The world of animation, past and present

I've been meaning to put up a link to Jennifer Lerew's blog for a few months now. She's a story artist for animated films working in Southern California so she started a blog to share some of her sketches. As if that wasn't fun enough, she then started scanning all of the animation memorabilia that she's been finding.

Now, she's decided to split the subjects into two blogs, Blackwing Diaries for the memorabilia and Blackwing Sketchbook for her art. Go visit both. They are quite excellent.

The Comic Strip, Part 27 - When all logic grows cold and all thinking gets done

"GLC" - February 15th, 1990

London, like many large cities, is a megapolis made up of a number of smaller entities that have joined together to make a more efficient whole. From 1964 to 1986, metropolitan London was governed by the Greater London Council. Perhaps the best known leader of the GLC was a gentleman named Ken Livingstone, who, as I understand it, leans a bit to the left of the political spectrum.


Perhaps more than a little bit.

As I write this I notice that Livingstone is making headlines in America for calling the US ambassador to Britain a "chiseling little crook." I love it when these things come together.

At the end of The Strike there is a throwaway joke about how the next film that gets the over the top "Hollywood" treatment would be the GLC, and here it is. Robbie Coltrane is Charles Bronson as Ken Livingstone, doing battle over the hearts of London with Jennifer Saunders' Margaret Thatcher. As before, a lot of the details are mucked with to the point that I have no clue what bits are real events slightly skewed, or made up out of cliches. For example, I'm not sure how much reality the meet-cute relationship with Dawn French as Cher as Livingstone's single mom/neighbor is based on.

One interesting side note is Peter Richardson as Tony Benn (as portrayed by Lee Van Cleef). Here is a post that I noticed a little while ago about Mr. Benn. Once again, it all comes together.

And this time the soundtrack is by Kate Bush. She sings the theme to the Greater London Council. I really want there to be a soundtrack album.

Strangely, I was not invited.

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the first appearance of Ultraman. To celebrate, all of his various incarnations gathered with family and friends for some cocktails, some memories and perhaps the opportunity to gang up and kick the snot out of a giant crawdad.

Here's the group photo:


Japundit gives you the who's who.

The Globe will teach you language skills.

From the Boston Globe article about the March 27th Boston Red Sox/Tampa Bay Devil Ray bench-clearing brawl:

Players from both teams then rushed in, Sox reliever Jonathan Papelbon all the way from the bullpen, behind the stands, arriving in time to pull Gathright out of the pack and hold him. Trent Durrington, the Sox' resident Aussie, found himself at one point at the bottom of the mudpile. (''A bit of a wank," Durrington told reporters afterward, using a native idiom for ''show.")

la saveur d'huile de moteur!

Blasting its way out of Napa is this blend with the exciting name that I won't mention here.

I don't want to ruin the surprise when you click.

$50 a bottle, $150 for a wooden case of three (So a free wooden case. Cool.)

And look! The wine has a podcast!

You can't eat your status as a gigantic icon to science fiction fandom

Now on e-bay, the opportunity to eat dinner with Harlan Ellison! Starting at $5,000 (and there have been no bids as of yet) you can make your own way to LA, where Ellison will take you, your optional companion, his wife and a celebrity friend (to be determined) to a restaurant that he will choose himself. He will pick up the tab from the money that you just spent on him, except for any alcohol that you or your optional companion might drink - he wants you to pay for that.

Of course now, also thanks to e-bay, you can show up to dinner in Stan Lee's car. Described as "a long, lean 1987 Mercedes 420 SEL gray touring sedan," this deal comes with Lee's vanity plate "MRVLCMX" and he will autograph it "on dashboard or wherever desired. Excelsior!" Current bidding is $3,550, and the reserve has not been met. Added Bonus!: "Countless celebs have sat in the comfortable leather seats."

Stuff I Find

One of the reasons that I started this blog in the first place (you might tell from the address) is because I have, over the years, accumulated a lot of stuff, and this would be a place for me to make a note of it.

Then I could get rid of it.

I spent a chunk of the weekend digging through my stuff and not blogging.

Here's something I found - A flyer from some bookseller advertising "Books from the Moscow Flat of Kim Philby."

I think I snagged it because I was amused by this item:

Malcom Muggeridge, The Earnest Atheist.
A Study of Samuel Butler. Author's presentation copy. Inscribed, "Dear Bobo, I don't particularly like this book now, and I'm sure you won't, but I've just got the six copies of the American edition and I thought I'd send you one......Malcom Muggeridge 31.3.37"