I haven't posted films reviews in quite a while, so let me start off with some animation.

Sony Pictures has released "Blood +," an anime series which has been seen on the "Adult Swim" programming block of Cartoon Network.

Japanese animation or anime is much more adventurous than American animation in its willingness to use the medium to tell a variety of stories. The problem with anime is that like any other type of popular culture there is a large percentage that relies on clich s or on the conventions set by truly innovative productions.

Anime is filled with school girl heroines, hideous monsters and overly intricate plotlines that are like soap operas, as well as visual and animation devices that are used over and over.

I'm happy to say that while "Blood +" has a school girl heroine, hideous monsters and an intricate plot, its writing is compelling, the animation strives for a kind of realism other productions never achieve, and I was definitely hooked.

"Blood +" is about Saya, who at first resembles any other teenage Japanese school girl. The difference is that Saya is suffering from amnesia and her adoptive father has kept the story of her past from her. What she doesn't know but is to find out is that she is the one person capable of destroying vampire-like creatures known as "chiroptera."

Although there is plenty of blood-letting, "Blood +" seems to avoid many of the primary pitfalls of anime: the reliance on conventions in order to avoid having to do something different.

Sony has released the first five half-hour episodes onto one disc, "Blood + Volume One," and the entire 26 episode first season in a six-disc boxed set that comes complete with a T-shirt and a mini-comic adopting the story into manga Japanese comic book style.

There are no extras on the stand-alone volume, but in the boxed set , one of the six discs is all interviews with the series' creators.

Be aware that if you buy the stand-alone disc, those five shows are all repeated in the boxed set.

Animation fans who would like to try something different, should seek out "Blood +."

For more information, log onto www.sonypictures.com.

Bee Movie: A Very Jerry 2-Disc Edition

Entertainment writers have been spewing stories about the "Seinfeld" curse now for several years, and the box office success of Jerry Seinfeld's follow-up vehicle, "Bee Movie," certainly showed he was under the same dark cloud as some of his co-stars.

The film will be out on DVD shortly and if you're a fan of the film, the two-disc edition will give you all the "Bee" stuff you could possibly want.

The film is about Barry Benson, a bee who is challenging the status quo of the hive. While other bees know what they want to do, Barry doesn't and this eventually leads him to a friendship with a human (played by Renee Zellweger). This friendship and the realization humans exploit bees for honey leads to a class action suit against the human race brought on behalf of bees.

I have to admit that in an animated kids' movie I never thought the concept of a lawsuit for exploitation would be a plot point, but then there's a lot in this film that is more for adults than for children.

I took my nephew Douglas to the film when it was in theaters and although he liked it, he didn't laugh once. I did laugh several times, but we had far different reactions to "The Simpsons Movie:" a stream of belly laughs.

Seinfeld co-wrote the film and stars as Barry. I think it's fascinating to see him develop a property that is as about as far away from his hit television series as he could get.

I liked the film. It's pleasant and despite the class action lawsuit and genocide sub-plots, it's generally enjoyable. I just didn't find it as funny as many other recent animated offerings.

The extras in this two-disc set reveal a little of how the film was made. Seinfeld did not want to leave his New York City home so Dreamworks set up an office with a two-way television/computer system so Seinfeld could meet and collaborate with the production crew on the west coast.

There is one obnoxious featurette that is merely a commercial for HP computers, which were used in the making of the film.

The extras also have two deleted scenes and five alternative endings. It's interesting to see that Seinfeld and his directors were obviously unsure on how to end the picture and kept re-working the scene.

If you liked the movie or are a Seinfeld fan, this two-disc set is a honey. I'm very sorry, but I resisted the bee puns until the very end.

Okay, now some non-animated features.

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun

This Danish documentary tells less than what I would liked to have learned about an eccentric Dane and his wish to turn a castle into a monastery, but the film is still interesting viewing.

Filmmaker Pernille Rose Gr nkj r followed around Mr. Vig, a man in his eighties, for five years, recording his efforts to establish a Russian Orthodox monastery in the small castle he owned.

Although we learn much about Vig, he is still quite a puzzle. Although he looks frail, he seems to take pleasure in physical labor. He has an obsession with noses, has never been in love, and can recount there has only been one person he has truly admired his father.

He doesn't seem very religious at this point in his life, but clearly the study of religion has been important to him and he has decided that if he could establish a monastery at his run-down estate he will have created a lasting monument to himself.

The Moscow patriarchate agrees to send Sister Amvrosija to evaluate the castle and to work out the details with Vig. A positive but no-nonsense woman, she and Vig almost instantly begin clashing.

One realizes that when confronted with the possibility of seeing his dreams realized, Vig begins having cold feet. The Russian nun will have none of that and pushes forward to put an agreement in place and to repair the castle.

I really would have wanted to know more about Vig how he obtained the castle, what was his profession, how did he support himself at the time of the filming but we aren't given that information. It would have made the story much richer.

Even with these flaws, the film is well worth watching for folks who want to see a very unusual story.

For more information, visit www.themonasterymovie.com.

The Kite Runner

Based on the book of the same name, "The Kite Runner" is a movie that while not depicting a true story rings very true.

The movie tells the story of Amir, a boy whose growing up is marked by a horrible act of abuse on his best friend, his inability to face that act and his departure from his native Afghanistan to the United States.

While this part of the story is compelling enough, it is what happens to Amir as young man that elevates the story to something above most dramas. Amir receives a phone call from a family friend telling him to come home, as "there is a way to be good again."

Amir discovers Hassan, his childhood friend, has been killed by the Taliban and sets out on a quest to rescue Hassan's son who still is in Kabul.

I can't give you more details, as there are several surprises.

This film is part immigrant story, part current affairs and part self-discovery for the central character of Amir. The performances by an international cast of relative unknowns are superb with Homayoun Ershadi standing out as Amir's father.

This is a great movie and one that is worth seeking out. Be warned, though, much of the film is sub-titled, but I hope that won't put you off watching this film.

For more information, go to www.kiterunnermovie.com.

The Tudors, First Season

This Showtime series, now on DVD, has a lot going for it. A loosey-goosey depiction of the life and loves of King Henry VIII, the show probably will give historians hives as it does play fast and loose with many of the details of the monarch's life.

Where it does probably succeed English history professors are encouraged to write in and tell me if I'm right is the capriciousness and the bloody politics of Henry's reign.

Oh yes, that and the fact that he was, in today's parlance, a dog.

My problem is that while the shows can boast of great settings, costumes and performances as well as well-written scripts, it cheapens itself when the story turns to Henry's bedroom antic. What was once a historical drama now is soft-core porn.

These sequences are so gratuitous that one could clip them from the film and no one would know the difference.

So while I can give a recommendation to the show in general, I have to add a big warning for scenes you really don't want your kids to see.

For more information, log onto www.sho.com/tudors.

Southland Tales

I've never seen "Donnie Darko," the cult film by writer and director Richard Kelly, but I've received many recommendations about it. That's why I decided to waste two hours of my life and watch his second film.

That was a big mistake, but I watch these things so you don't have to!

A darkly comic, satiric science fiction film with bold political themes, "Southland Tales" is one of those films that has so much potentially going for it that its failure is even more spectacular.

