Monthly Archives: March 2020

As longtime readers of this blog know, I am a fan of a soup that they have available during the month of March at Souplantation restaurants, which are also called Sweet Tomatoes restaurants in some cities. The soup is usually called Classic Creamy Tomato Soup and this month on their website, they say they're offering Classic Tomato Soup, which I assume is the same thing…but these days, you never know. Maybe to save money, they got rid of its creaminess, which I do not believe was ever achieved with actual cream.

You can find out by going, as I will do in the next few days, to one of their outlets and having some. I know where they're located near me but if you don't know where they're located near you, this page will lead you to that information. If you sign up for their Club Veg, they will send you e-mails with discount coupons to a place which already serves a pretty cheap meal if you don't have a discount coupon.

And now the Emerald City Comic Convention has officially been postponed until summer with new dates to be announced. This was probably wise but it may ratchet up the sense of panic many have about the epidemic.

Reader Ron Kasman suggested something I should have thought of in the piece I wrote earlier about the virus. He suggested linking you to this page which would seem to the best possible source of information about it all. It's the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pay special attention to their page on Prevention and Treatment and their page on Risk Assessment and here's their Summary of what's going on and…

…oh, hell. Just read the whole site. And bookmark it. And don't listen to friggin' Larry Kudlow, a prominent economic adviser who proves it's possible to be a prominent economic adviser without ever being right about anything in your entire life. It wouldn't surprise me if this guy announces that Tulsi Gabbard has the nomination sewed-up.

I don't follow baseball and haven't in years. When a friend suggests we go take in a Dodgers game, I've been known to say, "I'd love to go next time Sandy Koufax is pitching." That was about when my interest ended and I really only had it in the first place because my father did. Now that Vin Scully is completely out of the picture, even my microscopic interest in the sport is gone.

But! I do kind of like exciting moments in baseball. No game has enough of them to get me to watch an entire game but I sometimes like to watch highlights, especially from back when Mr. Scully was making them feel like even higher highlights.

So let's go back to October 25, 1986 and Game 6 of the World Series. It's the bottom of the tenth inning, the Mets are one run down but they have the tying run on third and the winning run on first — and Mookie Wilson coming to the plate. You may have seen this before but if so, I'm sure you want to see it again…

I just got a flurry of e-mails asking me how I think the coronavirus is going to affect comic book conventions. There's one taking place this weekend — The San Diego Comic Fest — and someone wrote to ask if I'd canceled my appearance there for fear of catching the sickness. Nope. I never planned an appearance at this one so there was nothing to cancel. If I'd decided to attend, I'd probably be there now.

I might be shaking hands less and washing mine more but I think I'd go. It's hard to decide though because a lot of folks who are telling us what's up don't seem to know what's up. Even if I thought Donald Trump was good at some aspects of his job, I don't think I'd listen to him on the topic of communicable diseases…and I wish the news media would put their cameras less on him and more on a kind of person you may have heard of called a "doctor."

This might be a good place to remind you that I make my living writing silly things. I am not a doctor, nor do I even play one on TV. And I'm hesitant to say much about this because I think in this world, and especially since the Internet was invented, we're getting too much of our information from people who don't know how to say "I don't know" when they don't know.

But I think it's safe to repeat what I've gleaned from watching and reading about this, and you because you're smart, probably already know all this: You should not shake hands too much if at all, should not touch your face or put your fingers in or near your mouth much, should not be around folks who are coughing or sneezing, should not cough or sneeze at people, and should wash your hands often. Oh — and they're saying that twenty seconds of soap 'n' water is better than Purell® but Purell® is fine. Most of that was good advice before there was any such thing as a coronavirus.

