It's a little odd that the New York Lottery has resurrected its commercial with three classic voiceover announcers - one of whom is dead, another of whom is frankly not doing well, and another of whom is Johnny Gilbert. This spot promotes Mega Millions, with the NY lottery's nebbish narrator outranking Gilbert, Ed McMahon and the late Don LaFontaine in popularity while eating at a diner. I don't believe I've posted it before, but here it is.
Why is Ed McMahon saying "Hi-yo"? Well, it's something he did say on the Tonight Show, but not his most famous phrase - that would be "Heeeeeeere's Johnny". Johnny Carson had a trademark on the phrase (according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, it was cancelled in 2002), but I suspect that Ed simply does not do that line in public any longer out of respect for his old boss.
Little to cheer about from a Mets baseball standpoint today as the team lost its final exhibition game to the Boston Red Sox, 9-3.
But what a venue! As much as I've enjoyed my visits to Shea over the years, I really think the Mets have a winner here. Many seats very close to the action here, and the uppermost seats don't seem as lofty as they were at Shea. We'll soon be posting a link to the gallery of pictures I took today. However, we will most certainly learn more about this terrific ballpark on future visits.
Greetings from Citi Field. Though we got here a little late the sun is trying to peek through. This is going to be a nice place to watch a game or two. We will have a more detailed report later. For now, LET'S GO METS!
Tomorrow is the official start of the baseball season, but the new New York ball parks are having their shakedown cruises this weekend. Both the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are hosting games with the big-league clubs this weekend, and Robair and I will be at the Mets game today at Citi Field. We're really anxious to check out the new ballpark, even though it's going to be really windy and possibly showery. We'll have some pictures up here and maybe some Mini Mackey Movies up on YouTube.
The Mets won over the Red Sox last night, 4-3, at the first big-league action (albeit exhibition) in the park. Starting Monday you can watch the numbers on the no-hitter count start to rise again. Bring it on.
It's Aprll 2 and I would be derelict in my duties if I didn't wish a Happy Birthday to my good friend of two decades, Harry McCracken, former editor-in-chief of PC World Magazine and now operator of the Technologizer tech-info website.
Harry yesterday had an April Fool's piece on the site about the 45th anniversary of Technologizer. Back when it ran on mainframes and TRS-80's. There must be some reason he picked the number 45...
Additionally, Harry has been providing Technologizer-like content to his old home of PC World.
Great outing from Johan Santana today in a Mets pre-season game against the Braves. In five innings of work only gave up two hits, both of them in the fifth - a home run and a double.
For you newcomers (hello Facebook pals), both Mackey brothers have been Mets fans for the past 44 years or so. Optimistic old me thinks that this is the year we finally see a New York Mets no-hitter. This is a cause we've been taking up for the past several years, actually inspiring the creation by others of a more intensive site devoted to the quest, nonohitters.com. We will continue to update our counter on this website. I'm hoping this is the last year we even have a counter.
It took more than three of those little piggies to play Shorty Rogers' score for the 1956 Warner Bros. cartoon "Three Little Bops", which we discussed a while back. I found a credits listing on Wikipedia which you may take with a grain of salt as you should anything on Wikipedia.
The Shorty Rogers group was actually a sextet. At times the pigs are seen playing several different instruments depending on the scene.
Shorty Rogers is playing trumpet. That's the easy one.
Pete Jolly is playing piano, and Barney Kessel is definitely the guitarist.
The other instruments are a little more vague. The baritone sax is either Pepper Adams or Jimmy Giuffre (of "Four Brothers" fame). Drums may be Stan Levey or Shelly Manne; my money's on Manne just because of the whose West Coast Jazz brotherhood. (Manne's drumming is also heard on DePatie-Freleng cartoons of the late 60's.) Bass may be Red Mitchell or Red Callender, just call him Red.
And Milt Franklyn did slate the session - I finally tracked down the music-only tracks and he does indeed bellow "Production number 1429, the 'Three Little Bops'."
Hi. Some of you may have noticed all my posts disappeared. Hopefully with this new post and republication we can get that fixed.
If you want to know how we did at the crossword tournament that wrapped up this weekend, please visit www.thepuzzlebrothers.com and see the whole report plus photo gallery.
I found this ancient commercial on YouTube. As you know, the United Church of Christ has been publicizing their "All The People" campaign, celebrating its status as an inclusive church where all are welcome. However, in the 1970's, the UCC wasn't quite as market-savvy as illustrated by this kiddie commercial that ran in many local avails that weren't already taken up by spots for Lite-Brite. The animation style probably inspired those Parker and Stone fellers to do their own version... ya think? Anyway here's the spot.
Aw, here's Lite Brite. They bought time. See the comments for a nice theory on who the voiceover for this spot is.
I grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters during their golden era in the 1970's. Back then, it seemed the Globies were everywhere, including Saturday Mornings when they headlined no less than three different shows.
Happily, the 2009 Globetrotters, who appeared at the Izod Center today, may be different players, but they are the same in the two most important ways - their basketball skills and their wonderful regard for our children. Some of the routines are exactly the same as performed by Meadowlark and the rest of the 70s gang, but that's OK. I had a great time.
Mark Evanier so graciously pointed out that Frank Buxton, closest thing we have today to a modern-day renaissance man, now has his own website. Pursuant to this website, Frank Buxton is most notably the voice of Batfink.
Construction crews continue the dismantling of Shea Stadium. In photos taken yesterday, you can see that there is only a small section of the old ballpark still standing, and lots of rubble yet to be carted away before the business of creating the new parking lot can begin. Meanwhile, the Atlas Van Lines truck took the Mets equipment away to the spring training headquarters, in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Pitchers and catchers report this week! Are you ready for some baseball?
Tracy and I spent a wonderful evening in New York, where I got to use my birthday present from her: a ticket to see the musical "Jersey Boys", about the formation and stardom of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The music was great. Jarrod Spector played Frankie and did a great job replicating his voice.
I don't talk too much about trains or buses on my blogs any more, but Tracy was very thrilled to ride on NJ Transit's new bi-level rail cars. I don't think she was too impressed with the run-of-the-mill MCI D4500 buses we rode into the city last time. But she enjoyed the way the new cars rode. Frankly I'm glad those old Bombardier cars that smacked of the 1970's are gone.
PATH equipment - desperately in need of an upgrade! When were those cars made, anyway? The 60's?
First off, NBC, could we please get the virtual down markers the hell off the field? It does not add to my enhancement of the game.
Break 1 - 6:39 p.m. (all times Eastern)
Bud Light "Meeting": No beer at meetings. "We need ideas," they say. Amen to that. C
Sony "Angels & Demons": Not rated, film ad
Audi "Hot Cars": Automatic F (Do Not Attempt)
Break 2 - 6:43 p.m.
