Monthly Archives: November 2011

You’re a fine special, Mr. Grinch

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I’m ready for your close-up, Mr. Grinch.

A few weeks ago in this blog I noted an early — very early — showing of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” the beloved 1966 animated special adapting the holiday tale by Dr. Seuss.

While I’m not a stickler for “no Christmas before Thanksgiving,” it seemed a little early.

Well, what a difference a few weeks makes.

The classic, animated by Chuck Jones, has at least a couple of airings before Christmas. TV Guide says the special will air Dec. 7 on Cartoon Network, followed by a repeat showing on Dec. 10, also on CN.

I think three weeks before Christmas is about right for watching the Grinch.

Now there is something you should keep in mind. It’s possible both these airings are in half-hour time slots. Since the special is about 26 minutes long, beware the possibility that the show might be edited or even time-compressed, which allows an entire show to air in a shorter period of time by speeding it up. Unfortunately, this might mean that the show would sound more like “How Alvin and the Chipmunks Stole Christmas.” Seriously, I can’t watch episodes of “Friends” on cable TV because they’ve sped up the show so much.

Of course, the reason modern-day airings of classic TV shows are sped up (or edited) is because TV shows are routinely stuffed with more commercials now than in decades past.

Sometimes networks or cable channels air these once-half-hour shows uncut in hour-long slots and add some extras.

And of course, there’s an easy way to watch the Grinch or Charlie Brown learn the true meaning of Christmas without benefits of modern-day tampering: Watch them on DVD.

But there’s something about the communal experience of watching Christmas specials when they’re airing. Facebook was dotted with people commenting on an airing of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” the other night.

Oh, and in case I forget: If you want to watch a modern-day Christmas classic, catch “Olive the Other Reindeer,” airing Dec. 10 on Cartoon Network. It’s a great show, based on a sweet book. I’ll try to come back to the subject of “Olive” sometime before that airing.

‘Walking Dead’ mid-season finale ends with a bang

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There’s been a lot of second-guessing of the second season of “The Walking Dead,” and I understand most of it.

The first season of the AMC series about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse was straightforward “I Am Legend” stuff, survival and regrouping in the early days and weeks of the end of the world.

But by the second season — although still only weeks since the end of the world in the show’s chronology — had to do something different. And there was also the matter of budget cuts and turmoil behind the scenes, including the departure of writer/producer Frank Darabont.

So much of the second season has been set at a farm, where kindly farmer/veterinarian Hershel first provided assistance to the group of refugees then posed several problems for them. Would the members of the group succumb to the dangers of false hope, as Hershel has? Would they be allowed to stay in this comparatively idyllic spot even if they wanted to? And what about the missing girl and, oh yeah, the walkers that Hershel keeps penned up in his barn?

The first half of the season, which ended tonight with new episodes set to begin in February, prompted a lot of restlessness among both the human refugees and the audience. When would they find Sophia, the missing girl? When would Rick and Shane clash over Lori? When would the show get. on. with. it?

I’ve enjoyed the show and enjoyed tonight’s episode, “Pretty Much Dead Already,” even the soap-opera dynamics of love triangles and threatened betrayal. I like the characters and feel for their predicament.

No spoilers if you haven’t seen it, but tonight’s episode feels like a resolution, like a turning point. The ending was heartbreaking if not entirely unexpected.

But the glimpses of the farm in previews for next February’s episodes left me more than a little frustrated. I expected tonight’s episode to get them off the farm, back on the road and out of this storyline. Instead the preview seems to indicate more rural dithering is ahead of us.

I’ve enjoyed “The Walking Dead” so far and I’m looking forward to February, although not as much as I expected to.

But I’m really hoping that the show doesn’t continue to spin its wheels. The survivors need to move on to the next storyline and they need to do it soon.

 

The heyday of the monster world

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I grew up with monsters. The good kind. Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, all  lurching around in foggy black-and-white graveyards and misty moors. The kind that were celebrated in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, shown by TV horror movie host Sammy Terry and frozen in time in Aurora model kits.

