Category: All Posts

He’s really most sincerely dead

I think Obama is doing the right thing:

To: Doug Pratt
From: CNN Breaking News
Subject: CNN Breaking News
Date: Wed 1:36p May 4, 2011
Sent: Wed, 04 May 2011 13:36:03 -0400

The president has decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden, an administration official briefed by the White House tells CNN.

One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303 © & ® 2011 Cable News Network

Releasing the photos would serve no useful purpose. Domestically, the anti-Obama extremists won’t believe the photos are genuine anyway, just as they demanded to see his birth certificate then refused to accept its authenticity when he released it. Internationally, showing the corpse would only incite further anti-American sentiment. If bin Laden’s alive, I’m sure he’ll let us know.

Two views vis bin Laden going bye-bye

There’s this…

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

… and there’s this.

Follow-up: That MLK quote is a fake! Or at least partially fake.

Blackbeard’s treasure

Bill Blackbeard was to comic strips what Forrest J. Ackerman was to science fiction — a lifelong, compulsive collector who wrote and edited articles and books about his hobby. Blackbeard’s singular passion was comic strips, and he saved millions of them by rescuing tons of newspapers. They’re all now in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University. Blackbeard died in March, but the news wasn’t widely known until this past week.

At the other end of the comic strip game is the original art market, with Charles Schulz originals commanding premium prices. Heritage Auctions has a Schulz original being sold by the family of the real-life Frieda.

The piece predates Peanuts, but you can see where his work was headed. Its significance is that it seems to prove that Schulz didn’t adopt the four-panel format by choice. The art has only three panels, and Sparky wouldn’t return to doing that until February 29, 1988. Enlarge the image above and you will see that in his early work Schulz inked mostly with a brush, and not a pen as he would later do.

A big admirer of Schulz is cartoonist Jimmy Johnson, whose strip Arlo and Janis has been a favorite of mine for many years. It was introduced in 1985, the same year that Calvin and Hobbes premiered. Arlo and Janis began on July 29, and this photo of Jimmy ran in some of the papers that carried the new strip. The caption reads, “Arlo and Janis Day are anti-Yuppies, the young upwardly mobile who don’t glory in it, says their creator Jimmy Johnson.”

I am not John Galt

The two topics on today’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook on WBUR/Boston provide a brilliant contrast of Capitalist idealism vs. realism. The first hour was about Ayn Rand…

[audio:http://audio.wbur.org/storage/2011/04/onpoint_0427_1.mp3|titles=On Point WBUR – Ayn Rand]

… and the second hour was about Bernie Madoff.

[audio:http://audio.wbur.org/storage/2011/04/onpoint_0427_2.mp3|titles=On Point WBUR – Bernie Madoff]

Prue Bury, by Ringo Starr

It’s Easter, and a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the lovely and wonderful Prudence Bury. As promised, here is a very special picture of Prue. It was taken by Ringo Starr on the set of A Hard Day’s Night.

The caption reads, “This gorgeous girl is Pru Berry. She plays my girlfriend in our movie. Too bad it’s only make believe!” Amen to that! Ringo was actually paired with Tina Williams for the famous hair-combing publicity photos, and Prue was with Paul. She was 22 at the time, and Prue says of this portrait, “I love it, I look grown up!!” (Oh, the lure of evil ciggies to make one appear grown up!)

Prue had told me that Ringo was “snap-happy” with his camera during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night, and she said that he had taken some snapshots of her. (The sequence where Ringo went “parading” around town was built around him taking pictures.) Prue and I have been wondering if Ringo’s pictures had appeared anywhere, and the answer is yes. They’re in Ringo’s Photo-Album, published in 1964. Hover over the image below to see the back cover.

I have scanned the entire magazine and it’ll be featured later. My thanks go to noted Rock journalist Marcus Gray, for finding this treasure. I’ve seen many Beatles-related items, but I’d never spotted this one before. Marcus is the leading expert on The Clash, having written two books on the legendary British Punk Rock band — one a comprehensive and authoritative biography, the other a definitive study of their landmark album London Calling. Having been a Clash fan myself, I have both tomes and they are in my must-read stack. Marcus is also, to his credit, a Prue fan.