I have a few friends who struggle with essential things in life like keeping track of where they're supposed to be and when and things they need to do. In some cases, a lack of basic organization has caused real harm to their lives and greatly inconvenienced others. We all have moments when little things slip our minds but some people have way too much slippage and cause way too much unnecessary damage to themselves. It should not be an insurmountable challenge to be on time for appointments and to check off everything on your "to do" list. This starts with having a "to do" list.

Over the years, I have experimented with a wide array of calendars and notebooks and ways of keeping lists…and when computers started becoming part of my life, I tried several different programs that promised to keep all my notes and phone numbers and appointments properly organized. Some of the programs were real fancy and expensive — and I found that the more they charged and the more they tried to do, the worse they were. One was so complicated that the first thing I put on its "to do" list was "learn how this f&*kin%g program works!" And then I couldn't find that list again.

I finally decided that what I needed was some programs that were right before my eyes — already on my iPhone and synced to my iPad and my desktop computer. Mainly, what I needed was to use the Calendar, the Notes app, the Reminders app and the Contacts list.  Obviously, others (like the invaluable Joey Bishop app) could help but I have an awful lot of my life in the Calendar, the Notes app, the Reminders app and the Contacts list.

I especially needed to remember that I could put notes in any of these four apps.  On a Contact listing for one of my doctors, I could put notes to remind me of things about him or her like the name of his or her receptionist.  On a listing in the Calendar, I could jot down notes about the pending event.  I put short range and time-sensitive "to do" items in the Calendar and I put long-term items in the Reminders list.  When I subscribe to some online service, I put the expiration/renewal date in Reminders so I don't undergo an automatic renewal of a sub I wanted to let lapse.

So what am I trying to tell you here?  Just that the more I rely on these four apps, the better my life seems to work.  When I've been hospitalized, I put everything that happens to me — every pill I take, every doctor I meet, every test they administer — into the Notes app.  That really helps.  The last time I was in, one doctor started asking me questions about the pain killers that were tried on my when I had my knee replacement in 2015. It was of great aid that I could open my Notes app and show him the contemporaneous jottings I made during that hospital stay.

I have a very good memory and sometimes the problem with that is that you can get cocky about thinking, "I don't have to write that down.  I'll remember that!"  Well, maybe you will but occasionally not as clearly as you might like.

It helps, it really helps.  I have a page in my Notes App that's headed 4 THE BLOG and when I have an idea for something I might write about here, I jot it down.  When I'm stumped for something to write, I go to that page on either my Desktop Computer, my iPad or my iPhone and I select which topic I'll address.  In fact,  I just did.

Here's a charming piece that was on CBS Sunday Morning three and a half years ago. It's about musician Sonny Curtis, who just died at the age of 88, bringing to an end a darn good career. That career included writing at the least one or two songs you know well…

I have many a message asking me to comment on the announcement that death has not ended Stan Lee's convention appearances; that he'll be still be at some in holographic form. Most of those who asked asked if I thought it was (a) morbid or (b) something of which Stan would have approved. To answer (a): Well, yes…sort of. But no more creepy than a Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland or your basic Elvis impersonator. As for (b), I assume Stan signed off on such usages of his likeness back when he was alive and/or that his heirs have blessed it. Unless it's against his or their wishes, the relevant question is "How well done is it?"

I don't intend to attend the L.A. Comic Con to find out. First off, they didn't invite me and I don't go to cons that don't invite me and ask me to participate in some way that sounds like fun. Also, since I knew and worked with the actual living and breathing Stan Lee, I don't think I want to stand in line, let alone pay to commune with even a reasonable facsimile.

About the third from the last time I saw Stan in person was at some version of that convention in that building. Stan was not only alive then, he was having the time of his life meeting his fans and signing autographs for some serious dollars. There were reports later of financial shenanigans with regards to where all that money went and also reports of Stan being mistreated and forced to do this when he wasn't up to it but I was not a witness to any of that. A documentary was announced that would supposedly validate the horror stories with video clips but it stopped its Kickstarter appeal before it got near its target goal.

So I dunno what to think except that I don't think I need to have an opinion on any of this.

