It's 6 a.m. and I've got to write two stories before I could to the office and finish another story to be used in the edition that goes to the printer at the end of the day. I've got some sort of cold and frankly wish I could just stay in bed, but at a small newspaper, when one person is sick it can throw everything and everyone off track.

A meeting yesterday of Springfield's Finance Control Board – the state-imposed body that runs the city in many ways – was two and a half hours late. This threw me off in a very big way. i was counting on this story, didn't really have a back-up ( that was probably dumb) so I wasted that time.

These are the things you deal with at a 'paper such as ours. Not looking for sympathy (I know here to find it) but hoping those who might think there's a certain romance or ease with the job will understand that many times the goal is simply be accurate and meet the deadlines.

Here's the column I wrote for this week's paper. After doing serious ones for the past several weeks, I had to do something hopefully a little comical.




Thank goodness as a journalist I'm allowed to be professionally ignorant. I'm able to admit I don't know or understand something, ask some questions and become educated. Here are some of my recent concerns:

Do politicians have a better metabolism than many of us? Do you ever notice that even in severely cold weather, many elected officials never break down and wear an appropriate coat? How about a hat? Gloves? They would rather be fashionable than warm, but perhaps their bodies, through some evolutionary change in response to their office, are warmer.

I heard the new Air Jordans cost $185 a pair and people waited in line at a New York City shoe store up to five days in order to buy a pair. Could someone tell me why these shoes are truly better than lace-up Converse? A $65 pair of New Balance running shoes? How the hell did my generation get along with Keds and P.F. Flyers?

If waterboarding isn't torture, then why doesn't one of its proponents in the Bush administration demonstrate it to show it's no big deal?

If the Massachusetts House leadership doesn't want casino gambling then what are they going to propose as a measure to increase revenues, maintain programs and not raise taxes or fees?

My hair gets messed up by just looking at it in a mirror. How do our local TV anchors always have perfect hair no matter what?

Does anyone really care that Paris Hilton's brother got arrested? Is this what passes as a news story these days? Yes, of course it is!

For that matter, is the "Today" show the most vapid collection of non-stories ever passed off as news?

Why is my dental insurance company debating whether or not to pay a $72 claim for an extraction of a broken tooth? What is the big deal?

Does Mitt Romney really think a Democratic presidency would aid the terrorists? Does he not understand President Bush's actions have brought Islamic terrorism to a nation that didn't have any? Isn't that "aiding" terrorists?

Do you think New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg might be thinking twice about an independent and self-financed run for the presidency when he sees how much dough Romney blew to little effect?

Answers to any of the above would be appreciated.

***

As I write this column Congressman Richard Neal was one of the members of Congress to be invited to the signing of the economic stimulus package. Now as I understand it, the bill would allow the federal government to send out checks of at least $300 to almost everyone who is earning a paycheck. People paying income taxes could get $600 per individuals or $1,200 a couple. There are provisions to help businesses and those people who have a sub-prime mortgage for their home.

Of course, if you're a fiscal conservative you might argue the government can't really afford this gesture as we're running a hulking deficit.

Now I know that when I'm doing the dirt sleep, my grandkids will be still struggling with the debts rung up by this measure and by the Iraqi War. I probably shouldn't accept the money, but I'm a weak, weak man. And hey, the Chinese are loaded and willing to lend us the money!

I've been pondering just how I should be spending my money in order so that it would the maximum effect on the economy. I suppose a pile of DVDs wouldn't be so good. Paying on my credit card bill would help me, but would it assist the economy?

How about a trip to Vegas? A box of cigars? A winter fur coat for Lucky the Wonder Bichon? How about I just stash it in the bank?

Choices, choices... what are you going to do with yours?

Boy am I bushed! Monday was a terrible day...lay-out day plus a three hour manager meeting about the budget. Please shoot me now. Hide the sharp objects. Where's the gas pipe?

Tuesday was spent at the Toy Fair in NYC....5:35 a.m. train, work most of the day ( I did take time to see my friend Richard Gordon and to go to the Virgin Megastore) and get back home at 11:35 p.m. Traveling with my buddy The Other Mark M made the day enjoyable. Then I had to be a Chamber of Commerce breakfast for 7:15 a.m.

There's nothing so invigorating as a chamber breakfast! At least the food was good and there was a bit of a story from the mayor's state of the city address. I had a hard time staying awake though. I wish I liked coffee.

I'll post the first installment of Toy Fair stuff tomorrow when my brain stops hurting. I love covering stuff like trade shows as they are the source for interesting trend information. I just wish I could do it in a civilized manner and stay overnight in the city.

Well, at least I can still go. The daily paper here has apparently given up on the Toy Fair despite four local companies that exhibit there. I love the conceit from The Republican's brass that they can still cover local news just fine after slashing their reportorial resources. What's next? A newspaper put together by interns and a handful of editors?

Ah to happier things, such as talking to up and coming comic Lavell Crawford.

Lavell Crawford said that as a child he wanted to be a superhero specifically, Spiderman.

"There were plenty of spiders in my basement, but none of them were radioactive," he recalled with a laugh.

His career goals changed, though, when he listened to a Richard Pryor album for the first time.

"I thought it was incredible," he said.

Crawford will be appearing at the Comedy Connection at the Hu Ke Lau on Feb. 23. Television audiences will recognize him from apperances on "The Tom Joyner Show," "Steve Harvey's Big Time," "BET's Comic View" and from the most recent season of "Last Comic Standing," where he came in second in the comedy competition.

Crawford has been very busy with his first Comedy Central special debuting on Feb. 22 as well as the release of his CD "Takin' a Fat Break." He also recently appeared on the cable television special, "Martin Lawrence Presents the First Amendment."

When he spoke with Reminder Publications last week he was waiting for the limousine to arrive to bring him to a taping of Chelsea Handler's talk show, "Chelsea Lately."

While in college his interest in comedy was strengthened when he saw Sinbad perform live. At first, Crawford thought his road as a performer was as a rapper, but he noticed that his rhymes were comedic and making people laugh.

Crawford said he was lucky to break into the industry in the early 1990s when comedy was booming. It took him five months of calling a local comedy club before they would give him a slot on a open mic night, but he was persistent.

"It was calling me," he said.

Crawford said that appearing on "Last Comic Standing" was a mixed blessing. He wanted to be in the final five comics because of the exposure it would give him, but the actual competition itself " was really bogus." The comics never learned of the percentages of audience approval.

"Television is a strange animal," he said. He noted that he and the other comics had to re-write their material to make sure it met the network's rules, but that dramatic shows are held to a different standard.

Crawford said the show was a "learning experience" for him and proved worth it as he is booked through December. He added that if the producers had wanted a more authentic reality show, they should have put the comics on the road and sent a camera crew to document them.

"They try to control it on television, but you can't control it on the road," he said. "Make it on the road, that's where all the drama starts."

The comic never censors himself, but his comedy is not laden with curses, the n-word or sexual references.

"I don't go overboard," he said.

Crawford would like to do everything in show business. He has written scripts; he is currently promoting and would like to get more acting roles.

Although Crawford formally writes his act, he said, "The stage is my notebook."

"I've written more jokes on stage than off," he said. He explained that he edits material as he works, subtracting and adding to a gag or routine depending upon the audience.

And Crawford explained how a comic has to be ready to exploit whatever happens before an audience. He explained that the Comedy Connection in Boston doesn't have a step onto the stage. The club was packed and Crawford said he was so excited he missed the stage and "fell on my face."

He didn't let that stop him as once he was on stage, he did 40 minutes on his accident.
© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I’ve been doing research for the Springfield post card book and what has struck me over and over is the very short time period most businesses, institutions, buildings, and trends have for success.

Take Indian Motocycle (not a misspelling) for example. The company started producing motorcycles in 1902 but was done manufacturing their own product by the early 1950s. They were the first American motorcycle and when they had their financial problems in the ‘50s that led to the company’s demise, their only American competition was Harley-Davidson.

Springfield’s Union Station was built in 1926. It replaced a much more elegant building (that’s the postcard you see) which I wish still existed. Bu the mid-1950s, the station was considered a white elephant and the railroad that owned it was seeking a buyer.

The old zoo at Forest Park was deemed in the 1930s as fairly progressive, but by the 1970s it was an embarrassment.

Fifty years, 30 years…those seem like a long time for some folks, but they aren’t really.

I suppose this post is a typical musing from a middle-age guy who understands that at age 53 he has lived most of his life. With my diabetes, I probably have another 20 years if I’m very lucky.

I’m not being morose this morning, just reflecting on the brief opportunities we have for some sort of success – however you measure it. I know this is why I’m trying to get these books out of my head and into reality. That will be one of my measures of success.

