Pure West

You can stop holding your breath. Batman: The Movie, starring Adam West and Burt Ward is coming to Blu-ray in July.

Click here to see the specs

I remember my mom taking me to see this movie in the theatre when I was a kid. It must have been a re-release, because I was about three when this originally came out. And don't forget the 1966 Batmobile is out from Hot Wheels (click here to go there).

Alas, it doesn't look like the series is coming to Blu-ray (or DVD) anytime soon. I guess the rights to it are complicated and holding it up (for years, now).

Yes, it's the Jam playing the Batman theme

It's Ginger-tastic

Well, the urban legend surrounding Canada Dry Ginger Ale containing no ginger is, in fact, just a legend. I emailed them and here's the reply:

The “natural flavors” listed on the ingredient statement contains flavor from many types of real ginger roots. The ginger flavor in ginger ale is extracted from the ginger roots and then blended with other citrus flavors to produce the unique flavor in ginger ale. Since the ginger flavor is combined with natural flavors, we chose to label the combination “natural flavors” on the ingredient statement.

If you're wondering why I'm writing about this then you obviously didn't read Tasty Tip 2 (click here to go there).

Cyclonic

Your zen moment for the day.

Amok Monsters

Here we happen upon a giant lizard and, well, the 50-foot man on steroids. This was done around the same time as the monolith cartoon, so around 2002. Done with a little digital tablet (maybe 5" x 6" or something like that). I drew little bits at a time (lizard by itself, ginormous man by himself, cityscape) and then Paint Shop Pro-ed them together. I don't remember the software package used to do the drawing. I think it came free with the tablet, but I don't remember.

As I think about it, it's not the 50-foot man ... right? It's the 50-foot woman and the big bald guy wearing the diaper was the Colossal Man? Is that right? Where's the Great Big InterWeb when you need it? Oh, there it is. Hold on a sec.

Okay, got it. It's The Amazing Colossal Man.

Tasty Tip 2

The classic highball. This is one of my favorite cocktails.

A highball is technically any cocktail where there is more mixer than alcohol in the drink (gin and tonic, Jack and Coke, etc.). The most common back in the day, however, went something like this:

2 oz. whiskey or bourbon
3 - 5 oz. ginger ale
Lemon twist

From Esquire magazine: The perfect highball: one part rye to three parts ginger ale over ice. (Personal admission - I don't know if I've ever had a rye (a whiskey made with rye grain).)

So if you went to a bar back in the 30s (okay, legally, after December 5, 1933) and ordered a highball, you probably got this drink. (Ginger ale was a big hit during prohibition because it helped mask the flavor of really egregious hooch.) Today the term highball mostly refers to a type of glass rather than a type of drink.

But be warned. If you go into a bar and order a whiskey and ginger ale (i.e., a Jack and ginger), you might not be getting what you're asking for. Amazingly, there are quite a few bars that don't have ginger ale, so they do that voodoo of mixing Coke and 7-Up together. Always ask if they have actual ginger ale (SEE UPDATE BELOW there's an urban legend that Canada Dry Ginger Ale does not have ginger in it. From my research (searching the Great Big InterWeb) I believe that Canada Dry Ginger Ale DOES have ginger, but lists it on the label as "natural ingredients"). The Canada Dry website claims it's the same recipe created 100 years ago, which surely must have had ginger in it, otherwise why call it ginger ale? I know, I know, that's not great logic, but what'cha gonna do?

I think I'll send Canada Dry an email and ask.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: This just in from Canada Dry (okay, actually from Cadbury Schweppes):

The “natural flavors” listed on the ingredient statement contains flavor from many types of real ginger roots. The ginger flavor in ginger ale is extracted from the ginger roots and then blended with other citrus flavors to produce the unique flavor in ginger ale. Since the ginger flavor is combined with natural flavors, we chose to label the combination “natural flavors” on the ingredient statement.

She's Got Legs ... and Shoes!

