#I. Sparber

[thinkbolt]

I'm Just Curious (Famous Studios, 1943) - ft. Little Lulu - dir. I Sparber

[ducktracy]

absolutely bonkers gag that blew my mind so much i had to double check and watch the cartoon myself because i genuinely thought it was edited in as an art piece or something from the screenshot i saw online. my breath is taken away. Popeye is no stranger to innovation and invention (check out the ending to Goonland for a similar heartstopper) but it almost gets me emotionally seeing how contemporary this feels. at no point would you ever suspect this is from a 79 year old cartoon. really makes you feel connected to the literal hands that made these cartoons

[spacekidcomics]

blast from the past

I've been researching Fifties/early Sixties graphic arts recently, and got thinking about a couple of animated one-shot cartoons which I found weirdly frightening as a very small kid. (But not so scary that I wouldn't watch them.)

I couldn't remember the titles of either one, so had to search by what I could remember of their content. I managed to find the first one, but couldn't find the right search terms to nail the second one. Then I had a theory: their look and vibe was so similar, I suspected they had the same director. So I found his name -- Izzy Sparber -- looked up a list of his works, and there was my second one.

With their dark humour, stylized animation, and graphic look, these are archetypal Fifties cartoons.

[enbycrip]

ID: a tweet by Bunny Sparber @maxsparber

“I guess I'm a socialist because I want even Nazis to have free health care and I guess I'm antifa because I want them to need it.” 😁

[slpublicity]

Sung Kang's '80s-Inspired Horror-Comedy SHAKY SHIVERS Sinks Its Claws Into SCREAMBOX

Following last month's nationwide theatrical engagement, SCREAMBOX Original Shaky Shivers is streaming now. Beware or be were for a night of werewolves, zombies, and ice cream now on SCREAMBOX.

Drawing comparisons to The Howling, Goosebumps, and Booksmart, the quirky horror-comedy marks the directorial debut of Sung Kang, best known for playing Han in the Fast & Furious franchise.

After finding herself bitten by a mysterious animal, Lucy becomes convinced that she will transform into a fearsome werewolf. Joined by her best friend Karen, the two embark on an adventure filled with magic and mayhem as they look to do battle with a throat-slashing creature.

Brooke Markham (In the Dark), VyVy Nguyen (Dogs in Space), Erin Daniels (House of 1000 Corpses), Jimmy Bellinger (Blockers), Herschel Sparber (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and Skyler Day (Parenthood) star. Kang makes a cameo appearance.

Andrew McAllister and Aaron Strongoni penned the script. Its '80s-inspired practical special effects were supervised by Gabriel Bartalos (Leprechaun, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives).

"The whole idea was to make this for the old school horror hounds and for them to share it with their families today," comments Kang. "I couldn't be more excited about rolling this film out."

Shaky Shivers joins SCREAMBOX’s growing library of unique horror content, including RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Terrifier 2, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, The Outwaters, Living with Chucky, Project Wolf Hunting, Creepypasta, Cube, and Pennywise: The Story of IT.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

[theendofthefilm]

Little Lulu: Cad and Caddy

Seymour Kneitel & I. Sparber USA, 1947

[effectpedal]

Lane Sparber:

Some of my collection. I have much more now.

My problem is that being a tech, I’m addicted to fixing stuff.  Thus, most of these pedals (about 60%-75%) were bought broken off of eBay or Reverb for a song and then restored by yours truly. Then I can’t convince myself to sell them, so they go into the huge pedal closet...for...you know...”someday.”

I’ve occasionally rented some of them out for studio sessions and tours, but other than that, they remain in cold storage.

[helensepigamics]

Hey all, if you can I’d love it if you could donate to this go-fund-me for someone close to me, here’s the link:

https://gf.me/u/y54y34

Couldn’t afford mental health care for PTSD, but the family really needs her to get better. Please reblog! Thank you so much!

[therisingfog]

I decided to write an epic poem about the Gods but modernize it: make it human with human concerns, human foibles, and human pain. Gods would be like us they would live like us they would die like us and so my poem ended up being about Morty who felt the soup was a little salty.

Max Sparber (x)

[thinkbolt]

Spooky Swabs (Paramount, 1957) dir. I. Sparber

The final Popeye theatrical film released by Paramount (formerly Famous Studios). As far as story and animation go, Sparber and his artists really phoned this one in, but they gave it an absolutely SAVAGE ending!

