Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:29 PM

Speaking of the Marx Brothers, here's a link to the Marx Out-of-Print Page with scans of various Marx Brothers's related articles. Included are a FilmFax article about a failed TV pilot called Deputy Seraph and a Life magazine photo spread of a party at George S. Kaufman's (including a phot of Kaufman wearing shorts in a hammock).
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:21 PM

A couple of weeks back, I recommended a book about a fictional comedy team. Now I want to recommended a couple of books about real-life comedians.

Simon Louvish has written two terrific books, one about W.C. Fields and one about the Marx Brothers. Both are very heavily researched. What's particularly great about Monkey Business is that while most Marx Brothers biographies treat their vaudeville and Broadway careers as preludes to their movie careers, Louvish realizes that that period was half their lives and treats it accordingly. He takes nothing for granted, even debunking the "Margot Dumont didn't get the jokes" legend (She had worked in burlesque for years prior to being with the Brothers).

Louvish has an upcoming Laurel and Hardy bio which I'll plug when it gets published.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:00 PM

EW's IT List lists Rick Miller as the "IT Homer Simpson impersonator" for his show MacHomer. The show is described here as

[a] one-man vocal spectacular [which] features over 50 voices from TV's favourite dysfunctional family in a hilarious performance of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy!

To me, it sounds like the old hack stand-up premise of "I like Disparate Item A[Shakespeare] and Disparate Item B[Simpsons]. So I thought 'Why not combine the two?'" but extended to a full 2-3 hours.

Which reminds me that I like Spider-man and I enjoy the work of William Faulkner, so I thought "Why not leave them alone?" Since I like them so much and all.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 4:18 PM

Advantage #153 of living in Los Angeles: My brother asked me to tape the HBO documentary In Memorium about 9-11. I screwed up and didn't tape it. For some damn reason, HBO isn't rerunning it (They'll run the Making of Charles Angels a gajillion times).

I just bought the "For Your Consideration" videotape of the documentary for $2.50. Hooray for Hollywood!
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:31 PM

Our old pal Monkeyboy sent this link of the website of little person comic Tanyalee Davis. In it, she details how the Drew Carey Show "stole" her idea of dressing up a little person as "Mini-Mimi". The more likely explanation that the cast members she told the idea to forgot about it, that nobody involved with the show saw her pictures and that the concept of "Mini-Mimi" is a fairly obvious one once the character of "Mini-Me" was introduced never seems to occur to her.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:19 PM

In this week's issue of EW (or Entertainment Weekly as you in the flyover states might call it) (or, as I call it, Dub because I'm too damn busy for even a three-syllable abbreviation) is their annual IT List. Check it out; the list was named the "IT" It List in the 2002 EW. Although the Shaw Report (the In-5 Minutes Ago-Out section of EW) puts the IT list at "5 Minutes Ago".
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:12 AM

I knew pre-recorded VCR tapes were in trouble when Borders did a clearance sale a few months back. Now Circuit City has announced that they're getting out of the videotape game.

Mark Evanier writes in this column about when he figured out BETA was dead.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:08 AM

Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting is separating from Price Waterhouse Coopers and calling itself Monday. They registered introducingmonday.com but they forgot to register introducingmonday.co.uk with high-larious consequences.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:26 PM

And speaking of Snopes, the death of Ann Landers is as good a reason as any to point to this link of Snopes pranking Ann Landers.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:21 PM

Talking of Harry Von Zell (as we were below), Harry Von Zell was the radio announcer who supposedly introduced the then-President of the US as "Hoobert Heever". Snopes debunks the legend here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:30 PM

Talking of Burns and Allen, my all-time favorite Gracie Allen moment was this: For various sitcom reasons, everyone thinks Gracie is leaving George because she thinks he's having an affair specifically with a redhead frm the Brown Derby who laughed at his jokes. They get the idea to dress Harry Von Zell as the redhead. He shows up and Gracie looks at him and says "Would you like a piece of chocolate, Mr. Von Zell?"

The favorite moment occurred as Burns and Allen were saying good night:

BURNS: Gracie, how did you recognize Harry Von Zell?
ALLEN:I knew it couldn't be the redhead at the Brown Derby because Harry Von Zell doesn't laugh at your jokes.

