WHAT THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY LOOKS LIKE

Here's (above) a picture of a near-by galaxy that's believed to look like our own. Pretty isn't it? When I was a kid they told us that no one could see the center of our own galaxy, that whatever was there was a mystery. Now all that's changed. Now we know that a monster black hole lies at the center, and we even have pictures of the area surrounding it.

And here (above) it is, the center of the galaxy. The space you see isn't very wide, there's just a lot of stars packed into it. These stars are highly energetic. They're born, live and die in an amazingly short time. They're constantly colliding and eating each other up.

If you want to see the very, very center then here (above) it is, where the arrows are pointing on the picture on the right. The stars closest to the center of the picture are erratically orbiting the black hole at a velocity of three million miles an hour. The size of the hole? It contains two million solar mases and it's the size of a grain of dust!

Here's (below) a link to an animated film showing the path of the stars closest to the hole:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mpe.mpg.de/www_ir/GC/images/gck.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/science/&h=461&w=461&sz=76&hl=en&start=27&tbnid=N5o9gxE8L-g1zM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcenter%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bgalaxy%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ie%3DUTF-8

Here's (above) the center of the Andromeda galaxy where a black hole is in evidence which is even more powerful than our own. I know what you're thinking it looks like.

WHAT HAPPENED AT LUNCH TODAY

A good day so far, I figured.


I was on my way from the parking lot to the restaurant when I realized that an old lady with a walker was also hobbling toward the door from a different direction. She looked kind of frail so I speeded up a little, thinking I'd hold the door open for her. Big mistake!


When she saw me speeding up she figured I was trying to beat her to the door so I could get a better place in line... so she hobbled faster. I saw her hobbling faster so I walked faster. She saw me walk faster so she began to run, taking what for her were giant strides with the walker. I saw her running so I ran even faster. She saw me running and really tore for the door. Neck and neck, we both almost dived for the door. I don't mean to brag but I got there a full second or two before her, and I gallantly (I thought) opened the door for her.


No thanks were offered but a good deed is its own reward.

ANOTHER "MY DINNER WITH ANDRE" (ACTUALLY JOHN K)

Today we met again at "The Bear Pit," a local sawdust-on-the-floor barbecue restaurant with Preston Blair - style paintings all around the walls. When I came in John was reading The National Enquirer, which is essential reading for cartoonists since it contains all the necessary info about what stars have cellulite. Orders were placed and the conversation commenced.

We began with a fascinating discussion of Scribner but that'll require a lot of pictures to explain, so I'll save it for last.

After Scribner we talked for a bit about how old I look in those photo essay pictures I took. Maybe anticipating an outpouring of self-pity, John kindly said I didn't look that old in real life, but really, that wasn't necessary. I explained that I'd reached an advanced philosophical level where I was beyond worldly concerns like screamingly grotesque wrinkles. People at my elevated level laugh at people who worry about things like that. "Ha!", we say, "Ha!"

Then we talked for a while about what tragic creatures men are. Poor men spend their whole lives chasing after sex and get only a fraction of what they need. John said that's why men have to go to war, because somebody has to be made to pay for our frustration at not being able to have a harem.

Talking about sex brought us around to Tex Avery, maybe the most heterosexual director of the color cartoon era. We both agreed that after Clampett, Tex was the greatest cartoon director. Jones ranks third, which is still a very high position.

Jones was all about telling linear stories in a humorous, well-executed and professional manner. Clampett was a creature of the big band and jitterbug era, and also of the golden age of radio and live-action film comedy. He swam in media. He had street smarts, charisma and almost unfailing intuition. In John's words, he made cartoons an "experience."

Somehow (?) this digressed into a discussion of Tim Russert (spelled right?), the TV news commentator. Russert used to be a rock & roll promoter and he still looks like someone who could tell a good dirty joke. You have to admire the guy for his ability to re-invent himself as a news commentator. Here's (above) a napkin drawing John did of him. I like the Thurber arms and serious expression.

