...And a Side of Kress With That, Please...

Earl Kress is back blogging after an almost four-month absence. Earl, a writer for television for the last thirty-some-odd years (his first credit was for "The Oddball Couple" in 1975) and an expert on animation, has a very entertaining blog.

What's Creepier?

(With apologies to former WOBM news anchor Ken Cooper, whose often thought-provoking newsroom games of "Who's Worse?" often overspilled into the ad sales and traffic departmerns)

1. The repopped Orville Redenbacher

2. "I'm Art Buchwald... and I just DIED!"

The others?

TM: No change in the weight, but her body fat percentage did go down. Good for her on that count!

TC: +2 after the first weigh in (uh oh!)

So seems like I'm winning so far. Nyeaah!

Still Losing...

Official two-week weigh in today. We are -6 from the original total, and feeling quite good. Still gotta work on getting it down further. We are far from done.

Michael Brecker 1949-2007

The sax player, one of only three people to solo over the theme song of "Saturday Night Live" over the years, has lost his battle with leukemia.

TBL, Day 3

Wednesday morning, I weighed in at -2 from the base weight. I did about 25 minutes on the treadmill and ate a little too lightly. I experienced low blood sugar in the afternoon, ate some dinner, and was out for the night at about 7:30. Will try to eat a little more substantially, but not to excess.

TM got on the scale today and did not like what she saw, but rationalized that it can only go down from there. No word from MC or TC, the other two combatants in this battle royal, just yet.

I'm A Loser... And I'll Prove It

At one of the myriad of holiday parties I attended, my girlfriend and her sister and brother-in-law agreed to a Biggest Loser contest among the four of us. In order to keep things honest, I will be posting my progress here. I'll let you know how the others do (initials only) as I find out. My inital weigh in is 234 lbs. Kind of on the chunky side, but I have been as low as 180 in my adult life and if I can get down to 200 again, I'll be pleased, but 175 would make me absolutely ecstatic. Our goal date is June, when we all convene at my girlfriend's parents' beach house on Long Beach Island. So we will see how we all do. Time to hit the treadmill!

Joe Barbera Dies

Harry McCracken has quite an acerbic take on the passing of Joseph Barbera, the more creative half of the Hanna-Barbera animation partnership formed way back in 1939.

My memories of watching the early Hanna-Barbera stuff are a little rosier... maybe when I have some more time, I'll share....

Scott Bradley Emerges From Carl Stalling's Shadow

Jerry Beck tipped me off to this CD release of Scott Bradley scores from M-G-M cartoons of the 1950's, and I immediately ordered a copy. It arrived a few days ago and I just finished listening to this massive 2-CD set. The sound quality is sparkling throughout and it includes some of the better efforts by Bradley of the period, including the funny "Pecos Pest" score featuring Shug Fisher (former member of the Sons of the Pioneers) singing for Uncle Pecos, the mouse guitar genius who always seems to be breaking strings... and looks no further than Tom's whiskers for new ones. Some of Tex Avery and Michael Lah's cartoons are also represented here. This was well worth the money!

With only 3000 copies of the CD pressed, you better act fast if you have any interest at all in cartoon music and you want this in your library.

Set Sail With PC World

What better way to spend part of your cold winter than a tropical cruise complete with computer technology lectures? It's being put on by a company called GeekCruises.com, and the media sponsor of this cruise is PC World Magazine. Editor-in-chief Harry McCracken will be among the experts to give several chats on topics such as computer freebies and the new Vista operating system. (Harry's own blog has been a little content-sparse of late... that's the price of being successful, I guess.)

"What You Do In Illinois Matters To Millions Of Americans"

I don't know about you, but I sure winced at the news stories from earlier this week that made mention of the fact that Michael J. Fox was "stumping" for double-amputee Illinois congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth.

Wait Till Next Year

After last night's crushing loss, it's going to be a long wait until next year. But wait we must. Mets in '07!

The Team. The Time. The Comeback

IF these 2006 New York Mets are a savvy bunch that has one eye cocked towards the history books, they will look to the team of 20 years ago that proved they could get it done with backs to the wall.

They will remember Game 6 against Houston, possibly the most thrilling League Championship Series game ever played, and realize that they, too are capable of coming back from elimination.

Then they will remember those 1986 Mets who came back from an even deeper hole - just one strike from being World Series losers - to win a championship against the Boston Red Sox under the most unbelievable of circumstances.

Let's get behind those Mets. I'm not thrilled at the prospects of a St. Louis-Detroit World Series.

Just a Few Quickies

• A reminder that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please participate where possible and give to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Ladies, if you're of the age or inclination, schedule that mammogram. We've lost too many marvelous women to breast cancer, including my late wife Nancy who died a year ago this month. Chances are, someone close to you has been touched as well. So go do this.
  
• More October loss, and not of the baseball variety: one of my dogs, Princess, had to be euthanized yesterday with a potentially fatal condition. I did not want her to live and suffer, even though I felt she still had a lot of life and spunk left in her. My wife and I adopted Princess shortly after we got married. My yellow lab, Macho, remains with the household, which now stands at one man, one dog.
  