As for comic conventions…my first thought was that we all just oughta cosplay as Spider-Man or some other character who wears gloves and has his nose and mouth covered by a mask. That way, we could all be there and the only drawback would be that every con would look like this…

A few folks seem to have canceled on the Comic Fest this weekend. The bigger story is up north at the Emerald City Comic Con which takes place in Seattle, WA next weekend. There have been a lot of reported cases of the virus in Seattle and as a result, a lot of exhibitors, guests and attendees are opting to not attend. A PDF message from the operators of the convention can be read here.

I would like to think that this will not be the norm forever and we'll somewhat normalize even until an effective vaccine is available. Everyone on TV who is not President of the United States is telling us that may take at least a year if not longer. Right now, we're all a bit clueless on how bad this thing will be and how the risks compare to the kind of risks we choose to take with other sicknesses or activities which could be dangerous.

It's hard to tell, for example, if a new report of cases detected in a certain area is because the virus is spreading or because the amount of testing is increasing. The panic level might decrease as we become better informed. I sure hope so.

It's five weeks until I'm supposed to attend WonderCon in Anaheim and I'm planning on going. We'll know more by then. Comic-Con in San Diego is 138 days from now. We'll know even more by then. And as I was writing this, I received this e-mail from Steve Thomas…

What do you think the chances are that San Diego Comic-Con could be cancelled due to coronavirus? That's a lot of people from around the world gathering in one place, and California has already declared a state of emergency.

I think the chances are darn close to zero…but we'll see where this thing goes. I assume some people will skip big, crowded events for quite some time and will opt not to go. If they already purchased badges and decide not to use them, they can get a refund until May 13 and maybe that date will be extended.

Given the trillions of people who complain they can't get badges for Comic-Con, I assume any that get returned will be grabbed up by someone. Exhibitors may have a more difficult consideration. If you have a spot in the hall each year, you can keep it until you miss a year, at which point it becomes someone else's spot.

But we'll know a lot more about this sickness well before then. Until I see or read evidence that it is not the wisest approach, I intend to live my normal life but to do all those things I listed in the fourth paragraph in this posting. I expect there will be a Comic-Con International and I expect to be there. I may be dressed as Spider-Man but I'll be there.

It's being reported that comic book artist Frank McLaughlin passed away last night at the age of 84.

Laughlin broke into comics around 1960 working both on staff and freelance for Charlton Comics in Connecticut. For a time, he was the Art Director there. He quickly formed a friendship (and intermittent creative partnership) with Dick Giordano that would last until Giordano's passing in 2010. They often assisted each other and many jobs that were credited by one show handiwork — sometimes, overwhelmingly so — of the other.

Older fans recall McLaughlin from JudoMaster, a short-lived super-hero title that he did for Charlton in 1967, tapping into his personal expertise in the martial arts. Over the years, Frank assisted on newspaper strips including The Heart of Juliet Jones, Nancy and Brenda Starr, but most of what he did was to ink comic books for DC and Marvel. Paul Levitz, who ran things at DC Comics for a long time, posted this on Facebook…

Frank was a total professional, always to be counted on for a solid job no matter how tight the deadline was, and no matter how dense the underlying pencils were. I was particularly a fan of how his line complimented the pencils of Dick Dillin and Irv Novick, two of DC's busiest pencillers in the years when they and Frank worked on stories I wrote or edited.

Frank also taught comic art at various schools. I did not know him well but never heard anyone in the entire field say anything but good things about him. And he sure leaves behind a huge body of work that readers enjoyed for years and will continue to enjoy in reprints.

If you want to see how bad the Trump administration is handling the coronavirus crisis, read Rod Dreher, who's about as right-wing as anyone I've ever linked-to on this blog. He's especially aghast at Trump saying we should listen to him and not all the doctors because he has a "hunch." If many doctors were in agreement that you needed a certain operation and a guy who lives on KFC, didn't know how many people die from the flu and thinks windmills cause cancer said he had a "hunch" you didn't, what would you do?