There’s a lot of Internet space used to describe the “monster kid” phenomenon. It’s the loosely defined generation of us — mostly boys — who grew up right about the same time classic monster movies of the 1930s and 40s were sold for airing on local TV stations in the 1960s.

Pop culture aimed at kids and kiddish hobbies permeates our culture today — entire TV channels are devoted to science fiction, young people and geeks, for pete’s sake — so it’s hard to figure out how monster kid culture became pervasive when I was growing up. Without benefit of cable TV and the Internet but thanks to magazines and late-night movies, we somehow knew everything about these old monsters.

We knew which movies featured Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster (easy) and which featured Glenn Strange. We even hollered and pointed when Strange showed up as the bartender at the Long Branch saloon in “Gunsmoke.” Here was a rare moment of our monster world intersecting with the real world and we wanted the grownups to acknowledge it.

For a big part of my childhood and young adolescence, I immersed myself in monster world. I loved to draw back then and, using movie history books for reference, lovingly recreate the Universal movie monsters I love.

I collected not only Famous Monsters magazine but Castle of Frankenstein, the Monster Times and lesser-known publications. Sometimes my need to create led me to, foolishly, cut up those now-valuable magazines and reassemble the pictures into scrapbooks that looked like magazines.

My friend Jim and I even created our own monster magazine he sold at his school. It was painstakingly — and somewhat hilariously — written and illustrated by the two of us.

I haven’t drawn much in a few years and — after having paid to recreate my collection of Famous Monsters magazine, then subsequently selling it — don’t buy monster magazines anymore. The closest I get to publishing a fanzine about old Universal horror films is when I mention them here.

My Aurora model kits — my Wolf Man, Dracula and Mummy — survived my childhood and gathered dust on a shelf until about 20 years ago, when, in a whirlwind of clearing out stuff before moving, I put them in the trash.

I don’t want to recreate those models — although you can buy a vintage 1963 Aurora Mummy model on eBay for “only” $124.95 — and I don’t want to recreate those times.

But I don’t mind dipping into the monster nostalgia once in a while.

 

 

 

 

The Great Newspaper Comics Challenge Part 2

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For a moment there, I thought I had slipped through some kind of time portal into the distant past.

Here in front of me, in an Indianapolis community newspaper called the Eastside Voice, was the old “Flash Gordon” newspaper comic strip.

I hadn’t seen “Flash Gordon” in years. No newspapers that I knew of carried it. Yet here it was, in this little neighborhood newspaper.

Upon doing a little research on the Interwebs, I figured out why I hadn’t heard of the strip lately. “Flash Gordon” hasn’t been an actively-published newspaper comic strip since 2003, when artist Jim Keefe — following in the footsteps of classic “Flash Gordon” auteur Alex Raymond — stopped drawing it. Papers like the Eastside Voice run reprints of Keefe’s strips, which ran for several years.

So no danger that I’ve been missing new adventures of Flash, Dale and Ming the Merciless all these years.

So if “Flash Gordon” is still stuck on Mongo, what is in the comics lately?

A few weeks ago I acknowledged that I haven’t been reading newspaper comic strips regularly since the passing of “Calvin and Hobbes” and “The Far Side” and vowed to remedy that.

Well … I haven’t been reading the funny pages daily. But I thought I’d check out the Sunday edition today.

In “Peanuts” — a rerun, of course, since the passing of Charles Schulz a few years ago — takes a page from Calvin’s book by having Linus make a realistic snowman figure of Lucy. But instead of destroying it, Linus says he’ll get back at Lucy’s latest bullying by standing and watching the Lucy effigy “slowly melt away.” Yikes.

In “Garfield,” Jon insults Garfield’s bulge. Check. Garfield says talk about his waistline is making him hungry. Hmmm. Check, I guess.

In “Zits,” the teenage son in the household complains about having to take out the trash. Weirdly, however, the artists show the guy’s naked butt in the shower. Do we normally see naked butts in comics? Not since the great “Sgt. Snorkel Goes Streaking” incident of 1975, I would bet.

