Two Clicks

*Good Link Dept (#1): Yes, the Best of 2006 lists are still rolling along (I think Chris Butcher's is still forthcoming, even). You've all seen Tom Spurgeon's, which is good and detailed as expected, but I also really enjoyed this two parter from Justin J. Fox, starting off with quick thoughts on 40 great things, then offering longer reflections on a top 20. There's so much stuff on these lists I haven't read, it's kind of painful...

*Good Link Dept (#2): Every man, woman and child alive should click over to this Kazuo Umezu post at Same Hat! Maybe I’m just weird because I photograph terribly, but if I ever had a shot taken as awesome as Sinister Youth Umezu -- let alone Beguiling Goth Umezu -- you could put good money on what would be pasted on the back of every book I ever released. Needless to say, I have no problem believing this is the fellow who brought us The Drifting Classroom.

Tasty Link Day

*Here's your link for today - a fairly extensive, fairly prodding 1981 interview with Richard Corben, from the pages of Heavy Metal #51 (Vol. V No. 3, June, 1981) through #53 (Vol. V No. 5, August, 1981), conducted by Brad Balfour. Some interesting, revealing information, but it's more memorable for the unmistakable sense of awkwardness that pervades everything - Corben comes off as pretty uncomfortable for the whole thing. Be sure to look to the very end, for an unhappy letter from Corben that ran in issue #54 (Vol. V No. 6, September 1981), concerning the chat (and make sure you click on the 'Forward to the Second Half of the Interview' button at the end of the first half of parts 1 and 2 for the second halves of those parts - it's kinda tricky).

I should also link to the full frames version of this site, The Most Complete Comicography of Richard Corben, since it really is the most complete background resource for this artist I've ever come across...

My longer post got eaten and I didn't save, so...

*I guess I just have to be really quick in recommending Rick Prelinger's new book, The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, from the National Film Preservation Foundation, which can be downloaded for free or ordered in printed form for $8.50. It's a nice, compact guide to 452 'sponsored' films, short and (occasionally) feature-length movies produced for the purposes of corporate or institutional communications, often to promote a product or ideology. Perfect for sitting on your lap as you browse the internet looking for things, particularly things nestled away in the Prelinger Archives. Examples (stream 'em all from the panel on the left):

heavy equipment is here to kill you (Shake Hands With Danger, 1975)

the director and cast of Blood Feast are here to teach you about cutting meat (Carving Magic, 1959

this is the future I ought to live in (Design for Dreaming, 1956)

old cars, olds cartoons, old songs, and sexual innuendo - together at last (In My Merry Oldsmobile, 1931)

if you need to learn how to use a jazz era telephone toot sweet, this is the link for you (Now You're Talking, 1927)

also: telephones are the key to love and beauty (Once Upon a Honeymoon, 1956)

Jimmy Stewart presents the greatest school of them all (Tomorrow's Drivers, 1954)

And there's so much more - nothing quite like reading about anti-union films and the 'response' films that unions would release to counter them. Lots of stuff well worth eroding America's productivity over.

Plus, be on notice that the NFPF is busily prepping the third and fourth entries in their line of dvd box sets, following Treasures from American Film Archives and More Treasures from American Film Archives, both of which are awesome. Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900 - 1934 will cover exactly what it says it does over four discs in the fall of this year, and Treasures IV: The American Avant-Garde Film, 1945-1985 will appear in the fall of 2008 with two discs chock full of water studies and moving dots and things. And I can't wait!