Monthly Archives: October 2008

Good article about Stephen Colbert appearing at the New Yorker Festival recently. Let me know if you see a link to an online video of the conversation. Thanks to James Troutman for telling me about this.

Robert Spina just sent me this…

I would pay real money if, just as the candidates shake hands at the start of tonight's debate, with his mic open, Barack Obama says to John McCain: "Can I call you Joe?"

Another debate tonight. A lot of folks who tuned in the vice-presidential match-up were disappointed that neither candidate set some new high watermark for saying stupid things. It was supposed to be Gaffe-a-palooza and while it yielded enough silliness to keep Tina Fey in business, it wasn't like Lloyd Bentsen knocking Dan Quayle into the laughingstock category from which he never quite returned. (Then again, he did get elected…)

I suppose a lot of people are tuning in tonight to see if John McCain is going to explode and start cursing and screaming. They'll probably be disappointed, too…as will anyone expecting to hear the issues debated. Lynn Sweet explains what seem to me like very silly rules for the match-up…rules that seem calculated to minimize the chance of either candidate having to defend anything they say. (Although Ben Smith says that contrary to Sweet's report and others, moderator Tom Brokaw may be asking follow-ups.)

To me, "town hall" format debates are a sham. They're a way to make sure that tepid, pre-screened questions are posed by people who seem like they're representative of the population. But the population wants candidates to answer hard questions and for those answers to stand up to a little cross-examination and questioning…and the "town hall" construction doesn't lend itself to that. In fact, tonight, the questioners are forbidden to say things like, "But you didn't answer my question" or "But isn't that a total contradiction of what you said six months ago?"

Grown men and women who want to lead us should be able to stand or sit on a stage for 90 minutes and discuss the issues and defend their position without "rules" that limit how long they can talk, whether they can address one another directly, etc. Sarah Palin is a pretty good example of why follow-ups are needed. She sounds relatively informed and coherent until someone asks one.

I may or may not be live-blogging tonight, depending on how a script is going. Big week for deadlines around here.

Never mind all this stuff with the economy and the wars. Let's talk about something important.

This month, the Souplantation chain (which calls itself Sweet Tomatoes in some areas) is doing a special "Our Guests Choose Our Best" promotion. Each week, there will be special menu items that have been the subject of customer requests. I don't understand why, if customers like this stuff so much, they don't offer it year round…but hey, there are a lot of things in this world I don't understand. Anyway, the schedule says that they'll have my favorite — their Creamy Tomato Soup — the week of October 20-25. Guess where I'll be eating October 20-25.

It sounds like a six-day week but it'll really be seven at most outlets. The Souplantation officially changes its menu on Mondays but they give their managers the flexibility to put out the new items a day or two early if they're running low on the items that are being taken off the bill of fare. A new item could be available as early as the Saturday before and could even linger into the following week. So call ahead.

And if you eat there and like my favorite soup even a little bit, ask to speak to the manager and say something like, "I'll be back again in March or whenever you have the Creamy Tomato Soup again…but until then, I'm not setting foot in this dump." Even if you plan on setting foot in that dump without it, tell them you won't and maybe they'll get the message.

I'll remind you again later in the month.

This election, I'm as interested in the candidates' health plans as I am in anything they have to offer. A big reason I'm for Obama is that he has one and while I don't think it's perfect, it would make things better and lead us in the right direction. McCain's, on the other hand, seems like it'll make things worse. Laura Meckler explains how McCain figures to pay for his health plan. It involves slashing Medicare and Medicaid by $1.3 trillion.

Back in my computer chair and all unpacked. I'll write more about the trip later…or maybe tomorrow.

Now, I'm blogging while waiting at the Baggage Claim at LAX. I'm not sure why I'm doing this, either.

And this message is being posted from the food court in Midway Airport in Chicago where we're changing planes.

This message is being posted from a Chili's Too restaurant in Columbus International Airport.

That's not a photo of Jack Benny. That's a photo of Eddie Carroll. I've mentioned Eddie before here. He's the actor-writer who does a superb impression and re-creation of the legendary comedian. I am generally not a huge fan of extended impressions but there are exceptions. One, which I've mentioned many times here, is Frank Ferrante, who tours in a show that replicates Groucho Marx. Equally astounding and entertaining is Eddie Carroll's one-man Benny fest…a whole evening of "Jack" telling his life story, performing some of his best material and even, God help us, playing the violin.

