Scenes from an Amatuer Comic Collector's Life (5)

Last Saturday I went back to Time Machine and bought two Jack Kirby Thors (141 and 143), a Batman 80 page Giant (no. 203) , a Superboy 80 page giant (No. 10) and a Magnus Robot Fighter. I remember buying that Batman when I was 9. Batman was on TV with Adam West and this comic was a collection of Secrets of the Batcave. The cover is a spectacular Neal Adams with Batman going over blueprints of the Batcave with Robin.

The Superboy had an interesting exchange between the Boy of Steel and a youth from Titan, a moon of Saturn. Kral, the Titanian kid is about to kill some crooks with his heat vision. Superboy intercedes and says, "No, Kral! Stop! On Earth we give all criminals a fair trial. Men become criminals because they're mentally sick! The job of our prison doctors is to try to help them become good citizens." All of sudden Superboy is a psychologist. In another weird story, Superboy splits into two beings--himself and Clark Kent. To disguise himself, Superboy poses as the son of a Native American. The gentleman says, "Me say you are my son, Flying Spirit. Me got so many kids nobody know the difference." How offensive! The Smallville census taker wouldn't even notice a teenager suddenly showing up? Well, it's another Native American, he would probably think. And so Superboy goes to school in "Indian" dress complete with bow and arrow. "It's part of our tribal law," the thought balloon says. (The cover at left has nothing to do with the comic I bought, but it is so cool!)

The Amazing Race Season Premiere--Lying Poker Players and a Nasty Beefy Lawyer

Let me tell you how obsessed I am with The Amazing Race. For this evening's season premiere, I actually took notes! This is definitely my favorite show currently on the air and perhaps ever--I will have to do on a blog on my favorite shows of all time, but that can wait. This is the only show I actually download on DVD so I can watch the episodes again and again. I'm pissed off that only Seasons 1 and 7 are on DVD sets whereas you buy the entire series of crap like Saved by the Bell. I also hate that goddamn football-and sometimes golf-almost always runs overtime so I have to DVR the show right TAR to get it all recorded and I zip through the end of 60 Minutes to get to the beginning. Luckily I just saw that Cold Case will be two hours after this season and I'll have to DVR this new show Three Rivers.

Anyway, I've always loved this show because I can imagne myself doing it. I've been a a lot of the cities on the show and my friend Diane and I applied to be one once, but we were never chosen. Another time, my friend Lydia and I were talking about the show over drinks and the nearly the whole cast was in the bar. I will have to do a separate blog about that whole incident.

But to tonight's two-hour season premiere. WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! If you have not seen the episode yet, do not read any further.

I thought it was pretty cheap of them to bring the contestants in on buses when they've come in before on biplanes and hydrofoils. This seems like an interesting group with some interactions we haven't seen before, like the professional poker players Maria and Tiffany lying about their profession and saying they work with homeless people. It serves them right that they've got crushes on the cute brothers who are both gay. Right away I do not like Lance and Keri--Lance is going to be the one I want eliminated every episode and I will not breathe easy until he's toast. I was praying he would not find the right license plate and his beefy, arrogant, Boston lawyer ass would be outta there. But it was the yoga instructors from the hood (HA!, like they were from any hood) failed and became the first team ever eliminated at the starting line. That was a great twist and it got the race off to an intense start. I actually said "Wow!" out loud--I was alone at the time--when Phil made that announcement.

I'm glad they did not spend a lot of time at the airport. That is the most boring part of every episode. Buying tickets is not that heart-stopping. In Tokyo, the game-show challenge Sushi Roulette was a scream. I think they may have gotten the idea from ABC's I Survived a Japanese Game Show. The giant roulette wheel, the graphics and the voice-over when they had to eat the wasabi provided a nice contrast from the usual first challenge. Karma hit Maria and Tiffany for lying about their occupation when Maria had to eat two wasabi bombs and they lost their way and a few of the tourists they were supposed to lead.

I absolutely love Zev and Justin. I think I'm supposed to since Zev has that Rain Man thing going on--What is Asperberger's disease anyway? I've heard of it, but I'm not sure what it is. It was so sweet of Zev to give his jacket to the chicken guy in Vietnam. I hate Maria and Tiffany even more when they said they didn't like those two. Then Zev commented he didn't think they were really counsellors to the homeless because they didn't have a "kind" vibe. Zev is a genius. He is my favorite so far, even though Sam and Dan are gay and cuter. I got angrier at Lance in the Tokyo airport when he said "Those bastards (meaning Maria and Tiffany) should have been eliminated." I thought, "What a pig, that's the game." But then I found out what Maria and Tiffany are really like with their Zev-hating ways and I thought they were bastards too.

