The Yellow Mic with Joe Alaskey

Joe Alaskey was recently featured on the YouTube "show", The Yellow Mic. I don't know much more about it than that. He gives an interesting overview of his career/voices and interviews random people on the street (in the voices of various cartoon characters)... amusingly, or sadly, most of the people he talks to don't seem to have any idea what the hell is going on or who the Looney Tunes even are.

Shameless Shilling

I am sure everyone is busy watching their brand-new copies Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 6 which was released yesterday. What?? Don't have a copy yet?? Look no further than the Amazon link box thingy on your right! Or, if you head to a Best Buy store, they have a version of this DVD set packaged with an exclusive pocket-sized edition of Jerry Beck's book Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide. (Yeah, I am sure most of our readers already own the full-size edition, but the freebie could make a nice stocking stuffer this holiday season).

When your eyeballs need a break from all those cartoons, head on over to the annual Golden Collection Talkback thread on the Golden Age Cartoons Forums.

UPDATE:

I don't THINK you need much convincing to buy this DVD set if you're reading this blog, but just in case you haven't snagged a copy yet, here are some images that will remove any doubts you may have! On the left, the old VHS and TV versions we all know and love(d). On the right, the new DVD!

(click images to enlarge.)

Lego Hazel

Now this is cool. Check out this gallery of images of Witch Hazel made entirely of Lego bricks.

Little Blabbermouse

Here's an interesting little character who never gets much recognition. He's interesting for two reasons: One, he starred in two cartoons by the same director (Friz Freleng) with virtually the same plot in the same year. Two, the character was eventually merged into Chuck Jones' Sniffles the Mouse series, first as the basis for a talkative bat character the following year ("Brave Little Bat") and then Sniffles himself from "Unbearable Bear" (1943) through the characters' final cartoon in 1946.

Both "Little Blabbermouse" and "Shop, Look and Listen" have the same premise, and the same crew behind them. My guess is that they came up with too many gags to fit in one cartoon, so they made two seperate cartoons. In both, A W.C. Fields caricature leads Blabbermouse on a guided tour of a department store full of unusual, funny and futuristic items. It's a rather unusual melding of Freleng's inamimate-objects-and-packages-come-to-life obsession, and the Tex Avery style of blackout spot-gags and puns. Also notice that the idea of W.C. Fields as a mouse would turn up again 27 years later as Merlin the Magic Mouse...and the connection may very well be Cal Howard, writer of the first Merlin short who was a frequent collaborator with Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton in the early 40's. Both Hardaway and Dalton appear in the credits for the Blabbermouse cartoons.

"Little Blabbermouse"


"Shop Look and Listen"


"Unbearable Bear"

Presto Change-O...Commentary by Bugs Bunny

Here's another commentary with me playing around with vocal impressions. This time I tackle Bugs Bunny, as Bugs looks back at a very early role of his.

"Presto Change-O" (1939)

Presto Change-O...Commentary by Bugs Bunny
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

LT Golden Collection, Vol. 6 - Coming Soon!

Just a friendly reminder... pre-order this DVD today!

"Feather Finger" (1966) Commentary by Daffy Duck

Just a little voice-recording experiment. Here's a commentary by Daffy Duck (Wonder who voiced him?) on a 1960's cartoon of his. Let's see what Daffy has to say about it...

Daffyspeedyvoicecomm
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Looney Tunes "Eating Right" Safeway products

As we previously mentioned, Safeway grocery stores have teamed up with Warner Bros. in an exclusive promotion to help kids eat healthier foods. Over the past several months, I've snagged a few of the cereal and granola bar products (They're very reasonably priced and actually pretty good!). The artwork on these things is excellent, reminiscent of the old 60's/70's/80's cartoon cereal tie-ins. I particularly like the Road Runner and Coyote artwork and the "Duck Dodgers" one. Also, I highly recommend the Foghorn Leghorn raisin bars (delicious) and recommend you avoid the Pepe Le Pew strawberry ones (kinda nasty.)

Cartoon Network Fancy Anvil Awards

From 2002, in five parts, are the wraparound segments from Cartoon Network's Fancy Anvil Awards Show. This mock Oscar special was a spot-on spoof of overblown award shows and, looking back at it now, a fond reminder of the tongue-in-cheek humor Cartoon Network used to be known for. In fact, this was one of the final such productions from CN (others included the yearly "Big Game" Super Bowl parody marathons). Lots of classic Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera characters make guest appearances including a surprisingly touching tribute to Bill Hanna, Maurice Noble and Chuck Jones by Porky Pig and a "dance" montage featuring a cavalcade of clips from vintage black-and-white WB shorts.