This particular video has been subjected to a 60-frames-per-second upgrade with heavy digital smoothing, which gives it an unnatural yet somehow mesmerizing feel. There have also been some audio and music additions.

Buy me a coffee!

[mmsuperman]

The Mechanical Monsters

November 28, 1941. Directed by Dave Fleischer. Produced by Max Fleischer. Voices by Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, and Jackson Beck. Animation by Steve Muffati and George Germanetti. Story by Isidore Sparber and Seymore Kneitel. Musical arrangement by Sammy Timberg.

General Notes

At first glance you’d think all these cartoons have the same intro sequence, but they don’t. This film features the first onscreen appearance of Superman’s X-Ray vision, which is called out in the intro.

Something I’d urge you to do as you watch these films is to try to avoid looking at them as quaint, old cartoons and see how exciting and dynamic they are, even 75+ years later. How cool do those mechanical monsters look! I love their menacing march at 4:00 and the way the police bullets are drawn bouncing off them. In general the art deco vibe of that whole sequence is just incredible. Modern movies set a high standard for onscreen action and motion, but I think there’s a lot to find captivating here.

The first filmed occurrence of Clark changing in a phone booth comes at 5:00. Shortly after, note that Superman very clearly leaps instead of flying. (This was also true in “Superman”) Later, he falls off the mechanical monster in mid-air, which wouldn’t happen if he could fly. Superman is generally less powerful than he’s become in the comics over the decades. Modern Superman wouldn’t even be slowed down by hitting electrical cables, but here we get a cool sequence where he looks legitimately powerful as he breaks out of the tangled, live wires. Having a Superman who doesn’t seem invulnerable helps create some jeopardy for the characters, too. The Fleischers reportedly didn’t think the leaping looked dramatic enough and asked the publisher if Superman could be given flight. They agreed and we’ll see that in a month or so. (I do think his fast jumps at the end look neat.)

He’s not credited, but Bud Collyer, who had been doing Clark Kent/Superman on The Adventures of Superman radio drama, plays the role in all of the Flesicher & Famous shorts. From The Superman Site’s page on Collyer:

“I played Clark Kent just a little bit higher to give my self somewhere to go with the ‘UP, UP AND AWAY!’” Collyer portrayed Clark Kent as a tenor; dropping an octave in mid-sentence into Superman’s deep baritone as he proclaimed: “This looks like a job - FOR SUPERMAN.” Bud Collyer’s portrayal of the Man of Steel remained the definitive interpretation throughout the 1940s.

The phone booth change in “Mechanical Monsters” is a perfect example of this vocal shift. Kevin Conroy cites Collyer’s approach as inspiration for his portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman on Batman: The Animated Series. Christopher Reeve does the same thing physically in Superman: The Motion Picture, slouching as Clark and puffing up his chest as Superman.

7:00 has a wonderful multiplane camera shot of the villain’s lair. Invented by Walt Disney Studios while making Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the multiplane camera allowed animators to draw several layers of images — in our case the lair in the background and the rock formations in the foreground — and then place them on top of one-another in the camera, allowing them to move the layers at different rates. It created a sense of realistic depth that hadn’t been possible in animation before. (Aside: Snow White’s friends are “dwarfs”. Tolkein coined “dwarves” at around the same time Disney was making his movie. I prefer Tolkein’s plural generally.)

This story has a sequel by Brian Fies, The Last Mechanical Monster. You can read the Eisner-nominated comic in its entirety here. This sort of story is a great argument for why art should pass into the public domain. Fies had an idea for a sequel and was able to draw it and publish it on his own website and now you can enjoy it.

Mild-Mannered Edition Notes

I didn’t have to do a ton of work on this one. The Warner Home Video version is generally complete, with a few exceptions.

At 1:30ish, after the introduction, there are supposed to be a few seconds of black while the sound of the mechanical monsters breaking out of the National Bank plays. The Warner Home Video version cuts some of this audio and fades in too quickly. I’ve restored the proper timing.

In “Superman,” the Warners’ audio had an odd drop-out during its final moments before a fanfare played over the Paramount Pictures logo. In “The Mechanical Monsters,” the Warner version stops playing the original score entirely and switches to fanfare. I can’t find any other edition of this short that does that — the Paramount fanfare isn’t supposed to be there. Here’s a comparison:

This issue recurs in many of the videos. I’ll point it out each time but probably won’t keep including it in the making-of features.

