Bananas

Woody Allen is dumped by his girlfriend Louise Lasser and leaves for South American republic San Marcos where he gets involved in a revolution. Directed by Woody Allen.

Maybe the weakest film so far, but there are some good scenes, like the interpreter at the airport bit. There's also the scene with a young Sylvester Stallone. But a row of gags doesn't necessarily make a film and you can't help but feel a certain emptiness, with characters that are not much more than clichés and stereotypes.

Take The Money And Run

A fake documentary about Woody Allen's life as a bankrobber. Written and directed by Woody Allen.

This is the first Woody Allen film I ever saw. It was shown on Norwegian tv in the 70s. I had no idea who Woody Allen was at the time. I remember it to be quite funny. The gun of soap bit stuck in my head. Rewatching it now, it's an uneven film. The first half is funny, the second half, after the prison escape, drags a bit. The parents wearing masks gag gets old. But being a "mockumentary" (the first?) gives the film actually a certain freshness.

Love And Death

Russia, 19th century. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton decide to assassinate Napoleon. Written and directed by Woody Allen.

Well, I had to rewatch this film as well. It's uneven, especially if you've seen it a couple of times. Some jokes fall flat. But there's some pretty funny stuff as well and the Woody Allen shtick hasn't gotten old quite yet. Get off my beard, you little jerk!

Play It Again, Sam

Humphrey Bogart is giving Woody Allen tips on how to pick up girls. Also starring Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts. Directed by Herbert Ross.

A lot of the early Woody Allen films where he just tried to be funny have dated pretty badly. Of those films I think Play It Again, Sam is the best one. The blind date sequence is still hilarious. The film has one recurring gag that is dated, where Roberts keeps calling his office to let them know where he can be reached. God knows what kids make of this film. It's a bit like me seeing a Bob Hope film or something when I was a kid. So, anyway, Woody Allen is funny and Diane Keaton is irresistible. I have a crush on her from this period, the early 70s. She might even be more appealing in Love and Death, where she gets to be funny on her own and not just an object of desire for Allen.

Lick my stamp

I am now on a stamp. 100 years ago The Katzenjammer Kids was the first comic book to be published in Norway. To celebrate this four stamps are now available, showing my work as well as fellow Norwegian cartoonists Frode Överli, Lise Myhre and Christopher Nielsen.

Norm Eastman

I've earlier talked about Norman Saunders and H.J. Ward. Another pulp artist that deserves his own book is Norm Eastman. However, there are lots of his covers in the Men's Adventure Magazines book from Taschen. I'm sure they give a correct image of what went on at the nazi headquarters.

I was just wondering...

... do I have ANY clothes without ink stains? I've had favourite trousers and sweaters ruined by dropping the ink bottle or a pen and creating big ink stains, but it seems like a lot of my clothes, somewhere, have one or two tiny ink dots - not enough to throw them away, but you know it's there. Mostly I don't care about it, except for those fancier occasions, like birthdays or something, where you feel a bit bad about turning up with ink on your sleeve. Being a cartoonist you can sort of get away with it, I guess. It might even be expected. The sollution could be to only dress in black. I don't know. They never teach you anything about this in art school.