Kim Peek: 1951-2009

The original Rain Man has gone to meet his maker. I'm surprised there was not a bigger buzz here, since he lives in my metropolitan area.

Mr. Peek was an example of being one's best self. Despite severe handicaps, in later life he shared himself with millions of people and gave inspiration to those facing their own challenges. May he rest in peace, and may his family find comfort in a life well-lived.

Doc Rat: Double your Pleasure

Looks like the 6 yobs who attacked Ben and Dani with such disastrous effect are the same pieces of elephant-hqiz who beat up Julian. Well, now they can add hate crimes to their list of offenses - these wastes of cytoplasm are going away for a long, long time.

How much did 'Avatar' *really* cost?

Interesting article at Vanity Fair explores prices and benefits of this astonishing movie, with some interesting tidbits coming out as well:

1) Two more Avatar scripts are in the hopper
2) 2011 will see a 3D Jackson/Spielberg collaboration on Tintin et le Secret de la Licorne - Drool! - If anyone can do justice to Hergé's vision, it's this team.
3) It looks like many other films are considering re-release in 3D format, including Star Wars. I'd sure pay to see these with added depth.

We live in a fantastic age. If only we could bring as much success and creativity to our real-world social issues as we do to the world of fantasy...

The Internet Wins Again

Every now and then a cartoon comes up in my mind that I saw ages ago, but never found again. The first one was Jerry Amerongen's masterpiece that I saw once in a credit union:

. This was identifed for me by Mark Stanley over at the Freefall forum, within minutes of my mentioning it. The old lady strung up by her thumbs cracks me up...

More recently, a cartoon by Brooke McEldowney, featuring the indecisiveness of cats brought to mind a cartoon I once saw about a skeleton on a porch. I put a call out on the 9 Chickweed Lane Tribute Page, and sure enough, I got several bites. EdBDiver suggested it was not Gahan Wilson, but another cartoonist who submitted regularly to Playboy. Others gave input as well. Finally, Mark Breeding scored, and actually happened to have the issue which contained the panel in question, by Howard Shoemaker, here reproduced for your gratuitous enjoyment:



The internet is wonderful, the people who build it moreso. Huge thanks to Mark, and to all others who took the time to respond.

So here's one more for all my faithful geniuses out there. I think this would have appeared in Datamation, or possibly one of the Wang magazines sometime in the mid-80's: Picture a man strapped to a reclining table, an evil genius in a smoking jacket looking on, and this boxy-looking device about 4' tall and 2' square being lowered from the ceiling. Caption: "You will notice, Mr. Bond, that the printer being lowered is no ordinary printer. It is a laser printer. Farewell, Mr. Bond."