Movie News

I think it's safe to say the Farmland premiere of The Girl in the Crawlspace was a success at the Farmland Community Center (11/3/18)! We had a packed house with a great audience. In the photograph up above, writer/director John Oak Dalton answers some questions after the screening. Cast and crew on stage behind John include Erin Hoodlebrink, Tim Richardson, Jeff Rapkin, Cliff Lowe, Jeff Shull, Joe Skeen, Katy Wolfe and Tom Cherry.

Blast From the Past: Tom Cherry's Old Time Radio Show Halloween Special 2017

From October 2017, it’s our big Halloween show featuring the talents of Wendy Carpenter, Sean Orlosky, Gabe Carpenter, Bob Green, Katy Wolfe, Jeff Shull, Jeff Rapkin, Rita Wessel, Larry Beck and our favorite noisemakers, Jerry and Judy Cole! Our spine tingling offerings include The Witch’s Tale and Mister Halloween! Plus it’s our 4th annual Halloween costume contest! Ohhh, scary!

Filmed and edited by Tim Richardson.

Chiller Thriller Theatre 2: Electric Bugaboo Lives!!!

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, some Halloween hi jinks courtesy of  Chiller Thriller Theatre 2: Electric Bugaboo!
Many thanks to Tim Richardson for capturing the madness and putting it all together!
Pleasant nightmares!

One Funky Halloween

The stage show is over, but One Funky Halloween now haunts the Intertubes! Thanks to Tim Richardson for putting this historic record together.

Those Funky Film Festival Idiots

Here's some good news! The Funky Idiots' short film "Neighbor" will be shown this weekend at the UPIKE Film & Media Arts Festival! Congratulations to my cousin and frequent collaborator, Tim Richardson, and good luck!

Blast from the Past: Pulp Fixation (1996?)

  Back in the day when Those Funky Idiots was a public access show in Muncie, Indiana, I always submitted the master tape for our latest episode in a plastic VCR tape container. Occassionally I would make "poster art" for an episode and slip the drawing into the container's plastic sleeve. This particular drawing was for the second part of our Pulp Fiction homage two parter which we called "Pulp Fixation". Instead of Mia Wallace, that's Nia Wally (Played by the former Meisa Beatty. Now she's Meisa Cope) in the drawing. I won't go into the whole plot, but at one point Vinnie Tuscany (Tim Richardson) bumps into Nia Wally and they enter a dancing contest which leads into a parody of the famous Twist dance scene from the movie. Instead of Jack Rabbit Slims, we filmed our dance in the middle of Gibson's Skating Rink. It turned out great!

You Don't Need Dick Clark and Ed McMahon to Have Bloopers

If you liked "Single White Vinnie", here's some bloopers!

Today's Announcement

Thanks to the talented Tim Richardson, there's another episode of Those Funky Idiots floating around the Intertubes! It's called "Single White Vinnie" and it shows what happens when Vinnie Tuscany moves in with Arlo! It's our last full-length episode and it riffs on The Odd Couple, Fight Club, and Edie Breckell and the New Bohemians! It's one of my favorites and you can see it here!

Desperately Seeking Studio

Snow Day 2: Got another day off from Touchy Feely, thanks to the aftermath of the big snow. Like Tuesday, I called and nobody answered at the lab. Actually, I did get the answering machine that huskily announced "Message Full". Despite the county snow emergency, I eventually braved the roads to get something to eat and they weren't that bad so I'm thinking my snow day streak is about to end. Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted.

Something Cool, Something Sad: Earlier this week I received an e-mail from a teacher. Apparently she was setting up some field trips for her students and she wondered if it was possible for them to visit my studio and if I could discuss the ins and outs of being a professional cartoonist. Well, since I have no studio and I'm currently far from being a professional cartoonist, I had to write her back and tell her I wasn't exactly what she was looking for. Tough break all around.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: My cousin Tim worked as an extra in last night's episode of Friday Night Lights. He was one of the football players. I think this was the third episode that he actually worked on, but I couldn't tell if he got any screen time or not. From what Tim has told me, being an extra for the show doesn't pay much, but they do feed him well, he's learning how an actual TV show operates, and he's read some good books between takes. Here's a fun tidbit: After a night shoot, a bus full of football player extras broke into a sing along involving songs from Rent and High School Musical.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? I Wrote This

The Ghost of Christmas Past: Well, Christmas has come and gone. Despite a bump or two on Christmas Eve, things went pretty well this year. Got some nice gifts, ate too much food, and generally had a good time. Of course, I think the highlight was seeing Tim and Brad. They traveled back to the north to spread some Christmas cheer, but unfortunately they couldn't stay too long. I was glad to see them and I wish they could been in town longer. Having dinner with them and Emily last Saturday felt like old times. And, though the suddenly reclusive Eric Whetsel did not make the trip back, I got to talk to him on Christmas day. Now I need to figure out when I can visit them in Austin. Hopefully, soon.

