Monthly Archives: December 2015

Without comment…

Nate Silver and his crew over at fivethirtyeight.com discuss the possibilty of a brokered Republican convention, meaning that no candidate has a winning number of delegates by the time the party convenes in Cleveland and they fight it out there. That would be enormously entertaining. So would the scenario where Trump storms out of the G.O.P. and makes a third-party run. I don't see either of these things happening.

Once upon a time, political conventions weren't coronations and infomercials. Unless there was an incumbent up — and even occasionally when there was — everyone showed up with some delegates but not enough. There were plenty of delegates who were unpledged to a candidate or were pledged to a "favorite son" candidate so, at the opportune moment, they could shift their votes to a real candidate and give him enough to win. Then, once the nominee was selected, that person had a matter of hours to settle on (and insufficently vet) a running mate. It was all exciting to watch but I'm not sure it ever served the party or the country.

Any time I get the urge to try cooking anything, I can always make it go away by watching TV chef Alton Brown. I find him quite entertaining even though the subtext of most of his segments is that everyone on the planet except Alton Brown is too friggin' stupid to be allowed near a kitchen. He sure convinces me I am.

Here, he rails against what he calls "unitaskers," which is cooking equipment that only does one thing. What's kind of funny about this is that if you ever watch him cook, you'll probably see him use twenty-three instruments and utensils that you don't own and he does. I watched his show once when he was teaching people how to make mashed potatoes and the main thing he said was never to use a potato-masher. You must squish your spuds by using a food mill.

I don't have a food mill. If I went out and bought one, it would almost surely become a "unitasker" in my kitchen because I'd probably never use it for anything except for mashed potatoes. Mr. Brown though cooks so much, that he probably has a half-dozen other uses for a food mill. I'll bet he even has eight different uses for that fire extinguisher on his wall, including having it separate egg yolks.

Anyway, here he trashes some unitaskers, many of them on the say-so of reviewers on the Internet who can't spell and who probably are just the kind of people Alton Brown thinks don't know the first thing about cooking. But I still find him entertaining…

Since the other day when I posted those cover sketches I did for Gold Key Comics, I've received a number of e-mails like this one from Don Baynor…

Those drawings you did looked pretty good. I didn't know you drew and I wonder why you don't draw more. If not, why did you give it up?

Well, I never really thought of artwork as a career. Since about age six, I wanted to be a writer — and that's really all I ever wanted to be or felt I could be. I drew because it was fun and because when I came up with ideas, there was no one else who'd draw them. Back when I was younger, I used to make up adventures and put on puppet shows…but I never really thought of becoming a professional puppeteer. It was just a way of presenting my stories since no one else was going to perform them in any way. Once others were around to "present" my stories, there was less reason for me to do it.

For my first decade or so in comics, I kinda thought of myself as a writer who could draw a little when necessary. When I edited comics, I did the art direction, lettering corrections, some logo design, some art fixes, etc. Once in a while in a pinch, I'd draw a cover or ink part of a story. I did the pencil art on a number of covers like these two — though I protected myself by assigning the inking of them to Scott Shaw!, knowing he could make anyone's art look good…

I also did all the hand-lettering you see on the covers including the title logos. I used to joke that was because I was the editor so there was no one around to stop me but really, it was mostly because I didn't have anyone else available to me I trusted to do those things the way I wanted.

Still, I was aware that I was pushing the upper limits of my ability and that I did so little drawing that I was always rusty. To be even a mediocre artist requires a lot more hours than I was willing or able to put into it…and I could practice forever and not be a hundredth as good as some of the artists who I could get to draw for me like Dan Spiegle, Owen Fitzgerald, Pete Alvarado and Scott. I've just never been one of those "I can do anything if I put my mind to it" kind of guys. I find it more workable in life to be at least somewhat aware of my limitations, especially since there seems to be no limit as to my limitations.

The more I was around people like Jack Kirby and Sergio Aragonés and Dan and Scott and Alex Toth and Mike Sekowsky and so many others, the more I realized that my drawing did not come from an organic place within me. It was natural to those guys. It was labored and forced and unnatural to me. Those cover sketches I ran here before took me a long time and a lot of erasure…and of course, the two I ran here were the two best ones I had. On the covers above, Scott was there to rescue me.