Meanwhile, I'm reading a wide array of "experts" explaining how possible it is for Bernie to get the nomination. Their assessments range from "highly" to "im-." It's kind of chilling to realize that the top three options to be our president at the moment are — and I stole this list from a tweet I just read —

• A 73-year-old conspiracy theorist who rambles incoherently and lies constantly
• A 77-year-old who rambles and sometimes loses his place
• A 78-year-old socialist who just had a heart attack

Of the three, I'd prefer the third option but I'm not unhappy with the second. An imaginary friend of mine was saying he's sure Trump is going to drop Pence as his veep mostly because Donald needs someone to blame for the inadequate handling of the coronavirus matter. Then he added, "Our best hope is that one of these old white guys picks a really terrific running mate, wins the election and then steps down or dies." I have too much class to say something like that so I'll just pretend a friend of mine said it.

Kevin Drum, who's one of the more level-headed pundits I read, thinks Joe Biden is now unbeatable for the Democratic nomination…and that's before anyone knows how many delegates Bernie's going to get out of California, where he's expected to do well. Kevin thinks it's obvious. I dunno.

I do want to say that I like Mike Bloomberg more as a gracious conceder than I ever did as a candidate.

In the meantime, you're probably on the edge of your chair over the real important vote last night: Whether voters in San Diego would approve a measure that would raise the hotel tax to pay for a big expansion of their convention center, the place where Comic-Con International is held. The latest totals (which seem to be final) are saying the Yes votes were 63.6% and the No votes were 36.4%. The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass so it came damned close but didn't make it.

The late composer Meredith Willson wrote "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and all the songs in The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown — tunes like "76 Trombones" and "Til There Was You" and "I Ain't Down Yet." But for some, his most memorable tune was one that was drilled into them in their school gym classes in the early sixties.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched something called The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Willson volunteered to compose an exercise-oriented theme song, which was recorded by Music Man star Robert Preston. It was called "Chicken Fat" and it was distributed by the zillions to physical education classes across the country.

I'm not sure if the idea was that it was supposed to motivate you to exercise on your own or if you were supposed to exercise to it. I was nine when it came out and I know it was never played in my school. I don't think it would have inspired me to drop and do push-ups but given the selling skills of Mssrs. Willson and Preston, it might have tricked me into buying band instruments from some guy who couldn't play a note of music.

Here's a music video someone made recently with the longer version. The kids in this video don't look like they need to exercise or want to exercise or even want to be in this video but there's a strange creature walking around who won't let them leave until they do…

If you want to know why Joe Biden just had the best night of his political life as a non-veep candidate, read Ezra Klein. Here's an excerpt…

It's not that Sanders is running a weak campaign. But he is, in a way, running the wrong campaign. He's the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination — at least he was until tonight — but he's still running as an insurgent. The political revolution was supposed to close the gap between these realities: If Sanders could turn out enough new voters, he could sweep away the Democratic establishment and build his own party in its place. But going all the way back to Iowa, that strategy failed. Sanders won as a Democrat, not a revolutionary, and he needed to pivot to a strategy that would unite the existing Democratic Party around him.

But it's hard to move from treating the Democratic Party establishment with contempt to treating it like a constituency, and so far, the Sanders campaign hasn't.

I don't think last night was as disastrous for Sanders as some of the pundits, on MSNBC especially, made it out to be. He may turn out to have made an impressive showing here in California — after all, he got my vote — but since that's unreported yet, it was mostly just good news for Biden. Also, the media loves comebacks. If they'd been counting Sanders out and he'd bounced back big, most of them would have been just as orgasmic.

Seems to me it's all about that question with which I was wrestling: Do I support the person I wish were in the Oval Office or do I support the one most likely to get there? I'm guessing Biden did well because more voters came down on the side of the latter. I wish someone could fabricate a poll question that would give us some insight into that.

I like Bernie. I voted for Bernie. But Klein's right that Joe's trying to unite the party around him and Bernie's trying to get everyone in the party to just surrender to him. That's a tougher sale, especially to voters who think the most important goal in this election is not to pass the Sanders agenda but to get rid of the Trump one first.

