ITEMS OF INTEREST

I hate to use links to other stuff as entries on my blog. It's kind of a "cheat" for me, in that I'm not writing anything original (when did you ever write something original?!? say the naysayers (or do they just say "nay"?). But, there's housework to be done, so I'll others do my yammering for me.

Even though they made them during my childhood, I don't remember ever seeing or wanting Kenner's Give-A-Show projector. These flimsy filmstrips shown through a funky flashlight filter had their genus in 1960. But I'll let Jon Knutson explain via his Random Acts of Geekery website.

OK, back now? It's obsessive lists like those and the notion that they fascinate me that give my wife night sweats. Now, on to more geekery (which blogspot is highlighting to tell me it's not a word (p.s. it also highlights "blogspot" (in high school Mr. Graler admonished my over use of parentheticals))). One of my copasetic comic cohorts on the wacky web is DIAL "B" FOR BLOG (an homage to the old DC title/character 'Dial "H" for Hero' about a young boy named Robby Reed who had a rotary phone type gizmo that gave him different superpowers when he dialed different numbers). One of the cool things about looking at old Marvel comic books from the 1960s is the bombastic border-fillers known as house ads. These ads advertised other Marvel comics or products like t-shirts, etc. Robby has compiled pages of these colorful concoctions for your peerless perusal.

Finally, we leave the sphere of the obsessive-compulsive for a video that I remembered fondly and was so excited to find it on YouTube that I've watched it every day for about a week. It's from what I think was the last week of Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show". Mel Brooks was the guest. Carson asked Brooks to tell his 'Cary Grant story'. Brooks was surprised at the request because he told it on his appearance the year before. It's worth the retellling and the repeated viewing...