"Birthday Greetings to---"

Happy Birthday Greetings out today to artist & writer: Keno Don Rosa, born: 6/29/51 (which makes him 53 years old).

I hesitate to call him "That OLD Duck-Man" since Don was born only 18 days before myself! besides, he probably thinks that title should belong to the one and only Carl barks whom he greatly (don't we all) admires, so I'll make him feel young and post the above seldom-seen photo from Don's youth.

This was taken Circa 1968 at his home in Louisville, Kentucky, which makes him approx. 17 in this shot. I had met Don at an old, dusty back issue bookstore called "The Magazine Exchange" which used to sit upon the corner of the 600th. block of Chestnut Street lo' dem many years ago in Louisville. It was a place that I'd drive 85 miles just to visit and buy old comic books.

I believe Don and I met one another there sometime around 1967 or so, and he invited me over to visit sometime where he lived then (his folk's place). I visited Don there as I recall on numberous occasions. The photo you see here is him standing in front of an open closet, showing off his nice paperback collection and he's holding an authentic "Buck Roger's Ray Gun" from the 1930's; just part of his fabulous collection of comics and related items he had even back then.

So, Best to You, Don! Hope you only have the Happiest of Times here on this your special day!
(And a belated Happy "Mala Shaw Day",too! X^D )


(Cover shown: Walt Disney's Uncle $crooge No. 219 (July,1987 issue); the first issue Don wrote and drew for Gladstone Publications.)

Re: The Photo-Hosting Service I've Been Using

Well, it would seem that my photo-hosting site I've been using (Image-Pilot) has either cut me off from their services or is having some sort of problems in hosting pics to various sites at the moment. I noticed over on my Beatles and Bizarros blog that several pictures they were hosting have disapeared. I discovered this problem last night when attempting to post a pic to a chat board and couldn't figure out "why" they weren't showing up.

So I suppose I'll have to find another host to use for such, at least for now. At least most of the pics are still showing due to them being hosted by Auction-Images who gave me space gratis, but unfortunately the person that had that site no longer does,so...

Anyway, I tried a couple of other image-hosting sites last night but wasn't satisfied with them for one reason or another. One of them has an advertisement banner at the bottom of the pics and I really don't want that un-needed spam for anyone who reads my posts. Hopefully all will be back up to par soon.
Regards,
~D.Puck'.

"Everytime a Bell Rings I Want to Pull the Wings Off Another Angel"

One of my "pet peeves"... all of this angel statuary you see everywhere these days. Where I work at, we have tons of it, all in its polystone or fiber-optic glory. Gets really sickening seeing it all the time. Perhaps if angels were shown historically accurate it wouldn't be so bad, but it's like 99% always a woman as an angel, and ... correct me if I'm wrong here... but aren't ALL angels "supposed" to be male? I mean, there's not a single account in The Bible (at least not in The King James' version) where an angel has a feminine name.

There's Michael, and Gabriel, and even Satan, but I fail to see a single name like Bertha, or Louise or Sally. Hey! For my own sake, I don't think I'd care actually to see an angel. Most of the time in Biblical text they're killing first borns, destroying cities, and carrying flaming swords. Not to say they haven't been used for some good things as well. The word, Angel, meaning "messenger", has brought tidings of important births, pregnancies, and prophecies as well. They're God's Boys, made by him before the creation of mankind, Protectors of The Seat of God, and His servants. Which, brings us to yet another point...

What makes people think they BECOME angels after death? Nothing says this in The Holy Text. The angels are a SEPERATE creation. Yet movies have filled people with so much BS about them over the years that a lot of people think that when they pass from this mortal coil, they get wings. Wake up and read people; you are supposed to become Spirit, and what in the world would a spirit form need with wings?

Now, what's even sillier than any of this is that we're now seeing figurines of ANIMALS with wings; dogs and cats. All dogs don't go to heaven. And what's even sadder than this is that CHILDREN figurines are being made and sold that are supposed to be angels. Little kids with wings. Uh...doesn't that mean---THEY'RE DEAD?! Dead babies, and people are buying them and calling them "cute". (What is that? Some sort of Alice Cooper Song Cult?)

