Monthly Archives: January 2012

Saturday Evening

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 9:47 PM

I haven't been posting much lately (or when I have, it's been messages I wrote a few days ago) owing to a mother in the hospital. She's home now and doing better but I still have "son" stuff to do, plus I'm behind on a few things…so it may be a day or three before new things are appearing here at the usual pace.

Nothing ever happens in my life without a funny anecdote or two materializing. The best one this time probably was the one that occurred when a nurse at the hospital told me I needed to go down to the Admitting Office and sign some papers and she started to tell me how to find it. "I know where it is," I told her. My mother has been in this hospital a lot and I know where everything is, including a couple of secret doors I'm not supposed to know about. I told the nurse — and this has actually happened a couple of times — "I'm here so much, the cashier in the cafeteria gives me the employee discount."

The nurse looked surprised. "There's an employee discount in the cafeteria?"

Another nurse told her, yes there is: "If you go in there in uniform, they probably just give it to you automatically."

The first nurse thought a second then said, "I sometimes go in there in my street clothes…like when I come to work and stop in there for breakfast on the way in."

The second nurse: "Well, if you don't show them your employee I.D. or they don't recognize you, you're probably paying more than you have to."

The first turned to me and said, "Life isn't fair. I've worked here five years and you get the employee discount and I don't."

Today's Video Link

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 4:22 PM

I don't think this one needs any explanation…

Fantastic Forewarning

Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 4:20 PM

The new issue of The Jack Kirby Collector, #58, is a special one devoted to a long essay (more like a book) subtitled Lee & Kirby: The Wonder Years. It was the work of a gentleman named Mark Alexander who passed away last year at the age of 56, having just completed the manuscript for this look at the history of the Fantastic Four comic book as done by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Given the obvious effort that he put into it and the fact that it was Mark's last work, I would love to be able to recommend it strongly. To Mark's credit, his research did unearth a lot of previously-unpublished history…but there are quite a few places where I disagree with his conclusions and even more where I disagree with his factual recital. I even disagree with a number of places where he quoted me. He says in it my "information contributed enormously to this book" but he doesn't seem to have understood a lot of what I told him.

I am not suggesting you not buy it. A lot of Mark's opinions about the work of Lee and Kirby are interesting and thought-provoking if not perceptive. Just don't believe all the history, especially the nuggets attributed to me.

The Gatekeeper

Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:32 PM

A portrait of Eddie Brill, who does the warm-ups for David Letterman's show and books the comedians.

A lot of folks seem to lament that none of the current late night shows have the star-making power for comedians that Mr. Carson once had. I think that time has passed and is unlikely to return…and Johnny's show didn't even have much power in that area its last few years. People forget that when Carson's Tonight Show booked new stand-ups, it was one of the very few programs on TV that did that. He kind of had the "introducing new comedians" market to himself. Now, in the era of cable and Comedy Central and so many other shows, there are other avenues…and a hot new stand-up in the club circuit no longer has to wait a year or two until the late night bookers decide he's "ready."

Recommended Reading

Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:22 PM

Michael Kinsley asks some tough questions of Mitt Romney about how "Romneycare" differs from "Obamacare." Near as I can tell, the biggest difference is that "Romneycare" is one letter longer.

Today's Video Link

Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:26 AM

Haven't I told you before that my friend Christine Pedi does the best Liza Minnelli impression in the world?

Daily Discourse

Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:22 AM

Night before last on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart had Senator Jim DeMint on for one of those conversations that goes along and just when it gets interesting, it cuts off and Stewart says, "We're going to throw the whole thing up on the web." I have to remember not to watch those when they're on in truncated form and to wait until the next day and watch them online.

The one with DeMint was fascinating. The Senator said a lot of rational, common sense things that I suspect he said because of where he was and who was in the audience…things he would not say, and might in fact contradict in front of a Tea Party crowd. He also looked a bit embarrassed at times when he called for calmer rhetoric and then Stewart cited non-calm rhetoric from the book the Senator was there to promote.

Still, it was the kind of interview that no one else but Jon Stewart does, groping for common ground instead of barbecuing red meat and wrestling. And DeMint came off as less the demagogue and slave to those of great wealth than he usually does.

I thought of embedding the whole thing here but Comedy Central embeds are kind of screwy and can do odd things to your site. Mine has had enough tsuris lately so I'm just going to give you this link to go to their website and watch the entire conversation. Both parties frame their positions in ways you never hear on MSNBC or Fox. It's so odd that you have to go to a comedy show to hear a political discussion between two people acting like human beings.

I only caught a little of Stephen Colbert's presidential announcement last night but it seemed to be a brilliant slam at the notion that a candidate's non-coordinated Super PAC is an independent entity. As I understand, Colbert can't really run for President on the South Carolina ballot. It's too late to get his name on there and the state doesn't count write-ins. But he can sure milk the effort for material.

Hi, Bob!

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:42 PM

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It is now possible to advance-order the DVD set of the TV series, Bob…which, by the way, turns out to be the most difficult TV show ever to locate on an Internet search engine. It comes out April 3, they say, and you can lock in Amazon's lowest price between now and then by clicking here. If enough of you order via that link, I might make enough in commissions to purchase my own copy. It's annoying when you have to cough up money to buy a copy of something you worked on but you usually do.

