LT

It's a strange dichotomy that such classic overtures as Ride of the Valkyries and Beethoven's 5th Symphony have been matched to visuals of Looney Tunes cartoon characters lumping merry hell out of each other, but it's also a formula that's stood the test of time.

"Duck Amuck" is based on the Looney Tunes short of the same name, a postmodern classic in which Daffy is tortured by an animator who constantly changes the short-tempered fowl's appearance.

It might even inspire you to bust out that old Looney Tunes box you used to tote.

Indeed, if novels, pop music, and live action movies have been going through a bit of a fallow period, we are arguably living in a golden age of cartoons, one that rivals in creativity and appeal to the era of "Looney Tunes" and "Betty Boop" over half a century ago.

Supplemental health insurer Aflac Inc., which recently marked the fourth anniversary of its popular "Aflac duck" advertising campaign by premiering a television spot featuring the Looney Tunes animated characters during coverage of the college football championship bowl games, also decided it would have to pass on the Super Bowl, spokeswoman Laura Kane confirmed.

On March 2, Warner Home Video will release DVD and VHS versions of "Looney Tunes Back in Action." The title features an ensemble with such Looney Tunes favorites as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Taz, Yosemite Sam and Marvin the Martian.

And since director Joe Dante made the closest thing to a live-action Looney Tunes movie with Gremlins 2: The New Batch, here's hoping he comes up with something better for the venerably anarchic cartoon franchise than 1996's soul-draining Space Jam.

A psychiatrist can't sue a plaintiffs' lawyer for slander for describing her on national television as a "terrible witness," "mentally unbalanced" and "one of the Looney Tunes," the Ninth U.S.

Five 'cool' characters from Warner Bros Looney Tunes [TN] cartoons are the latest additions to the Pez[R] range of collectable, refillable plastic dispensers containing packets of fruit flavoured sweets in tablet form.

The cards carried religious messages such as "Jesus loves you" and "F.R.O.G.: Freely Rely on God." School officials allowed other students to pass out cards featuring pop singer Britney Spears, the boy band 'N Sync, and Looney Tunes characters, but balked at the little girl's religious themes.

When I talked to the McCoys in the first week of September they were working on a piece called Every Anvil, which was to put old Looney Tunes cartoons through the same kind of shredder that Every Shot did Starsky and Hutch, with the difference that instead of including everything it would focus on violence.

We've teamed up with Highland Spring and Safeway to give you a free six- pack of new Looney Tunes water.