Eddie does his show all over America and for years now, I and other friends have nagged him to do it close enough to Los Angeles so that we could go see it without spending more for gas than Mr. Benny ever would. Well, we have our chance but for one night only.

October 19, he's doing two shows at the Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks. Originally, it was just going to be one matinee performance but tickets sold so briskly (there are only a few left) that an evening performance has been added. Since it hasn't been well publicized yet, there are good seats available for the evening show but they will almost certainly sell out. In fact, I just bought a large block of them for a bunch of my friends and me…so you'd better act quickly. Go to this page at Ticketmaster — where, by the way, they also have seats for one show he's doing in San Diego on December 7. And check out Eddie's schedule to see when he'll be Bennying in your town or hamlet.

Almost every time Frank Ferrante does his Groucho show in some city, I get an e-mail or two from someone thanking me for recommending a visit. Well, this is the same kind of recommendation. If you love Jack Benny, you won't want to miss it. And if you don't love Jack Benny, then…oh, forget it. There isn't anyone who doesn't love Jack Benny.

If you tried to read this site in the last hour or so, you may have gotten a blank or wrong page. I tried to embed this video, which is one of those fast-paced montages of excerpts, in this case from the vice-presidential debate. Something in it crashed the site and wiped out a lot of stuff I had to restore. Then, fool that I can be, I tried embedding it again and the same thing happened. I have no idea what it is…maybe too many uses of the word "maverick.

There may be something else wrong here but I'm not going to stick that video in again. If you want to see it, click on the above link and go to the site.

Everyone seems to have had a good time at this year's Mid-Ohio Con here in Columbus, Ohio…which is where I'm blogging from as we speak. This has always been one of the friendliest comic/s-f/media conventions around and its new proprietors are continuing that tradition. I didn't hear a bit of industry news here — it's not that kind of convention — but I sure got to see and talk with a lot of great people…especially yesterday when I interviewed the great Joe Kubert for an hour. Joe has been drawing comics since John McCain was in knee pants and it's warming to hear that he still enjoys doing it. I did Joe the great favor of not giving him the big hug and a kiss that Sergio sent for him.

That was the best part of the con. Oddest for me was probably today when I found myself fighting my way through a mob of several hundred 13-year-old girls in cheerleader costumes. Something called Cheersport was in the adjoining hall, having a Grand Championship competition…throngs of young ladies doing acrobatics and precision moves and hurling one another in the air. As I hiked to the comic convention this morn, they all seemed to be limbering up and/or practicing in my path, and I came seriously close to being high-kicked into the next county. I had to peek in and watch a bit of the contest, of course. The teenagers all seemed to be lovely and talented and judging from the volume of the music they dance to, by the time they graduate middle school, they will all be stone deaf.

Back at the Mid-Ohio Con: My longtime pal Tony Isabella and I did a panel today about the late, greater-than-great Jack Kirby. Otherwise, I signed stuff, bought stuff, talked to people, dodged cheerleaders and enjoyed myself. I won't list all the people I saw because I used to do that in con reports and everyone thought it was boring unless they were mentioned.

Last night, a gang of us hiked down to a nearby outlet of B.D.'s Mongolian Barbecue, which is one of those chains I wish we had in Los Angeles. As I explained after last year's visit, I've always liked the concept of Monogolian Barbecue but most of those I've patronized have been disappointing. B.D.'s is excellent and I'm not sure why all such restaurants don't equal their standard. All it seems to involve is a wider, fresher selection of ingredients to toss in your bowl and have the chef stir-fry. There are no secret recipes, no impossible-to-copy procedures. Just better selection is all it takes. Why is that so hard for the places in my neck of the woods?

This evening, much the same gang went to a Gordon Biersch's for supper. These, we have in Los Angeles and every single time I go to one with friends, everyone else enjoys what they order and I get stuck with an inedible piece of something you could have a cobbler use to resole your dress shoes. The Gordon Biersch's in Columbus continues that tradition so I've decided to start a tradition of my own: Never going to another Gordon Biersch's.

Otherwise, it's been a good trip and Carolyn says the cats in my backyard are well-fed and fine. Tomorrow, Len Wein and I get to head home and perhaps unpack the mystery of Southwest Airlines Boarding Passes. A whistle-blowing Southwest employee has given me some insight which I'll share with you later.