The Barer Cave

Graphic novelist extraordinaire Colleen Doran was nice enough to call me a "blog buddy" in her latest post. http://adistantsoil.com/2009/11/18/comics-links-2/#more-4694

Be a blog buddy to Colleen. Go to her blog, read the web comic version of her series "A Distant Soil," and buy her stuff. If you've been to our house, you know that we've bought a lot of her stuff -- it's all over our walls.

Labels: A Distant Soil, Colleen Doran

Comics historian Mark Evanier has a great story on his blog (http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_11_15.html#018060) about a sketch Filipino artist Alfredo Alcala did, pro bono, for the San Diego Comic-Con in the seventies; and how this act paid off with good karma.

If you read a Marvel or DC comic during the late '70's and '80's, you likely saw Alcala's art, usually inking another artist, mainly because he turned out incredibly textured ink art incredibly fast. We got to speak with Alcala a few times before he passed away, due to a mutual friend, Phil Yeh. Our first wedding anniversary took place during the 1998 San Diego Comic-Con. Phil invited us to go out to dinner at Dick's Last Resort with him and a bunch of comics artists, including Alcala. At Phil's request, Alcala drew us an anniversary present -- a beautiful drawing of a panther. It was a wonderful link to the SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN issues inked by Alcala that I had so enjoyed as a teen.

We first encountered the artwork for Michel Ocelot's animated film "Azur et Asmar" in the hallways of the Studio Ghibli Museum during our 2007 visit. One hall featured images and backgrounds from the movie as murals. That should give you an idea of the artistic accomplishment of this animated film.




The computer-animated movie features flat, stiff character animation (a consequence of the storybook-come-to-life look of the movie), but the colors and imagery are lush and unlike any animated film I've seen before. And although the multicultural story, set in Renaissance-era France and North Africa, follows a fairytale formula, it manages to confound expectations at every turn.

American kids may find the storytelling slow, and the many portions in Arabic (with subtitles) frustrating. But it is definitely worth watching (and likely owning, for repeated viewings).

http://www.amazon.com/Azur-Asmar-Princes-Sean-Barrett/dp/B001DJ7PY6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1258345121&sr=8-1

Labels: Princes' Quest

History | Downtown Walla Walla Foundation


Mike Barer posted a comment to my "Book Nook" post, commenting on the namesake for the post:  The Book Nook, a business that used to exist in the Die Brucke building in downtown Walla Walla, Wa.    The Book Nook was apparently around for a looong time -- the photo above purports to be a picture of its soda fountain in 1910; and the building itself was constructed in 1903.  The Book Nook sold the type of general-store sundries you'd see at a drug store.  It also had the sort of old-fashioned lunch counter that small retail stores used to feature, selling burgers and sandwiches.  (It got very busy at lunchtime.  I recall once, while working downtown, I was settled at my table with my drink when my sandwich order was called at the counter.  I went up to grab my sandwich, and came back to find a woman had snatched up my full glass and was "bussing" it so that she could sit down.  She protested that she thought I was finished there . . . .)

The odd part was that, apart from the usual magazine-and-paperback rack, the store didn't sell books.

Labels: Book Nook, Walla Walla

Bucking critical opinion, we saw AMELIA tonight. (It's playing at the Culver Plaza, which was a happening Mann theater for years but is now an independently-owned seedy second-run house.) We liked it better than the critics. It definitely has flaws: Swank too often sounds like she's imitating Earhart rather than being her; Swank and Gere have zero chemistry as an onscreen couple; and the pacing often seems off. But you can't go too far wrong with lots of '30's airplanes. And Earhart's story in itself is compelling enough to propel the plot.

One big mistake Earhart makes: Taking The Doctor along as navigator. That guy's getting lost all the time . . . .

Labels: Amelia, Doctor Who

Yes, it's one of those Facebook quiz things. I've pasted it to my blog so that I can slay two fowl with one missle.

Copy this, paste in a new note, replace my answers with yours and re-post this as your name followed by "ology".

***********FOODOLOGY***************

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Whatever they put on the salad at Blue Marlin -- kind of a sweet-gingery stuff.

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Hotel Bel-Air Restaurant.

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Chicken katsu from Yokohama (the restaurant, not the city).

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Chicken and veggies.

What do you like to put on your toast?
Oxygen.

********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house?
Three.

What color is your cell phone?
Green and silver.

Do you have an iPod?
Yes -- a silver Nano.

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
I had a tooth extracted when I was a teenager.

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
My backpack, a heavy leather jacket, and a bag of comic books -- all at once.

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Only by anesthesia.

************BULLOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Nah. Destiny is mystery, and mystery is life.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Well, I could change it, but I like my name. People keep saying I'm a "David," though.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Yes -- if I could do it gradually, over the course of a few years. (Lawyer answer.)


**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season?
Summer in SoCal!

Holiday?
Fourth of July -- it's in summer!

Day of the week?
Saturday

Month?
July

Book?
I don't re-read books (except law books). Probably the one that had the biggest impact on me was Slaughterhouse-Five.

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone?
My friends in other cities.

Mood?
Mellow.

What are you listening to?
Amy's watching "The Mentalist" in another room.

Current worry?
Getting various ducks in various rows.

************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning?
Walked to my office.

What's the last movie you saw?
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (on DVD)

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
One

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
I don't really have run-ins. Only discussions.

Last person you talked to?
Amy.

Last person you hugged?
Amy.

Do you always answer your phone?
No.

It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
Somebody who'd better have a damned good reason for texting me at that hour . . .


If you could change your eye color what would it be?
I wouldn't. Brown is beautiful.

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic?
I've never eaten at Sonic.

Do you own a digital camera?
Yes.

Have you ever had a pet fish?
Several . . . in the past.

Favorite Christmas song?
"Linus and Lucy" by Vince Guaraldi. (Hey, it's from a Christmas special.)

What's on your wish list for your birthday?
Books -- even though we have no room for them.

Can you do push ups?
Yes.

Can you do the splits?
No.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Depends how far into the future you look.

Do you have any saved texts?
My Treo saves texts as conversation threads, so yes.

Have you ever been in a car accident?
Yes. (Thankfully without injury.)

Do you have an accent?
Depends on who you ask.


What is the last movie to make you cry?
Probably "Up."

Plans tonight?
You're looking at them . . . .

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
I've felt mighty low, but not rock bottom. You can even fall off the floor -- if there's a lower floor.

Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
A bowl of oatmeal, a cafe misto, and a Nook.

Have you ever been given roses?
Yes.

Met someone who changed your life?
My wife.

How will you bring in the New Year?
Steampunk party!

What song represents you?
"Wondering Where the Lions Are" by Bruce Cockburn. I've no idea why.

Name two people who might complete this?
Amy and Laurid. ('Cause they have!)

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
If I could get back again. And not wipe out humanity by stepping on a butterfly.

Have you ever dated someone longer than a year?
Yes.

Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
No. But I have a metal rod in my right ankle . . .

Does anyone love you?
Yes.

Would you be a pirate?
Only if I could be Captain Harlock.

What songs do you sing in the shower?
Rogers and Hammerstein.

Ever had someone sing to you?
Yes.

Do you like to cuddle?
With my wife.

Have you held hands with anyone today?
With my wife.

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Some goth-loli girls at PMX.

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
Yes.

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
Pulpy and chewy.

What is something your friends make fun of you for?
I prefer not to have my friends laugh at me. They should only laugh behind me.

Labels: Silly Facebook Quiz

Some photos of Amy's birthday party on Saturday (together with our party on her actual birthday, November 2); and photos of fun with some of our birthday guests the next day, at Pacific Media Expo.

Amy's 2009 Birthday

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5592&id=100000277390964&ref=share

This evening, I walked over to my local Barnes & Noble and pre-ordered a Nook. (And felt a bit like a Nook Shnook for doing so. The information booth guys just went onto the B&N Website to order the thing. I could have done that. From home.) Because I ordered today, they said, I'd go onto the waiting list and had a good chance of getting my Nook by, oh, about December 21. (Of this year, thankfully.)

I opted for the Nook, instead of the Kindle, primarily because the Nook purportedly handles pdf files better than the base-model Kindle (which costs the same as the Nook). I foresee using the device mainly for work. Nowadays, all federal district and appellate court documents are served in pdf form; and we scan a lot of the state court filings. I'd rather carry a wafer-thin electronic reader into court than a thick file or a box of 300-page appellate record volumes.

Of course, I'm buying the thing sight unseen, so I'll have to wait and see whether the Nook lives up to its hype; or whether it will just sit in its nook.

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_11_03.html#018000

Shel Dorf, the founder of the San Diego Comic-Con, has passed away. I met him on a few occasions, and always found him polite and affable.

A few days ago, prior to Dorf's death, my friend Phil Yeh posted an essay on the Shel Dorf tribute site discussing what Dorf meant to his career. http://www.sheldorftribute.com/2009/10/27/phil-yeh-godfather-of-the-graphic-novel-about-the-positive-difference-shel-has-made/


Another loss to comics history.

Labels: Shel Dorf

We were so busy celebrating her birthday yesterday that I didn't have time to post this until today!

