I admit I had never heard of the movie Killer of Sheep until it was featured recently on NPR. [Link here] Steven Soderbergh helped finance the release of the movie. Why him and not Spike Lee? Odd.
Year: 2007
Low Fidelity, High Quality
Back in December I mentioned the WGBH radio program The Jazz Decades, hosted by Ray Smith. This Sunday’s show featured some noteworthy restored 1920’s recordings that are of particular interest to Smith — King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, with Louis Armstrong.
Smith rhapsodizes at length during the twenty five minutes of the program that are on the audio player, recorded off of my computer’s FM tuner. I fiddled with the dipole antenna for a few moments at the beginning, as will be obvious if you listen.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/JazzDecadesApr1-07.mp3]Not being a musician myself, I appreciate these acoustic (non-electrical) recordings more for their historical and technical significance, but Smith’s infectious enthusiasm for the virtuosity of the performances is fun to hear. Note: At one point Smith refers to 1933 when he meant to say 1923.
Snowhite Mechanix
From Treasures of Disney Animation Art © 1982 Disney
The Modern Mechanix site has a scan of a Popular Science article about Disney’s making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The cover date is January 1938, which means it was on newsstands in December 1937 to coincide with the release of the movie. [Link here]. The text of the article is provided in addition to the scan, which is available in multiple sizes. Nice touches.
… And That Ain’t “Peanuts”
The availability and value of so-called collectibles has changed greatly since the rise of eBay. Prices for certain items plummeted when it became apparent that they were, in fact, not particularly rare, while others skyrocketed in value. One area that has seen incredible inflation is comic book and comic strip originals by particular artists.
Philip Weiss Auctions is hyping the winning bids for original comic strip art by Charles Schulz, including “Li’l Folks” originals. The name “Peanuts” is, of course, another (equally-outdated) way of saying Li’l Folks.
(Oceanside, N.Y.) – Seven original comic strips by the renowned cartoonist Charles Schulz sold for a combined $152,550 at a three-session, weekend multi-estate sale held March 24-25 by Philip Weiss Auctions. The strips included a Sunday “Peanuts” page from 1963 that alone realized $37,000; three “Li’l Folks” strips; and four “Peanuts” dailies. Prices quoted include a 13% buyer’s premium.
The money that the Schulz originals fetched at auction doesn’t surprise me. What stunned me, however, was the $101,700 for the cover art to Spider-Man #43.
Drawn by John Romita Sr., this is a particularly favorite issue of mine, although it’s not one of his best covers. How much was Romita paid for drawing this cover in 1966? Probably not even $100.
I’m pleased that a Romita original can command this much money, and I would like to believe that Jazzy Johnny will get a cut of the bucks transacted at this auction. It’s the right thing to do. (It’s possible that Romita was selling it himself, but given what I know about the history of such peak period Marvel Comics art, I doubt it.)
The Horror of Scanning
Here are two scans of the same thing. Pretty picture, huh? Well, one of them is prettier than the other. See the difference? One image I scanned using the Windows Scanner Wizard, the other I did with the software that came with the scanner. The latter is the better-looking one. The difference is from setting the de-screening feature.
Colbert The Bodice Ripper
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/MAR07/ColbertRomance.flv 400 300]© Comedy Central
I won’t wait for Comedy Central to post this one. Stephen Colbert points out that in the up and down world of romance novels, publisher Harlequin is struggling for a new image. And he has a few suggestions.
Meg, allegedly an intern, is featured in this segment. She was seen previously handing Stephen the shield that was bequeathed to him by Captain America. As you can see in this video, the shield is now hanging proudly on Colbert’s Wall of Fame.