I see so many creative people around me who don't seem to be aware that they can't do anything. It's fine to try and stretch and to do things you've never done before. Some people are multi-talented and it would be a shame if they limited themselves to only one of the many things they can do. But some people do one thing a whole lot better than they do another…and are oblivious to it. I'd rather minimize the chance of me being one of those folks. I prefer playing games where I figure I have a decent chance to win.

So basically, the answer to your question is that writing feels to me like something I should be doing whereas drawing never really did, even if now and then someone would pay me to do a little of it. And it's more fun when I do it now because I'm only doing it for fun.

Daniel Larison notes how John McCain — who, let us remember, could have been our president — seems to endorse every conceivable U.S. military action. If McCain had won, we'd commit to invading everywhere and keeping ground forces there forever.

This is the time of day when I look around for interesting links to offer to you, my fine readers. Today, I think I'll try to find some that don't involve Donald Trump. And I'll start with my friend of 45 years, Joe Brancatelli, who (as I always tell you) knows more about the airline industry than anyone on the ground or in the air…

Oh, wait. Joe's latest column is about how Donald Trump loves Muslims…when they stay at his hotels. Rats.

Josh Groban sings "Pure Imagination." The imagery is a bit pretentious but he sure performs the tune well…

My second-favorite place to get pizza in Los Angeles abruptly closed the other day, reportedly for good. It was Frankie and Johnnie's, a tiny business about the size of a phone booth located on Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, just west of Rodeo Drive. Frankie and Johnnie's should not be confused with the Johnnie's New York Pizza chain, though it probably was, often.

Frankie and Johnnie's served very fine pies with very thin crusts and if you bought slices as opposed to a whole pie, they'd reheat them in their big oven and come out much crisper. It was very difficult to walk past the place and not stop in for a slice or two. They also served an amazingly wide range of decent pasta dishes — amazing because the whole kitchen there seemed to be about the size of a Honda Civic. I'm going to miss that place.

You're probably wondering what my favorite place is to get pizza in Los Angeles. Once upon a time, it was Damiano's, featured elsewhere on this site. Now, it's Vito's Pizza on La Cienega, a few blocks south of Santa Monica. It's not fancy but the pizza is made expertly and many friends who obsess on "New York Pizza" and somehow believe one cannot find rotten pizza in Manhattan, swear that Vito's is as close as you can get. It is very good and I really hope I never have to say farewell to it on this blog.

Thirty-five years ago tonight, a Monday Night Football telecast on ABC brought America the blindsiding news of John Lennon's murder. Here's an old post by Paul Harris in which he remembers what it was like to be on the radio the next day. Paul may or may not get asked about it this afternoon when he guests on Stu's Show. Those guys have a lot to talk about.

Okay, one more Trump link today: Frank Rich reveals the one thing than can stop The Donald: Republican voters voting for someone else. At first, that doesn't sound promising when you consider how unappealing most of those "someone elses" are…but I think Trump will manage to drive his voters to others. Just give him more microphones and more time.

And I think Rich is right when he says that the Republican candidates shrieking that Obama's not doing enough to destroy ISIS are not really proposing to do anything he's not already doing except to sound tougher about it when they address the American people. I wish more people could differentiate between talking tough and actually doing things that are tough. But Mr. Rich disappoints me though when he wades into the area of Obama's decision to deliver his Oval Office Address standing at a lectern instead of seated at a desk. It reminds me of all those pundits in 2000 whose election analysis had a lot to do with the colors of Al Gore's suits and ties.

I may try to limit this site to one Donald Trump post per day. Here's Matt Taibbi talking about how Trump is the ideal candidate for voters who think everything in the world is as simple, cut and dried as it is on most TV shows.

Lots of folks like playing songs by Stephen Sondheim. How many of them like doing crossword puzzles by Stephen Sondheim?

Almost every week around this time, I tell you about some great guest my friend Stu Shostak has on his Internet radio program, Stu's Show. And often throughout the week, I recommend you go listen to a great guest on the podcast of my friend Paul Harris, who is heard on radio station KTRS in St. Louis and sometimes elsewhere. Well, this week I get to combine these two recommendations because Stu's great guest on Stu's Show is Paul Harris.