***

Over at Marty Langford’s Screen Writing blog, he reveals the news that director John Landis is working on a bio pic on Bill Gaines, the late publisher of the beloved EC Comics and MAD magazine.

I had the opportunity of interviewing Gaines three times – twice in his office and once on the phone. I used the interview in my fanzine, Inertron, back in my college years and then sold it to the Valley Advocate. I then did a piece for the Westfield Evening news and many years later I recycled it for Steve Murphy’s late and lamented V Mag.

I’ll never forget going into his office and seeing a near life-size Kong Kong head mounted as if he was peering through the window. Or the truly sick two photo framed with photos of Fatty Arbuckle and the woman he was alleged to have raped to death (he didn’t).

I was so encouraged by the first interview, that when I had a second session I brought along apiece I had written for MAD. I told Gaines about it and he called in one of the editors who read it silently with no reaction. It was the longest five minutes of my life. He finally said that it was funny, but in was in the style of an established MAD writer. It was. I thought that would get me a sale. He suggested that I try something in my own style.

I asked Gaines once what he thought of Cracked and Sick, two MAD competitors. (I didn’t admit that as a kid I read Cracked much more than MAD. For some reason my mom didn’t like MAD but thought that Cracked was better. I did become a life-long John Severin fan because of it.)

Gaines told me that there would be a point in my life where I would understand how it is to have someone try to capitalize on your hard work.

He was right.

I’ll try to dig out those stories and post the most complete version as soon as I can.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I've been writing some media pieces for my weekly column and need to stop it as I'm sure many of my readers don't want a steady diet of media criticism or analysis. So this week I'm going to write about my dental insurer's reaction to paying a $72 share of a tooth extraction. We all love insurance companies. The bastards are debating a $72 bill and I had to pay $178!

In any event, I owe Tom Devine a lunch at Jake's as his recent column was some good food for thought and an inspiration for my column below.

Talkers Magazine, the Bible of the talk radio industry, has a very interesting piece in its new issue on how talk show hosts view bloggers and generally it falls along the line if a blogger is critical of the host's point of view than he or she is to be discounted. It's an interesting attitude since talk radio and blogging have much in common: often-times opinion-based writing that fosters an inactive audience.

Frankly, the two mediums should be embracing one another.

Please indulge me, folks a moment for a little shoptalk. Since you're reading this newspaper, I'm assuming you're interested in local news and the health of the local media.

My friend Tom Devine whom many consider to be the father of the Western Massachusetts blogging movement (he said he is demanding a paternity test) has a very interesting post at tommydevine.blogspot.com.

Tom noted the announced demise of the print edition of The Local Buzz, the monthly entertainment and opinion publication published by The Republican's sister company. The paper will be going to a Web edition, which Tom interprets as another nail in the coffin of traditional media.

Tom wrote, "The era of printed publications is over. All newspapers, not just Local Buzz but the New York Times, the Washington Post, all the magazines national and regional, everything, everywhere that is presently distributed by the printed page is going to follow Local Buzz into cyberspace or they are going out of business in less than ten years. There will be no exceptions. There is no third way. All that remains is the deathwatch.

"The old dying media system was extremely elitist. In order to communicate to a mass audience in the pre-internet days you had to have access to expensive technology. You had to have a printing press, or a broadcasting tower, and all the technical know-how, licenses and unionized employees that implied. That meant 99% of the public could not print an article or go on television or on the radio, making those who did have such access, namely the reporters and writers who worked for the people who owned the printing presses and broadcast towers, a power so enormous it was almost invisible."

I understand where Tom is coming from and I embrace much of what he is saying, although I guess I'm part of the elitist system and my thoughts may be tainted. The Web is a powerful communications technology and is clearly the wave of the future. Hey, I blog. This newspaper has a Web site. I'm no Luddite.

Print is not dead, however. As long as the cost of producing magazines, books and newspapers in the traditional hard copy way is profitable they will continue.

And an affordable Web-based portable device that allows for the easy reading of newspapers, books and magazines is also necessary in order for the masses to go electronic is also necessary.

Perhaps I will see that revolution within my lifetime; at best I've another 25 years, more or less.

Before we start burying traditional publishing let's consider some facts:

The Association of American Publishers released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States for 2007 last May. The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from 81 publishers inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $24.2 billion in 2006 with growth in adult and juvenile books growing 2.9 percent to $8.3 billion, a compound growth rate of 3.7 percent per year since 2002.

An independent study from the Magazine Publisher of America showed the considerable significance magazines play in conveying advertising messages.

In other words, print works.

What is affecting most newspapers is a decline in advertising based on the economic climate of an area and the number of national chain stores, which do not advertise in local media. The other factor is the anticipation of a certain level of profit, which many observers believe the corporations that own big newspapers have set at unreasonably high levels.

The problem with the Web is trying to find a formula in which writers and artists get paid for creating content (one prominent local site depends on recruiting bloggers to work for free) and advertisers get real results so they are willing to pay enough that a site can actually turn a profit.

At this point the issue is far less about the technology and far more the business.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Oh that Mr. Martin!

Mark "Not the Race Car Driver" may not be the king of NASCAR, but he's one of "in crowd" of cartoonists doing cool work at Nickelodeon Magazine. Mark is featured in a new all comic edition of the 'zine on newsstands now. Go get it!

For a Wednesday I'm in a pretty burnt frame of mind already. I find that after nearly two years of my present schedule I never feel relaxed or refreshed by a weekend and constantly am trying to play catch-up when it comes to fatigue.

Here's what I published as my column this week. I'd love to have folks tell me what is their line for political correctness – what jokes or comments go too far. What offends you these days?

Where is the line between freedom of expression and hate speech? What is the difference between a racist remark and a joke?

I don't know.

Recently making a reference to the idea that President Bill Clinton was the nation's first "black president" a name given to him by acclaimed author Toni Morrison Sen. Barack Obama said, "Bill Clinton did have an enormous affinity with the African-American community, and still does, and I think that's well-earned."

The presidential candidate then added, "I would have to investigate more of Bill's dancing abilities, you know, some of this other stuff before I accurately judge whether he was in fact a 'brother.'"

It was a joke, but was it appropriate? Would it have been appropriate if a white candidate had said it?

I don't really know, but I bet if someone other than an African-American said it, there would have been a flurry of criticism. I'm also sure there are some African-Americans who are not comfortable with Obama summoning up an old and potentially damaging stereotype.

The lines are so blurred between what is correct and incorrect speech these days. Context seems to be the determining factor who says what at what time to which audience in what way.

And there's no guidebook on context, is there?

The other night when I was covering the fundraiser for Rep. Angelo Puppolo at the Basketball Hall of Fame there were about 40 protesters out on the sidewalk in what was described by them as a "Values Based Counter Rally." As you might know, Puppolo's switching of his vote on the same sex marriage issue vote back in June earned him the wrath of local anti-gay marriage activists who maintain that he betrayed them and their cause.

Puppolo was then publicly branded a "traitor to marriage" in a billboard last year on Interstate 91 comparing him to Judas and Benedict Arnold, no less that was financed by an out-of-state activist group.

The 40 or so folks carried signs, some of which criticized Puppolo by name but others condemning gay marriage. Still others simply attacked homosexuality.

As I walked up to the sidewalk to speak with Mike Franco, one of the leaders of the protest, one young man made sure I saw his placard. It read "Quarantine Queers."

He looked very proud and smiled.

All I could think of was the image of concentration camps.

My conservative friends yes, I actually have some have pointed out to me there is "hate speech" on both sides of the political discourse. They are right. Many people, left and right, have said and written grossly inappropriate things that have not advanced constructive dialogue.

That doesn't excuse what I saw the other night.

Free speech can be like juggling a cactus a thankless exercise that provides plenty of opportunity for pain. It's not easy to listen to points of view that are violently opposed to your own, but in a society such as ours they must not only be tolerated, but protected as well.

I'm willing to say a line should be drawn when an opinion advocates some form of violence and that sign that offended me did just that. That young man should be ashamed, but then again, I'm sure he is comfortable with his beliefs and thinks he has done nothing wrong.

But he has.

Well, I'll be getting some letters.

***

OK, I'm officially cheesed at this lop-sided primary system. Here I was all set to vote for Gov. Bill Richardson, a guy with an impressive set of accomplishments in a variety of government positions plus he comes from the land of my birth, New Mexico but he drops out of the race because he couldn't get the early support he needed to sustain his campaign.

Then I was all set to vote for Sen. John Edwards and he well, you know what has happened there.

This presidential race screams for real electoral reform in which we have a system not based on dollars raised, but on real debate that can result in people making decisions that are not based on who's the last candidate standing.

