Tuba Christmas Explained

According to regular poster—and crack euphonium player—Luke:

"Tuba Christmas is a city -wide gathering of euphonium and tuba players. Players gather in the morning and practice familiar Christmas songs, which are then performed in a public pla ce such as a local mall, or public park. The best part is, Tuba Christmas travels all over the country, allowing tuba player AND euphonium players from across the United States a chance to show off their chops. Players are encouraged to wear their best Christmas sweater, and decorate their instrument in a festive manner."

A list of cities featuring Tuba Christmas may be found here:

tubachristmas.com/

Luke closed by adding that the sound is "powerful, dark, and, majestic."

Behold Tuba Christmas!


h/t: the baltimorehorn

"Fresh Ideas" Bound for Spring Reprint

A dark tale of a man who gives fate a tiny assist in order to advance in business, my short story, "Fresh Ideas," will be included in the Spring 2012 anthology Uncle John's Flush Fiction.

The Uncle John's publishing empire was founded on the belief that short, interesting and funny articles should be made available to the general public for their toilet-sitting education and amusement.

"Flush Fiction" will be a collection of flash fiction — under a thousand words or about three double-spaced pages — and I'm honored to have made the cut.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy "Fresh Ideas" very soon as mirth is said to ease tortured bowels. Or, at least, it's said by guys with stories coming out in bathroom-themed anthologies.

Image: flickr

The Artist Review Up at F.O.G.

At Forces of Geek, my insightful report on contemporary silent film, The Artist.

I almost threw up my Brie and Triscuits.

How in the world can you release a film and forget the dialogue track?

I know it’s incredible when you think of how many people must sign off on a major motion picture. And yet there were the actors speaking on screen but no voices emerged.

More here.

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