This runs twenty minutes but it's well worth your time. It's a commencement address that Stephen Colbert recently gave at his alma mater, Northwestern University. The first fifteen minutes are very good comedy and the last five are very good advice. In fact, it's one of the smartest things I've ever heard anyone say in a setting like this.
Monthly Archives: June 2011
Recommended Reading
As Matt Taibbi points out, a lot of the neo-con types who used to cheerlead the U.S. rushing into war are now sounding a lot like the anti-war advocates they used to dismiss as traitors and/or wimps.
Countdown Change
The main company that supplies program listings to cable providers, satellite TV services and DVRs has decided to change the name of Keith Olbermann's new show which debuts later today on Current TV. They originally said it was called Keith Olbermann. Now it's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. If you set your TiVo or DVR to record it under the first name, you might have to reset things to get it under the second name. Thanks to James J. Troutman and others who alerted me to the switch.
Lew Sayre Schwartz, R.I.P.
Lew Sayre Schwartz, one of the many anonymous men who drew great Batman stories signed "Bob Kane," died last Saturday morning at the age of 85. Shortly before, he'd taken a bad fall and struck his head, resulting in a brain hemorrhage. Surgery did not alleviate the problem and his son Andrew reports that, "…when the life-support was removed, it was a fast and peaceful departure."
I guess I'd better explain about Kane's odd working arrangement with DC Comics. In the mid-forties, he signed a deal with them that called for him to draw a specified number of pages per month…or at least to deliver that amount. Some of the Batman material that appeared in Batman and Detective Comics was purchased by DC editors from artists with no Kane involvement, even though it bore his signature. Some was provided by Kane under a contract that paid him a very high page rate. It was so high that he could afford to hire someone like Lew Schwartz (or at other times, Sheldon Moldoff or a few others) to actually draw the pages. Kane might occasionally draw or redraw a little of it but usually he turned the ghosts' work in to DC as they drew it. After paying the men who'd really drawn the material, Kane still made enough off the work to live very well.
Schwartz was working for King Features Syndicate as a production artist when Kane first tapped him to ghost some Batman material for him in 1946. By 1948, he was doing almost all of it, a situation which persisted until 1953 when Schwartz, as he put it, "just got tired of the arrangement." He went on to do more work for King Features and segued into advertising, where he was involved with commercials that won numerous Emmy and Clio awards. He was also a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York and largely responsible for the founding of their film department.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Schwartz along with the other two surviving Kane ghosts (Sheldon Moldoff and Jerry Robinson) at the 2009 Comic-Con. He was a delightful gentleman and there was an odd sensation of "bonding" among our panelists as they shared tales of their days with Mr. Kane. It was also fun to watch so many people tell Lew that he'd drawn their all-time favorite Batman stories. He certainly drew a lot of mine.
Today's Video Link
Just watch it…
Sunday Afternoon
I know I promised a real report on the Licensing Show and it'll be along soon, along with a photo that was taken there of me posing with one of my favorite TV stars. I also owe you all the second part of my rant about drive-in movies. This will all happen.
I was talking earlier with someone about the concept of advance-ordering books (like my pal Vince Waldron's) from Amazon. I don't think people get that it's a chance to lock in the lowest-possible price that Amazon will sell the book for until its publication date. If the price goes up, you get the item for the price when you ordered it. If the price goes down, you get the item for the lower price. You can also cancel the order before it comes out. It's really a great service.
And so is Amazon Prime. If you don't know how this works, it's simple: Once a year, you pay them $79 and that covers two-day shipping on most items. You can do the math for yourself and see if that's cheaper than paying as much as you annually pay to Amazon for postage and handling. It is for me and it's also liberating in this way: I no longer have to worry about ordering at least $25 each time I want something from them. I can just order a $2.00 item and they pay to ship it to me. Or if my order is up to $24.37, I no longer have to browse around trying to find something for 63¢ in order to qualify for Free Shipping.
Come on…you know you've done that.
