"Wednesday" is the pseudonym or alter ego for the blog's author without any claim or any association or direct connection to the art and writing of Charles Addams. The blog topics vary from literature, art, films, TV, odd facts, music, editorial viewpoints, and more. Comments are monitored. Feedback is welcome.
'Addams Family' musical sets date and here's a description, "Wednesday, eighteen years old and finally feeling what it means to be a woman," oh, that ought to be funny in a dark sort of way.
Official site for the Chicago premiere
I just hope it is a musical dark comedy, emphasis on dark, and that it honors Charles Addams, as it should.
My favorite European comic book artist is Enki Bilal, his new book is called Animal'z. I found an excellent documentary posted on Youtube that dates back to 1986.
This is a look at Animal'z.
I am working on the English translation.
the beginning contains a quote by Jean Baudrillard:
L’eau en poudre: il suffit de rajouter de l’eau pour obtenir de l’eau.
Water powder: just add water to get water.
I was able to find a translated interview with the artist, Enki Bilal.
If you are reading this and can read, write and speak French and would like to help me with the English translation of the book, please post in the comments a way to contact you on Myspace or using a format such as name {at} domain {dot} com.
Edited 2013/8 January
The comment from one of the kind Korner readers alerted me to find the link where you can obtain the Heavy Metal magazine January 2012 issue and the sample PDF on that page allows you to see 3 pages that are translated in English, but the entire issue is available for purchase. March 2012 also has 3 pages in the sample PDF, whole issue is available for purchase. Shipping to non-US addresses is possible.
Looks really good, from a fan perspective of loving the Star Wars IV, V, VI and not loving I, II, III. People this obsessed are fun to laugh at, but then I can look back at when I cringed at seeing Jar Jar and go, yeah, I felt ripped off. Jar Jar is not made of a miniature, human-operated, mechanical action figure we can touch and we missed that realism. We liked the scrappy methods of the 70s with the first movie; stop-motion animation in those grand scale scenes.
I understand, though, fans have a right to feel cheated after investing mostly their own money into the first three movies. They lost the joy in continuing on the path of collecting memorabilia. I agree, you have to constantly assess where your heart's at and draw a line at where it won't go.
Video of Sam the Koala drinking from a water bottle, found by a fireman
Kangaroos, possums, wombats and reptiles are scorched!
Help is needed and you can donate to the Bush Wildfire Appeal. Almost a million animals have perished but more are starving and showing up on the doorsteps as they are docile creatures, unafraid of humans. People are bringing them to the animal sanctuaries and the shelters need donations to keep them safe and healthy until they can be released back into the wild. Sacrifice your week's worth of cappuccinos, burritos, pizzas, takeout or snack foods and use the money to donate and save the wild animals.
The currency exchange from US to Australia dollars favors the US dollar. You can use a credit card to make a tax deductible donation online.
I went to Baltimore, MD, the weekend of January 30, 2009, to see a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe.
I enjoyed the songs masterfully and beautifully sung by Paula McCabe which included "Annabel Lee," "Amazing Grace," and "Auld Lang Syne."
The first act was a comedic play by John Spitzer of Fraudulent Productions, "Some Words With A Mummy," adapted from Poe's short story and it was particularly fascinating to learn about the Scarabaeus tribe, where Poe's short story describes "...all the Scarabaei embalmed accidentally while alive, are alive now. Even some of those purposely so embalmed, may have been overlooked by their executors, and still remain in the tomb."
The highlight was seeing John Astin on stage performing the poems of Poe and offering his eloquent perspective on Poe's writings, particularly surrounding the demons that haunted Poe throughout his life. Works we heard were "Alone," "The Conqueror Worm," "The Masque of the Red Death," "To Helen," "Annabel Lee," "The Raven," "Eureka," as well as others. Astin's stage presence was breathtaking and energized by the content of the poems. His sensitivity to the verse and meanings behind the words was profound. I hung on every word of "The Raven" as Astin added understated hand gestures, drawing us deeper into the story: "Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor."