So they got to Vietnam and the poker players caught up with everybody and had to perform their speed bump--a task no one else has to do. It was ridiculously easy, take some soup to some guy and watch him eat it. All of the speed bumps in the past few seasons are insanely simple, maybe they want to add suspense so teams at the bottom have a chance to stay in the game.

Meanwhile, everybody else had to slap some mud around some trees when local villagers laugh as they slip and slide. I wonder if the producers encourage the locals to yuck it up as the crazy Americans make asses of themselves performing what are for the local people everyday tasks. In yet another challenge, they had to herd ducks which is always fun. The interracial couple and the hot-blooded couple lost their cool and the ducks sensed it, scattering every which way. It was a battle for last place and the angry hotheads lost.

LEG ONE (first hour)--Day 1: Los Angeles, first team eliminated--yoga instructors--at the starting line; Day 2: Arrive Tokyo-- Japanese game show challenge: Sushi Roulette; Meghan and Chayne 1st place, win: a trip to Aspen and Vale. Maria and Tiffany last but not eliminated, given two-hour penalty and speed bump.

LEG TWO (second hour)--Day 3: Leave Tokyo for Ho Chi Mihn City, bus ride from Ho Chi Mihn City to Cai Bei (boats all closed); Day 4: Cai Bei--road block and detours with mud and ducks, Gary and Matt (Pinkie and the Brain, father and son team) 1st place, win two kayaks, hot-blooded angry couple eliminated.

Final summation: Great start to Season 15. New twists and challenges, almost no time at the airports (always a plus); generous use of split screens. Favorite teams: Sam and Dan, Zev and Justin; Least favorite: Lance and Keri, Maria and Tiffany. Also enjoyed the Chanel No. 5 commercial with the Billie Holiday vocal and the Monte Carlo locations.

Fashion Tips for Dictators

Two world leaders in the news this week are in definite need of makeovers. Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad always looks like he's been loafing around the house on a Saturday and his wife has sent him out to pick up some enriched uranium. So he threw on his Members Only jacket and took the Subaru to the Tehran Home Depot. Note to Mahmoud: a business suit and tie once in a while would not be out of place as you are issuing ultimatums and ordering crackdowns on protests to your election. People might tend to take you more seriously if you didn't appear to be a suburban dad on his way to drop the kids off to little league and ballet practice. I'm just saying.

Meanwhile, Mummar Gaddafi of Libya made his speech to the UN wearing Beatrice Arthur's cast-offs from the first season of Golden Girls when she had that unflattering hair-do. In addition, he sported that weird hat which resembled something a church lady would wear to a Baptist service down south. Lose the flowing gowns Mummar, the military uniform you wore in younger days made a bolder statement.

Project Runway Episode 6: Mandatory Model Jumping

Just as I was starting to get bored out of my mind about those dumb models sticking with their designers, they switch it up and force the designers to change models. That was the only drama in a long time on the Models of the Runway series. As I noted in my previous Runway post, because of this ridiculous models show, we are stuck with the same girls every week instead of occasionally having to design for ordinary people or males or each other or something unusual. I'm sorry Fatma had to go, she was my favorite.

I am also sick of Logan and all the girls mooning over him. He's OK, but not hot and not worthy of all the shirtless shots. While watching the endless idolization of this blond skinny guy from Seattle, I realized the reason--the Lifetime audience, or at least the one they want to primarily attract, is primarily straight female and not a mix of straight women and gay men like Bravo. Speaking as a gay man, Logan is not your typical eye candy for me. I prefer Christopher. On previous seasons of Runway on Bravo, the hot guys would always be gay--like that hunky one who had to go home because of health reasons two seasons ago.

But I digress from the fashions this week--Nicholas's ice queen gown did deserve to win, very detailed and chic. The makeup helped a lot. Ra'mon's lizard thing looked like a rug in a cheap hotel where you have sex for an hour while you're on your break from the diner across the road (how's that for a movie story, kids?) Louise's outfit was a mess than wasn't even hot. I felt really sorry for Gordana, the judges are always so mean to her--"I can tell you're a great dressmaker, but I don't see your vision." Come on, it was a pretty flapper outfit, very detailed and obviously well made. I think it had a pont of view and was historically intriguing. She didn't deserve to be in the bottom three. Her paper dress was nice last week as well, but they put her on the bottom then. She's going to be eliminated pretty soon and that will be her send-off "It was well made, but nothing special."

