Good news for everyone except your wallet!
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Saturday, December 2, 2023
A CHRISTMAS PRESENT!
After years of waiting, the Flip The Frog Complete Series Blu-Ray discs from Thunderbean Animation Shop have finally been released and I just received my copy, as a Christmas present from me to myself!
WIKIPEDIA describes Flip the Frog as follows:
Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring characters besides Flip, including Flip's dog, the mule Orace, and a dizzy neighborhood spinster.
Ub Iwerks was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios and a personal friend of Walt Disney in 1930. After a series of disputes between the two, Iwerks left Disney and went on to accept an offer from Pat Powers to open a cartoon studio of his own, Iwerks Studio, and receive a salary of $300 a week, an offer that Disney was unable to match at the time.
Iwerks was to produce new cartoons under Powers' Celebrity Pictures auspices and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The first series he was to produce was to feature a character called Tony the Frog, but Iwerks disliked the name and was subsequently changed to Flip.
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The character eventually wore out his welcome at MGM. His final short was Soda Squirt, released in August 1933. Subsequently, Iwerks replaced the series with a new one starring an imaginative liar named Willie Whopper.
Flip became largely forgotten by the public in the ensuing years, but the character would make a small comeback when animation enthusiasts and historians began digging up the old Iwerks shorts. And finally, now in 2023, the complete Flip The Frog cartoons are available on Blu-Ray discs and ready to be enjoyed by all of us who remember them fondly.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Happy 9th Birthday, Lorenzo!
It is always a joyful occasion when one of my grandkids celebrates his or her birthday...
and today, it's Lorenzo's turn to have his birthday cake topped with nine candles! Congratulations, kid!
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Saturday, November 11, 2023
VETERAN'S DAY, 2023!
Today is Veteran's Day! In observation of this day, I'm watching episodes of the only four World War series I used to follow as a youngster back in the 1960s.
My top Number One favorite was COMBAT!
Starring Vic Morrow as Sgt. Chip Saunders and Rick Jason as Lt. Gil Hanley it also featured as regular members of their squad, Jack Hogan as Kirby, Dick Peabody as Little John, Pierre Jalbert as Caje, Tom Lowell as Billy, Steven Rogers as Doc # 1 and Conlan Carter as Doc # 2.
Who can forget the immortal phrase: "Checkmate King 2, This Is White Rook, Over"?
THE RAT PATROL was another great favorite of mine, and since each episode was only half an hour long, you could be sure the action was going to be non-stop! The show starred Christopher George, Gary Raymond, Lawrence Casey, Justin Tarr and Hans Gudegast (later known as Eric Braeden) as German Captain Dietrich, who never won a battle against these four soldiers.
GARRISON'S GORILLAS was inspired by the successful 1967 Lee Marvin movie, THE DIRTY DOZEN and starred Ron Harper and Cesare Danova along with Rudy Solari, Brendon Boone and Christopher Cary.
The misadventures of a PT Boat crew in the South Pacific, McHALE'S NAVY was a very funny comedy show with a distinguished cast of performers headed by Ernest Borgnine and featuring newcomer Tim Conway along with Joe Flynn, Carl Ballantine, Gavin MacLeod, Yoshio Yoda, Edson Stroll, Billy Sands, Gay Vinson, John Wright and (not pictured) Bob Hastings.
These are the only war themed shows I enjoyed watching during those years although, of course, there were a few others more like TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, COURT MARTIAL, CONVOY, JERICHO, NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, HOGAN'S HEROES and THE GALLANT MEN but I didn't care much for those.
Whatever the case may be, war TV shows generally speaking, were never as popular as Westerns, Sitcoms, Private Detectives, Crime or Sci-Fi series so it seems to me that the usually moderate ratings explain why these type of programs were so scarce during those days.
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Sunday, October 29, 2023
REBECCA'S 9TH BIRTHDAY!
Happy 9th birthday to my beautiful little granddaughter, Rebecca! 🥰😘😍😄😄🤗🍰🎂🎁🎈🎈🎈🎈🎀🎉
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
IT'S ALMUDENA'S 5th BIRTHDAY!
My little princess turns 5 years old today! Happy birthday, you beautiful and sweet girl!
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Friday, October 13, 2023
THE RETURN OF THE CLARINET!
After more than 30 years of having abandoned it, I finally got another chance to play the clarinet thanks to a much welcome recent birthday gift. But of course, it has been so long, I have to remember how to play the instrument, so I'm back to my beginner's days and dusting off those old clarinet courses, charts and tutorials. I'm back to square one with embouchure, fingering, tone and reed control.
Will I ever attain professional status? Of course not! Will I become the next Benny Goodman? Never!
But the point here is to just have fun and play to myself trying not to squeak much and flub as less as possible. Music, maestro, please!
My first year trying to get some decent sound out of the instrument!
After much practice, I was proficient enough to get a gig on stage at a small dinner theater, playing
"As Time Goes By" and "St. Louis Blues" in a musical show!
The day I got my new clarinet, 30 plus years after I had abandoned the instrument.
Back to the Clarinet Player Starter Kit!
Hopefully, this won't ever happen...but you never can tell!
Sunday, October 8, 2023
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