…as Billy DeWolfe used to say. And on what other blog today are you likely to see a Billy DeWolfe reference?
Last night, I was out in the Valley for the first of what may be a regular — every other month or so — informal gathering of Animation Writers. My pal Steve Marmel threw it together. No speeches, no agenda. We just all go to a restaurant en masse for food and beverage. This one was at the Gordon Biersch Brewery in Burbank, which I guess is a nice place if you like the beers they make. I never touch the stuff and I almost couldn't handle the hamburger or the noise, either. Still, I had a good time mingling with around seventy of my colleagues and will go to more of these, if and when Steve arranges them.
Then today, it's back out to Burbank for the Hollywood Collectors Show, where the Great and the Near-Great sell autographed photos and other memorabilia. Among those scheduled to appear today and/or tomorrow are Henry Winkler, Mickey Rooney, Brinke Stevens, Gregg Berger, Kelli Maroney, Nastassja Kinski, Traci Lords, Erik Estrada, Tom Bosley, Alan Oppenheimer, Monique Parent, Henry Silva and Joey Heatherton. I always find the attendees at least as interesting as the featured guests so I expect to have a good time.
Tomorrow, I'm heading for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books up at U.C.L.A. There, I will make my way to lecture halls I always tried to avoid when I was a student on said campus, and I will hear authors discuss their current books. One, I expect, will be Joe Conason, who's among my current favorite political reporters and commentators — a list that is hard to get on and harder still to stay on. Mr. Conason has a good article today over at Salon, all about Rudy Giuliani's silly "elect Democrats and die" remarks of the other day. I was already thoroughly disappointed by John McCain when he started renouncing past positions to try and get the support of the hard right-wing. It's sad to see Giuliani going the same route.
Sunday, I expect to spend writing and then Monday, it's back out to Burbank (again!) to do another one of those interviews for a special feature on an upcoming DVD. At this rate, I'm going to be on more DVDs than copy protection. I'll report on some or all of these events as they happen. And then I'll try not to go to Burbank again for the rest of '07.