w h o a r . c o . n z

“… As the evil Mr Burns would say: Excellent …

The creators of The Simpsons have finally revealed what Wellington duo Flight of the Conchords will look like when they guest star in the long-running show in the United States this month.

The cartoon of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, signed by Simpson’s creator Matt Groening, is a Simpsons-style makeover that includes yellow skin and one fewer finger on each hand.

The pair guest star in the first episode of the new season, Elementary School Musical, to be broadcast in the US on September 26.

In it, Lisa enrols at a special band camp where she runs into talented singers, including Lea Michele, Corey Monteith, and Amber Riley from television show Glee.

Flight of the Conchords play two free-spirited, artsy camp counsellors.

A TV3 spokeswoman said the episode would probably air in New Zealand next year…”

go to source/story>>>Bret and Jemaine’s guest turn | Stuff.co.nz

“…What happens when a bland, grey society discovers a plant - a flower in this case -

- that turns their life into a perfect Utopian society …

… where the populace is happy, productive and energetic?

Why, the government steps in and bans it, of course.

Then it’s replaced with its legal alternative - alcohol - and the effects of that are widely known.

A strong political statement … The Flower is animated with a quirky and cartoony edge accompanied by a stirring soundtrack.

If you don’t feel a bit of strange emotion by the end of this video ….

…. then you are probably too thick-skulled to figure out what it’s about.

Enjoy…”

go to source/story>>>The Flower - Technorati Videos

“…It has been 80 years since the first colour cartoon hit our screens.

The Independent Online takes a look at how something made for children’s entertainment has expanded into a worldwide genre accessible to all ages…”

go to source/story>>>From Mister Bug to Buzz Lightyear: 80 years of colour cartoons - Features, Films - The Independent

“…f you’re like us, you can’t wait for the next season of “South Park” to air.

So, to hold you over until the new episodes begin …

… here’s a little “South Park” trivia in one convenient info-graphic!…”

go to source/story>>>16 Facts You Didn’t Know About ‘South Park’ (PHOTO)

“..What happens to a man who compulsively collects comics, books, records and CDs?

He becomes very good at building shelves…

Comedian Stewart Lee on the challenges and hazards of extreme storage.

What are days for?” asks the curmudgeonly poet Philip Larkin in his poem Days, questioning the very point of living.

He is unable to offer any real comfort, concluding: “Ah, solving that question/brings the priest and the doctor/in their long coats/running over the fields.”

For Larkin the idea of days … and what to do with them … represents the problem of existence boiled down to its barest essentials.

I have a similar relationship with shelves.

I love shelves, and if only I could work out exactly which of the many books, comics, records and compact discs that I own I should fill them with …

… and how many shelves I require to do this … I have always imagined my life would be complete….

….But even as the shelves approach their final configuration, it seems the same doubts and fears about life and its purpose linger on …

… as if the answer to everything did not lie in the construction of shelving systems after all.

I wonder where this profound faith in shelving began.

When I was about five years old … I bought a copy of an American comic book called Captain Marvel off the lower rung of a revolving rack of True Detective…

… soft porn and pulpy thriller magazines … in a newsagent on the A34 just outside Birmingham.

I was snagged.

Not only did the tale of Captain Marvel … virtually crucified by aliens on a shiny chrome cyber-cross … blow my toddling mind …

… it also appeared to be part of a much wider cosmology … the Marvel universe …

… where thousands of colourfully clad characters wended in and out of the plots of each other’s interlinked monthly comics …

… creating a vast, multilayered, epic storyline … which I now ached to understand.

But it was 1973.

Spider-Man was not the all-conquering global brand he is today.

American comic books, regarded mainly as valueless filth … weren’t regularly distributed.

They made their way, usually to seaside towns and motorway service stations …

… as ballast in ships … or bundles of worthlessly discounted rubbish…”

go to source/story>>>Stewart Lee: my life on the shelf | Culture | The Observer

“… How everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.

