took to make a project come out right. But I was there. I saw them do that…and not once but many times. It sure made their shows memorable and it's nice to see it paying off now, thanks to all the fans they still have and the new ones they keep making.

For the next week or so, you can hear a BBC radio documentary all about the newspaper strip, Calvin and Hobbes at this link. If you do, you have Greg Ehrbar to thank for telling me about it.

When I first saw the photo of my old pal Paul Levitz holding his new book, I was shocked. Apparently, he fashioned a lens out of white dwarf star matter and used it to shrink himself down to a much smaller size.* Then the other day, I was in the Taschen bookstore in Farmer's Market and I saw the volume in question. That's when I realized Paul hasn't shrunk. It's just that the book is the size of a Toyota Corolla.

I don't have my copy yet of 75 Years of DC Comics but I can review it just from a fast paging-through at the shop. If you have any affection or interest in the company that publishes Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and so many other treasures, you have to have this book. It's expensive and it'll be a bitch to store and you may herniate yourself turning more than five pages at a time…but you have to have this book. It's a wonderful celebration of all those comics and the folks who made them. Every time you flip a page, you're face to face with a stunning image…perhaps a rare old cover, perhaps a priceless photograph, perhaps an obscure or unpublished piece of something. And Paul's text, which I've yet to read in full, seems to make a great deal of sense out of a company that's done an awful lot of things that didn't make sense, especially before he became a big part of its management.

If you buy one at a Taschen store, it'll run you $200 but I know you. You're way too smart to pay that. Here's an Amazon link that will get you a copy for, at the moment, $126. This is a bargain, especially if you hate your U.P.S. driver and want to do bodily harm to the guy. I suspect if you scan the 'net and really search, you might find someone who has it for a buck or two cheaper (Barnes & Noble wants $139.14) but not a lot cheaper. Taschen books are usually not discounted even that much. Their $1300 Playboy book is offered at Amazon for $999, which is only a 23% discount. Paul's DC book is 37% off there…if you act now. So act now.

*In case you don't get the reference, scientist Ray Palmer learned how to shrink himself down and become The Atom by fashioning a lens out of white dwarf star matter. And don't tell me that's impossible if you've never tried it.

Great time this evening at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. The independent group known as Writers Bloc hosted it, and Stan and Hunter Freberg were interviewed by Penn Jillette. There was a nice turnout and it included some interesting folks like editorial cartoonist Mike Ramirez, directors John Landis and Arthur Hiller, voice guys Billy West and Will Ryan, artist Chad Frye and a whole lotta other people. I had dinner first with Leonard and Alice Maltin, Leonard's lovely mother and Disney exec Howard Green. I'd post a photo but I was so engrossed in talking to people after that I forgot about the camera in my pocket. Billy West, by the way, does an incredible vocal impression of Penn that reduced Mr. Jillette to tears of laughter out in the lobby.

Stan and Hunter discussed Stan's work — mostly his records and advertising. Not a word about his many, many credits as a cartoon voice actor. Penn was effusive in his praise of Freberg, telling of a time recently when he was present for a live performance by Stan of his song, "Take an Indian to Lunch." Penn said (this is a paraphrase from memory) that he wouldn't trade that moment for being present at Beatles reunion where Bob Dylan sat in and played the harmonica. And speaking of the Beatles, Stan also told of the time he turned down an offer from John Lennon to run the Beatles' record label, Apple.

After the presentation, the Frebergs had a long line of buyers for their recently-released CD. If you weren't there to get one signed by them, you can get one unsigned at this link.

Writers Bloc has these wonderful events where they get one celeb to interview another and then the first guy sells autographed books, CDs or other products. Upcoming on December 7th at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, Dick Cavett will be questioned by Mel Brooks. The organizer, an amazing lady named Andrea Grossman, tells me that tickets are disappearing rapidly and that it'll be sold out before long. If you want to be there, you'd do well to click on this link and order seats now.

Four things to buy at Costco. And four things not to. Thanks, Vince Waldron!

One other thought about this matter of trimming "waste" from governmental budgets: It really annoys me that we can't get realistic about this; that few politicians have the electoral courage to not suggest they can balance the budget just by cutting fat and it won't be necessary to raise someone's tax or revoke someone's entitlement. It's depressing that such fibbing works and that candidates lose votes if they admit it can't be done. One of the things that was depressing about Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign to become governor of my state in the first place is that it was all based on that sort of tommyrot. When he wasn't recycling catch phrases from the Terminator movies, he was saying that the answer to California's money woes was to "Open the books." As if that meant anything.