Pepsi "Forever Young": It's Bob Dylan! And lots of old footage. Bruce Lee. Lots of icons in this ad. Now here's Will.i.am reimagining the Dylan song. Gumby, Shrek, Blues Brothers. Lots of icons. Flag waving. Lots of icons. Easily the best spot so far. B
Doritos "Contest Winner": To get Doritos, break open a vending machine. Hmmm... I think you just saved yourself a million dollars. C
Bud Light "Conan": Conan O'Brien says he doesn't do commercials. (So what's he doing in this one?) He's going to do one for Sweden for Bud Light. Of course, this is the kind of stuff Conan's fans go for. B
Sony "Year One": Movie ad, not rated
Toyota "Venza": And this is the reason why you can't buy a 2009 Solara. C
Break 4 - 7:01 p.m. (END 1st QUARTER)
Bridgestone "Mr Potato Head": Two potato heads are riding along, and have to stop short. Mrs. Potato Head loses her lips, then changes her eyes to angrier ones. Great stuff! A
Universal "Fast and the Furious": Not rated, movie ad
Castrol Edge "Monkeys": What's with the chimps? That's what I want to know. I thought we were done with simians! D
Break 5 - 7:05 p.m.
Universal "Land of the Lost": Not rated, movie ad
Doritos "Runner Up": Crunching causes women to lose their clothes and cops to disappear. More monkeys. Better than the "winning" ad! B
Go Daddy "College Dudes": Danica Patrick again, with college guys. She's taking a shower, of all things. You need to go to the website to see the end of this. We will do that later and see. Incomplete
Update: The rest of the spot, which clocks in at 1:46, merits this a B grade. This was actually quite an entertaining spot, and not as bawdy as Go Daddy would have you believe.
Break 6 - 7:09 p.m.
Pepsi Max "I'm Good": Ouch! Lots of strange violent stuff. Great that the male market is being served with its own diet cola. B
Pedigree "Get a Dog": Strange pets! Rhinos, ostriches, boars. Maybe you should get a dog. They are encouraging adoption.A
Budweiser "Fetching Clydesdales": The dalmatian can fetch, why not the Clydesdale? He does! Does the AHA monitor commercials? B
Break 7 - 7:12 p.m.
Budweiser "Daisy": Bud back to back! A white horse falls in love with one of the Clydesdales. B
Paramount "Star Trek": Movie ad, not rated
At this point, Tracy is putting together (or taking apart, as the case may be) the 3-D glasses for the big 3-D break.
Break 8 - 7:21 p.m.
G "Testimonials": Black and white footage of athletes telling us how they like Gatorade, which I guess is now called "G", much like Sunny Delight is now called Sunny D. What you bet their logo is the only color thing in the commercial? Yep. Boring. D
Cars.com "Confidence": Genius baby manages to date older women and has a remarkable life, but needs to use cars.com to get himself a nice car. C
Break 9 - 7:34 p.m.
Hyundai "Genesis": Germans and Japanese and other nationalities are upset over the Car of the Year sleection. Hyundai also feels the need to tell us how to pronounce their name, after over 20 years of making cars for the U.S. market. C
E-Trade "Two Babies" Two talking babies! We don't know what they're talking about, but it's still clever stuff in an absurdist sort of way. B
Break 10 - 7:38 p.m.
Disney/Pixar "Up": Not rated, movie spot
Bud Light "Skiers" - Two skiers are drawing with their fingers on ski slopes to create moguls, trees and even fake casts ("Chicks dig this"). Cute! B
Break 11 - 7:41 p.m. - TWO MINUTE WARNING
H&R Block "Death": The Grim reaper visits an accountant. I think Death was funnier on "Family Guy." Especially when Norm Macdonald was voicing him. C
Teleflora "Boxed Flowers": They talk to you. How many guys watching this game actually have a sensitive enough side to think of sending flowers? C
Monster.com "Fandemonium": Harry Kalas narrates the commercial for "the NFL director of fandemonium". This isn't really ratable since it's promoting a contest, which is for some sort of non-existent position with the NFL.
Break 12 - 7:46 p.m.
Cheetos "Pigeons": Girl's talking on phone, but Cheetos attaract pigeons. Which is why I avoid eating outside. Chester is getting to be a bad guy. B
Break 13 - 7:57 p.m. - THE 3-D BREAK
This would be a great time for a Rickroll. Anyone thought to do that this year?
DreamWorks Animation "Monsters vs. Aliens": Not rated, movie spot
SoBe "3D Lizards": Lesson not learned from "Lumber Jack-Rabbit": just being in 3-D doesn't automatically make it a classic. C
Halftime Show Interlude
If you're from my part of Jersey, Bruce is a religion unto itself.
The years have been kind to Bruce and the band... Patti looks gorgeous... good to see Labamba Rosenberg in the horn section. I hate to think of all these kids who are asking, "Since when does Silvio Dante play guitar?"
Sad part: Danny Federici is missing. He'd have loved this.
Soozie Tyrell is there too playing guitar. That's how they get that big sound, lots of guitars. Bruce, Miami Steve, Nils, Soozie and Patti all playing guitar. And I just spotted Love Man Pender on trumpet.
"Working On A Dream" destined to become another E Street classic.
Jerry Vivino Jr. is there too playing sax. Never met him, but played with his dad at OCC.
Best ads so far: Bridgestone and Pedigree. Let's see what the second half brings.
MEMO TO NBC: Your Thursday night comedy starring Jason Lee is called "My Name Is Earl" - NOT "Earl". What's the use in naming a TV show if you're not going to call it by its right name in promos?
Break 14 - 8:35 p.m.
Coca Cola "?": - Everyone turns into avatars when drinking Coke. Goodness, since when does a soft drink turn you into a virtual reality character? C
Bridgestone "Aliens": AUTOMATIC F - Do Not Attempt. Bridgestone got an F last year for its Richard Simmons spot. Amazing how a company that had one of the best ads this year also had perhaps the two worst in the last two years!
Denny's "Real Breakfast": Obviously aimed at IHOP and their fruity pancakes, eaten by a bunch of tough-talking guys. Was that Martin Scorsese? B
Monster.com: If you do not get a new job, you will get crapped on by... what the heck kind of animal was that? D
Break 15 - 8:40 p.m.
Budweiser "Destiny": How the Clydesdales came to come to America. Including disastrous stints as carriage horses and racehorses. A
Disney "Race to Witch Mountain": Not rated, movie spot
Break 16 - 8:57 p.m.
DreamWorks/Paramount "Transformers" Not rated, movie spot
Career Builder "It's Time": The compounding of funny-at-first images got very annoying after the third or fourth time. C
Break 17 - 9:00 p.m.
Coca-Cola "Bugs": Ladybug lands on coke, and all-out insect warfare ensues. Prokofiev during the Super Bowl is a neat idea. B
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes "Fields": Tony the Tiger without Thurl Ravenscroft is unthinkable. Kellogg's helps build sports fields, apparently. C
Break 18 - 9:05 p.m. (END 3RD QUARTER)
NFL: Usama Young's story. (Not Rated)
The commercials following this one were local avails.
Now it's the fourth quarter. Kids are in bed. Wife is too. Just me and the spots now... may the best man win. And if Pittsburgh scores one more time, this game is ovah.
The spots at approx. 9:10 p.m. were local avails.
Break 19 - 9:16 p.m.
Hyundai "Assurance": Assurance program ensures that you can return your car without effect on your credit if you lose your job. Pretty straightforward, and that seems to be getting the job done this year. B
Coke Zero: Refry of the famous Mean Joe Greene spot. The Coke Brand Managers, a concept I just don't understand from all the other Coke Zero commercials, show up to disrupt the moment. Then it just becomes trite. D
Cash4Gold.com "McMahon/McHammer": Ed McMahon is just plain SAD. Hammer is just as sad. Sad all the way around. And the thought of this kind of commercial during the Super Bowl? What's next? Lefty's Pawn Shop? C
Break 20 - 9:22 p.m.
