Monthly Archives: July 2020

The Supreme Court handed down a decision this morning saying that employers and universities may opt out on religious grounds from the Obamacare requirement that they must offer free birth control through their health-care plans. This is bad news for something like 125,000 women. I would guess that "pro-life" folks are cheering it even though it will doubtlessly result in an increase in abortions. To me, it's still more evidence that Americans should not be getting their health insurance through their employers.

Tomorrow should be a lot more interesting. It's the final day of the Supreme Court's current term and they'll be releasing their decisions on two cases relating to Donald Trump's personal finances. One is about whether he has to turn his tax records and other data over to Congress and the other is similar but it has to do with subpoenas for that material from a New York state prosecutor. Expect explosions, no matter what the decisions may be.

This is the kind of stuff I have to look at but I'd rather not. I get a lot more done these days when I can focus on my work.

If you're interested in the history of the comic book business in the eighties, you need to know about Carol Kalish. She was a remarkable woman who did a lot to make Marvel Comics successful…and by extension, its competitors and every retail outlet that sold comic books. I knew her well and she was very smart, very honest, very hard-working and very good for the field. This oral history of a woman who died way too soon will tell you a lot about her.

In just a few hours, I'll be interviewing my friend Peter David here and we'll be talking about the kind of things that writers talk about. There should be a live video feed on this page but if you can't see it — or if you want to be in the chat room to ask us questions or send comments — go to this link and watch it there. It starts at 7 PM my time, 10 PM Peter's time and Noon if you're in Sydney, Australia. If you miss it, it will repeat for all eternity (or until I take it down) on YouTube…but it's a lot more fun for you and us if you watch live.

• The latest Lincoln Project ad is not an attempt to drive voters away from Trump or towards Biden. It's an attempt to drive Donald Trump out of whatever's left of his mind. (And don't forget he'll see it as the work of Kellyanne Conway's husband.)

A week or three ago, magician Eric Leclerc appeared on Penn & Teller Fool Us and fooled Penn & Teller with a trick involving styrofoam peanuts. I was unfamiliar with Mr. Leclerc. His main exposure on TV has been on a show that combines magic tricks with hidden camera stunts and I really, really don't like hidden camera stunts. I might just make an exception and catch his because he sure seems like a clever, fun-to-watch entertainer.

As a Magic Castle member and student of the art, I'm pretty good at figuring out the tricks on the Penn & Teller show. This one, I thought I kinda solved but it turns out I was wrong. Here's the trick. Watch it and see if you can guess how he dunnit…

And now here's the secret. Since he has no intention of ever doing this trick anywhere else and since it's his trick, Mr. Leclerc decided to make a video revealing the method involved. The trade-off for him was that loads of people, myself included, subscribed to his YouTube channel so they'd be alerted as soon as he posted the answer. See if you figured it out. I didn't.

As half of all the Internet Users in the world have now informed me, my favorite movie is legitimately available to be watched for free — albeit interrupted for advertising — on YouTube. Okay, so it's only been twelve people so far who've written but if I don't post this to say I know about it, it will eventually be half of all Internet Users.

I am not embedding it here because I think that's an awful way to experience — especially for the first time — It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Like I said, it's my favorite movie but really only when you watch it the right way…on a big screen as part of a packed, appreciative audience. And it should not be interrupted except for the one intermission during which you can step into the lobby…or whatever is your hobby. (I have never understood that line in the song, by the way. I think they're saying that if you don't want to step into the lobby during the intermission, you can remain in your seat and collect stamps or do some gardening.)

I usually manage to see it the right way every year or so. Seems like it'll be quite a while before any local theater shows it again. It may be quite a while before any local theater shows anything again. Even then, I don't see myself going to any theaters — even sitting six-feet apart with everyone properly masked — for a long time. I shall wait rather than view it in way-less-than-ideal conditions.

If you absolutely have to watch it on YouTube, here's a link but please don't use it. Or if you do use it, please don't judge the film by seeing it all by yourself on your cellphone. That's not how it's supposed to be seen. That's really not how any movie is supposed to be seen, especially one that expects you to laugh throughout.

Randy Rainbow is back with another one. In case you don't recognize the song he's parodying, it's "Pure Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid…

As you may know, the 2020 Comic-Con International won't be happening in San Diego. It'll be taking place on your computer or cellphone. There will be a badge you can print out and wear if that will make the event seem more real to you. Maybe you can find some security person in a t-shirt who thinks they're a policeman and will try to stop you from accessing your laptop if you aren't wearing it.