Here's (above) what we talked about most of the time. John's been telling me that the new Warner set contains a break-through print of Clampett's "Eatin' on the Cuff." He said the amazing clarity of the print allows us to see never-before-seen (by this generation) nuances in the cartooning and animation, and that this necessitates a re-evaluation of the film as one of Clampett's best. He makes the case in a wonderful post that's on his site now:

http://www.johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

I'd already read the blog and I had to admit that John was right. Take a look at these Scribner drawings. The happy energy, the love of cartooning, the inventive poses, the beautiful proportions and attention to detail are awe-inspiring! I love the wrinkled sleeves...who said you can't animate wrinkled clothing? The black and white values are handled so well that you don't even miss the color.

Notice that the girl looks feminine and funny at the same time. Scribner was able to do both! After seeing this it's going to be hard to go back to seeing cartoon girls that are only one or the other.

Here the Veronica Lake spider shows off her glorious schnoz. Note the big hands and big eyes. My favorite cartoon characters usually have big hands and eyes. That's what you make expressions with. In my world only secondary characters have small hands and small eyes.

Here's (above) a wonderful example of Scribner cartooning. It's just a back shot, yet it leaves me breathless! The hair and large lower body are hilarious and the size and orientation of the legs are inspired!


You can say that real girls don't look like that, but are you sure? I see girls (above) who are a bit like that all the time.

Anyway, I digress. We talked endlessly about Scribner and spent some time trying to figure out why Clampett, who was very prolific in his black and white period, turned out fewer cartoons a year in his color period. Maybe he was busy developing his own projects on the side, maybe good work requires more time. We could only guess.

Anyway, the conversation eventually ran out of gas and we found ourselves out in the blinding sunlight of the parking lot, ready to face another day!

SO LONG THAT I HAD TO DO IT IN TWO POSTS

Continued below.........

ALL SOUPS ARE NOT EQUAL (PART 2)

DRAWING LESSONS FROM MY DAUGHTER

"PORTRAITS" by Dad's Daughter


1) When drawing a man (like my Dad, above) always start with the stubble. Take time to get it right because it's the most important part of the face.

After that, draw what you see in a band that goes either across the face or up and down. Whatever's not in that band gets the short shrift. In the example above the band is horizontal and includes the ear and the nose. The mouth and eyes are outside the band and therefore are drawn tiny, as an afterthought.




2) Above the mouth the head bends. Paws make great hands.

3) Eyes are over-rated and are seldom worth drawing large. Now the ear and nose, THOSE are the true mirrors of the soul! Adults have HUGE noses! Glasses are also over-rated. Draw them tiny and floating Chagall-like in the air.

4) Adults are grotesque! Shapes bulge out of the face like ginger roots on steroids. On a face like my Dad's it's best to draw each section of the ginger root independently, without thinking of how it fits into the rest.

Pay attention to the muzzle and how the stubble wraps around it.

5) Sometimes it's fun to experiment with pie-plate head shapes. After all, the on-lookers are way too busy looking at the beautiful stubble you've drawn to know if the head-shape is working. Be sure to put lots of tiny blood vessels in the nose and don't skimp on the ear hair!

Note from Dad: I actually wrote this but the ideas are my kid's.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ADVERTISING

The most striking thing about modern ads is that they don't attempt to sell anything that you can easily buy. Old ads sold soap, soup, cereal, gum, cigarettes, beer and coffee --cheap and easy to get hold of things you could buy at the local supermarket. New ads sell prescription drugs, expensive cars, erectile disfunction pills, insurance, and credit cards. I don't get it. Why waste time and money advertising things that people can't impulsively run out and buy?