Vizio TV - Amazing how this spot wound up in Supes, especially when Samsung is the official TV of Supes. Dull, dull, dull.D
Taco Bell "Date": The girl gives a guy her digits and says, "Call me sometime." Next thing you know, he calls right away, takes her on a Taco Bell date, and meets her parents. What happens next is up to your vivid imagination. B
GE "Scarecrow": The Scarecrow from Oz (an old recording of Ray Bolger) is playing on the power lines! Of all the spots that need a "Do Not Attempt", this is one. C
Break 21 - 9:26 p.m.
Hulu "Alec Baldwin": You can watch lots of stuff on Hulu, including Alec's show. Alec's usually a funny guy but not here. C
Break 22 - 9:32 p.m.
GE "Wind Power": Kid catches air in a bottle. Goes to his house, and gives it to grandpa, who blows out all the candles. on his cake. C
Pepsi "MacGruber": This is a SNL character in a spot for Pepsi. MacGruber likes to drink Pepsi. It's official: SNL has sold out.F
Break 23 - 9:53 p.m. (TWO MINUTE WARNING)
Bud Light Lime "Summer": You drink this beer and it magically becomes summer around you. Definitely going for the Corona crowd.C
GoDaddy "Enhanced": - Is Danica Patrick enhanced? Find out at their website. Incomplete
Update: The complete 2:54 (!) version is not as sharp as the other spot, and not as titillating as the sponsor would have you believe. C
Final score: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23. And as the league's hired goon comes out on the field to hand the Steelers their hats which you can buy on the NFL website RIGHT NOW, we say good night. Pittsburgh fans, go wrap yourselves in your Terrible Towels and have a party! Thanks for reading!
Here are the ads that you will see tonight, with descriptions digested from the USA Today roundup. Be ready for some brutal commentary on some of these, if their descriptions are any indication.
FIRST QUARTER
Audi (:60) Hot cars
Bridgestone (:30) Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head
Budweiser (:30) Fetching Clydesdale
Bud Light (:30) Conan O'Brien
Bud Light (:30) No beer at meetings
Castrol (:30) Edge + animals
Doritos (:30) Internet submission
Doritos (:30) Runner-up
Gatorade (:30)
GoDaddy (:30) College fantasies
Pedigree (:30) Dogs rule
Pepsi-Cola (:60) Will.i.am performs
Pepsi Max (:30) "I'm good"
Sony (:30) Angels & Demons
Sony (:30) The Year One
Toyota (:30) Venza
SECOND QUARTER
Budweiser (:60) Clydesdale in love
Bud Light (:30) Skiers
Cars.com (:60) Overachiever
Cash4Gold.com (:30) Ed McMahon and MC Hammer
Cheetos (:30) Chester shows us the dark side
E-Trade (:30) Talking baby
Gatorade (:30)
Hyundai (:30) Genesis is Car of the Year
Teleflora (:30) Insult your Valentine
THE 3-D BREAK
DreamWorks Animation (:90) Monsters vs. Aliens
SoBe (:60) 3-D Ballet
Plus added attraction, the Three Stooges in "Spooks" (jk)
THIRD QUARTER
Bridgestone (:30 3Q) Saturn
Budweiser (:60) How the Clydesdales came over from Scotland
January 21, 1985 was my first day at work at Y107 radio in Long Branch, New Jersey. The two things I remember about that day was that it was the beginning of Ronald Reagan's second term of office (the inauguration being moved from Sunday to Monday), and that the general manager sent everyone home early that day because there was no heat in the building.
January 19, 1989 - twenty years ago today - was my last day of work at Y107 radio in Long Branch, New Jersey. The station's new ownership had brought a security guard into the station shortly after midnight the next day, shut off the transmitter, and asked the only employee working at the time, "TJ The DJ", to leave the premises. This was in response to a plea by our afternoon disk jockey (who I think was still Willobee at the time) to have hordes of people come to the station on Friday morning and protest possible format changes being installed by the new ownership. We sat at a seashore bar - specially opened in the offseason to serve employees who wanted to drink to excess, myself included - and watched George H.W. Bush take the oath of office. My Y107 tenure lasted exactly four years, with all but two station employees being hired after me. At 27, I was one of the grizzled old vets.
What happened in between would make for one hell of a book, as Y107 was perhaps the most fun I ever had when I worked in broadcasting - and at the same time, made for some of the most stressful moments of my life. I value the experiences I had, and in the days to come, I will be sharing with you examples of the work I did while at Y107 as an air personality. Yes, I did save one aircheck tape. I may have others which are actually right now in Robair's possession, as he has the majority of my cassettes.
One of the more fun things I do as proprietor of this weblog is to have a commentary on the Super Bowl advertising strategy. This usually goes up an hour or two after the game. This year, we're going to do it a little different: we are going to comment on the ads AS THEY HAPPEN. At the end of each break (or "pod", as they're sometimes called), we'll recap each of the commercials in that pod and discuss notable features of the ads, whether or not they were funny, whether or not they were intended to be funny, and like that. Now, to just familiarize you all with the ground rules:
1. This is my biggest pet peeve. Any commercial that shows an imposskible stunt with a big disclaimer DO NOT ATTEMPT on the screen will be given an immediate F without further discussion. Ad agencies make commercials, not lawyers.
2. Movie creative will not be considered for letter grades, as there is a set formula to movie ads, and we consider them to be a breed apart. We will miss the tobacco-soaked voice of Don LaFontaine this year.
The NBC traffic department as of a week ago had stated that the 67 30-second avails are at 90% sellout. The spots this year are going for as much as $3 million dollars for each of those avails. Imagine that scheduling headache! Even with my decade plus of experience doing radio and television traffic, I don't think I could do it.
Who's in and who's out: According to various press reports...
IN: Anheuser-Busch InBev (of course) with up to five minutes of creative for Bud Light, Budweiser (more Clydesdale spots), Bud Light Lime and Budweiser American Ale; Audi (:60 1Q, vehicle TBD); Bridgestone (also sponsoring the halftime performance by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band); CareerBuilder (:30 2Q and :30 3Q, this time, without the monkeys); Cars.com (:60 2Q); Coca-Cola (multiple); Denny's (:30 3Q); DreamWorks Animation (:60 end 2Q for "Monsters vs. Aliens"); E-Trade (:30 TBD with the talking baby); Frito-Lay/Doritos (:30 TBD with homemade ads being solicited; prize of $1,000,000 to be awarded if this ad ranks #1 on the USA Today Ad Meter); GE (one spot TBD); GoDaddy (:30 TBD and perhaps maybe another, featuring Danica Patrick); H&R Block (:30 2H, part of the "You've Got People" campaign, first Supes ad for the company in 5 years); Hyundai (two spots for the Genesis coupe); Monster (:30); The NFL (:60 halftime to be directed by ad legend Joe Pytka); Pedigree (:30, first Supes appearance for the pet food maker); Pepsi (various); SoBe (:30 end 2Q to be podded with the DreamWorks ad); Teleflora (:30 2Q); Universal (TBD)
When Gene Deitch took over the day to day operations of Terrytoons in the mid-1950's, one of his radical decisions was to discontinue the studio's long-running characters like Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle. While many enjoyed the new concepts and ideas Deitch was trying out, 20th Century-Fox wanted cartoon stars for its releases. That's perhaps one of the reasons that Gene Deitch was let go, and Bill Weiss put in his place. The first thing Weiss did was order Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle back into production. The first result of this was the 1959 Mighty Mouse cartoon "Outer Space Visitor", which we present to you now, through the good offices of Robair who is starting to go through my old tapes and get this stuff up on YouTube.