There will be a souvenir book which you can read online and download as a PDF. It contains a big article by me noting the 50th anniversary of Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics and I also wrote way too many obituary pieces. There will be dealers and exhibitors although they'll be online. If you can find some way to wait in a long line to use your iPhone, get jostled around by strangers in Harley Quinn costumes and pay way too much for a tiny hotel room, it could feel almost indistinguishable from being at the real thing.

And there will, of course, be panels. All or most of them have been recorded in advance. Yes, I will be hosting a Jack Kirby Tribute Panel. It features me, John Morrow (publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector) and artist Alex Ross. And yes, I will be hosting a Cartoon Voices Panel. It features Laraine Newman, Dee Bradley Baker, Misty Lee and Bill Farmer. And I'll be on a few other panels which I'll tell you about later.

Though I'm kidding here about replicating the less-than-wonderful aspects of the Comic-Con Experience, I'm really glad we'll have a Comic-Con Experience…or at least as much of one as can be simulated online. Some of the panels sound wonderful and you'll be able to get into every one you want to see — no "I'm sorry, the room is full" and no conflicts with several panels you want to view taking place at the same time. The souvenir book looks great. There will be plenty of exhibitors.

And best of all, it's all free with no one turned away. More details can be found here. Some Comic-Con is a whole lot better than none.

This Tuesday evening, I will be having a Conversation with the fine writer, Peter David. We'll be talking about mutual interests, mutual friends, mutual funds and all sorts of other mutual things. If you want to listen in as two writers discuss writing, this is the place for you. That's this coming Tuesday, July 7, at 7 PM Pacific Time, live on YouTube. There'll be a video feed on this site or you can watch over at www.newsfromme.tv.

Then next Saturday, I'll be doing another one of my Cartoon Voices Panels, this time with Michael Bell, Debi Derryberry, Neil Kaplan, Nickie Bryar and Neil Ross. That's July 11 at 4 PM Pacific Time. Again, there'll be a video feed on this site or you can watch over at www.newsfromme.tv.

Looking farther into the future than is absolutely necessary: On Tuesday, July 14, there will be a one-on-one Conversation — guest to be announced shortly. Then two days later — on Thursday, July 16 — we'll be doing a live online panel with the four folks who bring you Groo the Wanderer — Sergio Aragonés, Stan Sakai, Tom Luth and me. Groo has sunk 377 ships, four comic book companies and several careers. We'll see if he can sink the entire Internet.

And we have a few more fun things coming up after that if there's still a world wide web on which to webcast…

Here's the tribute to Carl Reiner that ran this morning on CBS Sunday Morning. All that stuff about him being full of joy and light is true…

I started writing one of these yesterday about the wearing of masks. I was about three paragraphs into it when I stopped and asked myself, as I often do when I'm a few paragraphs into things, "Why am I writing this?" If you like this site enough to be reading this, you probably agree with me how ridiculous it is that anyone would not wear a mask in public and especially that they'd gather together in maskless social events. No point in telling you what you already know.

This will be a very bad week for Donald Trump. Why do I say that? Because every week lately has been a very bad week for Donald Trump. It might feature a Supreme Court decision or some catastrophic polling numbers or some former associate (one of those "best people" he hired who is now a lying idiot) turning on him or someone close to him testing positive for COVID-19 or some news story about illegal dealings…but there'll be something.

I continue to try and minimize the amount of attention I pay to all this. It's not easy.

Wednesday evening, Turner Classic Movies is running A Night at the Opera followed by The Producers — at 9 PM and 10:45 respectively on my cable provider. Apart from being two very funny, held-in-great-esteem comedies, what do these two films have in common?

Well, for a brief time, similar plots. One of the early drafts of A Night at the Opera involved Groucho trying to work a scam because he would find a new but terrible opera, sell 50,000% of the show to investors (including Margaret Dumont) and then get away with it when the show flopped immediately and folder…which it would do because he hired Harpo as the lead male tenor. Irving Thalberg vetoed this storyline…

…which was based on the same Broadway legend as The Producers. It was, you are no doubt aware, about a guy who shares a zillion percent of a guaranteed-to-close-in-one-night flop.

I dunno if anyone at TCM knows of this and matched up those films for that reason or some other. But I thought it was worth a mention and maybe a setting of the TiVo. Or you could just run your DVDs of those movies back to back since you probably own them both.