We need a national primary, financed by the parties, which takes the dollar signs out of the race and allows qualified candidates to be part of the discussion.

Of course too many people are making too much money off of the process now everyone from ad agencies and bumper sticker printers to caterers and hotel owners. The primaries pump millions of dollars into the economy, but they don't truly serve the voters, in my opinion.

I'm wearing a lapel pin now for my new favorite candidate: Popeye the Sailor. I like Popeye's tolerance he never hits first, but when he does hit back he doesn't fool around. He's obviously a green his boat is powered by the wind. He supports local agriculture one word: spinach. He believes in non-traditional families: he's a single adoptive father. He supports the underdog. He's not caught up in trends he's been wearing the same style of clothes since the 1920s. He speaks plainly and has a motto that should be embraced by everyone: "I yam what I yam."

Who am I kidding? Someone like that would never win a single primary.
© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I just added a new post to That's Thirty about my two days last week covering the governor. Ah the life of a journalist...it's exciting to trail behind elected officials in elementary schools.




A photo from my book: I'm interviewing the late actor Jonathan Harris, a hell of a nice guy

I have a pile of books here and for those who expressed an interest in getting an autographed copy of "Escape! How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s" please send me a check or money order for $25 (priority mail postage is about $5) to G. Michael Dobbs, 17 Spruce St. Springfield, MA 01105.

My publisher apparently asks some of the authors to sign index cards he then inserts into their books when they are requested by customers. I've not been extended this service, so I'll do it the old school way – you send me the money and I'll do a personal inscription.

Now in my best Stan Lee voice: I promise it's a must-have, double-bag collectors item that no true believer can be without!

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

If you look at the comments for yesterday's post, you see one from Mark "Not the Race Car Driver" discussing whether or not other religions frown on homosexuality and same sex marriage and abortion as much as Mike Huckabee's God does.

Mark says he not trying to be argumentative. Neither am I, honest. But I do, as a Christian (yes folks I try to be – I know that is difficult to believe), view God differently than Mike Huckabee.

So I did a little research and thought it was interesting.

Here's a discussion about Buddhist belief on homosexuality and one on the Hindu faith.

Here's a link about the Hindu belief on abortion. and here is the Buddhist take.

Essentially, it would seem the general consensus is abortion is wrong, but the jury is at least sort of out on same sex marriage. Here's my part of building that bridge, Mark!

So I guess I AM going to Hell. I can not reconcile why a just and loving God would create homosexuals – since it is NOT a learned condition by most accounts – and then condemn them, though. Why put a creation you love through that? That's one of those BIG questions like why do good people die young and nasty bastards live until they're 90?

Well, I'll continue my little fantasy and believe in a Deity who loves us despite giving us free will and allowing us to screw up. And I will still believe there are many paths to Heaven which looks different to different people. And I'll still believe in a Constitution that tells us we're free to worship as we wish or not.

Other than the issue of the Constitution, we won't know who is right until it's too damn late.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I published this rant in the paper and received an interesting response which I'll post later today. Essentially a reader who identified himself as an "ordained minister" told me I was going to Hell because of my attitude towards religious freedom.

You see I was always taught that our Christian God was a loving and forgiving deity and that Jesus was all about love and tolerance. Of course throughout history people have interpreted those qualities as reasons for murder, exploitation and prejudice. Some folks still do.

When my wife and I took in our Buddhist foster child many years ago I thought this was an act of being a decent Christian. Not shoving Christ down her throat was also a way to show her we think there are many paths to the same God.

According to the letter writer, I'm going to Hell for my open-minded approach. What else is new?

I don't understand why my statement that America should be a country of religious freedom – which means having a government that doesn't impose a religion on the public – is such a radical statement, especially to people who view themselves as conservatives. I thought at least some conservatives were folks who yearned for a country that exhibited the values in the Constitution and that includes religious freedom – which also means freedom from religion. Of course, I'm wrong about that, I guess.

It's letters like this one that emphasize the very great divide we have in this country that goes way beyond simple differences of opinion or life style options.

You know I thought it would take a little longer, but I was wrong. Martin Luther King Day is being abstracted.

Do you know what the meaning is behind Memorial Day? Unofficial start of summer? Indy 500? How about the day to recognize Civil War dead? In the South, it was called "Decoration Day," as that was the day school kids would "decorate" put flowers on the graves of Confederate Army dead.

Quick, now why do we have Veterans Day? It's not just another three-day weekend, is it? No, that day was originally to denote the end of World War I.

Abraham Lincoln and George Washington worked for this nation so their birthdays would be vehicles to sell cars, right?

My theory is when all of the people who actually lived through a time when a holiday was created pass away, the holiday loses much of its meaning. So the generation that lived through WWI is largely gone and that event is now an abstraction, a chapter in a history text.

I received a cheery press release from Ski Vermont that read in part: "The combination of snow guns and the hefty snowfall that Vermont has seen this season guarantees resorts will be running full tilt as travelers make their way to the mountains for this year's Martin Luther King Jr. ski weekend . And, Vermont resorts provide the perfect learn-to-ski/ride experience for those thinking about jumping into the sport with a quick weekend getaway the perfect way to take advantage of the MLK long weekend."

Clearly a way to use the day set aside to consider issues of race and civil rights is to go skiing in Vermont.

There are still plenty of people alive who lived through Dr. King's career. There are people alive who knew Dr. King personally and professionally. I'm surprised that King has become a historical abstraction this soon. I didn't think it would happen for years.



***

Everyone misspeaks now and then. We all say goofy stuff we know is wrong the moment we close our yap. I know I have in the past and, regrettably, will in the future.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee recently said at a Michigan campaign stop, "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that's what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family."

Huckabee clarified his point on the FOX News show "Hannity and Combs" that he specifically was referring to abortion and same sex marriage and that he was not in favor of a theocracy.

If the former governor were here in my office, I would ask him just which "living God?" The Judeo-Christian God? The God of Islam? Buddha? The Hindu deities? The Pagan Gods?

Now I know he means the Judeo-Christian God, but here in America we have people who practice many different faiths and things can get a little murky when a presidential candidate clearly picks one faith over another for public policy in a nation where we have a separation of church and state.

I don't care how you worship. That's your Constitutional right. And I don't care if you oppose abortion and same sex marriage. That's your right, too. But, Governor Huckabee, don't try to impose your religious beliefs on me and the rest of the country through this political process.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Everyone is asking me the same question: what did you think of Hillary Clinton's appearance in Springfield? and the answer is "I don't know! I couldn't go!"

It was a hard thing for this political junkie to pass up, although I'm not a fan of Clinton at all. I am fascinated by the process, the message and the means used in political campaigns.

I have to lay out newspapers on Mondays and Clinton's appearance was inconveniently scheduled... damn her! My sister-in-law went with her son, out nephew Douglas who at age nine is an avid presidential historian. Douglas got his first taste of dealing with politicians as the senator was two hours late to the event at Springfield College.

Most elected officials, I've learned through years of bitter experience, are always over-booked and therefore chronically late. The bigger the official the more apt he or she will be late.

Heather Brandon had a great posting while Bill Dusty had some pithy comments on his blog. Check them out!

The rumor is Senator Obama may be in town as well this week with Senator Ted Kennedy. Stay tuned.

Personally I would love to interview John Edwards, but I truly doubt, given his resources, he'll come here when he could campaign in a larger Super Tuesday state.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Hey I sold some books!

I had a fine time at my first signing yesterday with about 25 people turning out for the talk I gave at the Springfield Central Library. What was gratifying is that several young people were in the room who were studying animation, as well as folks genuinely interested in the subject.

Of course it would have been wonderful if I had a box of books to sell, but the "boys at the warehouse" apparently aren't under any obligation to actually ship your books in a timely manner. And my publisher can't make them do anything! Got to love American works ethic and customer service!

That's showbiz, as I explained to my granddaughter Noel who asked me in true unvarnished 13-year-old fashion if I was nervous no one had yet come to the signing five minutes before it was to start.

I explained most of my career has been in the business of preparing something for public consumption, doing your best and then hope the public likes it. There's nothing quite like having four hours of on-air time to fill and hoping people respond to your topics. Or wondering how many returns of your magazine you'll receive form your distributors. Or if people will respond to the front pages you created and pick up your 'paper.

Anyway, it was a fine time and I saw my old Westfield Evening News friend Doug Pratt who I haven't seen for over 25 years. Doug came in from the eastern part of the state and I appreciated his effort. He has a great Web site and if you're a comic book fan you MUST go here to watch a great BBC documentary on the career of Steve Ditko. I didn't know this film existed.