This fall Californians will go the polls with a chance to make history.

They will be able to cast a vote to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol or cigarettes.

California’s Proposition 19 is one of many similar initiatives cropping up on state ballots across the country.

Whether it’s calls for decriminalization or medical marijuana … the end of cannabis prohibition has never seemed closer.

In this short animated parable, “The Flower,” award winning artist Haik Hoisington contrasts a legal marijuana economy with an illegal one …

… to show how everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.

“The Flower” contrasts a utopian society that freely farms and consumes a pleasure giving flower …

… with a society where the same flower is illegal … and its consumption is prohibited.

The animation is a meditation on the social and economic costs of marijuana prohibition…”

go to source/story>>>Watch: What a Legal Pot Economy Would Look Like | | AlterNet

“….This year’s San Diego Comic-Con, the yearly gathering of comic book and pop culture aficionados, is ending today …

… and boy do we wish we could have gone.

We’ve been checking out photos from the convention all weekend, and from the looks of it there was much fun to be had (and gratuitous “Star Wars” references to be seen).

Comic book lovers go for the panels, seminars, and booths with inside information on the year’s best nerd-approved culture …

… but we’d head to SD just for the awesome displays of fan dedication alone.

Check out some of the best photos from the first two days, and decide for yourself if it looks like a good time.

In our opinion, we could never get enough fat Batman sightings…”

go to source/story>>>Comic-Con 2010 In Photos: Wish We Were There

“…Super and the Crimson Bolt … nuggets of facts from Guillermo del Toro …

… and comic treats from Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and Eva Mendes …

… all at the second day of Comic-Con…”

go to source/story>>>Comic-Con 2010: Kick-ass superhero flicks and those that don’t | Books | guardian.co.uk

“…He may no longer be writing an opera with Gorillaz …

… but for his next trick, the magician, psychedelic adventurer and occasional comics creator has a different musical project up his sleeve…”

go to source/story>>>Unearthing the truth about Watchmen genius Alan Moore | Music | The Guardian

“…One of the largest pop-culture conventions in the world … Comic-Con …

… runs in San Diego from 22 to 25 July.

Fans of comics, SF and fantasy gather from all over the world to celebrate the best of forward-looking popular culture.

Here we gather together the best images from Comic-Con 2010…”

go to source/story>>>Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego, California | Books | guardian.co.uk

“…Each of Pixar’s blockbusters has come with a short film.

Day & Night, which accompanies Toy Story 3, is the most extraordinary yet, says Guy Adams.

The scene in cinemas where Toy Story 3 opens later this month will be familiar to everyone who has ventured out to watch a Pixar film during the 16 years they’ve been in existence.

First, lights will fall.

Then, trailers will be screened, along with that awful advert telling punters to shut up and switch off their phones.

Finally, after a brief silence and the odd “ssh!” projectors will whirr for the main event.

At which point, in corners of every Toy Story auditorium, you’ll hear a murmur of confusion: …

… the film being shown will very much not be the latest blockbusting adventures of Buzz Lightyear and friends.

Instead, viewers will spend the next six minutes watching a bizarre-looking yarn, part hand-drawn cartoon, part cheery CG animation, set to music.

It is called Day & Night, and it is this year’s Pixar short.

The short – a film lasting roughly five minutes, screened immediately before a feature – is part of a tradition stretching back to the early days of Hollywood (vintage Disney films always had them) … which fell into abeyance some time in the late 1970s …

… but in recent years has experienced a revival at the hands of Pixar: …

… the studio has made them for every movie it has ever released, with the exception of 1994’s Toy Story…”

go to source/story>>>Pixar: Small wonders - Features, Films - The Independent

“…”Right back when comics began over a hundred years ago, the envisaged readers were adults rather than children,” said Ian Williams, a GP and comic book artist who helped organise the conference.