This cartoon was directed (and probably also animated) by Dave Tendlar, who had just recently joined the Terrytoons staff after spending most of his career up to that point at Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoons. Tendlar had been a valued animator and a gifted character designer, and most of the animators in his unit were top draftsmen.
Tendlar would soon be joined at Terrytoons by one of his lead animators, Martin Taras, who would help resurrect Heckle and Jeckle. The Heckle and Jeckle revival was significantly more successful than Mighty Mouse's, which only lasted for three films- this one, "Cat Alarm" and "The Mysterious Package". There were perhaps a dozen Heckle and Jeckle films made in the 1960's, with most of them being produced in the 1960-1961 time frame, with the last one, "Messed Up Movie Makers", being released in 1966, a project of longtime studio animators George Bakes and Al Chiarito.
After Terrytoons, Dave Tendlar would freelance for many other studios, including Ken Snyder, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera and Hal Seeger. He retired in the early 80's and died in 1993.
My HP notebook is in for service. Three months after I bought the thing, it has trouble booting up and likes to crash when moved. This isn't good, so hopefully the geniuses at the store I bought it from will have it working again.
Here is a brief sequence from the 1989 Chabad Telethon. Soleil Moon Frye and Mayim Bialik, then both teen actresses headlining their own shows ("Punky Brewster" and "Blossom"), talk about anti-drug programs of Chabad. Briefly seen in the clip is the perennial host of the telethon, the late Jan Murray.
Hi there. I'm speaking to you almost 60 pounds lighter! My weight this morning was 191. I've got bus drivers at my schools telling me how great I'm looking these days. I'm pretty much down to one chin now.
What's my motivation? Looking at the "Millionaire" I did almost two years ago and vowing that the next time I go on television, I won't be an embarrassment. I look at it now and say "who's that fat guy pretending to be me?"
The HD network Animania, part of the VOOM suite of cable networks, is going dark on January 20. This network could have been a viable contender to Cartoon Network and Boomerang, but was not as aggressive as it could have been in acquiring classic product. At the end, Animania was running one hour of classic cartoons per day (several times), consisting of DePatie-Freleng cartoons (mostly Pink Panther, with some Inspector thrown in) and elements from "Totally Tooned In", a series devised by Jerry Beck using the Columbia color cartoon library.
Will I miss it? No, because I haven't watched in months. But I feel the network deserves a decent Viking funeral.
Our family's Dell desktop computer has decided on being a cranky senior citizen, so we've scuttled it in favor of a new iMac. We got the 20 inch model with the 320GB hard drive. Right now the elves (me) are feverishly working on reinstalling many of our favorite applications. So far so good with the new computer. We got hooked on Macs when we saw one behaving quite nicely at Tracy's sister's house.
Now, the only Windows computer in the house is my recently-purchased HP notebook. All the Macs are getting along quite well so far.
I started 2009 at about 9:00 a.m. this morning, spending a few hours packing Christmas away and getting all our mid-winter/early spring (optimism rears its head) stuff out.
I am not watching the Looney Tunes thing on CN this afternoon. You think I'd be happy about this, but at 8:00 p.m. they start running "Mobile Monkey Suit" or "My Gym Partner Is A Teletubbie" or whatever it is they show in between episodes of "Family Guy". I tuned in during "Baseball Bugs", watched about a minute of the crappy print, then turned the cable box off and ran for my DVD set of beautifully restored specimens of the greatest cartoons ever made.
Watched the ABC New Year's show. Dick Clark is getting better with each year as he picks up more of his faculties lost in his stroke almost five years ago. The cameramen are starting to go more for closeups, and Dick had a lot of his usual spunk and charm and humor. Lots of laughter from the Dickmeister this year. He could probably be back hosting something again, if not for his thick, less-than-glib speech. But Dick, God bless him, soldiers on for another year, counts down the New Year (didn't miss a number this year), and gets his kiss from wife Kari.
Hope your 2009 is as happy as mine is starting out to be.
I took the family to see "Marley and Me" last night, the somewhat tear-jerking tale of a newspaper columnist and his yellow Labrador retriever. On its surface, the movie is marketed as a "what a crazy dog" sort of film. But once inside, you actually get a story full of heart as this crazy dog worms his way into the lives of the couple who adopts him and the three children they eventually add to their family.
Not to say that this movie should be construed as a dog training film. The characters played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston make many, many mistakes in raising a puppy. You bring home a puppy and leave him in a cardboard box in the garage rather than a crate? Your dog has something inappropriate in his mouth, and you chase him rather than luring him with a dog treat to get him to drop what he has in his mouth?
My emotional stake in the film was furthered that I owned a yellow Lab very much of the same temperament as Marley. His name was Macho and he was a wonderful pet. I had to give him up when I got married a year ago. I often think that Macho has been adopted into a loving home that would accept him, warts and all. Macho was adopted a few months before my first wife died, and for the couple of years afterward that I had him, he was probably the only dog I could truly say was mine and mine alone. I have a wonderful puppy now, but I'll always remember Macho and what his companionship meant to me in the months after my wife's passing.
From an early 2006 episode of "Dancing with the Stars", here is Jonathan Roberts and his amateur partner, Rachel Hunter, dancing the tango to an excellent adaptation of Britney Spears' "Toxic" by Harold Wheeler and the DWTS orchestra. And this dance was very well received by the judges. Lisa Canning is conducting the kiss & cry (as they'd call it in figure skating) interview; she was later replaced by Samantha Harris. Three years after the fact this is still one of my favorites from the show.
Ever been sick at Christmas? It seems to be a recurring thing with me. Two out of the last three Christmases, including this one, I've had really bad colds. One time I had food poisoning from too rare meat at Christmas eve dinner. And when I was a child, all the Mackey children were quarantined with chicken pox at the Holiday season.
I think I stand a pretty good chance of getting in to see a doctor on Friday. Everyone else will be returning Christmas gifts!
This is a strangely-staged song, but it well worth your time. The 1979 Manhattan Transfer song "Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone" in a live version. The guitar solo is Jay Graydon, coming nowhere near the overdubbed solo he did on the original recording. Janis Siegel is on lead vocals. That may be Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax. I like Janis' little embellishment at the end... "just you and I, here in the twilight". The other MT's are Cheryl Bentyne, Alan Paul and Tim Hauser.
From 1985, here is k.d. lang, with a rip-snortin' take on the 1962 Joanie Sommers song, "Johnny Get Angry". lang does not change the lyrics of the song to suit her sexual preference, but gives an honest reading that really strips away the sugar-coated goodness of the sweet-voiced Sommers. The arrangement is an adaptation of the 1962 original by Tommy Oliver.
Part of our mission at davemackey.com is to provide our readers with an environment free from ads and spyware garbage. Our site has recently been redirected to two sites that I feel do not provide this.
Globat, our hosting provider (and I feel that it's time to name names), has been advised that they must provide me with adequate security for what I pay them to host my sites, or they will no longer be hosting my sites.