He closed with the mentioning of Poe's "Eureka" and explaining that the book Darkness at Night: A Riddle of the Universe devotes chapter 13 to Poe ("The Golden Walls of Edgar Allan Poe") because of "Eureka". Astin paraphrases some of Eureka -- the part in its entirety here: "If I venture to displace, by even the billionth part of an inch, the microscopical speck of dust which lies now upon the point of my finger, what is the character of that act upon which I have adventured? I have done a deed which shakes the Moon in her path, which causes the Sun to be no longer the Sun, and which alters forever the destiny of the multitudinous myriads of stars that roll and glow in the majestic presence of their Creator." Astin goes on to state that the author of Darkness at Night found Poe's words to be quite ahead of Einstein's time and his theories.
When the show concluded, John Astin sat and met the members in the audience, including myself pictured with him above.
I have to commend the organizers of the events for doing a wonderful job of paying tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. The ability to purchase the Poe postage stamps and other memorabilia made it quite convenient for Poe fans to enjoy the author and be in the company of other fans. The Poe Historical Society members were all dressed in period costume and the raffle at the end of the night included as a prize a cake with Poe's image. You can read more about what took place at the events on their blog.
For more events taking place in Baltimore, bookmark the Edgar Allan Poe Baltimore, Maryland Bicentennial Celebration website.
The Baltimore Sun did a wonderful write-up of John Astin's tribute to Edgar Allan Poe.
Tickets are available for John Astin appearing at Westminster Hall on January 31 and February 1. Go to: poebicentennial.com.
Set your TV tuners to January 19 for when "The Powerpuff Girls Rule" will air on The Cartoon Network. The one hour show will focus on Mojo Jojo, portrayed by Roger Jackson. Mojo Jojo sings two songs. One of the songs is "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," originally by Tears for Fears. Tom Kenny, whom plays The Mayor and the narrator among other voices on the 10-year old show, attended the premiere event that took place in Los Angeles. He said that Mojo Jojo stole the show, that when Mojo sang "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", it brought down the house.
UPDATE: Here's the full article about the broadcast and marathon of episodes preceding the special airing.
If you catch the new episode, feel free to leave comments under this post. I do moderate comments just to weed out the spam.
Here are two of the three Robot Chicken episodes that star Roger Jackson
Adult Swim recently aired Robot Chicken's 2nd Star Wars tribute episode. I commented after the 1st episode aired in the Adult Swim Robot Chicken forum that the part of Star Wars I wanted to see satired in a Robot Chicken special was the scene where they are being taken to dinner by Lando Calrissian and they are surprised with seeing Darth Vader waiting for them. Here's the way they did it:
And here are two other Robot Chicken funny segments:
Christina Ricci seen in this photo as part of GQ's piece about Matthew Rolston.
Adding to the prior post about SF Sketchfest, tickets are on sale for "The SF Sketchfest Comedy Writing Award: Robert Smigel in conversation with Dana Carvey". You can spend your $32.50 ($25.50 plus the $3.00 order fee plus $4.00 fee for something not described) to attend; seats are general admission. I'm not a fan of the "2 drink minumum" enforced policy at the venue. Easily you can spend $10 on nothing but soda and the tip. They hold your credit card hostage, too.
Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell 2009 Predictions show airs Tuesday and Wednesday, December 30 & 31. How many of 2008 predictions get "bonks"? how many "dings"? I'm gonna try to re-listen to the shows I downloaded last year and, if any have come true and he misses it, I'll use the "fast blast" option to tell him. Do you have any predictions? You can't call in with death or assassination predictions. We all must quiet our dark under-used minds and search our pitiful souls for real predictions for 2009.
Wednesday's worst nightmares: 1) visiting tropical destinations, 2) standing still for more than an hour in the sun, 3) a cruise vacation. Yet, 150 goths did it and IFC is showing the documentary in January 2009.