That day at the con, I was with my lovely friend Amber. I pointed Stan out to her and, having heard much about him, she asked if she could meet him ever so briefly. That did not look possible but I decided to give it a try. There was a long line of folks waiting their moment with Stan. There was also a bodyguard or security person who looked like his assignment was to stand there looking like a Marvel Super-Villain who'd crush anyone who got out of line or didn't get into line. He did not have a costume. He just had that kind of face and body language.

I approached him and said, "Hi, I used to work for Stan and he knows me. Is there a way we could get thirty seconds with him and say hello?"

He replied in a firm monotone, "No one gets to talk to Stan unless they buy a ticket and wait in line."

I said, "I understand that but like I said, he knows me. If you'd just tell him that Mark Evanier is here and he'd like to –"

He interrupted in that firm monotone, "No one gets to talk to Stan unless they buy a ticket and wait in line."

I can of course make the case that it was the guy's job to say that and even to say it in a slightly threatening manner. There were, after all, paying customers who'd been patiently awaiting their few minutes with Stan and they didn't need me to butt in and make their wait longer. But I like to think Stan would not have liked the tone or appearance of his protector.

I also don't think he would have liked something I also saw that day. He was enjoying the hell out of meeting fans, signing what they wanted signed and giving some of them a thrill they could talk about the rest of their lives. Some of them, I'm sure, thought it was well worth what they paid But I also saw a few younger folks who came to his booth for the thrill of meeting the Wizard of Oz only to find out they couldn't afford the entrance fee to The Emerald City. Amber and I tried to comfort one young lad who was almost in tears. Maybe, depending on the price, that kid will settle for the hologram.

I did not talk to Stan that day. Later on, because of various things he said and did, perhaps even under oath, I decided it was better if I didn't talk to him at all. He was old and frail and having trouble remembering things. At the breakfast buffet at a subsequent Comic-Con in San Diego, I saw him not know who Marv Wolfman was and I figured it he didn't recognize Marv, he wouldn't recognize me. I certainly wasn't about to direct any anger at that man at that age. Perhaps you have friends you liked at certain times but chose to avoid at others.

From the articles, I gather that the Stan Lee Hologram is programmed to speak sentences that Stan himself uttered in life. I'd pay good money if it could say some of the things he said to me that went unrecorded about how his collaborators — Jack Kirby, especially — had so many of the ideas and came up with so many (and so much) of the stories and characters for which he received the writing — and often, sole creator — credit. But I had a long, up-and-down, on-and-off relationship with Smilin' Stan Lee and I certainly don't need his hologram disappointing me the way the man did.

Here's something else to get that mind of yours off assaults on Free Speech by people who believe in the First Amendment but can always find exceptions when someone says something they don't like. This is a colorized version of The Our Gang Follies of 1938, which represents (I think) a high point in that series. The films which then starred Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla and the others were on the downside by then, having gone from the two-reel format to the one-reel format. Their producer, Hal Roach, was about ready to sell the entire franchise off and get out of the shorts business altogether.

But for some reason, they made this two-reeler — the last-ever Our Gang two-reeler even though the series went on (produced by MGM) until 1944 — and spent a fortune on it. And it looks even more expensive in this colorized version. I like a lot of the Our Gang comedies that preceded this but I don't recall being too fond of any that followed — and this one is loaded with charm and cuteness and funny…

Take your mind off things your mind should not be on and watch eleven minutes of W.C. Fields, one of the great comedians of all time. I had the pleasure of briefly knowing a woman named Carlotta Monti who was Fields' companion and lover, and she said he was even funnier around the house than he was in front of a camera.

One example she gave me was from a period when Fields was having trouble getting a deal with any of the movie studios in town. His agent called him up and urged him to be a little more sociable…to do what today we might call "networking." The agent suggested he go play golf with Jack L. Warner, the head guy at Warner Brothers. To this, Fields replied, "If I want to play with a prick, I'll play with my own." It's even funnier if you can "hear" his line in his voice.

Eleven minutes on this man…

I've seen a dozen online videos about the Colbert/Kimmel/Free Speech Suppression matter but you can find them yourself if you like. I'll post a video later that will be something silly to take your mind off this stuff. You can't have a sense of proper perspective on anything if you don't get your mind off it now and then.

My new book — The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time — theoretically ships from Amazon in a little over two weeks. I have no information as to whether it will or will not but I notice that they've dropped the price on it. If you're thinking of ordering, this is probably the best time. If you already ordered it at the previous price, I think they may owe you a few dollars.