• Next time you get to thinking you wasted money on something, just think how much Mike Bloomberg spent to win four out of six delegates from American Samoa.

Obviously, California is the big enchilada tonight in terms of votes and it's pretty likely Bernie Sanders will take the biggest bite. But Jim Newell reminds us that it may be many days before the vote is finalized and we know exactly who's getting how many delegates. A lot of people voted by mail. I'm one of them. And our ballots may not even be opened let alone tallied for a few days.

Folks covering the election on TV don't like that. They want you to watch them for many hours and then they deliver the pay-off of telling you who won and by how much. Look how awkward they were covering Iowa when they were waiting and waiting for something to announce and were reduced to talking about one county here or there as if it was indicative of the whole. And then they had to tell you that after all that watching and waiting, you were going to go to bed without the answer. So be patient…and skeptical of incomplete results.

There are other questions on ballots today besides who's going to face Donald Trump in November. In San Diego, there's Measure C which, if it passes, will cause the city to issue $2 billion in bonds, paid for by an increase in the tax on hotel rooms. Why should we care? Because it may have something to do with the future of Comic-Con International in that city. I'll let Rob Salkowitz explain it to you but note that Rob says…

San Diego has, for 50 years, hosted Comic-Con International — also known as San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) The event famously evolved from a humble gathering of geek tribes to one of the world's largest and most celebrated entertainment events, drawing upwards of 150,000 badged attendees and possibly many, many more visitors to San Diego over five days in July.

A 2018 report issued by the Convention Center estimated that Comic-Con alone contributed $147 million to the regional economy out of a total of $1.1 billion generated by all conventions, trade shows and community events. The second largest event, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, clocked in at 60.4 million.

I will overlook the "geek tribes" remark. I've been to every Comic-Con and I can't recall seeing more than three or four attendees bite the heads off live chickens. And those were all later on in the convention's history, around the time The Powerpuff Girls got popular.

But just look at the money involved here. A lot of folks talk about Comic-Con moving to another city like it's about as simple as vacationing at a Motel 6 instead of a Comfort Inn. There's a lot of commerce involved here with mucho impact on where it would go and where it would leave.

So when all the votes are counted in tonight's primaries, it looks like Bernie will have the most votes and Biden will be in a respectable second place, not to be counted-out yet. I can't help but wonder if all those folks who've dropped out of the running would have dropped out by now if the primaries were held in a different order.

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Someone else who dropped out is Chris Matthews, who opened yesterday's Hardball on MSNBC by announcing it was the last Hardball on MSNBC. Matthews always reminded me of that guy at every party who talks and talks and talks without realizing that he's saying the same thing over and over and over and that his voice is rising in volume each time he says it.

The nice thing about some people who are like that is that they say things without calculating, "How will this make me look?" and wondering if they should say something else. A lot of what we got out of Matthews was goofy and clumsy but I never felt it was disingenuous or insincere. That put him way ahead of a lot of people in his profession, at least in my book. And his resignation speech had more of an apology for sexist remarks than many men would ever make.

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Turning to the vastly more-important-than-anything-else topic of The Bullwinkle Statue, I got a nice note from Ric Scozzari, the artist/craftsman (I guess he's a little of each) who's been responsible for the restoration and repainting of Moose and Squirrel lately. He's going to be at the unveiling which we now know will be on Saturday, March 28, 2020 at 10 AM.

It's at the spot where Sunset Boulevard forks off to Holloway Drive, right across from where Tower Records used to be…and I think that building still is. I'm thinking I want be there for the ceremony but I tell myself I'm going to go to a lot of things on a Saturday morning and then when it's time to leave, I decide they're quite missable. So I don't know if I'll be there but I'm thinking if I am, it'll be by Uber. The parking up there is, I honest to God think, one of the reasons there's no more Tower Records.