“Then somewhere along the line they’ve been kind of hijacked by people writing for teens and adolescents or children … and that has stuck.”

He said comics have had to battle for years against unfortunate stereotypes.

“But there was a watershed in the 1980s when serious, long, graphic novels started being produced … which have had great critical acclaim.

And over the last 10 years graphic novels have been reviewed in broadsheet newspapers and academic journals.

Now there’s a huge cohort of comics scholars who are looking at all forms of graphic narrative.”

At Penn State University Medical School, Michael Green teaches medical students how to make and appreciate comics.

“I think comics are relevant to medicine in a number of ways,” he said.

They can help students learn about the doctor-patient relationship, how to communicate bad news, informed consent, empathy …

… and the experience of illness from a patient’s perspective.

“There’s a growing number of adult-themed graphic stories … which address medically relevant themes”…”

go to source/story>>>Comics put patients in the picture | Science | guardian.co.uk

“…Harvey Pekar, who has died aged 70, was the writer of American Splendor, an autobiographical comic in which he wrote about the everyday, often mundane, aspects of his life.

Pekar experimented with the narrative form and used a shifting roster of artists on his comics …

… but it was the sheer ordinariness of the stories that slowly earned him a strong following … critical acclaim …

… and comparisons with Chekhov and Dostoevsky.

Set in the rundown neighbourhoods of Cleveland, Ohio, American Splendor’s world was revealed without exaggeration or self-aggrandisement.

Pekar, opinionated and curmudgeonly, was often the most frustrating and aggravating character to appear in his books.

The writer became a regular guest on the talkshow Late Night With David Letterman …

… but his confrontational style led to him being banned from it…”

go to source/story>>>Harvey Pekar obituary | Books | The Guardian

“…Graphic novelist abandons the superhero genre …

.. saying that today’s comic-book characters are more bullies than representatives of ‘a wellspring of the imagination’

With Watchmen’s Dr Manhattan, Rorschach and friends, Alan Moore created superheroes who defined an era, but the comic book legend has said that he is now over the superhero genre.

Speaking to London music newspaper the Stool Pigeon, Moore said that although he was “interested in the superhero in real life” …

… pointing to the “interesting number” of protestors these days who dress as V … the mask-wearing protagonist of his graphic novel V for Vendetta …

… he is no longer attracted to the comic-book version.

“I’ve had some distancing thoughts about them recently.

I’ve come to the conclusion that what superheroes might be – in their current incarnation, at least – is a symbol of American reluctance to involve themselves in any kind of conflict without massive tactical superiority,” Moore said.

“I think this is the same whether you have the advantage of carpet bombing from altitude or if you come from the planet Krypton as a baby and have increased powers in Earth’s lower gravity.”

The graphic novelist said that, when he was a child, superheroes represented “a wellspring of the imagination”.

“Superman had a dog in a cape!

He had a city in a bottle!

It was wonderful stuff for a seven-year-old boy to think about,” Moore explained.

“But I suspect that a lot of superheroes now are basically about the unfair fight.

You know: people wouldn’t bully me … if I could turn into the Hulk.”..”

go to source/story>>>No more heroes for Watchmen’s Alan Moore | Alison Flood | Books | guardian.co.uk

“…Xan Brooks talks to Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington about The Ricky Gervais show …

… an animated series based on the trio’s massively popular podcasts …

… which launched on guardian.co.uk and is released on DVD on 19th July…”

go to source/story>>>Video: The Ricky Gervais show: ‘Here we go again, flogging something’ | Culture | guardian.co.uk

“… Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical comic book series “American Splendor” portrayed his life with bone-dry honesty and wit, has died at the age of 70.

Officers were called to Pekar’s suburban home by his wife about 1am (local time), Cleveland Heights police Captain Michael Cannon said.

Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression, according to Cannon.

Pekar had gone to bed about 4.30pm Sunday in good spirits, his wife told police.

An autopsy was planned, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office in Cleveland.