Gracie portrayed the best scatter-brain in comedy.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:19 PM

Speaking of TV Land, here's an article which complains that the editing by cable stations of classic TV shows to make more time for commercials is actually worse than it was when the shows were syndicated on local stations.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:18 PM

File this under "Why doesn't anyone have the decency to tell me these things?": TV Land has been and is running episodes of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on Sundays at 9:00 AM EST. It's a terrificly funny show. According to the schedule, they're running episode 5 so assumably they've been doing this for a about a month. Learn more about Burns & Allen here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 4:21 PM

Kate Mulgrew, TV's Voyager's Captain Janeway, is hosting a Star-Trek-themed fund raiser for her husband, a candidate for Ohio governor. This was done after the Mrs Columbo-themed fund raiser was a bust.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:44 PM

Conan O'Brien alerts: ALERT 1: Tonight Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. Also a funny comedienne of my acquaintance by the name of Martha Kelley.

ALERT 2: If your Internet speed isn't fast enough for the various links to the segment of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog goofing on Star Wars fans or you just want to see the segment in larger-than-two-inchs format, the episode will be rerun on Monday.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:30 PM

VodkaPundit (aka "Stunning Stephen" Green) links to the World's Smallest Political Quiz, a dopey quiz which concludes that you're a libertarian by asking "Do you like freedom?" type questions. See for yourself here and then read my brother's parody of the quiz here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 1:53 PM

Fox News reports that Speedy Gonzales cartoons are returning to Cartoon Network.

One gentleman who was fighting to get Speedy back on the air states that Speedy Gonzales "one of the major stars of the classic Looney Tunes shorts". To me, Speedy Gonzales was one of the stars of the declining years of Looney Tunes. Watching Daffy Duck in those cartoons is as painful as watching Bob Hope read cue cards in his specials or watching Woody Allen as a shell of himself in Hollywood Ending. While some of those cartoons did win Oscars, Mark Evanier has a plausible-sounding reason why that happened.

Speaking of Evanier and Looney Tunes, here's a nifty essay of the history of television's butchering of the great cartoons and how their popularity despite that shows how great the cartoons were.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:52 PM

In 1980, the brilliant, post-modernist science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick was hired by hackish science-fiction writer Anne McCaffrey to write a novel in her Dragonriders of Pern series. The tale of that collaboration can be found here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:58 PM

While I'm at it, here's a Mama's Family episode guide. I notice that the obligatory Rashomon episode(#19) was called "Rashomama". The show also did an episode where Mama does the Family Feud(#13) and Jeopardy(#83). The Jeopardy episode shows the titular family of Mama huddled around the TV watching Mama play. The only problem with this is Jeopardy isn't broadcast live.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:53 PM

"Marvelous Max" Power scolds me for missing Vicki Lawrence's meatloaf recipe. My apologies. Here are other recipes of "Mama".

Max also describes this entry below as a "dissection of Vicki Lawrence's web-site." Not quite. A dissection would be pointing out that the claim of the press release that Mama's Family "consistently topped the ratings for its entire six-year run of original shows" is demonstrably false since the show was cancelled while on NBC. While it did have a few years of first-run syndication, this was in the pre-FOX-WB-UPN era when the huge demand for programming for independent stations allowed shows like Small Wonder to flourish.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:36 PM

Another exciting event on June 28th at Vegas is the Shaquille O'Neal All-Star Comedy Roast II, featuring Emmitt Smith at the MGM Grand EFX Theater. Here's an ESPN review of the first one.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:08 PM

Here is the official press release for "Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show". And here's Ms Lawrence's schedule so you can see if it's playing at a town near you.

Speaking of Carol Burnett Show alumni in Vegas, you too can win a chance to meet Tim Conway and Harvey Korman in Vegas. Details here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 3:04 PM

The weekend after next (June 28-30) seems like a great weekend to do Vegas. At the Sheraton, Don Rickles; at the Las Vegas Hilton, the Smothers Brothers; and at the Orleans, "Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show".

If you're at a resort casino where Don Rickles is playing, you owe it to yourself to catch a performance. Rickles is of the generation who puts 137% into every show. I had a great time when I saw him. I was sitting close enough to get to shake his hand but not so close that I was the Jew or the fat guy he makes fun of.

