Monthly Archives: July 2007

I'm a member of the Magic Castle, the famed club for magicians in Hollywood. To be a member is to frequently (like, every year, it seems) have to follow and endure the club's current financial crisis or challenge to its very existence.

So far, it's survived 'em all and it looks now like it will survive the latest. The land on which the Castle is built was put up for sale by the family that has owned it for a very long time. No buyer has been selected but according to this article, the terms of any sale will stipulate that the Magic Castle (and Yamashiro, a Japanese restaurant just up the hill) must remain. We're leery of what they may do with the surrounding turf but it's good to hear that the Castle is not likely to disappear.

P.S. Every time I mention here that I'm a member, I get e-mails from strangers begging for guest passes. I'm sorry but the answer is no. And when you then write me again and tell me of the wonderful, deserving person you know whose only dream in life has been to visit the Magic Castle and could I please make an exception in just this one case, the answer will still be no.

Byron York, who has pretty solid credentials as a Conservative, says that George W. Bush's legendary "base" is pretty unhappy with the guy.

The pictures above are of a Hawaiian Anteater, a Blue Rabbit (I guess) and some sort of Big Cat. They're three of more than 350 "fursuits" that have been parading around Anthrocon here in Pittsburgh the last few days. "Fursuit," it had to be explained to me, refers to any full body animal costume, regardless of whether the animal is furry. Someone was wearing a whale fursuit, for instance. But most are furry. Most are of cats, dogs, wolves, foxes or some sort of indeterminate canine midway between domestic and wild. Most are also beautiful and lovingly handcrafted either by the wearer or some skilled artisan for no other goal than to show off and please other con attendees.

They were one of the features of Anthrocon. Another was the sheer friendliness of almost 3000 people who gathered this weekend and had, like my friend Carolyn and me, a very good time. It's a bit difficult to explain what goes on at a "furry" convention. Unlike your big comic conventions, it's not about commerce. The Dealers Room is small and the sellers mainly have furry costume parts (good place to get an extra tail) or handmade artifacts with an animal theme. There are a lot of artists around doing animal sketches for small fees and many of those artists are quite gifted and well encouraged by the experience. There's an art show. There are programming items. (Today, I did a panel with cartoon voice superstar Rob Paulsen on animation voicing and later, another with Carolyn on Pogo and the work of her father, the late Walt Kelly.) There are games and films and puppet shows — there are a lot of splendid puppeteers here — and parties. Mostly, I guess it's about seeing one another. Though this is the largest convention of its kind, it's still small enough that everyone almost seems to know everyone else.

Presiding over it all is a man of remarkable energy and good will. He goes by the name of "Uncle Kage" (rhymes with "foggy") but I have it on good authority that he's really an actual scientist-type named Dr. Sam Conway. His title I believe is Chairman of the Board but he's more of a Superhost and just watching him in action was worth the trip to Pittsburgh. I've been going to comic conventions and s-f conventions and film conventions since 1970 and, completely omitting consideration of monsters like the one they have each year in San Diego, I've never seen a more expertly-run con…or one run more benevolently. The volunteer staff (no one, including Uncle Kage, is paid a nickel) is phenomenal in its efficiency and politeness. And as a Guest of Honor person, I've never been made to feel more welcome or treated with such luxury.

I've received a few e-mails asking if I could explain why these folks like to dress up like animals or adopt animal nicknames or write tales of anthropomorphic animals. No, I can't. Just as I can't explain why people in this world do a lot of things that don't coincide with my tastes or interests. I don't understand why people get tattoos or pierce body parts or eat cole slaw or ride roller coasters or vote for George Bush or sleep with some of the people they sleep with…or do any of a thousand other things I could name that I cannot conceive of myself ever doing. I am, however, capable of appreciating that some who find joy in such activities are fine, good people and I would be doing myself a disservice to erect any sort of needless barrier between them and me. With the exception of the ones who vote for Bush, they do me no harm…and maybe, when they're not doing whatever it is I don't "get," they're doing something I can learn from or even want to emulate.

The folks I've met here at Anthrocon — with fewer exceptions than you'd imagine — have been decent, bright, creative and charming people. Does dressing up occasionally in a furry suit make you that way? Maybe not. If it does, I can think of a lot of people who ought to be in chipmunk costumes this very minute.

Two more articles about the Mort Sahl Tribute you've heard so much about here: One from Paul Krassner and one from Mark Groubert.

I just figured something out. For several weeks now, every time I go to Google, the ads in the margin are all trying to sell me Bobby Darin ringtones. I'm not sure if anyone in the world wants Bobby Darin on their cellphone but I sure don't…and I couldn't imagine why the Google people thought I'd be interested. They're supposed to have "targeted" ads, meaning that the ad relates in some way to you or your browsing habits, but I couldn't recall ever Googling the name of Bobby Darin.

