Mars Attacks Cards (or Topps of the Morning To Ye)

Topps Mars Attacks Cards here in all their glory. On the back of each card was a little nugget of story re. the front image as well an update on a Martian invasion of Earth. (In the one to your left, the Martian has a seedy attraction to women's sleep wear.)

I had high hopes for the Tim Burton film version but it turned into campy schtick. I loved these back in the day. You could buy a pack of five and they came with a flat, thin piece of bubble gum. We really did try to collect them all.

Image: Golden Age Comic Book Stories
h/t: Cartoonatics

Get Yer Turtle-Duck On

If you live in and around the LA area, animation ace Rich Arons is signing copies of his kids' book this Sunday. You've still got till tomorrow to RSVP. Go, get a signed copy or three for Christmas. Say 'hi' to Rich. Ask him to draw you something—but buy a book first.

Image: Hound Comics

Indo-Jew Bowl Results

Jewish and folks from the sub-continent square off every year in the Indo-Jew Bowl. It's played in my old hometown of Skokie, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago best known for opposing a march by Nazis who never made it off the Expressway. Observe this past contest.


h/t IllinoisNinth via Big Peace

Note: The Jews won decisively this year 19 to 6.

Happy Chowing

Here's my T-Day six years ago, shortly after this blog opened for business.

So Long, Anne McCaffrey

Many years ago I was just starting out in improv comedy and worked a night job as a dispatcher for a security guard company. An improv chum lent me her collection of McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series. As mice skittered around a dirty office in downtown Los Angeles, I'd be transported to this exotic realm where everyone got around by riding a dragon. I wished I had a small dragon. I would let it roam free and eat the mice.

With her books slated for production in 2012, Anne McCaffrey passed away today at age 85.

I thank her for her dragons.

Image: Comic Related

Arthur Christmas: 'Wages of Fear' Remake Misses Mark

(My latest review is up at Forces of Geek. If time permits, please stop by and comment. In any case, a most Happy Thanksgiving!)

Set at the North Pole, Arthur Christmas is a digital 3-D holiday adventure delving into themes of futility, alienation and madness. This grim 97-minute character exploration revolves around the bumbling, failed son of Santa Claus.

In a desperate grab for attention, he takes a sleigh ride with an ex-Santa grandfather who remains trapped in a past of eggnog, candy canes and the feral scent of sweaty reindeer.

Read more at Forces of Geek.

Image: Live For Films

One of My Two Favorite Weeks

I love the rump week of Thanksgiving. When I worked in-house, the routine was usually: drink coffee all morning, shoot the breeze, take long lunches, then leave early on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we'd have a half-day.

My other fav is the week between Christmas and New Years. At Warner Bros. Jean MacCurdy usually gave us the time off with pay.

I notice that my two happiest weeks involved jobs with ritualized social routines but little actual labor.

That could explain much.

Annoying Orange Takes to the Air

Tom Shepphard will help breath life into You Tube hit Annoying Orange as it migrates to Cartoon Network.

h/t: Forces of Geek; Image: Blippitt

Munchkin Down

Then there were three as one of the last surviving Munchkins hung up his curled shoes at age 93.

h/t: moviefone

Overthought Reviews

Forces of Geek presents my weighty cinematic insights.

Outwardly a tale of large-breasted women massacred by prehistoric fish, Piranha 3DD floats atop a deeper message of environmental stewardship similar to that of Blue Planet: Seas of Life. While the French might dismiss ‘Piranha’ as “an affair of fish,” it is ever so much more subtle, nimbly darting between text and subtext like a ballerina sprinting across a freeway.

Read more here.

Voice Actors on the Move

Craig Cumpton celebrated his 12th anniversary online by cyber-trekking over to toon zone. View his new website and design and learn more about whaz'sup with voice actors.

Image: Shutterstock.com

First Review A'Coming on Forces of Geek

My first review at Forces of Geek will go live on Friday, I believe. Will it be Werner Herzog's new film or Immortal or something even better? Make me look good and go find out.

Image: How to Do Things.com

Hear For Yourself

Composers Steve and Julie Bernstein have added numerous music files to their website. In fact, it's music THEY HAVE COMPOSED!! Listen, enjoy, and eat some pears and chili. (The last part is optional.)

Troll Hunter Rawks!

Thanks to Paul Rugg for alerting me to 2010's The Troll Hunter. This Nordic Blair Witch threads together tense spooky scenes of young filmmakers trailing an odd mysterious man through the Norwegian back country with absolutely hilarious deadpan moments. It's a tough sell but the filmmakers stay balanced between comedy and suspense throughout and avoid the bad-good label of movies like Troll—let alone Troll 2. On Netflix. I will only say that Paul and I watched it together and laughed at certain scenes in giddy delight.

Happy Birthday USMC!

236 years of shooting people and breaking stuff on behalf of the United States of America. In 1950 10,000 men of the First Marine Division were surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. Below is a trailer for a 2010 documentary detailing the Marines' fight to break free. An amazing tribute to amazing men.

Dragonfriend Fantasy Kid's Book Hits the Web

In Arthurian times, castle drudge Leonard needs a steady meal while depressed dragon Mantooth needs a reason to live. Can they help each other? Find out in Roger Eschbacher's latest book: Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book One. Released today, the book is available in paperback and Kindle.

Roger is an old chum from the Warner Bros. days. He's got a brace of illustrated kid books under his belt as he slowly carves out a niche in the prose field. Give his most recent work a peek.

I Will Review at Forces of Geek

F.O.G editor-in-chief Stefan Blitz has kindly provided Write Enough a forum where I may post my inaccurate over-thought film reviews. I'll try and capture the same insight I demonstrated in last year's cinematic examinations of The Expendables and The Last Exorcism.

I'll sing out when the first post is up—should be within a week of two.

'Let's Kill Uncle' and Other Fine Films

Imagine a filmmaker roaming the Great Plains, filming in small towns and cities across Nebraska and Kansas; filming with little thought to continuity or quality; but casting locals as actors in a melodrama shot, written and directed by the same man who demands room and board for a month while he completes his latest opus.

There you have the life of Argentinian 'Ed Wood' Daniel Burmeister, a one-man, movie-makin' machine who shows little signs of slowing down. Read more here.

h/t: WSJ; Image: PoeForward.com

Carmine San Diego?

Carmen San Diego may be headed once again to the big screen with the title character played by Jennifer Lopez. Maybe it's my hearing, but I always thought the character was named Carmine San Diego and was being pursued for the murder of a bookie.

h/t and artwork: The Inquistir