As for Vicki Lawrence, not since Frank Gorshin and Dick Van Patten were touring as The Sunshine Boys has a piece of entertainment sounded so wonderfully awful.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:28 PM

You too can have a Dell just like the Dell dude's.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:56 AM

What with the title of this blog and all, I'd be remiss not to inform you good readers that Animal Crackers is playing on Turner Classic Movies Wednesday the 19th at 8:15 AM EST. One of the best Marx Brothers movies ever. With me, it started a lifelong obsessions with the brothers Marx.

As long as you're taping TCM, you also might want to get The Loved One which is playing just before it at 6:00 AM EST. A very funny, dark comedy starring Robert Morse and Jonathan Winters; The American Way of Death as comedy, if you will (possibly inspired by the book, being released two years after the book was published).

UPDATE: I am informed by Mr John P. Powell that The Loved One is based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh. On the wishlist it goes.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:51 AM

Posting might be sporadic this week. My Internet connection is acting flaky. Let's have a big boo-hiss for AT&T Broadband, the company that converted me from digital cable to satellite and is now pushing me from cable modem to DSL.

My favorite part of dealing with these idiots on the cable side was when I asked if their digital cable would work with Tivo. I was flat out told "No." Here's a product that Tivo sells in conjunction with AT&T Broadband. It took ten calls for me to get somebody to admit that, yes, maybe they should change what they're telling customers.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:32 AM

My brother sent me this link where MTV acknowledges its debt to Sesame Street. Also "Marvelous Max" Power gives a link to an article skeptical of Sesame Street.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 6:23 PM

Talking of Sesame Street, years and years ago, I read an article talking about how when people complain about the young people and their short attention spans, they blame the MTV the kids these days watch with its quick-cuts. The thesis of the article was that MTV was merely picking up where Sesame Street left off.Sesame Street jumps around (or jumped since as we see below this is changing) as much as a music video.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 6:18 PM

An interesting NY Times article about big changes in Sesame Street. Sesame Street's basic assumption was that pre-school children couldn't sit still for long narrative stretches. This assumption has been invalidated by the popularity of Blue's Clues and the VCR's demonstration of kids' willingness to sit through the same movie over and over again. Now a story in Sesame Street is told over a designated period whereas when you and I were kids, a story would be interrupted by segments about the letter 'Q' or whatever. Whether they're keeping the "TWELVE COCONUT CREAM PIES!" guy or that dude who'd paint numbers on various random surfaces wasn't stated.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:35 AM

Obituary (registration required) for Joseph Bau, an Israeli artist and animator and a Holocaust survivor. His wedding at the Plaszow camp was depicted (slightly Hollywood-ized) in Schindler's List. His wife Rebecca was owed a favor by the commandant's Jewish secretary so she got Bau placed on Schindler's list, having more faith in her ability to survive Auschwitz.. Bau didn't know she had done this until he saw it in the movie. The couple was reunited after the war. Bau wrote a memoir Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? Here's a link to some of his artwork.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:38 PM

And for the record, my favorite Gene Shalit review was for Woody Allen's Small-Time Crooks:

I went "Bananas" for this smart "Sleeper" about stupids, so "Take the Money and Run" to see Small Time Crooks.

The only thing that keeps it from being perfect the Platonic ideal of a Gene Shalit review is that it's missing some reference to the eventual Oscar hopes of the film ("Looks like this Small-Time Crook will be stealing your hearts...and an Oscar!").
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:29 PM

Here's a link to a Variety article I don't care about but has a great Variety-esque "STIX NIX PIX" type headline. It's no "Jesus Beats Regis" but I like it.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:54 PM

One thing I forgot to mention in my review of Bad Company: They show a computerized transaction of 19 million dollars being transferred from one account to another by showing the number 19 million decrementing to 0 on one computer and the number 0 increasing to 19 million on another computer. I don't expect everyone to know how 'puters work but do they really think computerized banking withdraws money one dollar at a time like Porky Pig counting out money to hotel manager Daffy Duck?
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 12:42 PM

Bill Carter reveals that NBC was also pursuing Letterman this spring. The idea was to give him a show from 8-9 everyday except Thursday.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:51 PM

"Delightful Dave" Trowbridge shows the hypocrisy of the organic food movement and their fight against the evil genetic modification which will do horrible things like provide more nutrition to Third World countries here.