Kelly had come up with a plan: the film would be preceded by a series of graphic novels and the narrative would be concluded with the film itself. Perhaps the film makes more sense if you read the comics, but as a rule it should stand on its own.

The trouble is the story simply makes little sense and the film veers from something serious to something stupid. It opens with a nuclear attack on the United States, begins a story about the aftermath, World War III and the suspension of many civil liberties and then descends into a low comedy look at a group of far leftists trying to upset an election.

Kelly assembled quite a cast headed by Dwayne Johnson and includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake and a whole bunch of comic performers in straight roles (Jon Lovitz, Seann William Scott, Will Sasso, Cheri Oteri and Amy Poehler).

There's a lot of talent wasted in this film that just can't tell a story.

Yes, there are extras, but I was so disgusted by this self-important farce, I couldn't make myself watch them. The film was punishment enough.

For more information, log onto www.southlandtales.com.

Mulberry Street

My fellow horror movie fan Mark Masztal and I discovered this film when it played as part of the After Dark Horror Film Festival. After sitting though a really terrible film "Lake Dead" we had little hope for this film that depicts New York City in the midst of a hideous epidemic.

Boy, were we wrong. "Mulberry Street" is an expertly made film that packs in the jolts at the same time it establishes realistic characters. Director Jim Mickle, who co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Damici, clearly understands what is lacking in so many so-called horror films today and gives us a scary story with a very humanistic core.

The premise, like many good fright films, sounds ridiculous humans bit by rats are turning into rat-like creatures themselves. The execution is another thing. This film works on every level.

Want a good scare and a good film? Check out "Mulberry Street."

For more information, go to www.mulberrystreetmovie.com.
© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

An update on the house on the street that was set ablaze recently: The city came and secured the home and cleaned up the property. Despite my efforts so far I haven't been able to contact the owner. Thanks to the folks in the mayor's office for responding so well.

Mark Not the Race Car Driver has brought up several points which deserve to be addressed. He asked why the neighbors couldn't have boarded up the house themselves. Well, it's illegal for us to do so.

Until the city takes the house for unpaid taxes – which is a fairly long process – it is private property. We just can't go over and seal it up. The city has to go to Housing Court and get an emergency order after a waiting period in which an attempt is made to contact the owner of the property.

What the city did was to properly board up the house and then clean away all of the fire-debris. Since there was a lot of leaves and trash all over the place, they also cleaned that stuff up.

All of that clean-up and securing would have been time consuming, expensive and again illegal if the neighbors had been able to do it.

Mark has also brought up the question of how or why a burnt house "hurts" a neighborhood. A shell that sit there for years – and these things can sit for years – sends a clear message that the owners of the property care little of their homes, that they walk away from their obligations and responsibilities. As a homeowner I must abide by the health and safety ordinances of the city. The owner of a fire-damaged home who does nothing is saying "Screw you."

Most people want to live in an urban neighborhood in which people are making the attempt to keep their property up to code and looking reasonably well. I've had to replace a roof (almost $10,000) repoint chimneys ($1,500) paint the house ($2.500) and am preparing to have it painted again, besides doing other things (plumbing and electrical work) as part of meeting city standards and up-grading my home.

If your property is next to one that is literally a wreck, your home's re-sell potential is greatly affected. Who wants to live next to a fire-damaged abandoned property?

Mark has also expressed questions on why I'm blaming the owner of the home rather than the people who started the fire. His analogy was what if my home was broken into when Mary and I were visiting Scotland; would it be fair to print my name in newspapers saying it was my fault I didn't secure my house well enough?

Well, I suppose I took for granted that everyone reading this blog would understand that I want the bastards who torched this place to suffer the proper consequences. I guess I was wrong. This isn't a liberal or conservative thing – although Mark's argument seems to leaning in the direction that I'm some sort of blame the victim guy. This is a getting-along-in-the-big-city kind of thing.

An absentee owner of property in a city knows that to protect their investment they need security and a local property manager. For a neighborhood to succeed, everyone needs to live up to their responsibilities.

One final thing, the question was asked about what was so bad about a landlord leaving a home open so a homeless person could get out of the rain. The problem is it's not just the homeless who might find the home, it's the drug dealers, it's the gang members. I don't want a place near me that is tailor-made for illegal activity.

If I knew there was a homeless person on the street I would make some calls to organizations that help the homeless so that person can get real help in getting off the streets. I've covered the homeless issue in Springfield perhaps more than any single reporter and we have some programs that are working here. Allowing someone to squat isn't going to get them into a real home, get real medical care, link them up to a real job.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

This just in: my book from Arcadia Press on Springfield history has a publication date of Aug. 25. That's two book projects published within 12 months.

Now if people would just buy them! I want to retire!

I've sent another chapter for the Fleischer book to the publisher who has expressed interest. I'll be posting it to the Fleischer blog in the next several days.

And I have two more projects on which I'll start serious work. I've got a little momentum and I'd like to keep it up.

An update on the house that was set afire down my street:

I called the appropriate person in the mayor's office and he has taken the action needed for the city to secure the house. I haven't checked about the tax status of the property, but I will. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find there are back taxes due.

In my newspaper column this week I questioned if it was possible for the city to have a mechanism to try to prevent this kind of thing from happening. It's undoubtedly pie in the sky, but if abandoned, unsecured properties were reported, perhaps the fires that diminish the neighborhood could be prevented.

Mark M wrote," What are the reasons an owner would just abandon a house? More expensive to pay the taxes and upkeep than to just lose the house? I'm sure this is all 'common knowledge' to you guys who pay attention, the reasons someone would do that. What I'm wondering is, who can blame him? If it's a lose-lose situation for the guy, is he supposed to personally drive up here and make sure the house is secured? And how much would it cost to truly secure an empty house in Springfield?

"I'm not defending the guy. Just wondering what he coulda / shoulda done. I guess if he doesn't want the responsibility of being a good steward to the neighborhood, he should sell - but can he? Maybe he can't get back what he owes on the thing so he throws up his hands and says the hell with it?

"Or maybe he's a slumlord buying on the cheap to run the neighborhood down so he can sell it off and then get a big lucrative bulldozer contract with the city?

"It's baffling as hell. I'm inclined to say the culprits are the pricks who spray graffiti all over the house and catch it on fire, but maybe the Florida owner is at fault."

Okay, let me try to address this issue. In a city such as Springfield, out of town investors have bought a lot of rental property over the past 20 years. The up side is money can be made and the worse thing is that if you can't sell the property to someone else, you can simply walk away.

Walking away means avoiding having to fix up the place if there are code violations and not having to pay property tax. The city will eventually take your property in lieu of paid taxes. They can't sue you. They can't file criminal charges.

People who live here do this as well. The owner of Western Mass. Theaters walked away from the Calvin in Northampton, the Rivoli in Chicopee and the Bing in Springfield. And he's a local guy. He created problems for three communities.

I suppose the worst thing for the absentee owner would be the financial situation such an abandonment would cause with a lender.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Do you remember Lestoil? Perhaps the cleaning solution made an impression on me because I knew it was made in Holyoke, MA, in a factory on Main Street that had a giant bottle sculpture out front.