Paul is a friend I made via computer years ago on CompuServe. We were on a forum there and he struck me as one of the brightest, cleverest guys on it. Then I heard his radio shows, most of which consist of him interviewing interesting folks…and doing it as well as any interviewer I've ever heard. Folks ask me how I learned how to interview folks on comic book convention panels. A very real answer is that I listened to Paul Harris. He's a hero of Stu's, too. Tomorrow (Wednesday), he and Stu will be discussing what's become of radio, what he's learned interviewing important celebrities and politicians, and the fascinating career Paul has had. He and I spent most of Sunday evening swapping anecdotes and he's really one of the finest storytellers I've ever encountered. Tune in and hear some of those swell stories and maybe you'll pick up some pointers.

Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at the Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go to three or beyond.  Shortly after a show ends, it's available for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are a paltry 99 cents each and you can get four for the price of three.  Plus, check out Stu's new V.I.P. Listener program for a way to get more Stu into your life.

Audra McDonald (one of the my favorite singers) singing one of my favorite songs…

Centuries ago in August of 2015, the first Republican debate for the current presidential clusteryou-know-what started with one of those questions where the moderator asks the candidates on stage to answer with a show of hands. He asked them if they would all pledge to support the nominee of their party and to not mount a third-party campaign. Only Donald Trump declined, though he later took that pledge and — who knows? — might still even intend to honor it.

I wonder what would happen if they started the next debate with this request: "Raise your hand if there's anyone on this stage you might be hesitant to fully support if that person was the nominee of the Republican party."

If I was a candidate and still wanted to beat Trump, my hand would shoot up. First off, how do you beat Trump if you're saying he's an acceptable candidate? That trivializes all the issues you want to raise to assert that you'd be so much better.

Secondly, several candidates are distancing themselves from that "ban all Muslims" suggestion of his. Again, you can't run away from that and pledge to work for the guy's election at the same time.

And lastly, even if you're fine with that, what about what he's going to say tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the next time some poll suggests his lead might be slipping away? What's he going to say to fire up his base if it looks like he might do poorly in Iowa or New Hampshire? Or if he does?

Seems obvious to me what What Trump Says has little to no connection to What Trump Would Do. He says what gets cheers from his audiences (as long as they're not Jewish non-negotiators) and doesn't give a thought to what he'd do if he won and someone expected him actually do some or all of those things. He'll build a giant wall but he really has no idea how he'd build that giant wall. He'll deport all the illegal aliens but he really has no idea how he'd deport all the illegal aliens. He'll keep Muslims out of the country but he really has no idea how he'd keep Muslims out of the country…or deal with the fact that it's almost certainly unconstitutional.

Donald Trump has two main strengths and they've served him well throughout his career. One is that he's really, really good at self-promotion. Look how much he was in the news and how often you heard his name even before he was actually running for Chief Exec. There are richer people we never hear much about. There are developers who do bigger projects and we never see them on TV. But we all know Trump. He is his main product and he promotes it well.

And then his second strength is that he doesn't care if a majority of people think he's a flaming a-hole as long as he gets the deal he wants from the minority. Which is why I don't think he'll be the nominee, let alone the winner. You can make great business deals if most people hate you but you can't become the President of the United States.

This is not obvious yet because as Nate Silver notes time and again, most voters still aren't paying that much attention to this race…nor do they have to. There's plenty of time to get serious about a candidate…plenty of time to pick from whoever's still in the race a few months from now. People are taking this way too seriously, panicking that Trump might win the Iowa Caucuses. That means forgetting that the last two winners of the Iowa Caucuses were Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, neither of whom got anywhere near their party's nomination.

Jeb Bush and Chris Christie and whoever else still might think they have a shot must know they can't beat Trump when it comes to being Trump. They might be able to beat him by convincing voters that Trump would be a disaster for the party and even the nation. Pledging to support him would be a great way to not be able to do that. It also puts a candidate in an awkward position when Trump, worried he's not sufficiently dominating the news cycle, says something even more outrageous. Which, of course, he will.