Do people think grains and vegetables and fruits haven't changed one iota since humanity started farming 50,000 years ago? When people choose the big plants for seeding next year's crop (just like that Planet of the Apes episode), they're genetically modifying the food.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:30 PM

"Marvelous Max" Power debunks Koko, the sign-language gorilla. One thing that the articles he links to doesn't mention is that the one deaf member on the team that trained Washoe (another sign-language chimp) was often criticizing for not logging "enough" signs. The one person who genuinely knows American Sign Language (which is a full langauage with complex morphology and syntax and not just a system of gestures) did not see the chimp's signing as meaningful signs.

The source for this is an excellent book entitled The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. This book is a great survey of linguistics for the curious. Linguistics and the fact that humanity instinctively learns languages was the original debunking of the type of behaviorism that's behind the Koko "teachers". Pinker also wrote a great chapter debunking William Safire and other grammar mavens. At some point, I'll do a post on that subject.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:09 AM

Speaking of the Niagara Falls sketch, Abbott & Costello used to do a variation of that sketch called the Susquehana Hat Company (which Niagara Falls All Over Again author Elizabeth McCracken knows enough about comedy to allude). The skecth differs in one important regard: Instead of one guy going nuts over the forbidden phrase, every single person Lou Costello runs into goes crazy upon hearing it.

Here's a link to the real life Susquehana Hat Company. (Link is not currently working but I am charitably presuming this is a temporary condition.)

# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:58 AM

I also just finished reading a marvelous book called Niagara Falls All Over Again. Fans of old comedy will enjoy this novel narrated by the straight man of a comedy team. And yes, the Niagara Falls in the title does refer to the Niagara Falls sketch.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:14 AM

I saw Bad Company Friday night. Mainly because nothing else was playing (I will only see Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood if afterwards I'm either 1)getting laid or 2)writing the Mad magazine parody. (I'm thinking of calling it "Secr-ecchhh of the Bleh Bleh Sisterhood")). It's a serviceable comedy. Chris Rock is funny in places. Anthony Hopkins understands a principle of comedy that sometimes escapes other serious actors (Mainly that the serious actor is brought in to the comedy for gravitas and so it is unnecessary and, in fact, undesirable for him to act silly. John Houseman was particularly bad about this).

The plot's dopey as it turns around Chris Rock's character having an identical twin he didn't know about as well as Hopkins's disgust with how Rock's character is being used as a pawn (Who knew that the CIA could be so ruthless?). However the expected Hopkins-talking-black part was surprisingly low-key (I expected him to be doing it every time he shot a bad guy) and they also spared us a Hopkins dancing to hip-hop during the credits sequence that similar movies would have done.

My friend and I also found enjoyment in making fun of the film's telling us where the film was taking place by using titles on the screen. At one point, literally seconds after "The Kaputnik Monastery" was typed on the screen, a character says "Sir, they're at the Kaputnik Monastery."
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:56 AM

Salon also has an article suggesting that the Netflix model (monthly fee, rent 3 DVDs at a time, hang onto them as long as you want) should be adopted for digital music. I notice that Blockbuster is offering a video game card similar to the Netflix model. It's unclear if the card is renewable every month. I wonder if they're testing converting to the Netflix way of bidness for everything.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:47 AM

I link to this Salon review of Bad Company because of this line:

The only thing missing is a little clock in the corner of the screen counting down the minutes until the uptight old white guy starts talking black.

# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:20 AM

The Wonder Twins have been optioned for a movie. This is a classic case of just because we have the technology to do something doesn't mean we should do it.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 12:56 PM

Speaking of towns and radio shows, here's the history of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 12:54 PM

A nice gentleman by the name of Richard Starratt informs me that Rancho Cucamonga has a statue of Jack Benny. Here's a picture. Road Trip! Woo!

For those unfamiliar with the Jack Benny Show (I know, anyone under the age of 50, besides me) and thus don't recognize the significance, about once every six months, Jack and the gang would have to ride a train somewhere. Mel Blanc as a train announcer would announce "Train leaving on track five for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cuc...amonga." He would keep doing that, progressively stretching out the pause between "Cuc" and "amonga". Here's a WAV file of Blanc doing the line.

Anaheim's web site gives a history of how the three towns took advantage of the publicity of being a Jack Benny gag.


# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 9:03 AM

"Billionaire Bill" also points out that the Jack Benny statue is long overdue, especially since the fictional Mary Richards has one. I'm somewhat surprised that it's taken Waukegan this long to exploit their Jack Benny connection. On the other hand, I'm told Fredonia, NY does not acknowledge its Marx Brothers connection so maybe it's not that hard to believe.

Nacogdoches, TX where the Marx Brothers allegedly went from a singing career to a comedy career* does a half-assed job of exploiting their connection with the brothers here and here (do a search for Marx in both pages). Since nature abhors a vacuum, the town of Denison,TX claims it was where the Marx Brothers started doing comedy.

*The apocryphal story is the audience left in the middle of a performance. The Marx Brothers were so mad that when the audience came back, they started hurling insults including "Nacogdoches is full of roaches."
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:51 AM

Update on my desire to check out Illinois burgs:

First, the itineray has expanded to include Chester, IL, home of Popeye.

Second, this weekend is also the annual Superman celebration. I say the planners of the Jack Benny statue dedication screwed up and should have checked their calendars more closely to avoid conflicts like this. I shouldn't have to choose between Jack Benny and Adam West.

Third, "Billionaire Bill" Sherman suggests flying into St. Louis and driving to Metropolis from there. Right now, my best bet is looking like St. Louis to Chester, Chester to Metropolis, Metropolis to St Louis, fly to Chicago, then Chicago to Waukegan.

# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:52 PM

To the guy who googled me with "Godzilla v the Hulk", the Hulk. Definitely the Hulk. Considering that Marvel had the Godzilla license for a short amount of time, I'm surprised we haven't seen that fight.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:46 PM

Edward Jay Epstein points out that we have absolutely no proof that the World Trade Center planes were taken with box-cutters and plastic knives.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:30 PM

On happier news, I just got my Mr. Show DVD. Mr Show is one of the best sketch shows ever. This is a perfect opportunity to check it out. (I'm presuming it will be available to rent somewhere.) It's really good. I'm talking Python, SCTV good.

# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:49 PM

Here's a Forbes article which agrees with my complaint about how the tech industry's hiring process is totally fubar. Not only are they rejecting perfectly qualified applicants without even interviewing but the artificial shortage of "skilled" workers causes rampant job-hopping amongst those with the skills. A highlight:

Recently an employer called me, desperately seeking a programmer to write software for a novel cell-phone design. He was different, he said: He would not insist on experience in a specific programming language. I replied that he was in luck; I knew a good programmer who was seeking work, and as a bonus, had experience with radio-frequency engineering applications. Good, he replied. "What frequency?"

And here's a FAQ on this subject.

# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:19 PM

FUNNY, HE DOESN'T LOOK IT or IT'S MINYAN TIME!!!! Dept: In this month's issue of Fantastic Four (issue #56), it is established that Benjamin J. Grimm aka Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew aka the ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing, is Jewish. He even says the Sh'ma.

Speaking of Jewish Marvel charcters, Marvel has, on occassion, been weaselly about whether or not Magneto is Jewish. Here's textual proof that he is.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:29 PM

I apologize for the recent sparseness of posts here. My day job is moving out of LA so I have been looking for another job. My day job is that of computer programmer. Here's an example of how frustrating it is to look for work in the technology arena. This is a listing asking for experience in the Microsoft.NET development platform. This is an article discussing the release of Microsoft.NET in January and February 2002.

This sort of nonsense of insisting on experience on a particular technology when competence in the general field of programming and a book about the tecnology would really suffice is the reason why tech salaries were inflated during the .com boom and still are somewhat now. I once had a job interview for a gig I didn't get because I did not have two years experience in a technology that was, at the time, exactly two years old. I wish I could say that's an atypical experience but it ain't.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 7:17 PM

A Slate article about celibacy in superheros. The article conveniently ignores the Batman movies where Batman reveals his identity to a different love interest in each film in that franchise (except for the gayed-up chapter).

I never understood why Supes's mother was upset with him for taking a human bride in Superman II. Forbidding him to marry outsiders takes the metaphor of a Jewish Superman too far. He's the only Kryptonian on Earth; what did they expect of him?