As a kid I was always impressed when I discovered products that were made something I knew. I was thrilled whenever Tom Terrific would exclaim, " Holy-oke, Massachusetts, Manfred!" to Manfred the Wonder Dog.

Last year at the Hadley Flea market I picked up a little promotional children's book produced in 1958 and written and illustrated by one Virginia Flint Kuniholm. There's no price on the book so obviously it was a give-away of some sort. the back cover reads "This Lestoil book has washable covers – merely wipe with Lestoil and a damp cloth."

Ah, huh.

Inside are three animal tails in which baby animals save the day by washing something or themselves with Lestoil.

Lestoil is still being made, although I haven't seen it on store shelves in a while. Apparently Clorox just bought the cleaner from Proctor & Gamble, which wanted to get rid of "nonstrategic brands." It's considered suitable for general cleaning and floors. On their Web site, it says nothing about laundry, puppies or igloos.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Animation Sundays






Here's part of a storyboard that I published in an edition of Animato way back when. A Las Vegas-based writer named Christopher Kindred wrote two great pieces on the first Batman animated series for me and was able to get all sort of art from the show courtesy of Paul Dini. Thanks to both of you!

I loved this series as I thought it was doing something that few other animated superhero series ever did: it treated the subject matter with respect and style. When I was at my college p.r. job that I hated I had an odd Mac computer that allowed me to watch television as I worked! So at 4 p.m. each day I usually tuned into a Batman re-run as I churned out some fodder for the press.

I was never a fan of the Hanna-Barbera school of super-heroics. While Space Ghost is great fodder for parody it was a lousy formulaic show as was such tripe as "Super Friends," "Birdman", etc.

The first Batman series cleverly brought to it artistic influences from the Tim Burton films and Frank Miller's Dark Knight as well as the Fleischer "Superman" cartoons. it was an animated superhero show that could appeal to both kids and adults.

Over the years there have been several series that have used the first one as an artistic foundation. And I think it's still the best.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

It was a cute little house – the kind of home you could imagine as a "starter" home for a young couple or a place where an empty nester could go to downsize.

Now it's just going to be another abandoned property.

There have been three fires this week in our area – one on I 91 when a tanker carrying a full load of diesel fuel had an accident and burst into flames. it shut down the highway in both directions for hours and there were deaths. Another tore through a retail complex shutting down five or six businesses.

So what happened on my street, two doors down was small potatoes. It is the kind of thing that consistently plagues us who live in urban areas such as Springfield. A house is abandoned, kids, homeless, drug dealers see an opportunity for a playground, a shelter, or a business location and before you know it there seems to be a fire.

Now the issue will be for the city to make sure this building is secured, the property owners notified and the apparently cumbersome machinery that will determine the ultimate fate of the structure will be set into motion. My guess is that it will stand there to rot until the city takes it for back taxes and then it will be added to the lost of properties the city will try to sell at auction.

Right now it's wide open. We look looked through the broken windows and saw walls covered with graffiti. It has been some one's club house for a while.

It didn't have to burn. If the owner had secured the building after the last tenant, perhaps this could have been avoided, but he didn't.

The owner, according to city records, is Thomas Morrell who resides at 15701 Leather Leaf Lane in Land O Lakes FL. I couldn't find a phone number on line for him or I would have called him. Perhaps I'll try directory information. He should know what he has done to this neighborhood.

It didn't have to burn. If the city had heeded the concerns of neighbors who called the police to roust the kids from there. The police would come, tell the kids to go and that was that. I'm not blaming the police, but did these concerns get transferred to city departments that might do something? The mayor has a new quality of life flex squad but so far no action has been taken.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I'm doing a little re-formatting of this blogging effort of mine. Despite my best intentions to separate out my life – local stuff, film, animation, the life of a reporter – into several blogs I just can't maintain them all. Therefore while the older blogs will be up for a little while longer, I'm just going to put everything onto one blog – this one – but try to have designated days for the various subjects.

Part of my blog's problem is that is neither fish nor fowl when judged against successful blog. The blogs that receive the most traffic are those that are either about one topic or they reflect the varied viewpoints of a well-known person. This blog reflects the varied views of a non-famous person. Although literally thousands of people read my stuff every week, I do not claim any element of celebrity. I'm just a working class guy doing a job.

But I hate to be tied down to just one topic and therefore on Wednesdays and Sundays, expect posts on animation. There will be a day of the week for movies and the rest will be on local news and comments.

I've held off posting a lot of stuff about animation, especially Fleischer material, because I don't want to post everything that will hopefully be in a book one day. But there's plenty of stuff that I'm going to start scanning and posting. here goes the first Wednesday animation post:

Marjane Satrapi, whose autobiographical novel about the Islamic Revolution, “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood,” was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated animated film of the same name, will speak at Smith College at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 3.

The lecture will be held at John M. Greene Hall and will be followed by a book sale and signing. It is free and open to the public.

Satrapi’s visit was scheduled in connection with the selection of her book as the 2007 summer reading assignment for incoming students, and it follows the national release of her movie, which received an Oscar nomination for best animated feature film.

The graphic novel was selected because of its simple-but-effective documentation of the growth of a young girl amid the birth of the Islamic Republic. It was the first time incoming Smith students had been assigned a graphic novel to read.

In her story, young Marjane and her family experience the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, which at first seems to be the longed-for beginning of a free and democratic future for their country. With the election of a conservative Islamic government, however, the little girl finds her life changed dramatically as increasing political repression and the restriction of women’s freedom lead her parents to the decision to send Marjane to Austria to complete her education.

Since it was published in 2003, “Persepolis” has gained international popularity. The book was included in Time magazine’s Best Comix of 2003 list and won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Satrapi, who lives in Paris, continues to write graphic novels, and writes and illustrates children’s books. “Persepolis” was originally written in French and was translated into English by Satrapi’s husband, Mattias Ripa, and Blake Ferris. The story is continued in “Persepolis 2.”

For information about disability access or to request accommodations, call (413) 585-2407. To request a sign language interpreter specifically, call (413) 585-2071 (voice or TTY) or e-mail ODS@smith.edu. All requests must be made at least 10 days prior to the event.

I'm trying to set up an interview with her for the newspapers, but I've been told that is doubtful. Now I'm willing to bet I'll probably be the only news outlet here to ask for an advance, but... anyway I'm planning to attend the presentation, buy a book and give her one of my mine.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

This week took a toll on me with long days and a lot of writing... therefore little blog activity. I know, I can hear my friends playing the world's smallest violin. I know here I can find "sympathy" in the dictionary...

Anyway, I try not to write too much about national events as what draws people to the newspapers I edit is the local news. I'm sick and tired, though, of what is happening nationally and the media's constant coverage of trivia instead of substance. At this point we're in the third quarter of the presidential election news cycle with all of the truly interesting stories (other candidates, other ideas) having been under-covered, ignored and just plain squeezed out.

Not even did the five-year anniversary of of the Iraq War get the coverage it deserved in the national press. I just laugh at this idea of the press being leftist.

I used to apologize for my beliefs in order to be acceptable to people who think otherwise. Whether it's the grind at work or the sickening slide of this great country to third world status (a debtor nation that imports most of its manufactured goods with foreign investors taking over more and more of he financial infrastructure), I just can't be polite any longer.