Speaking of the judges where the hell are Michael Kors and Nina Garcia? Is there are a power struggle at Marie Clare between Nina and this smug young editor who judged this week? I don't like her, I don't know why I just don't. Nina and Michael are two of the reasons people watch the show, they should be brought back. Also I'm not excited by these designers--their personalities or their work. Wouldn't you know I start blogging during the most dull Project Runway season yet. It's the same every weekHopefully things will perk up soon. And there's always Amazing Race, starting Sunday.

Did I tell you I saw Diane von Furstenberg at the theatre one night?

Mad Tea Party

(Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music"):

Right-wing goons

Looney tunes

Every tea party you show up

Flat earth

Obama's birth

You make me want to throw up

That little ditty occured to me last week as the coverage of the Sept. 12 Tea Party march on Washington unfolded and the inflated numbers were rolled out. I got especially enraged when I saw that Fox was promoting the event as if it were the Second Coming and then had the nerve to take out a full-page ad in the Washington Post asking the rhetorical question: "How could ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC miss this story?" Forget the fact that all five of those networks coverd the event to one degree or another, what really made my blood boil was remembering when I marched on Washington--TWICE--as part of a gay rights protest and we got almost NO coverage from anyone--zip, nada, snoozeville. Our numbers were given short shrift by almost every news outlet--the ones that did cover us--and I will bet you any amount of money that if there were some objective, reliable way to count the marchers, we drew just as many people, if not more, as these loony birds. How come no one said "How could you miss that story?" And when gay people march again later this month, there will almost no coverage--AGAIN. You know why? Because we're not backed by big political interests like the Tea Pot Domers are (I just coined that one, like it?)

And now it's revealed a Fox producer was directing the crowd in one of her shots to cheer and yell. OK, maybe they would have been excited anyway, but Foxy lady, you're not supposed to manipulate the story you're covering--in any way. That's called titling the story towards the outcome you want--not being fair and balanced, you know, your network's motto.

It's late at night and I may ramble a bit here: I don't think Carter was right saying an overwhelming motive behind the anti-Obama vitriol is rooted in racism. Some of it is for sure. But a lot is based on fear that the repubs are ginning up. Fear that this big bad boogie man Obama will take away their insurance and cars and guns and country music and grits and NASCAR races and fatty foods and trips to Disneyland. They'd do that if Obama was white, but his being black adds to the fear for some people.

I heard Glenn Beck say he thought John McCaine would have been worse for the country than Obama. What? He said Mccain was a crazy progressive like Teddy Roosevelt. What a whacked out sense of history. Teddy broke the trusts and helped the average working man--the people Beck supposedly loves and wants to elevate. Now we see his real agenda--keep the proles in line, let the corporations control their lives, as long as it's not big government. Also these tea baggers may form their own third party. Oh please, oh please, do it! Do it! Split the conservatives right down the middle and give the Dems the White House and Congress for sure. This was based on an iterview with some former Rep strategist who believes this whole nutbag movement is based on frustration and dissatisifcation with government in general.

Obama explained it really well on Letterman tonight: this whole economic and health care mess is the result of too little government regulation in the first place (under repub adminsitrations) and now these dimwits think as little government as possible is the answer. Just let private enterprise and capitalism run wild and do whatever the market will bear. You know where that will lead? back to the 18th century before unions, anti-trust laws, Medicare, Social Security, etc. etc. right where Fox, Beck and O'Reilly want us.

A Peacock in Florida

Last week, we spent a three-day weekend in Winter Park, Florida which is a suburb of Orlando. Weird being in humid weather just as New York is entering the fall. We took a hour-long boat tour through the chain of lakes which is connected by a series of canal, running through the backyards of the residents. Everyone has a boat and these little boat-houses. At one point we had to back up so a resident's boat could get out of the canal. Egrets flew around. It was raining and we got a little wet, but not soaking. The guide told us a scene from the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon was shot in one of the houses on the lakes.

The peacock in the picture is from when we took a drive through a nice neighborhood in Orlando. This beautiful bird wandered out onto the road, evidently it was someone's pet. On Sunday, we drove to Smyrna Beach on the coast. A tacky little beach town with sandy little shops selling suntan lotion and shades. I got a bad burn on my shoulders, but got in the ocean water which was bath temperature but the waves were choppy. Cars were allowed to drive on the sand. After laying on the beach for a few hours, we had lunch in a diner. At the next table, some Smyrnans were talking about their taxes and who was running for city council. I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer to walk around--I love tacky little beach town where the people are relaxed and wear shorts and Tshirts all year round--but we had to get back and catch our plane. I always like to buy a postcard to every town we visit no matter how briefly, but we didn't have time. I did get a postcard for the boat ride. I would like to go back to Orlando and visit Universal and Disney again, I still haven't been to Sea World or Cypress Gardens.