He had no information on the cause of death.

Pekar took a radically different track from the superhero-laden comics that had dominated the industry.

He instead specialised in the lives of ordinary people, chronicling his life as a file clerk in Cleveland and his relationship with his third wife, Joyce Brabner.

His 1994 graphic novel, “Our Cancer Year,” detailed his battle with lymphoma.

The dreary cover scene shows him sprawled beside his wife on a snowy curbside with shopping bags on the ground.

“Harvey, forget about the groceries, honey. Let’s get you inside first,” she says.

Pekar never drew himself but depended on collaborations with artists, most notably his friend R. Crumb, who helped illustrate the first issue of the ironically titled “American Splendor,” published in 1976.

It was made into an acclaimed 2003 film starring Paul Giamatti.

The most recent “American Splendor” was released in 2008.

Pekar’s quirky commentary developed a following … and his insights and humor were often a bit on the dark side…”

go to source/story>>>American Splendor author Harvey Pekar dies | Stuff.co.nz

“…Pixar and other studios at the forefront of digital animation and effects are dealing with something very comparable to the problems solved by artists in 15th-century Italy.

In the current exhibition of Italian Renaissance drawings at the British Museum you can see a drawing of a goblet by Paolo Uccello to which the natural reaction is “it looks just like a computer graphic”.

The reason it looks so digital is that artists such as Uccello were trying to turn their minds into computers….

They did not just strive to paint “what they saw”;…..

… they wanted to create a completely convincing three-dimensional simulacrum of it …

… by plotting the contours of a virtually real space into their pictures.

If you watch the “making of” features on your DVD of the original Toy Story you will be told the story of a modern Renaissance.

The Pixar team did not accidentally hit on a new way to make toys apparently come to life on screen.

After seeing earlier attempts at digital animation they actively theorised that it was possible to perfect this technology …

… and to use it to create “real” animated worlds of an intricacy and vitality that would amaze and move audiences in a completely new way.

Toy Story and its successors are colossal artistic achievements.

There is, perhaps, nothing happening in “fine art” today to match what the whizzkids who created them have imagined.

Just as the great Disney films of the 1930s and 40s stand equal to the best of modern American painting …

… so does Toy Story tower among the aesthetic inventions of our time…”

go to source/story>>>Where are today’s Leonardos? Toy Story | Jonathan Jones | Art and design | guardian.co.uk

“…Toy Story 3 is easily the best film of 2010.

Toy Story 3 is possibly the finest ‘part 3′ ever made, give or take a The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.

It is thrilling, funny, and scary, alternating between bouts of inspiration and heartbreak.

Whether it is or isn’t the best Pixar picture yet is a moot point.

It fits in their canon as another glorious mediation on their core themes (existing in safety vs. living with risk, letting go of that which is lost and cannot be recovered, the inevitability of time, the nature of ‘home’).

If the first two pictures took Woody and Buzz to ‘infinity and beyond’, this one takes them to hell and back.

It absolutely must be seen in 3D if possible, if only because the glasses will be useful in hiding the stream of tears during the first and last reels.

A token amount of plot - Eleven years have passed since Toy Story 2, and Andy is just about ready to leave for college.

The last several years have been difficult ones for Andy’s toy collection, as they have grown accustomed to being played with less and less …

… as Andy has grown from a child to a young adult.

After a cleaning mix-up nearly sends our beloved playthings into a garbage truck, Buzz, Jessie, Ham and the gang take refuge in a box intended for donation to a local daycare.

Woody however refuses to believe that his beloved owner intentionally abandoned him … and quickly attempts to make his way back to Andy’s house.

The others take comfort in their apparently joyful new digs, a colorful and exciting world filled with new toy friends …

… and an unending parade of children who will play with them constantly.

But when the dark underside of the daycare center is uncovered … will the toys choose to remain there …

… or live forever in Andy’s attic … in the hopes that Andy’s children may one day play with them again?

