It May Be Un-PC but Is the Only Entertaining Ad on Springfield Radio We Have

A few days back, the Springfield News Leader ran a LTTE complaining about the Heritage Chrysler radio ads. For those of you who have not heard these ads (they have actually been around for about two years or more) they feature a chant that sounds like "Song of Hiawatha," the Hamms Beer jingle of the 50s ("From the land of sky blue waters"), and "Running Bear" run through a blender. The name of the car dealer is sung to a tom-tom drumbeat and flute in a mock Native American pronunciation (HAR-I-TOGGEE). The writer of the LTTE said this was un-PC and bordered on racism.

I’ll admit the first time I heard it I thought it was un-PC and a stereotype of Native Americans. However, I liked it because IT WAS NOT THE TYPICAL SPRINGFIELD RADIO AD. It was not a dry read with out background music, sound effects or any excitement. It also wasn’t the car ad featuring one heavy metal chord played over and over while announcer yells. Best of all, it was not one of those horrible jingles that seem to pollute this market like VD – the "I remember the good old days when every thing was better." BARF!

I used to produce promos for the company I work for. I quit after some complaints. They mainly came from a former co-worker, a former employee at the station, the people in the sales department and a doofus e-mailed stuff like this "Tak dat promo off. Me no like it. Mike ______" (He changed his name ever time but kept Mike). I got in trouble for making a promo where a one of the talk show host blew up a caller to one of the talk shows. I got in trouble for imitating Jim Rome and poking fun at one of the host for saying he didn’t like Jim Rome. I got in trouble for making fun of another station’s promo using a snippet of Stan Freburg’s "Point of Order." I made a promo that never made it to the air. It was a parody of 2001: Space Odyssey and it was nixed it had monkey sound effects in it ("Screaming monkeys might upset listeners" I was told).

On the other hand, I had listeners who recognized my voice from these promos and gave me complements saying they enjoyed my work.

Like I said, I agreed that the Heritage Chrysler ad is un-PC, but it falls into a gray area Political Correctness. This ad seems to evoke the romanticized Native American of Longfellow, James Fennimore Cooper and the "Keep America Beautiful" ads of the 70s (pic above). It doesn’t seem to show a negative John Ford "bloody savage" image or stupid image from F-Troop, but still un-PC is un-PC.

My problem is CAN WE NOT BE MORE CREATIVE WITH RADIO ADS! I used to remember some great stuff being produced around here. We need to produce ads that look toward the future and not back at the good old days. No more ads that sound like the radio equivalent of a Penny Power ad. Use monkeys, sirens and explosions, funny jingles and humor but MAKE ADS THAT ARE ENTERTAINING!

Of course, an opinion, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm Sick but I'm Not Dead Like These Folks

For the past few days I have suffered from a head and chest cold, so I haven't had the time to update the blog as I would like to. How ever I wanted to mention the passing of these individuals in the entertainment world.

• Director and actor Sydney Pollack
• Composer Earle Hagen - The man behind the themes to The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy and The Mod Squad. He also composed "Harlem Nocturne" in 1939 which became a hit for the Viscounts in 1959. It later became the theme for Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in 1984. In Hagen's memory, you can either throw a rock into a pond, fall of an automan, run through water beneath a pier or light some dynamite off of you cigarette.
• Composer Alexander Courage - The man who gave us the theme to Star Trek.
• And last but not least comic actor Harvey Korman - Second Banana on the Carol Burnett Show and one of Mel Brooks' stock players. My favorite moments in his work with Brooks are in Blazing Saddles when Hedley Lamar shooting a gunfighter for chewing gum and Dracula:Dead and Loving It when Brooks as Dr. Van Helsing ask Korman's Dr. Seward if he has a book called "Nosferatu." Korman smiles and picks up a parcel package "Yes, we have Nosferatu. We got Nosferatu today!" I think I'm the only person that thinks that last one is funny.

I should note that while I am suffering from a head and chest cold, I'm not "suffering from being a douche bag" as 'andrew' claimed in his comment (See previous post).

I Upset a Comic Book Geek and I Still Say The Dark Knight Will Suck

Every time I think I’ve posted something that won’t be controversial and provoke the wrath of a crazy person, I get a comment posted that proves why I don’t like comments. This time, a post I made in March about the upcoming Dark Knight has upset a comic book geek.

Let me say, I want to see Iron Man and the upcoming Incredible Hulk film, however, I’M NOT EXCITED ABOUT THE DARK KNIGHT. It just doesn’t look good and I especially don’t like the makeup job on the late Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Well, I found an unmoderated comment on the blog from an "andrew." I noticed "andrew" is what I call a ‘blog and dash’ person. He creates a Blogger account so he can leave and snotty comment on the blog that offends him. That is how I get most of my comments.

He starts off with a real intelligent statement: "First of all you may be suffering from being a douche bag." I "may be suffering from being a douche bag." As you will see in reading andrew’s (He doesn’t seem to know how to capitalize proper names), that is the pot calling the kettle black.

"2nd read a book and read history on wha batman is really suppose to be because nolan has figured it out." I own several collections of Batman comics from the early days on down. I was reading Batman comics before you were born. I probably know more Batman history than you have ever thought about knowing. I know all about how he was the dark figure of the night that carried a gun. I also know the Joker murdered his enemies, leaving them with a smile.
My favorite part: "i work for warner bro's as a PA, and ledgers makeup is supreme to what it is suppose to be. He is scarred in actuality, and the makeup just adds to the image because he obviously puts it on himself, he does not care what it looks like." OH YEAH! RIGHT! I tracked with Feedjit the views from today and the only person viewing the post about The Dark Knight was from Woodbridge, Illinois. Something tells me you are 22 years old and work at McD’s. The rest of that seems to make no sense.

The rest of this doofus’ tirade gets ugly: "Get your head out of your ass and go make some more web sites that just makes you sound ignorant and un educated. Yes i do study film, and you may not nonethelss, go watch the trailer again because you really need to if you took the time to make this website, and by the way did you try and justify the 60's batman show somehow? robin was real cool. Jesus"

I hate to tell you ‘andrew’ but I have two degrees from Missouri State University. One of those is in electronic media production. I have had several film classes and I’m quite a film buff. Also, I watched the trailer for The Dark Knight. THAT IS WHEN I DECIDED IT WOULD SUCK!
Okay, one thing I will point out to you, ‘andrew.’ Go find some Batman comics from the 50’s and 60’s. Notice how the Joker seems to act like an overgrown child rather than a murdering psycho and Batman and Robin are like Boy Scouts. Throw in stories involving aliens, time travel and those famous DC Comics talking gorillas and you’ve got the basis for the TV version. Frankly, the TV show along with the "New Look" improved Batman comics and paved the way for all the Dark Knight stuff of the Seventies and Eighties that you fanboys get all horny over.
AND WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ROBIN? WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU? YOU KILLED ROBIN IN THE EIGHTIES, WASN’T THAT ENOUGH???

Why is it believe ‘andrew" is the guy who fired off the e-mail to the homophobic gym teacher over the Practice? Maybe I should start sending andrew's comments around as a chain e-mail.

John Phillip Law 1937-2008

CNN reports that actor John Phillip Law, the American actor who appeared in many foreign and domestic film in the 60's and 70's, had died. He was 70.

Here is his IMDB bio and credit list. One of the films he made was the 1968 Mario Bava adaptation of the Italian comic strip Danger: Diabolik. Here is part of a documentary on the film which includes an interview with Law about playing the super-criminal Diabolik. He also gives us a taste of Diabolik's trademark evil laugh. A mask criminal with an evil laugh who taunts the "good" people in government? Sound familiar?

I bring up Diabolik for a reason. Diabolik was part of a tradition of European pop culture of the scary, masked super-criminal/hero. I had at one time planed to write a series of stories involving a character which combined that genre with the American masked-avenger of the oppressed (Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, etc.). I decided my character would look like Diabolik. I "lifted" a picture from a fetish supply company's website of a person in a bondage mask and Photoshoped it.

I never got to write the stories (The character was to be called The Plague) but I wound up using the picture and evil laugh (Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) for this blog. So it could be said that Diabolik was the inspiration for Desdinova, the Super-Villain of the Ozarks.

If You Can't Get Out To See Iron Man This Weekend Watch This

Eddy Arnold 1918 - 2008

Eddy Arnold has passed away just days short of his 90th birthday. He was a legend in country music. Arnold helped the "hillbilly music" of the 30's & 40's evolve into the "Nashville sound" of the 60's & 70's. Arnold paved the way for country artist to like Kenny Rogers, Shania Twain, Faith Hill and Glenn Campbell to top the Adult Contemporary charts. He went from being "the Tennessee Plow-boy" in his early days to reinventing himself in the Sixties as a tuxedo-clad crooner like Frank Sinatra and Dead Martin. Martin was one of his fans, as was Leonard Nimoy (which explains his attempts at country music) and my father.

I went with my parents to see Arnold when he was in Branson a few years back (a double bill with the Chordettes). He could still sing the songs, but he was really too sick to perform. He had a horrible cough (he blamed it on "sleeping on the porch") and at one point, he went into a coughing fit and I thought "I'm going to see him die on stage."

Here is CNN's story about Eddy Arnold.

"Hazel" and "Peabody and Sherman" Creator Ted Key Dies

Associated Press is reporting the death of cartoonist Ted Key. Key was 95.

Here is part of the story : "Hazel" was a popular feature in The Saturday Evening Post from the time it debuted in 1943. It evolved into a prime-time series in 1961 that starred Shirley Booth and ran for four years on NBC and one year on CBS.

Key also created the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman for producer Jay Ward. The time-traveling dog/scientist and his boy made their TV debuts in 1959 in segments on the animated show "Rocky and His Friends."

In 1969, Key acquired the rights to his character from SEP. Since then it has been syndicated to newspapers by King Features. Key retired in 1993.

I had several books when I was a little super-villain that were illustrated by Mr. Key. I believe one involved a caveman sitting on a dinosaur egg.

Mel Brooks once said if Hazel was his maid, he'd half to kill her. Hazel would say, "Sure Mr. B!"