Memorial Day

Here are a few Memorial Day related newspaper editorial cartoons (and a photo) which I recently received in a mailing list I belong to. This national holiday is about more than hot dogs on the grill.

In Bed with Christine Baranski Friday.

Here's Christine Baranski, in bed. Yes, it's a still from from the 2002 movie The Guru. She's reading a book.

So, what are my readers reading before they go to bed these days? On their Kindles or those big heavy compressed pulp book-content delivery devices?

I've started to re-read Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

A boy and his dog.

The January 1936 issue of "Popular Mechanics" magazine has this interesting photo which I entitle "A Boy and His Dog".

It is from an article called "Fighting Crime with Masks". From the title, it would have been a reasonable guess that it was about superheroes. But no, it was about how everyone would be wearing gas masks in the future.

This was really there era before superheroes. Before Superman and shortly after. Batman: the most famous mask-wearing superhero of all. But there were some masked heroes around prior to the arrival of the Last Son of Krypton in comic book pages, such as Zorro (himself a major forerunner of Batman) and the Sandman. The Sandman, seen to the left, actually wore a gas mask.

Sleestak Sandwich

Just a strange link this time:

http://www.grit.com/Feed-Me-Farms/Shutterbug-Fun-With-Double-Yolks.aspx

Hope you read this just before breakfast!

Vaderday Saturday - The Brothers Hildebrandt

Today's "Vaderday Saturday" is the main movie poster art for the first "Star Wars" movie from 1977.
This was probably not the first poster. It was by the Brothers Hildebrandt, most famous for their wonderful JRR Tolkien calendars of the early 1970s, and the artwork for The Sword of Shannara and Ushurak. This is one of my favorite movie posters ever. I love the blue radiance of the space details, which of course include the giant Vader head.

To the left is one of the brothers' best calendar images, Smaug the Dragon from The Hobbit. This is from the January 1977 Tolkien calendar. There are many other great calendar images, including these Orcs in the Battle of Minas Tirith, Cirith Ungol in Mordor, and the Wedding of Aragorn and Arwen.

The Brothers Hildebrandt still make art, but separately. One example is this retro girly pinup-style poster called "The Yellow Rose of Texas", by Greg Hildebrandt, seen to the left.

Christine Baranski Friday

Yes, it has been a while. And here she is as Beverly Hofstadter in "The Big Bang Theory", looking at brain scans with Sheldon.

I wonder if she is good at this?
And no, "Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock" was not invented for "Big Bang Theory", but by Samuel John Kass in the mid 1990s.

Gone since 1954

Found this issue of Popular Science from February, 1954. There were 7 automobile marques on the cover, and I figured to check to see which ones survived?

Nash became part of AMC, which was bought out by Chrysler and renamed to Eagle. Eagle fluttered its wings for a while and did not remain after 1998.

Buick is still going strong. They are actually rather popular in China. Though Buick's home town of Flint, Michigan hasn't fared so well at all.

Oldsmobile was old. It lasted a total of 106 years, and was finally phased out in 2004, perhaps as the start of the big GM collapse. In ways GE's Saturn was a replacement for Oldsmobile, but it didn't survive either. Remember your father's Oldsmobile? It's getting easier than remembering your own.

Have you driven a Ford lately? That was a good slogan. I'm not even sure what they have now, but it is forgettable. Anyway, there's a good chance you have driven a Ford lately as this automaker is still going strong.

Cadillac. Still around, but it seems like they've been playing catch-up with Lexus for ages now.

Packard has been gone since 1958, just four years after this magazine was published. The factory in Detroit still remains, one of that city's fabulous ruins. A postcard image is to the left.

Ah yes, Chevrolet. Or is it Chevy? There was an official memo recently on efforts to try to quash the "Chevy" name. They are still around and going strong, with an array of cars with confusing names. Cruze? Equinox? Traverse (pronounced traVERSE)? At least the name of the Volt names sense.

On the back of this issue is a photo of William Holden. I wonder if he walked too many miles for too many Camels and that did him in eventually. But no, it wasn't Joe Camel. He got drunk and bonked his head and died in 1981.