It goes without saying that the film deals with some harsh truths about life …

… especially what happens when we grow up … and our children grow up before our eyes.

When we are no longer constantly needed by the ones we’ve loved … where will we go for happiness and fulfillment?

After the fantastically exciting and funny action sequence that opens the picture (I could have watched a whole action thriller set inside Andy’s imagination), director Lee Unkrich wastes no time laying out the grim picture.

Andy is all grown up, many of the toys have been lost to donations or yard sales … and the core group that remains faces a most uncertain future.

The film picks up and lightens up quite a bit once they get to the Sunnyside Daycare and the emotional drama takes a backseat to caper hijinks.

Still, amidst it all, these toys are basically exiles searching for a new home.

The fear and resentment that goes with that is always under the surface (every facial expression from Jessie is a reminder that she’s been through this before).

Emotional turmoil aside, the film is still filled with rich comedy … and delightful new characters…”

go to source/story>>>Scott Mendelson: HuffPost Review: Toy Story 3: An IMAX 3D Experience (2010)

“…If Homer Simpson is an overweight, meat-gorging, beer-swilling, couch-dwelling slave to his impulses …

.. then Dan Castellaneta, the man who plays him on TV … is his bizarro twin.

The 52-year-old voice of the baffoonish cartoon character —

– who this week was named Entertainment Weekly’s greatest film or TV character created over the past two decades —

– is a vegetarian teetotaler who exercises every day … and practices Tai Chi…”

go to source/story>>>Homer Simpson’s Voice Actor is a Vegetarian Teetotaler - Vegsource.com

“…In this animated comedy by “South Park” writer Pam Brady, demons discover that life on Earth is hell..

As young adults, we try to distinguish ourselves from the conformist herd.

As old adults, we try to squelch our uniqueness just enough to keep our jobs …

… and prevent our children from being ostracized by their peers … for mumbling Kraftwerk lyrics to themselves at lunchtime.

But the irony of concealing that “carpe diem” tattoo on your ankle at the church picnic …

… or turning down that growly Slint album in the elementary school parking lot …

… is that such quirks of taste can’t even touch the bizarre rituals and behaviors that pass for normal in mainstream America.

From the aggressive displays of machismo at little league baseball games … to the vaguely menacing etiquette of PTA meetings …

… the freakishness of suburban life far transcends the freakishness of … well, freaks like you and me.

Whether we’re straining to appear unfazed by the oddly sexual undertones of songs at our kid’s Christian day camp …

… or struggling to stomach the fried delights of the local themed chain restaurant …

… it can be a challenge to remain unfazed by the madness around us…”

go to source/story>>>“Neighbors From Hell”: The perversion of the suburbs, unleashed! - Heather Havrilesky - Salon.com

“…”I’ve always been envious of certainty, of people who always seemed to have a plan for their lives,” he says.

“I’ve never had that, still don’t.

But now I think it’s quite an attractive idea that it is a mystery – the journey, the finding out.”

The show tackles big questions – religion, science, the Large Hadron Collider – from Bailey’s eclectic vantage point, punctuated by songs and poems.

The summer will see Bailey touring Australia and New Zealand, where he will be joined by his wife and six-year-old son Dax, who has inherited a love of performance and has occasionally appeared on stage with his father.

“He went through a phase of wanting to be introduced every time he came into the kitchen, which was worrying,” Bailey adds…”

go to source/story>>>Bill Bailey’s Highlands fling | Interview | Culture | The Observer

“…From Spidey to Batman to Iron Man, comic-book movies are Hollywood’s most bankrupt genre.

And I say that as a fan

As Whiplash, the hateful Slavic super-genius who challenges armor-plated industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in “Iron Man 2,” Mickey Rourke has a Boris Badenov accent, greasy hair, a pencil mustache and a predatory stare that would give Mike Tyson pause.