📽 YouTube link

↺ Reply ↻ Retweet ♡ Like

[schraubd]

Two Good Posts on Antisemitism

Sitting on my browser for awhile have been a pair of posts by Max Sparber, a Minnesota-based Jewish journalist who is (or was) a regular commenter on Metafilter. He wrote two posts, On Allyship and then On Allyship: Shutting Down Debate regarding how discourses surrounding antisemitism are routinely and systematically shut down in that community. I really worked hard to find bits to excerpt, and I just couldn't. They both need to be read in full. And to be clear, these are not posts that are limited to folks who are part of or even familiar with Metafilter. I'm not myself a participant on Metafilter (I have read a few threads when someone has linked to my work), but Max's comments have general applicability -- they reflect patterns of discourse which are ubiquitous and tremendously damaging. The thread which prompted Sparber's post, "On Jews and their comments", may provide helpful background, but I don't really think it's necessary. via The Debate Link http://ift.tt/2mtqcUf

[theendofthefilm]

Little Lulu: Cad and Caddy

Seymour Kneitel & I. Sparber USA, 1947

[dianeintransit]

Favorite tweets

Dripped the ball is one of the best typos I have ever seen

— Bunny Sparber קיניגל שׁפּארבּער (@maxsparber) June 29, 2020

[chestnutpost]

Twitter Rips Devin Nunes After He Whines About ‘Socialist Straw Police’

This post was originally published on this site

Anything that helps the environment seems to be “socialism” to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). While at a restaurant Saturday, he slammed the plastic “straw police” after a waitress asked him if he wanted a straw. “Welcome to socialism in California,” he snorted on Twitter.

A California law limits plastic straws only to customers who request them. Several communities, including Seattle and Washington D.C., have banned the ocean-polluting straws. They not only harm animals when they’re ingested but may also threaten human health.

At restaurant tonight waitress asks if we want straws. Says she has to ask now in fear of “THE STRAW POLICE”. Welcome to Socialism in California!

— Devin Nunes (@DevinNunes) March 10, 2019

Twitter went bonkers over Nunes’ head-scratching defense of putting more plastic in the environment — and calling a question by a waitress concerned about environmental protection “socialism.”

Several Twitter users pointed out that Nunes’ family farm has collected government subsidies, which might be more akin to socialism than reducing plastic pollution. They also pointed out that free straws, subsidized by diners who don’t use them, smacks of tongue-in-cheek socialism.

Lordy Moses. Is recycling socialism? Is social security socialism? Are child labor laws socialism? Is putting content on food packaging socialism?

— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) March 10, 2019

Single use plastic such as straws, plastic soda cups and cutlery represents the greatest source of plastic pollution which was the focus of last year’s United Nations World Environment Day which is held annually on the 5th of June. So yeah the “Straw Police” are a good thing.

— Anthony Ashburton (@PebusPebus) March 10, 2019

BTW, did you have to ask for the government farm subsidies your family got, or were you just given them? Socialism?

— Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) March 10, 2019

But farm subsidies are not socialism? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/q2GkjZeQSS

— thegater 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇫🇷🇩🇪🇯🇵🇬🇧 🇮🇹 (@Andy_Lofgren) March 10, 2019

Farmers in your district, including you, have received $459,790,000 in federal farm subsidies since 1975. But do tell me how keeping plastic out of the waste stream is socialism.

— Doug (@dougthinks) March 10, 2019

Can someone explain to me why trying to conserve the environment by not wasting straws is now socialism? Or has Devin Nunes passed Donald Trump as the absolute stupidest human being on earth?

— Shugar (@GregShugar) March 10, 2019

I went to a restaurant in California and AOC was my server and wouldn’t give me straws. So I went to the back and grabbed a handful of straws and shoved them up my ass. While I was walking out of the restaurant with straws in my ass I laughed because I totally owned all the libs.

— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) March 10, 2019

Straw man

— Clay Jones (@coolarrow9) March 10, 2019

I hate to nitpick here but everybody getting straws was socialism. A waitress giving them to only people who want them is capitalism. It’s that whole supply-demand thing.

You’re super dumb. Like, super, super dumb.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 10, 2019

Real capitalism would’ve been charging him extra for the straws.

