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Monte Story School

Novelist Monte Schulz’s follow-up to his dark, yet rollicking This Side of Jordan is The Last Rose of Summer, which should be out in December.

Monte has had a long association with the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. His father attended the conference for many years, as did Ray Bradbury. The conference ran into financial trouble and ended up in bankruptcy court. Monte made an offer and now he owns the conference, presumably along with all of the headaches that go with it.

WRITERS CONFERENCE SOLD: Monte Schulz, son of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, has purchased the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robin Riblet, on Tuesday, June 8, approved the $27,000 sale. Monte plans to hold the next conference next June. There was no conference this year or last due to prior owner Marcia Meier’s bankruptcy.

And with apologies to Stephen Colbert, I think the title of this post qualifies for greatest pun of all time.

Full of bull cartoons

For ages I’ve been trying to piece together a 3-part post about something Beatles-related, but I keep getting stalled. Being stuck for other ideas at the moment, I’ll follow up on my Colbert post about bullfighting. In 1952, animator Chuck Jones directed Bully for Bugs (released 1953).

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Jones discusses this cartoon in Chuck Reducks (1996), his second volume of memoirs. He comments that, “Before I went to the Mexico City bullfight, my sympathies were with the bull, but then I saw a slender little man saunter out into the ring, and [after seeing the bull] immediately changed my opinion.” I wonder if Jones stayed through to the gory end of the bull? When I was in Saudi Arabia on business 20 years ago, I was invited to witness a public beheading. I declined, and I would do the same if invited to see a bullfight, for the same reason — it’s a blood sport.

Disney won a 1938 Oscar for Ferdinand the Bull. This cartoon makes the case that bullfighting might come to an end, but only if the bulls stopped charging the matadors, and instead stopped to smell the flowers.

The video player has the original American version of the cartoon, and one in Spanish.

Swift boating

Major eye & ear candy superstar Taylor Swift was in town yesterday, ending her tour. She filled Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA (home of the N.E. Patriots) with 56,000 fans, matching the attendance at Shea Stadium for the Beatles in 1965. Good thing she isn’t here today, because we are suddenly having the seriously bad rainy weather that hit the Midwest yesterday, that is undoubtedly affecting WUMB’s music festival right now.

(Wait! It’s sunny! No, it’s dark with downpours again! Now it’s clearing up….!)

Stephen Colbert… bullfighting fan?

Lia Pamina of Spain is no fan of bullfighting. She calls it torture. This is Lia expressing her opinion in a bullring.

Recently, matador Julio Aparicio was on the receiving end of some bullish wrath in Madrid. Stephen Colbert calls it one of the craziest f#?ing things he’s ever heard.

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Craziest F#?ing Thing I’ve Ever Heard – Gored Bullfighter
www.colbertnation.com
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