The man doesn’t look at people, he looks through them.

It’s the stare of a stone thug — a gangsta badass who came up from nothing and would be content to make do with nothing for the rest of his life …

… as long as he had the freedom to roam and the ability to create.

Whiplash is surrounded by technology, by money, by the most spectacular comic book vistas that Hollywood can buy …

… and he can barely muster the energy to sneer.

Whiplash has the right idea.

The comic book film has become a gravy train to nowhere.

The genre cranks up directors’ box office averages and keeps offbeat actors fully employed for years at a stretch by dutifully replicating (with precious few exceptions) the least interesting, least exciting elements of its source material; …

… spicing up otherwise rote superhero vs. supervillain storylines with “complications” and “revisions” (scare quotes intentional) …

… that the filmmakers, for reasons of fiduciary duty, cannot properly investigate; …

… and delivering amusing characterizations, dense stories or stunning visuals …

… while typically failing to combine those aspects into a satisfying whole.

I don’t relish saying any of this.

I grew up on superheroes and superhero films.

And as a critic who made a point of clinging to my sense of wonder long past childhood …

… I’ve tried (too hard at times) … to find signs of life in formula…”

go to source/story>>>Superheroes suck! - Film Salon - Salon.com

“…It seems that “South Park” has parodied just about everything under the sun in it’s 200+ episodes …

… but some of the best (and non-life-threatening) parodies have been of popular TV shows, both good and bad.

From Cartman as Jim Cramer, to Cartman as Glenn Beck, to Cartman as Dog The Bounty Hunter (he’s a busy guy) …

… these TV show parodies are spot-on and hilarious…”

go to source/story>>>The 10 Greatest ‘South Park’ TV Parodies (VIDEOS)

“..New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords will appear on The Simpsons this year.

The Wellingtonians, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, recorded an episode in January which would screen later this year, a source close to the comedians told the Dominion Post.

The pair’s hit US TV show ran for two seasons between 2007 and 2009 on the HBO network.

Clement and McKenzie were understood to have rehearsed lines with Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, over the phone from Wellington before recording in the United States.

The duo’s manager Mike Martinovich said he was unable to comment, telling The Dominion Post: “I don’t know whether there’s anything I’m allowed to tell you about that.”

It was not known if the pair would play themselves in the episode..”

go to source/story>>Conchords to appear on Simpsons - report - National - NZ Herald News

“..Strapping, blond Kevin worries about how to rebuff Veronica’s attention..”

(heh..!..)

go to source/story>>Archie Comics introduces first gay character - Gays and Lesbians - Salon.com

“..A new line of graphic novels brings together two literary worlds that have a lot in common

Last summer DC Comics’ graphic novel division Vertigo launched a new imprint that, from the standpoint of many people, was a long time in coming.

For years a number of crime writers had gravitated towards the comics realm, from Charlie Huston’s run with Moon Knight, Greg Rucka’s take on “Batman” (expanded into a novel titled “Batman: No Man’s Land”) ..

.. and Duane Swierczynski’s interpretations of superhero sidemen “Cable” and the “Immortal Iron Fist.”

But there have also been signs of crime writers making dramatic use of comics fomats — with no capes in sight:..

.. Hannah Berry’s masterful “Britten and Brulightly,” her homage and tweaking of classic detective fiction, Darwyn Cooke’s excellent adaptation of Richard Stark’s “The Hunter,” ..

.. and “West Coast Blues,” Jacques Tardi’s slimmed down and speeded up adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s “3 to Kill.”..”

go to source/story>>Crime fiction’s comic book makeover - Fiction - Salon.com

“..This cool video tracks air travel traffic over a 24-hour period.

While there are regions, like North America and Europe, that are particularly crisscrossed with flights .. the overall impression is this is one busy planet.

See the globe from additional breath-taking vantage points by checking out one astronaut’s images of Mount Kilimanjaro, Haiti, the Maldives, and more as seen from orbit ..