Hey Hilary Clinton is going to be in town tomorrow at 12:15 at Dana Gym at Springfield College on Alden St. to campaign. Well I was wrong. I didn't think any of the candidates would turn up here. Despite it being lay-out day, someone from my 'paper MUST go to this thing.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

A bunch of links tonight..

First, I'm trying to write more about media and so here is the link to a new post at That's Thirty.

Second, my buddy Jake at my favorite lunch spot in Springfield wanted me to look at some of the voter fraud allegation surrounding Ron Paul's results in New Hampshire. I don't agree with a lot of what Paul says, but I think this is very interesting reading.

The corporate media and the bigwigs of both parties don't want us to consider anyone but a selected handful of candidates. Perhaps that distresses you and perhaps you think it's just fine to turn over the democratic process to those who "know better."

Third...you might have missed thisthis in the mainstream press because they're not covering it very much. I wonder why?

Now I don't want to offend anyone, but I don't understand why Clinton's sexual mis-adventure warranted impeachment – well he did lie and I can't bring myself to forgive him for doing something so stupid...NAFTA, too – but the loss of American lives and innocent Iraqi lives is just fine? That is not worth the formal examination of a trial?

Solutions and explanation accepted...
©2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

A scene from my salad days: cavorting with minimum wage slaves encased in Ren and Stimpy costumes while covering the 1994 Video Software Dealers Association trade show for my first animation magazine, Animato.

Countdown to self-promotion!

Set your alarms clocks to Saturday at 2 p.m. when you'll have the chance to buy my book "Escape! How Animation broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s" when I appear at the Central Library on State St. in Springfield for a talk and a signing.

It will undoubtedly be the ONLY time the cover artist Mark "not the race car driver" Martin and I will be at a signing together. Don't expect Mark to hold forth with a detailed discussion of the genesis of the cover design. Mark's a man of action, not talk!

That's two autographs for the same price.

And you'll be doing a good thing because I'll be giving the library's non-profit foundation a chunk of the proceeds.

Directions: When entering the signing you will be randomly given a signing line pass. It might be red, blue, or yellow. You will form an orderly line when your color is called. Please do not look me in the eye or ask for a "special" inscription. Preference in the signing line will be given to those wearing Hawaiian shirts. Even greater preference will be given to those who hand me a fine cigar. Super preference will be given to someone who brings me crayfish from Chef Wayne's!

I can be bought and the charge is $20!

Need a preview of me blathering about animation? Tune into 560 AM WHYN at 8:30 tomorrow morning. If they do a podcast on their Web site, I'll post it here.

I'm hard at work preparing another sample chapter of the Fleischer book for my prospective publisher. I'm writing the Betty Boop chapter and revisiting some cartoons I've not seen for years.

Do you know there's a Web site We love Betty Boop.com that has an inventory of over 1,500 Boop items for sale? The character is making more money for the Fleischer family now than she was when she was in theaters!

Serious stuff tomorrow....
© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Barry Kriger, the vet anchor of WWLP is amused by something I said. Hey I always try to add a little humor to things. Sometimes it works. Gawd, I'm rumpled, grey looking guy ain't I? No threat to TV am I! At least I look the part of a newspaper editor.

The above is a shot of yours truly taken during a panel discussion at the recent communications conference at Western New England College in Springfield. Sponsored by the college and the Valley Press Club, the conference has been around five years providing attendees with some good information about the local press, marketing and public relations.

I've been on a panel three or four times and it's an almost odd experience as frequently you're sitting with people with whom you compete. Most of the time everyone plays nice and there is a feeling of colleagues sharing something common.

This year I was on the "mainstream media" panel which frankly made me feel a little odd. I don't consider what I do at a weekly newspaper to be"mainstream." By subject matter, it certainly can be, but the way we package the news and treat our readers I think we are an alternative to the daily and the TV station. That's who I think are mainstream.

In any event, I did have the chance to present my theory on why the press is suffering so much in this area: a declining advertising base as more locally or regionally owned businesses fall to chain stores. Chains don't like to advertise locally. They make their decisions on a national or regionally basis. Without advertising from local businesses, papers such as the ones I edit and write will indeed fall to the wayside.

That's because Americans have been taught that news comes to them at a very low cost or not cost at all. We've had that situation for generations and the new media on the Web is reenforcing that tradition.

If people aren't willing to pay for for a local news product because of declining ads sales, then goodbye local news.

Some folks who pride themselves on being "informed" pay only attention to national stuff. I have little respect for people who can lecture one another on presidential politics but don't know the issues in their neighborhood. Sorry.

The only way a republic such as ours can survive is through intelligent participation. And you need news sources for that. If trends keep going the way they are, there will be less and less local news and we will be all the sorrier for it.

But I bet we'll know what Britney is doing.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Working at Tundra was my "degree" in business. I learned so much there that I apply daily to the issues that have confronted me since that time.

Since I was a very little fish at the place I can't reveal as much as Steve Bissette has in numerous interviews, which, by the way, has earned him the permanent stink eye from a fair number of people.

Has I said in my previous post, Tundra was a grand experiment in allowing creators – in this case comic book creators – to control every aspect of the creation, marketing and distribution of a project. In some ways Tundra is the spiritual child of companies such as United Artists.

There were some people who actually said "no" to marketing and public relations efforts, while others wanted everything. Marketing costs were added to the expense of the project and literally could affect the profits. Hopefully marketing would pay for itself and produce more sales.

The shot glass for Steve's book did indeed cause hard feelings as I was an "outsider" who actually came up with a success. That damaged the precious little egos of the in-laws and relative crowd.

My lone creative project was done in collaboration with Bissette and was a calendar for horror fans that featured his art and my research on milestones in horror-dom. We had been toying with the idea about a year previous to Kevin Eastman founding the company. For those who don't know Eastman, he is half of the creative duo behind The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"The Year in Fear" was an abject failure. We sold about 125 of them to the comic book market and we rescued a bunch of the trash pile, which were then converted to prints that Steve could sell at shows. Others I sold through Fangoria magazine without the assistance of any one at Tundra. I have one in my office at the 'paper as a constant reminder of what NOT to do.

This is what I learned:

If you start out on trying to create a product you have to research it if you no previous experience with it.
I just thought if we come out with it at the right time, it would sell. Silly me. The calendar industry is a beast onto itself with lengthy advance times for the creation and marketing of calendars.

Get everything in writing.
I don't remember a contract that spelled out everyone's involvement. We were all friends, right? Wrong.

Develop a real business plan and stick to it.

Don't trust anyone that they actually know what they are talking about without checking things yourself.
Ah, there was one guy – part of the in-law and friends of Kevin mob – that insisted he could get all of the print run into BJs or Costco. Pure fertilizer.

Look at your product as objectively as possible. Does it meet the conventions of the industry?
Our calendar didn't have a functional grid and it didn't have a hole. It was much larger than most calendars and would have required a "dump" – a cardboard display box. It was a freak – a beautiful freak – and I didn't learn this until I tried to sell it to Spenser's Gifts. A kind but firm buyer told me just how wrong the thing was.

Where and how you sell your product is very important.
The main source for the calendar was initially comic bookstores. When that proved to be the wrong market, the calendars were to be dumped. We took a load of them and I worked out a deal with Fangoria magazine to sell them through them on a fulfillment deal. I moved some more that way without anyone's help at Tundra. We then cut them into prints to sell at conventions. Did we make money on them? No, not really. Tundra, which fronted the money for the printing, didn't make anything either.

Ultimately what I learned is that creators could be a pretty stupid, trusting lot – at least I was and I've tried to be much more savvy about things since that time. When I did licensing work for my friend Richard Gordon (producer of such films as "Fiend Without a Face, "Haunted Strangler" and many more) everything was done in writing and I was much more prepared.

So as I enter any discussion for new ventures I try to ask the necessary questions and realize the potential for being screwed.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

New reviews are posted over at Animation Review. Head over and take a look.

Heather Brandon is a blogger whose work has set new standards here locally. If I had the budget at the 'paper I would hire her in a second.

I was honored to be interviewed by her for a blog she wrote on the relationship of bloggers in news organizations and anyone who is interested in "new media" should give it a read. Go here for it.

A handful of people who read this blog are aware I worked for Kevin Eastman's experiment in creator's rights publishing, Tundra, back in the late '80 and early '90s. I did marketing and p.r. for the company and was given specific comic artist/writers with whom to work. My "clients" – as a I was a freelancer – included Rick Veitch on "Brat Pack," Steve Bissette's "Taboo" – on which I pissed off some of the full-timers by coming up with a promotional item that actually made money for Steve; that sealed my fate, there – and Bernie Mireault's "The Jam" among others. I did some work for Mark Martin as well if I remember correctly.