I'll be busy the next few weeks doing press and promotions and a lot of podcasts, podcasts and more podcasts in support of this book. I'll try to link you to all of them in case (a) you want to hear them and (b) I say anything worth hearing. I can't guarantee either of those things happening. I will be appearing at the Charles M. Schulz Museum — a dandy place to visit whether I'm there or not — on November 15. Details are here. Before I depart the Bay Area, I'll be signing said book at at least one other place, details to follow. I rarely go anywhere to sign books I write but I rarely am as pleased with a book I wrote as I am with this one.

Be back later.

Here it is. Fucking brilliant…

We haven't had any Lewis Black on this blog for a long time.  Here he is on last night's Daily Show — and I may be embedding another Daily Show clip soon…

So Brent McKee wants to know — and he wasn't the only person to ask this…

Related to the video of Ricky Jay discussing poker with several of his friends, you mentioned that you had played a little poker in your younger days, but that "it never grabbed me the way it grabbed some people I know." Since you worked as a writer on Welcome Back, Kotter and therefore worked with/for Gabe Kaplan, and I know that Gabe is or maybe has been a high level Poker player who has finished in the money in a number of major tournaments including the World Series of Poker, I have to ask: have you ever played Poker with Gabe Kaplan, and what were the results?

I never played poker with Gabe. In fact, I don't recall him ever mentioning the game, not even in those long nights at his home when a bunch of us were there into the wee hours rewriting the rewrite of the rewrite of the rewrite of that week's script. It was long after I was outta there that I heard about him winning all that dough in high-stakes poker tourneys.

If he'd asked…well, no. Poker is not my game and even when I was playing it occasionally, I had trouble remembering what beats what. I've really never had any interest in any game where I'm playing against someone and my goal is to take money away from someone and their goal is to take money away from me. Not unless they're a big casino and the game is Blackjack…but I've even given that up.

…that Jon Stewart will be hosting The Daily Show tonight.  Gosh, I wonder what he wants to talk about.

On May 30, 2024 in the matter of the National Rifle Association of America (Petitioner) v. Maria T. Vullo, it was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sonia Sotamayor who wrote to enforce a 9-0 vote of the Supreme Court. What she wrote included, in part…

Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity's "threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion" against a third party "to achieve the suppression" of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment. Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan, 372 U.S. 58, 67 (1963). Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.

On 5/30/24, we had the same Supreme Court we have now. Call me foolish if you like but I'm optimistic that that same Supreme Court will not now decide to reverse that unanimous decision. They will not conclude that, come to think of it, government officials can coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors. If they do, then we might as well just burn down the United States of America, collect the insurance money and spend it all on pizza.

Now, granted, human beings can change their views. For instance, I used to think Jimmy Kimmel was a fratboy asshole who hosted a late night talk show I only occasionally wanted to watch. In the last few years, I've come to see him as a real mensch who hosts a late night talk show I only occasionally want to watch. And I put that in the present tense though he may simply not want to come back on the air.

It has been no secret for some time that he was ready to move on from that gig. He's been shunning long-term commitments, doing other shows, taking longer leaves of absence and outright saying he'll leave the late night arena soon. I'm curious as to whether this will make him more likely to stay on. There's a very good chance that it won't. He probably has much better offers.

So does Stephen Colbert, especially after last weekend's Emmy telecast. Unless he opts for one of them — if he decides he'd rather stay where he is — I have the feeling he'll get the opportunity and could wind up hosting The Late Show longer than Donald Trump will be in the White House.

And of course, I'm curious and apprehensive about what will become of other late night hosts and others who express views that the current administration disfavors. As Trump's polls sink lower, his economic policies tank and Esptein Files dribble out, he's amped up his usual "Don't fuck with me" strategy. I'll be interested to hear what John Oliver has to say this Sunday and what Jon Stewart will say the evening after. That's assuming they aren't both fired by then.

At the same time though, I'm dealing with another aspect of all this: How do I continue to try and be a good, informed citizen making the microscopic contribution I can make while not neglecting things like my life, my loved ones, my career, my health…things like that? That would be a big mistake and I made a smaller version of it when I became obsessed with Watergate and certain other American Crises.

It's not exactly the same. What Trump has done is worse than all of them put together…and when I wallowed too much in Watergate, I was twenty years old. Back then, I had less of a life, fewer loved ones, less of a career…and I was twenty.