— Verity Pace (@VerityPace) March 10, 2019

That might help solve the problem

— Paul McNeil (@PaulMcNeil70) March 10, 2019

They have to ask to gauge how much you suck. Spoiler alert, it’s a lot

— American Propagandist (@ArmyStrang) March 10, 2019

pic.twitter.com/MzjSaSIXlv

— The Bearded Educator (@LiteraryBeardo) March 10, 2019

If your house catches fire don’t call the fire department that’s socialism bruh honestly how are you this dumb?

— Wendy Molyneux (@WendyMolyneux) March 10, 2019

I’m so sorry this happened to you. Are you gonna be okay

— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) March 10, 2019

“Socialism is when you ask if someone wants a straw.” — Friedrich Engels, “Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx” (1883)

— a robot bit me. (@arobotbitme) March 10, 2019

Socialism would mean that you were taking to a co-owner, not just a waitress.

— Max Sparber (@maxsparber) March 10, 2019

I got asked at a restaurant if I wanted a refill of my coffee.

I feared for our country because the coffee police are coming for us.

— American Patriot 🇺🇲🏳️‍🌈🇵🇷 and 200 others (@sober__society) March 10, 2019

California, Love It or Leave It

— Sally Resists (@SallyResists) March 10, 2019

The post Twitter Rips Devin Nunes After He Whines About ‘Socialist Straw Police’ appeared first on The Chestnut Post.

from The Chestnut Post https://thechestnutpost.com/news/twitter-rips-devin-nunes-after-he-whines-about-socialist-straw-police/

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

7 things Marco Rubio should be more worried about than the 'F word'

For fuck's sake.

We're not even 24 hours removed from the latest mass shooting in the U.S. where a man stormed a newsroom in Maryland and killed five people in cold blood, and Sen. Marco Rubio is more concerned about a naughty word used in a news report.

SEE ALSO: Shut the f*ck up, Marco Rubio

During an emotional interview with CNN, Capital Gazette reporter Selene San Felice — who was in the newsroom when the shooting happened and who saw her colleagues get killed — told Anderson Cooper on the subject of "thoughts and prayers": "I'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers, because it's our whole lives have been shattered. And so thanks for your prayers, but I couldn't give a fuck about them if there's nothing else." 

Capital Gazette reporter Selene San Felice emotionally recounts the shooting at the paper and tells CNN, "I'm going to need more than a couple days of news coverage and some thoughts and prayers." pic.twitter.com/BQWABJQnZo

— Mashable News (@MashableNews) June 29, 2018

On Friday morning, Rubio offered the following tweet:

Sign of our times... the F word is now routinely used in news stories, tweets etc It’s not even F*** anymore. Who made that decision???

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 29, 2018

Rubio, who was perfectly okay making dick jokes about Trump on the 2016 campaign trail, offered this social critique, but hasn't tweeted anything about the shooting.

It's a fucked up sense of priority by Rubio and Twitter users called him on it.

There are nearly 2000 fucking kids who were taken from their fucking parents by the fucking government that you fucking work for, most of whom haven’t been fucking returned. And you’re going to make a fucking word the fucking thing you make noise about? Are you fucking serious?

— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) June 29, 2018

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/KnHYbKwbs4

— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) June 29, 2018

I know. It was just wild when I started seeing the media use the word pussy without bleeping it or anything. God, how did that even happen? Somebody must have said it in such a blunt, unavoidable way that the media had to report it in full, but who?

— Max Sparber (@maxsparber) June 29, 2018

In case you need a little help, Marco, here are seven things you should be more worried about than whether or not someone said the word "fuck" in a news report.

1. Thursday's shooting, which was yet another mass shooting in the United States in 2018. In fact, it was the eleventh mass shooting just this week. Add newsrooms to movie theaters, restaurants, city parks, and schools as places where we have to look out for potential gunmen. 

2. Fixing the current status of immigration in this country, which left children in cages and separated from their parents. 

3. Climate change and its irrefutable science that will directly affect Rubio's state of Florida.

4. The overwhelming number of families who are classified as being impoverished in Rubio's state of Florida.

5. The state of Florida's role in helping kickstart the current opioid epidemic.

6. The constant stream of violent rhetoric directed at journalists (in addition to the general violent rhetoric) coming straight from the White House.

7. Just about anything else. 

Get the fuck on it, Marco.