I was at the epicenter of the creator's rights movement in comics. Although I have many, many reservations about what was done at Tundra I will always give Kevin credit for attempting to create a new economic model. Where he failed was in having the wrong people in key positions, not willing to say no as often as he should have and not thinking out his model as thoroughly as he should.

To me much of what is now going on in the new Web media involves the same arguments that have plagued mediums such as comics and is at the center of the screen writers strike: who owns the work you create? How should all of the parties involved benefit from the work?

I believe that every for-profit business must pay for work on which it profits. And that business only buys the rights which the creator wants to sell.

When I co-published "Animato" and then soloed on "Animation Planet" I made sure contributors were paid every time we could afford it. I hated being in a "fanzine" position of asking for favors. Naturally the contributors maintained all the rights to their work.

With the Web, the question is how to we get people to pay for content when the lure of the Web is "free" content? If I hear another person tell me the Web is the "answer" for diminishing newspaper advertising profits I'm going to suck the gas pipe. The bottom line is no one seems to have the handle of how the Web can replicate the still very healthy model of magazines.

What's your take?
© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Okay, something truly significant happened this week, specifically at 6:42 Tuesday morning. Our foster daughter Chau – who is as far as we are concerned is our daughter – gave birth to our second grandchild, a calm little girl she and her husband named Cat for a Vietnamese fairy princess.

Granted I opted for anything like Michelle, but Grandpa has little sway in such matters.

I think there is nothing as so profound as birth. My reaction was to weep when I saw her. I'm probably going to do the same when I see her next.



In the photo are Chau – who is the prettiest and most composed women ever to have just given birth; she didn't break a sweat – her husband Kevin, and proud grandma Mary. Grandpa took the photo.

My man Bill Richardson dropped out of the race today before I got a chance to vote for him. That is what is so wrong with the current primary system. Candidates are not allowed to actually reap the support that they have built up. My other choice, John Edwards, just got dissed big-time by our absentee Senator John Kerry. To my fellow Bay Staters, when was the last time you saw John Kerry here? He has so little connection to his home state that frankly I view him as inconsequential to our life here.

Yes, I'm a Democrat, but I'm not happy with him.

Anyway, here's a thought or two on national politics.

Remember when Massachusetts had a presidential primary that almost mattered? The importance of the election in our neighbor to the north is the significant one for New England, but I do recall that some candidates actually made a point of swinging through the Bay State what seems to be a long, long time ago.

As a kid in high school and college, the news coverage of the primary basically started with the Iowa caucuses and ended with the "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of the conventions.

More and more, though, the primaries have been merged together so just several states seem to hold the key to the nomination. During the last race, I honestly thought that much of the democracy had been drained out of the primary process. The election seemed so cut and dried.

This time, while both parties have a long list of candidates, I see a national press that focuses on just several while ignoring the rest. It doesn't do this country any good.

And what the press likes to talk about are subjects that seem to stray away from what I think are issues. I don't care if Oprah is backing Barack Obama. I don't care about Mitt Romney's faith or Mike Huckabee's faith. I don't care if Hillary Clinton is going to employ her husband in some capacity if she is elected. I even don't care that Rudy Giuliani clearly has a big ethical problem.

I actually get angry when I see candidates wasting their time as Obama did dancing on "Ellen."

For us in Massachusetts it's very frustrating to see the national press cover Romney. How many reports have actually been about his record here as governor and how many have been about his religion or his flip-flopping. Granted, changing your mind as a politician can readily appear as political expediency rather than enlightenment, but what about reporting about what he has done or not done?

What I care about right now are the records of accomplishment for the candidates and how are they going to solve problems.

If I was on the campaign trail or if any of the candidates were here in Western Massachusetts, these are the topics I would ask about:

What would you do to re-build manufacturing jobs that helped create the middle class in the 1950s and '60s? Would you work to repeal or amend NAFTA? Would you support any other international treaties that would make it easy for jobs to leave this nation?

Would you support a revision of the federal tax codes that would allow all Americans to pay their fair share?

How would you end the war in Iraq and how would you secure our citizens against acts of terrorism?

What is your idea to solve the health care crisis in this country?

What would you do to stop global warming?

Tell me five ideas you personally started and saw through to implementation in government and how these relate to the experience needed for the presidency.

That's what I would do and I promise I wouldn't ask any of them to dance.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

The new book...
I spent a good part of this weekend working on the Springfield postcard book for Arcadia Publishing. I've assembled a good number of images and have acquired some great Springfield history books from 1936 and 1876 to help in the the captioning.

Remember the old Forest Park zoo? The lion house and the monkey house? The polar bear (now mounted in the Museum of Science)? Fond memories for people my age and older, although the zoo certainly didn't meet today's standards. I'm still a sucker for bears. I go to the current zoo and can watch the bears all day.

The other image is the former armory which is now the home of the South End Community Center. The building ( for those of you not familiar with that neighborhood of Springfield) is still intact with its towers and turrets.

I also spend time working on a new chapter for "Made of Pen and Ink," my book on the Fleischer Studios. Here's an image that has never been published anywhere:



This is one of several full color sketches that were made in preparation for a cartoon on mermaids that was never produced in the late 1930s or early '40s. Max's daughter Ruth Kneitel had them and allowed me to photograph them. She also had the script that was covered in notations in red pencil by Max himself. She wanted me to know that although Max had relegated himself to business and technical affairs, that he was still interested in the creative end of the business, although this was his brother's Dave's province by mutual consent.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

And hey, my first signing of "ESCAPE! How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s" will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Central Library in my home town of Springfield. I'm going to deliver a program about the changing face of animation and then sign some books. Bring a twenty and you'll get a book! Free copies of my old animation magazines will be available as well! Double-bag collector's items!

For more information go here.

Well, my new toy works!

But Lord help me what a process! I'm running a new operating system (Dogboy, thanks for the offer of helping me install the memory, but I took it to the Apple Store and the "Genius Bar" so if something went wrong I could yell at them! The next movie will be on me!) and it appears to be working.

The iPhone appears to be working just fine as well and I've decided to be one of THOSE people...Bissette probably won't ever talk to me again...I'm going to keep the work cell phone for my day job and carry the iPhone for personal stuff. I know having two cells is just pretentious but I want my bosses to continue to pay for a cell phone that they and the public use to contact me. Why should I have to pay for work minutes on a personal account?

Now to something more interesting. My friend Tony Cignoli is a political consultant who has worked on many campaigns in this and other countries. He sent me a succinct explanation of how the Iowa caucus systems works:

How the Iowa Caucus Works (On paper, according to the rules...technically, supposedly..legally).

I have been asked to prepare the briefest possible synopsis of how things work in Iowa. This brief has taken me some sixteen years to write.

The following is my attempt at simplifying one of the wildest festivities of democracy that I have ever participated in. I am glad it occurs only every four years.

As you read this, remember that I often remind clients and interested electorate of a truth attributed to another fellow from Springfield, Massachusetts. The founder of our profession; Joseph Napolitan once said: "Politics is perception, not reality."

How Democrats Do it in Iowa

As Democrats often are quick to point out, they do it different than Republicans. Especially in Iowa.

For the Democrats, the Iowa Caucuses are a three-step process.

The First Step:

Folks attending the caucuses have thirty minutes to get into the correct "Preference Group." This is the group designated for the candidate that caucus-goer is supporting for President. For a candidate's preference group to be recognized, the assembled group must be comprised of fifteen percent of the total number of people participating in that caucus site. Without fifteen percent, the group would not be recognized as viable.

Step Two:

After the Chairperson of the caucus determines and declares which groups are viable, participants have thirty minutes to switch their allegiance and join another caucus group. Supporters of other candidates can try to supporters of a different candidate to come one over. Backers of non-viable candidates, who appear to have less than the required fifteen percent, are prime targets for this woo-ing.

Step Three:

When the groups are finally set, the caucus chairperson then will determine the number of county convention delegates each group is entitled to elect. Those numbers are then totaled state-wide. The candidate with the most delegates is the winner of the Democratic Caucus.

Note: Undecided can be a preference group of it's own. One need not back a specific candidate.

Note: Regarding Step Two. It can be easy for a person to change their passionate, all-out-zeal, with-my-candidate-
unto-death support of their sworn-to candidate when their cousin who is with candidate A reminds them that
they still owe him for the cattle feed they were short on last spring. Or, when their mom reminds them that she
knows everything about them - stuff they would not want other folks to know so they better vote for candidate B. Or, when their state legislator or County Assemblyman reminds them that they still have not decided on that land-border dispute sitting on their desk and that voting for candidate C sure could make a difference on who gets what piece of the North Forty.