My wife has been playing with pictures for her blog (www.VenusInCombatBoots.com) and collaboratively, I've been playing as well. The first completed work was a picture of her legs that turned out pretty cool (yes, I'm a lucky man). This was a photograph that was then manipulated with Corel Painter X and Paint Shop Pro.

Then I took some pictures of some red shoes she has and played with those (get your mind out of the gutter - though I must say I looked fabulous in them). I like how this turned out as well, using Corel Painter X to "paint" them.

At My Desk

Here I am at my desk pretending to draw something. As I said earlier (click here to go there), I use a digital tablet (9 x 12). I have an Athlon dual-core PC with a 20" LCD and would love to have a bigger monitor. I do most of my cartoons from a photo reference. This means I take a photograph of whatever I want to cartoon (or in this case I had my wife photograph me), then with the photograph on the screen I draw over the top of it until I get something I like.

The Many Faces of Me

Too much free time? Yeah, what of it? I introduce to you the many cartoon faces of me, myself, I, and the other guy.

The Simpsons Me

The South Park Me

The Powerpuff Girl ... uh, Guy Me

The Invader Zim Me

R2D2 Where R U?

Just sharing with you one of my favorite gifts (given to me by my loverly wife) that I got, what, a year ago? Two years ago? He really needs no introduction ... uh, he is a he, isn't he? Well, it's that astromech we all love.

But he ain't just a looker. He's got mad skills. These types of videos with R2 are all over YouTube, but I decided to make my own (which I then uploaded to YouTube, go figure). So here he is in all of his dance-fever glory.

Reading Glasses? Really?

Wow are my "close-up" eyes going fast. In the last year or so it's now nigh on impossible to read small print up close. I'm doing the trombone move to get it somewhat in focus. That made me go out and buy a pair of these babies for reading.

Did I say a pair? If by pair I mean four pairs. I went to Sam's Club (after a tip from my brother). They sell them by the four-pack (mine are +1.75). So now I have them sprinkled throughout the house. I tried to get by on just one pair from King Stupids, but the glasses were always in the wrong room when I needed them (okay, yes, that means I now have five pairs, get off my back). Sure I'll lose them as often as those Bic pens that go missing about every five minutes and I'll be buying a few more four-packs before it's all said and done. But it's no big deal as I'm quite sure this is the only age-related infirmity I'll ever have to worry about.

Right?

Hello?!

Flock This

For no reason that I can think of, here's my favorite Flock of Seagulls song (it's Space Age Love Song):

Years later my friends and I would start a band called A Flock of Haircuts (years later being, like, five years ago now). As you can see, we lost the hair wars to the Seagulls. We have shamed ourselves and our middle-school shop teachers.

All Together Now

I love how the word Wonka sounds. Wonka. Say it with me: Wonka.

That's all I had.

Bye.

Flicks Update

So I found Flicks in Denver at a Cost Plus World Market. Bought five tubes. They were a little more than a buck a piece. Except for the tube being wrapped in plastic, it seems pretty much how I remember it from that bygone era (click here to read the earlier post about Flicks). However, I'm disappointed in the candy. It tastes much more like chocolate than I remember. In my memory it had a resemblance to chocolate, but tasted different. I know it's the same recipe (and even the same machines producing them), and they ain't bad chocolate, but it's not how I remember it. I also don't remember the disks being so thin. So unlike Sixlets, which taste pretty much how I remember them with that enjoyable non-chocolate chocolate taste, Flicks taste pretty much like chocolate, so I doubt I'll seek them out again. Unless I find them at a theatre, maybe the smell of popcorn changes the flavor--

Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90

Author and geosynchronous satellite thinker-upper, Arthur C. Clarke died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90 on Wednesday. I had, of course, read several of his books. But my first contact with him came through the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (he wrote the original novel, though he collaborated with Kubrick on the story, and co-wrote the script with Kubrick). I had been pretty young when my mom took me to the movie at the Continental (once upon a time our grand movie theatre here in Denver ... and still kinda is). The movie came out in 1968, which would have made me five years old. I don't think I was that young, so perhaps we saw it on a re-release tour in the early '70s. However, I remember enjoying the movie up until the end when the ginormous space baby shows up and then wondering what the hell?! My mom tells me the most memorable part of the film was when she bought popcorn and brought it back to our seats and spilled it everywhere (or maybe I spilled it everywhere?) - however, I don't remember the popcorn incident, so maybe I was only five. As an afterword, it wasn't until years later as a teenager when I read the novel that I finally understood the whole ginormous space baby thing. And did you know that the word 'ginormous' is in the dictionary (along with humongous)? I didn't.

