“A few months after Zippy debuted in ‘I Gave My Heart to a Pinhead and He Made a Fool Out of Me,’ [Bill] Griffith was doing a strip about another of his primary characters, ‘Mr. Toad,’ and thought the egomanical reptile could use a sidekick who was his opposite. ‘Zippy was devoid of ego, as well as linear thought, and he seemed like an ideal fit,’ Griffith notes. ‘Within a year or so, Mr. Toad had become Zippy’s sidekick’.”
Tag: 12.22.11
German Fans Of TV Show Crowdsource Funding For Movie Version
“The producers of Stromberg, the German adaptation of the fly-on-the-wall office sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, have raised some $1.3 million (€1 million) in just one week in an online crowd-funding action to bankroll a German feature film based on the series.”
The Hidden Hergé: Tintin’s Creator And His Secrets
“Tintin himself has no origin. He simply exists, with no ties to past or future generations, a fate that his creator might have wished for himself. The Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé … showed little taste for the spotlight, and still less for those who wished to poke into his past.”
Colorado Symphony Announces New ‘Consumer-First’ Business Model
“The plan changes the way the CSO does business, putting more emphasis on earned income rather than donations, working closely with educational groups and corporations to demonstrate its value beyond music-making. There will also be more chamber concerts in various smaller venues and possibly fewer main-stage orchestral programs.
John Chamberlain, 84, Pioneering Scrap-Metal Sculptor
“[He] almost singlehandedly gave automotive metal a place in the history of sculpture, smashing and twisting together a poetic fusion of Abstract Expressionism and Pop from fenders, fins, bumpers and hoods.”
Civilians Invited Onto Olivier Award Juries
“Members of the public are being invited to apply for the chance to be on one of four judging panels for the 2013 Olivier Awards. The Society of London Theatre is looking for people to be judges on either the theatre, affiliate (which covers smaller theatres and non-West End venues), opera or dance panels.”
LA Wax Museums Battle Over “Quality”
“Madame Tussauds, which considers itself the ne plus ultra of wax artistry — with the $25 ticket price to match — is trying to best its cheaper competitor, the Hollywood Wax Museum, with a new marketing blitz stressing the defects in its rival’s paraffin starlets, singers and comics.”
Merce Cunningham – Hard To Understand, Harder To Say Goodbye
“Problematic to appreciate, taxing to execute, Cunningham choreography did not grow more palatable as younger choreographers absorbed several of his innovations and as his dance technique became taught around the world.”
Vandalism Of Public Art – All It Takes Is One Person Who Doesn’t Care
The truth is “that 1,000 people who care desperately about a stable society are no match for one person who doesn’t care at all. So while the right bandies about tales of nihilistic rioters and philistine thieves, the left indulges in its orgy of judgment at the phenomenal greed of rich people.”
Why Dance And 3D Film Are Made For Each Other
“The body is a fiction on the regular screen. In 3-D, the body has volume. The body is an instrument to discover and conquer space. The body has such a different presence in 3-D. Everybody thinks that depth is the great thing about 3-D. But in my book, volume is the great thing.”