Here's the video I wanted to post when Dennis Yost's death was reported last week. This is "Stormy" - a lipsync of the recording. I had suspected for years that an organ was used on this song, and someone sitting at a B3 is all the confirmation I need.
I'd like to know what's up with the sax player's shirt.
This clip has generated a lot of debate on Internet game show boards. It is from Tuesday's episode of "The Price is Right", where apparently a fellow with a great love of the show and a photographic memory shouted out a number (23743) to a contestant, which sounded reasonable enough to bid.
What's hacking people off his how Drew Carey really underplayed this moment. And whether Mr. Know-It-All belongs in the audience of "Price".
There are two schools of thought regarding Caroline Kennedy's pursuit of the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
School of Thought 1: Mrs. Schlossberg is worthy of this seat, being the lone survivor of Camelot, and with her uncle Ted clearly not having a lot of time left, this Senate seat, once occupied by her late uncle Bobby, is her birthright.
School of Thought 2: What the hell?
What do I think? I've always admired Caroline for the dignity that she's shown staying out of the Kennedy family circus (like in the 70's, where tabloid headlines regularly screamed about Ted and Joan, and Jackie's activities). She has had a wonderfully happy marriage and three children and a prestigious Park Avenue address. Does all this entitle her for a Senate seat? As much as it entitles me. It sounded like a good idea when I first heard it, but I have to side with School of Thought 2.
Sassone gives all the facts correctly. The program was a concoction of the Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley production company, which had greater successess with stuff like "High Rollers" and "The Hollywood Squares".
At the time of the show, pinball was ruling the arcades, with Gottlieb (Surfer, Bank Shot, Buccaneer), Williams (Space Mission, Aztec), Bally (Black Jack, Night Rider, Old Chicago) and Chicago Coin (Cinema, Sound Stage) putting oustanding product on location. (Of those four companies, only Chicago Coin still is in the pin biz under the name Stern.)
So why didn't this game show work? Because of its size, the machine action is very clunky, and the camera angles favored by director Jerome Shaw did little to enhance the action. Celebrities included the likes of Florence Henderson, Gary Burghoff, Leslie Uggams, Earl Holliman... you know the type. And one wonders if host Art James was aware of the absurdity of the whole exercise and just played along because he was such a pro.
The one thing that was improved about the show since this episode - which I believe was the fourth episode produced - was that music man Mort Garson eventually came up with more cues for the front-game ticker. And I do believe that NBC eventually demanded the show convert to an all-star format, which proved that the network didn't learn their lesson from tinkering with "Baffle" in the same way several years earlier.
Our blogroll keeps getting bigger and bigger. Jill Pantozzi is our newest blogroll member who has an impressive blog about comic books, called "Has Boobs, Reads Comics". I was a comic collector back in the old days and still have an appreciation for those who ply the art today, as well as the living and departed legends of the field. Jill seems to like DC Comics best, and I would have to say I leaned more toward DC than Marvel in my collecting days.
Jill's not only a comic fan, but she's also a radio disk jockey for WJLK-FM. She's on from 10pm-2am. And her birthday is coming up soon or has passed (NOTE: it's today - born on 12/14/1982) - so happy birthday Jill and congrats for making the blogroll!
...movie ads for films that HAVEN'T EVEN COME OUT YET that include the line, "...and now, (name of movie) has been nominated for (number) Golden Globe Awards!" THE MOVIE ISN'T EVEN OUT YET!
The Golden Globes are a total waste of my time! Who has time to go to the movies during the holidays?
The Mets have traded with Seattle for J.J. Putz, who will primarily be setup to K-Rod. Among the players cast off are now-superfluous arms Joe Smith and Aaron Heilman (so you threw a one-hitter once... well, good riddance).
Putz should wear the number 20, which Howard Johnson should gladly yield to the setup man.
However, the Mets website is not letting me make a PUTZ 20 jersey, like I did for K-Rod. The website claims it's because of "past and present player names". Or is it because "putz" is a Yiddish word for a part of the male anatomy?
So do I get the custom jersey, or wait for the production ones to come into the stores?
EDIT 12/14/2008 - Majestic Athletic has indeed released two T-shirts for Rodriguez, a black one that reads RODRIGUEZ across the back, and a light blue (?) one that reads K-ROD instead, both bearing his uniform number of 75.
Years before the NBC medical drama "ER", there was a sitcom called "E/R" (note the slash) that was set in an emergency room.
I can think of four performers who were on both shows. George Clooney is the only one who was in the regular cast of both, and Mary McDonnell (who is now on "Grey's Anatomy") was a cast member on slashy "E/R" and a guest star on no slashy "ER". Luis Avalos (always best remembered to me as a cast member from "The Electric Company") and Conchata Ferrell were cast members on the comedy and each did one episode of the drama.
Warner Bros., if they really want to mess with Sasquatch, should bring as many of the old "E/R" cast as they can to one of the final episodes of "ER", which is ending up its 15-year-run in March.
Details here. I weighed myself this morning. Remember Dave's Weight Loss Challenge? I'm down to 197 now. I officially weighed in 2 years ago at 234, but was probably close to 250 lbs. at my heaviest, which was just after Thanksgiving 2006.
You can have your A-Rod, Yankees. The Mets got their K-Rod today when reports surfaced that Francisco Rodriguez has signed to a 3-year, $37 million deal. The free agent closer will replace Billy Wagner, coming off Tommy John surgery, for the 2009 baseball season, the Mets' first in Citi Field.
Good show, Minaya. But you got to get to Rodriguez first. What's your plan then? The same panoply of tired arms that ruined our 2008 chances? Heilman? Schoeneweiss? Parnell? Smith (arguably the Mets' best arm right now, outside of K-Rod)? Or you still got a little money left for a good set up man?
Needless to say, this is a good plan for NBC, which hasn't exactly set the 10 p.m. timeslot on fire in recent years. Acknowledging that basic cable and premium cable now seem to have the edge in producing quality TV drama, the network is going to put Jay Leno in a new 10 p.m. time slot, still doing his show from Studio 3 in Burbank.
Television has gone through many changes, but I really think we're going to see a sea change in how TV is programmed in the next decade, particularly if Jay Leno takes hold at 10:00 p.m.
My only problem with the whole Leno deal is that really undercuts and devalues Conan O'Brien taking over Leno's old time slot. What's the point of going on at 11:37 p.m. when you're still playing second fiddle to Leno?
NOTE: I posted this before I read this - Mark Evanier makes many of the same points, and even uses some of the same phraseology, including "sea change".
The lead singer of the 60's pop group The Classics IV died yesterday at the age of 65. He had been in ill health for some time.
Dennis' biggest hit with the group was "Traces", a video for which appears below. It was one of the biggest records of 1969. The group is also noted for such songs as "Spooky", "Everyday With You Girl" and "Stormy", recently adapted by R&B singer John Legend as "Save Room".
We are doing a comprehensive filmography of the King Features Syndicate cartoon series produced between 1960 and 1964. This includes the "Popeye" cartoons from 1960-1962 and the "Comic Kings" from 1960-1964. (Yes, some of the earliest pilots in this series were done in 1960.) Al Brodax, who was executive producer on all these projects, was involved with other animated projects in the 60's, including two other TV cartoon series, "The Beatles" and "Cool McCool", and the film "Yellow Submarine".