“Dilbert” looks at smartphone rage. It leads to a silly gag but it’s a good idea.

Jeff and Bil Keane’s “Family Circus” is a good execution of a simple idea. One of the kids — Billy? Jeffy? Honestly I can’t tell them apart — is seen giving a recitation of excuses about how he didn’t make his little brother cry.

More to come next time. Hopefully.

Will we ever see a ‘Justice League’ movie?

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I watched “Captain America” on DVD last night and really enjoyed the movie, which brought Marvel’s World War II-era hero to the screen this past summer, all over again. The little sneak peek at next May’s “The Avengers” movie was fun. To say I’m looking forward to “The Avengers” is an understatement. The fourth issue of the “Avengers” comic, the one in which the heroes thawed Captain America and he joined the team, was the first comic book I ever owned, kindly given to me by an older friend.

But as much as I’m looking forward to “The Avengers,” I’m puzzled as to why DC — an arm of Warner Bros. — has been unable to get a “Justice League” movie into gear.

It’s not like “Justice League” can’t be translated into other media besides comic books. The “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” series, set in the animated DC universe created with “Batman the Animated Series,” was a faithful adaptation of the comics. The “Unlimited” series expanded the membership of the League to include dozens and dozens of characters, both delightful and obscure (who would have thought of an entire episode built around hapless blowhard Booster Gold? Yet it was one of the best of the entire series).

And DC has also had good luck with “Justice League” animated in longer form, particularly “Justice League New Frontier,” a retro story based on Darwyn Cooke’s great graphic novel that set the hands of the superhero clock back to the 1950s and introduced Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman (not to mention a host of yes, obscure characters). Heck, even TV’s “Smallville” had a version of the League on a TV budget.

So there’s no reason a “Justice League” movie can’t happen, except:

– The Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale “Dark Knight” movies. With the third, “Dark Knight Rises,” coming out next summer, Nolan seems to be ready to wrap up his foray into the character’s world. Much has been made over rumors that Nolan and Bale don’t want their “realistic” Batman to be seen in the same movie with a bunch of other “fantastic” costumed characters. Of course, “Dark Knight Rises” features not only Catwoman and Bane in outfits that would turn heads on most sidewalks. So maybe Nolan is loosening up his standards.

– DC and Warner Bros. can’t seem to get any other characters launched. “Green Lantern” came out this summer and really wasn’t very good. “Wonder Woman” imploded and never got made. “The Flash” has been in the planning stages for years.

– They tried to make a “Justice League” movie a couple of years ago, even picked the cast and began pre-production. Actors like Armie Hammer were fitted for costumes. (Why hasn’t footage or pictures of Hammer in Batman drag shown up online?) But then a writer’s strike happened, production in Australian fell apart and, frankly, I wonder if somebody didn’t lose their nerve. Remember Nolan’s reluctance to have  a bunch of colorful costumed characters in the same room together? Maybe it was catching.

In the time it’s taken for DC and Warner Bros. to make a good “Batman” movie, begin another one, start work on a “Superman” movie and make a mediocre “Green Lantern” movie, Marvel — now part of Disney — has released two “Iron Man” pictures, a good “Hulk” movie, “Thor,” “Captain America” and is putting the finishing touches on “The Avengers.”

Will we ever see the members of the Justice League swooping down from their Watchtower to take on some globe-threatening menace?

 

 

 

 

‘The Muppets’ make a heart-felt return

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I was a bit outside the demographic for “The Muppet Show” when it aired in the late 1970s. I was in high school, so I was too old to be one of the show’s fervent kid viewers.

I was however, a show business nut. I was the kid, you might remember, who read Sammy Davis Jr.’s autobiography from my school library.

I could appreciate the show on several levels: Its silly jokes, its vaudeville style, its love of … show all appealed to me.

The guest stars were kind of dumbfounding. Mark Hamill from “Star Wars” one week, Gene Kelly the next.