Click here to see a write-up on Mr. Clarke in the L.A. Times.

Some favorite quotes from Mr. Clarke:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I don't believe in astrology; I'm a Sagittarius and we're skeptical.

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God but to create him.

Tasty Tip 1

1. Secure two Entenmann's chocolate donuts.



2. Insert Homer comment.

3. Microwave on High for 20 seconds.

4. Consume with a fork (as the chocolate is now melty).

5. Re-insert Homer comment.

6. Repeat entire process.

7. I said REPEAT!

If You Want to View Paradise - Now in a Kit!

Ah, one of my favorite lines (lyrics, really) from the original movie: If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it (Bricusse and Newley). And my favorite song from the movie. But that's not where we're going today, kids. Today we talk about buying magic from the back of Cap'n Crunch.

Using my prodigious deductive reasonability, I was about eight years old when I ordered my Willy Wonka Candy Factory Kit (please wait six to eight agonizing weeks for delivery). As you'll note on the box above, it says "Don't miss WWatCF coming soon to a theatre near you." And since the movie came out in '71, that puts me around eight years of age. Unless they made the offer at different times, in which case, screw it. So after waiting nigh on an eternity, this showed up in the mailbox:

This ain't my box. Stole the image from the

Time Passages Nostalgia Company website

(click here to go there)

It came with molds. It came with wrappers. It came without packages, boxes, or bags! Sorry, wrong childhood memory. It also came with candy mixes (I vaguely remember silver things and multi-colored things).

It also came with a fairly thick plastic bag that you put the chocolate in to melt (placing the bag into warm water). Of course, I used boiling water and when the bag made contact with the side of the pot, the bag melted. That's when one of my parents (I assume or perhaps a sibling who had been through home-economics class) taught me the double-boiler trick of placing a smaller pot containing the chocolate into a larger pot containing the heated water. Alton Brown would be proud. I also assume that someone older than me taught me to add Rice Krispies to the chocolate to make a Crunch bar. I made a lot of Wonka Crunch bars.

Pixelated Painting

So I got me this program called Coral Painter X. The X makes it super special. Or it just makes it the tenth release. You know, whatever. I bought it for drawing cartoons, but as I played with it I found out a cool painting feature (actually, the program has a whole buncha stuff for painting with the pixels). So I've been screwing around with the painting features. The first thing I came up with ended up being our Christmas card this year. I photoshopped (actually, Paint Shop Pro-ed) a picture together of our Christmas tree and three doggies.

First, I started with the the master shot of the tree and chair.

Then I took separate pictures of the doggies and added them in.

After that I ran Painter's 'auto-paint' feature, which does a rough painting of a picture.

And lastly, I went in and cleaned up the auto-paint, doing my own painting until I got a picture I liked. And then we printed them out on card stock and off they went in the mail.

Not Cream-Colored Ponies or Silver White Winters

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad

My Wife (I love you)

Fred and Ginger

Oh, yeah

William Powell and Myrna Loy from The Thin Man

How I'd love to vacation in the 1930s

(if I could afford evening clothes like this)

Supes

My Books

Bats

Goodbye, Lou

Loren Cruz had been 21 years old when he took his life. I'd met him when he and my son met in fifth grade. They soon became best friends. He was the kind of kid you wanted to have around. A great kid. Fun. Friendly. He was one of those kids you didn't mind hanging out with your son all day at the house. He was one of those kids you were thankful your child had found to be a best friend. Quick to smile. Laugh. With a bit of mischief behind his eyes. I loved him and will always miss him.