Alright, I confess. I AM quoting descriptions of angels from Biblical text and I do know that other cultures, in particular Eastern ones, show feminine angels. But I think most of these figures are being purchased by those that don't follow those particular philosophies. I've yet to see a single fibre-optic angel that remotely resembles Shiva.

What I do see are (usually) caucasian women dressed in flowing gowns and surrounded by "little" angels. Most people want to call those Cherubs. And, what IS a cherub? It's actually gotten into our language as a description of a rose-faced child-like angel. What actually IS a cherub? Any of the second order of angels just below the seraphim, and both cherubs and seraphim are WARRIOR angels. How did we ever get an idea that they're cute little winged kids? Blame it on the artists that painted them as such in the 15th. & 16th. (in particular) centuries. The were influenced by Grecian art, and took "Eros" (Cupid), took away his Olypian divinity, and made him a Christian icon.

I guess this all sounds rather trivial a rant, but from the record of what angels are capable of doing, I'm taking no chances in insulting them!

"They Say It's Yer Birthday"

Happy Birthday Greetings today to Sir Paul McCartney, who is 62. (I wonder when he's going to write and record something worth listening to again.)

"An Enterprising Question"

Ehh...not that I'm a big Star Trek geek these days, but I was watching ST:TNG a while ago, and when The Enterprise was suffering from computer malfuctions, they discovered that if they just "shut down" everything, wiped out their computer of anything they'd downloaded and re-boot their system, reloading the basic commands from the computer main's archieves, it "fixed" the ship. Now, the Romulans were also having this problem and had activated their Destruct Program and said they couldn't stop it. It did stop, however, when they did the same as the engineer on The Enterprise did with their system.

I was always under the impression that once the auto-destruct sequence had been activated that NOTHING could stop it except a 3-Part Code from 3 different chief officers. Is that different for The Romulans computer system, or just a blopper by this episode's writer? (Or...Does anyone really give a----?)

"They Did the Mash"----

Old film monsters are like comic book characters: even when they're "killed off", they never seem to stay dead for long.

'Got to thinking about movie monsters and how I was so into that whole scene when I was about 12 or 13, buying every issue of Famous Monsters, Monsters Unlimited,Castle of Frankenstein,etc. and all of those great Aurora plastic models. I remember even entering Famous Monsters's "Monster Model Customizing Contest". The winners were "King Kong" and a "Dracula" diarama. Some guy had practically built a city for the great ape to go rampaging through, and the Drac' had his "brides" about him ("Barbie Dolls"). Hey! Nobody told me I could do that?! I glued real fur to my Wolfman, which my mom wasn't real thrilled about since it was the collar off of one of her winter coats!

I think one of my favorites of the Aurora monster kits was actually, "The Guillotine". I took that one to school and showed it off during history class when we were studying The French Revolution (well, I was always an Addam's Family sort'a kid). In fact, some of the later model kits were indeed a little more elaborate, like the "Addam's Family Haunted House" and "The Munster's Living Room", and I had them all (and still do either in originals or re-issues these days).

Was always a big fan of monster movies, but too young to remember ever seeing them in their original releases. No, here locally we got Channel 5 out of Nashville, Tenn. and every week day at 4PM CST, they had a movie called "The Big Show", where I watched tons of monster, sci-fi, detective, etc. flicks. It was a daily happening around my house, clipped down as they were to about an hour and 15 minutes(not counting the numberous commercials)so that station could use the remaining time to show local weather.

But then in the early 1970's there was also a late night horror flick that showed on Saturday nights over WSMV-TV (Channel 4) out of Nashville; the type with the hokey MC. In our case it was "Sir Cecil Creape", who was dressed up with funny teeth and a bald wig and cape like a vampyre. He purposely played it up for laughs, and would end every show with a "Good-Nite, sleep tight, and-don't-let-the-beddy-bugs-bite!" Such a hoot! (Numberous times I'd spend the weekend over at my parent's house and always stayed up later than they would; my folks would shout from their bedroom,"Turn that thing off and go to bed!")

Of course, we had drive-in movies and movie houses. About every weekend there was a double-bill of (usually) John Agar flicks, fighting "Giant Brains from the Planet Arous" or some such thing. The movie houses were where I got to see un-cut versions of all those wonderful Vincent Price adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stuff. Those flicks always really scared the bewilligers outta me!