SF Sketchfest tickets went on sale today. I'm looking forward to the tribute they're doing for Harold and Maude's Bud Cort. They also have the greatest Comedy Central show live on stage: "TV Funhouse Live with Robert Smigel, Dino Stamatopoulos and Doug Dale featuring the Anipals and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog with Birthday Boys".
The controversy about "If You Seek Amy" song by Britney Spears to sell her album, major groan. I can't believe that she's a mom and seeks this attention after all the crap she has been pulling. There's a San Francisco-based teen coach speaking about it on her blog. What's with the "flirty" pop song now not being so innocent. Is sweet innocence so lame? Let's just give it away, all you girls are worth nothing, give away your sweet innocence! Yeah, be into the material stuff. Look at where it got us?
There's this really cool guy that loves the movie Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, in fact, he is THE expert that Rhino Entertainment contacted in preparation for the DVD release of the movie. They didn't budget for a commentary so he recorded one and posted it online. And, yes, there's a blog on Myspace explaining the details of how it all came to be that he recorded a commentary. It's probably the best gift you can give a music fan for the holidays or any occasion.
Wednesday's heart doth skipped a beat having wondered if she possibly missed the tickets-on-sale date to any of the 2009 Bicentennial Events honoring one of her favorite writers, Edgar Allan Poe. The events in her deeply-focused mind feature John Astin, yes, the famous John Astin whom portrayed Gomez Addams in "The Addams Family" and whom has starred in one-man shows portraying Mr. Poe.
In her careful analysis of flight options from the West Coast to Baltimore, she notes that major inaugural events are occurring near this time, therefore, it may be difficult to cheaply fly to the ones taking place Jan. 17 and 18. Perhaps many other travelers are using those flights to get themselves as near to DC as possible.
Then, with much more curiosity and desire for honoring the much celebrated writer, she spies further down the events page that it states, "The major event after January will be the funeral for Edgar Allan Poe complete with a horse drawn hearse with period coffin and body. This promises to be the big event of the bicentennial. The date will be Saturday, October 10, 2009. Due to the high level of interest two services will be held." Most intriguing, but not surprising, "John Astin has shown great interest presiding over the funeral." Oui, mon amour, how does one not take great interest, indeed!?
Edgar Allan Poe will also be celebrated outside of Baltimore, mostly for the fact that he spent 13 years in Richmond, Virginia. Poe wrote in a letter, "I am a Virginian--at least I call myself one, for I have resided all my life, until within the last few years, in Richmond." The Poe Revealed 2009 events page has many offers of ways to celebrate Mr. Poe.
Other cities with events include, Philadelphia, Boston, Eagle, Wisconsin; possibly The Bronx, NY.
And there's an RSA Conference using Edgar Allan Poe as the theme of their event because Poe was interested in crytography.
I saw Good Dick tonight. It's completely self-distributed and worthy of being seen in the theatres because you're not giving money to the big honchos running any studios. The story is refreshing especially for anyone completely disappointed in the "instant love shit" on the big screens nowadays; recycled stories year in and year out. In Good Dick you witness friends looking out for each other, a dark character escaping into her head, a good guy that wants to save her from herself, and nothing cliché about relationships, thank you.
Marianna Palka is the "Woman" whom also wrote and directed the film. Her whole persona emits "outcast," "can't deal with people," "hate anyone who pays her any attention," it is hopeless if they even breathe in her direction. She gives credit to the damaged people cast out from the everyday cliques, ridiculed as outsiders by the "in-crowd"; called rejects, losers, and pathetic. But the video store clerk relentlessly tries to get her to open up to him. He sees a real person and not someone weird as his friends call her. Any inch she lets him have only encourages him and it scares her; she bosses him around in return and calls him ugly. I felt for her because she was crying out for kindness but rejected every notion that he's good to her.
"Man" is played by Jason Ritter, son of the late, wonderful actor John Ritter. "Man" is truly faithful, loyal and takes the other path that is not of least resistance. We see a character, for a change, embrace selflessness.
