Monthly Archives: September 2011

This wouldn't have happened if Jack was still around.

Is your local post office in trouble? Here's a list of the ones they're considering closing.

I hope all this talk of the U.S.P.S. going under or being sold to the highest bidder doesn't happen. I'm a big fan of the post office which I think provides a vital service for way less than it oughta cost and does it much more efficiently than most folks admit. I really don't understand how a lot of things would work if we didn't have it and folks had to pay FedEx rates for what we can now send for U.S.P.S. rates. I look at the mail my mother receives: Notices of doctor appointments, cards from friends her age, desirable coupons and ads for local merchants, etc. I've converted most of her bills to online billing and I handle those that way…but there are still some that have to be handled via paper.

She doesn't and can't do e-mail or go online. A lot of folks can't and many don't have someone like me to do what can be done online for them. How would they get what they now get via postal delivery?

There are a couple of events coming up next month in the L.A. area to mark the 50th anniversary of The Dick Van Dyke Show. The first one is on October 1 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and is being presented by the American Cinematheque. My pal Vince Waldron, author of the definitive — an adjective I use sparingly — book on that show, is involved with this one that will involve the presence of (at least) Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke and Rose Marie. They're going to show three episodes selected by Mr. Reiner and then have a Q-and-A…and really, how much more do you need to know than that?

Tickets have been selling briskly to Cinematheque members and the seats they haven't purchased have just (like an hour ago) gone on sale for the general public. I'll betcha they're sold out by this time tomorrow so if you want one, go order now. That's an unannounced link that you can't find on your own but it should work as long as tickets remain.

Vince will be there signing the new edition of his book, in which he actually manages to improve on a book that was darn near perfect. Even if you have the first version, you'll want this one. If he didn't do justice to my favorite TV series, I'd be maligning him and calling him rotten names now and terminating our friendship. Since I like Vince, I'm relieved that I can instead recommend that you order a copy. (Note: Amazon says it's in stock but I don't think it is yet. It will be very soon, though.)

A number of newspapers are refusing to run this week's Doonesbury strips. This has happened before when Garry Trudeau did something that seemed to some to be in poor taste. What has he done this week? Quoted a new book that is unflattering about a prominent politician.

I don't recall ever watching a Benny Hill sketch and looking at Benny and thinking, "Oh, I wish that was me in that sketch." But if you've had that dream, here's your chance.

And another clip I can't embed: Here's a little bit of what I saw Monday night. They showed a great new print of Raiders of the Lost Ark and then my pal Geoff Boucher of the L.A. Times interviewed Steven Spielberg. More excerpts will follow.

Here's a piece of remarkable footage, apparently not faked. There was a traffic accident in Logan, Utah. A car caught fire. A motorcyclist was trapped under the car. People nearby ran up and got together to lift the car up long enough for someone to drag the motorcyclist out from under it.

I can't embed the video but you can view it here.

Fred Kaplan takes time out from explaining U.S. military policy to us to rave about the new Blu-ray edition of Citizen Kane. I said earlier that I hadn't upgraded to Blu-ray because (a) I have so many regular DVDs I haven't watched yet and (b) I figure that when I finally do invest in Blu-ray, that's when they'll come up with something better. But Fred's review almost makes me want to chance it.

Yesterday, I directed a voice session for The Garfield Show and one of our actors was the brilliant Maurice LaMarche, who was rewarded last Saturday for his brilliance with one of those Emmy things you hear about. One of the voices he did on our show was his uncanny Orson Welles impression which you heard coming out of the face of Vincent D'Onofrio in Ed Wood and from The Brain on the series, Pinky & The Brain. We were lamenting that an entire generation or two is going to someday see Citizen Kane and say, "Hey, that guy sounds a lot like that mouse on the cartoon show!"