SOPA and PIPA

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:06 PM

Yeah, I know: They sound like the names of Scandinavian clowns. But as you probably know, we're talking about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, two pieces of legislation that are designed to do what they say they'll do. And they might. But then going after cockroaches with a flame thrower might also get rid of them at a pretty high price.

The problem I see with both proposals is in their default position. The putative owner of the intellectual property will get nuclear weapons to stop infringements…and that happens to be the side that already has most of the money and therefore most of the lawyers. It's kinda like someone said, "Hmm…there needs to be a balance here that protects Fair Use. Let's give everything to the rich and powerful guys and see how much they decide they have to give away. And however much that turns out to be, that'll be Fair Use."

I am all for stopping online piracy. I just worry about defining it in a way that works for all, not just those with the most aggressive attorneys. I've worked for companies that owned intellectual property and won battles they should not have won against Little Guys. They threatened…the Little Guy had to fold. In fact, the lawyers usually did a great job intimidating the Little Guys into surrender that way, all the time ignoring the real, harder-to-police threats.

For more on how I feel about this, read how Tom Spurgeon feels about this. What he said.

Today's Political Comment

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 10:05 AM

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are each airing factually-challenged commercials accusing the other of being insufficiently "pro-life." In truth, neither one of them has a track record for condoning abortions, though Romney was once pro-choice and then converted.

The thing that bothers me about this is that I don't think either one of these guys particularly cares about the issue except that if you want Republicans to vote for you, you have to say these things. The premise is that the social conservatives of the party elect you to eliminate abortions…then you do just enough in that area to keep them happy and use most of the clout they've given you to try and eliminate the capital gains tax or the inheritance tax or any regulation that gets in the way of rich folks getting richer.

This is the reason a Rick Santorum or a Michele Bachmann couldn't possibly win the nomination. The party is controlled by the Newt/Mitt kind, the ones who wouldn't object to banning abortion or gay marriage…but they sure don't want a candidate who'd place those goals above union-busting or protecting CEO salaries. And of course, they won't let Ron Paul get the nomination because he doesn't seem eager enough to bomb other countries.

It's odd how we're now hearing talk about how Romney just about has the nomination sewn up. Not that long ago, we were hearing that this was going to be a battle that might rage on until just before the convention which is at the end of August. We've had one caucus and one primary and in neither one was the winner unexpected…but suddenly, Mitt's about to rake in all the chips.

Barring some stunning scandal or some really, really stupid gaffes, I think Romney will be the nominee. But I also don't think the losers in this contest are going to sit there for seven months and accept that. It used to be that folks who lost would quote the eminent man of aphorisms, Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra and say, "It ain't over 'til it's over," then fight on. These says, it's more like "It ain't over 'til it's over and it ain't even over then." Besides, we still have the campaign to get Romney to pick a running mate who'll make Sarah Palin look like a Commie wimp.

Today's Video Link

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:41 AM

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Speaking of things coming out on video: I had a little something to do with Bob, the short-lived (1992-1993) sitcom in which Bob Newhart played a comic book artist. Some sites will tell you I created it but that's not at all so. As you can see in the opening titles below, that credit belongs to my friends Bill & Cheri Steinkeller and Phoef Sutton, and I suspect that if they'd been able to do the show they wanted to do, it would have lasted as long as your average Bob Newhart series. I just wrote one episode and answered a lot of questions about the comic book business.

The comic book graphics, by the way, were done by artist Paul Power. My buddy Paul was often seen as an extra in the show, playing an employee of the comic book company for which Bob "McKay" worked and in the titles below, he stunt-doubled Mr. Newhart's drawing hand. At one point on the set, I heard Bob telling someone, "I can't draw anything" and I turned and told him, "I suspect you draw a very handsome salary."

This is all my way of mentioning that the complete series is coming out on DVD on April 3. Many of you may want this if only for the episode in which Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Sergio Aragonés, Jim Lee and other real draw-ers of comic books made cameo appearances. Cute story: The filming schedule required these folks to be there a few days for rehearsals, which meant they had to sit around for hours while other scenes were staged. Sergio had a Groo deadline…and there were drawing tables on the set. So he brought along pages and sat on the Bob set and drew Groo, much to the fascination of everyone in the cast and crew. He also brought along a high-wattage light bulb to swap out in the lamps they had on those tables because for filming reasons, they had very weak lights in them.

I liked the series, at least during its first season before panic set in about the ratings and folks began mucking with its premise and adding Betty White to the show. If like most of America you never saw it, you might enjoy it, too. We don't have an Amazon link yet for this but I'll put one up when it's possible to pre-order it. In the meantime, here are those opening titles…

This Just In…

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 12:02 AM

All the James Bond films are coming to Blu-ray.

Why? Because someone said to someone else, "Isn't it about time we made Evanier buy Goldfinger again?"

No other reason.

Late-Breaking Newt

Posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:12 PM

Hey, remember when Newt Gingrich was promising not to go negative in the Republican campaign and was admonishing his opponents to do likewise? Yeah, those were the good old days.

Now, a pro-Gingrich super-PAC has released a 28-minute anti-Romney video that makes Mitt out to be the source of all financial evil in the universe…or something like that. I haven't watched the whole thing but even in the chunk I sat through, Romney comes off like every evil rich guy you ever saw in a movie.

I'm not going to soil this blog by embedding it so here's a link to watch the thing. Click at your own risk.