Why we love Bizarro.

In case you missed our earlier contest, here’s another brain teaser courtesy of our friends from Mental Floss. Can you tell the difference between these recent news stories and the plots from Scooby Doo? Take this quiz and test your knowlege. Sorry, no prizes for correct answers.

I just got word that Alexander Tatarski, an internationally known and praised animator, has passed away. He died yesterday at age 57.

Tatarski (spelled various ways, aka Aleksandr Tatarskii) was an animation producer, director and screenwriter and was managing director of Pilot Animation Studios, the first privately owned animation studio in Russia (which he co-founded with Igor Kovalyov). The studio is the country’s biggest producer of animation as well as home to a world-renowned school for animators.

His claymation opening for the Russian show “Good Night, Kids” has been airing for more than twenty-five years. He also directed several episodes of Cartoon Network’s Mike Lu and Og.

Here’s one of his early colaborations with Kovalyov, The Investigation is Held by the Koloboks:

(Thanks, Alexey Morozov)

Crush the Screamin’ Beans.

Okay, I admit it. I’m excited about seeing The Simpsons Movie. But why are they opening it on the same weekend as the San Diego Comic Con? Over 100,000 first day ticket sales will be busy at the Con buying comics or attending Mark Evanier’s panels. I predict The Simpsons Movie will have a helluva Monday night box office gross, when all the fans get home from San Diego.

In the meantime, I think this is the first official review of the film. It was posted today by the London Times – and it’s very positive.

We’ve posted other swipes from Preston Blair before (here, here, here and here) but this one is the mother of them all!

Steve Stanchfield and Mary Dixon spotted this arcade attraction at the Fowlerville Family Fair (in Fowlerville, Michigan) and it blew their minds:

We were greeted first by a great array of sideshow freaks, including a little guy named ‘Poobaa’ who the barker proclaimed as being the last living Muchkin from the Wizard of oz alive (he was 9 at the time). Poor Poobaa was made to swallow fire over and over to a bored looking crowd of locals.

Then, turning the corner, I see THIS. I’ve seen a lot of things before, but this is far, far beyond the normal Blair ripoff; it’s almost an outsider art homage! I took a bunch of pictures (forgive my not quite perfect alignment of the whole thing…). I have more if you want, but I think these tell the story pretty well. This is a walk though carnival attraction. I didn’t go inside, but I bet I would have seen Red in progression, the policeman and maybe even the hippos from Fantasia…

(Click on pictures above and below to see full sized images)

Please forgive all these Popeye and Woody Woodpecker posts, but here’s a YouTube find I had to share: a 1980s British Carling Black Label Beer commercial featuring Popeye and “Brutus”. Nice to know Popeye was considered adult enough as late as this period to be in an ad for alcohol.

(Thanks, Ryan Maxwell)

Went to Meltdown Comics tonight and found out that two weeks from now they will be having a three day exhibit and opening reception for Project Bart. This exhibition features customized versions of Bart Simpson by 20 contemporary pop artists (the exhibit will come to New York’s Toy Tokyo Showroom Gallery in September). The Meltdown reception is on Wednesday August 1st from 7pm to 11pm.

While I was there I noticed the new Casper comics reprint book, assembled by Leslie Cabarga and myself, is now on sale. Not only on sale, but it was displayed as the “Manager’s Pick”. It was supposed to make its world premiere debut at the San Diego Comic Con next week, but it doesn’t quite have an embargo… like Harry Potter. So pick it up now, and enjoy!