Even though the stupid parrot he voiced in Aladdin completely defaced the Enchanted Tiki Room in the most shameless and disgusting "upgrade" or refurbishment any Disney World attraction has ever undergone, Gilbert Gottfried is still pretty funny.
I had no idea he was capable of being funny until I saw him at the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget. Here are 2 short jokes from that. *WARNING: It might offend!
He would have been 77 today. I remember listening to his second to last studio album "The Man Comes Around" the night before he died, and talking with a friend about how much more depressing the album will be once he passes away. Most of those songs indicated he had accepted that he was on his way to the grave, and completely ready for it. The following morning he was reunited with June Carter, who had passed away just a few months earlier.
Not the best I could have done, but definitely not the worst either.
This is the first famous person whose death had me slightly choked up when I heard the news (the only other one being George Carlin last summer). I was lucky enough to see him on his home turf here in the Twin Cities just months before he passed away. I remember almost not going, but had the feeling that I'd regret it if I didn't. Needless to say, he was funnier than hell. He would have been 41 today.
I don't paint nearly enough and there's no way I will get better if I don't start doing it more often. I definitely chose the wrong paper for this, but there are plenty more trials in store.
Lon Chaney Jr. would have been 103 today. I recently questioned if he was related to Dick Cheney, but now I see their names have a different spelling. It'd be fun to paint Dick Cheney in the same light, though.
He is 66 today. Last fall when a buddy and I were in Los Angeles, we could have sworn we saw Joe Pesci in the car next to us as we drove down Beachwood Drive, leaving the Hollywood Hills. We sped up for a better look at the next stoplight. After closer consideration, we concluded that it only looked exactly like him at first glance, although he was wearing a black wife-beater (for you older folks, that is slang for tank top). Now had it been white with a few spaghetti sauce stains and perhaps a baseball bat in the passenger seat, there wouldn't have been a doubt in my mind that it was him.
Miguel Ferrer is 54 today. He has starred in numerous TV shows and lent his voice to several cartoons. He played one of my favorite characters from Twin Peaks, Albert Rosenfield. Albert was a wise-cracking FBI agent who couldn't get along with anyone, and as Agent Cooper warned Sheriff Truman, "lacks some of the social niceties".
Here's a minute of one of my favorite Albert moments:
Last night I was making a list of people I'd like to draw who might be too obscure to appear on the birthday lists in the 3 resources I've been using. That's when I found out that Thurl Ravenscroft had a birthday yesterday. He was the voice of Tony the Tiger and the unmistakable voice who gave us "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". Most importantly, he lent his voice to numerous staples in Disneyland, and will forever be immortalized in that happy, happy place.
"Tell me, "Future Boy", who's President of the United States in 1985? Ronald Reagan, the actor? Then who's VICE-President? Jerry Lewis? I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady! And Jack Benny is Secretary of Treasury!"
I felt like going with the younger actor Reagan, who would have been 98 today.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Axl Rose is 47 Natalie Cole is 59 Bob Marley is 64 Tom Brokaw is 69 Zsa Zsa Gabor is 92 Babe Ruth would have been 114
Funny Alice Cooper should mention Spinal Tap in that video I posted, because I think most would agree that This is Spinal Tap is probably one of Christopher Guest's best films. That and Best in Show. Like Alice Cooper, Guest is now 61.
Sometimes when I'm watching The Office I'm convinced that the overall uncomfortable feeling they convey so well, along with the whole painful awkwardness being the new "funny" is all very much influenced by the humor of Guest's mocumentaries. And what a public service he has performed if that is the case.
*HONORABLE MENTIONS: H.R. Giger is 69 Hank Aaron is 75 William S. Burroughs would have been 95
Alice Cooper turned 61 yesterday. I saw him about 10 years ago in my hometown at a sports bar, in a town with a population of about 71,000. This was a day before I saw Ozzy play in front of 40,000 at Alpine Valley. Alice Cooper was pretty entertaining, fun enough that I went to see him again a couple years later (also because I had free tickets that were handed out at my billionth GWAR show).
For anyone who has ever been a fan of any type of metal, I strongly recommend the documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. It's equally intriguing, informative, amusing, campy, embarassing, etc. There's a segment where they focus on Norwegian black metal, and band members and fans who were involved in a series of church burnings in Norway in the early 90s. They burned down several landmark churches that were up to 600 years old.
If you have 2 minutes, here are 2 clips from that film. The first is a brief interview with the front man of a band called Gorgoroth, regarding the church burnings. That's followed up by Alice Cooper's hilarious remarks about Norwegian black metal.
And that concludes all of the belated birthdays that were caused by yet another visit to this place:
Not to pat myself on the back or nothin' but it almost looks digitally manipulated, doesn't it? Well it's not! I happened to be passing by at dusk, during this "magical" moment at "The Most Magical Place on Earth", not to be confused with "The Happiest Place on Earth".
The Happiest Place has not yet shamelessly tainted and bastardized its Enchanted Tikki Room in the most twisted and depraved manner possible. And hopefully they never will, because I think they know better. That's why their Pirates of the Carribean doesn't lazily cut corners while trimming its story down. They still have Mr. Toad and 4 more dark rides than the Magic Kingdom. Don't forget the Matterhorn, a better Space Mountain, an Indiana Jones ride, and Walt Disney's spirit living in he park (it's in the air, honestly). What really sucks is that the 2 best things the Kingdom has that Disneyland doesn't (Philhar Magic and the Hall of Presidents) were closed for refurbishment.
But don't get me wrong, it was still a great time and I'll definitely return. I at least got to see fireworks this time, which I've been screwed out of on each visit to Disneyland (almost always canceled at the last minute due to "high winds" or a few rain drops). And most importantly, the Haunted Mansion still kicks a lot of ass.
Christian Bale had a birthday last Friday. I consider him to be the "man's man", an actor who I put right up there with Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Clint Eastwood, etc; all actors I could never get sick of watching and who seem virtually incapable of making a crappy film (with some minor exceptions of course).
Last Thursday Tom Selleck turned 64. He is another celebrity I consider to be a "cop-out" caricature. He could be drawn from memory and anyone will probably still get it. But how many have been brave enough to draw him shirtless?
With that said, this is officially the most homoerotic drawing I've ever done. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
Former Viking, Dolphin, Raider and current Lion (poor bastard) Daunte Culpepper turned 32 on 1-28-09. Let me say, it is quite the challenge finding decent reference photos of football players without their helmets. Even if they're the quarterback.