So I had nothing but high hopes and good thoughts for “The Muppets,” the new movie starring Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy, Amy Adams and Jason Segel, the wonderfully awkward actor from such cult exercises as “Freaks and Geeks” and “Saving Sarah Marshall.”

Segel, apparently, was a Muppets fan growing up and despite his reputation for making R-rated comedies was given the opportunity by Disney — the studio that has owned the Muppets for much of the time since creator Jim Henson’s untimely death but has never seemed to know what to do with them — to guide a potential revival.

Segel plays a sweet, kind of clueless guy — his specialty — who, along with girlfriend Adams, helps his brother Walter — a Muppet in felt construction but a human in every other respect — meet the Muppets. Once they meet Kermit and learn that an evil oil magnate — played with relish and mustard by Chris Cooper — plans to demolish the old Muppet studio, they decided to put on a show to save the day. (And if that sounds like something out of an old Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie, rest assured that Rooney even makes an appearance.)

Ultimately, the movie is about the strengths of friendship and loyalty, but before the moral is lightly delivered there are plenty of celebrity cameos — Jack Black chief among them — and jokes, ranging from typical Fozzy Bear groaners to clever, meta references. (One of those comes early on, when Kermit appears ready to stop the plot in its tracks, prompting Adams to say, “This is going to be a really short movie.”)

Random thoughts upon watching the movie:

• Adams, next set to star as Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman movie, is adorable but downright womanly compared to the slight young actress who played the part in “Superman Returns.” That’s not a bad thing, but an interesting choice.

• I’m surprised the movie approached the idea of whether the Muppets are too old-fashioned to appeal to young, jaded audiences in such a head-on manner.

• Those bald, round-headed Muppet infants still creep me out.

“The Muppets” seemed like an odd choice for Segel to make, but Disney made a great decision in putting the franchise’s revival effort in his hands and those of director James Bobin. I hope the franchise goes on forever.

 

iPhoneography: Christmas stuff!

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You knew it was inevitable: After posting pictures of Halloween masks, costumes and decor available for sale, was there any doubt I would be posting pics of Christmas stuff?

Well, I had some doubts. There’s not as much outrageous Christmas stuff out there — no Navidad equivalents of Zombie Babies, for example — so there might not be enough material for weeks and weeks of posts.

So we’ll see where this takes us.

Since “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuted in 1965, the “Peanuts” creations of Charles M. Schulz have been forever linked to the holiday for many of us. A few years ago, some canny company began marketing versions of the Charlie Brown pathetic Christmas tree.

So seeing Charlie and Snoopy and pals “decking them halls” on the lawn seems perfectly appropriate.

If you’d like to make a silent statement, there’s good ol’ Snoopy alone. And he’s fuzzy!

I’m at a loss to explain the Santa Pig. Maybe some clued-in reader will enlighten me.

In the spirit of the season, how about a couple of pretty Christmas pics? These are of the big tree in the middle of the Von Maur department store at Castleton Square Mall on the north side of Indianapolis.

Next time!

 

‘The Walking Dead” reveals ‘Secrets’

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AMC’s post-zombie-apocalypse series “The Walking Dead” moved into full-on soap opera mode tonight, and that was fine by me.

As a matter of fact, except for a couple of zombie scenes, you could almost mistake tonight’s installment for an episode of “Knot’s Landing.” There was even a suburban cul de sac.

But seriously, folks: As we’ve noted already this second season, the drama in this show revolves around the people. What happens when Daryl’s brother Merle returns and finds out his little brother has become a good guy? What happens when Rick finds out Lori was shacked up with Shane in the first days of the zombie apocalypse? What happens when Shane pops his cork and starts killing people?

We found out the answer to one of those questions tonight and maybe it wasn’t surprising. If you’re struggling to deal with the continued existence of you and your ragtag band of survivors, you probably learn to shrug, move on and worry about a lot of small stuff later.

Not that there wasn’t plenty of personal drama going on. With a title like “Secrets,” you can bet that a few were spilled.

