Meow? Meow. Meow! Meow?

OK, I should make a real post here, but this was too entertaining:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1435088

It's cats having a conversation. I think they were discussing how surprising the Browns are this year.

Those fightin' fullbacks

A post sent to me in an e-mail, with which I agree entirely:

"There is a reason New England is so good. Bill Belichick did not run up
the score on Buffalo. The fullbacks for New England, Kyle Eckel from
Naval Academy and Heath Evans had 20 combined carries for 96 yards. No
fullback(s) has had 20 carries in one game in the NFL for more than 20
years. The running game finally clicked. Their sissy tailback had 6
carries.

"Remember Bill Belichick in Clevland? He used a three-Fullback offense
at times: Tommy Vardell, Leroy Hoard and Kevin Mack.

"There is a reason a running game is successful in northern climates?
Jerome Bettis was a fullback in New Orleans when Pittsburgh traded for
him.

"Lawrence Vickers had 3 carries last Sunday, most in one game by a Browns
fullback since -- you guessed it -- Bill Belichick was coach.

"Give the ball to the FULLBACK. Success will come.

"Marion Motely, Jim Brown, Ernie Greene, Mike Pruitt, Tommy Vardell,
Leroy Hoard, Kevin Mack ...

"The "Ickey Shuffle" for Paul Brown's 'other team.'

"Ohio State halfbacks under Woody Hayes were such brutal runners, they
played fullback in the NFL: John Brockington @ Green Bay, et al.

"....and Green Bay fullbacks during the glory years."

-- Dave Johnson, Cleveland sports (and fullback) fan

10 Question Tuesday

Playing "10 Question Tuesday:"

1. Could the Browns win the Super Bowl?
Maybe they could in 2008, if they add a pass rush and generally beef up the defensive line. This year, I'd hate to be facing them in the playoffs, because with their offense, they might just knock of a better team by outscoring them.
2. Are the breaks finally going the Browns' way? After the fans bottle-throwing game in 2001, Duane Rudd's helmet-throwing loss, and all the other bizarre ways the Browns have lost games since coming back, maybe winning last week after the Ravens were already celebrating a victory in the locker room is a good sign. The Browns still have a few of this oddball endings coming to them, I think.
3. Who's the MVP for the Browns so far this year? Probably Derek Anderson, but don't forget how important a contribution Josh Cribbs has made. It was his kick returning that really put the Browns in position to win in Baltimore, and he's a threat to run that ball back every time. Cribbs kept them in the Pittsburgh game after a kickoff return for a touchdown.
4. Who's my favorite player on the team? For years, it has been Phil Dawson. He cemented that status in 1999, when he scored a touchdown on a fake field goal. Apparently, he played fullback in high school. I am glad the kick went his way against Baltimore. He's the only Brown left from that first year, and he has always been a good kicker and a class act. I doubt they make jerseys with the kicker's name, but if there was one, I'd probably buy it. I almost always have him as the kicker on my fantasy football teams.
5. Who would I try to sign in the free-agent market if I were the Cleveland Indians? Andrew Jones would be my number one guy. He has power, he can still play great defense and he has a lot of playoff experience. He'd add a right-handed bat to a lineup that needs one more guy. Where would Jones play? I might move him to right field, because reports are he's lost a step in center, and he still has a very storing arm. Heck, that would give the Indians a heck of a defensive outfield, with Jones, Grady Sizemore and Franklin Gutierrez.
6. Do I like the Indians new alternate uniforms for 2008? Yes!
7. Who would I play at shortstop for the Indians in 2008? Asdrubal Cabrera, if I could. Jhonny Peralta if I had to. I think I'd try to either trade Peralta or move him to third. It doesn't sound like the Indians want to do either, though. In truth, he may have been their best player in the playoffs, and really did as much as anyone to help the team win.
8. Why didn't Victor Martinez get any support in the American league's MVP voting? I have no clue. A catcher who batted cleanup for most of the year, his over .300 with more than 20 home runs and more than 100 RBIs, who played good defense and provided leadership to a team that made the playoffs for the first time since 2001 sounds like a good candidate to me. The Yankees could have finished second in their division without Alex Rodriguez. In fact, if you listen to some of the complaining and moaning from New York fans, they didn't even need his 50 plus home runs.
9. Do I wish I could terminate my employment, and then come back for $270 million over 10 years? Heck, yeah.
10. Can I think up a tenth question? Sure, although this might not be a very satisfying end to this exercise.

Writers' strike strikes!

Apparently, Fox has decided to air episodes of Family Guy without series creator Seth MacFarlane during the Writers Guild of America strike:

http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/7610

For anyone with any interest in the subject, Mark Evanier has been posting rather lengthy comments regarding the situation on his Web site:

www.newsfromme.com

An old tape that's still new

I have no idea how old I was when my dad made the tape. I assume I was less than junior high school, maybe fifth or sixth grade, but I have no idea.
I do know, however, he had gotten a new radio/cassette player that was something short of a boom box. He got it from my brother for Christmas one year. Late one night, he was listening to the radio (I think it was WJR, "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes), and decided to pop a cassette in and record what was on.
What was on, you ask?
Well, the first item was a song making fun of people who watched too much television. The song started in the middle, and it was more than 20 years before I ever heard the beginning.
Next came a song from "The Music Man," from early in the movie when Robert Preston comes to town to sell musical instruments.
"Oh, you got trouble, with a capital T and rhymes with P and that stands for pool!"
Following this, a Dragnet parody called "Little Blue Riding Hood." After that, a longer piece poking fun at the Lawrence Welk Show, "Wunnerful, Wunnerful."
The recording concluded with an episode of "The Bickersons." That one got interrupted in the middle when my dad had to flip the tape over.
It also took me 20 years to realize that wasn't Robert Preston signing the song from "The Music Man."
It was Stan Freberg.
The younger version of me listened to that tape over and over and over. I usually cut it off at "The Bickersons" to listen to the Freberg material.
His clever satire really made me laugh then, and it still does today.
I listened to it so much that I memorized "Little Blue Riding Hood," and I can still recite it from memory today.
It took me until I was 32 to buy a best of Stan Freberg CD, and lo and behold, there were all those tracks for me to listen to as an adult.
I finally got to hear the beginning of "Tele-Vee-Shun," I learned that was Stan, not Robert Preston signing the song. I still have no idea why he re-recorded it, but there it was.
I also have "The United States of America" parts one and two, his funny satire and parody songs about various incidents in American history.
That's really about all the material you can find by Freberg these days, even though in his heyday, he released lots of comedy records. There's a box set that features most of the things on the greatest hits CDs, but also includes a whole CD of the radio commercials he made for such companies as Chun Kin Chow Main, Pittsburgh Paints and Taco Bell. (Taco Bell in China?)
I wish someone would re-release more, but what's available is wonderful.
Some material is dated, but most of it stands up really well for modern audiences.
I hadn't seen "Dragnet" when I heard "Little Blue Riding Hood," but it still made me laugh. I still sometimes have to repress a laugh when I watch a rerun of Jack Webb talking.
I think if there's one famous person I wish I could meet, it would be Stan Freberg. I have no idea what I'd say to him, but I guess I'd just thank him for all the hours of enlightening enjoyment I have gotten from listening to his albums.
By the way, I think the original tape my dad made still exists somewhere and may still be playable. I'll have to go see if I can find it.

The Spectacular Spider-Man

For those of you who are into seeing previews of a new animated show featuring everytone's favorite web-slinger ...

http://www.marvel.com/movies/Spider-Man.The_Spectacular_Spider-Man

Enjoy!

Just to be sure

This one is always worth an occasional check:

www.abevigoda.com

Non-blogging

I thought I'd have a blog entry about how Stan Freberg is the funniest comedian I can think of, and how I'd really love to meet him and just talk to him for a few minutes and how I have listened to his comedy albums (as many as I could find) for many, many years. I was going to explain why I think his satire is so funny, and I was going to quote passages and probably link to Mark Evanier's Web site about Freberg.
But, I didn't get it done in time. I blame myself.
So, I guess this serves as a preview for Tuesday's post.

Meanwhile, I thought you could amuse yourself with this:
www.zombo.com
Remember: You can do anything at Zombo.com.

Watch for falling ... cows?

I'd post a real blog entry today, but there's no way I could possibly top this:

Cow falls off cliff and crashes onto van on highway, motorists unhurt
MANSON, Wash. (AP) -- Charles and Linda Everson were driving back to their hotel when their minivan was struck by a falling object -- a 600-pound cow.
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=7319725&Call=Email&Format=Text

The Batman artist I think of

If I am lucky, you’ll see a piece of art along with the entry. It depends if I can find any on the Internet. If I do, it will be a panel or so from a “Batman” comic book drawn by Irv Novick.
So, where am I going with this, talking about a long-time comic book artist, who doesn’t get much discussion these days? He was a not a visionary so much as a craftsman, who knew how to draw and how to tell a story clearly. He probably drew, at one time or another, every time of comic out there. Perhaps his longest runs were on war comics, The Flash, and Batman.
When I think of what Batman should look like, I think of Novick’s drawings. When I think of what The Flash should look like, I see Novick’s drawings.
While there are other artists who have done iconic work on these titles — Neal Adams, Frank Miller and Bruce Timm on Batman, and Carmine Infantino or Alex Saviuk or Mike Wieringo on Flash — Novick always sticks out in my mind.
When drawing Batman, Novick did not draw the overly muscled, bulky character that Jim Lee is popular for in recent years. He didn’t make the Dark Knight look like a shadow or a demon like Kelley Jones did.
His Batman was muscled but lean, like a gymnast. His Batman could be a detective or a moody, frightening avenger of the night without losing the consistent thread that he was a man.
He moved with grace, power and ease, but still could hide in the shadows only to emerge at the right time to make evildoers cringe in fear.
Novick always drew the supporting characters with a consistency that is unmatched in recent days. He didn’t decide how he wanted the characters to look. He drew them as they were supposed to be drawn, based on the way the company always presented them.
Commissioner Gordon always looked like Commissioner Gordon, Lucius Fox always looked like Lucius Fox. Villains, too, were consistently on-model for that matter.
I didn’t read that many issues of his Flash, but he handled that character the same way. The Flash was not an over muscled weightlifter, he was a lithe runner. This only makes sense. How fast could The Flash run if he weighed 250 pounds and was muscle bound?
(On a related note: who do some artists insist on making the Sub-Mariner look like a big-time wrestler? The guy is a swimmer for crying out loud!)
Another beef I have with modern artists is they confuse what the human body looks like, and what the human body looks like under clothing. Many modern comic book artists draw as if they have heavily studied the musculoskeletal system and want to show off their knowledge.
They forget that if you put clothes over the body, no matter how form fitting, every little vein and every little sinew won’t show. Oh, and by the way, clothing almost always wrinkles a little around joints.
Look at Novick’s drawings. The characters are still muscular, but not so much they look like their costumes were spray-painted on their bodies.
I wish there were more artists today not necessarily drawing like Novick, but learning some of the lessons he could teach about grounding art in reality and putting some careful thought into character design.
Novick is from a different generation than the modern artists, and in this case, I think many in the current crop could stand to learn a little something from their elders.