And today I own scores of uncut copies of these old horror flicks, but, do I watch them and appreciate them as much? Nope. Guess after watching all of them again at least once they just don't give me the thrill they did as a kid. There were too many years of slasher and gore flicks that's made me de-sensitized to their classicness. Now they get a classification more of "camp", than horror.

But I still can't seem to turn the station to another channel when one comes on.

"Kate Worley"

Usually I don't do two posts in one day, but I couldn't help but jot down a few lines regarding the passing of Kate Worley.

Ms. Worley, of course, was the fine artist who illustrated Reed Waller's "Omaha the Cat Dancer" series. During the 1980's, a time when the comic book world seemed to be flooded with so very much just crap produced by anyone with pen & ink and the bucks in their pockets to print it, "Omaha" was a quiet oasis of which I looked forward to every issue.

She died before her full talent could be expressed to all her loving fans due to cancer, leaving her own family, as well as those who admired her work, behind, and she will be greatly missed as do we all who have love and appreciation of those great artists who are no longer among us.

I sincerely hope her spirit is "cat dancing" now in a far, far better place free of pain.

"Ron, But Not Forgotten"

Sitting here, I'm trying to think about what to say regarding the passing of our ex-president, Ronald Reagan that others have not already expressed. Since there have already been so many other tributes and comments, all I can add is my own memory of the time in which he was in office.

I did not always agree with President Reagan's politics. I've never been a big supporter of the Republican point of view, and at the time he served in office, neither was I a conservative. I always thought he "cheated" President Carter a bit by taking the credit for the release of the hostages at that time, although news of their impending release was announced while yet Carter was still in office.

I always thought President Reagan was a bit of a "grand stander"; too much of an actual actor to make me take him serious as The Leader of This Nation. His whole two terms in office seemed to me nothing more than a fine photo session, especially for one who had been in the limelight of movies and television for so many years.

And yet, I always found it difficult to DISlike the man. When the assassination attempt happened on his life, I felt sorry for both he and Nancy, and wished him a speedy recovery. I was amazed at his ability to bounce back as quickly as he did. I found it hard "not" to watch him as he gave various addresses to The American Public. Indeed, he had a certain charm that made even those who might not be in agreement to his policies, listen to what he had to say. I admired his great efforts in ending The Cold War between us and The Soviet Union, which to me, was his greatest achievement and the one big factor of which he will be most remembered.

I liked him because he was an active and physical being. Even when he took breaks from his White House duties you'd see film coverage of him out on the ranch; the ever perpetual cowboy. He had leadership qualities that every person in his position of importance "needed" to have, and he had them well.

I ponder as to his various statements refering to extraterrestrial life. More than once he asked The American Public, and The World, if our differences would be so if confronted by a menace from outside this planet. And, I often wondered just how much more he knew that he wasn't allowed to say when it seemed he told us in his speeches to "read between the lines"; really wanting to tell us more, but knowing he could not due to feasible deniability.

Whatever secrets President Reagan had, he took to the grave, as would any good president. He didn't want to frighten us; he just wanted to lead us to a better tomorrow.

And, I think, with the forthcoming presidential election, it would be nice to see yet another president of his quality be The New Leader of This Nation.

"This Post Isn't Even Worth Reading."

God, don't you just hate it when nothing interesting is really going on in your life? The past few days have been just a real bore for me; nothing new has come in the mail, same ol' sad "stuff" going on at work and a home life that's barely above the bland level of existence.


It's times like these that I actually crave an adventure. I'm usually the type that takes things pretty easy (life included). I usually don't look for trouble or make it happen. But...sometimes....I want to be Woody Woodpecker. I want to be the instigator. I wanna stir-up-things! Get that heart pumpin'! Get that blood a'boilin'! Do some wild prank and then cry at the top of my lungs, "HA-HA-HA-HA-HHAAAAAAAAAA!!!"


Usually an effort of this sort makes me too tired to actually "go thru" with anything, and I end up on the couch, sitting there with a cuppa coffee and watching Seinfeld re-runs.

(See? I told you this wasn't worth reading today.)