We also visited a museum in Winter Park which had a lovely collection of Tiffany glass--lamps, windows, and a cathedral altar which was designed for the Chicago World's Fair. One strange thing about this town--very few bookstores, new or used. There was one used called the Bookworm which I would have liked to explore, but we didn't stop there. We didn't go to any of the theme or water parks since the weather wasn't particularly sunny.

Project Runway Episodes 4 and 5

I just realized that they will be using the models on every episode of Project Runway this season. They'll have to in order to make the Models of the Runway show make sense. So that means there won't be any challenges as in previous seasons like the one where they used each other's mothers or sisters (and Jeffrey made some mother cry) or wrestling divas or high school girls going to their prom. Well, maybe they will, but how will they make it work if they have to have this big elimination ceremony of the models every week. I don't see it happening.

Anyway last week has been so busy I didn't have a chance to critique the last episode. Not very exciting, I liked the winning dress, but preferred Louise's number, particularly the high collar. Fatma really brought it off. She is being portrayed as the bitch on the Model show, but I really don't care. She is the best walker and the best looking model. I couldn't believe this week's model show with some crying because their friend was not chosen. Who cares? And what happened to Nina Garcia and Michael Kors the last few weeks? I prefer them to that mummified corpse of a designer they had as a judge last week.

This week the contestants had to make a garment out of newspaper. Johnny utterly failed and then lied to everyone about his first attempt being ruined by a steam iron. Then he cried about how hard it is to be a recovering addict. Then an absolute first, Tim actually badmouthed a contestant after he sent him up to the workroom to clean out his space. I have never seen Tim do that before. Nicholas was a little bitchy and he didn't need to rat Johnny out on the runway, but it did make for drama. BTW, I bought the new comic book Models Inc. which included a feature with Tim Gunn putting on Iron Man's costume and defeating some bad guys who attempt to rob a fashion museum. Definitely cool having a gay icon become a superhero. The art was a lot of fun. I also bought the first two of the series of Archie comics with him marrying Veronica. I get the feeling the whole thing will be a dream, because it begins with Archie walking "up" memory lane and in the second issue Veronica announces she's pregnant. Maybe they go through their whole lives and Archie wakes up as he's about to graduate high school.

Amazing Race 15 starts a week from Sunday. I checked out the new teams on the CBS website. They don't look particularly exciting, but there is a pair of gay brothers and an interracial married couple.

Hey, Mister Wilson!!!!!

The first thing I thought of when the media uproar started over Rep. Wilson shouting "You lie" to President Obama was "These people has obviously never watched the House of Commons in session." I recall seeing the Prime Minister adressing that body and being assailed by members with cries of "No! No!" But then the PM is not technically the head of the British government and he or she traditionally appears before the House every week and answers questions. I was disappointed that Wilson's outburst is receiving more coverage than the President's speech and the subsequent catfights between the right and the left on Fox and MSNBC, on chatboards, etc., and the stupid arguments it has engendered. Right-wing people are saying "Oh, but Obama called Hillary a liar during the primary. And Democrats booed W. during his state of the union. What a double standard." Yes but I don't think one Dem ever called W. a liar during an address before Congress--and if one did, the Reps would have called for a trial from treason. Wilson has a right to call Obama a liar if that's what he believes--just as every Dem. had a right to call Bushie and his dark overlord Cheney a liar. But it's incivil and inappropriate to do so during an address to Congress. BTW, I loved Nancy Pelosi's expression at the outburst--like a strict principal with an auditorium full of unruly high-school students making her look bad in front of a distinguished visitor.

The heckling and signs and texting are indications that this is how the Reps want to conduct the business of the people now--like the ugly town halls this summer. They think it's OK to act like it's the Jerry Springer show. Scream real loud to make your point.

Also I love that Wilson's opponent Miller raised $500K in the past two days while Wilson has collected $200K. The people who have given money to Wilson probably love that he shouted at Obama. They probably think the man has no right to be President and is trying to destroy the country they are used to--a country where everyone in charge is white and thinks like they do; a country where if you can't pay your way or if you have some bad luck, you wind up in the gutter and you deserve it--until it happens to them.