Check out the page here. filmographic stuff that I don't quite have will be entertained via comments to this blog post, or via e-mail if you are one of my regular correspondents. We have a good cross-section of Popeyes and Krazy Kats, most of the Snuffy Smith and all the Beetle Bailey cartoons.
Here's what we need on the Popeyes:
a smattering of the Jack Kinney and Paramount credits - these cartoons all carried episode-specific credits
directors on the Gerry Ray cartoons - all other credits are the same - the director is either Tom McDonald or Bob Bemiller
which Rembrandt Films (Gene Deitch) titles were subcontracted to Halas & Batchelor - these cartoons had no other credits
all the Larry Harmon cartoons carried the same credits so we have them all by default - yes, I know some of them did not carry Gordon Zahler's music credit
I also need confirmation that there was a total of 219 cartoons. The contract with Al Brodax was for 220 shorts.
We need two Snuffy Smith credits - "The Hat" and "The Method and Maw", both of which were Paramount theatrical releases. Beetle Bailey is complete, thanks to that series' recent DVD release.
The Krazy Kats are a mess. We're not even sure if the credits we have are correct, as there was great variation in the title cards as shown on the "Advantage Collection" DVD that is my source for this information. We did find some Gerry Ray titles in the mix and even one from Jack Kinney which may have been the first pilot.
In the past several years, I've been increasingly turned off by NBC's telecast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, due to the increased amount of commercialism and promotion of NBC-owned properties. It's almost like watching something from Disney, in which nothing outside their universe matters.
I'll give the parade a try again today and let you know how long I last through it. (NOTE: I did make it to the end this year. The NBC pluggery was confined to the earliest part of the parade, when nothing much was actually happening in Herald Square.)
You can't, however, mention the NBC parade coverage with at least making note that its musical director is the legendary bandleader and composer Milton Delugg, who will mark his 90th birthday next Tuesday. Although he's mostly retired now, Delugg still provides musical backing for one or two new production numbers and has built up a library of background music cues for the parade, some of which date back to the 1970's. He has been aided in this task over the years by associates such as his wife Anne, George Brackman, and more recently John Rodby.
Born in Los Angeles on December 2, 1918, Milton Delugg was one of TV's first bandleaders on the landmark late-night show "Broadway Open House" beginning in 1950, acted as comedic foil to Paul Winchell on many of his programs, and was bandleader immediately before Doc Severinsen on "The Tonight Show". But he is probably best remembered as the leader of the "Band With A Thug" on "The Gong Show" from 1976-1980. On top of all that he wrote a few songs that have become standards such as "Hoop-Dee-Doo" (a collaboration with Frank Loesser) and "Orange Colored Sky" (with lyrics by Willie Stein).
"Spectorphile" (http://irvspector.blogspot.com/) is a new blog devoted to the life and works of animator and comics artist Irv Spector, featuring artifacts from a collection of his artwork curated by his son Paul. Irv Spector was most prominent in animation at the Fleischer and Famous/Paramount cartoon studios first as a writer and story sketch artist, then, in the 1960's, as an animator. He also has some twists, turns and anomalies in his career, such as the one cartoon he directed at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, "Corn on the Cop" (a Warner Bros. release which, interestingly enough, was written by Friz Freleng). He also worked for Hal Seeger on comic books published under Seeger's Stanhall banner.
What makes this one funny is that Warner Bros. once actually had an artist on staff named Dave Rose, who later became a respected courtroom illustrator.
We want to apologize for some shenanigans that have recently occurred with our home page redirect. Apparently there was a redirect to something called "hosttracker" which had a whole bunch of crap links on the front page for about three seconds, then redirected to our correct page on blogspot. We pledge that this never happens again.
Sad to report of the death of Emru Townsend, one of my old online acquaintances from back in the days of the old BIX. Emru died on Tuesday at the age of 39. He and Harry McCracken ran the BIX Animation Conference (as message boards there were called) and I was a frequent contributor. We were pretty much the Three Musketeers back then.
Last year, Emru was diagnosed with leukemia and a complicating condition called monosomy-7. Emru appealed through the internet for a bone marrow transplant - donors matching Emru's blood type and ethnicity are scarce. Although a match was eventually found and Emru did have the bone marrow transplant, it was pretty much too late for Emru.
At first glance, this looks like any other garbage can in Atlantic City, in the middle of the city's new shopping district.
However, if you look carefully, you will see that it is actually sitting in an indented part of the sidewalk, alongside the plaque honoring Miss America 1946, Marilyn Buferd. If you walk back a couple of yards, you will find Venus Ramey, Miss America 1944.
The garbage can is sitting exactly where the plaque for Miss America 1945 would be.
You might have heard of her. Bess Myerson.
You might remember her from a little show she did called "I've Got A Secret", or perhaps as a ranking New York City official, who had to resign her positions when her lover was convicted of buying off a judge so her daughter could go work for Myerson in the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs.
I'm outraged, I tell you.
I'll have to investigate further, if time permits.
1. I'm okay with the election of Barack Obama. I voted for him because I felt that he has the right stuff to lead modern America.
What is interesting to me is that President-Elect Obama is the first President who is younger than me (by just a few months)... he's the youngest chief executive we've had in some time.
Now, about McCain... Yes, he is an American Hero. Presidential material? Maybe in any other non-Obama year. But I think what really dragged him down was the Sarah Palin sideshow. Gubernatorial? Yes. Vice-presidential? Not quite yet.
(Personal to Pres.-Elect Obama - you're going to get that puppy for your girls - have you considered a Cavatese? They are such wonderful, loving doggies... if my seven-month-old Cavatese is any indication.)
2. Negative campaigning will bite you right in the butt. Right, former Senator Elizabeth Dole? The Dole Family's service to Washington has come to a sad end, as Libby shot herself in the foot with this negative campaign ad and allowed Kay Hagen to pretty much slide into her Senate seat. It's presented by CNN reporter Campbell Brown.
3. Al Franken's in flux. The Democrat, a former air personality on left-leaning "Air America" and former apprentice writer for "Saturday Night Live" (sharing a salary with Tom Davis), ran for Senate in Minnesota, the state that has given us such political paragons as former governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Al is less than half a percentage point behind his opponent, incumbent Norm Coleman, so a recount will become necessary by rule of law. Neither man has conceded the election to his opponent, and the presence of a third candidate in the race (Dean Barkley) may changed the chemistry somewhat. Some pundit websites were actually calling this race in Franken's favor when I went to bed last night shortly after the Obama love-fest in Chicago ended. This one won't be over for some time, so why not grab some snacks and rent a movie? Perhaps "Stuart Saves His Family"...
We like Roger Ebert. We think he's an incisive film critic and someone who doesn't deserve the medical hell he's been through for the past several years. Lately, I've been taking to commenting on his blog, and he's been known to respond. Not only for that reason, but Roger is now taking his deserved place of honor on our Blogroll.
Roger's been taking a lot of heat lately for reviewing a film he only saw eight minutes of (he since saw the entire movie and revised his review). I did the same thing some 30 years ago, and if you look for the post where Ebert says he's done talking about the controversy, you can see for himself what he said.
I now vow I will never see "Last Year at Marienbad". Ever.
This Mets fan feels your frustration in leaving the bases loaded in the eighth inning. That was our season in a microcosm, and unfortunately that was yours too.
