One of my favorite comedians Rodney Dangerfield passed away today.I am a big fan of his work in several comedies, particularly THE PROJECTIONIST (1971) in which he played an unscrupulous movie theatre manager who would turn down the air conditioning and put extra salt in the popcorn just to sell a few more ice cold Cokes.Of course, the reason we mention him here is his starring role as ROVER DANGERFIELD (1991), a nice little animated feature from Hyperion Studios. It was originally planned to be an R-rated cartoon with lots of Las Vegas humor, but the producers and studio got cold feet and it became another bland G-rated family film. Of course, Rodney was one of its producers, it’s screenwriter and he co-wrote several songs in it. It’s worth a look, especially if your a fan of Rodney’s. The film, and Rodney, had my respect.

Sunday, July 18, 2004
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I take a (sixty dollar!) cab ride to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland’s largest geothermal spa. If I’d remembered to bring my camera I would share with you the MIND NUMBING WRONGNESS of the fat old man with the tiniest Speedo I’ve ever seen. I swear to Christ, he must have stolen it from a midget child. The horror! The horror!

I return home and discover there is certain music that triggers a deep emotional response relating to my total isolation from my wife and home. Songs to be avoided at this time are: “I Am Yours” by Derek and the Dominoes, “Shore Leave” by Tom Waits, and pretty much anything by Simon & Garfunkel. Yesterday I bought a CD that Oddur suggested, by an Icelandic band called sigur rós. The slow dreamy melodies match the magic of this place, and if their lyrics deal with separation or sadness I can’t understand them. It’s my new lullaby. Oh, and the voices of the invisible women have gone away since my diagnosis. I kind of miss them, the gabby slags.

Nighty night,
Ken Pontac,
All crusty from that stinking lagoon,
Iceland

On November 9th at 7pm, at New York comedy club Carolines On Broadway, Bill Plympton will be “roasted” by some of New York’s best known comics and actors. This is the first time I’m aware of an animator being the subject of a comedy roast. Bill plans to draw caricatures of his “roasters” so it will be a two-way street… more information is forthcoming on Plymptoons.com

Asifa-East is finally getting serious about it’s internet presence. Animator Xeth Feinberg (MishMash Media) is the new webmaster of the oraganization’s website and he plans semi frequent updates on all the local New York area animation events.If you are in New York City, Asifa East is a group you should belong to.

Holy Mackerel!
SHARK TALE has an estimated weekend box office gross of $49,000,000.!

Saturday, July 17, 2004
_________________________Mark Zaslove has killed me. He’s shown me where to get the BEST HOT DOGS IN THE WORLD, and I know I’m going to eat them until I explode. The no-preservative meat has a crisp-but-tender quality that’s probably attributable to some cruel, Icelandic butchering technique, there’s a sort of yellow sauce squirted on them that must have crack or something in it because I WANT MORE RIGHT NOW, but the absolutely orgasmic aspect of these weenies is the crisp bed of fried onion bits that lines the bottom of every bun! YUM!

Nothing else today has happened that’s as important as this, so I’ll sign off now.

Ken Pontac
Writing with my mouth full,
Iceland

Friday, July 16, 2004
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Jumping Jesus on a smoldering birch bark canoe, these slave-driving Vikings have got me working harder than I ever have in my life! There are multiple meetings with the mercurial Magnus today, and he’s such a fast thinker and talker that I’d have to be a stenographer to write down everything he wants to see in the script. As it is, I’m too busy taking pictures of him jumping around as he describes the action of the characters to take any notes. Thank God Susan got me an iTalk attachment when she bought me my iPod. With the iTalk I digitize the notes, listen to them with headphones, and insert them all in a revised script.

I turn in my revision and am allowed to collapse, every calorie of energy sucked from my body. I catch a few quick winks then take off to join some friends for dinner. David Latham is an astrophysicist who’s here to attend a Mad Scientist Convention discussing the possibility of life on other planets, and his equally bigbrained wife Ginny is a doctor who I hope can answer a question that’s been nagging me since the first time I closed my eyes in Iceland:

Mystery solved! The cure for my condition: GET SOME DAMN SLEEP!
Goodnight to all (doctor’s orders!) - Ken Pontac, Iceland

The Simpsons is set to reveal that Marge’s sister is a lesbian.According to Ananova.com, this season the purple-haired Patty decides to pursue women after being snubbed by every man in Springfield. She finds true love after being seduced in a bar by a butch lesbian. Homer - who dubbed Patty and twin sister Selma the “gruesome twosome - is horrified at first. But according to early scripts, he ends up being ordained as a minister - then marrying Patty and her girlfriend.