Labels: Amy, birthday

Consider:

In Roy Lichtenstein's painting "Image Duplicator," he copied (in part) a Jack Kirby panel from the first issue of the X-Men comic, depicting a close-up of Magneto's eyes.



In the X-Men movies, Ian McKellen played Magneto.



And the billboard for the upcoming TV remake of "The Prisoner," currently situated at the corner of Pico and Sepulveda in West Los Angeles, features a close-up of -- Ian McKellen's eyes.



Who is the image duplicator?

Labels: Ian McKellen, Roy Lichtenstein, The Prisoner, X-Men

I went to a conference this past week in San Francisco that culminated with a mock jury trial exercise. A group of jurors (chosen based on the demographics of the place where the case at issue would have been tried) listened to abbreviated openings/closings, including video reenactments and other exhibits. Then we watched on closed-circuit TV while the jurors -- unaware of their audience -- deliberated and came to a verdict based on the statements.

I've watched such exercises before. It's always sobering to watch how jurors will focus on the facts and considerations important to them -- regardless of whether those facts were actually present in the evidence submitted to them.

On Wednesday, I took part in a tour of the Santa Ana appellate court's new courthouse, which opened in July. One of the most striking aspects of the new building is the artwork in the Lobby.

Justice Moore, our tour leader, was in charge of decorating the courthouse -- which she had to do with no budget, given California's money crunch. At first, a prominent local family was going to donate art. The problem with that plan, Justice Moore explained, was that people who donate art are usually rich; and rich people tend to appear in court a lot. She wanted to avoid any appearance of favoritism from plaques throughout the courthouse thanking the party to a lawsuit for its donation.

Her solution was to ask local middle school and high school students to create paintings based (primarily) on cases the court had decided, including some for which Justice Moore wrote the opinion. The results were stunning. The students found symbolism in the opinions, both their fact patterns and the principles for which they stood, that the justices themselves had never seen. The L.A. Times story at the link above shows some examples.

Back in the late eighties, when I lived in San Francisco, The Bangles were playing the Warfield, within walking distance (albeit a scary after-dark walking distance through the Tenderloin) from my apartment. But for various reasons, I didn't attend. I figured I'd have another chance in the future. Soon after that, the band broke up.

Twenty years later, I finally had my chance. Last night, Amy and I saw The Bangles, who shared a bill with a band I listened to throughout the seventies and eighties, Washington State's own Heart.

We tremendously enjoyed both bands. The Bangles look amazing when one considers they first hit the charts 25 years ago; and they sounded great (although they were a little rough on their opener, their cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter"). Their beautiful harmonies and crunchy-guitar-heavy melodic rock was as fun as it was when I was listening to it on cassettes in the eighties. One annoying event: Midway through, a guy behind us yelled, "Play 'Walk Like an Egyptian!'" Which is just plain rude, because (a) it implies every other song they were playing wasn't worth listening to and (b) obviously, they were going to play that song eventually -- as they did, at the end of their set.

Then came the Wilson sisters. The Bangles were great, but Heart is just in another league, both musically and in terms of show-person-ship. At an age where many rock vocalists are starting to lose their pipes, Anne Wilson can still deliver a full-souled chorus. Not only did they sing several of the band's hits, they also did two Led Zeppelin covers (included the throat-tearer "Immigrant Song") and The Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me" (another voice-devastating song).

Once in a while, I have to go to shows like this to remind me why I like rock music.

Labels: Heart, The Bangles, The Greek

George Tuska began drawing comics in the late 1930's; and even as he entered his '90's he was drawing commissions from fans. After Gene Colan left the IRON MAN feature in the late '60's, Tuska became the principal artist for about ten years. One of the issues he drew circa 1971 became one of the first Marvel comics I owned. Yet another human piece of comic book history disappears.

Today's L.A. Times included as an insert a trick-or-treat bag promoting the upcoming American CGI adaptation of Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atomu, or Mighty Atom). Also included was an ad for a hair gel; and instructions for creating an Astro Boy hairdo with the gel. Seems that would be far more suited to the '80's.

Labels: Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka

Last night we saw "Where the Wild Things Are." (As often happens when we see movies at The Bridge, there were some production people from the film in the audience. They applauded wildly when their names went by in the credits.) Several thoughts:

1. It is not the story from the book. It has the basic framework of the book. But the concept of the place where the wild things are is completely different. No longer is it id without complication. Now it is id with severe ego complication.

2. It is an extremely well done movie. I don't know if it's possible to watch it without cringing at some summoned memory from your own childhood. Or adulthood.

3. It feels to a great degree like a kid's movie from the seventies. The piano-heavy soundtrack, the naturalistic lighting, and the concentration on tracking shots of running probably contribute to that.