So suddenly it dawns on me: My cousin David Evanier wrote a book about Bobby Darin. It's linking the name Evanier to Bobby Darin and that translates into some hyperspace assumption that I care about him. Mystery solved.

David also wrote a book about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. I don't want them on my cellphone, either.

The last few days, I've been linking to potato chip commercials with Bert Lahr. Here, from earlier in his career, is one of the comedy songs that made him famous on the stage. I'm not sure what film this is from and I really don't understand much of the number. But boy, is he good at it.

I will be on or moderating fourteen (14!) panels at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. The convention's full programming schedule (and mine) will be up in a few days but in the meantime, here's a sneak peek. And while it's not on there, yes, we will be playing Quick Draw! on Saturday morning and there will be Cartoon Voice Panels on Saturday and Sunday.

As I've mentioned before (here, for instance) I'm a fan of the 1954 movie, White Christmas which starred Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. The film has just about the sappiest, most contrived plot in the history of movies but thanks to the charisma of its stars and that great Irving Berlin score, it works. Or at least it works enough that if you can turn off a certain portion of your brain, you can have a pretty good time watching it.

So I was intrigued a few years ago when I heard that someone had made a stage musical out of it, using the plot and some of the dialogue from the screenplay, along with many of the songs and some others from the Berlin catalogue. I was curious to see what they'd done to it, how it worked, what the adapters had decided didn't work, etc. Unfortunately, the show only played around Christmas time and never near me.

Then, shortly after I agreed to come here to Pittsburgh to appear at a convention, I found out a production of the musical would be playing within walking distance of the con. I'm not sure why they're doing White Christmas in July. Maybe fate just wanted me to see it. But well before I realized how much fun Anthrocon could be and how I might regret missing an evening of it, I bought tickets. Carolyn decided to stay at the con to tend to some business, attend an event she wanted to see and work on some drawings she'd been asked to do…so I went alone down to the Benedum Center which is, I have to say, one of the most attractive theaters I've ever seen in my life. People of Pittsburgh: Take care of that place. It's a treasure.

So how did I like the stage version of White Christmas? I thought they took this sappy, contrived storyline and made it sappier and even more contrived…to the point where very little of it is coherent. I honestly don't understand why they changed what they changed from the screenplay. Remember how in the beginning of the film you see how much the soldiers love the general and how much he does for them? Well, most of that's gone. Remember how Danny Kaye saves Bing Crosby's life and they become a team and we see them grow into big stars? Most of that's gone, too. Remember how protective Rosemary Clooney was of Vera-Ellen and how that was stopping her from having any sort of love life, which was the justification for so much about the romantic storylines? Gone. Remember how when they first all meet, Kaye and Crosby dress up as the girls and lip sync a number as the girls to save them from a crooked sheriff? Gone…but for no visible reason, they do that in the second act anyway.

And so on. The plot is still about Wallace and Davis (the Crosby and Kaye roles) trying to save the Vermont Inn of their old general. In the movie, the inn's manager lady overhears the plan and thinks Wallace and Davis are planning to embarrass the general as a publicity stunt, and when she tells Clooney's character, Rosemary walks out on Wallace, with whom she's nurturing a romance, and on the show. In the stage version, the manager lady is told something which she misunderstands. She thinks Wallace and Davis are secretly arranging to buy out the general and decides this is a terrible, evil thing even though the inn is bankrupting the old guy. She tells the Clooney character who decides to walk out on Wallace and the show but not to tell her sister why. In the meantime, the manager lady doesn't warn the general or do anything to stop this awful plot she thinks she's uncovered. She and the sister even sing a forgettable Berlin tune called "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun" to congratulate the Clooney lady for leaving…and by now, if this doesn't make a lick of sense to you, welcome to where I was about a third of the way into Act Two.

It may not have been that way in earlier versions. During intermission, I got to talking to a gentleman sitting behind me who said he'd seen it three or four years ago in San Francisco and that this production was "cheaper and they cut a lot of stuff." He said in S.F. it was "a little less illogical but not enough." He didn't like the show tonight and I didn't like it…but I have to admit ours was the minority viewpoint. Most of the audience seemed to be having a very good time, largely (I think) because you can't do all that much damage to a dozen or so of Irving Berlin's best tunes. They sing "I Love a Piano" and "Blue Skies" and "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and "How Deep is the Ocean?" and the title song and others. Many involve a very energetic troupe of young dancers just dancing their hearts out on stage and having the greatest time doing it. It's hard not to love a show during such moments and I guess there were enough of them for most of those in the house.