I posted my thought process (such as it is) and two minutes later, found that Randy Rainbow just posted his. This may be the best video he's ever done (such as it is) and of course I only say that because his matches mine…

I don't want to act like I think my decision on who to vote for in the California primary is important. I mean, it is important but no more than anyone else's decision. At the moment, the polls suggest a Mr. Bernard Sanders will run away with it, with or without my vote or yours. But a lot of you are writing and asking me about my thought process, such as it is, so I thought I'd explain it. If you don't care, I won't blame you if you skip the rest of this posting. I might skip one you wrote about your thought process.

My thought process (such as it is) turned into trying to decide if I should vote for the person I'd most like to see in the White House or the person I thought had the best chance of beating Donald Trump. I wish those were the same person but I came to the point of deciding that my top picks in the first category were Sanders or — second choice — Warren…

…and then my thinking in the Trump-defeating contest was more like Biden or Bloomberg or someone more centrist. There are two goals here and neither one is to try and peel off votes from the people who think God picked Trump and told them to ignore all those bankruptcies and financial scandals and sexist remarks and outright lies. One goal is to win the Independent vote. The other is to motivate folks who would vote Democratic if they went to the polls but who might think they had better things to do on Election Day than to vote. Both goals are especially vital in crucial states like Pennsylvania and Florida.

But then I got to thinking about some advice I read on a blog — I think it was the one you're reading at this moment — about how so much can and will change between now and November. Look how the matter of the coronavirus came outta nowhere for most of us and how it's changing the game in so many ways.

We know how popular Sanders is in the polls taken today but where would he be after Trump and his allies had hammered Commie, Commie, Commie into the worries and fears of so many frightenable Americans? (Did you know Bernie and his wife honeymooned in Russia? If that doesn't prove he secretly wishes they'd conquer and enslave us, what does?)

And where will any Democrat be after all the phantom, not-to-be-proven-until-after-the-election (i.e., never) scandals that will brand him or her as corrupt and certainly headed for the prison cell next to Hillary's? (As we all know, no human being has ever opposed Trump over even the teensiest things and not been utterly corrupt.)

So I came to this way of thinking: The electability of any nominee will change, in ways we can't know yet. We have no idea how much of the mud will stick…or how many swing votes would still prefer a muddy Democrat to a second term for Donald…or what scandals and batshit-looney statements will impact Trump's own popularity with those willing to take that kind of thing into account.

How popular (how "electable") any of the Democratic candidates will be after the dirtiest election in the history of mankind is unknowable at this time. Nor do we know how it would impact the incumbent if his taxes were released or the infamous, alleged pee-tape actually turned up or one of the women accusing him of Weinsteinesque behavior came forth with solid proof or…well, we can all think of endless possibilities. I'll bet even some of Trump's staunchest supporters are anticipating new dirt they'll have to justify ignoring.

What is pretty knowable is what the candidates say they want to make happen in this country. That probably won't change much, whereas their electability can go in all different directions, especially after the Dem's standard bearer selects a running mate and we see if Trump keeps Pence. There were people who were way more enthused about John McCain after he selected Sarah Palin and those who thought less.

So I decided to put that stuff I can't predict mostly aside and focus on who sounds most like they understand how the economy and the environment can hurt us. As I was pondering this, it got easier. Not all decisions in this world get easier if you put them off. Some get much, much harder but in this case, it got easier as Julián Castro dropped out and Cory Booker dropped out and Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar and all the others dropped out, and Tulsi Gabbard was never really in it in the first place as far as I was concerned…

Mike Bloomberg seemed like a maybe before I read more about him. That quickly eliminated him in the "Would Make a Good President" category and he failed in the "Could Beat Trump" consideration due to his rotten first debate performance. So that left Bernie, Joe and Elizabeth. I marked my ballot for Bernie but I'd be fine with any of them. Anyone would be better than Trump…and I don't mean anyone who is or was an announced candidate. I mean anyone, maybe even you. That's my thought process…such as it is.