This is what I spewed about in my column this week:

It may be great fodder for the radio talk shows and the parade of pundits on television, but I really don't care if Senator Clinton is playing some sort of mind game with Senator Obama about the possibility of picking him to be her running mate, even though he is in the lead. This is not a real issue.

The two Democratic candidates have spoken very little in the past few weeks about the things that really matter to Americans. Instead, we've had Clinton attacking Obama and Obama continuing his hope and change rhetoric. It's just a lot of noise.

It's driven me to consider voting for Ralph Nader.

I keep waiting for one of them to talk about the war in Iraq, the home mortgage crisis, the energy crisis or the decline in the dollar's value. Or how about saying what they would do to re-build New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and how they would keep jobs here in this country.

For me, the issue of jobs is the key to the nation's success. To re-build the middle class, we need good jobs. To have a pathway from poverty, we need jobs.

While doing the research for my book on Springfield, it became more and more apparent to me the city's slow slide to its present state came from the erosion of its manufacturing sector. As early as 1954, when the Indian Motorcycle Company stopped production, the city has lost jobs.

Consider these blows: the closing of the Armory in 1968 followed by the closing of Westinghouse in 1970 and American Bosch in 1986.

With each of these closings the firm middle class in the city became weaker and weaker. How would these well-paying jobs be replaced? With positions at Wal-Mart? McDonald's?

Consider a city like Chicopee when it lost the Uniroyal tire plant. There was not only the loss of jobs from the factory itself, but also the ancillary income that went to retail shops and restaurants.

Without the ability to make a decent wage, how can our standard of living be maintained? How can we fight hunger, infant mortality and the other ravages of poverty?

Mike Dukakis once had a vision when he was governor that Massachusetts would replace its manufacturing jobs with high-tech jobs and the Commonwealth would have an economy split between high tech and service jobs. This was back in the heyday of Digital, Wang and other computer companies. It never happened, did it?

I guess it was a good thing he didn't become president.

We need a diversified job base. We need to reverse our trade deficit by making what we need here, not in China. We need local agriculture. We need local energy development.

Why aren't the candidates talking about these issues? Because it's easier and safer to spout off about stuff that doesn't matter, but makes a great headline in a news cycle.
***
Hey, I got my Social Security statement the other day. Did you get yours?

You know what I mean? That cheery little newsletter that lets you know how much money you're going to get when you retire?

Does it depress you? It did me. Now my wife and I have other retirement accounts, but I have to say that in order to get my maximum benefit, I'll have to work to 70.

I guess 70 is going to be the new 65.

And based on what I'm getting I better get used to the taste of cat food on Ritz! I'll just tell my friends it's pate ! Although Lucky the Wonder Bichon's food looks and smells better than the cat food.
© 2008 Gordon Michael Dobbs

As I get older, I realize that the tag of "liberal" that has applied to me is increasingly in accurate. I'm much more a populist and the one writer who consistently reflects my viewpoint is Jim Hightower, whose column I carry almost every week in three of our four newspapers.

I would like to think that populism could be a bridge between the liberal and conservative religions if both crowds actually gave it a chance.

Jim was in the area last week an naturally the local press, except for me ignored him. He's got a new book out and I know I'm going to pick it up.

Here's the piece I wrote:

Jim Hightower knows what he's going to do with his economic stimulus check he gets in May: he's going to give it to an organization such as the Apollo Alliance that is trying to help the recovery of the middle class.

Hightower is the populist writer whose column appears in most of the weekly newspapers produced by Reminder Publications. The late columnist Molly Ivens once described him as the child of Will Rogers and Mother Jones "mad as hell with a sense of humor."

Hightower's column is seen in newspapers across the country and his radio commentaries are heard on 150 stations. His newsletter "The Hightower Lowdown" is read by 135,000 subscribers. He spent two days in Western Massachusetts last week promoting his eighth book "Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow."

On Wednesday evening he spoke at Mount Holyoke College and on Thursday afternoon he appeared at the Springfield offices of the AFL-CIO on Page Boulevard.

Hightower's new book, which he wrote with Susan deMarco, is "pretty uplifting," he told Reminder Publications in an exclusive interview. He said the book tells 50 stories about people who have rebelled against the corporate system and "found new ways to do it and are doing well by doing good."

Among the stories in the book are those of Martin Dunn of Brooklyn, N.Y., a real estate developer who is focusing on housing middle class families and Chris Johnson of Austin, Texas, who started MedSavers pharmacy, catering to people with no health insurance.

Hightower explained the book is divided into three sections dealing with activism in business, politics and life. Each profile has extensive contacts so readers wanting more information can go straight to the subjects of the chapters.

Hightower hopes the books will give people confidence to "step out there" and start something themselves.

He believes the stories are no anomalies, but this kind of grassroots activism is happening all over the nation.

"These are not stories you hear about in the New York Times and the nightly news," he added.

While Hightower isn't pleased with the way corporate media reports news, he said, "Rather than wringing my hands, I'm joining hands with the progressive press."

The recently announced economic stimulus package that will give some Americans $300 and other $600 is "embarrassingly pathetic," Hightower said.

"It's so sad to see [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid negotiate this with Bush," Hightower said.

Hightower said the stimulus package means the nation "will borrow $168 billion from China so we can go to the Wal-Mart and buy stuff made in China."

"It's an economic stimulus for China," he added.

If the government was serious about an economic stimulus, Hightower suggested they start repairing the infrastructure of this country.

"The Democrats and the Republicans have callously and cravenly failed to take care of the national house," he said. "There are trillions of dollars in arrears."

Hightower explained the repair and renovation of bridges, roads and other parts of the infrastructure would provide many jobs and give people necessary job training.

Elected as the Texas Agriculture Commissioner twice, Hightower sees local agricultural efforts as part of the nation's economic recovery. He said that many farmers are barely staying afloat due to policies written to help middlemen.

What Hightower sees as succeeding are "local people who create a good food economy."

Whether it is farmers markets, micro-brews or school systems buying locally grown produce, Hightower said there is "a rebellion against corporate food that is changing the whole food economy."

Even the large food distribution SYSCO is now buying locally grown and made products, he said.

This year's presidential contest has encouraged Hightower who believes the Democratic candidates, under the influence of John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich, are actually "talking about issues that workaday people care about."

He noted the increase in enthusiasm about the process of selecting a candidate from young people and the huge turnout for the Texas primary an election in which both people and caucuses vote.

Despite having a procedure that is "as confused as a goat on Astroturf," Hightower said that at his ward 500 people turned out to vote this year, as opposed to 16 in 2004.

It was a "most encouraging outpouring," he said.

To learn more about Hightower and his new book, log onto www.jimhightower.com.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Wow, am I tired! That book was much more complicated than I thought it would be! I thought I'd have a couple of days of happy lounging, but my butt never hit the couch! Or the movie theater seat! Damn!

Hey, are you old enough to remember when Popular Science et al (the following ad came from Science and Mechanics, the April 1950 edition) was filled with such ads? There were 50,000 ways to make money by getting training in electrical work, radio and television repair, shoe repairs, sharpening saw blades, air conditioning repair, heating installation and much more.