One other problem: When you turn a great movie into a stage musical, there's usually and unavoidably a bringdown in the cast. Only occasionally do you replace a Zero Mostel with a Nathan Lane. Most of the time, it's Lou Lipsitz trying to fill the shoes of Gene Kelly. The two gents carrying the show weren't Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby — these days, of course, no one is — but the book didn't give them a lot of help. They did their best and their best might have been just fine for a better show. (The only cast member you're likely to have heard of was Stacy Keach, who played the general. He did what he could with what they gave him.)

I was shown to my seat by a charming older woman who looked like she'd been at that theater since it opened in whenever it opened. I was turning off my cell phone and she said, "Good…I hate those things. The other night, someone had one that went off right in the middle of 'Blue Skies.' I wanted to get a shovel and whack the guy in the head." On the way out after the show, she saw me turning my phone back on and she said, "Thanks for not making me use my shovel." So I guess the whole experience could have been worse. I certainly enjoyed the show a lot more than I would have if a little old lady had whacked me in the head with a shovel.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this clip but I thought I'd put it up and let you decide.

Not long ago, a gentleman named Fouad Ajami, who's a prominent "neocon" voice, wrote a clumsy defense of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, likening the convicted Cheney aide to a casualty of war. The analogy was his first mistake. His second was going on the MSNBC show Hardball to defend it when David Shuster was hosting in lieu of Chris Matthews. Matthews, despite the name of his program, usually lobs softballs. Shuster was perhaps taking the name to heart…or maybe he was actively thinking that his network needs new programming and might welcome a series that could hold the expanding Keith Olbermann audience.

Either way, Shuster pretty much shredded Mr. Ajami's arguments and assertions of questionable accuracy. One wishes more TV hosts challenged guests but maybe not so fervently that they scared off those who need to be rigorously cross-examined. I'll bet a lot of Conservative pundits don't come near Hardball and/or Shuster after seeing this one. It runs about eleven minutes.

Once upon a time, the comic book field had a great many folks who did lettering by hand…and often, they contributed mightily (and without sufficient recognition) to the artistry of the pages. I'm talking about talents like Artie Simek, Ben Oda, Sam Rosen, Gaspar Saladino, Abe Kanegson, Ira Schnapp, Howard Ferguson and a great many others. These days, there aren't as many notable practitioners of their craft, a development that some blame on the rise of lettering being done via computer. I think it's the other way around, at least to some extent. Computer lettering caught on big and rapidly in part because there weren't enough Artie Simeks to go around. (There are other advantages, as well.)

Today's preeminent letterer — and even he does some of it on computer — is Todd Klein, who comes to San Diego every year and wins the Eisner for Best Letterer to the surprise of no one. He not only does it well but he knows a lot about lettering and how it's done and how it should be done…and lucky for us, he's opened a website to begin sharing it all with us.

As you can probably figure out from the time stamps on my posts here, I've been (happily) run ragged here at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh. The folks here — the attendees as well as the convention organizers — have been so nice to Carolyn and me that we're trying to show up for every event where they say they'd like to have the Guests of Honor in attendance.

Thursday night, we tagged along when a contingent of con-goers and the staff attended a "staged reading" of a new musical called Furry Tales. Last year when Anthrocon was in the same venue, some folks involved in local theater took note of all the visitors prowling the area dressed in animal costumes and were intrigued enough to write an entire play about "furry fandom." I don't feel qualified to comment on how well the playwrights understood their subject, and I don't think it's fair to review a work like this in its earliest workshop incarnation. But I will point you to the show's website (which doesn't contain much info) and say that I'm a bit baffled as to what they think the audience would be for this show. The furry fans seemed thrilled that it treated them without scorn but split on its accuracy or entertainment value. And if you've had no exposure to furry fandom, I'm not sure you'd have much idea of what was going on…or would care. But there's a lot of talent involved so I only wish them well with it.

Friday morning, Carolyn and I did a panel about our work and then later in the day, I was a panelist on the Anthrocon game show, which is basically Match Game and Pyramid rolled into one. Afterward, someone congratulated me on not matching one single answer the entire time and they said, "This proves you're an individual." Well, maybe…but I wish more of the contestants had won prizes.

Mostly, it's been a whirlwind of meet 'n' greet and luncheons and signing stuff and marvelling at the wonderful costumes that many of the attendees have fashioned, sometimes for themselves but often for each other. This afternoon, they had a parade through the hall with 341 furry marchers, most of them at least as well-dressed as the two dogs (I think they're both dogs) above.

I'm due at another event so my big discourse on Anthrocon will have to wait for another time. All I'll say for now is that this is one of the happiest conventions I've attended in 37 years of con-going. It's not about selling things. It's not about launching careers…at least, not in the way it would be if there were publishers here looking to hire. It's not even all that much about dressing up as some other species. I'll try and articulate what it is about when I don't have to rush off and shake hands. Or paws. Or whatever it is some of them have.

