Oz cartoon caption contest

Aaron Adelman pointed me to this page that has a certain Ozzy scenario and a provide-the-caption cartoon. So go take a look already, and maybe even supply them with a funnier caption than the ones they have (although there are some good ones already).

And now for a word from our sponsor

This commercial was actually pulled not long after it debuted, over concerns that kids would copy the helium-sucking or it would lead to them huffing or something.

Judy on a stamp

I hadn't originally planned to buy the new Judy Garland stamp, as it's not a picture from The Wizard of Oz. I think it may also be a bit of jealousy that there isn't an L. Frank Baum stamp this year as well. But I was at the post office yesterday and took a look, and decided to get the sheet of twenty. To be sure, the stamp itself is taken from A Star Is born, but the rest of the sheet, with Judy's biography and such, includes a picture from The Wizard of Oz. So remember, if you are an Oz fan and need some stamps, get the sheet of twenty of the Judy Garland one. You won't regret it.

Happy blogiversary!

One year ago today, I decided to take the plunge and start up a Wizard of Oz-themed blog. I wasn't sure if there would be enough material to sustain it, but here we are, one year later, and I seem to have found enough stuff to get us here. It's been fun, and I hope to keep it going for quite a while. Of course, YouTube has helped to give me a lot of material.

And speaking of YouTube, I was poking around last night, and found a video that reminded me of another Oz-iversary today. It was twenty-one years ago today that this movie opened in theaters in the United States:



I saw it twice that night!

A different take on The Wizard of Oz

What if the famous film version of The Wizard of Oz hadn't been made as a light-hearted musical? Well, the trailer might look something like this...

An Ozzy Encounter

The other day, in my day job as a substitute teacher, I was at a local junior high on its last full day. The morning's activities were dominated by a final remembrance/recognition of the ninth graders, who are going to be at the high school next year. During the ceremony, a couple of singers came up and did a medly of "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World." Okay, I was happy to hear "Over the Rainbow," but this was one of the most bizarre arrangements I've ever heard! Lyrics were in the wrong places, notes went down when they should have gone up, etc. I don't think it was the singer's fault, as she was pretty good. Oh, well. But at the end, as a recessional, they played a tune that sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it at first. Then I realized it was "For Good" from Wicked! Cool. I just never expected to hear a Wicked song under those circumstances, which is why it took a while to figure it out.

Recent Acquisitions

I've gotten some very interesting new items in the last few days:

• Our Wicked tickets — the actual tickets.
  
• The May 2006 issue of the British magazine Book and Magazine Collector. There is a big article in it on Baum and Oz, and a member of the Oz Club managed to buy a big batch of issues for anyone who was interested. So I said, why not?
  
• My own copy of the Oz credit card. I got it mainly for the novelty. I plan to use it only to buy Oz stuff.
  

In at 26...

The Wizard of Oz is the 26th Most Inspiring Film Of All Time.

A Review of Shanower's Oz Works

The Howling Curmedgeons report on Eric Shanower's Oz graphic novels.

RIP Tim Hildebrandt

I didn't feel this was big enough Oz news for my news page, but I did want to pay tribute to Tim Hildebrandt, who passed away the other day. Here's a tribute at Comic Book Resources. His Oz connection? He helped to illustrate this edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I know, I know, the official illustrating credit is Greg Hildebrandt, but considering how closely the Brothers Hildebrandt worked together, I very much doubt Tim didn't have a hand in the book as well.

The other day's Oz comic

Thanks to Denise for pointing out this recent edition of the comic strip Reality Check. Heh heh...

Where's the Witch?

Well, it's been quite some time since we looked in on where the Wicked Witch of the East is, so let's see what she's up to now...

This is another one from the Emerald City Comic Con back in April. The local Buffy the Vampire Slayer society had this little guy on their table, and I couldn't resist. For those of you not familiar with the Angel episode "Smile Time," this is what Angel looked like when he got transformed into, as Spike put it, "A wee little puppet man."

Man, that was a funny episode.

Oz in the news!

I signed up a while ago for news alerts from CNN with the keyword "Oz" — and now it's finally paid off! This piece on the new funk duo Gnarls Barkley has some interesting Oz content if you read far enough. And "Crazy" is a pretty good song. I liked it from the first time I heard it on the radio.

Eric Shanower interview

Thanks to Shane for pointing out this interview with Eric Shanower about the forthcoming omnibus reissue of his Oz graphic novels, Adventures in Oz. I remember when Eric and I were both starting out at Oz conventions. I guess we blended together in a lot of people's minds, because when The Enchanted Apples of Oz came out, a couple of people asked me to sign it at that year's Winkie Convention. I was kind enough to direct them to the right Eric, and not sign it myself.

We're going to see "Wicked"...

...but not like we'd hoped. Thanks to subscribing to the theater's e-mail newsletter, I got an offer to buy tickets online before they go on sale this Friday. Okay! Well, it seems the good tickets are already gone, so we scrambled around and finally found a show with a pair of halfway decent seats together — during the one midweek matinée. Oh, well. It looks like our local Oz group isn't going to be able to go see it together. Maybe the next time it comes to town — and I strongly suspect this will be like The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, touring for years to come. Heck, Wicked is already making return appearances in some cities on this current tour, and has spawned a company in an open-ended run in Chicago, with word of another in Los Angeles. And it opens on the West End in London this fall.

Wickeder video

No, that's not a typo in the title! Forbidden Broadway is a long-running revue in New York where they bite the hand that feeds it, and spoof Broadway. Wickeder is their take on Wicked, and...well, here's a slide show of Wicked scenes (mostly from the Tony Awards a couple of years ago, it seems) that ought to give you a good idea of what's going on (WARNING: some language that more sensitive viewers might want to not hear):

And in related news, tickets for the local run of Wicked go on sale here on Friday! If I have to, I may take the day off to get the choice seats...

Today's Oz comic

Mother Goose and Grimm has a good one today — if you can find it. So, pay attention if you want to see it. This link will take you to the MGG archive. If the year on the left isn't set at 2006 (like, say, you're reading this in 2008), change it to 2006. Then go to the date in the upper right and choose "06/04/2006". Of course, if you go there today, it should already be on the cartoon, showing a clash of history and fantasy.

It's not QUITE Oz, but...

The first two volumes of the new Abadazad series arrived today, courtesy of our local comic shop. This is the follow-up to the comic book series about an Oz-like country, and two-children who get there under unusual circumstances, which abruptly ended when the comic publisher went out of business. The rights were bought up, and now this is the result. The story, as originally told in the comic, appears to be retained, at least at first. The books are even illustrated by Michael Ploog, who did the comic book and a graphic novel adaptation of Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. So, if you're interested, here are the links:

• Volume 1, The Road to Inconceivable
  
• Volume 2, The Dream Thief
  
• Volume 3 (which hasn't even come out yet), The Puppet, the Professor, and the Prophet