I am now fifty-three years older than I was then. And, I hope, at least four or five years wiser. Maybe. I hope.

Among my loved ones, I see many who are making what I keep deciding is a mistake when I make it: Devoting too much attention to this kind of thing, spending too much time on it, getting angry and frustrated about things I am powerless to do much about other than to stay guardedly optimistic, donate funds in the right places and to comfort others who feel as I do. Lately, I feel like I'm even doing too much of that comforting.

I need to find the proper balance for myself: Aware but not obsessed…and definitely not neglecting those things I mentioned: My life, my loved ones, my career, my health, etc. It will not help any cause if I give myself an ulcer or shortchange necessities of life and those areas where my efforts can make a real difference. This will include urging the aforementioned loved ones to not expend so much time and stomach lining fretting about You-Know-Who.

You may or may not see this balance-seeking on this blog. Some days, I feel like writing about politics to get something off this chest of mine. Some days, I can find plenty of things to put ahead of that. This is an equilibrium only I can set for myself. You may see a lot more politics on this blog and, then again, you may not.

If not, it's not because I'm afraid of what He Who Is Not To Be Criticized can do to a largely-insignificant blogger. It's because at times, I'm really sick of thinking about this stuff. If you are too, don't feel it's your responsibility as an American…or that it's more important than other things you need to do.

So what's next? The Trump White House pulling strings to get Charlie Chaplin movies banned because they show poor people in a sympathetic light and Chaplin never mentions how Donald Trump is the greatest president ever and he won the 2020 election in a landslide?

This has been all over the Internet for years so you may have seen it. If you did, you might want to see it again…

It's a half-hour of the late/great card wizard Ricky Jay discussing poker with five friends — Willie Garson, J.J. Johnston, John C. Reilly, Jeff Jones and Eddie Gorodetsky — and cheating the hell out of them. I knew Ricky casually. Eddie G. introduced us and then I kept running into him in different places — and he was a fascinating guy interested in just about everything. Someone could have done a weekly two-hour podcast with the guy for years and never run out of things to talk about…and not just magic or card hustles.

I played a little poker in my younger days and it never grabbed me the way it grabs some people I know. I was uncomfy playing it for money with friends and even more uncomfy with strangers so that kind of brought an end to my poker-playing days. Even before that, I learned the main lesson of this video which is to NEVER PLAY POKER WITH RICKY JAY OR ANYONE LIKE HIM. Actually, there's been no one quite like Ricky Jay but you know what I mean…

I mentioned here the other day that when I went to see Dick Van Dyke in The Music Man at the Pantages Theater, the sound was kind of wonky. Some years later but still before they'd done a full upgrade, I took a lady to the Pantages to see Herschel Bernardi star in a touring company of Fiddler on the Roof. We sat in the first row of the balcony where you could hear, as we Jews say, bupkiss.

My friend kept whispering to me and asking, "What did he say?" and since I knew the show pretty well — not because I could hear what they were saying that night — I could whisper back and tell her. As the show progressed though, the people on either side of us and behind us were leaning in to hear my whispers and I started speaking louder as I "translated" the unintelligible muttering from the stage into audible dialogue for all of my date and those around us. That was how the Pantages was then.

This has happened to me often in my theatergoing. I remember seeing Tony Randall and Jack Klugman doing The Odd Couple (the original play) at the old Shubert Theater in Century City. Couldn't understand half of what they said. I ended up whispering line after line to my date. The same thing happened when I took my friend Carolyn to see Patti LuPone doing Gypsy at the St. James Theater in New York. In that case, half the problem seemed to be Ms. LuPone mumbling many of her lines but we also couldn't understand some of the other actors.

I don't know why this is allowed to happen, especially as ticket prices climb and climb.

Obviously, it was not true for everyone in the theater at the performances where we couldn't hear. But it was true for the folks in our section and for Gypsy, we were on the center aisle of the fifth row. From there, we should have been able to make out every word if they'd turned off the sound system.

I do not blame the actors. I may not even be blaming the construction of the theaters, some of which were built back in the days when the performers went unamplified. I just think the managements of theaters need to do a better job of checking for "pockets" in their buildings where the sound just plain is not as good as it should be.

If like me, you didn't watch The Emmy Awards last night, you might enjoy this eleven-minute summary of wha' happened…