The Republicans Do It This Way:

Frankly, they just go and do it. Republicans assemble at their separate caucus sites and vote for president in a straw poll. They do this by paper ballot or a show of hands. The results are tabulated and sent in to the Republican State Committee where simple math is done. The winner of the Republican Caucus is the candidate with the most votes.

Sam Donaldson, the famed ABC news vet was on Ed Schultz's great progressive talk show the other day saying the Iowa system should be scrapped for a plain old election. After reading Tony's explanation, I have to agree.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

There are no stories sadder than unrequited love, right?

My foster daughter and her husband gave me a gift of gifts this Christmas: an iPhone. I've been wanting one of these things since I first saw it. Among my many flaws is an attraction to gadgets, esepcially if they are from Apple. I've been an Apple guy since the 1980s when we brought a Mac Plus. Since then I've had a succession of Apple machine and have been very much in love .

I've successfully resisted getting an iPod, but the iPhone called an siren's song to me. My daughter consulted with my wife if I really wanted one, received affirmation and lo and behold on Christmas Day I got one.

Joy!

Right?

Well, I brought the phone to the local Apple store for activation. Yes, the instructions said plug it into your computer, but I thought it would be easier (and I could get some operating tips) if I went there. No, I had to plug it into my computer I was told.

I did and found out I needed a newer operating system.

So I called Apple and asked if my iMac G5 had the memory needed for the new Mac OS. Yes, I was told. So I went back to the Apple store and spend $129 plus tax on "Leopard." Where do they get these cat names from for a computer operating system?

I came back and tried to install it only to find our that the no good rat-soup-drinking junkyard no-show muffin wrapper technician had either lied or didn't know his backside from a hole in the ground.

Another call to Apple confimed I needed more memory: $100 more to be precise.

So I ordered it and now am waiting to receive it so it can be installed.

Then I will have to install the new operating system, hitchup the iPhone and get it activated.

Boy, I hope I like this thing.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

It's nearly the New Year a time for reflection, hope and the best of intentions.

I don't make resolutions much anymore because someone will use them against me later on in the year to prove just what kind of a slug I am. Since I unwittingly provide enough ammunition for those accusations, I really don't need actively work on my critic's behalf.

In the best (or worse) tradition of pundits, I can make resolutions for other people, though. So here goes:

For incoming Mayors Domenic Sarno, Susan Dawson and Michael Boulanger, be resolved that you shouldn't make any promises that your budget can't keep. And try to schedule more than five minutes at any one event so you can give people the idea that you really care instead of simply giving them a token of your attention.

Another resolution should be to treat the press well. Give us more advance notice than an hour for press conferences, if possible. And always give your hottest stories to the staff of Reminder Publications first. You'll go to heaven if you do.

For the Chicopee Board of Aldermen, be resolved you all should get matching T-shirts that read "City Councilor." It will take some time to get people used to calling you a new name.

For the Springfield City Council, be resolved you should actually seek ways to work with the new mayor and the new Finance Control Board instead of being obstructionists. Not all of you have been that way, granted you know who you are.

To the members of the Legislature, be resolved you actually think about what your constituents want, rather than the whims of the leadership.

To folks who want stories from us, be resolved to play by the rules: give us two week's notice if at all possible; send us the notice by e-mail (news@thereminder.com) and feel free to call me or Natasha Clark to see if we've received the e-mail this is not a perfect technology.

Please note we accept bribes. Staple a $20 bill to a press release and you'll be amazed at the service you get. Wrap a press release around a fine cigar. Sprinkle a press package liberally with gift cards. Note: I'm just kidding. Sort of.

To decision makers at the big daily paper, be resolved to at least thank us when you lift story ideas from us. Hey, we love you fellow ink slingers!

To the guys who plow the snow on my street, be resolved you'll actually do a good job instead of the sloppy incomplete one I normally have to endure. There are dirt roads in Vermont that are more carefully plowed than mine in the middle of New England's fourth largest city.

To my neighbors on Beech Street with the dog you've chained to my fence, be resolved you'll actually have a moment of enlightenment and understand how terribly cruel you are to this animal.

To my neighbors on Florence Street with the chickens, be resolved you actually understand you're not supposed to have poultry running around the neighborhood.

(Don't you just love my neighborhood?)

To Lucky the Wonder Bichon, be resolved you will not see the need to lift your leg in the house, especially in the summer when the back door is wide open.

Now for the sake of equal time Damn you, conscience! I resolve to lose more weight; meet my deadline for my second book; convince a publisher to accept my third book; finish scraping and painting my house; retire my Chris and Dan Buendo voodoo dolls they don't seem to work anyway; try not to swear at the television weathermen as much as I currently do; go see more movies in theaters; spend far less time and money on eBay; and do whatever my wife wants me to do when she wants me to do it.

She'll laugh now and use that against me later.
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I've been meaning to post this story I wrote for a while, but just didn't get around to it thanks to the holiday swirl. I saw Burns speak and he was great. He repeated part of what he referenced in this article: how this generation's "Pearl Harbor" did not elict a reponse for sacrifice and shared purpose. Instead, Burns said the America public was told to shop. And he's right. The government with the cooperation of the major press have done their best to keep this war, especially in its occupation phase, out of the view of the American public.

Now before you all tell me it's on the nightly news every night, ask yourself what kind of stories are usually run? They are stories of attacks and body count. I don't ever get the sense of what is actually going on there, except for that. There is much much more, but are we getting the chance to learn about it through the mediums the bulk of Americans use?

Anyway, if you've not seen "The War," get a copy and watch it. It's a great film.

For Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary filmmaker, his approach to
the story of America’s involvement in the Second World War wasn’t to focus
on the presidents, prime ministers or generals, but instead to report it
through the lives or ordinary people.

And Burns is quick to add the men and women who experienced the war were
not “ordinary.”

Burns spoke to Reminder Publications last week. He will be appearing at
a signing and a discussion about “The War” at 2 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Borders
bookstore at the Holyoke Mall. Aside from the recent release of the
documentary on DVD, there is also a companion hardcover book by Geoffrey C.
Ward and Burns.

Burns said that in producing the film, the first thing one had to do was
shed any idea of a standard documentary format for the production. The goal
was to make “an authentic film.”

That task was daunting because Burns added World War II was “the biggest
event in human history.”

Burns wanted to approach the subject through four communities –
Luverne, Minn., Sacramento, Ca, Mobile, Ala. and Waterbury, Conn. – and
their citizens. To do so, once the communities were selected Burns and his
colleagues spoke to over 600 people – individuals who saw combat and those
waiting for their loved ones to return from combat.

From that group, about 40 on-camera interview subjects were selected.
They ranged from people who fought in the Pacific and European theaters to
Americans who were imprisoned behind enemy lines to young women who found
themselves working in jobs that supported the war effort.

Burns said it was a privilege to speak with these people as it allowed
him to see what it was like to experience the war.

Many other documentaries have discussed the leaders and the events of
the war and Burns thought this approach “keeps you away from what really
happens in war.”

The production took seven years to make and involved going through
thousand of hours of archival movie footage – some of it was truly horrific
Burns said – thousands of photographs and hundreds of hours of interview, he
said.

Burns wanted to put viewers into the shoes of Americans living during
the war by cutting from scenes about the clash to Europe to the home front
to the war in the Pacific rather than covering those events in separate
parts of the film.

“Americans were overwhelmed by news,” he said.

With uncensored war footage and frank interviews with veterans and
others, Burns hoped to strip away the romance that has surrounded “the good
war.”

“The good war was the worse war ever,” he added.

Burns noted, though, one can draw some of the most positive examples of
human behavior from the war.

“The good stuff is only made better when you lift up the carpet and
sweep out some of the dirt,” he said.

The ultimate result is a film that has made a deep impression on its
viewers. Burns said he has received thousands of calls and letters from
veterans who have told him that finally someone has portrayed what being in
the war was like. Burns has received gifts such as dirt from Omaha beach and
sand from Iwo Jima from viewers.

“It’s been an amazing, amazing outpouring,” he said.

With America is currently involved in a war that was started with an
event that has parallels with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Burns noted
Americans today haven’t been asked to make any sacrifices unlike their
countrymen of 60 years ago.

He said that at signings he always asks how many people know someone who
is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and he said only about two percent raise
their hands.

He said the lack of involvement of most American’s in today’s conflict
has resulted in a separate military class.

During World War II, Americans were in the fight together, he said.

“Today we’re all individual free agents,” he added.

He said we might be today ‘a richer nation, but we feel a poverty of
spirit.”

Review: “The War”
For anyone who harbors romantic notions about “The Good War,” Burns’
lengthy documentary will quickly remove any rose-colored glasses.