February 1, 1987 - March 6, 2008

Gone to Vegas - Be Back Soon

And with that, I leave you with this:

Life is Like a Box of Chocolate-Flavored Candy

Do you find it strange that I've been blogging for, like, over a week now and I haven't mentioned chocolate yet? Well, other than it being in the sentence before this one, I'm not really mentioning it in this post, either. That's because the candy I'm talking about in this post is like chocolate, but isn't chocolate, or isn't pure chocolate, anyway. These are candies from my past that have made comebacks. The first is Sixlets.

From what I've been able to find on the Great Big InterWeb, sixlets do have chocolate in them, along with carob. This would account for their funky flavor that I like so much. When I was a wee lad, the only place (that I can remember) where I could buy Sixlets was at the Lotus Room Chinese restaurant that the family went to quite a bit back in the day (sadly, the Lotus Room is no longer around. Best Chinese food I've ever had). And in the glass counter at the cashiers was candy, one of which was Sixlets.

Now I hear you saying (oh, you're saying it, don't think I don't know what you're saying when I'm not around), how can you, such a chocolate snob, like something that's not really even chocolate? Well, screw you! Oh, wait, sorry. I've always known it wasn't real chocolate (or at least that it didn't taste like real chocolate), but the flavor was so unique that I liked it in spite of that. You know, like Spaghetti-Os. That ain't real spaghetti, but for what it is ... it's good! Same with Sixlets. There was a time when Sixlets went away, but several years ago (or more) they came back with a vengeance. You can find them pretty much anywhere candy is sold. That's a good thing. And the next candy from my past is also only partially related to chocolate: Flicks.

I couldn't find an ingredient list anywhere, but even the manufacturer calls it chocolate-flavored. So I gotta believe that if there is any chocolate in Flicks, it's not much. The nostalgia here is that I could only find Flicks at the movie theatre when I was growing up. I almost always bought a tube when I went to the movies. Again, not because they were good chocolate, but because they were good candy! Good! Well they disappeared in the 80s but, baby, they're back. A company bought them (and the machines to make them) from Ghirardelli (you read me correct, Ghirardelli of San Francisco made these candies beginning in 1904). Well, a new company (click here to go there ... uh, to the new company) bought the machines (in 2004, 100 years after the original was first made), fixed 'em up (the machines, not the candy), and started producing the candy again using the original recipe. So I should be happy. Right? RIGHT?! I CAN'T FIND THEM!! They say they're at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but I haven't seen them there in the Denver, Colorado stores. I'll look for them next time just to make sure, but if I can't find them there I may just have to order a box from a wholesaler.

UPDATE: Found them at Cost Plus World Market in Lakewood (click here to see updated post).

Now This is Phun-y, Sorry for the Pun-y

Stumbled upon this on the Great Big InterWeb (GBIW) and thought it might be fun (and Phun) for those of you with an over-developed sense of physics. This is a cool-arse "game" that involves a wicked-cool physics engine.

You can download this beast at: http://www.acc.umu.se/~emilk/index.html

This is all I gots to say about that:

Deep Hurting ... MSTie Style

One of the first movies I saw from the MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000) group was Hercules Against the Moonmen, which featured an epic sandstorm and Deeeep Huuuurting. Um, you'd had to have been there, but trust me, it was funny. Anyway. I became an MST3K fan. If you're not a fan and have no idea what I'm talking about you should probably just look away now, there's probably not much point to go into an explanation. But if you are interested in the history and makeup of the show, the best place to go is Satellite News (click here to go there).

Left to right: Gypsy, Crow T. Robot, Joel, Mike, and Tom Servo

There is, of course, a raging debate, ala Kirk and Picard, as to who was the better host. Joel Hodgson (show creator and host up through half of season 5) or Mike Nelson (host from half of season 5 until the end of it all, which was season 10). I like them both, but if forced to pick, would give my nod to Joel, just as I would give my nod (does a nod count as a vote?) to Kirk. But I'm not insinuating (or implying or inferring) that Joel slept with all the space chicks. To the best of my knowledge, he did not. Then there are, of course, the Mads (Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank).

