Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Nov 29: Big Nate: The Musical in Bethesda
Hilary Price on visiting Richard Thompson
Visiting the Inner Sanctum of Richard Thompson (The Cartoonist, Not The Singer)
by Hilary Price
October 29, 2014
Howard U prof Marc Singer reviews Pax Americana
Pax Americana
Marc Singer
I Am NOT The Beastmaster blog November 24, 2014
http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2014/11/pax-americana.html
A Thanksgiving for Richard Thompson, OR, Someday the true story will be told...
'THE ART OF RICHARD THOMPSON': How a team of friends brought strengths, passion to 'a long-overdue tribute'
By Michael CavnaWashington Post Comic Riffs blog (November 26, 2014): http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/26/the-art-of-richard-thompson-how-a-team-of-friends-brought-strengths-to-a-long-overdue-tribute/
The Post reviews The Penguins of Madagascar cartoon
Quirky quartet draws plenty of laughs [online as 'Penguins of Madagascar' movie review: Delightfully silly star turn for the quartet]
By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post November 26 2014
Quirky quartet draws plenty of laughs [online as ‘Penguins of Madagascar’ movie review: Delightfully silly star turn for the quartet]
Quirky quartet draws plenty of laughs [online as 'Penguins of Madagascar' movie review: Delightfully silly star turn for the quartet]
Washington Post November 26 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/penguins-of-madagascar-movie-review-delightfully-silly-star-turn-for-the-quartet/2014/11/25/97dc2fe4-73ff-11e4-9c9f-a37e29e80cd5_story.html
The career trajectory of the four wisecracking cartoon penguins introduced as minor characters in "Madagascar" has been one of meteoric ascendancy, with return appearances in two sequels, a couple of stand-alone shorts and a television show. It's not an unusual path in animated Hollywood. We've seen it before with Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from "Ice Age," who parlayed a cameo in the first film into a cottage industry of increasingly annoying shorts and a camera-hogging turn in the second sequel, "Dawn of the Dinosaurs."
But unlike that acorn-obsessed, chipmunk-cheeked, paleo-rodent ham, the Flightless Four known as Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are ready for their moment in the sun. "Penguins of Madagascar" is a delightfully silly star turn for this quartet of absurd little birds, who operate as a team of commandos.
There are several reasons why this works.
First is the voice talent. Although none of them is a marquee name, the actors who bring the penguins to life — Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon and Christopher Knights — do so with verve. (Special credit goes to Vernon, who voices the almost nonverbal, but nevertheless vocally expressive Rico, who is often shown coughing up indigestible objects that he has swallowed.)
Other notably funny turns in "Penguins" include John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch. Playing to type, the A-list actors provide the voices for, respectively, a villainous, emotionally unstable octopus named Dave and a heroic, cucumber-cool secret agent gray wolf whose name is classified. (That's right: The character's name is never given — "My name is classified" he tells us, in Cumberbatch's mellifluous British baritone — leading to some giddy "Who's on first?" confusion.)
Which brings me to the real reason for the movie's success: the writing of the story, which concerns Dave's plot to kidnap penguins from all of the world's zoos and turn them into monsters.
Fleshing out characters created by "Madagascar" directors and writers Eric Darnell and McGrath (whose voice propels Skipper's MacGyver-like can-do spirit), the screenplay by John Aboud, Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer has a fizzy, pop-culture pizazz, tempered by a distinctly vaudeville sensibility. It's smart, but not brainy; dumb, but never inane.
Colton, who was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon in college, worked briefly at The Washington Post in the late 1990s before leaving to form the now-defunct online magazine Modern Humorist with Aboud. Their work with Sawyer, a children's TV writer whose credits include the "Penguins" series on Nickelodeon, is perfectly aimed at the target demographic of silly but savvy 10-year-olds. One recurring joke involves Dave barking orders to his tentacled henchmen, leading to a series of increasingly nutty puns name-checking famous movie stars: "Nicolas, cage them!" "Charlize, there on the death ray!" "Drew, barry, more!"
It's gloriously juvenile, but also very, very funny.
Other ingredients in this self-referential pop-culture puree include a cameo by the German director Werner Herzog, voicing the filmmaker-narrator of the penguin documentary that opens the film in Antarctica, where its prologue is set. Observing that our four heroes are "frozen with fear" on an icy precipice, Herzog orders his sound man to "give them a shove," in order to increase the drama.
And increase it he does. One of those early scenes features a leopard seal eating a seagull. It's an indication of the dark edge that will give the story its slightly grown-up astringency. "Penguins of Madagascar" is by no means inappropriate for kids, but there's a coolly self-aware smirk to it that makes it palatable to people with driver's licenses, too.
And, oh yes, the 3-D animation is a treat.
But the real charm of the film is its stars. As Skipper says, "A good plan is about more than effecty stuff and big words." That's equally true of a good movie.
Catching up with Zoey and The Roarbots
I'm sure her dad, Jamie Greene, wrote some of these...