"How to make money with simple cartoons" "Learn meat-cutting" "Learn to mount birds and animals" "Learn watch making, jewelry repair" "Draw Me! Copy this girl and try for $1,200 in prizes"

There seemed to be the attitude that you could learn and then earn your way to a better life back then. I'm sure some of them were doubtful schemes. My favorite involves growing frogs in your backyard for a New Orleans concern that canned frogged legs.Yummy!

Today informercials want you to buy real estate systems to teach you how to buy and sell houses without risking any money. Yeah. The pathways to the middle class seems to have been grown over.

Interestingly enough in the Springfield area there are about 300 positions in the area's precision tooling companies that are going unfilled because there aren't enough trained people for those positioned. The area manufacturers have actually worked in collaboration with area trade school to create programs that would produce a group of young employees to go onto paid apprentice programs.

And I've been told repeatedly there are many jobs in the healthcare field here that go unfilled as well for the same reason.

Where has the drive to want to succeed gone?

I meet young people whose ambition impresses me and who I know will be a success in their chosen field. But then there's the group of kids who hang out at the house next door, smoking those fruit-flavored blunts (yeah) and talking trash. What is their future?

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Sorry, but I took the whole day off from writing yesterday.

My Thursday post elicited four comments, two from my friend Mark Not the Race Car Driver about my point. I'll try to define it better here.

I expect our elected officials to address the issues that are creating our economic mess. I haven't heard much of that from the crop of candidates we had earlier in the year and I don't here it now from the final group. That's my point. They and too many of their supporters are too involved in the dogma of their campaigns because dogma is easy.

Part of the problem is the national media covering these races. They seem more interested in who is going to win than why someone is going to win; that "why" being their positions and solutions.

The top presidential news today is that Obama's unofficial foreign policy advisor quit after it was revealed she called Clinton a "monster." So what? That's news? The Bush Administration announced this week that 63,000 jobs were lost in February, the greatest monthly job loss in five years.

That's news.

From the report on NPR: "These are very weak figures and reinforce fears that the economy is in, or is falling into, a recession," economist Ken Mayland told NPR.

"Mayland, president of Clearview Economics, said losses were heaviest in construction, manufacturing and retail, all consumer-driven industries, suggesting a recession may continue well into 2008."

So why aren't the candidates talking about this? Why aren't they talking about the basic failures of the economic policies of the last 30 years? Because these are difficult issues that challenge the status quo of the corporate control of this country.

America was built on the premise that manufacturing jobs and unions were the gateway to a better life. That premise has been systemically destroyed through the union-busting started by Reagan and the decision to increase profits not through better products and competition, but by shipping jobs overseas where workers can be paid substantially less.

Are the candidates grappling with: The weakened dollar? The energy crisis, real or contrived? The home mortgage fiasco? Spiraling credit card debt and its implications? How to turn around the deficit caused by the war in Iraq? How to build new entry-level jobs in this country that might lead to something other than a promotion to fry machine?

FDR had to put in place a number of programs in place that enraged the Big Money Boys back in the 1930s and he could do so only because the crisis of the Depression had given him the political clout. People were demanding, pleading for positive results. What scares me today is that people seem willing to accept out situation.

That's my point. I don't see our new potential leaders talking about this stuff. And too many of the talking head pundits or the columnists or the talk show hosts – I have to make exceptions for Thom Hartman, Ed Shultz and Rachel Maddow – are talking about these issues. It's easier and a lot more fun to stir the pot with dogma.

At this point I truly believe the country will be sinking further with any of these people in the White House unless the winner grows a spine after the election.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Okay first read this. Now I know folks who think everything is hunky dory won't want to have their faith questioned, but I'm feeling evil. When you're done with that now read this.

What am I thinking? The folks I want to read it, won't. I'm asking you to do so and that's like a double dog dare you. You suspect foul play!

As I've said many times, political belief is religious. You stick with your faith because questioning it causes you to question your own judgement and few people like to do that.

However I had hoped people would question the status quo but we have a group of candidates that seem to be retreads of the same old stuff. McCain wants to keep us in an illegal, immoral and ineffective war. Clinton wants to build a dynasty with the help of the Big Money Boys and Obama really doesn't want to talk much about specifics.

Yipes.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Ever since I introduced Steve Bissette to Cinefest in Syracuse one of our rituals has been to sit down and go through literally a dozen milk crates of movie stills offered by one dealers. Now this habit has been abated by the realization of just what we're going to do with the stills, the appearance or non-appearance of the dealer – a very nice guy who must get tired lugging all of this stuff to shows– and our ability to sit for hours scanning stills.

As the years have passed I find that a couple of hours or so of this activity at a time is about all I can handle before my knees begin to howl, my back aches and my mind wanders. Such are the pains of the collector!

Quite a while back I had periodically posted some of these stills on this blog and since I'm attempting now to blog every day, I thought this could be fun for film fans.

Today's still is from a tawdry but oddly compelling exploitation film, "The Fiend of Dope Island." Subtle, eh? The gentleman shown is Bruce Bennett who by 1959 was reduced to appearing in crap such as this film. Bennett had been in "Mildred Pierce" and "Treasure of Sierra Madre." Hey, everyone has to pay the rent.

Here he plays the fiend who rules a little island with his whip. The film is available from Something Weird Video.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I've watched the Academy Awards since I was in high school and getting seriously interested in film. Admitting that you actually look forward to the Oscars in some film circles is akin to pulling the hayseeds out of your hair – it's not a sign of sophistication.

The Oscars, as we all know, are tremendously flawed. First, the very concept that one film is actually better than another in a measurable way is pretty ridiculous at the level of "No Country for Old Men" and "Let There be Blood." We all know it's a matter of taste. And winning an Oscar can be a product of a marketing campaign, a political statement or acknowledgement of a long career.

But I watch them out because of what they represent to me personally – a sign of community. In the 1970s it was easy to be into sports or cars, the interests that seemed to be stereotypically linked to young men, but not something like the movies.

When I was going to junior high, high school and college I lived in a small Massachusetts town called Granby. It's the type of place that was close enough to be the target of white flight types from Springfield seeking a "country" lifestyle and yet in the 1970s still small enough not to have its own grocery store.

If you were a kid living on a small farm with obligations especially in the summer, going to the drive-ins or year-round theaters was a rare treat rather than the norm. And your development as a movie fan was definitely held hostage to what kind of programming your local television stations had.

Thankfully WWLP had movie shows presided over by a local uber-fan named Hal Stanton, who ran a lot of classic comedy. And the NBC affiliate in Hartford had a Saturday night horror film show that was lame – its host was a voice over who was only seen through a series of slides! – but showed a ton of Universal horror.

None of my friends were into movies the way I was and when I began a fanzine it wasn't an effort to seek local readers as much as it was to plug into the network of fans who published other 'zines.

I haunted the newsstands for copies of "Variety," various monster magazines, "Sight and Sound," "Films in Review," and "Larry Ivie's Monsters and Heroes." What I couldn't afford I would read as much as I could before I had to leave.