My favorite character, once again, was Glen, who continues not only to be a capable guy when you’re dealing with the walking dead but also a go-to comic character. As a young guy entrusted with too many secrets, Glen started burbling: Walkers in the barn. Lori’s pregnant. I’m making it with the farmer’s daughter.

The secret of the walkers in the barn was as poignant as it was wrong-headed. Made me want to slap everybody concerned. And yet, at the same time, I understood.

With all the character drama, maybe it didn’t seem like there was time for zombies. But there were a couple of good walker moments. The makers of the series know how to make our skin crawl with a well-timed zombie attack.

Next week’s episode is the “mid-season finale,” AMC says, which means that we won’t see new episodes until February. I’m hoping it’s going to be a doozie.

‘The Affair” shows how Reacher became Reacher

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There’s something very pure about Lee Child’s Jack Reacher crime dramas. Almost as pure as Robert Parker’s Spencer books. Reacher is an ex military police officer who drifts around the country, helping people. Kinda like Lassie and the Hulk.

Child’s Reacher books have shown us how the protagonist handled everything from small-town bullies to government conspiracies. They’ve inspired a movie adaptation to star Tom Cruise, who is miscast. Reacher is a stoic giant of a man. Cruise … isn’t. So I guess we’ll see how that all turns out.

But one thing Child hasn’t done until now is tell us how Reacher became Reacher.

“The Affair,” Child’s most recent Reacher novel, flashes back to 1997, just a few months before the events of Child’s first Reacher story.

Reacher is still an Army MP, still taking orders from superior officers, even when they’re not really superior. And considering Reacher is a perfect physical specimen, an expert marksman, a man with an unerring internal clock and a deadly moral code, who would be considered superior?

As the book opens, Reacher is assigned to go to a town near a Mississippi military base, ostensibly to solve the murder of a young woman from the town but in reality to put a damper on the investigation. High stakes are involved, of course. Reacher’s most likely suspect is the son of a senator who has a taste for townies.

Reacher must balance the demands of the investigation, his own growing sense that his Army career is over, his affair with the town’s beautiful female sheriff and the usual assortment of bad guys who find themselves overmatched in battles of brains or brawn with Reacher.

Child’s books could feel predictable and too safe. I remember a moment in one of the later books when the bad guys broke Reacher’s nose and left him in a basement. It was the only real physical harm that I remember ever being inflicted on Reacher, and it was only momentary: Reacher quickly re-set his broken nose (in a painful scene that made me wince) and then decimated the thugs.

But Child has a knack for making the Reacher stories just right. Maybe it’s his capable, no-frills writing. Maybe it’s the detestable bad guys that Reacher takes on, or his likable allies. Maybe it’s Reacher himself, who is as amiable as he is deadly.

It will be interesting to see where the prolific author goes with this series. It would seem that this prequel tells us all we need to know about Reacher’s genesis and the previous book seemed to take him in a new direction, contemplating a romantic rendezvous of some substance.

Like a lot of other readers, I’ll be eager to see where Reacher ends up next.

 

Christmas favorites: ‘Santa Calls’

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There are a lot of classic Christmas books and many of them are very familiar and much-beloved. But if you’re looking for an offbeat Christmas book for kids, check out “Santa Calls.”

The picture book by William Joyce tells the story — in tongue-in-cheek manner — of Art, a boy living in Texas in the early 1900s. Art is an inventor and self-styled adventurer who, along with his pal Spaulding, finds a mysterious crate. The box includes the makings of an early airship and, improbably, an invitation to come to the North Pole and find Santa.

Of course, much to Art’s dismay, his tag-along little sister, Esther, talks her way into the adventure.

The three kids find themselves involved in a wild and wooly battle, defending Santa and the North Pole against an evil queen. Art and Spaulding lead the fight and little Esther, much to Art’s surprise, proves her mettle.

The story and Joyce’s writing reminds me of old pulp stories and the ending — and the secret behind Santa’s call to arms — made me misty-eyed.

“Santa Calls” has become a favorite in our household. It’s a terrific and unexpected Christmas present.