.. NASA’s best images of the Earth to date ..

.. and these incredible photos of the world’s most severe storms as seen from space..”

(enjoy..!..)

go to source/story>>World Air Traffic Over A 24-Hour Period (VIDEO)

this is from the person who did the excellent ‘the story of stuff’..

(recommended-watch..)

go to source/story>>‘The Story of Bottled Water’ and big fun learning about water | Grist

“..Couldn’t the Tiger Woods scandal have coincided with the “South Park” season?

Jeez.

The nerve of that guy.

It’s not enough for him to sleep with every woman he sees; he has to make us wait for “South Park” to make fun of him, too?

Selfish, Tiger.

Just selfish.

But alas, the wait is finally over.

“South Park” kicked off its new season last night, taking on Tiger and other celebrity sex addicts.

Cartman and Kenny played an intense game of “EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour.”

Wait til you see the realism..”

go to source/story>>South Park Takes On Tiger Woods, Celeb Sex Addicts (VIDEO)

“..It wasn’t a matter of if this would happen, but when.

In a promo for the upcoming season of South Park, Eric Cartman strolls into an armory:..

.. “Yes, I would like 500-AK-47s please,” he says to an official sitting behind a desk.

“500 AK-47s?” the official responds.

“OK, but you’re going to have to sign for those.”

“Not a problem,” Cartman says.

Apparently, this was more or less the scene that took place in a weapons depot outside of Kabul in September 2008 ..

.. when some Blackwater wisenheimer signed for 211 AKs he was unauthorized to have .. using the alias Eric Cartman.

“It makes perfect sense.

It’s the name I would use,” South Park co-creator Trey Parker told the Huffington Post a couple weeks ago.

“Our first reaction to any story is ‘How do we put this into the show?’ ..

.. and the second reaction is ‘Did Cartman do that?’”

go to source/story>>Blackwater’s South Park Debut | Mother Jones

“..Golf clubs in hands or not, the kids of “South Park” are ready to take on Tiger Woods.

Creators of the Comedy Central cartoon have long since proven that no subject is sacred to them.

So for the opening of its 14th season on Wednesday, the troubled golfer encounters Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman in their animated Colorado town.

“It’s such an important issue in America right now – the sex addiction outbreak,” Matt Stone, who makes the series with partner Trey Parker, said on Friday.

“We’re all really concerned about him and hope he gets better.”

Sex addiction, the intersection of powerful men and willing women, late-night phone calls to the police and bad public relations gave them so much fodder they could have made an entire Tiger-centric season, Stone said.

Since the Peabody Award-winning show’s first episode in 1997, Parker and Stone haven’t worried about lines between good taste and bad if they can get a laugh.

They mocked the Church of Scientology to the point of annoying Tom Cruise, and depicted Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag.

“There’s a delicacy in talking about (Woods) that we don’t have to worry about,” Stone said.

He wouldn’t give many details about the episode, in part because he and Parker were still writing it on Friday.

Stone said he was fascinated and disgusted by Woods’ public apology ..

.. so it’s likely that will be worked in..”

go to source/story>>South Park: Tiger Woods Episode Will Begin 14th Season

“..There’s a memorable scene in the 1984 rockumentary This is Spinal Tap in which Harry Shearer’s character, the bass player Derek Smalls, sets off an airport metal detector with a cucumber wrapped in tinfoil shoved down his trousers.

Back then, Smalls was merely humiliated.

In today’s terrorist-wary world, he wouldn’t get off so lightly.

“There’d be what they call a secondary screening,” Shearer says.

Having lampooned heavy metal stars, Shearer (well-known for voicing various characters in The Simpsons) now has more serious subjects in his sights, namely the US economic meltdown.

His new album Greed and Fear, features satirical songs such as Mr Goldman and Mr Sachs, aimed at the infamous Wall Street bankers.

“They stand for so much that went wrong this past decade,” Shearer says.

