Saturday, September 29, 2012

Well, I Tried

NOTE: We had updated the video links to what purported to be an official page, but Warner Bros. thought otherwise. Since the blog posts don't make any sense without the films, we have decided to remove the blog posts entirely.

Thank you all for being so patient as we took a nice little overview of Chuck Jones' career, which culminated in a video smorgasbord on Friday last week.

However, I want to point out something a little saddening. In their infinite corporate wisdom, Warner Bros. has decided to once again very strongly police its copyrights, pulling down several prolific users' accounts which provided some of the cartoons you would have enjoyed in those slots. I believe Warners' axed some of them well before Jones' birthday. At the time I programmed those blog posts (which was about three weeks before) all those cartoons were working and I watched them all myself and verified they worked.

The affected cartoons included "From Hare to Eternity", "Now Hear This", "Drip Along Daffy", "Lumber Jack-Rabbit", "Hell Bent for Election", "Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary", "What's Opera Doc?", "Bully for Bugs", "Rabbit Seasoning", "A Pest In The House", "The Aristo-Cat" and "The Night Watchman."

Look, Warner Bros. I understand that you retain the rights to these films. But, dammit, we're trying to program a tribute to celebrate the 100th birthday of a man who's helped line your corporate coffers many times over who helped create some of the greatest cartoons ever made, originally intended as ephemera but somehow got thrust into timelessness through countless television viewings, as well as some of the greatest cartoon characters ever created. Don't freaking rain on his parade.

Chuck's generosity with up and coming cartoonists has been well documented. In 1990, Chuck explained some drawing techniques to one of his students, a young man named Jeff DeGrandis (who is now the producer of "Dora the Explorer" and "Go Diego Go"), and someone thought to roll a video camera. DeGrandis thankfully saved the tapes, and was able to create a 90 minute DVD. Unfortunately I believe the DVD is no longer available but you can still donate to the Chuck Jones Center by visiting www.chuckjonescenter.org.


Friday, September 28, 2012

Haven't checked the no-hitter rolls in a while....

Homer Bailey pitches the sixth solo no-hitter of the season. Including the combined no-hitter by six Seattle pitchers that does not appear below, that makes seven this season, tying a modern record.

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
09/28/12 Cincinnati Reds (Homer Bailey)
08/15/12 Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez - perfect game)
06/13/12 San Francisco Giants (Matt Cain - perfect game)
06/01/12 New York Mets (Johan Santana - team's first)
05/02/12 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Jered Weaver)
04/21/12 Chicago White Sox (Philip Humber - perfect game)
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Miami Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)