4. Adaptations need not be faithful to be good.

Robert Rodriguez’s Predator remake to star Adrien Brody and Topher Grace

Back in the mid-80's, a friend and I tried to get into a movie that was sold out, so instead we went to a different movie:  "Predator."  I went in knowing nothing about the film.  We came in perhaps 10 minutes after the movie started.  It turned out to be a bad war movie that turned into a pretty darn good monster movie. I didn't realize until years after watching "Predator" for the first time that one of the mercs who went into the jungle was played by Shane Black -- whom I had been in the UCLA Comedy Club with just a few years before.  (I probably should have realized it when he was shown in the closing credits reading a Sgt. Rock comic book -- with the words "Shane Black" next to him.)

 Now, Robert Rodriguez is remaking "Predator" with Adrien Brody in the Arnold Schwarzenegger role.  (???)  No word on whether he'll adopt a thick accent.  Or whether he -- like Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura, from the earlier movie -- will become a governor.  (And who will read the comic book this time?)

Maurice Sendak rewrote the rules with 'Wild Things' -- latimes.com


Watching the touchy-feeley trailers for "Where the Wild Tnings Are,"  I wondered if director Spike Jonze had actually read the book, which always seemed to me more anarchic and rambunctious than touching.  But according to this L.A. Times article, author Maurice Sendak is supporting Jonze's vision of the book.

So Starbucks has introduced the latest coffee innovation, the one the world has been waiting for with its collective breath bated: Instant coffee.

Oh, but it's Starbucks instant coffee, the company protests. It's better. It's indistinguishable from the coffee you get in a Starbucks store. And to prove it, they're putting on taste tests, where you get a couple ounces of their brewed stuff and a couple ounces of the Via instant coffee, and are challenged to tell the difference.

Since I'm in the Seattle area, the land of Starbucks, I decided to take the challenge. Make that the so-called challenge. Which one is the Via? The one that tastes like watery instant coffee. Sorry, Starbucks.

Labels: Starbucks, Via

This is the sort of coffee house people think of when they think of "coffee house" (at least, those that don't have pictures of mermaids all over the place). It's got two rooms filled with eclectic mismatched furniture. It's got an array of espresso, coffee, loose-leaf tea, and other beverages, as well as a menu filled with sandwiches and wraps. The back room has a stage, and Portfolio holds storytelling sessions (a storyteller was reading and singing to kids when we were there for breakfast today), poetry readings, open-mike nights, and musical performances. Whatever they're doing seems to be working; this morning, there was a long line at the counter and the place was packed. Plus, there's a bike rack out front shaped like a steaming mug of coffee.

Not only do they have free wi-fi, but they also have a cadre of computers in the front room for rent.

Downtown LB seems to have a lot of wi-fi watering holes, but this one is the most impressive one I've seen.

Labels: Wi-fi Watering Holes

Jack Kirby, the abandoned hero of Marvel's grand Hollywood adventure, and his family's quest [updated] | Hero Complex | Los Angeles Times

The L.A. Times's Hero Complex blog takes an interesting look at the working relationship of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at Marvel, and the present-day results.

Labels: Hero Complex, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Dad turns 80 today.

With the remake of FAME debuting in theaters (to tepid reviews), my mind slipped back to the 1980 movie and the not-too-shabby-but-often-silly 1982 TV series. The most memorable bit from the series was this gloriously cheesy Andrew Lloyd Webber style version of Othello.



Dig the feathered hair, and the pink thermal vest. Yes, I lived through the '80s. All of them.

Labels: Desdemona, Fame, Othello

For decades, the first glimpse of L.A. sleaze that visitors have gotten as they drove or rode out of LAX is the "Live Live Nude Nudes" sign in front of the Century Lounge on Century Boulevard. (If you saw the movie "City of Angels," Nicholas Cage's character sat on the bus bench in front of it.) But now the nude nudes will have to get dressed and leave. The lease ran out on the property; and the Lounge will be razed and turned into part of the Wallypark parking structure next door.

While the sign is tawdry, I've always thought Live Live Nude Nudes would be far preferable to Dead Dead Nude Nudes.

Labels: Century Boulevard, LAX

I went to the AMC 15 to watch the nationwide simulcast to theaters of the anime movie EUREKA SEVEN: GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT, YOUNG LOVERS. Alas, the video glitched about 10 minutes in; and after waiting a half-hour for them to fix it, I walked out and got a refund. Doesn't speak well for the future of simulcast video in movie theaters. Especially since it was a one-night-only event. Guess I'll have to wait for the DVD.

Labels: Eureka Seven, movie