So, does writing these songs manage to sooth Shearer’s rage?

“It channels it. The rage would be soothed if I felt something was being done about all this.

Since I wrote the Goldman and Sachs song, the company has announced record profits and bonuses for its staff.

While I was laughing at them .. they’re laughing at all of us..”

go to source/story>>Guest List: Harry Shearer on… - Times Online

“..It’s a question that has exercised generations of schoolboys: Superman or Batman - who would win?

Now, finally, we have the answer.

Four days ago, a near-perfect sample of the comic book in which Superman made his debut, Action Books No 1 dated June 1938, went up for sale via an auction website.

It sold within minutes for a cool $1 million .. more than three times the previous record for a comic book.

Then last night, an equally fine example of Detective Comics No 27 – which introduced readers to “the amazing and unique adventures of The Batman” in May 1939 – went under the hammer at the Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, Texas.

It went for a grand total, including buyer’s premium, of $1,075,000..”

go to source/story>>Kerpow! Batman throws killer punch in comic book wars - Times Online

“..As a big fan of comic books and graphic novels, I have been patiently waiting for the medium to finally expand beyond print and into electronic distribution.

I’m not just talking about Webcomics (although their growing popularity was made clear to me when a blog entry I wrote about the best Webcomics generated the most hits my blog has ever seen).

I’m talking about comic books that are printed on paper and distributed through traditional publishers.

Some efforts have been made to enter the digital comic book realm (I’ve supported MAD Magazine and Marvel Comics when they released many of their back-issues in DVD-ROM format)..

.. but so far it has only been experimentation with various levels of limited success.

Now there is hope that the digital comic book revolution may finally be here..”

go to source/story>>Can Digital Comics Finally Go Mainstream? - Nick Leshi - Open Salon

“.. An animation by Pedro Cruz, Visualizing empires’ decline, charts the rise and fall of four European colonial empires during the 19th and 20th centuries; ..

.. it’s not strictly cartographic, but it is fun to watch—

–colonies become independent by bursting from their mother countries’ bubbles.”

Watch this one in full screen mode.

Things start getting interesting around 1940.

So long as you don’t let the pretty colors and the bubbly animation obscure the bloodshed and suffering represented here..

.. it’s a great little snapshot of history..”

(recommended-read..)

go to source/story>>Animation: Watching Empires Disappear

“..The decades-old, super-secret, audacious plans to destroy both political parties from within..”

(a tom tomorrow cartoon..)

go to source/story>>This Modern World - Salon.com

“..After paying for gas at the pump, your money gets distributed throughout the world.

But filling your gas tank with resources from Africa doesn’t actually help Africans.

This animated investigation by Oxfam follows the gas money from the pump, through the corporate profits, to the government coffers and bribes.

And how much goes to ordinary people?

Not much.

Watch:..”

go to source/story>>Animation: Where Does the Oil Money Go

“..The Family Guy character is about to get his own show.

We spoke to writer and star Mike Henry about his politically incorrect family sitcom..”

go to source/story>>Mike Henry prepares us for Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show - Times Online

“..Cartoonist Joe Sacco on his latest book on Palestine, how he draws .. and why he prefers “comic book” to “graphic novel.”

Amazon may call Joe Sacco a graphic novelist, but there’s nothing fictional about his work.

With the sprawling Footnotes in Gaza (Henry Holt and Company) Sacco returns to Palestine ..

.. the place that first catapulted him into the international spotlight in 1993.

His most ambitious project yet unearths a forgotten chapter in the 1954 Suez Crisis that left hundreds of Gazan civilians dead at the hands of the Israeli army.

He spoke to us about changes in Palestine, his drawing habits ..

.. and what comics can do that photos and prose can’t ..”

go to source/story>>Joe Sacco: Graphic History | Mother Jones

a tom tomorrow cartoon..

go to source/story>>This Modern World - Salon.com