We have now found and restored the final 36 posts from the earliest days of our blog. We are now complete going all the way back to the origin date of our blog, July 29, 2001. Happy reading!
Even though her chances of getting elected don't look that great, it was fun to watch Sarah Palin having a little fun last night on SNL. She appeared in two skits in the show, the "cold open" where she appeared with Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey, and walk-on guests Alec Baldwin and Mark Walberg, and again in Weekend Update with Amy Poehler (who looks ten months pregnant) and Seth Meyers. Here's her Update turn, courtesy of NBC. Of course, Amy steals the sketch, but it's kinda fun to watch Gov. Palin bopping around to the music.
Did these two titans ever occupy the same space on our mortal coil? Well, they now have something in common: an October 15, 2008 death date.
Alphabetically, Edie Adams is first. She was an actress, model, singer, comedienne, and trustee of the Ernie Kovacs video library. Edie wasn't Ernie's first wife, but she was his most beloved partner. Edythe often showed up on Ernie's television productions, including his early 1960's ABC specials which capped his career (and were for the most part preserved on black-and-white videotape). She continued her career after the horrible car accident in January 1962 that took Ernie's life. (Ernie spun out his Corvair station wagon, which didn't exactly prolong the life of the car that eventually became a Ralph Nader target.)
Jack Narz, from Louisville, Kentucky, was an influential early television announcer on shows like "Space Patrol" and "Life with Elizabeth", then branched out into game and quiz show hosting. His "Dotto" daytime show was the show that blew open the quiz show scandals, when a standby contestant was spotted studying a list of answers. There were a lot of people whose careers were either ruined or curtailed by the scandal, but Jack Narz was one of the few who continued his successes uninterruped, with shows like "Seven Keys" and "Video Village".
In 1969, Narz began a series of assignments for Goodson-Todman, including the newly-syndicated "Beat The Clock", then a syndicated version of "Concentration" (Gene Wood took over "BTC" for its final seasons), and a CBS network show, "Now You See It". Additionally, Narz still worked as an announcer, working such shows as "Card Sharks" and another CBS network version of "Beat The Clock" hosted by Monty Hall. He often appeared on other G-T shows' panels like "Tattletales" (with wife Doe, who was one of the first women to serve as a flight attendant), and "Match Game". Jack also did a lot of appearances with brother Tom Kennedy on shows both men hosted. Tom would pop in on Jack on "Beat The Clock" one week, then Jack would visit Tom on "It's Your Bet" the next.
Jack had been in extremely ill health, suffering two massive strokes in the last three weeks of his life, and suffering renal failure. But Jack fought to the end, and even with his glory days behind him, enjoyed telling stories of his successes and meeting fans enthralled by the GSN reruns of his 70's shows.
Here is a selection of filmed CBS promos for game shows airing in the 1975 season. There are promos for "The Joker's Wild", "Spin-Off" and "Now You See It". What's especially significant about the "Spin-Off" promo is it's probably the only footage you'll ever see on the show.
Presumably, the tapes were found a few years ago for "Spin-Off"'s 55 or so episodes (the show only ran for 11 weeks) at WCBS in New York, but no one is jumping at the chance to air them again, presuming the tapes are in airable condition.
When "The Joker's Wild" went off the air in June 1975, "Spin-Off" was its replacement. One of the very few network game shows from the New York-based packager Nicholson-Muir Productions, it was said to be an early TV adaptation of "Yahtzee". Married couples competed, answering questions to win the right to spin five displays in front of them. The displays flashed numbers at the rate of 17 different numbers from 1-6 per second; I'm presuming that the displays weren't totally random, like "Press Your Luck"'s patterns on its game board which in one case were studied and conquered, but the faster flash rate of 17 per second probably thwarted any attempts at memorization. Whichever couple made the best hand won the game and cash, with two out of three earning the couple the chance to play the Super Spin-Off for $10,000.
"Spin-Off"'s pilot was shot at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, with veteran game show producer Willie Stein as showrunner and veteran soap opera director Bob Schwarz at the helm. The series was produced at Television City, and Jim Lange hosted, fresh off his stint hosting "The Dating Game". However, the show was not able to overcome NBC's "Celebrity Sweepstakes" in the ratings, and after just a few weeks on the air, "Spin-Off" spun off into TV oblivion, to be replaced by a newer, more exciting show from Bill Carruthers Productions called "Give n Take", hosted by - surprise - Jim Lange.
While Nick Nicholson and Roger Muir blew their chance at network TV game shows, they had plenty of minor successes in syndication, with shows like "The Money Makers", "Pay Cards", "Super Pay Cards", "The Shopping Game" (perhaps their rarest show, hosted by Art James and produced for a little-carried early cable network named SPN that also aired public-domain movies from Poverty Row studios, reruns of "I Married Joan" and auction programming), and the later version of "Howdy Doody" (Muir was a producer of the show when it was an NBC property, and Nicholson briefly played Clarabell). Nicholson and Muir also were the credited creators of Chuck Barris' "Newlywed Game". Another hallmark of these N-M-P shows was their reluctance to tape in Hollywood or New York - "Pay Cards" was done in Cincinnati, "Super Pay Cards" in Canada, and "The Shopping Game" in Nashville.
Here are the promos - if you listen carefully at the very end of the "Spin-Off" promo you'll faintly hear the first few bars of Nicholson's appropriately whirling-dervish-like electronic theme for the show.
This is a 1945 Popeye cartoon called "Mess Production" directed by Seymour Kneitel. It's got an unbelievable (and unbelievably uncredited) music score by Winston Sharples, who by this time had totally supplanted Sammy Timberg as the musical director for the studio. The last minute has some great music cues including Popeye's romantic stupor and his final walk through the factory, a faster reprise of cues already heard in the cartoon.
It also benefits from the three regular performers of Popeye, Bluto and Olive - Jack Mercer, Jackson Beck and Mae Questel - at a time when various other performers were temporarily doing the Popeye voice like Harry Welch and even Mae Questel.
We haven't the foggiest idea what they're making in this factory, all full of dangerous gadgets which could kill any character at any time. The various scenes of Olive walking on suspended girders (and what are they doing in an already built factory?) call to mind one of the earliest Popeye cartoons, "A Dream Walking" (which was animated in part by Seymour Kneitel).
We mourn the loss of fellow blogger Lloyd Thaxton, who hosted a highly successful dance party show on TV in the 1960's and was also the producer of the NBC consumer-watchdog show, "Fight Back With David Horowitz". We will continue to have Lloyd's most entertaining blog in our Blogroll at right.
As joyful as the fall can be, the month of October always comes in melancholy for me. It was three years ago today - October 1, 2005 - that I lost one of the most amazing ladies who ever found her way into my life, my first wife Nancy, to complications from breast cancer that metastasized into bone cancer, then brain cancer, over a period of several weeks. Nancy, who had been a teacher at DHS Regional School - Ocean Campus in Toms River, devoted her life to the mentally handicapped, as a teacher, respite care provider, and sponsor. Nancy eventually lost both breasts to cancer, and later her life.
In some cruel irony, Nancy passed away on the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is therefore recommended that you find out more about breast cancer and its insidious ways by reading up on the latest medical information at your favorite medical provider, then making a donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It is also recommended that you get yourself checked. Men too!
(The picture above was one of the last pictures I ever took of Nancy, at the very first Toms River Fest in late July 2005.)
And I'm not sticking around for the Shea Stadium funeral.
