BILL MELENDEZ: THE MAN THAT BROUGHT SNOOPY TO LIFE

First Jerry Reed, than Don LaFontaine and today I sadly report that animator, Bill Melendez has passed on. If you are not familiar with his name, you've probably seen it in the credits after everyone of the Peanuts half hour holiday specials that he animated. While he worked many other places, Bill made his mark on society by making Charlie Brown, Snoopy (my personal favorite) and the Peanuts Gang comic strip come to life on TV.

An Oscar nominee and 8-time Emmy winner, Melendez was the only filmmaker Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz allowed to oversee the animated versions of Charlie Brown and Snoopy --- in 68 TV specials, four feature films and more than 372 commercials.

His Warner Bros. work included such classics as “Wabbit Twouble,” “Mouse Menace,” “What Makes Daffy Duck,” “What’s Up, Doc” and “Gerald McBoing Boing.”

His first directorial effort was 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas (a special that still airs annually).” His last work was on 2006’s “He’s A Bully, Charlie Brown.”

Audiences should especially revere Melendez, the only adult among the Peanuts voice cast, because his vocalizations for Charlie Brown’s famous beagle (who managed to “talk” without words) were always so inspired. Enjoy Bill's work in this compilation of clips from Peanuts specials.

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THE VOICE HAS BEEN SILENCED

Voiceover artist and film trailer legend, Don LaFontaine has passed on at 68 years old. This man has been heard for years, with his ominous voice in trailers dating back to The Godfather. Within the last few years he has stepped in front of the camera to do commercials for GEICO insurance. This man of small stature has caused a void in Hollywood that will be tough to fill. In world where, voices can make you go to a film... Don will be truly missed.

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THE SNOWMAN HAS BEEN MELTED

Country & Western singer, Jerry "Snowman" Reed has passed on. While I am not a country and western music fan, I learned of Jerry in the popular 70's "Smokey and the Bandit" films about bootleggers. Jerry played the truck driver, the Snowman, who hauled the contraband while Burt "Bandit" Reynolds ran interference between the haul and Jackie "Smokey" Gleason. For those, who remember the era enjoy Jerry singing the "Smokey and the Bandit" theme song, "East Bound and Down". I know what you're saying, "Gee Rusty, this is weird". Well , welcome to the Bastille.

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THE SCARIEST THOUGHT EVER

I always have thought that a room full of Klansman would be the most horrifying sight in life to me, but I stand corrected. These two right here scare the living hell out of me more because I know that one slip in the shower and the hockey mom aka the pitbull with lipstick (her words not mine) will have her hands on the button. Hear me now, I don't care about having a woman or mother being in the White House, but I care about a person, who is a pro-life, gun supporting, conservative, hunter, who loves John McCain and his warmongering ways, being in the White House. I care about a woman, who is encouraging her son, who has enlisted in the army to join the "fight for freedom" in Iraq, that is based on a falsehood (remember Weapons of Mass Destruction). I have no doubt there are Republican grumblings that there are more qualified women to be his running mate than Sarah Palin. I am no fan of hers, but I am one to believe that Condoleeza "Deezie" Rice, while not a governor, is more qualified than Palin by leaps and bounds to be vice-president. What bumps me about the choice of Sarah Palin, is she spoke to the Republican National Convention and didn't give reasons to vote for her ticket, she gave reasons to vote against Obama-Biden. Tell us Tina Fey--Who are you? Who are you mysterious killer of caribou and soon to be grandmother? I'll tell you who she is. She could be the end of us all, if Grampa Simpson wins and doesn't make it to the end of his term.

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THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BUCKET, DEAR LIZA, DEAR LIZA

In the wake of the Hurricane Gustav, my hometown of New Orleans missed another disaster by very little. This time around the refurbished levees withstood the waters from this category 2 hurricane, though there was a small crack in a private levee (which I have never heard of such in my life). The country and more importantly the Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief (at least until next week because Tropical Storm Hanna is making her way towards the east coast). I guess it's too late for this Republican administration to realize you can't repair a leaking dike with a piece of tape. The moment after Katrina-- I mean the levee breaches flooded New Orleans, goverment on the federal, state and local levels should have made plans to build real levees like the ones in the Netherlands. In my lifetime, I never knew of these type of levees until Hurricane Katrina. As a child in New Orleans, you know that you live in a bowl and the perfect storm could flood the city. You know that New Orleans sits at 30 Lattitude and 90 degrees Longitude. Why? Because you know how to track a hurricane before you hit 2nd grade. You know that the small hills with the cement block walls atop them in your backyard are supposed to protect the city from flooding. As evidenced in aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the latter is not so true.
I figure that somewhere in the money used to rebuilding of Iraq (the country that we initially tore down on a false premise) or those billions sent to Iraq that couldn't be accounted for a year ago, a little of this scrilla could be set aside to protect one of this country's largest and most important ports. I'd like to think, at the least, the Repubs could find some kind of money to protect and thank the town that has probably given them so much back, as far as the chance to waddle in drunken debauchery. I mean you can't believe that former Repub Senator David Vitter was the only one getting his groove on, but I digress. We here at Bastille just wanted you guys to know that just because New Orleans survived, doesn't mean it's safe. I know what you're thinking, "Hey Rusty, that's not too funny." And no, it isn't.

