[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/BeautyBeast.flv 400 263]
After I played around with the audio speed for the Ross Bagdasarian posts and South Park, my sister wanted to hear a speed correction of Robbie Benson’s voice from Beauty and the Beast. There’s a video clip above, and below is the audio sped up by 15%. Not sure if that percentage is exactly right, but it sounds close enough.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/BeautyBeast.mp3]
For Christmas, my best buddy Dennis Rogers gave me a very nifty book. Well, nifty for an old comic book fanboy such as myself. It’s Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe, by Roy Thomas. Roy was Stan’s right-hand man at Marvel, starting in the mid-60’s.
The book is a history of Marvel Comics, mostly from the 60’s, with short audio commentaries by Stan. This simple sort of multimedia could be done easily on the Internet, but it’s nice to have it in book form. And this way Stan and Roy can make some money, right? The audio player works well, and unlike similar players in the past, this one takes standard AAA batteries.
The first Marvel super hero I followed was Daredevil. I’ve recorded Stan’s commentary about the creation of the character and put it on the player below. My son Eric and I really enjoy having this book. Thanks, Denro!
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/StanLee.mp3][flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/Mickey.flv 400 300]
After posting Ub Iwerk’s “Skeletons in the Closet” and the Warner Brothers cartoon “Pigs is Pigs“, I guess there’s no avoiding Mickey Mouse’s memorable meeting with “The Mad Doctor” from 1933. In an attempt to avoid any “Imperial Entanglements” with Dizzney, I’ve selected a mere 90 seconds.
http://youtu.be/kkW3XQKBy1M
The 1937 cartoon “Pigs is Pigs” is disturbing in a way that the previously posted “Spooks” isn’t. As nightmarish as the prospect is of being turned into a skeleton, by a skeleton, it’s totally unreal. In contrast, eating oneself to death is an all-too-real possibility for millions of people.
The pig in “Pigs is Pigs” isn’t Porky, but he appears to make an appearance as the running piggy in the middle. Why does Mama Pig have a German accent?
The recent announcement of the eternally embracing skeleton couple brought to mind the 1929 Disney cartoon, “The Skeleton Dance”. But I’d better not post it, because Disney is notoriously intolerant. So I’ll do the next best thing.
“The Skeleton Dance” was animated by Mickey Mouse co-creator Ub Iwerks, who later briefly had his own cartoon studio. Iwerks created Flip the Frog, and while Flip was a forgettable character some of his cartoons are worth watching. “Spooks” from 1932 is one of them.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/jackkirby.flv 400 300]
Producer/writer Mark Evanier has announced the release of his upcoming book Kirby: King of Comics, a biography of comic book artist Jack Kirby. Jack created or co-created the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Captain America, and many other characters. The book should be out before the end of the year.
More good news is that Evanier will once again be writing, producing and voice directing a series of Garfield the Cat cartoons. And he’s losing lots of weight, thanks to successful gastric bypass surgery. The video above about Jack Kirby shows Evanier before the surgery. With so much going on in his life, Mark had a lot to lose by not losing!