I do think there is too much reaction to Wilson's brief outburst and we should concentrate on the the President's speech and how it has changed the landscape on health care reform. Through his eloquence, the President was able to change the minds of several people; another similarity between himself and Lincoln. I'm reading Gore Vidal's novel about the 16th President and there are a lot of parallels between him and the 44th. Both several briefly in Congress, are from Illinois, came into office in times of trouble and are being villified by insurrectionists who want to secede from the union.

Note: The title of the blog is a reference to Dennis the Menace who would call to his neighbor Mr. Wilson at the top of his lungs. Keith Olbermann used the same reference last night.

End of Summer

Labor Day weekend is over and the summer is wrapping up. This has been a weird season. Rainy and cool until the end of July and we only had a few days of pleasant warmth. The past two and half weeks have been spent upstate. In the last blog, I left off when we were in Plattsburgh. We stayed in the Rip Van Winkle motel and Jerry joked that the room was the size of a closet. The next morning we drove to the Ausable Chasm, a natural phenomenon like a mini Grand Canyon. It was pleasant to walk around the rim and see the rock formations. I bought a postcard, which I love collecting. Afterwards we took the ferry across Lake Champlain to Vermont. We walked around Burlington and then took a sunset cruise around the lake.

Back in Stockport, my family visited for Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, we went to Tanglewood for a concert with John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey which they taped for their Radio Deluxe series for NPR. I listen to them sometimes if I am driving somewhere upstate. That's one of the things I do when I'm upstate which I don't do when I'm downstate--listen to NPR, read the New Yorker, and drink margaritas. The concert was great. The guest vocalist was Curt Elling whom I'd never heard of before, but he sang an amazing scat version of "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." We went back to Lenox and looked around, then had dinner in Philmont at a restaurant called Local 111--because its address is 111 Main St. and they use local food. We couldn't have hard liquor because we were across the street from a church (local blue laws). I thought it weird that just a few days ago in Plattsburgh we passed the Diamond Gentlemen's club which was right across the street from a Baptist church. The food at Local 111 was delicous. My dad had a fish was was really excellent, my dish was a lamb sausage and very good, but his fish which I sampled was really outstanding. It was like being on Top Chef and judging the different dishes.

On Sunday, we fixed an elaborate Turkish dinner which took two hours to make. My mother insisted on watching Big Brother and my brother had to watch Design Star on HGTV. Neither reality show is in my repertoire, but it was interesting to see them and what appealed. Big Brother is just dumb, the remaining four people are kinda obnoxious--esp. the girl who was head of household. I don't know what my mother sees in it. Design Star is a compettion between potential hosts for a HGTV show. In this episode, the remaining three contestants were given celebrity clients to make a room for. Kathy Griffin who will use any excuse to get on TV and get a free design job was very funny. But the room was kinda cold, I thought. It was also fun to watch them on our new big-screen TV.

Monday everybody went home and I dawdled and lazed around occasionally watching Spongebob or Golden Girls. We left in the late afternoon. At home in the city, I watched Rachel Zoe and lost interest in Brad's hissy fit with putting together Anne Hathway's two Oscar outfits (She needed one for the red carpet and another to be in the "surprise" opening dance number with Hugh Jackman.) I am anxiously awaiting The Amazing Race which starts Sept. 27 so my life will have some meaning. Not everything is awful about summer ending.

Project Runway Episode 3

It's official. I don't get the taste of the judges. This week they singled out the Ra'mon-Mithcell team as having the best design, and I did like the beachwear outfit, but what is up with the avant-garde look? I found it ugly. It was shapeless and that splash of green was not flattering. I could tell that either Mitchell or the Qrystal-Epperson team would be eliminated since they had so much screen time. Now we seem to be spending more time with the losers and all the critiques from Tim Gunn are going by really fast. (You can see extended ones on the Lifetime website).


Meanwhile Fatma is emerging as the evil girl on the model show. She's the only one I can remember from week to week because she is the most beautiful and the one with any sort of personality. It seems they are manufacturing drama on that show. The big deal was a minor exchange of attitude between Fatma and Vanessa over the now-departed Mitchell. Can't really get excited about that.



I can get excited over the new season of Amazing Race which is reportedly started in a few weeks. I will have to check out the CBS website. Now I will have two reality shows with which to be obsessed. Though I have never tried to be on Project Runway I did send in an audition tape to Amazing Race. My friend Diane and I made a tape and filled out these endless forms and everything. We sent them in and of course, nothing happened. I guess our story wasn't compelling enough.