Background: TVs Frank (Frank Conniff).

Foreground: Dr. Forrester (Trace Beaulieu)

And let's not forget about Pearl and Brain Guy and Bobo. I may have liked both Joel and Mike, but as far as the Mads go, it wasn't close with Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank getting far more nods than Pearl, BG, and Bobo. But I digress. Let's see. Sadly, the show went away after a hearty 10-year run. But like all good things, it's come back ... sort of. What? Don't all good things come back? They don't? Screw it, they did in this case. Pretty much everyone associated with MST3K has jumped back into the movie-riffing business. Here's a rundown:

• RiffTrax (click here to go there) - An ingenious development where Mike Nelson and sometimes Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett or guest riffers like Weird Al or Neal Patrick Harris riff on any movie they want, putting it all into an audio file. Then by following their directions you can sync their riffing audio to the movie in question (assuming you own the movie, but why the hell would you buy the riff without owning the movie? What were you thinking?!). By doing this they've bypassed the whole getting permission from the movie maker to riff on the movie. They will never have to worry about regaining rights to a movie in the years to come (which has plagued re-releases of MST3K movies (which are now coming out from Shout Factory (click here to go there) instead of Rhino. Which is nice cohesion as Shout Factory also sells The Film Crew (see the next bullet))).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Film Crew (click here to go there) - This is Mike, Kevin, and Bill (the Sci-Fi Channel MST3K group) riffing on crappy old movies, just like MST3K. With this you get the movie and the audio all in one package just as God intended. Which means they have to cut deals with the movie makers to riff on their movies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Cinematic Titanic (click here to go there) - Joel is back (and so is Josh Weinstein, who was one of the originals and went away within the first year or so of MST3K - I wasn't around at the time, so I couldn't tell you exactly when, so back off). Anywho, this is Joel, Josh, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, and Mary Jo Pehl doing a very MST3K-type show with silhouettes on the screen and everything. A rip off? Hell, Joel created MST3K and he can do anything he wants, short of ridding the world of 8-track tapes. And Sixlets.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 (click here to go there) - That's right, even MST3K is back (kinda). Jim Mallon, the executive producer who did not get along with either Joel or Josh (or so I'm led to believe from my nasty back-alley dealings, and from the riffing I heard from Mike, Kevin, and Bill, they didn't exactly like the guy either) is putting cartoons together of the Bots (Tom, Crow, and Gypsy). Um, honestly, I've yet to see one of these that was actually good. Ah, well, 3 outta 4 ain't bad (you can guess which way my nods go here).
  
  
  
  

Jason, Jason, Jason ...

That scallywag. What's he up to now? Oh. I see. Uh. Hmmm.

This is another old, old idea that I finally put (digital) pen to (digital) paper. Took a couple of hours to draw because I did it several times using different brushes and liked this version the best. I'm afraid the background is too busy. But otherwise I'm diggin' on it. Drew Jason and the hand with Corel Painter X and did all of the resizing and text in Paint Shop Pro.

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Wacky Find of the Day

So I'm flipping through a book I bought back in the early 70s and look what fell out:

Wow does that take me back. I remember when my friends (must have been around fifth and sixth grade, maybe even earlier) and I collected these things with zeal. Zeal, I say! Haven't seen Wacky Packages in forever (or even longer). So I assumed they hadn't been made in decades. Wrong. After a brief and fruitful search of the Internet I find that Wacky Packages are still in production today. Here are a couple of websites you can check out about them:

• This is the manufacturers page
  


• This is the page of someone who just likes 'em a lot (pics and links to other sites)

MST3PO Redux (and Re-Redux)

So I sent out the original MST3PO (click here to see it) to some friends. After I successfully fought the ensuing restraining order, my pal Blake offered some suggestions. Based on those I present MST3PO Redux:

Or the MST3PO Re-Redux:

However, I think I like the original best as a straight-forward sight gag.