And despite the fact the Oscars wouldn't never have had Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing or Vincent Price as presenters – my interest in horror films manifested itself pretty early – I watched them because they were a mainstream symbol of something that seemed to me to be almost underground: a love of film.

So despite the fact that many many years since then I've groaned at the silly production numbers or wondered why someone has to be near death before they give him or her a special Oscar, I watch them.

Which leads me to this year's winner for best animated feature. In a perfect world the Oscar should go to a film that advances the industry. And while I loved "Ratatouille," it should not have received the award. "Persepolis" should have.

In this case, while "Ratatouille" was an wonderfully animated and realized film that actually had some good laughs, it didn't push animation into any new place and "Persepolis" did so with a story that was a genre-breaker and highly stylized animation that was expertly done.

We need genre-breakers in animation if we ever want to see the medium used to tell different kinds of stories. Hey I love funny animals, but I also love surprises.

As long as I'm posting on animation, let me just say the extended director's cut of "Beowulf" with "violence that couldn't be shown in theaters" is a move worthy of Barnum. The difference as far as I could tell is about a minute of running time and while one minute can be enough time to show an image that packs a nasty punch, I didn't see anything. Did you?

And in the extras, no one refers to animation. The phrase used to described how the film was made was "performance capture." What a crock!

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

So I'm writing the introduction of the Springfield post card history book and I come across this piece I did in '99 for Steve Murphy's late and lamented – at least I lament it – V Mag.

Hey two postings in one day...I think it's my personal best!

When I attended UMass in the mid-Seventies, Bill Cosby was working on his graduate degrees, and the buzz around campus was a legitimate famous guy was indeed walking around just like one of us. I never saw him nor did any of friends, but we kept hearing about sightings down at the tennis courts. It was like my belief in the Loch Ness Monster. I didn't have to see the beast to have faith in the reports I read, and I did believe that Fat Albert himself was dodging the falling bricks from the library like the rest of us.

You just don't expect to see celebrities in your backyard. I don't why people are always confounded to find out that so many famous people have a connection to western Massachusetts. I suppose it's the notion that nothing ever happens in your home town, and all the celebrities must come from Los Angeles or New York.

Here's an example. I was standing in the Montague Bookmill last fall and I noticed a woman who appeared very familiar. When she began to speak I knew who she was...television actress and slut monkey Golden Girl Rue McCalahan. I snuck over to my wife and our friend and furtively told them. We all then peeked and made a determined effort to allow her to buy her used books without gawkers hanging on her move.

I should know better. Famous folks do get their start in the real world. He routinely reports on people such as Uma Thurman, John Shea, Paige Turco, Taj Mahal, Bill Pullman, and even Richard Gere (who attended UMass and dropped out his junior year).

The most interesting Favorite Daughter, in my opinion, is Springfield's own June Foray whose family left their home on Orange Street and traveled to California where she eventually became the voice for Rocky in Rocky and Bullwinkle and a dozen other characters.

But what about those who came before them? Western Massachusetts is practically crawling with connections to famous dead people, and at this time of year, it's appropriate to discuss a few of them.

Some, of course, are tenuous. Springfield has an interesting connection to the great swashbuckler Errol Flynn. Flynn's last girlfriend was indeed a girl. Beverly Aadland was only 15 when she met Flynn. They made a very bad film together, Cuban Rebel Girl, a pro-Castro drive-in epic, and created a lot of nasty headlines before his death in 1959. The western Massachusetts connection? Aadland lived in Springfield in the late Sixties as she pursued a supper club singing career. Although one interviewer believed "a single girl couldn't settle down in a small town Like Springfield," Aadland said that "at my house Springfield swings." Aadland's whereabouts today are not known.

Okay, so that one is not unlike the Six Degree of Kevin Bacon. Here's the real thing.

My good friend Dave Mackie once told me of an illuminating moment in his high school career well over twenty years ago. As he was sitting in a class in the long-gone Classical High in Springfield, he noticed that among the graffiti carved in his ancient desk was a name. "Timothy Leary...1938" read the inscription. Much to Dave's surprise the fact was later confirmed that indeed one of the founders of the counter culture had been a graduate of Classical High.

Many people in Springfield didn't realize Leary's connection with the city until he died and the Union-News dutifully hunted down some of his high school classmates who all had good things to say about him. Unlike Dr. Suess, the most famous Springfield native son, no one in officialdom seems too comfortable with Leary's legacy and there's no talk of a Leary Memorial here. Too bad, it might pull more people off of I-91 than an IMAX theater on the riverfront.

We all know about Emily Dickinson's and Robert Frost's connection to Amherst, but what about William Cullen Bryant, the poet who made his home in Cummington? Or the fact that Moby Dick author Herman Melville was a resident of Pittsfield? While horrormeister H.P. Lovecraft was practically a recluse in his native Providence, a trip to Monson to visit a huge boulder that had been the site of colonial church services gave him inspiration for some of his stories.

Look back into old newspapers from twenty-five years ago and you'll find the Paramount Theater in downtown Springfield had a different name. Known as the "Julia Sanderson Theater," the performing venue had been re-opened and named as a tribute to Twenties and Thirties Broadway and radio star Julia Sanderson who hailed from Springfield. The theater later reverted to its original name.

Next time you're in a video store, check out such classic musicals as Born to Dance, Broadway Melody of 1940 and you'll see another Valley Girl, Eleanor Powell. The beautiful and athletic dancer was a native of Springfield and was a star at MGM. She was married to actor Glenn Ford for a number of years and by the end of her life she turned her energies to religion.

What about dead Presidents? Northampton was home to Calvin Coolidge, the Vermont-born lawyer who was mayor of Northampton, governor of Massachusetts and than president. You can still see his law office door in the same building as Fitzwilly's.

Lawrence O'Brien, Kennedy family supporter, postmaster general, head of the Democratic Party, and commissioner of the National Basketball Association, was another Springfield boy. His father had a tavern where the Springfield Civic Center now stands and he received his law degree from Western New England College.

So cut this story out and carefully fold into your billfold for quick reference the next time some wiseacre from Connecticut or New York yaks about nothing ever happening here. And remember, this list will grow really impressive when in another twenty-five or thirty years some of today's famous western Massachusetts folks head off to the big Happy Valley in the sky.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

It's Monday morning and I haven't blogged for over a week. Conditions at work for the last two weeks have been challenging and coming home and trying to come up something interesting for readers of this blog has been a task I've not taken.

However I'm home this week finishing the Springfield postcard book, so my goal is to blog each day.

I like writing about the media and what goes on because no one in this market does that. I know I question what I do and what my staff does all the time. The pressure of trying to put out newspaper products that are original, more complete and, hopefully, compelling is one that bears down on me all the time.

I just don't want to go through the paces and I see so many of our colleagues/competitors in this market do just that.

For instance, I hate the "man in the street" interviews that have become a staple of television news here. Take any topic, go to the Wal-Mart parking lot, find people who have the fewest teeth and ask them their opinion on a subject they don't know much about. Their answers don't provide any insight. They just fill time. And it's cheap.

That isn't news.

In fact, watching how the majority of television reporters work most of the time – there are exceptions – what people see as "news" on television barely qualifies as such. TV reporters are notorious for arriving late at a story staying for a short length of time and then leaving before the event concludes.