Have you noticed that there's no Coke commercials on TV anymore? And where are the soap ads? People still have to buy soap, don't they? No doubt this is the result of market studies, but what studies? I'd like to read them. Maybe feminists and generic brands have something to do with it, but wait a minute...people still have to shop and we all know the generic brands don't taste as good...think about generic Cheerios...Ugh! So where are the name brand food commercials? Why are we advertising pills that require a doctor's visit to get, or cars that we buy only once every ten years?





By the way, I put up these commercials because they're each so interesting in their own way. The Coke commercial is just a straight sales pitch...no dancing girls, no frills...and yet it works! I was salivating for Coke while I watched it! Ditto the Camels commercial. A bizarre woman, shot frontally and in the middle of the screen by a nailed-down camera, holds our attention perfectly by the force of her personality and her weird articulation. Amazing!


And the Cools ad...wow! That girl on the beach is hilarious! What a gloriously cheap and fun-to-parody commercial! None of these have anything to do with the theme of this post but I thought you'd like to see them anyway.








For those who stuck with me this far...a reward: two scenes from "How To Get Ahead in Advertising," one of the most literate films I've seen in recent years. Hope you like it!

CLASSICAL MUSIC ANYONE?

I'm too busy to do a thoughtful post, but here's (above) something easy to put up that I think some people here will like a lot: Jascha Heifetz playing Wieniawski. Heifetz took a lot of flack for preferring minor composers like Wieniawski and Paganini to Bach, Beethoven and the like, but I have no problem with it. Wieniawski was a full-time violinist and he knew what other violinists liked to play. Listen to the incredible virtuosity on display here. I don't know of any living violinist who can come close.

It takes a minute or two for the documentary to get around to the playing of the piece.






Here's a couple of minutes of Glenn Gould playing Bach with Bernstein. Holy Cow! What I wouldn't give to have heard this live!



I hate to leave anybody out. For those who aren't partial to classical music here's (above) something to help you get through the day! Click to enlarge!

SLOW vs. FAST INTROS

When I was kid we all played in the streets even after dark, every night that is, except the night "Zorro" was on. Then the streets were empty. Little kids were addicted to this show.

At the time I thought the intro was the height of sophistication. Now it seems a bit slow but the all the right elements are there and the arrangement of the music is terrific!

I have to say though, that the guy who put this video up goofed by not putting up the announcer's preamble to the intro. It was accompanied by music (not on this video) that set up the song perfectly. Listening to the song without it, as it is above, is like listening to the Stone's sing "Satisfaction" without the opening guitar statement.


Somebody at Disney's was good at setting up music. Look at the titles to "Davy Crockett" or the "What Makes the Red Man Red?" song in the original LP version of the "Peter Pan" soundtrack, or the "Look, up in the sky, it's a bird..." set-up in the classic "Superman" intro.





Fleischer has my deepest respect for coming up with this triple intro (above). First the look-up-in-the sky intro, then the actual titles with the great music, then the whole superman backstory, which might have repeated in every episode if he'd chosen to do it that way. Very nice! I'm all for long, multiple intros if you have the talent to pull them off! Sometimes the intro is the best part of the show!



These last three clips (above and below) are from "The Twilight Zone." The first two are quick, about 21 seconds, and are masterpieces of compression:









The graphics in the first two versions are much better than in this final one (above) but I still prefer a longer intro like this one from the first season. Why rush into a show that depends on mood and texture as much as The Twilight Zone?

TONIGHT I WAS IN A HORROR FILM

Tonight I played a psycho in Kali's student film. It was fun but I think I'll have to move to Argentina when it shows around. I forgot to bring a camera so I didn't get any pictures, but here's (above and below) some photos of John and I that Kali created for a scene.

Boy, when you get to my age you can look very spooky on film. Without even trying you can look downright evil. I noticed that about Robin Williams and Michael Keaton who occasionally do horror films now. Maybe that'll be my fate, chasing people around with a meat cleaver and getting paid for it.

I had a poolside picture of Kali here but it occurred to me that I shouldn't publish it without asking first, so I deleted it. Sorry guys!