For the second straight year the Florida Marlenes have been the ones to deny the Mets what is rightly theirs. Imagine. A team playing for NOTHING taking away from a team playing for SOMETHING.
The only thing I'm going to care about from now until pitchers and catchers report in February is who is going to take the fall for this.
The Brewers lost their game. (Thanks Cubs!) Now this means the Mets and Brewers are now tied for the Wild Card. Since the Mets cannot now win the division due to the Phils' clinch today, it's a little more cut and dried.
If both the Mets and Brewers win OR Lose tomorrow, there will be a playoff at Shea to determine the wild card. Should one team win and the other lose tomorrow, the winning team will be the wild card.
And one thing about today's game... THANK YOU JOHAN SANTANA for fulfilling your commitment to perform for this team throughout the season. It seems that the last two years we've gotten a pitching gem on the next to last day of the season... last year with John Maine's almost no-hitter (what you bet he goes tomorrow in a shocker move?), and today with Santana's 3-hit performance... just what the tired arms in the Mets pen needed. Good luck tomorrow guys!
Just a note regarding the No-Hitter count... any playoff game between the Brewers and the Mets scheduled for tomorrow WILL count as a regular season game and will be reflected in our No-Hitter Count.
Paul Newman died last night after a battle with lung cancer at the age of 83. What were my favorite movies of his? Definitely "The Sting" and "The Color Of Money".
"The Sting" was Newman at his best with Robert Redford, then two of the three most bankable box office stars in the movies (the third being Burt Reynolds). It would be like putting Brad Pitt and Will Smith in the same movie today. "The Color Of Money" with Newman reprising his role in "The Hustler" (which would probably rank third on my listing) as Fast Eddie Felson, simply great acting.
Newman will also be remembered whenever I shop, as his Newman's Own brand permeates many supermarket aisles. With his pal A.E. Hotchner, Newman founded the Newman's Own brand in 1982 and daughter Nell will keep the brand viable after her dad's passing. And all the profits go to charity. Sweet deal.
We promised not to blog about the Mets after the last pitch of the last game was recorded, but I want to let everyone know that the Mets still have a chance, albeit a small one, to win the division in a tie with the Phillies and make the playoffs.
The Mets cannot go to the post season if they lose both games Saturday and Sunday, so let's take this one game at a time.
The Mets have already won their game.
Phils Win (91-70), Brewers Win (90-71) - Phils win division; Brewers ahead in WC by 1 game. On Sunday, Mets would need to win and Brewers would need to lose to force a one-game playoff on Monday.
Phils Win (91-70), Brewers Lose (89-72) - Phils win division; Mets and Brewers tied for WC. If Mets and Brewers both win or both lose on Monday, there will be a one-game playoff on Monday. Sunday win-lose scenarios between Mets and Brewers will result in the winner going to the WC.
A Phillies loss sets up a myriad of possibilities for Sunday, including the possibility of a three-way tie; we will address those as needed.
It's reached the point where I have to have a bucket by my side when I watch the Mets play down the stretch, as I sometimes become physically ill when doing so. Last night was another horrible night for Mets fans.
When you give up a grand slam home run to the opposing pitcher, that is a sign that something's wrong.
I'm not gonna wait until the end of the season to say this. Should the Mets not make the playoffs, Omar's gotta go. Jerry's gotta go. Dan's gotta go. Unload the talent not able to perform to standard anymore - that means you, Pedro. Shake up the bullpen. Is K-Rod available?
I promise you (as blogging only makes it more painful) - no more Mets talk (other than the no-hitter count) until the last game is in the books of the regular season. Then we'll talk more.
Wow. The Cathedral acted as its own casket yesterday as the final game ever was played at Yankee Stadium. Some great history in the pregame, with tons of Yankee greats and their heirs being trotted out (would have loved to see this on TV because the radio coverage was horrible thanks to Suzyn Waldman not knowing when to shut up), and even Bob Sheppard phoned in the opening lineup (kind of odd hearing him say "X-avier Nady").
Hey, Rudy, you going to be at Shea next Sunday? I hope the hell so.
Since it's scrolled off our front page, we are very grateful to show you this again and inform you that the UCC has bought time to program the national version of the "Steeples" ad on CNN, Bravo, BET and TV One.
Last we trotted this one out was in '03... high time we pleaded with you all again. Back on January 1, 1995, I scribbled on the USENET group alt.tv.game-shows (don't even go there today, it's not worth your time):
How did Vanna White's singing debut on last night's pre-taped "Merv Griffin's New Year's Eve" go? To me, it was underwhelming. She sang "You Do Something To Me" from the roof of some hotel in Beverly Hills, then we found out who she was singing about: her son Nicholas.
More exciting than Vanna's singing was what came before it: Mort Lindsey and the band played the new version of the "Wheel Of Fortune" theme, "Changing Keys". It was the exact same arrangement used on the TV show beginning this season.
Certainly someone has this on tape somewhere.... if so, YOUTUBE the damn thing. I'm particularly interested in the WOF theme music rendition, which is not only my favorite version of all those of the Merv Griffin "Changing Keys" theme, it's also the rarest. The complete theme is not available. Just a 30-second loop of part of it taken from a video game or something like that.
What baseball's foremost one-handed participant is doing now. Jim Abbott was a pitcher for the Olympic baseball team, then had an nine-year career in the majors, despite being born without a right hand. He would rest the glove on his stump, throw the ball, put the glove on to field if he needed to. When he caught the ball he somehow got the glove off his hand into his left armpit, rolled the ball out into his good hand, and flipped the glove back over his stump. It was quite interesting to watch. The best moment for Abbott in the majors was the no-hitter he threw in 1993 while with the Yankees. Granted, my loyalties are with that other team from New York, but you could bet I was rooting for Abbott that day.
It's kicking in, particularly with the Mets now 1 game in first, thanks to some awful baseball yesterday. I wince at the Braves, a team with absolutely no post-season aspirations at this time, acting as spoiler. If the Phillies wind up taking the East, I'm going to be terribly heartsick. But no postseason berth for the Mets could turn into a Manager of the Year award for Jerry Manuel, who really turned this team around in spite of the injuries. (Trot Nixon ever coming back?)
A Filip Bondy New York Daily News article, from back in April, about Jane Jarvis, the house organist at Shea Stadium from 1964-1979. Jane recently visited Shea Stadium on a trip to New York City, was caught on camera and projected on the Diamond Vision board, and received a very warm round of applause from the old-timer baseball fans who remember her work for the team in its earliest days.
The ballpark organist is a dying occupation. There are some ballparks that still have them, most notably Nancy Faust for the Chicago White Sox and Ed Alstrom for the New York Yankees (who replaced the legendary Eddie Layton). But now it's all deejay work, at-bat songs, and wacky sound clips. Too bad.
We try desperately to steer away from blogs that take excessive liberties with language as I am, after all, a teacher of very small children who should not be exposed to bad language. A bad word once in a while isn't going to kill an otherwise entertaining blog. However, should one of these blogs ever turn into a filth-fest, it will be removed... and it has happened in some cases. Just be warned, fellow bloggers. Language originating from this blog will be always on the safe side. Thanks... --DM
This section of the blog honors those bloggers who, for some reason, have decided to discontinue or softpedal their blogging, or who have passed on. These will not be updated as often, if at all.
Posts