If one believes this poll — and keep in mind it's only one poll — more Americans want Bush and Cheney impeached than ever wanted Bill Clinton impeached.

It's kind of an odd way to look at the situation. In order to impeach those guys, someone would have to come up with one or more specific crimes with which to charge them…and the poll doesn't even ask about one. While a clear majority of Americans might wish Bush and Cheney were gone, I'm not sure they'd agree on a particular impeachable offense…or that the administration will ever yield sufficient evidence or comply with the subpoenas necessary to make that case…or that the current Supreme Court would compel them to cooperate. Methinks Bush and Cheney could go around robbing 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint and Antonin Scalia would say, "Oh, yes…they're allowed to do that. And by the way, my ruling is non-precedential."

Besides, even if you could prove High Crimes and Misdemeanors, how do you impeach both men at the same time? That's got to be a legal nightmare of procedural rulings, most of which would wind up before the Supreme Court, which did everything in its power to put those guys into office in the first place. If you impeach Bush first, then Cheney becomes president, which even most Republicans wouldn't want. It would be interesting to see Cheney try to name his successor…and I suppose that he'd also argue that he can't be impeached as president for crimes he may have committed as vice-president…and back we go to the Supreme Court to rule on that. On the other hand, if you impeach Cheney first then Bush would try to name a successor and would also argue that any crimes he may have committed were actually the doings of that snake, Dick Cheney.

I don't think there's any chance of impeaching these two fellows, no matter how much America may dislike them. But it is going to be fun watching Democrats keep the possibility alive and Republicans distancing themselves from the White House.

Hey, let's watch another one of those Lay's Potato Chip commercials with Bert Lahr. What a great face that man had.

Hello from a city which already seems to be a much nicer city than years of Pittsburgh jokes might make one expect. I often think that some unfair comments aren't so much inaccurate as they are out of date. You can almost sense that this was once a grimy, grey town but that that's in the past and the snide remarks simply haven't caught up with reality.

But then it's been a journey of surprises so far. Last week, Northwest Airlines was cancelling flights the way certain network execs I could name cancel programs…with reckless, panicked abandon. One day alone, 25% of all Northwest flights didn't take flight due to some sort of pilot "sick-out" and labor dispute that I won't pretend I fully understand. What I did understand was that Carolyn and I were booked to take not one but two Northwest flights on July 4 to get here…so the odds suggested a good chance of trouble.

Didn't happen. Not for us, not for anyone flying Northwest yesterday, as far as I could tell. Every time I looked at the departure board in three different airports, it showed every Northwest flight as "on time," meaning either they've solved the problem for now or those monitors were lying to all. Both our flights took off exactly as advertised and landed a bit ahead of schedule. It remains to be seen if the return trip will be as flawless.

We're here for the Anthrocon, which as I've explained is a convention of "furry" fans — folks with a passion for human-like animals or animal-like humans or blurring the line of demarcation between them. This fandom has endured a fair amount of mocking in the past, often from folks who oughta know better, given how their own interests have prompted ridicule from others. I come to it with my belief that, first of all, every group — up to and including those in which I am a willing participant — has its overzealous, embarrassing faction. It's not only wrong but a cheap, disingenuous trick to characterize an entire movement by its atypical element. It's kind of like those political arguments that try to tar every Republican/Conservative with the low moral standing of Ann Coulter or every Democrat/Liberal as being guilty of the sins of Lewis Farrakhan. Secondly, I figure that anything that makes people happy without making others unhappy is worthy of great respect.

Things are just getting started here but already you can walk into the lobby of the Westin Hotel and find yourself in a mob scene of people with tails and animal ears…or even ornate, full-body costumes. And boy, are they all happy to be here with one another. That's pleasant to be around and so is the unleashed creativity. I'll write more about it later in the con when I may have more to say about it and maybe post some photos.

A not-dissimilar joy was witnessed last night at a local mall/shopping area called Station Square. Carolyn wanted to see fireworks so the convention organizers, who are as nice as any convention organizers I've encountered in 36 years of con-going, sent us in a limo to dine and watch pyrotechnics over the Monongahela River. The show was fine, the restaurant was fine but the best part was just to be out among all those merry folks having a good time…although I always feel odd getting out of a limousine. I always spot someone who sees the car pull up and watches eagerly to see what beautiful celebrity is about to emerge…and it's me. You can smell the look of disappointment. It's like, "Oh. I was hoping it would be somebody." I wonder if they'd feel better if I started yelling, "No pictures, please!"

I'll have more to report tomorrow. It's three hours later here than the time stamp on this posting will indicate and we have a busy day ahead of us. G'night.

Glenn Greenwald on America's popularity and moral standing around the world. I don't necessarily think we ought to be panicked when they don't love us in some other nation. But a lot of the things "we're" doing that are lowering world-wide opinion of the United States are things we don't like, either.