Category: Cartooning

Calvin and Hobbes gone, not forgotten

For Christmas a few years ago, Eric got “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” set. Eric has an amazing recollection of C&H installments that he demonstrates every so often by quoting strips verbatim. It’s hard to believe it’s been fourteen years since Bill Watterson called it quits. Watterson got out while the getting was good, because it was 1995 when the Internet started to really to really take off, and gnaw away at all forms of media, with newspapers as its first casualty.

The last I heard, Watterson was into painting with watercolors, and I thought by now he would have had an exhibit or a collection published. But… nothing. Watterson has famously refused to license Calvin & Hobbes. Animation would be the obvious way to continue the series, and a couple of amateur efforts show that a cartoon version of Calvin could work very well.

This is by a talented animation student in Belgium, a tiny country that gets mentioned a lot here…

…and this ambitious work is by an Italian animator. Bravo!

She’s not bionic after all

As my sister Jean will corroborate with sarcastic glee, as a young man a secret shame of mine was “The Bionic Woman.” Today, I had the pleasure of saying hi to Lindsay Wagner.

Lindsay Wagner

Lindsay put a lot into making “The Bionic Woman” more than just a spin-off of “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and for her efforts she won an Emmy. Ostensibly a kid’s show, there was plenty in there to keep college boys like me watching, as seen in this video that a Lindsay fan put on YouTube. You’ll see scenes from a beauty pageant, and you’ll find the complete episode below.

Lindsay is an advocate of homeopathic health, and she holds seminars and workshops as part of a program she calls “Quiet the Mind, and Open the Heart.” Here is part of a recent conversation with Lindsay.


Ellie Drake-Bionic Woman of Healing Lindsay Wagner Pt 2
by BraveHeartWomen

There isn’t a DVD set of “The Bionic Woman” in America yet, although Linsday says it’s been released in England and elsewhere in Europe. She was surprised to learn today that some of the shows are available on Hulu. Here’s the beauty pageant episode.

Denro’s promise to Sin Not!

Do my cataract replacement lenses deceive me, or is that D.F. Rogers hanging out at the home of none other than Marvel Comics legend Joe Sinnott?

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

Dennis spent some time with Joe this past weekend, and of his brief stint at the drawing board he says,

“Joe let me airbrush some drawings. The only thing on the brush was air!”

Even I, who once could handle a #2 Kolinsky Sable dipped in Higgins Black Magic with some confidence, wouldn’t dare dab so much as a dot on a piece of paper that the great Joe Sinnott had touched. To do that would be a sin as well as a crime!

Here are a couple more snaps of Den with Joe. Maybe Dennis can add a comment to fill in some details about his visit. The thing about Dennis is, he is very knowledgeable on two of Joe’s favorite subjects: Baseball and Bing — Bing Crosby that is, not the Microsoft search engine. I’m not qualified to keep up my end of the conversation on either of these topics.

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

This picture of Joe and his son Mark (the tall guy), was taken last February in New York. Standing between Joe and Mark is Mike Uslan, one of the producers of the Batman movies, including The Dark Knight, and on the right is Chip Cronkite, the son of another legend, Walter Cronkite. I’ve featured Chip before, at this link.

Joe Sinnott, Mike Uslan, Mark Sinnott, Chip Cronkite

Wacky Wallowheen!

Halloween 2009

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. We had a good crowd show up, yet we have more leftover candy than ever, because one of our neighbors dropped some off so we could cover for them while they went to a party. There’s plenty for me to leave in the break room at work on Monday!

Here is what I posted last Halloween ,and the year before that, and three years ago. This year I added the video projector to the decorations, in rear projection mode with an old sheet hung from the garage door for a screen. I played the 1953 movie “War of the Worlds,” and the original “King Kong .” It was very windy tonight! On the video you can hear the wind, and some kids up the street.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/OCT/WarOfWorlds.flv 512 384]

I was pleased that ABC -TV ran “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” twice this week. Being the fan that I am — Great Pumpkin is my favorite “Peanuts” cartoon — I watched it both times, and the commercials too. There was a loud hum in the soundtrack towards the end that I don’t recall ever hearing before. And I had to think of the promo in an ironic way, because I refuse to accept it as a sincere attempt at updating Charlie Brown!

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