I also don't think Spidey's decision at the end of Spider-man regarding Mary Jane was a good one. She was endangered when she wasn't dating Peter. Also Aunt May is endangered by his dual identity (and was, in fact, hospitalized because of it) and I don't think anyone would applaud his abandoning her for safety's sake. Now, mind you, I don't dislike the fact that he made that decision. This is the sort of self-created angst that was typical of Spidey's comic book. He's 18 or 19; he's entitled to make dopey decisions.

More importantly, I don't think the movie itself considers Spidey's self-imposed celibacy a good decision and I suspect the sequel will deal with that. Especially since it looked like they were hinting that MJ has figured out the dual identity.

Finally, Attack of the Clones establishing that jedis are supposed to be celibate is just further proof that Lucas is making this crap up as he goes along.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:16 AM

Learning of the below inspired the idea of doing a trip to Illinois where I do a road trip from Waukegan to Metropolis, IL (and Chicago, I guess). However Mapquest says it's a 400-mile, 7-hour drive, so I dunno. Maybe "Billionaire Bill" Sherman who's been to Metropolis can give hints on the best way to get there.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:03 AM

The city of Waukegan, IL is dedicating a statue to Jack Benny on Saturday. Details here if you want to make travel plans.

I noticed on the schedule that they were going to do a performance of the Jack Benny Show. I volunteer my services in the role of Frank Nelson. I do a great "Yesssssss?!?! May I heeeeeeelp you?"
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 1:15 AM

Cracked is back and as mediocre as ever. Cracked, the longest running Mad ripoff, had not published in several months. Here Mark Evanier gives a history of the magazine and speculates that the magazine was going to go under since it hadn't been published and hadn't been paying its contributers.

If you didn't know in advance that Cracked hadn't been published in a while and that it had a backlog of material, you would have guessed it very easily. Included were parodies of Tomb Raider and the game shows that are all the rage these days.

Even though I had stopped reading both mags at the time, I was still shocked in 1988 when Don Martin left MAD for Cracked. For those not familiar with humor magazines, this would be the equivalent of John Lennon quitting the Beatles to join the Monkees.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:28 PM

The LA Times also had a great article debunking Taliban civillian casualty claims. This debunking comes from the reporters whose articles were falsified and from nurses at a hospital whose maternity wing was supposedly destroyed.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 2:08 PM

LA Times article on Cal Worthington (and his dog Spot).
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:41 AM

Want final proof that The Sweetest Thing is a lousy movie? Comedy Central bought the movie rights. (Scroll down)
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:38 AM

Groucho Marx dines with T.S. Eliot. Story here.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:28 AM

THE POWER OF THE INTERNET: Since last Wednesday, I've been making an offer: come see me at a show I was in and get a free World of Bob Hope booklet. I entered the promotion with four of these booklets; at the end of the evening I had four left. Oh, well. You missed me recreate Milton Berle's "MAKE-UP!" routine.

I'll figure out something to do with these books; selling isn't an option.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 8:23 AM

An article on how German television is the Japanese baseball of show-biz.
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 5:30 PM

I saw Roman Coppola's CQ last week and like it a lot. The Barbarella scenes were funny and the story of the young director is good too. Jason Schwartzman's role as a brash, young horror director was a highlight and shows he can play non-Max-Fischer-esque roles. Considering that I entered with the mindset of "If my father had directed Godfather, I could get a movie made too", my enjoying it says something.

[Last week, I also saw The Komediant. My review of that here.]
# | |

Posted by Daniel Frank at 5:23 PM

Last week, I bought an X-box. A few weeks back when the price dropped, I wondered which system to get. I had originally reached the conclusion that of the things I eventually wanted to get (video camera, computer which can edit footage, new desk that can handle a desktop as opposed to a laptop, tall dresser to replace wide dresser so there's room for the desk) a gaming system would fall to the bottom. Plus I didn't need another reason not to leave the house.

Anyway last week, my old man tells me he bought an X-box. The idea was when the Xbox goes online in the fall, he, I and my brother (who already owned one) would play games online. Who was I to get in the way of family fun across this great land of ours? So I got one.

The controls have like a gajillion buttons and three directional control doohickeys. I understand how old people felt when facing a computer for the first time. Now mind you, I'm not saying the original joystick-and-one-button are the "good old days"; games can do a lot of cool stuff that need all the things in the controls. I just wonder if my late-twenties-ish hand-eye coordination can adjust. Or if I can invest the time to learn.
# | |