I really like Amazon. I can't recall the last time an order was wrong or late. I can't even recall the last time they were out of something I wanted to buy. The few times there have been problems, they've always been resolved to my satisfaction. If I had anything there to complain about, you know me: I would. But I don't. About the only thing I wish they could do that they don't is to not make me feel guilty when another independent bookseller goes under because people like me are ordering from Amazon. I do not, however, feel guilty enough about that to stop buying the easiest, cheapest way for me…and the easy part is more important than the cheap part.
Last Night
Last night, I spent about a half-hour just updating software on my computer, downloading and installing the latest version of this program and that program and that other program and so on. It seemed like everything I downloaded asked me if I wanted to also install someone's taskbar or some other program I didn't want and I had to be very careful and uncheck the proper box not to get a lot of unwanted extra installations.
About an hour ago, I awoke from a dream and I can't remember all of it. But I remember walking into some sort of fast food restaurant and asking for the chicken and rice…and I remember a woman behind the counter saying, "Fine. And would you like to also download Google Chrome and make it your default browser?"
Hey Now!
Today only on Amazon, you can order The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series for only sixty bucks. It retails normally for $150 and Barnes & Noble (I just checked) currently has it for $135. But at Amazon, today only, you can order the totality of one of the best situation comedies ever done for just sixty bananas. Here's the link you'll want to click on and you'll want to click now.
Don't thank me for the tip. Thank writer-director Vince Waldron. In fact, I'll give you the chance later this week when I plug the hell out of his new book which you'll also want to order from Amazon. Just in case you want to order it the same time as the Larry Sanders set, I'll tell you a bit about it now…
Many moons ago, Vince wrote the (dare I say it?) definitive book on another of the best situation comedies ever done, The Dick Van Dyke Show. Later this year, but you can advance-order it now, an updated and revised version of that book will be coming out. Even if you got the earlier edition, you'll want this one and you can order it by clicking here. I'll be telling you more about it in the days to come. Right now, you're busy ordering.
Go Read It!
Craig Ferguson goes to Paris. Thanks for the tip, Robert J. Elisberg.
Recommended Reading
Occasional Republican strategist David Frum writes about that thing I mentioned a few items ago…about how Conservative "think tanks" shell out large sums of dough to get right-wing talkers like Hannity and Limbaugh to advance their agenda. Follow the money, indeed.
Today's Video Link
Something new: Magic with iPods…
There's a MAD Blog!
Hey, did you know that MAD has a blog? It's true, it's true: MAD has a blog. How do you get to the MAD blog? You click right about here and you'll be transported to the MAD blog. Don't get spoiled. It's pretty funny over there.
My Latest Tweet!
Why is it that every time I stop my car for pedestrians in Beverly Hills, one of them is Larry King? Happened today at Rodeo & Wilshire. — [Follow me on TWITTER]
Recommended Reading
Will Wilkinson explains the cozy relationship between right-wing talk show guys like Limbaugh or Hannity and Conservative "think tanks" like the Heritage Foundation. It's all, of course, about money…telling Americans that everything they treasure will be destroyed or taken away from them unless they donate loads o' cash.
Every week, one of my e-mail addresses (one I use when I have to sign up on a site likely to send me loads of spam) receives a message from a guy that tells of some new heinous crime that Hillary Clinton has committed, how the future of America depends on putting her in prison and how he has the means and evidence to toss her behind bars if only I'll send him money. I've been getting these messages from the guy since she was First Lady and was having hundreds of people murdered — including Vince Foster, who was planning to turn State's Evidence against her.
Since this guy's been sending these out for so long, I figure they must yield enough donations to at least make it worth his time to write a new "Don't you want to see Hillary destroyed?" message every week. The racket Wilkinson exposes is pretty much the same thing except it pays better.
Today's Video Link
You probably caught the opening number of the Tony Awards last Sunday night but just in case, here it is. I thought the whole show was terrific but the opening was a real standout…