5 Questions with G. Willow Wilson
November 3, 2014http://theroarbots.com/2014/11/03/5-questions-g-willow-wilson/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42kHqy_GcWw
5 Questions with Kevin Conroy
November 25, 2014http://theroarbots.com/2014/11/25/5-questions-kevin-conroy/#more-1936
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozfneR-43YA
5 Questions with Peter Beagle
November 11, 2014
http://theroarbots.com/2014/11/11/5-questions-peter-beagle/#more-1879
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llkSGGX5jcE
Avengers STATION
http://theroarbots.com/2014/11/12/avengers-station/#more-1889Disney's The Little Mermaid
http://theroarbots.com/2014/11/25/disneys-little-mermaid/#more-1930Rodriguez on NHPR's 'Word of Mouth'
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "The Only Good Protester..." [editorial cartoon]
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=1605
So, the Ferguson grand jury let that murdering pig walk. Disgusting, but not surprising.
Now the people's rage is spilling into the streets, and the corporate media -- and their Liberal flunkies -- are trying to divide the people's movements against each other with that tired old bullshit about "good protesters" and "bad protesters" -- with "bad protesters", in this case, being anyone who actually does something to disrupt the status quo to bring about real change instead of just standing around with a sign singing "We Shall Overcome".
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike's Political Cartoons: dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org
Monday, November 24, 2014
The Art of Richard Thompson press release
Explore the creative and compelling work of beloved artist and Cul de Sac creator Richard Thompson in the collectible The Art of Richard Thompson
(Andrews McMeel Publishing, $35.00, November 25, 2014). Divided into six sections, each beginning with an introductory conversation with Thompson and
world-renowned cartoonists including Bill Watterson, Gene Weingarten, and Nick Galifianakis, the book showcases Thompson's exquisite illustrations, caricatures,
watercolor designs, and more, providing an intimate portrait of the depth of talent of this esteemed artist. The diversity of the work showcased in The Art
of Richard Thompson will delight established Cul de Sac fans and cast a wider net far beyond, with readers captivated by the sheer beauty of Thompson's work.
Renowned among cartoonists as an "artist's" cartoonist, Thompson is noted not only for his humor and intelligence, but also for his fun, imaginative artwork.
Thompson's illustrations, along with his pitch-perfect timing and gentle humor, have helped to establish many of Thompson's works as instant classics that
continue to inspire as well as entertain. Produced on fine artpaper to showcase Thompson's unique art, The Art of Richard Thompson will be a welcome addition to libraries and collections everywhere.
About Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson is the creator of Cul de Sac and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. His illustrations have appeared
in numerous publications, including U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic, and The New Yorker. In September 2012, Cul de Sac was one of the
most popular and respected comic strips in newspapers when Thompson retired, due to his battle with Parkinson's disease. Since Thompson's announcement of his diagnosis, his friends have successfully rallied other cartoonists and illustrators to contribute to the Team Cul de Sac project to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
The Art of Richard Thompson by David Apatoff, Nick Galifianakis, Mike Rhode, Chris Sparks and Bill Watterson
Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-4494-4795-3
Price: $35.00 U.S. ($40.00 Canada) • Hardcover: 9 x 11 ⅛, 224 pages
Comic Riffs talks to New Yorker's McCall about his Redskin cover
BENEATH THE COVERS: The real story behind The New Yorker's Thanksgiving/Redskins cover ['So arrogant and clueless' a mascot 'that it lends itself to some kind of exposure']
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog November 24 2014
Another Frozen story, this one starting at George Mason University
How Disney Turned 'Frozen' Into a Cash Cow
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
New York Times Magazine
A version of this article appears in print on November 23, 2014, on page MM18 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Cold, Hard Cash.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/magazine/how-disney-turned-frozen-into-a-cash-cow.html
Comics Riffs on Mutts and 2014's superhero stories
MUTTS ADO ABOUT 'NOTHING': Patrick McDonnell gives the gift of warmth in wonderful 'Mutts' musical's Kennedy Center world premiere
By Michael CavnaWashington Post Comic Riffs blog November 22 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/22/mutts-ado-about-nothing-patrick-mcdonnell-gives-the-gift-of-warmth-in-wonderful-mutts-musicals-kennedy-center-world-premiere/
BEST OF 2014: Comic Riffs' Top 10 graphic novels and superhero comics
By Michael Cavna and David BetancourtWashington Post Comic Riffs blog November 22 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2014/11/22/best-of-2014-comic-riffs-top-10-graphic-novels-and-superhero-comics/
The Post on Frozen spinoffs - 3 stories in 3 days
Disney's global success with 'Frozen' took lots of translation, investment
By Cecilia KangWashington Post November 20 2014
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/11/20/disneys-global-success-with-frozen-took-lots-of-translation-investment/
'Frozen' might be everything that's wrong with the U.S. economy
By Jim Tankersley Washington Post November 21 2014http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/11/21/frozen-might-be-everything-thats-wrong-with-the-u-s-economy/
Hour of Code to feature 'Frozen' characters
By Lyndsey LaytonWashington Post November 19 (in print November 24)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/11/19/hour-of-code-to-feature-frozen-characters/