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THREE BLACK CRABS IN A BARREL

Tavis "Self-Proclaimed Leader of Black Folks" Smiley will not stop. After a historic night in Denver at the Democratic National Convention, this self righteous, wannabe leader has found a way to still talk bad about Barack Obama with two academics that I had previously respected, Dr. Cornel "What's with the Scarf In Summer" West and the president of Bennett College, Julianne Malveaux. These three got together on Tavis' half hour "whine & cheese" show AKA The Tavis Smiley Show and complained about what Barack Obama didn't say in his 42 minute Democratic nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field. They mentioned how he didn't speak about Dr. King and how Barack reduced him to just "a preacher from Georgia". Hadn't every media outlet already spoken of the King "I Have A Dream" speech connection? Did he really need to repeat the obvious, so Malveaux could be pleased? Malveuax then responded to Tavis' very, callous, "so much hype... did Obama deliver?" comment by saying to him, "Not at all and quite actually her heart was broken". Malveaux then spoke with glowing kudos of the speeches by Hillary and Bill Clinton. Malveaux continued that Jesse Jackson has been very gracious about passing the "baton" on to Barack Obama. Is that not the man, who wanted to "cut the nuts off" Barack Obama a few weeks ago? If that's "passing the baton", Julianne, you can keep it. Well, Julie, if your heart was broken, you're breaking my heart right now. Dr. West then complained of how Obama didn't speak about poverty in his speech. Cornel West is a man, who recently stated in an interview that "Lil' Wayne is an intelligent brother" (if you don't know Lil' Wayne just topped the music charts with an ode to receiving fellatio titled, "Lollipop" and has previously gone to rehab for an addiction to cough syrup). I know Cornel is trying to keep his street cred with the hip-hop community, but he is really pushing it and I must take his comments with not a grain of salt, but an entire salt lick. It is amazing how these so-called highly educated people cannot grasp the concept that Barack Obama is not running for the title of "Leader of All Blacks" (a moniker presently held by a recurring guest on the Howard Stern Radio Show), but President of the United States, which includes white people and people of many other ethnicities. In a country where we are not the majority, not even the largest minority, you cannnot expect this man to layout the agenda for Black America, while trying to become leader of America. And even with what Senator Obama has achieved in this historic race, racism is not dead, there are still people out there, who will not vote for a black man just because he is black and the race is not complete until a Tuesday night in early November and John McCain has called Barack Obama congratulating him on his historic win. Malveaux and West tarnish and severly damage their images with this nitpicking on Obama's every word. They are no better than the 24 hour news cycles that daily pick apart and translate people's words to their gain. Tavis Smiley should be ashamed that he is still trying to piss on Obama's parade after his first attempt failed during the Democratic primary. I read once that "Critics are people, who sit on a hill and watch a war. And when it's over they go down and kill all the surviviors." Watch this clip above and see these three unload a few clips on Barack Obama. I have heard that the blue crab has become an endangered species, but tell me when the black crab is endangered, so I can look forward to their extinction.

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KNOCKED UP

The Republican Party's attempt to retain control of The White house gets funnier and funnier as the days pass. With Hurricane Gustav tearing down on the Gulf Coast, Bush and Cheney decided to not attend the Republican convention in Minnesota and be available for the people of the region (gee I wonder why). McCain decided to curtail some of the events during the convention out of respect to the people of the Gulf Coast (maybe he won't celebrate his birthday this time if flooding occurs). But the most recent and interesting development is how Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin has had to rebut some egregious, rumors that she has claimed to have a 4 month old daughter to cover up the fact that it was her 17 year old daughter, Bristol's baby. Sarah has stated that it is the furthest from the truth because Bristol is in fact five months pregnant with her own bundle of joy. I guess those long stretches of darkness in Alaska, always makes "the night time the right time to be with the one you love". Is Grampa Simpson nuts? First he picks a woman, who just two years ago was mayor of a town of 7,000 people. That's like running two large high schools. And now the pro-life former beauty queen runner up self proclaimed hockey mom is popping up with an unmarried, knocked up, teenage daughter (note: she and the father are going to get married). I honestly don't find this to be an issue, but didn't the Republicans try to run Bill Clinton out of office for so-called "immoral" behavior? This just gets better and better, everyday. The only thing that could make this better is if that child comes out of the oven black.

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