I wonder just what is the point other than providing an advertising vehicle.

Anyway, here's more behind the scenes stuff.
Here's another episode of backstage at the newspaper and why I'm grey and can't find a cure for my stress.

No one in journalism school ever tells young reporters about the need to acquire the ability to wait. Yes, interviewing, note taking and headline writing are all subjects one must master to make it in this business, but waiting is another.

Patience isn't just a virtue in this business, it's a requirement.

You have learn how to make a dozen calls to a dozen people for a dozen stories because writing stories is like trolling for fish. You have to cast your net wide. That's because sometimes the fish ain't biting.

You wait for those call backs, and wait and wait some more. The boss might think you're goofing off, but you're not.

It's always good to have a messy desk in this business to confuse the boss who might come snooping as well as having a couple of notebooks opened to scrawled pages. Rustle the papers, scowl at your notes, rinse and repeat until the supervisor has moved on to torture someone else.

Sincere disclaimer: Reminder Publications honcho Dan Buendo has never done this to me. Really. I've been in this business a long time and have worked for some true beauties. Dan is not among those.

Inevitably the person who calls you back first is the person you need the least. Because you're on the phone with that person you miss the call of the folks you really need. Now it's time for the second round of calls and staying a while in voicemail limbo.

It's rumored that reporters get some sort of karmic dispensation for all of the time we spend in voicemail. I certainly hope so.

A basic rule of thumb is the greatest demand to speak to an elected official about something is correlated with their lack of availability. Sometimes they're not ducking you, but sometimes they are.

And another real world rule is that elected officials basically only want to talk about things that benefit them. So you can't be surprised if they really don't want to comment about some screaming match they had with a city councilor. It's human nature, but as an elected official they are supposed to be accountable and candid about such matters.

That's right, this is "Zen and the Art of Reporting."

Today, I'm dashing out this column in sheer panic, thanks to the Finance Control Board in Springfield gotta make those deadlines, folks. I think I could easily gather up a tar and feather mob out of the reporters who were patiently waiting for the Thursday meeting to start.

Scheduled for 12:30 p.m. for the speak-out portion, the show didn't start until nearly 3 p.m. City Clerk Wayman Lee had the thankless task of conveying the periodic messages to the people waiting for the meeting that it would be conducted in another 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 15 minutes, etc.

Now Ray Hershel of ABC40, the acknowledged dean of the Springfield press corps although perhaps Sy Becker at TV22 could also have that title marshaled up all of his considerable influence and asked the minions if the FCB could give us a reasonable idea of when they would start and if they could talk about the juicy stuff first, such as School Superintendent Joe Burke and how the School Committee seems to think they are a force unto their own.

Even Ray couldn't move them. I thought sending in John "Binky" Baibak of WHYN for a second attempt would only irritate the beast. We would only use Binky in extreme cases.

So we chatted among ourselves, went to lunch and talked more with the folks waiting to speak.

Finally the FCB convened the meeting with a sincere apology from the chair, Christopher Gabrieli.

Now this isn't the first time the FCB has held up a meeting by having a closed-door executive session before the public meeting and I suspect it won't be the last. I just hope they appreciate the test they are giving us.

© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

The toy Steve Bissette wishes he had when he was five. It's only $300!

For the past five or six years now, I've been going to NYC to cover the Toy Fair as the industry is well represented here in Western Massachusetts. From a reporter's viewpoint it is always a fun but hard day – fun because the subject is interesting and hard as it's necessary to cram a whole lot of walking into one day to see enough of the show to write about it.

The Other Mark M. went with me as the company for which he works was exhibiting at the show. His impressions are over at his blog . It's always great to have some company.

Covering the fair can be overwhelming for a newbie if you don't have the structure of a beat. With thousands of toys the question of focus is always an issue.

Luckily I do have a beat – the local companies – and then another animation and off-beat stuff. This post is at a Bissette-like length, but stay with it. Hopefully you'll find it interesting.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Despite reports the country might be heading into a recession, representatives of local companies exhibiting at the 105th Annual American International Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center all
had about the same thing to say: attendance was good and buyers were placing orders.

The annual event draws over 1,200 exhibitors who show their products and services to over 21,000 toy industry professionals from 94 countries. The show was presented Feb. 17 -20 by the Toy Industry Association, Inc (TIA).

According to a release from the TIA, domestic retail sales of toys generated $22.1 billion in 2007 compared to $22.6 billion in 2006, a decline of only two percent, despite what release described as “difficult economic conditions that plagued the industry in 2007.”

What also was seen as the TIA as a negative factor was the publicity from the recalls of toys manufactured in China.

According to the TIA report prepared by The NPD Group there was an increase in sales of connected Web play toys, such as Webkinz.

“Connected Web play toys, which marry a physical toy with ongoing digital play opportunities via the Internet, is a relatively new phenomenon that we've seen emerge within the toy industry,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “Thanks in large part to the popular Webkinz brand, this type of play is expanding into new categories and across many
properties.”

The local companies exhibiting at the show were Hasbro from East Longmeadow, Janlynn Corporation of Chicopee, Omniglow LLC of Indian Orchard and LEGO Systems, Inc. of Enfield, Conn.

According to the TIA license products accounted for about 27 percent of total toy sales last year. If there was a queen of this year’s Toy Fair it was the Disney television “Hanna Montana.” One could barely walk down the aisles of the Javits Center without encountering Hanna Montana products at every turn.

It was clear that even though some properties might be quite popular as books, comic books, movies or television series, toy manufacturers are still cautious about adding the cost of a license to the production expenses of a toy. The only Harry Potter item this reporter saw was Hasbro’s new Harry Potter version of Clue, set in the Hogwart’s School and using characters from the book.

While the new Batman movie and Speed Racer film was represented in some toys, there was a surprising absence of products from the new Pixar film “Wall E,” while there some interest in the new animated film “Kung Fu Panda.” The new Hulk movie, as well as the up-coming adaptation of the Iron Man comic book, was also the inspiration for several toy lines. If Hanna Montana was the queen of the show, then Indiana Jones was the king. With the release of the new film later this year there were toys lines for the former films as well as the new film.

Another trend at the show was going green. In the pressroom there was more and more information offered on CDs rather than paper, and both the TIA and Hasbro offered its information on reusable zip drives.

“Green” was all over the show. PlanToys, Inc, a firm that makes wooden toys from Thailand, use aging rubberwood trees that otherwise would have been burnt as charcoal. The wood is harvested, kiln-dried and then made into toys
using non-toxic glues and paint.

ImagiPLAY, is a Colorado-based company that is also doing the same as PlanToys – using aged rubberwood trees as the source for wooden toys.

Kapla Toys have a line of wooden construction sets that are made from renewable marine pine trees from the Bourdeaux region of France. The glueless, snapless sets take the place of traditional blocks.

Aurora World, Inc. introduced that was described as the world’s first green plush toy at the show. The fabric used for the furry exterior is made from soybeans while the stuffing is from seedpods of the kapok tree, a
sustainable rainforest tree.