• Go Mets. Glavine pitched a great game last night and the Mets are poised to take the last game Saturday in Chavez Ravine, as the Yankees head for Tiger Town... good luck. My 40 years as a Mets fan have paid off very nicely in two world championships, but that 2000 loss to the Yankees still stings. Let's erase that stigma!
  
• Things We'd Like To See Department: Rudolph Giuliani at a Mets game.

Hooray For The "Here And Now"!

Back in July, I decried Hasbro's decisions to give the 70-year old Monopoly property trading game a makeover by changing all the place names and eventually doing away with paper money.

Well, on a whim, I decided to purchase the Monopoly Here And Now edition. (You can, too, by clicking on the link, and we get a few cents every time you do.) The prospects of more money and enhanced places (and updated graphics) seemed like it was worth checking out, so my girlfriend and I went ahead and started a game, using variants of the standard rules that seem to be used in a lot of places (such as a "Free Parking" jackpot).

This version takes you to a world original Monopoly creator Charles Darrow could never have imagined. We liked the new gameboard with photo depictions of places from Jacobs Field (the new version of Mediterranean Avenue) all the way to Times Square (this version's Boardwalk). Ever wanted to buy Disney World, or the Las Vegas Strip? Now you can. The original, as you recall, just had place names (all streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey), and spartan graphics. The paper money (no credit card system just yet in the U.S. version) has been freshened up, with denominations bumped up by $10,000, but with the same colors we're all used to (the $10,000 bill is white, while the big kahuna, now the $5,000,000 bill, is still that enticing gold color that cries out "Give me five $1,000,000 bills in trade"). Railroads have given way to airports - O'Hare, JFK, LAX, and Hartsfield. The Electric Company and Waterworks have been supplanted by the more moden "Cell Phone Provider" and "Internet Service Provider". There are new game pieces including McDonald's French Fries, a Motorola cell phone, and a New Balance running shoe. (There's still a dog.)

What my girlfriend and I got the biggest kick out of were the new Community Chest and Chance cards. You now go to Jail (do not pass "Go", do not collect $2,000,000) for identity theft or insider trading. The Get Out Of Jail Free card now reads, "You've been acquitted!" Even though the Atlantic City place names are no more, one of the good cards (I don't remember if it was Chance or Community Chest) says, "You've won a big jackpot at the Atlantic City casinos!"

It was a nice update of the game, still holding enough of the traditions of the original (including the classic rules still in place about buying property and going to jail when you roll doubles three times in a row). And, I beat my girlfriend quite nicely when she landed on my three-house Pioneer Square, Seattle - formerly New York Avenue - one time too many.

Marketing 101, Infomercial Style

Which "do this from home" babe would you rather call up?

I thought so.

The commercial on the top has been running for several months. The commercial on the bottom has been shipped to some stations/channels who find the lady's cleavage (on display virtually throughout the commercial) somewhat distracting.

Next week, we get into the mise-en-scene of Mick and Mimi...or not.

"Everybody Loves A Clown, So Why Don't You?"

This weekend is for getting silly in Seaside Heights. Although the formal festivities have been going on for a few days now, the 25th annual Clownfest kicks into high gear on the Boardwalk in Seaside today and tomorrow. I will be participating as musician in today's 2 p.m. concert with the Funny Factory Clown Band on the Franklin Avenue stage, and in tomorrow's parade on the Boardwalk as a member of the Hobo Band. Plenty of fun for all ages the next couple of days.

I've worked the Clownfest for about six or seven years now, but no Clownfest was more poignant than the one that took place in September of 2001, mere days after the September 11 terror attacks. As the world was slowly awaking from the malaise immediately after the towers fell, the clowns were there to remind us that we had a lot left to live for in a great country. It was a wonderful day that year and one of the most rewarding days I ever spent as a musician.

Now It's Your Turn, Mets

Last night, a no-hitter was thrown in the majors for the first time since Randy Johnson a couple seasons ago.

Unfortunately, that no-hitter was not the first one for the Mets, but the fourth one for the Florida Marlins.

It's injustice that a franchise that's only been around for 14 seasons now has four no-hitters while the Mets, in 45 years, still haven't tossed one.

Where's Your Conscience, NBC?

I didn't watch more than a few minutes of the Emmy Awards last night. But the hue and cry over a skit involving a plane crash, unfortunately on the same day as a plane crash that claimed many lives in Kentucky, makes me wonder if anyone at NBC knows how to think.

Friz Followup

Reading over the other blog posts generated by Friz Freleng's centennial yesterday (some say he's older, but I'm sticking by that 1906 birth date), I direct you to this insightful post about the 1956 cartoon "Three Little Bops", written from the standpoint of jazz history.

I never really gave any thought to the music in that cartoon being anything other than bop, but it really isn't Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie style bop. As performed by Shorty Rogers and his band, it's more small-group West Coast uptempo blues. Stalling or Franklyn would have just massacred the music style (just imagine Franklyn slating the recording session... "PRODUCTION NUMBER FOURTEEN TWENTY-NINE!"), and the fresh approach to the soundtrack (using Stan Freberg instead of Mel Blanc to sing the song) really helped make it a unique cartoon.