I've long had an aversion to Fake Solutions — things that sound like they solve a problem but don't. I think a fake solution is worse than no solution at all. A fake solution makes you think something's being done when it isn't, and it derails the quest for a real solution. We have a lot of politicos who think that the way to get tough with a crisis is to say they're going to get tough with the crisis…and that's just about all they do.

You find Fake Solutions in every walk of life. When I was doing a lot of variety specials for TV, the process would usually commence with a meeting where everyone involved would sit around a table and say, "We all want to do a good show." The meeting might take two hours but really, that's all that would be said. No one would discuss how to make it a good show. We'd just say in so many different ways that we all wanted it to be a good show and we'd leave with the general feeling that we'd taken steps to make that happen.

Those meetings made everyone feel good for a while but that was the only positive that resulted…and it was pretty meaningless. On the negative side, the meetings made some of those involved feel like something was being done when it wasn't. And that can be dangerous, whether it's something important like a TV variety show or something trivial like the entire economy of the United States.

The Pew Research Center just did one of those polls that shows that Americans don't know a helluva lot about what's going on in their country…no grand surprise. Before you read the results, you might want to see how you fare with the same questions they asked those they surveyed. Take the test here. (I got 11 out of 12. I missed one because I misread the question. Then again, I got one right due to a lucky guess.)

The full results are here. But take the test before you look at 'em because they give away the answers.

Here's a story about the budget crisis in California but it could be about any state, now or in the future. It's a pretty simple story: Citizens in the abstract want the budget balanced and spending slashed…but they don't want to give up any services or see their taxes go up. Take note of this 'graph…

Political figures often campaign on the notion that budgets can be brought swiftly into line by curbing waste, fraud or abuse. Schwarzenegger himself argued that he would find billions in savings that way — only to recant after he was elected and few easy cuts could be found.

That's kind of the way it is everywhere these days. People and politicians believe there's all this massive waste that can be pruned but once they have to identify it, it's suddenly impossible to find. One of the reasons I liked Jerry Brown for the governor job is that he may get us to the core of this problem. If he can't find cuts, nobody can.

I keep having these odd conversations with people behind counters in stores. The other day, I took my mother to an oral surgeon for an extraction. I don't know why but this woman has now had 47 teeth taken out. Don't tell me human beings don't have that many. I've been keeping count.

Anyway, I had to kill 45 minutes and as I hadn't eaten, I walked a few blocks to where I knew of three sandwich shops, all selling subs and all next to one another. One is actually a Subway. The other two are smaller proprietorships which may or may not have other outlets but certainly don't have many. I went into the first one, which was not a Subway, and scanned the menu, taking note of a meatball sandwich which was described as containing meatballs, marinara sauce, mozzarella and green peppers, all served up on a french roll. I told him I'd like one of them but without the green peppers. I do not like green peppers and what's worse is that they do not like me.

The counterman huddled with his sandwich-maker and then informed me…

HIM: The chef says he will not make it without the green peppers.

ME: Are these sandwiches pre-made? Can't he leave the peppers off?

HIM: No, they are all made to order. He says he will not make the sandwich without the peppers. They are necessary for the full taste. You could just pick the peppers off.

ME: I don't want to pick the peppers off. I want a sandwich without the peppers in the first place. And why wouldn't he give me that if he realizes that I can just pick the peppers off?

HIM: He has pride in his work. He is a very good chef. He wants to serve you the best sandwich possible. What you do with it is your business. So do you still want a meatball sandwich?

ME: Yes but I think I'd like it from the place next door. Thanks.

I went to the adjacent sandwich shop (which was also not a Subway) and asked if they put peppers on their meatball sandwich. The man behind the counter there said, "I see you've been next door."

On Friday, November 19, the wondrous Stan and Hunter Freberg will be interviewed by the tall 'n' loud Penn Jillette at a Writers Bloc event. It's being held at the Writers Guild Theater on Doheny near Wilshire in Beverly Hills and it starts at 7:30 PM. Admission is $20 (such a deal) and you can reserve seats at this website, then pay when you get there. Bring along extra bucks to purchase a copy of the new CD by Stan and Hunter and get it signed.

On Saturday, November 20, my frequent employers, Sid and Marty Krofft will be honored and interviewed at a special screening of their 1970 feature film, Pufnstuf, at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. The film will be shown at 3:30 PM and Sid and Marty will be quizzed by Olivia Munn of The Daily Show. Following the film, there will be a free reception across the street at Every Picture Tells a Story, an art gallery that specializes in snazzy pop culture artwork. Get tickets to the Aero at this website.