"Statuesday" - Statue of Tigerty ?

It's Statuesday...

I saw this Detroit Tigers Statue of Liberty last weekend at Tiger Stadium... er Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan.

Blogger is destroying post and comments

Seems Blogger is destroying days' worth of comments and blog posts now. I'd kind of like to put a new post in here, but I don't want to if they will obliterate it again. Has anyone else noticed this?

Michigan Hometown Heroes - Batman in Petoskey

The people in my irregalur Michigan Hometown Heroes feature are not necessarily heroes. But sometimes they are. Today it's Batman. Yes, the Caped Crusader made an appearance in northwest lower Michigan. Read on.

"This is one caped crusader in need of a serious workout.

In a bizarre bust, police in the small Michigan town of Petoskey found 31-year-old comic book enthusiast Mark Williams dangling from a roof top - dressed in full Batman costume.

'Batman' was hauled to safety and arrested for trespassing and carrying dangerous weapons, which included lead lined gloves, a baton and some kind of chemical irritant spray.

Read more.

Yes, this is my neck of the woods, sorry to say. And he's an embarassment to comic-book guys everywhere. What next, will Green Lantern try to sneak into the State Theatre without paying? Spider-man try to knock off a 7-11?

This is all the big news around town today. But the above story came from the London Daily Mail, so it is already famous. Just like that Darth Vader bandit we had downstate.

Addendum: The Breaking News headline in the Petoskey News Review describes his crimes: "Mark Wayne Williams faces one count of carrying a concealed weapon, for allegedly carrying Freeze Plus P, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison or a $2,500 fine; one count of carrying a concealed weapon, for allegedly carrying a folding steel baton or bludgeon, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison or a $2,500 fine; one count of carrying a concealed weapon, for allegedly carrying weighted Sap (sand filled) gloves, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison or a $2,500 fine; one count of dangerous weapon -- gas ejective device, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and, or a $2,500 fine; one count of dangerous weapon -- miscellaneous, for allegedly possessing a bludgeon, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and, or a $2,500 fine; one count of dangerous weapon -- miscellaneous, for allegedly possessing a sand bag, a felony offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and, or a $2,500 fine; and one count of disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor offense with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and, or a $500 fine."

And this guy was an amateur. Imagine what Commissioner Gordon could do to Batman if he chose to enforce Gotham City's concealed weapon laws.

And it turns out that before this, Williams was "The Crow'

bin Laden's dead

Bin Laden's dead. This is hardly news now is it?

Sorry, there are no pictures of bin Laden. I'm sure you've all seen way too many of those lately. But here's one of his cartoon cousin, Jafar of Disney's "Alladin".

Where were you when you found out about it? For me, it was the morning after (like most people). I first heard about it from a cable news channel while in Pittsburgh. I had only been in front of the White House two days before. It would have been interesting if this had happened two days before when I was in front of the White House.

On the political blogs, there's a big completely-partisan divide on whether or not George W. Bush as the former President is entirely responsible, or Barack H. Obama as the current President is entirely responsible. Whichever one is chosen depends on whether you are aligned with Republicans or Democrats.

True, the information leading to getting bin Laden was made possible by the Guantanamo Bay detention system set up by George W. Bush. Yes, Obama opposed "Gitmo". But when he got in office, he changed his mind. Guantanamo Bay has been Obama's policy for more than 2 years. If you are one of those who is going to give Bush all the credit, what about the Navy SEALS? They carried out this mission, and Presidents before Bush were responsible for the creation and nurturing of these effective military agents.

But Obama has been president for two years. "Gitmo" is one of his policies, as are the Navy SEALS. Add to this his new management style and new policies in the war on terror. As former President Truman might have said, the buck stops with President Obama, for getting the main Presidential credit.

Here is a pretty good column on the immediate aftermath of Bin Laden's death in Washington DC, by Eugene Robinson. It begins

"The flag-waving, horn-honking crowd that converged at the White House Sunday night was brimming with unrestrained joy, unmitigated patriotism and a sense of unlimited possibility — which meant Osama bin Laden had suffered not only death but defeat as well."