Interestingly there was only one toy manufacturer that this reporter found capitalizing on the recalls of toys made in China with hazardous materials. Channel Craft of Chareroi, Penn. makes a variety of games, games and puzzles
all in the United States and was marketing them as American made.

The world’s largest toy manufacturer, Hasbro, was promoting the anniversaries and new versions of a number of its products. In the busy and colourful showroom near the Javits Center, Hasbro Associate Manager of Public Relations Helen Van Tassel guided this reporter through a maze of Nerf, My Little Pony and G.I. Joes.

The first toy seen in the showroom was the one that made perhaps the largest impression: a computer animated triceratops called Kota big enough for a toddler to sit on him.

Van Tassel noted there are a number of anniversaries being celebrated by the company. The Playskool line is turning 80 this year, Trivia Pursuit and My Little Pony is 25 years old, and Scrabble is now 60 years old.

The Scrabble anniversary edition features a game board with storage for the game pieces as well as curved tile holders to discourage cheating. The entire unit folds up in a convenient carrying case.

Other changes in their established game line include a hush-hush revamping of Clue and a new world edition of Monopoly in which fans are asked to vote the cities that will be included on the fame board. There are details on the voting process at www.monopoly.com and the on-line voting ends Feb. 28. Voters are allowed to nominate a city of their own and in the luxuriously appointed Monopoly bus that was a rolling polling site, this reporter nominated Springfield, the home of Milton Bradley.

A new game called Pictureka! is designed for play by the whole family. It has a deceptively simple premise of finding illustrations on the game board.

Hasbro has a full new line of Star Wars toys including an incredibly detailed light sabre. With the release of the new Indiana Jones movies Hasbro has a new line of toys from that movie that include a Mr. Potato Head in Jonesian gear and a soft whip children can play with to emulate the adventurer’s own bullwhip.

The new Hulk movies as well as the up-coming Iron man film also inspired new toys from the company. The relatively unseen monster from the hit film “Cloverfield” will be seen in gruesome detail in an action figure
that will be available only at the on-line Hasbro store .

I gasped when I saw this Indiana Jones toy: a soft whip with a handle that makes the whipping noise. This doesn't seem, well, appropriate on several levels.

LEGO is also celebrating anniversaries this year. The LEGO brick is now 50 years old and the LEGO mini-figure is now 30 years old. Publicist Marssie Versola said company was continuing its efforts to return to its construction toy roots.

She added that increasing the play value of the LEGO products was also important. The LEGO Agents sets not only have a vehicle to build, but also there is a hero versus villain storyline outlined in a comic strip
for “instant role play action and fun.”

The LEGO Creator line also carries this them of additional play value as each lit can be used to build three different models, she
explained.

LEGO has a limited number of licensed kits this year. It no longer has a Harry Potter license, but has a several Indiana Jones kits for the first time, a Speed Racer line to tie into the live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese cartoon, a SpongeBob Squarepants line and Batman kits that is not based on the new film as its story-line was “too dark,” Versola said.

Versola said the company is continuing with its Star Wars line that was LEGO’s “first and strongest” licensed line. Sales of Star War kits increased last year although there wasn’t a current movie to boost sales.

Licensed items a have proven to be profitable for Chicopee’s Janlynn Corporation, according to the company’s National Sales Manager Catherine Dyjak. The company is well known in the crafting industry for its cross stitch and other adult craft kits and has made a significant mark in the crafts area for children with its lien of Disney-inspired products. Products based the Pixar film “Cars” has proven to be popular, but the kits with images from “Hanna Montana” have sold very well, she said.

One kit has proven to be quite popular is a “Hanna Montana” pillow case kit in which children color a line drawing with special crayons. An adult then can set the colors with an iron. The pillowcases come in party packs designed for parties and sleepovers and Dyjak said the advantage is there is no paint to spill.

“The Disney licenses have worked well for us,” she said.

Overall, the company is seeing an increase in sales of their craft kits for children.

“It’s skyrocketed,” Dyjak said, and noted the children want to participate in crafts the same as their mothers.

Ira Leeman, the president and CEO of Omniglow LLC, the Indian Orchard-based company specializing in chemiluminescent consumer products, said business has been very good.

The company makes a wide variety of novelty items from necklaces and earrings to Halloween items to light sticks to beverage cups.

Except for some Asian companies, Leeman said Omniglow is the sole manufacturer of this kind of item. Leeman’s company also makes glow technology products for the medical field.

The company expanded several years ago by buying a party supply company and Omniparty is also doing well Leeman said thanks to the company’s relationship with Amscan, Inc. a firm that owns party stores across the nation.

Speaking on the possibility of a recession, Leeman said his company hasn’t felt it and the nation’s economic problems are more of a banking issue.

He said his company specializes in products for children and children “don’t feel a recession.”

One license that always interests me is the books and characters of Springfield-born Dr. Seuss. There seemed to be little interest in the up-coming animated “Horton Hears a Who,” but McFarlane Toys will be issuing a set of action figures and scenes based on the Chuck Jones animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”




One new game company, I Can Do That! From Seattle, Wash. has had much success with a series of games based on Seuss books. Kimberly Pierce, the communications director of the company, explained each game is modeled carefully on a Seuss book. Order Up, Sam is based on “Green Eggs and Ham,” while You to the Rescue is based on “Horton Hears a Who!” The company’s work was been nominated for a Toy of the Year Award.

One of the best aspects of the Toy fair is discovering new products from smaller manufacturers. Big Eye Dummies, a line of goofy-looking, but appealing plush animals, looked as if they had been designed for animation. David Lipson, their creator, said they might wind up one day as animated characters as he is an animator. Among his many credits, the New York-based Lipson was the producer on “The Venture Brothers” and the animation producer on “Saturday Night Live’s TV Funhouse.”

Each of the “dummies” comes with two mouth and eye combinations that attach with magnets to the body of the toy.

A Boston native who grew up going to Newbury Comics, a New England music and pop culture store, Lipson said he always loved toys. When he came up with the concepts, he went out to a local K-Mart and bought a sewing machine. After completing one doll, he showed it around to prospective stores and then had an initial batch of dolls manufactured.

While he isn’t giving up his day job in animation, he said the interest shown by Buyers at the Toy Fair and at a recent gift show was good.

Hands down, though, the oddest thing this reporter saw at the Toy Fair was Tofu the Vegan Zombie. The character, according to the press release, is the star of the film made last year and now being seen in film festivals. The next screening will be at the Florida Film Festival on April 2.

The film features the voice talents of Billy West, who is, according to press materials, is a vegan himself.

Applehead Factory, which is know for their creepy teddy bear line, Teddy Scares, is now producing a seven-inch articulated toy based on the character.


The concept is “Tofu is a friendly zombie, created from a botched experiment in Professor Vost’s laboratory. Lab Money #5, one of Vost’s lab animals, stuffed a block of tofu into the zombie boy’s open skull after accidentally losing the brain. As a result, Tofu only eats vegetables and grains and has no taste for human meat. However if Tofu ever loses his tofu brain, he turns into a dangerous, flash-craving zombie creatures.”

According to the company’s Web site, the animated short, “Zombie Dearest,” has already been seen over 50,000 times.

Check it out yourself at www.tofutheveganzombie.com




© 2008 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

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