“The War’ is a story about how a nation of people who largely viewed
themselves as unaffected by events happening in both Europe and Asia reacted
when thrust into a conflict the likes the planet had never seen before.

And while Burns shows how Americans reacted in selfless and noble ways,
he balances the coverage by also showing that people were all too human.
Whether it is the racial tension that came with the industrial mobilization
or the shameful treatment of Japanese American citizens, this film does what
no other documentary on World War II has ever done: it relates the story of
the war in truly understandable terms.

Like “the Civil War,” the film for which Burns is best know, “The War”
uses a variety of firsthand sources and accounts. The difference with this
film is that we are able see and hear those witnesses in contemporary
interviews. This film is all the more powerful because we can relate to the
events through these people.

This film established a human link between those who experienced the war
and those who have only seen it as a historical event and I think it should
be required viewing for anyone wishing to understand the American
experience.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Merry Christmas to all!

It's almost here so I'm almost through my annual Christmas anxieties:

I stress out trying to prepare stuff at work so I can take time off.

I try to relax about shopping for my wife because I want to the holiday gifts to be memorable.

I want the Xmas meal to go well....what did I forget?

I hope to find a DVD for Steve B. that he doesn't have already! It's best to ask.

And now a new worry: making sure I don't ruin Christmas by saying something insulting to friends over dinner!

***
Worst Xmas special: anything by Rankin-Bass...Yag! I've hated all of the stuff since I was a kid.
Best Xmas special: Chuck Jone's Grinch. Still love it.
Best Xmas movie: a tie between "A Christmas Story" "It's a Wonderful Life" and the original "Miracle on 34th Street" Special runner-up "The Muppets Christmas Carol"
Worst Xmas film: no not the obvious: "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" or "Santa Claus [Mexican version]". I can't stand "White Christmas" yeech...Danny Kaye.
Best pop Xmas album: Nat King Cole's Christmas album
Worst Christmas music: Anything involving Paul McCartney.

Your turn!
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Here's a press release dated Dec. 12 that provides something to think about this Christmas season.

Here's an interesting formula: as more and more jobs leave this nation, our standard of living decreases. As our buying power wanes, we are forced to shop at places like Wal-Mart. With every purchase of cheap foreign goods, we potentially damage the jobs we have left.

We've got to reverse this if we don't all want to be shopping at Family Dollar.

Yeah, yeah I'm the frickin' Grinch ain't I? We're not to consider such upsetting thoughts this holiday season. Sorry....not!

Wal-Mart Christmas Ornaments Made Under
Illegal Sweatshop Conditions in China

Wal-Mart Christmas ornament workers toil 10 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, going for months without a day off. Many workers earn as little as 26 cents an hour—just half of China’s legal minimum wage. Workers handle toxic chemicals without protective gear. Some children as young as 12 worked in the factory.

Senator Byron Dorgan holds a simultaneous press conference in the Senate Gallery in Washington, DC.

At a press conference at Rockefeller Center in New York City, in the shadow of the Christmas Tree, the country’s leading labor rights activist, National Labor Committee director Charles Kernaghan, released a 58-page report, documenting the horrific conditions under which Wal-Mart’s Christmas ornaments are made in China. The release includes unprecedented photographs and video footage of child laborers and workers in the Spray Painting department handling potentially dangerous chemicals without the most rudimentary safety gear.

The National Labor Committee’s report, “A Wal-Mart Christmas Brought to You from a Sweatshop in China” provides a rare inside view of the giant Guanzhou Huanya ornaments factory in Guangdong, where every single labor law, not to mention internationally recognized worker rights standards, are being grossly violated on a daily basis. The report can be accessed on the NLC’s website: www.nlcnet.org

Among the abusive conditions documented in the report are:

Five hundred to 600 16-year-old high school students were employed last summer, along with some children as young as 12 years of age, toiling 10 to 12 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, and going for months on end without receiving a single day off. Wal-Mart Christmas ornament workers are at the factory a minimum of 84 hours a week, while at least half the workers are at the factory 105 hours a week.

Anyone daring to take a Sunday off will be docked 2 ½ days’ wages.

Some workers earned as little as 26 cents an hour, just half China’s legal minimum wage of 55 cents an hour, which itself is not close to a subsistence level wage. Pay sheets smuggled out of the factory show workers earning a median wage of 49 cents an hour, including overtime, and $42.29 for 110 hours of work, while they should have earned $74.77. Workers were cheated of one-third of the wages legally due them. Factory pay sheets showed just eight percent of the workers earning the legal minimum wage, while 92 percent fell below that.

Workers in the Spray Paint department who develop skin rashes and sores while handling potentially dangerous chemicals have no choice but to leave the factory, as management does not pay medical bills or sick days. For quitting on short notice, workers are docked one month’s pay.

By July, the high school students were so exhausted from the grueling 12 to 14-hour shifts, seven days a week that they went on strike and brought a legal suit against the factory, denouncing the grueling, illegal hours and seven day workweeks for which they were paid below the legal minimum. The students also reported to the Labor Bureau that some 12-year-olds worked at the factory.

“With its expensive PR campaign, and masquerading as Tiny Tim, Wal-Mart is glorifying the virtue of buying cheap goods in its stores, claiming this is the real holiday spirit,” said Charles Kernaghan, “But, especially at this time of year, no American would knowingly purchase a product in Wal-Mart if they knew that bargain was based on the exploitation of children and teenagers forced to work grueling hours, seven days a week, who are stripped of their rights and paid pennies an hour. Wal-Mart will remain a Scrooge, so long as its bargains are based on the cheapening and immiseration of the lives of the young workers in China who make 70 percent of the goods sold in Wal-Mart.”

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said in a statement released in Washington, D.C., “Chinese sweatshops now produce not only the toys under our Christmas trees, but even the ornaments that hang on those trees. It is completely against the spirit of Christmas to produce ornaments in sweatshop factories where the workers are physically abused and financially cheated. We need to get serious about keeping the products of foreign sweatshops off American shelves. And we shouldn’t wait until next year’s holiday season rolls around before we take action.”

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

It’s that time of year when memories of past Christmas seasons come floating back through the ether.

I was always quite suspicious of Santa Claus.

It just seemed to be a lot to believe – North Pole, elves and the fact he gave out all of the presents around the world in just one night.

I wasn’t a particularly smart-ass kid, but seeing Santa at Sears in West Springfield and then at Bradley’s seemed just wrong to me.

Our home at 104 Navajo Rd. in Springfield didn’t have a fireplace and chimney. There was a flue and an incinerator – remember incinerators? They’d burn up almost anything – and I couldn’t buy my parents’ assertions that Santa slid through the incinerator.

And when they offered the explanation that he came through a window, just like some cat burglar, I pretty much wrote old Saint Nick off.

The “crisis” of my teetering belief – hey, as long as I received presents, I was just as happy – was stabilized though one night when there was a knock on the front door.

Now, no one used the front door. Everyone used the side door through the breezeway, so I assumed this was someone we didn’t know.

I vaguely remember a man in a uniform and one of my parents taking an envelope from him. It was a telegram.

A telegram?! I only saw telegrams in the movies. This story took place 1960 or ’61. At that time, long-distance phone calls were still a relative rarity and telegrams were still a means to communicate quickly. However, for most people they were reserved for important and often bad news. Telegrams were official and important. You didn’t mess with a telegram.

And this telegram was addressed to my brother and me and it was from Santa!

Now, my young mind had difficulty processing all of this. We had received a telegram, a real Western Union telegram, and it was from Santa. There was some progression of logic that ended with the conclusion that Santa was real.

Wow. The doubting Thomas was silenced quite a bit. Perhaps Santa was real. After all who would send the telegram to us if he didn’t exist?

You see how trusting I am? It’s no wonder I voted for Mitt Romney for governor.

It never occurred to me that my parents had sent the telegram to us to shore up our fading belief. It worked until the next spring when there was a telegram from the Easter Bunny. That blew it. I had never believed in a six-foot rabbit distributing hardboiled eggs and candy throughout the land.

Western Union had fractured its credibility with me, too.

But those relative few moments when I thought Santa could be real were nice to savor.

***

When I was on the late and lamented WREB way back over 20 years ago, I was the fattest guy on the station. I’m now the fattest guy at this newspaper office. Some stuff doesn’t change.

Both Jonathan Evans and Rom Chimelis, with whom I shared the daily talk duties, were slender. Therefore, when the annual Santa Claus broadcast came up, guess which one got to don the suit?

Yup, I got to represent Saint Nick quite a few years including a gig as the official Holyoke Santa.

Now, I was a traditionalist. I didn’t say or do anything to tarnish Santa’s reputation to get a cheap laugh. And I tried hard not to scare the parade of pre-schoolers who were brought to a downtown bank from where we broadcast for a day.