Jason Ritter, holds his own, he doesn't need a famous last name to carry him. He's one of the most truthful actors that I have faith will not sell out, does not want the fame. I can count on one hand the genius actors not using publicity stunts to get themselves noticed. He spoke after the film with so much passion for "the work" and, in watching his character, you can feel that he loves the "Woman" and takes pride in his movie knowledge. He has some really comical moments that had the audience laughing at the pain he's enduring to show this woman how much he cares.
I asked the two actors who appeared for a Q&A what it was like working with the great Charles Durning and Marianna said that he decided to do the movie from reading the script. He told dirty jokes that they couldn't use in the movie, but funny jokes. Jason Ritter tried to see that line between off camera and when they call action; he said Charles Durning is seamless. He's in the frame of mind and ready when the director is ready. He used his own physicality to convey what he was saying and brought so much to this role to flesh out his character's wisdom. There's a history to this person just walking in off the street. His character says something memorable and validating to the whole "quest" that you've been on with the "Man."
The story's "Man" tells her, "I care about you," after she has just said something mean. He isn't chasing her to "win" her; he's standing by her and helping her to be a person again. I look at scenes like this and recall these conversations overheard in public and almost want to say to some woman, "Give me his number, if you're going to be so mean to him." Women are so high maintenance and I always think, no wonder men are just so burnt out that they remain bachelors because they just want to go from one woman to the next. The newness never gets old and is more fun than someone that takes them for granted a few months into the relationship. If they can notice the quiet people who are overlooked, see them as real people capable of loving them, maybe these guys would be less inclined to give up. Women, too. At the end of the screening, Ritter says, "You are not going to live forever and to live without knowing real love between you and someone else, you truly haven't lived."
I predict that this will not be the last we heard of Good Dick. I predict it willl do well with IFC's Independent Spirit Awards. In fact, it is rather curious that Marianna Palka said "Cassevetes" in describing what they're doing by self-producing, self-distributing the film.
Martin Starr is also another reason I wanted to see this film. I have a soft spot for all "Freaks and Geeks" stars because they were short-changed in having that series end way too soon. He played Bill Haverchuck so perfectly in that series. He looks so different all grown up and has a unique subtlety that makes everything he does appear natural.
If you go to the film's website, turn "Sound" to "OFF" so that you can play the trailer without the music that is on the website.
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I can't go further without having to say that I cringed, when walking home, at hearing some people of the "TRL" generation right behind me refer to the last series John Ritter worked on with the wrong title (it was "8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter"), and then, not even acknowledge "Three's Company". I power-walked away from these fools making me feel old.
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On a side note, the screening didn't start out too well for me because I got up to use the bathroom, leaving a tent-like flyer on the seat to hold it for myself along with my notebook, popcorn and cup of water on the arm of the chair. It looked like it was all intentional on holding a seat. I do it often. I return and some people right from "The Hills", a yappy large group, arrived while I was away. They moved my stuff to the row in front of them--too close to the screen--taking my seat on top of four more. When I ask them if they moved my stuff and they told me in this unapologetic tone, "Oh, we thought someone left it there." I was looking on the floor to check at their feet for anything that fell and there was the flyer on the floor. Some girl asks, "Is there anything you left there?" Yeah, I friggin' marked my spot so I could come back to it... I didn't intentionally leave my stuff abandoned to never return to it. Oh, man, fucking idiots, typically all you get in San Francisco under 30 now, that feel entitled, act self-centered and don't give a shit about anyone. I moved across the aisle where I had to view the screen at an angle with the exit sign screaming into my eyes. Fortunately, the film was much better than anyone I loathed at the moment so I enjoyed it anyways.
I'm testing the ability to upload a video I captured and edited in Quicktime from The Castro Theatre on October 18. The pre-show organ performance always closes with the tune "San Francisco" from the same-titled Clark Gable movie. I was using my Powershot Canon S330 video function.
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