I'll Be Coma for Christmas: How do you waste a week off from work? Sleep through most of it like I did! This past Tuesday and Wednesday were one long snooze for yours truly. No wonder I never seem to get anything done!

Recently Departed: James Brown, Gerald Ford, and Saddam Hussein. Of course, only one of them was The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

My New Year Resolution: To come up with some for next New Year's Eve.

My Favorite Christmas Card Comic:


Thanks, Dale!

Politically Corrected

Election Results: I don't know about anybody else, but I was very pleased with the outcome of this year's elections. It was great to see the Bush administration finally getting its comeuppance from the American voters and I hope Karl Rove is still choking on his own bile. The resignation of Donald Rumsfeld was also an added bonus. I don't now how a Democratically controlled Congress will play out in the long run, but I hope they provide the proper oversight the current administration deserves and needs.

As for my voting experience, my polling place was fairly busy when I walked in. There was a line and I stood in it for about twenty-five minutes or so. Most of my fellow voters were elderly with one man practically comatose. Between them and the elderly volunteers, the place almost resembled a nursing home. The actual voting didn't take that long and I found the touch screen voting system fairly easy to use.

No News is No News: Well, it's been a number of weeks since my audition at The Muncie Civic and I haven't heard anything back from them. I'm presuming that means I didn't get a part which is okay. You can't win them all. I think there is another round of auditions occurring this Saturday and I'm currently debating if I'll attend them or not. Something to think about, I guess.

Back Home Again in Indiana: Tim came back to Muncie Monday and I had some breakfast with him yesterday. As always, it is good to see him and to hear about his experiences in Austin. He just finished working as a grip for an independent film and it sounds like he learned a lot on set. It's nice to know his dream to work in the movie business is actually coming true and hopefully he'll have more opportunities awaiting for him when he returns to Texas!

Move This! Copy That! Totem!

Moving Right Along: For the last few weeks, whenever the thought of moving crossed my mind, I kept telling myself that I didn't want to think about it. However, with three weeks left, I'm afraid I'm going to have to think about it now. Dang it.

Cool News: This past Saturday I recorded some voiceover work for a 30 second commercial for Insight Media. It was for a kid-friendly establishment called That Fun Place. In the spot, I did the voice for a pirate, a parrot, and a monkey. I also read the copy in my best announcer voice.

I've been wanting to do some voiceover work for a long time and it was great to finally get a chance to do it. The recording process took an hour or so to do with Tim providing expert direction. Nailing some of the lines was a little harder than I thought. With only thirty seconds to play with, the reading of the copy had to be quick yet precise, annunciating the keywords with the proper punch. Overall, I think it went pretty well. Hopefully, there will be other opportunities to pursue more voiceover work in the near future. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

And thanks again, Tim, for showing me the way! What the hell am I going to do without you?

Just for the Record:

Small Town Scenario

This past Friday Tim and I ventured out to Farmland to see the premiere of A Postcard from Farmland, a short film created by a group of Farmlanders including our friend,
John Oak Dalton. Postcard is part of a series of films featured in a proposed television show called Small Town Scenario. The concept behind the show is very interesting. A film crew goes to various small towns and helps the locals to create films centering around their communities. Besides showing the finished film, each episode would document the experiences of the neophyte filmmakers as they work on their movies.

Farmland's film involved the reminiscences of some its local citizenry of their small town's past which included a daring bank robbery and an electric mousetrap. The film got a good reception at the crowded Farmland Cultural Center. Tim and I both found Postcard to be rather enjoyable and a promising start to Scenario's series.

After the film, we chatted with John and met his lovely wife Beth and his little brother, Harold. I also bumped into Judy Malone and Jerry Cole, founding members of the Howling Wind Band and friends from the Muncie Civic. Soon we all found ourselves next door at the Chocolate Moose, an old-fashioned soda fountain that serves tasty cheeseburgers and thick milkshakes. It was great sitting and talking with everybody, getting to know my friends from Farmland a little bit better.