Santa is one of the ultimate authority figures. His judgment would determine what kind of a holiday you had – that’s pretty big in the world of kids.

The most memorable request came from a little girl no older than four. When I asked her on the air what she wanted, she replied quickly and confidently, “Diamonds.”

And when I served as Santa for the Paper City, I was put to the test: my wife decided to bring our then wee tyke nephew Andrew to see Santa.

Talk about stress – I really didn’t want to mess up this kid’s mind when he recognized his uncle.

But thanks to a superior Santa outfit – Holyoke didn’t cut any corners – Andrew declared to my wife Mary that he had visited the “real” Santa.

I wonder if he remembers?
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Politics is just as seductive as entertainment to me and often times they seem almost alike. In a perfect world, I'd be a full-time talking head pundit by name and an entertainment reporter by night.

What I wouldn't want to be is a pollster as pundits are supposed to offer educated guesses while pollsters are supposed to offers facts based on statistical data. Pundits can make a goof or two and still retain their jobs. Pollsters are required to be right.

The folks at Zogby sent me the following information which I'd like to share with my like-minded readers. What interests me is how the pundits are now revising their "front runner has got it locked" rhetoric to "it's now anyone's game" as we get closer to actuall voting.

And I love the whole rap on Mitt Romney: focusing on his religion and his electibility, instead of his record as governor. Under four years of Mitt (actually less as he was out of the state much of his last year preparing his run) he did only several things which meant anything to me: he fired hack politician Billy Bulger as the president of UMass and he helped formed the Finance Control Board that has helped stabilize my home town.

That's two good things I can say about him and the only good things. Essentially he was completely unprepared for accomplishing something in government. The State House is not the same as a corporation and Romney failed to learn how to work with people. Once he made sure everyone knoew this was a steppingstone, he lost any juice he had with the public and his fellow pols.

Here's what the Zogby folks are saying:

Less than a month before Americans officially begin choosing their next President, the Democratic and Republican races in the first caucus state of Iowa are essentially dead heats, new Zogby telephone polls show.

In the first primary state of New Hampshire, Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York retains an 11ˆpoint lead, down from what had been a 15 point lead in late September. However, Republican Mitt Romney's strength in the Granite State remains strong with double the support of his nearest rival among likely Republican primary voters.

IOWA

Clinton leads the Democratic race here with 27%, followed closely by Barack Obama of Illinois at 24% and John Edwards of North Carolina with 21%. There has been very little movement in the Democratic race here since last month, as the frontˆrunners essentially stood still and two lower tier candidates, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio gained two points each.

In fact, this race has remained remarkably stable for the past year. Zogby telephone polling in Iowa last January showed it to be a threeˆway race with 13% undecided ˆ now, 11% say they have yet to make up their minds.
Since last month, however, Clinton was able to solidify her standing among some likely caucusˆgoers by increasing the number of people who said she would be their second choice. This is a critical factor in the Democratic caucus in Iowa. In the caucuses, a first round of „balloting‰ is conducted, and those candidates who do not win at least 15% support are ruled „unviable‰ and supporters are directed to a second choice among those who remained „viable‰ before a second round of „balloting‰ is conducted.

Last month, Obama and Edwards were much more preferred as a second choice among those candidates who appear to be unviable under Democratic caucus rules. Clinton appears to be gaining ground among those who might consider experience to be an important factor in choosing a nominee ˆ she wins the lion‚s share of support among those who make Biden their first choice, and she does well among those who would first choose New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Among those who make Obama their first choice, Edwards is their second choice, and vice versa. Among those who make Clinton their first choice, Obama is the favorite second choice.

Among independents who said they would caucus with the Democrats, Obama leads with 31%, followed by Edwards at 26% and Clinton at 19%.

Among Iowa women, Clinton leads with 33%, followed by Obama and Edwards, both at 23%. Among men, Obama leads with 26%, followed by Clinton at 20% and Edwards at 19%. Richardson wins 10% and Biden 9% among men.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts retains a narrow edge over Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, but it is essentially a dead heat, the Zogby survey shows. Romney has lost five points in the last month, while Huckabee has soared, gaining 10 points since Zogby‚s Nov. 7 poll.

Huckabee has taken the most support from Romney, but his gain also comes as Fred Thompson of Tennessee and John McCain of Arizona lost ground.

Among women, Huckabee leads Romney, 25% to 24%, but Romney leads Huckabee among men, 28% to 26%.

Among those who consider themselves Born Again Christians, Huckabee enjoys a large lead over Romney, 42% to 22%, but he made significant gains among those who are not Born Again, moving from 7% in the Nov. 7 poll to 17% in this latest survey. Romney still leads among nonˆBorn Agains with 30% support. Rudy Giuliani of New York is third among nonˆBorn Agains.

Among current gun owners, Huckabee and Romney are tied at 27% support with Fred Thompson a distant third at 11%. Among former gun owners, Huckabee leads Romney, 34% to 28%. Among those who have never owned a gun, Huckabee leads Romney, 26% to 23%, with Giuliani winning 18% support.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I've received inquiries on how to get an autographed copy of my book "Escape! How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s."

And the answer is...I'm not sure! I will be having a local signing in my hometown of Springfield at 2 p.m. Jan. 26 at the grand and majestic Central Library. I'll post more details as plans are firmed up.

I'm still trying to get a signing lined up in Boston and New York, and will be lobbying a couple of places in those communities this week.

I'm debating buying a bunch of book myself to autograph and sell then through the blog. We'll see.

In the meantime, word is getting out there about the book's existence. The great animation director Michael Sporn plugged it on his blog and Jerry Beck gave it a nod at Cartoon Brew. Thanks guys!

Even the book's cover artist, Mark Martin (not the race car driver) mentioned it on his blog!

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Like all reporters, I am professionally ignorant.

Every day I'm confronted by mysteries, conundrums and puzzling evidence of things I barely understand. It's my job to comprehend something of which I have no experience in order to write a story that will be understood by my readers.

There are many times I am stymied, though, by events and pronouncements I see or read.

For instance, I make no claim to superior intelligence, but I like to think that, as the late Redd Foxx would say, "I ain't no dummy." Why is it then when I stand at the counter of a Starbucks to get one of the frozen coffee drinks that I like so much I never know what to ask for? I have to launch into a description and an either bemused or bored looking barista then translates what I want to Starbuck-ese. Why is it I fail to understand the language of coffee drinks when obviously so many speak it?

I don't have trouble ordering food in Chinese restaurants where the cuisine and how it is described reflects a foreign culture.

On television I seem to watch all the channels on which some firm advertises for my "old gold." Apparently, there are quite a few Americans with gold items cluttering up their houses and this firm will buy them from you. All you have to do is call a telephone number and request your "old gold kit." You toss the stuff into a "security envelope" and wait for your check. What fascinates me is that among the "old gold" inventory the happy announcer lists is dental gold. Where does one get used dental gold? Is this from an inheritance or a quiet moment with a pair of pliers? That's a little grim, isn't it? Or do you trade in gold fillings and bridgework for newer substances?

We have toilets and urinals that flush themselves because we apparently are incapable of doing such an easy task and now we have paper towel and hand soap dispensers that are automatic as well. My problem is that if I'm in a restroom for the first time I have to stand there and try to figure out what I have to do or not do in order to complete the mundane chore of washing one's hands. Do I wave my hands before a sensor or crank something? When nothing happens have I waved too much or is it not working?

A seventh grade class recently visited me on a career day field trip to our offices. Now a newspaper office is a fairly passive place, but I expected some questions, some expressions of interest stupid, stupid me.

Instead almost every question I asked in order to get to know them a bit better What kind of music do you listen to? What movies do you like? What do you do in your spare time? Have you thought about a career? were met, for the most part, with blank stares or a genial "I don't know."

So how do these kids who profess to know so little manage to understand the intricacies of half a dozen video games that can take months to learn? How come they are capable of having a half-dozen conversations going on through instant messaging, but are ignorant of what is happening in their world? What the hell are they talking about?

I'm concerned my lack of understanding might be the tip of the on-coming old age iceberg. I've often wondered why men who were snappy dressers up until retirement suddenly accept clothing combinations of checks and stripes that are usually reserved for rodeo clowns. Why do these guys wear their pants up around their nipples? And why do some wear both a belt and suspenders?

Does an old- age chromosome kick in that negates any sense of good taste?

That leads into another question: Why do we Americans prefer quantity of food to quality? How many times have you heard people say, "Well it's not the best place, but you get a lot for the money."

Take it from a fat man, life is too short for bad buffets.

If anyone has any answers, drop me a line at mdobbs@crocker.com.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs