The David Desk

Buck Rogers and Doctor Who--Contrasting Sci-Fi Heroes

2011-04-24T21:20:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday two great sci-fi icons and figures from my past appeared on TV. Turner Classic Movies began running episodes from the 1938 Republic serial Buck Rogers. (They usually show movie serials on Sat. mornings, which is when they were shown in the movie theatres back when my father was a kid.) Most people now know Buck Rogers as a 1980s TV series, but the comic strip and serial were first. That night BBC America had the American premiere of the new series of Doctor Who.

These series both star time-travelling heroes, both vastly different in terms of their problem-solving techniques, and were big parts of my childhood and adoloscence. Buck Rogers was a comic strip started in the late 1920s about a daring pilot trapped in suspended animation for 500 years to emerge in the 25th century. He bravely fights against Killer Kane, a futuristic gangster who has taken over the world, a sort of combination of Hitler and Al Capone. Local Philadelphia station Channel 17 used to run episodes on weekday afternoons with a kiddie TV host named Wee Willie Webber. I remember my uncle Jim in Boston had a big book of the original strips that fascinated me and my parents later bought me a copy for Christmas.

I first encountered Doctor Who, the long-running British sci-fi series about a Time Lord and his companions roaming the universe in a time-space machine disguised as a police box, when Phila. public TV station Channel 12 showed episodes starring Tom Baker, the fourth actor to play the role. The trick of the series was that Time Lords can regenerate themselves into an entirely new body so a new actor would take over the role when the previous one was tired of it. That way the show continued for several decades. My relationship with the Doctor continued into my move to NYC when I left college and became an adult. I actually joined a Doctor Who fan club called UNYT--named after the military branch of the British government the Doctor was allied with.

I even attended a Doctor Who convention in Valley Forge, PA, and met Doctor Who number 3 Jon Pertwee and several Doctor Who companions. I remember they showed episodes all day long. There was a Doctor Who event in Brooklyn College when I lived near there and I got Tom Baker and Colin Baker (Doctor number 6)'s autograph. My ultimate Doctor Who experience was at Infinicon, a weird convention held in NYC at the Institute of Ethical Culture that UNYT pariticipated in. I served as guest escort for George Takei,Sulu of Star Trek, and met Patrick Troughton (Doctor number 2) and Peter Davison (Doctor number 5).

The main difference in these two is Buck Rogers uses his daring and muscle to get out of a situation and the Doctor uses his mind. Both are infinitely brave. The Doctor thinks nothing of facing Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, or other invincible foes as does Buck Rogers, but the Doctor doesn't even have a raygun like Rogers, just a sonic screwdriver.

The new Doctor Who with Matt Smith is really gripping. So far we've seen two episodes and there is a weird story arc involving the Doctor's death and a little girl inside an Apollo astronaut suit. Amy Pond may be pregnant and her husband Rory doesn't know if his wife loves him or the Doctor, plus maybe we'll finally discover who Dr. River Song is--I think she's Amy's baby grown up from the future. Buck Rogers is up to episode four at TCM and not quite as exciting. Buck is trapped in the open country between Killer Kane's city and the Hidden City where the forces of freedom are keeping themselves. He is protecting Prince Tallen, an emisary from Saturn.

The Amazing Race 18--Episode 8--Freudian Sweeps

2011-04-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it was a Freudian slip that made me record Undercover Boss instead of the Amazing Race this past week. But I would have to explain that to the Globetrotters who didn't even know what the significance of the Freudian couch they were carrying through the streets of Vienna. Even the cowboys got that much and Jet made a joke about laying on the couch and telling his brother all of his problems while he carried him on it.

Fortunately, the mistaken DVRing took place at at our upstate place and the backup recording did occur properly at home in Queens. I was able to watch the episode on the CBS website the next morning before we drove to New Jersey for Passover. This was a relavitely tame episode with not very difficult tasks. After flying from Vernasi to Vienna, all the teams had to do was choose between eating a big meal in 12 minutes or hauling those couches a few blocks--Jerry has been to Vienna and he said the Freud house is close to the university--then driving four or five hours to Salzberg and dropping a leaded weight down a chimney three times. Gary and Mallory had trouble figuring out they had to back up their car to get a clue to their next destination. They came in last and now they have a speed bump in the next leg. What tremendously difficult task will it be? Remember their birthdays? Eat a mint? Tie their shoelaces?

Justin and Zev have won three legs now and are neck and neck with the Globetrotters for the top position. The cowboys are continually starting in last place and really need to catch up, but I think they can. The Goths are close to self-descturction if Kent doesn't shape up and Vyxsyn doesn't get rid of that nose ring. OK, the nose ring probably has nothing to do with their position in the race. I just can't stand it.

With all the money the series is getting from product placement from Snapple and Ford Focus (this week) you'd think they could afford to go a little bit further than Lichtenstein next week.

Day 15--fly from Vernasi to Vienna
Day 16--Arrive Vienna, detour, then drive to Salzburg

Leaderboard:
Justin and Zev--three wins, trips to Cancun and Costa Rica, one Ford Focus each
Mallory and Gary--two wins, Express Pass (used), $1 million rupees, an Indian dinner and a bottle of Snapple
Jet and Cord--one win, $5,000 each
Luke and Margie--one win, trip to Aruba
Flight Time and Big Easy--one win, trip to Hawaii

Annoying Sunday

2011-04-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Very annoyed with myself--through some slip I failed to DVR The Amazing Race on the TV in my upstate house and wound up DVRing Undercover Boss. Damn! Well, I am sure that the TV in my Queens place did get the show and I can always watch it on the CBS website. (Although I did try that once and it only got through the first 45 mins befoer the image broke up.) Tomorrow we are driving to NJ for Passover so I won't get to see it till tomorrow night at some point.

It's been a strange and busy week with lots of shows to cover as we wind down towards the end of the 2010-11 theatre season. Just got the disheartening news that the Intiman Theatre of Seattle must cancel the rest of its 2011 season due to lack of funds. After my weekend at Actors Theatre of Louisville it was so exciting to feel part of a regional theatre and then to get this bad news.

It's also the anniversary of both the start of the Civil War and the Lincoln Assasination. Fort Sumter was fired upon on April 12, 1861 and Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. I'm reading a book on the assassination and the subsequent trial. I also want to see this new movie, The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford. The book is called "They Have Killed Papa Dead," taken from a quote Tad Lincoln uttered when running into the White House after learning of the succesful attempt on his father's life. Earlier this week as I was reading the book on the subway, I was close to tears. The author was describing the moments after the shooting as Lincoln's body was carried across the street from Ford's Theatre to a private house. It was feared he would die immediately if they took him to the White House.

I supposed I got emotional imagining the reactions of the people in Ford's and in the nation's capital. After four hard years of bitter warfare, the hostilities had finally ceased and just as everyone was looking forward to peace, the man who led the country through its most difficult trial is brutally murdered by a fanatical madman. Lincoln tried to bring us together rather than divide us by appealing to a narrow base--like some politicians today. Speaking of which...

Donald Trump appears to be serious about running for president. That doesn't concern me too much since he is basically a joke. It would be amusing if he did run and when he fails to get the Republican nomination, even more amusing if he ran as an independent. That would almost guarantee a second term for Obama since a Trump candidacy would pull votes away from the mainstream Republican--probably Romney.

The Amazing Race 18--Episode 6 and 7--Tea Time

2011-04-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been jampacked with theatregoing since we are approaching the end of the Broadway season, plus I was in Louisville last weekend. So I have fallen behind in my Amazing Race evaluations, even though there was no episode last week due to the Country Music Awards. The main observation is the producers are really cutting costs. So far there have been seven episodes and we've only been in three countries: Australia, China, and India. There seemed to be less action in these past two episodes compared to the pair of double-part legs and the double U-turn. I did learn that Calcutta is no longer called that, but like Mumbai it is now known by a traditional Indian title--Kolkata.

In Kumning, the racers were given some tea and their next destination in India. In Kolkata, they had to identify the same tea they drank in China amid thousands of cups. All in the name of product placement because Snapple was sponsoring this episode and they were marketing a special limited edition Amazing Race tea. Luke supplied the big drama by breaking down and having a hissy fit when he couldn't find the right one. (Maybe I shouldn't criticize since I don't know how I would react if everyone had already left and that Omar Sharaf guy kept shaking his head at me that I got it wrong.) After the challenge of painting an elephant or delivering school books (difficult! Not! What happened to bungee jumping?) Gary and Mallory won. Mallory reacted way too excitedly over winning a bottle of Snapple, but she was justified when they threw in the $1 million rupees.

The only other big drama was Vyxsin's nose ring. Scary! She continued to wear it into episode seven where the teams stayed in India, but at least they flew to another city rather than taking yet another train. Once in Vernasi, one team member had to find six holy men and put together a message (copying the Devil and the deep blue sea challenge of episodes 1 and 2). The segment reminded me of when I was in Nepal and I took a picture of a holy man and give him a few rupees. He gave me a red dot on my forehead. I was also wearing my Nepali cap at the time and my dad whom I was travelling with said I had gone native.

This episode also reminded me of being in Delhi (This was part of the same trip with my dad). Just as the racers commented on the craziness of the streets of Varnasi, I remember the streets of Delhi full of animals, togas, rickshaws, motorcycles, pedestrains, people hauling garbage, cars, etc.

Kent invoked bad karma by promising to lead Gary to the final holy man after they worked together, but he dumped the old guy like a hot rock. Kent paid for his treachery later by turning into Mister Crabby Goth. His backpack was suddenly too heavy and he made Wonder Woman Vyxsin carry it. Then the Goths got in the wrong boat and Vyxsin jumped in the dirty Gangas River! They finally found a cab and pushed the passenger out and screamed at the driver. I thought they were going to lose when it was between them and Ron and Christine, but the father-daughter team was unable to make up for lost time since Ron was the last one out of the holy-man search.

The Globetrotters won, coming back from last place and Justin and Zev were second. I'm glad they're still in it. The competition is really tight now with only really good players left. I think Kent and Vyxsin are the next to go. Coming attractions made it look like they are reaching the breaking point, just like they did they last time they were on.

Day 10--head to airport for flight to Kolkata
Day 11--Arrive in Kolkata, wait overnight until Town Hall opens in the morning
Day 12--Road Block with tea tasting and Detour with schoolbook or ganesha painting; Gary and Mallory have their product-placement dinner
Day 13--Leg 7 begins, head to airport, book flights to Vernasi via Delhi
Day 14--Arrive Vernasi at 10:45 AM, cowboys one hour behind, but catch up

Leaderboard:
Justin and Zev--two wins, trips to Cancun and Costa Rica
Mallory and Gary--two wins, Express Pass (used), $1 million rupees, an Indian dinner and a bottle of Snapple Jet and Cord--one win, $5,000 each
Luke and Margie--one win, trip to Aruba
Flight Time and Big Easy--one win, trip to Hawaii

Third Time in Louisville

2011-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

This is the third time I visited Louisville, Kentucky for the Humana Festival of New American Plays, and it’s the best one yet. Almost all of the plays are of high quality—I’ll be writing about them on the Back Stage website—and I reconnected with theatre professionals I’ve met before and made the acquaintance of new ones. Since I have been to the city twice before, I didn’t feel compelled to rush around and see everything. I did let my curiosity get the better of me and went out of my way once or twice. On the first night, guests were given a welcome reception at the home of one of the trustees. On the bus to the party, we went through Bardstown Road, one of those trendy little neighborhoods all cities seem to have. You know, the kind that have cute little shops selling used books and CDs and nowadays DVDs, etc. The first year I was here, I foolishly walked all the way from the downtown area to Bardstown which had to be at least five miles. (It looked much closer on the map.) Anyway, this time the bus is driving down Bardstown Road, and out of the corner of my eye, I see the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine adorning a storefront, with the sign outside reading “COMIC BOOKS ARE A GOOD SOURCE OF FIBER! HONEST!”

Immediately, I think I’ve got to come back here. I somehow missed this comic book store the last time I was here. In fact, Louisville did not rank high on the comic-book index (outside of NYC, I’d give Chicago and Philly high marks). Anyhoo, the only time I had to take the cab ride to the Bardstown area was the next morning—Friday. The rest of the time was eaten up with going to Humana plays. So I find a cab the next morning and located the store I had seen the night before. It was called Roll of the Die—since it also sold gaming stuff. Once again, cool title, so-so merchandise. Like too many comic places these days, they only had Bronze Age books and later. And that was overpriced. They did have a replica of the captain’s chair from Star Trek. I should have sat in it and asked for a picture—and here’s the reason for that:

In Roll of the Die, there were flyers advertising the Louisville Science Center’s hosting of the traveling Star Trek Exhibition, and it was just a few blocks from the theatre. How could I resist? (There was another place that sold comics in the area of Roll of the Die, but it was just too far away to walk and get back to the festival in time for my next curtain.)

The next available opening was Sat. after 6. Fortunately, the center was open till 9. So I went hoping to take some photos, but it turns out that was not allowed—copyrights of something. You could get your picture taken on the authentic captain’s chair and have it Photoshopped onto a replica of the bridge and also have yourself Photoshopped on the transporter platform, but they wanted $21 for a DVD of the photos and the same price for prints. It would have been fun to dress up this blog with the photo. But it ain’t worth a double sawbuck. So for the tens of you reading this, just look at my Facebook photo and imagine me sitting where William Shatner’s ass was. There were original props, costumes, histories of the Romulans, Vulcans, Klingons, etc., even a timeline for the entire history of the Star Trek future. But it was out of order! It went from left to right, going from the 24th century back to present, but the new Star Trek movie (2010) which take places right after the 20th century was at the beginning and should have been near the end. It was sorta fun and I’m glad I went. It reminded me of all the sci-fi conventions I used to go which were different from the comic conventions I go to now. I went to the sci-fi shows to meet the actors from Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake’s Seven, etc. Now I just go for the comic books. If there are celebs at the current conventions, you are charged extra just for an autograph or taking their picture.

Then I returned to the theatre where they presented the Steinberg Award for the best new American play presented outside of NYC in the past year. The award is presented by the American Theatre Critics Association and I was on the committee of critics across the country to choose the winner and the two runners-up which receive each a citation. We read about 30 scripts and exchanged our views on them via email. The president of ATCA, Chris Rawson from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, introduced us from the audience, so that was gratifying. One of the winning playwrights, David Bar Katz, wrote a play about the creation of Superman called The History of Invulnerability, and we talked about comic books and my Jack Kirby collection. I also met people from Dayton, Ohio (a reporter who told me her son makes a living entering video contests on the Internet which he always wins—which is worth repeating), and Washington, DC (the theatre dept. head from the NEA), several playwrights, actors (Small World Dept.: it turns out one knew my college acting teacher), and directors. It’s always exciting to go to Humana because the audiences are all theatre people and you feel like you’re part of a big national community.

The Amazing Race 18:Unfinished Business--Episode 5--Stuck in China

2011-03-27T11:32:00.001-07:00

It's been a week since the last episode and I have been so busy reading comic books and watching DVDs that I haven't had a chance to blog about it. Here it is Sunday and the next segment will be on tonight. I may as well just blog about the two together, but I have been doing that too often lately. So I'll just give my impressions as best as I can recall. I could watch the episode again on CBS.com, but I have better things to do like read some more comic books and watch DVDs. (I actually watched half of Twelve Monkeys on the train to upstate and the Blu Ray of Alice in Wonderland last night, the best thing about the latter is the employment it provided for so many British actors like Helena Bonham Carter, Frances de la Tour, Lindsay Duncan, Alan Rickman, and Timothy Spall.)

Episode 4 ended in the middle of a leg which is the second time they've pulled that trick this season. I think they are trying to save money by making the racers take trains rather than jets to the next destination. It also avoids multiple non-elimination rounds. Everyone had reached the midway point, thinking it was the finish line, except for Justin and Zev and Kent and Vyxsin (I probably misspelled her name, but what do expect if she gives it an eccentric twist with that y in there?)

The Goths had to go back to the gondola to get their missing fanny pack, then catch up with the others who were all on the same train back to Kunming, where they had just come from the previous night. Zev and Justin had checked in and got to the train station in time to watch the Globetrotters play basketball with the cowboys and the volleyball players.

The Goths were met with icy stares when they joined the others and lied about not being told by Phil they would receive a time penalty for missing the plane from Tokyo. This is another new wrinkle in the race, if you miss a flight--even if it is required--why should you get a time penalty? You've lost all the time, it's not as if they got another earlier flight which put them ahead of everyone. Anyway, they got back to Kunming in the middle of the night and the Goths wisely U-turned the redheads because they were right there! They explained that last time they stupidly u-turned a team that was ahead of them. This way they knew they weren't making the same mistake. It would up costing the redheads the race because they had to go back and play with the dolls and then they had a tough time assembling the dinosaur.

Zev and Justin turned into the Globetrotters by leeching onto another team--Ron and Christina--figuring they wouldn't get lost because they know Chinese. But the ploy backfired on them when the father and daughter's cabdriver took them to the wrong location. Despite the language advantage, Ron and Christine wound up near the bottom and Zev and Justin barely escaped elimination. Gary and Mallory, another victim of the Ron-Christina caravan fiasco, used up their express pass when they got the dinosaur park and saw how difficult the task was. The cowboys still beat them to the number one spot and the Globetrotters survived despited getting the second U-turn from the redheads.

In the previews for next week, now tonight, it looks like Luke will be crying to his mommy because he can't figure out the differences between some Indian tea. Hopefully, it will be a single leg with no cliffhangers. The flight to India will probably put everyone on an equal footing again and it's still anyone's race.

Day 8--Leg continues, teams take train from Lijiang back to Kunming
Day 9--Teams arrive in the middle of the night to perform roadblock,dawn is breaking as they hit Double U-turn, get to park, assemble dinosaur, finish leg

Justin and Zev--two wins, trips to Cancun and Costa Rica
Jet and Cord--one win, $5,000 each
Luke and Margie--one win, trip to Aruba
Mallory and Gary--one win, Express Pass (used)

The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business--Episode 4: PMA or PMS?

2011-03-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Kent and Vyksyn lost their shit literally and figuratively this episode, losing a passport and a fanny pack as well as several hours going the wrong way from Kurihama to Tokyo. Vyksyn had several breakdowns along the way. Maybe she's using too much magenta hair dye. We were led to believe they would get eliminated for sure this time after they nearly got the axe two episodes ago in Australia when Vyksyn went nuts in the shark tank. But surprise--it's another two part leg and everyone is still racing though Team number one (Luke and Margie) won a trip to Aruba. I will admit I was totally taken by surprise when that happened, because we just had two-part leg in episodes one and two. I like this better than non-elimination legs so I'm not complaining.

At least this race is not predictable. I couldn't even tell if it was day five or day six when we started. I'm guessing it's the sixth day because by the time Jamie and Cara found the lucky frog and came in 10th on day five it was dark out. This leg began at 8:44 PM and teams had to drive several hours from Kurihama to the Tokyo airport. I'm guessing it was the night of the next day. There seems to be more work involved in the travelling and more days covered in the individual legs. They are really making the contestants work for the money this time, as opposed to the easy-peasy challenges of the past couple of seasons (bring some tea to an old guy, sit in a sauna, drink a shot, etc.) This leg they had drive all night, take a plane (evidently there were transfers according to Jamie and Cara in the extra footage in the CBS website), then a train, a shuttle bus, a gondola, then another bus.

Kent and Vyskn started out with PMA (possible mental attitude) which quickly turned to PMS when neither of the Goths could get their car door open. It went downhill from there, and they got lost, missed the flight to Kunming, and wound up in a death struggle with Justin and Zev for last place.

As the teams drove to the Tokyo airport, several reminisced about their last time in China. The Copperhead cheerleaders recalled how much they hate China because nobody speaks English there.

All the teams but the Goths made the flight to Kunming. Ron and Christina used their knowledge of the language to get a train ahead of everyone and arrive first in Lijiang. They even had time for Ron to stop and eat all the food in the country. We're into a whole other day (Day 8) by the time they get to Lijiang for an usually full day of challenges. First they had saddle and ride a yak, find twelve charms with the Chinese Zodiac and arrange them properly, figure out their Zodiac sign (this held up the Globetrotters who named every animal before randomly hitting on theirs--didn't they ever read those paper placemats in Chinese restaurants?), then pound candy or march through the streets while blowing a huge horn. Apart from the drama of Kent and Vyksyn, the high point was Ron and Christine falling off the wrong vehicle and throwing rocks at the right one to get it to stop. Wouldn't you know it, the Globetrotters saved Ron and Christine's bacon by getting the bus to stop. So, after mistakenly taken their fanny pack, they are now even with the father and daughter.

Some on the internet have complained about this episode for springing another double leg on us so soon, but I loved it. Lots of action and unexpected twists.

Day 6--Drive to Tokyo airport from Kurihama
Day 7--9:50 AM Flight from Tokyo to Kunming, China, train to Lijiang, Kent and Vyksyn leave Tokyo at 3:30 PM, arrive in Kunming in the middle of the night
Day 8--Arrive in Lijiang, Kent and Vyksyn catch up, leg doesn't stop

Zev and Justin--two wins, trips to Cancun and Costa Rico
Gary and Malllory--one win, Express Pass (still not used)
Luke and Margie-one win, Trip to Aruba

Reflections on Wisconsin and Japan, Free Markets and Class Wars

2011-03-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

The events of the past few days have led to the conclusion that Ayn Rand was an idealistic nut. The thesis of all her novels and philosophical tracts can be summed up thusly--let the rich, smart, and ambitious get all the power they want and don't let the government do anything to restrict or restrain them in any way. No taxes, no regulations, nothing. An entirely free laissez-faire system will take care of all those pesky collusions or unfair trusts. She actually believed a free market would regulate itself and all injustices would even out because the public would stop buying the product of an unfair manufacturer.

What's been happening in Wisconsin demonstrates what happens when the super-rich want to get super-richer and no one has the guts to tell them, hold it a minute, you can't just take everything. Corporate interests like the Koch Brothers are out to diminish the power of public-worker unions so that forces friendly to them will stay in office. If the state doesn't take out the union dues there'll be less money to contribute to Obama and the Dems.

As I understand it, the unions gave in the governor's demands and yet he still insisted on stripping them of their right to collective bargaining. The Fox News crowd played along by painting the unions as corrupt fat cats getting enormous salaries for lazy slobs. Ann Coulter on Sean Hannity cited bus drivers making six-figure salaries. The strategy is clear, Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes are kowtowing to their corporate overlords by selling the Fox audience the idea that the unions are against the unorganized workers at Walmart, etc. See, they say, look at the red bastards stealing your money and giving it to those gold-bricking school teachers who get a whole summer off. Fox and their ilk are the ones waging a class war, pitting the working classes against each other--unions against unskilled, unorganized labor. If the Repubs and their rich cronies really wanted to balance the budget, they'd get the millionaires to pay taxes in proportion to their income.

Rand's philosophy and that of Glenn Beck and his cohorts is if you are smart and hard-working you should make and keep as much money as you possibly can and pay as little tax as you can get away with, forget the rest of society or the common good. If some poor slob who isn't a ballsy entrepeneur and can't get insurance, then goes broke because of one hospital visit, that's his tough luck.

Speaking of the common good, as I was watching the horrible scenes from the tsunami and earthquake in Japan, I was reminded of similar footage from New Orleans and Katrina. The difference was the people in New Orleans were stranded by their government, both in preparedness (faulty levees) and help after the disaster, and the people in Japan seemed to be getting aide right away and there was no looting or panic. The looting in New Orleans can be attributed to taking avantage of a bad situation, BUT they were also people who had no food or medicine and there were no sign state or federal authorities were going to help them. In fact, many conservative commentators said it was the citizens own fault for living near so much water and relying on the government for help.

Batman and the Indians

2011-03-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

My friend Lydia pointed out that the Hub has shown just about all of the Batman episodes, except for a handful--the first guest starring appearance of Vincent Price as the Egghead, a villain not from the comics, but created for the show, and a two-part episode from the Batgirl season with Cliff Robertson returning as Shame and Dina Merrill as his sidekick Calamity Jan. Checking a Batman chatboard, a few posters conjectured that these episodes were nixed because of the comical, and possibly offensive, depictions of Native Americans.

In the Egghead episode, Edward Everett Horton, the narrator from Fractured Fairy Tales, plays Chief Screaming Chicken, the last of a tribe which leases Gotham City to the original settlers for some pelts. In the Shame episodes, a dour Indian named Chief Standing Pat is part of the western villain's gang. Are these characters offensive enough to warrant not showing the episodes? I'm not Native American, so I can't say. But by the same token should we not show episodes of old sitcoms with swishy gay characters like Uncle Arthur on Bewitched or Hispanics with thick accents or Gone with the Wind because of the simplistic depiction of Prissy? Chief Screaming Chicken and Chief Standing Pat are comic figures but so was everyone else on Batman.

The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business--Episodes 2 and 3

2011-03-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Episode Two was chiefly exciting because we got to see a lot of bare chests--especially Kris's--and then a lot of kangaroo outfits. Plus Mike cried like a baby with guilt because he felt he was killing his 70-year-old father for a measly $1 million and some much-needed exposure. But things really heated up in Episode Three. Instead of going on the traditional 12-hour rest period after bouncing across the finish line in the mining town of Broken Hill, everyone had to take an overnight train back to Sydney and then take a plane to Tokyo. In our last blog we learn lesson number one of the Amazing Race: never help a stronger team, always help a weaker team. Zev and Justin learned that lesson hard in Episode 3 when the Globetrotters repaid them for giving them a vital clue by giving up a pair of seats on a flight with connections which was supposed to get in 15 minutes earlier than the direct flight.

This leads us to lesson number two: always take a direct flight; a connecting one can have delays. Naturally the connecting flight was delayed and Zev and Justin, along with four other teams, lost about an hour and the Globetrotters now owe them nothing. Flight Time and Big Easy continued to mooch off everyone by following the other cars to the first destination in Tokyo. They didn't even have a map. Then they swiped Christa's fanny pack at the road block. OK, it may have been an honest mistake, but it really wasn't clear what happened. Did they deliberately take it, realize the error and then leave it in the changing room instead of where they found it on the mountain in order to gain time? The editing make it very confusing.

We also learned Christina is engaged to Azaria, half of the brother and sister team from her season. That's interesting. I don't remember them ever relating during the race, maybe they hooked up later. Anyway, Christina whined to Phil and the Globetrotters got a 30-min. penalty. I'll bet this will come up next week and we'll have a confrontation scene. Flight Time and Big Easy seem like fun guys, but I really don't want them to win. Pro athletes have an unfair advantage and they leech off other, smarter teams when they can't figure out clues or directions.

I love that Zev and Justin roared ahead of the other teams who were stuck in traffic and conferring with each other on directions. They just took charge and wound up in first place again. I think it's going to come down to Zev and Justin and Gary and Mallory who have come out ahead so far. I cracked up when Zev said, "Don't touch me" to Justin.

After taking off a Japanese guy's side view mirror and trying to bribe him, Jaime and Cara narrowly escaped elimination because 70-year-old Mel was nearly frozen to death in the mud looking for a frog. My favorite line: Mel to his son Mike: "I'd rather die here with you, than at home in bed." That conjures up some pleasant images.

Day 2--Sydney (Still part of first leg, though into the second episode)
Day 3--charter flight to Broken Hill; overnight train back to Sydney
Day 4--arrive in Syndey, book flight to Tokyo
Day 5--arrive in Tokyo, drive all over the place

Gary and Mallory--Express pass--which they haven't used yet
Zev and Justin--two wins, trips to Cancun and Costa Rico

Hucka-Bite-Me

2011-03-05T21:34:00.001-08:00

Mike Huckabee seemed like such a nice guy--for a rabid right-wing Republican that is. I was taken in by his gentle demeanor, I guess. Compared to other conservatives he appeared actually sane. And he defended Michele Obama for campaigning against obesity which was at least decent. But this week, he's totally lost it with his crazy talk about Natalie Portman's pregnancy and his inaccurate criticism of Obama's life history.

Let's take Portman first. First of all, she is getting married to the father of her child, the guy who choreographed Black Swan. Secondly, she's not holding herself up as a model to all young girls or saying hey, I'm having a baby and you can to. Thirdly, where was his righteous indignation when Bristol Palin got preggers--and that skank's STILL not married! Why didn't Mikie make some noise about Sarah and Todd being awful parents and how they should force Levi to do the right thing and get hitched to their little filly? Why pick on Natalie? I'll tell you why--because she just won an Oscar and Huck saw a chance to throw his base some red meat in the form of Hollywood-bashing. Natalie can support her child, what has that got to do with offering a bad example? He later said he never meant to criticize her and he really enjoyed that ballet movie. Right.

Then Huck went on some crazy radio show and said the Prez couldn't relate to average Americans because he was raised in Kenya where they don't have Boy Scouts and Little League. It also explained why he removed the bust of Winston Churchill because granddad Obama was part of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya which occured when Winnie was Prime Minister. WHAT? A spokesperson later clarified the remark by saying Mike has misspoke and meant Indonesia where Barack did spent five years of his youth--incidentally sources say young Barry was a Boy Scout in Jakarta, so there.

The "misspoke" gambit doesn't make sense because Huckabee said some very specific things about Obama's supposed Kenyan upbringing like being instilled with an anti-British anti-colonial mindset by his evil Kenyan rebellious relatives. Indonesia was a Dutch colony and had nothing to do with the Mau-Maus. And anyway, weren't George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams rebels like Obama's paternal grandfather? Didn't we rebel against British imperialism like the Kenyans? And do we know that the grandfather was involved in the uprising, that's not even clear.

I read that there were other lies and exaggerations in Huck's talking points. Like the fact that the Winston Churchill bust was not returned to the British but moved to another part of the White House to be replaced by a bust of Abraham Lincoln. Is Huckabee coming out against Lincoln now? I am appalled!

And speaking of Boy Scouts, did you know that Huckabee's son David was fired as a Boy Scouts camp counselor for torturing and killing a dog? And that Huckabee who was governor of Arkansas at the time hushed up the investigation? This was about 10 years ago, but the son was 18 at the time which is pretty old for excusing cruelty to animals as a youthful prank. Why doesn't someone ask Huckabee about his family values if he can raise an animal torturer? If any of Obama's kids did something like that, we'd never hear the end of it from Fox and Friends.

Huckabee seems to be testing the waters for a presidential run, but I doubt if he'll do it. He wants to finish building that house in Florida and his Fox salary is too high for him to give it up. But look for more lies and distortions and "misstatements" about Obama from Huck and his pals.

The Amazing Race 18--Episode 1

2011-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Season 18 of The Amazing Race started last night and it looks like a lot more fun than the last reteaming of previous contestants. Best of all, Boston Rob is nowhere to be seen. I saw his hateful puss on the cover of TV Guide for his Survivor return and nearly lost my lunch. I thought I was rid of that bitch, I said to the checkout girl at the Price Chopper. I have no idea who the other bozo is on the cover with him, touting their so-called intense rivalry, but I hope he beats Rob's 15-minutes-of-fame ass. Thank God I do not care for Survivor, I'd go nuts otherwise. Another side note: have you noticed how TV Guide is no longer the most important mag around? Thanks to DVR and the handy program grid on the cable system, nobody needs it anymore.

But I digress. The episode opens in Palm Springs and Phil informs us it's really windy there--the second windiest place on Earth (What's no. 1?). The 11 teams gather (see previous blog for my thoughts on each) and Phil calls them a bunch of losers. And OMG what is with Jaime and Cara's hair? Wherever they got their coloring done needs to be on Tabatha's Salon Takeover right away. Their henna rinse makes them look like two Lincoln head pennies. Zev and Justin are wearing Harlem Globetrotter T-shirts for some reason. We later see they giving Flight Time and Big Easy a big clue. Word to the wise: help teams that are weaker than you, not stronger. Learn from Margie who helped Kent and Vyxen and then said in her interview: We need to have a team we can beat at the end.

After the teams find a paper airplane amidst a bunch of windmills--except for stupid but cute Amanda and Kris who are still mad at being U-turned several years ago--they take off for Australia. It takes a 20-hour flight to get there from the West Coast. I know because the press agent working with Geoffrey Rush told me the actor took the trip twice to get to LA from Down Under for the Golden Globes and then the SAGs. The first flight became the second when a passenger had the gall to suffer a heart attack and caused them to be delayed in Hawaii.

Once in Sydney, they had swim with sharks--repeat of a task from the season with Chip and Reichen--then decipher a clue with flags and letters. I marvel at the lack of culture among these people. Are you telling me none of them had heard of the phrase, Between the devil and the deep blue sea? I shouldn't be surprised since they didn't know who Chekhov or Kafka were.

Jaime and Cara incured bad karma for their awful hair by having their boat turn over and one of the crew step on Cara's foot. "Get off my foot, peasant!"

Miss Kentucky--where they never lie, according to her--and her dad won the Express Pass, but it turns out they had to keep racing. I like that we have a two-parter at the very beginning, but it may also be because they sometimes do 90 minute premieres and they are just trying to save money by spending two episodes in one location--Sydney.

Mallory and Gary--one win--Express Pass
Day One--Palm Springs, CA (20 hour-flight to Sydney)
Day Two--Syndey

Taking Down the Christmas Tree on Presidents' Day Weekend

2011-02-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

Yeah, you read that right. I did not put away our mid-size artifical Christmas tree until this weekend. So sue me, to quote Nathan Detroit. I got better things to do, like stay in bed and complain, to quote Judy Tenuta. (Whatever happened to her?) I have not been to our upstate place in a while so we just left the tree standing. Removing the ornaments brings back memories because so many of them are from trips we've taken: a lobster from Provincetown on Cape Cod; a pineapple from Honolulu; a stuffed doll figure of Henry VIII from the Tower of London; Spongebob Squarepants and Capt. America from Universal Islands of Adventures and a Mickey Mouse from Disney World; a crayfish and some Mardi Gras beads from Santa's Quarters on Decatur Street in New Orleans. There are also a set of portaits of Batman, Robin, Catwoman, and the Joker, as well as Sylvester carrying a load of presents with Tweetie on top. There are also figures of Spiderman and several different Santa Clauses as well as Renaissance-type archangels. On top is a Father Christmas figure. I remember a Presidents' Day weekend about three years ago, I should have been working on my book about George C. Scott, but I goofed off and watched a Project Runway marathon. It was from season two, before I was obsessed with it. I watched several episodes I hadn't seen before.

Presidents' Day also had me thinking about Richard Nixon. Jerry went to see the Met HD broadcast of Nixon in China and I had seen the premiere live just before we went to Florida. From age 9 to 16, Richard Nixon was president and how I hated him. I remember my sister saying if he were elected in 1968 he would make us go to school on Saturdays. During the Watergate scandal, I yearned for his impeachment and we wathced the hearings avidly all during that summer of 1974. He was the boogey man, the evil villain taking advantage of his power and betraying the trust of the American people. I remember several years after he resigned--I was so angry that he stepped down rather than allowing us the magnificent spectacle of a trial in the senate--he showed up on Nightline with Ted Koppel. I screamed as if I had seen a ghost and I had. His hair was white and he was noticably older.

Now John Adams' opera shows a more human figure, pathetically singing of his days in the navy running a snack bar and selling the guys hamburgers and beer, desperately wanting them to like him. In 100 years, is this how Nixon will be remembered? Yes there is Oliver Stone's movie with Anthony Hopkins as a troll-like co-conspirator, but the opera may survive it and be performed around the world. How will this era be seen?

Nixon in China got me interested in hearing more modern opera and I looked up Einstein on the Beach on YouTube. It is hauntingly beautiful, but I doubt if I could take five hours of it. Robert Wilson's productions look fascinating, but I think his main esthetic is visual since he is also a designer, and not dramatic, so his productions look good but don't move you.

The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business: Preview

2011-02-13T20:27:00.001-08:00

Here's a David Desk first: a preview of the next Amazing Race season before it even starts. Next week starts the second time TAR has reassembled a bunch of teams from previous seasons and this time, it's all audience favorites who didn't win through bad luck or stupidity. I checked them all out at CBS's website and here are my thoughts:

Zev and Justin: My very favorites. The guy with Asberger's disease and his pal. They were eliminated after finished first in an early leg because they lost their passports. I loved Zev's spirit when they beat the beefy Boston lawyer and his girlfriend to the mat. The lawyer claimed he was a lion and the other teams were gazelles. Zev said right there he'd take on the guy. Love it. I want them to win.

Mel and Mike: Definitely rooting for them, though Mike is a successful actor and screenwriter so he doesn't need the money, but they were a lot of fun and I would love for middle America to see a gay father and son win.

Father and daughter (two teams): Why are these people back? One is Miss Kentucky and her dad and the other is the Asian dad and daughter who were always fighting. Both did reasonably well and finished near the top of their respective races. This season should be reserved for those who finished near the bottom and goofed up because of a little slip. Neither of these two excite me.

The cowboys: These guys came in second and the other brothers who won were just a tad smarter than them. They had plenty of airtime in their season and were not cheated of anything. So I don't think they deserve a second chance. They're jsut popular with the Oklahoma viewers.

The Goths: Fun outsiders who added a lot to the mix. I enjoyed them and their eccentricities.

The Globetrotters: I'm sure these two are great guys but they're professional athletes for heaven's sake. Unfair advantage. Plus they don't need the money. They lost because they couldn't figure out who Franz Kafka was, but I doubt if they've been boning up on European authors.

Volleyball players: They lost because one had to go to bathroom and couldn't wait. So I don't feel particularly sorry for them. But they did show a lot of spirit. Also look for them to renew their rivalry with the deaf son and mother.

Deaf son and mother: Again they did very well on their race, finishing near the top, so I'm not rooting for them.

Cute couple: There has to be at least one hot straight dating couple on every show.

Cheerleader chicks: I guess they needed one token pretty-girl team. I don't even remember this pair, what season they were on or what their tale of woe was to qualify them for returning. Oh yeah, they had a bad cab driver. Boo-freakin'-hoo, baby!

Valentine's Day A Day Early

2011-02-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a lovely pre-Valentine's Day dinner with my partner Jerry. We went to Benoit, a French bistro on 55th St. between Fifth and Sixth aves. I would definitely recommend it. We started with three delicious cheeses--the brie was unexpectional, but the blue was exquisitely thick and rich and the third, I can't remember what it was, had a nice texture. An excellent light white wine which was slightly citrus-y, almost grapefruit-like washed it down.

I had the prix fixe three-course dinner--lobster salad, stuffed quail, and porfiterolles. The lobster salad had a syrupy dressing which wasn't too sweet. The lobster itself was fresh and cold, mixed with greens and a little fruit. The quail was stuffed with figs and pate. My only quarrel with it was it was small. The bird was served on a bed of spinach prepared with just a hint of salt and butter. I had a taste of Jerry's buttery filet mignon. He said it was the best he'd ever eaten.

The dessert was truly heaven--a plate of little pastries with creamy filling was set before us. On the side was a dish of hot chocolate sauce, decadently rich. We each got a dish of vanilla ice cream and fondue skewers. We dipped the pastries in the chocolate sauce and stuffed them in our mouths. Then poured the sauce over the ice cream. A cup of earl grey tea for me and coffee for Jerry finished one of the best meals I've ever had.

"You May Call Me Creepy, Cookie!"

2011-02-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

Just as Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters cannot get a snatch of poetry about a golden chain around an oak tree out of her head, I cannot stop thinking about Creepella Gruesome's first words to Wilma Flintstone: "You may call me Creepy, Cookie." And like Masha, I don't know why. Is it the eagerness for intimacy expressed by the unconventional Creepella to the conformist Wilma? Is it the fact that Creepella looks exactly like a drag-queen version of Cher? Is it the introduction of a horror-show neighbor to the Flintstones because The Addams Family and The Munsters were flooding the airwaves?

The Gruesomes were pretty much forgotten among the 1960s monster families that invaded America's living rooms. These Halloween nightmare creatures were substitutes for the hippies and weirdos creeping into the suburban consciousness of middle-class USA. They were safe versions of the scary challengers of the two-car garage. In an interesting development when the Flintstones introduced the freeloading Hatrocks to the Gruesomes in order to scare the pesky hillbillies, they took to the weirdos. It took a conspiracy of all three Bedrock families--the Flintstones, the Rubbles, and the Gruesomes--imitating a prehistoric version of the Beatles to finally get rid of the Hatrocks. You would think the red-state yokels would want to shoot to long-haired Gruesomes on sight.

Maybe Creepella was really a tranny hiding her bizarre secret from Wilma and Betty.

Finding the Fantastic Four in Florida

2011-02-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

A little vacation is better than none, so my partner Jerry and I took a five-day trip to Florida in the midst of one of the worst winters in recent memory. We were scheduled to leave on a 7 AM flight on thurs. morning Feb. 3. I made the mistake of covering the opening night of Nixon in China at the Met the night before. The John Adams modern opera was three hours and 45 minutes. I got home by 12 which only left me about five hours of sleep. Fortunately, I was able to sleep on the plane; it was Spirit Airlines where they pack you in like sardines and the seats don't recline. Plus you have to pay extra for your seats and each piece of luggage is another $15, even your carry-on. I dozed in an upright position for most of the three hours.

The weather was lovely. We visited friends who have a condo in Hillsboro Beach which is near Fort Lauderdale. The best part was walking on the beach thinking of our car under a foot of ice and snow. While having lunch on Los Olas in Ft. Lauderdale, our young waiter, a transplant from New York, asked if there was anyting we were looking to see. Jerry asked if there were any used CD stores for himself and comic book stores for me. The waiter said he would call his friend who was a comic book fan. He recommended a store called CJ's Comics which wasn't far. What the hell, we thought, and drove there. It was a little place in a tiny strip mall. It appeared closed but there was a handwritten sign in the window reading "Back in 5 mins." We waited until CJ showed up and I bought five issues of the Fantastic Four from the 1990s. I finally found the one where it's revealed the Human Torch's wife Alicia--who was previously in love with The Thing--is really a Skrull. That's a whole story line I thought was a bit farfethced even for a comic book. But it turned out to be a pretty good issue with unexpected twists. I'll have to find the rest of the story arc.

Our hosts were wonderful, especially considering that on our second day, they had gotten a phone call informing them the roof over their inside pool at their home in Massachusetts had collapsed from the weight of the snow.

We spent the rest of the time with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law who have a home in Lake Worth. While we were there, we swam in the pool and soaked in a hot tub. We also saw Capitol Steps, a touring musical political revue.

Our next big trip will be a cruise to Alaska with my parents and brothers, then we stay over in Vancouver where Jerry has a conference to attend.

Michele Bachmann's History Lesson

2011-01-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

I was upset because Egpyt erupted into chaos and knocked off the State of the Union and the Republican and Tea Party rebuttals from the Sunday morning political shows. I wanted to hear Chris Matthews call Michele Bachmann a balloonhead again. And then there was Sarah Palin's sputnik moment when she conflated 30 years of history into one sweeping incident. Bachmann is really showing herself as an attention whore. She tried to get a major position in the Republican-led House. When they turned her down, she reached for another gambit--appointing herself head of the Tea Party and rewriter of American history.

The sad thing is the media is bypassing a perfectly legitimate concern of the Tea Party types--the deficit--and drowning it out by spending hours and hours concentrating on the fact that Bachmann looked into the wrong camera and gave a whacko interpretation of the last 300 years. I commented on it on the Huffington Post and some right-wing nut responded that the National Embarassment from Minnesota was technically right. Huh? In her speech in Iowa, Bachmann said the founding fathers worked tirelessly until slavery was eradicated. She specifically sited John Quincy Adams. First of all, JQ was not a Founding Father. His dad John Adams was. JQ was an anti-slavery advocate and did work to get slavery outlawed in the District of Columbia when he was a congressman, after losing his second term from President to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson--I loved the musical.

Maybe she saw Amistad and got confused. That was that movie with Anthony Hopkins as JQ Adams where he defends the hot model who was playing a slave who rebelled. Or maybe when she was a little girl, she watched The Adams Chronicles on PBS with William Daniels who played JQ. The same actor played the father John Adams in the stage and movie version of the musical 1776 and they did try to outlaw slavery in that show, but the mean old Southern representatives put a stop to it. But somehoe I doubt Bachmann saw 1776 on Broadway; maybe she saw the movie on the local Minnesota channel on the fourth of July.

Anyway, she made it sound like all the Founding Fathers worked to end slavery. Sorry, but they didn't. Some were against it, but the institution didn't end until the Civil War, several generations later. The FFs kept it in the constitution and counting slaves as three-fifths of a person was NOT a meaure to start on the road to equality, but to get the Southern states bigger representation in the Congress. Glenn Beck actually ranted on Chris Matthews for calling Bachmann an idiot. Beck actually said he thought Bachmann could become president. Now I know he's nuts.

Technology and Me: A Horror Story

2011-01-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

I have a bizarre relationship with technology: it sometimes scares me. Everytime something goes wrong with my laptop or the TV or my digital camera or the clasp which keeps my sock cabinet closed, I panic. I worry that if I try to fix it, it will just get worse. To make anything work these days, you have to be a bloody electrical engineer. It's as if everyone should have a permenant IT team from India living in their apartment.

For example, my partner Jerry bought me a Sony Blu Ray player for Christmas. The whole point was so that we could stream Netflix live to our TV in Jackson Heights, Queens. Since the gift was mine, I volunteered to hook it up. Mistake. Well, the hooking up to the TV was not very difficult. We bought an HDMI cable and all you had to do was attach it to the TV and the Player. That was the easy part. Getting it hooked up to the Internet was the nightmare. It turns out you need a LAN adaptor--whatever that is--to get the internet. Best Buy and all the other chains were out of the LAN adaptor SONY made. Evidently there was a big rush after Christmas. At Walmart, they recommended something called the Netgear Universal Adaptor which supposedly works with every brand. The directions said you had to detach your router from your computer and hook up this universal adaptor to it to program it. I was frightened that if I removed the internet connection from the router, it would be lost and I would have spend 127 hours on the phone to India and I'd have to cut my own arm off like James Franco to get it to work again.

Fortunatley, I got it to work and everything turned out OK. But Netflix does not yet have its entire enormous inventory available for direct streaming to your TV. It did have Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and Rocky and Bullwinkle.

I'm also having problems with my Nikon Coolpix digital camera--I think it's the one that Ashton Kutcher does the commercials for. The outdoor shots come out fine, but as you may have noticed in some of my previous blog posts, the interior shots are kinda blurry. Do I have it on the wrong setting, I wonder? I thought all these point and shoot jobs gave marvelous pictures for even idiots like me. I had a Canon that worked very well, but it got banged up and the screen where you see the shots went black. Jerry is going to lend me his camera so I can see if it's better than the Nikon. Moral for me and Bruce Willis: Don't trust Ashton Kutcher.

Unexpected Gay Subtexts in Batman

2011-01-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Aside from the most obvious gay subtexts on the Batman series were some subtles ones. In the second appearance of the Mad Hatter, The Contaminated Cowl/The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul, the villain (played by David Wayne with a sibilant s) sprays the Caped Crusader with radioactive spray turning his cowl a bright pink. Was this a hidden message to gay viewers--like the code phrase Friends of Dorothy--that Batman played on their team? Speaking of that expression, I was on a cruise a few years ago with my friend Diane and the ship's newsletter listed a meeting of Friends of Dorothy on the lido deck the first night. I thought, what is this, 1955? Do we gays still have to hide our identity like Batman from unsuspecting straights? I later asked the cruise's social director the reason for the anachronistic reference? He explained that in the cruise line's experience, listing Friends of Dorothy rather than gay and lesbian passengers, was an easier policy and wouldn't upset more conservative passengers. It turned out there was a huge group of gay guys travelling together and we all became friends during the cruise, and the straight passengers figured it out.

Sidenote: Featured in that episode of Batman was Leonid Kinskey, best known as the Russian bartender Sascha in Casablanca, as Prof. Overbeck, a German atomic scientist.

A few episodes later, there was a three-parter guest-starring the Penquin and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, a villainess not featured in the comic books, played by Carolyn Jones, Morticia of The Addams Family. In the first segment, Penquin Is a Girl's Best Friend, Pengy tricks Batman into acting in a movie he's directing with Marsha as his star. As director of the project, Penquin forces Batman to kiss Marsha during several takes of a love scene. The female crook has coated her lips with a love potion to make Batman her willing slave. For some reason, the Masked Manhunter is reluctant to smooch the gorgeous villainness and he kicks his legs up and visibly resists. Robin later says "Boy I'll bet you never want to kiss another girl again." What kind of message is being sent here?

In an earlier episode, Marsha tricks Batman into marrying her in order to save Robin whom she has captured--mmmm, more subtle hints at the true relationship of Batman and Robin. Marsha wants to get the Bat-Diamond in the Batcave, but Batman vows no stranger will ever enter his secret liar. "Well, then marry me, darling, and I wouldn't be a stranger." Not exactly the firmest foundation for connubial bliss.

At the last minute, the Caped Crusader is saved from a fate worse than death by the quick thinking of Alfred who shows up with Aunt Harriet claiming she is Mrs. Batman--a beard if ever I saw one. We also learn Alfred has never been married. Double Hmmmm.

Scenes from the Life of an Amatuer Comic Book Collecter (21)--Supergirl's Lesbian Marriage

2011-01-09T15:26:00.001-08:00

That Supergirl is one complex dish. Last time we talked about her intimate relationship with her Superhorse Comet, who is really a centaur. While reading through my recent 600-plus acquisition of comics, I came across another walk on the wild side for the Maid of Might. In Action #357, we learn of "Supergirl's Secret Marriage." While on her way from Stanhope College to visit her parents for the weekend, Supergirl in her secret identity of Linda Lee Danvers is accosted by a brash young man named Joaquin who boldly kisses her and claims to be her spouse. She tells him to go fly a kite, but he counters that he knows she is Supergirl and that she has had a memory lapse due to exposure to red kryptonite. Like an idiot, Linda gets in Joaquin's car and they drive to the home the man claims is theirs.

The ending is really twisted. It turns out Joaquin is a not a man at all, but a woman in disguise. In a flashback she explains that she is from another planet and that Supergirl rescued her and her boyfriend recently. He subsequently fell in love with the Blonde Blockbuster. The alien woman decides to masquerade as a male and take Supergirl off the market, thus sending her former lover back into her arms. Just like in As You Like It, Twelfth Night or Two Gentlemen of Verona.

How did Supergirl discover this sick ruse? When Joaquin kissed her "he" put "his" arms around Supergirl's neck. Supergirl claims that all men put their arms around a woman's waist while a female will place her hands on a boy's neck. Really? Don't you think Supergirl would have realized in some other less subtle way? Like maybe when she found Joaquin trying on her Supergirl costume? Or maybe she would have thought, "Well, maybe he's really an evangelist, like that Ted Haggard?"

This story is so weird on so many levels. Just from a practical point of view, wouldn't the boyfriend fall back in love with Supergirl once he realized his girlfriend was really his rival? To solve the problem of sleeping together, the disguised alien claimed "he" had to sleep in a special bed which give him a dose of radiation necessary for him to live in earth's hostile atmosphere.

The other story (featured on the cover) in that issue follows Superman as he must defeat a motorcycle driving juvenile delinquent with atomic fists. The kid takes over the government with his gang straight out of The Wild One.

Shootings in Arizona

2011-01-09T09:30:00.001-08:00

It's been a weird weekend. I took the train upstate through beautiful snowscapes on Friday night. On Saturday, my partner Jerry and I attended the HD broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera of Puccini's Girl of the Golden West with Deborah Voigt. We attended a different production a few summers ago at Glimmerglass which I found more intimate and moving. (Sidenote: did you know Andrew Lloyd Webber lifted one of his main themes of Phantom of the Opera from Puccini's score.) We saw the opera at Time and Space Limited, a neat small theatre in Hudson that shows really offbeat films in addition to HD broadcasts from the Met and the National Theatre of Great Britain.

After the opera, we heard on the radio about the shootings in Tuscon, Arizona where congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was wounded and six people were killed including a judge and a 9 year old little girl. It reminded of the late 1960s when I was about 10 and it seemed assassinations and violence were erupting every week. I remember I was watching Bewitched and they interupted it to announce that Martin Luther King had been killed.

It's only a day after the shootings and the political debate has already been launched. Did the violent rhetoric of the right--and yes, it's mostly--not ALL but mostly---coming from the right, I'm sorry but it is--create an atmosphere of rage to influence unbalanced individuals like the 22 year old nutjob who did the shooting? It's way too early to tell anything and I don't believe people like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, and Sharron Angle are purposely inciting violence. Well, I take that back about Sharron Angle. She did say discontented Tea Partiers should invoke "Second Amendment remedies" if things didn't turn out the way they wanted in the last midterm elections. But, I don't believe the rest really meant to incite violence. But when you use targets and crosshairs on images of people you disagree with, as Sarah Palin did on Giffords' congressional district in Arizona, you have to take responsibility for creating a dangerous climate.

Palin could have used less violent imagery to get across her point in the last election. We don't know if this crazy kid saw Palin's website and was inspired by it. We do know his ravings on the internet are incoherent and he may be just plain crazy and this would have happened with or without the media madness stirred up by Palin and her ilk. But people like Beck are invoking, even jokingly, violence and death against people like Michael Moore and Nancy Pelosi. I remember driving through Missouri a few years ago and listening to a local talk station. The host joked that he wanted to be fair, but then said "Michael Moore must hate this country." I just don't get that. Yes, you can disagree with Moore all you want, but must he hate this country just because he doesn't share your opinion on health care and gun control?

The sherriff of Tuscon said in a news conference yesterday that Arizona is becoming the capital of bigotry and inflamed rhetoric and that it's time for American media to tone it down. I believe all but a few fringe-lunatic Americans abhor violence, but too many in power both in the media and in politics have no problem using it to grab bigger ratings or more votes. And they have no conscience and sleep perfectly well when something like this happens because they don't make the connection. Sarah Palin and hubby Todd are getting a good night's sleep on their mattress stuffed with all their millions, and she is not responsible for yesterday's shootings. But she is responsible with her crosshairs imagery and scary talk of death panels in creating a climate of division and rancor.

Jetsons' Residence, Rosie Speaking

2011-01-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

We have new phones at my office and we have an infinite choice of ring tones. I chose the Jetsons doorbell. This was one of my favorite shows since it predicted the world of the future not the past like the Flinstones. The best thing about the Flinstones was the animals who operated all the appliances and would look at the camera and say "It's a living."

The Jetsons on the other hand was about the world I was supposed to grow up in. I remember figuring out I would be about 40 in the year 2000. I imagined we would be flying around in rocket cars, vacationing on the moon, and spending the weekend in Acapulco, like Jane's friend Helen. ("Now that's what I call racy dialogue," Helen quipped when Jane and George could only say each other's name to each other after Jane's trip to a dude planet.)

The picture is of Jane getting ready for "My Space Lady" and George gave the tickets to Mr. Spacely. That episode always annoyed me because Mr. Spacely was within his rights to demand George forego the theatre, but to take his wife's ticket as well was just cruel. I always wandered what "My Space Lady" would have been like. Did Professor Henry Higgins-rocket make Eliza Spacelittle into a lady at the interplanetary ball?

Another Jetsons memory was when Rosie fell in love with Mac the Robot. When Henry the Janitor de-activated him, she went around saying "Eh-Neh" like she said Judy sounded when she was out of love.

The most interesting aspect of the Jetsons was its total lack of advancement for women. In their world, females are still mostly housewives with a fear of mice and poor driving skills.

'What's My Line' Dies Again

2010-12-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

No sooner do I get used to a daily ritual of watching the previous night's rerun of What My Line from 3 AM than the Game Show Network pulls the plug and starts running Card Sharks instead. As you saw in my previous post, GSN began running WML and I've Got a Secret in the middle of the night just a few weeks ago. Then they aburuptly stopped. It may be they were contractually obligated to show all their episodes before the end of 2010 or they'd have to pay extra. In any event, I don't understand the creative or financial reasons for stopping the WML and IGAS repeats. Nobody is watching at that hour anyway so they may as well show someting that might interest nostalgia buffs like me instead of Card Sharks which was a rather uninteresting game show during the 1980s. Seriously, is anyone DVRing Card Sharks?

GSN used to have a whole lineup of panel shows from the 1950s and 60s on Sunday nights when the network first started, including incredibly obscure titles like The Name's the Same, a What's My Line rip-off featuring panelist Joan Alexander who did the voice of Lois Lane in the Superman radio series and the 1960s cartoon version. The object was the guess the name of the contestant which was the same as a famous person or thing. One young lady challenger was named A. Fish. (Get it?)

When I announced the WML tragedy on Facebook, my cousin Debbie commented that she remembered I used to love WML and IGAS when I was very little, like five years old, and would do imitations of the regular panelists. I don't recall ever imitating Arlene Francis or Dorothy Kilgallen, but I do remember being so obsessed with To Tell the Truth, I transcribed the "affadavits" of the contestants and recorded who was the real person and who were the impostors, keeping all that info in a notebook which I still have (My favorite contestant was Frank Zane, a Mr. Universe, for obvious reasons). We would watch Dark Shadows, have dinner and then TTTT. I also remember the panelists on To Tell the Truth included Kitty Carlisle and hearing a story that Carlisle wore a different dress every day and kept all of them. Her neighbors lost all their possession in a fire and she refused to lend them any clothes. (Well, that was the story anyway.)

The obsession with To Tell the Truth came when the show was in syndication and was on every night at 7PM, followed by What's My Line at 7:30PM. Coincidentally, the moderator of To Tell the Turth during its network run was Bud Collyer who provided the voice of Superman on the radio and the 1960s cartoon series, playing opposite Joan Alexander as Lois. I knew Gary Moore as the host of TTTT during its syndication. WML was hosted by Tony winning actor Larry Blyden who died as a result of a car accident while in Morocco right after the show ended its run. This was all during the 1970s. I guess I wanted to be a regular panelist on one of those shows when I was kid. I couldn't think of a more fun job, playing games and hobnobbing with celebrities.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (20)--Letters to Lois Lane

2010-12-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

In the recent haul of comic books (see previous blog), there are several Lois Lanes from the early 1960s into the 1970s. During this period, Lois was constantly scheming to marry Superman and when she wasn't doing that, she was in the past or on another planet scheming to marry a Superman Substitute--a hero with super muscles and a secret identity--like Astonishing Man, Titanic Man, Super-Male, Achilles in Ancient Greece, Robin Hood, Petronius, etc. It can also be quite revealing to read the letter column and see how it reflects the social mores of the day.

In Lois Lane No. 45 (1963), Elva Evans of Sheffield, Texas, writes "I am 23, a housewife with 3 children, but they are fairly good children, and I keep my house clean. It takes about four hours to clean it and prepare meals, so I have quite a bit of spare time to read, which is my favorite hobby. I just love Lois Lane. She's as cute as a button, always getting into hot water. (She reminds me of Mary Tyler Moore of the Dick Van Dyke Show, the way she is always getting into trouble and crying her pretty little head off.)"

Only four hours to clean and prepare meals? What is this woman, Supergirl? The letter also shows were her priorities are: the home and getting pregnant. Three kids at 23? It was probably common in those days. By fairly good children, does she mean they don't make a lot of noise so Mommy can read her comic books? And BTW, Laura Petrie of the DVD Show cried a lot more than Lois. During the late 1930s and 1940s when Lois was first introduced, she was a lot more daring and independent, always out to get her scoops without Superman's help. Then in the 1950s when soliders returned from the war and everyone wanted a stable homelife, Lois realized her greatest ambition was not to be a top newspaperwoman, but to be Mrs. Superman.

In the same letters column, Alan Dean of Jasksonville, Ind. suggests actors to play the Superman family. He says MTM should play Lois and Richard Egan as Superman. Richard Egan??? I think his biggest credit was A Summer Place as Sandra Dee's father who is having an affair with Dorothy McGuire. Alan also suggests Virgina Gibson as Lana Lang. Who?? I checked imdb and she had small parts in Funny Face and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for Happy Hunting with Ethel Merman. Maybe she had red hair. The topper is his idea for Lex Luther-William Frawley. Fred Mertz as the biggest supervillain ever? The editor rightfully responds to Alan's casting with less than enthuiastic tones: "Frankly, we're not impressed. Most of your nominations involved personalities who are not too widely known. And William Frawley, although an excellent actor, seems too old to play Luthor. We'll throw this open to our readers and invite them to send in nominations which have a better chance of scoring a bull's eye." Oh snap, Alan.

Best DVR Week Ever

2010-12-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

This had to be one of the best weeks for my DVR ever. The Game Show Network has started showing the old black and white What's My Line at 3 AM weeknights. The Sundance Channel has gotten all Bravo and Logo-y with Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, a docu-series about straight women who are best friends with gay men. Batman had two of the campiest episodes ever--Hizzoner the Penquin, wherein the wily bird runs for Mayor of Gotham City; and The Devil's Fingers, the highest-rated Bat-episode ever because it starred Liberace. And to top it all off, the BEST Big Bang Theory yet with Leonard, Sheldon, Penny, Raj, and Howard headed to the comic book store for a New Year's Eve party dressed as the Justice League of America. New regular Zack, Penny's current hunky substitute for Leonard, is drafted into playing Superman. The scene at the end was priceless with the comic book store owher dressed as Doctor Who No. 4 (Tom Baker) announcing the winner of the best costumed group as the JLA--and there are THREE JLAs.

Where to begin? WML is like taking a time machine back to the 1950s when Broadway and movie stars would drop by to fool the blindfolded panel who were in formal wear to play sophisticated parlor games. America knew what was playing on Broadway then and cared. Not like now when the only show people know about is Spider-Man.

The Sundance series is fun and growing on me. But the hot guys in the ads on the sides of the bus aren't even on the show and they are way hunkier than the regular subjects.

The Batman episodes were a hoot. In the Penquin show, the pompous waddling kingpin of crime runs for mayor of Gotham and the script satirizes Barry Goldwater, polls, TV commentators, debates, etc. At one point game show hosts like Dennis James and Allen Luden play political TV anchormen as the Dynamic Duo and Pengy fight a mob of crooks at a jeweler's convention. The commentators cover the bat-fight as if it's a political convention--get it?

The Liberace segments were beyond absurd with the swishy maestro romancing Aunt Harriet and flirting with a trio of gorgeous lady crooks.

Oh, and DADT was repealed. So it was a perfect week.

Sarah Palin at Burger King

2010-12-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm having dinner at Burger King on Monday night. I know it's bad for me but I was in a hurry. I had to make a 7 PM curtain to see Donny and Marie: A Broadway Christmas which I was reviewing (It will be posted on the Back Stage website by now.) Anyway, this BK on Broadway and about 40th Street, right by where they have the Fashion Walk of Fame, has a TV monitor where they show trivia questions and headlines with news photos. I'm sitting there munching on a Chicken Sandwich and some onion rings while reading a 1968 Superman comic book and who should appear on the TV screen but goddamn Sarah Palin, the bane of my existence.

On display was a photo of Sister Sarah on her recent visit to Haiti for publicity and to gain legit cred for actually having visited a foreign country she can't see from her house. The caption reads: Sarah Palin visits Haiti and gains valuable foreign relations experience and humanitarian kudos. I almost spat out a hunk of onion ring! Who was writing these right-wing-leaning captions? "Valuable foreign relations experience? Humanitarian kudos?" What did she do bring them some caribou meat? BTW, I watched her dreadful reality show for maybe five minutes, it was all I could take.

I noticed a definite conservative bias in the news reporting at this Burger King. A few weeks ago while chowing down another Chicken sandwich and reading a Batman comic, there was a photo of Nancy Pelosi and the caption read something about the national deficit being this enormous, horrible number and it was due to the Democratic-controlled Congress. Who is running this newsfeed at BK? I'm almost tempted to ask the manager who gave them the programming for their flat screens. Most of it was innocuous trivia like which actor was never in a Harry Potter film or who won which Super Bowl? Anyway, if it happens again, I'm definitely asking.

Oh, and Donny made a joke about Bristol Palin during the show--Donny won Dancing with the Stars and Marie only came in third, like Bristol. Marie was saying she didn't do so badly and Donny teased her for being no better than Bristol. So he just went up in my estimation.

Batman on The Hub

2010-12-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Batman, the hit 1966-69 TV version of the comic book hero, has recently begun a run on the new cable network The Hub. Now is my chance to get all my favorite episodes on DVD. As you may know, this is probably the ONLY TV series not to be on DVD--I mean they have all five seasons of Gilligan's Island, Family Ties, The Odd Couple, HR Puffinstuff, the Brady Bunch and myriad other pieces of video crap preserved for all time, but not the Caped Crusader. It has something to do with who controls the rights. If the series were on DVD, it would make a fortune. I'm worried the reruns are snipping out little pieces here and there in order to fit in a few more commercials. Anyway, I have some episodes from when the series was on American Family Life every Fri.

My favorite episodes were from the second season when the humor was very campy but had not yet descended to the utter bizarreness of the Batgirl third season. That was when the budget was totally slashed. Anytime the script called for a set that wasn't already built--such as stately Wayne Manor, the Batcave, Commissionner Gordon's office or Barbara Gordon's apartment--they used a black void with some furniture thrown in.

The second season had such kooky villains as Egghead, The Black Widow (as played by Tallullah Bankhead), The Archer, Clock King, Ma Parker (Shelley Winters), Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, the Minstrel, etc.

Bruce Wayne lived in an adolescent world, the only recurring female character--until Batgirl showed up--was Aunt Harriet, a substitute mother for the orphaned Bruce and Dick--or a house mother in the all-male fraternity of the Batcave. Aunt Harriet is a fascinating figure. She is supposed to be the aunt of Dick Grayson. In the comic book, Dick is abandoned when his trapeze-artist parents are killed but Bruce Wayne steps in and adopted the kid. The rather patrician Mrs. Harriet Cooper doesn't seem to be the type to have acrobats in her family. The real reason Madge Blake as Mrs. Cooper was brought into the Wayne household was because it was feared a household full of men would seem too gay. Yes, sexy Madge made the Dynamic Duo seem as straight as a quiver of arrows.

If you look in the Batman comic books pre-1966, you occasionally catch a glimpse of Bruce and Dick sharing a room. Yes, they sleep in separate beds, but doesn't it seem a bit odd for a 30-ish strapping bachelor, and a millionaire to boot, to be sharing a bedroom in a huge mansion with an adoloscent boy? What did Aunt Harriet have to say about that? And didn't she get suspicious that those two were always off bird watching or fishing together? "Hello, Commissioner Gordon, can I have your child abuse deptartment?"

But I never saw any of those other levels when I watched Batman as a kid. It was an action-adventure show to me, not a campy spoof. Just now I watched the one with Sandman and Spryng Byington as J. Pauline Spaghetti. At eight, it went straight over my head that her character's name was a take-off on J. Paul Getty. But even I got tired of it in third season when they jumped the shark and added Batgirl. Still, I often think about what would have happened in a fourth season which would have happened if ABC hadn't destroyed the Batcave set after cancelling the show. NBC was willing to give the Dynamic Duo another shot, but they didn't want to spend $100,000 to build another Batcave.

I had to be satisfied with the Batman cartoons CBS was showing along with Superman, Aquaman, and other DC heroes in the early 1970s. At least in those, Aunt Harriet has mysteriously vanished. They were actually pretty good and Ted Knight did almost all the voices including Penquin, Joker, Riddler, Commissioner Gordon, the narrator, Mr. Freeze, and dozens of others. There were new weird villains including the Judge and Simon the Pieman--that was an exciting segment. The later Batman cartoons with Adam West and Burt Ward doing the voices were pretty stupid because they included Bat-Mite.

There's some much to write about Batman and I've just scracthed the Bat-surface.

The Amazing Race 17--Episode 10--Nick Shows His True Colors

2010-11-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

After the most exciting and exotic episode of season 17 of The Amazing Race, we returned to familiar terrority this week--Hong Kong, a city we've been too at least three or four times, and one I've actually been to once. I distinctly remember a leg in this city in season two when teams had to find the White Star Line ferry and then find a fortune teller in a crowded market. Then in the season with the Asian-American father/daughter team weren't they here again and didn't they have to chauffeur some people and then find a real bouquet amid a store full of fakes? Or was that Tokyo? If I had my book about the Amazing Race--"My Ox Is Broken"--I could look it up, but I left it upstate.

Anyway, the main take-away from Episode 10 is that Nick is a jerk. At first I kinda liked this team because they didn't take themselves too seriously and admitted they were dumber than a bag of hammers. But then Nick started getting crankypants and nasty to Vicki. This week was too much, after bawling her out for missing the ferry because of her ashthma, laughing when Claire threw up, letting Vicki do all the work of eating all that sushi, he basically gave up on the sampan challenge and went to sleep leaving Vicki to keep searching for the number matching their bird cage. He quit just like Sarah Palin while his poor girlfriend who did not give up even after tossing her cookies, was still trying. I knew it was a non-elimination leg because there were still two episodes left before the finale, so the ending of this episode came as no surprise. They will probably luck out and there will be some kind of time equalizer in Korea. Nick is wrong; they are the luckiest team on the race. This is the second time they were saved because of a non-elimination. They will have to fly to get to Seoul, it's not a long flight. I took it when my Dad and I were on our big around-the-world trip in 1996.

Other observations this week: Jill and Thomas have NOTHING to be ashamed of for U-turning Brooke and Claire. Thomas is right, it's all part of the game and Team Home Shopping should take it as a compliment that they were seen as such a threat. Jill and Thomas made a serious mistake by taking the trolley rather than the sampan, but they realized their mistake and took the other roadblock quickly. I knew it would be harder to find three neon signs amid the glittering jungle of Hong Kong rather than locating a series of numbers on all those boats. That's only one serial number instead of three clues and you don't even know what you're looking for.
I think it's going to come down to Jill and Thomas vs. Nat and Kat. Claire will hold Brooke back.

Day 18--Wait for night flight from Dhaka to Singapore to Hong Kong, leaves 8 PM.
Day 19--Arrive Hong Kong, probably mid-day, challenges into the the late night, 4AM for Nick and Vicki

Oh and BTW, if Bristol Palin were the best dancer on Dancing With the Stars, I would have said she deserved to win, but she wasn't so she deserved to lose, regardless of her family and politics.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (19)--Supergirl and Superhorse: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Naaaah-me

2010-11-26T10:08:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I acquired the largest haul of my comic book collecting career, several hundred comics from the early 1960s into the 1970s, almost all of them DC. I was at a birthday party for a neighbor when I started chatting with another neighbor. I mentioned my collecting craze. It turned out she had all her comic books from when she was a little girl and wanted to get rid of them to clean out her storage space. She wanted them to go to a good home and didn't want to have to drag them to a dealer. So I volunteered to take them off her hands.

My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I say she had four boxes stuffed to the gills with Silver Age stuff. I did have quite a lot of them already, but many I did not including a lot of Teen Titans, Aquaman, Green Lanterns, Inferior Fives, etc. We agreed on a price and with my granny shopping cart, hauled them back to my place. I haven't been able to read much else since--I did finish Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow and The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion, both short novels which did not interrupt the flow of Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen. I also postponed my reading of the Fantastic Fours I had recently acquired, deciding to take a break from Marvel's nonstop soap opera of the past few decades.

Among the stories I had not read before where several of Supergirl's adventures. She was the second feature in Action Comics for many years before migrating over to Adventure. Hers is in interesting saga reflecting the shifting attitudes towards women in American society. When she lands on Earth after surviving the desctruction of Argo City, she is 15 and her cousin Superman decides she is not ready to start serving mankind. She must be his secret emergency weapon and hide as an orphan. the idea of a Superwoman equally as powerul as Superman was too alien and threatening a concept for the DC creative team. If there is a female superbeing, she must be a girl, not a grown woman. Later she is sprung on an unsuspecting public, but unlike her manly cousin, the maid of might is suspectable to female failings, like romance.

In one of the weirdest relationships in comics, Supergirl acquires a pet Superhorse. You know the stereotype that all girls love horses, right? Well, this one is special, and not just because he has superpowers. Comet the Superhorse is actually a centaur from ancient Greece transformed into a full horse by a magic spell from an evil wizard. Circe the sorceress cannot reverse the spell but takes pity on him and grants him the powers of the gods like flying and superstrength. He time travels to the present and Supergirl adopts him. She is unaware of his unnatural attraction to her--he is really half-human after all. When a certain comet is within earth's orbit, the spell is broken and Comet can become a man. He assumes the guise of a cowboy and Supergirl in her secret identity of Linda Lee falls in love with him. The implications of interspecies love are lost to the comic writers. Fortunately, the comet leaves Earth's orbit and Comet reverts back to being all horse. What kind of children would they have had?? Though he is telepathic, Comet never reveals his true feelings for his human mistress. Sick, I know.

More on Supergirl: The mighty Supergirl later forgets about Superhorse. Later comics in the early 1970s reveal another weird shift in her depiction. Just as the Women's Liberation movement is gaining power, DC removed Supergirl's full strength. She falls victim to a plot by a female villainess named Starfire who arranges to have a superpower-depriving pill slipped to her by a handsome stud--again she is tricked by her female weakness for love. As a result, her superpowers come and go. Interestngly just a year or two earlier Wonder Woman lost her powers and become mortal, opening a mod fashion shop and becoming a judo expert. It's no coincidence that DC decided to weaken its two strongest female heroes just as real women were becoming more powerful and demanding to be given equal rights.

There are many more observations serious and otherwise to come based on this gigantic comic haul.

The Un-Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

This year my partner Jerry and I were too exhausted to do anything for Thanksgiving, even cook. He had major surgery five weeks ago and is just now getting back to his old self. Plus I seemed to have more than the usual amount of stuff to do at work such as interviewing the stars of The King's Speech, putting together a panel of casting directors for Back Stage and the SAG Foundation, and covering a lot of shows. (There were more than usual for this time of year.) Jerry had spent that time recuperating, and we haven't even thought about the usual holiday stuff like what kind of turkey to get or should we invite anyone over. We finally decided to come up to our country place in upstate NY and do nothing for the whole weekend. We drove up on Tues. night.

The only work involved doing a phone interview with Guy Pearce to complete the King's Speech article (see previous blog on the interviews with Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth; I had spoken to Geoffrey Rush on the phone from Australia already). It was difficult to arrange, but the only time he could give me was the day before Thanksgiving. Pearce called my cellphone from Serbia where he is filming a sci-fi action picture with an international crew.

On Thanksgiving Day itself, our plan was to eat out and see a movie. We didn't even have the energy to cook our own meal. The day was overcast, we just relaxed and watched the Macy's Parade which was interesting because this year they seemed to consciously include more multicultural entertainment including an Indian dance troupe doing a salute to Bollywood and a Latino troupe doing a wild extravangza. The rest of the day I put in the storm windows for our enclosed porch and sealed the air conditioner so the back room wouldn't be drafty, then read Supergirl comics and playscripts--I'm on a committee to chose the best new play produced outside of NYC. It was strange not to be smelling cranberries or stuffing, but it was also nice to just be and not have to make an effort for the holiday.

The plan was to eat at the local Chinese restaurant and go to Unstoppable with Denzel Washington which had received good reviews for an action picture. We figured they would be open--but no, they were closed along with every other eatery around. If he had stayed in the city, we would have found something open, but up here there was nothing. I wasn't so much worried about not having a nice dinner in a restaraunt, but not getting any dinner at all. Finally, we settled on buying some sandwiches at Walmart. Yes, Walmart, the only establishment open. It was kinda weird being in the deli section of the half-empty super Walmart with employees there away from their families and a handful of customers getting a head start on their Christmas shopping. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with potato salad while Jerry had a turkey wrap. BTW, I ate a frozen turkey dinner for lunch so it wasn't totally untraditional. We eat our makeshift dinner along with potato chips and diet coke in the car and then drove to the movie. I wasn't upset or depressed we had such a non-holiday meal, it was fine. The important thing was we were together. We both were just so tired it was easier not to observe the holiday and regard it as a nice day off from all responsibilities.

The Amazing Race 17--Episode 9--Double U-Turn in Dhaka

2010-11-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

This was the best Amazing race episode for this season. We were in an exotic and bizarre location (Dhaka, Bangladesh), the tasks were pretty challenging, teams yelled at each other while carrying bricks, and there was a double U-turn. At first I thought they were going to spend too much time at the airport, but even that usually boring sequence turned out to be pretty good when Chad was slupring on his Blizzard ("I didn't get enough graham crackers in the crust") while Jill and Thomas were smart enough not to be satisified with being on the same flight as everybody else and finding an earlier one to Bangladesh. Then the punk rockers actually showed some brains and worked to get an earlier flight, too. Though they booked one behind Jill and Thomas they were still way ahead of the other three teams.

In Bangladesh, we were introduced to a new innovation--the Double U-turn. Jill and Thomas U-turned Team Home Shopping which kinda surprised me. I do think they should have U-turned someone, unlike some other people on the internet who are saying they should have skipped it like Nick and Vicki did later because they were seven hours ahead of everyone else and there was no way anyone else was going to catch them. But it was an important strategic move if they wanted to get rid of a competitive team. I would have U turned Chad and Stephanie as the doctors later did. I don't think Brooke and Claire were as big a threat as those two. But I do have to hand it to the salesladies, the blonde pushed the one who had gotten the melon in her face in leg one really hard and they wound up neck and neck with the other teams even though they had to go all the way back to the dock and haul bricks.

Another thing I liked about this episode was that it was action packed. Even getting the first clue involved performing a task--squeezing out the juice from those bamboo things and then drinking a whole glass of it. Then they had to deliver food to a ship or haul bricks, then build a rickshaw. It all looked really tough. The doctors did the right thing in taking the second U turn and giving it to Chad and Stephanie. They had no choice. If they didn't they would have been eliminated for sure. They're just lucky the punk rockers didn't use their U turn. I'm not sad Chad and Stephanie are eliminated, but I will miss Chad's meltdowns. He was never as crazy as some of the classic Amazing Race temper tantrum throwers like Jonathan who pushed his wife in Berlin I think it was or that couple who cried when they go eliminated in Hong Kong and the guy said "I feel like our relationship just died."

Now it's looking like Jill and Thomas are the team to beat unless Brooke can drag Claire's tired ass over the finish line. I do admire Team Home Shopping, but I don't think they can beat Jill and Thomas.

Day 16--Head for airport in Muscat, book flights to Dhaka
Day 17--Arrive Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Amazing Race 17--Episodes 6, 7, and 8--Stuck in Russia

2010-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

After two weeks in St. Petersburg, things finally heated up on the most recent leg of The Amazing Race. For the second time this season, we were stuck in the same city for two legs. Talk about budget cuts. Previously we hung around Accra, Ghana, now we had to mark time in St. Petersburg, a city we've visited in previous races. There were actually difficult challenges in Russia especially the classic music versus classic film one. As soon as they showed the roomful of pianos all playing different pieces, I said to msyelf, "They'll never get this." I recognized Pictures at an Exhibition, it was the theme for Cinema 13. But unbelievably Chad and Stephanie stuck to it and got it while other teams gave up despite Chad's existential despair--"I wish we could go back in time and never have picked this challenge."

The second St. Petersburg episode was actually pretty exciting with the outcome hanging by a matter of minutes and how much of a penalty the father-son team would incur. BTW, there is nothing wrong with Nick's lying at the Russian mystery roadblock. I had DVRed the episode and Undercover Boss, the next show, because of the frequent football-related delays. But this week, wouldn't you know it, goddamn football ran over by one hour and about five minutes! I didn't tape the show after Undercover Boss, so just as the camera is showing who's about to be eliminated, the sign comes on to save or delete the show. Now do I have to tape NCI or CSI or whatever it is that follows Undercover Boss? Fortunately, I was able to catch the outcome online. The father and son took a cab when they weren't supposed to and were panalized a whole 30 mins., allowing Chad and Stephanie to step in.

Episode 8 had the six remaining teams FINALLY getting out of Russia to Muscat, Oman, a totally new and exciting location. I love it when spoiled Americans are totally out of their comfort zones. Camera-hog Chad proposed to Stephanie on national TV while Nick screamed at Vicki for letting slip some info at a gas station. Miss Perky Kentucky lost her sparkle as she and Dad got lost on the way to the first task. I hope it doesn't boil down to a race between the newly engaged couple--so cute that their subtitle changed, is that a first?--and the Notre Dame guy and the Cosmetology Univ. grad. That would be so cliched, the young fit heterosexual couple winning, especailly when the producers obviously went to so mcuh trouble to get strong all-female teams. I would have no problem with Team Home Shopping winning, or the doctors, but both are behind. BTW, what is this rule you aren't allowed to pay a cab to lead you somehwere? This cost Thomas and Jill first place. Was it conspiracy to get Chad and Steph a honeymoon trip to Belize, especially after oversleeping by three hours?

Next week, or tonight actually, I am that far behind, we get the first ever double U-turn and the spoiled Americans go even further into the third world in Bangladesh which I'm sure makes Accra look like Beverly Hills.

Day 9--Drive to train station in Norway, 8:30 PM
Day 10--Train to Stockholm to get flight to St. Petersburgh
Day 11--Arrive in St. Petersburgh, film vs. music, babushka potato digging
Day 12--Circus challenge, Russian mystery
Day 13--Fly from St. Petersburg to Oman
Day 14--Arrive Oman at night
Day 15--Enter the fort, Chad proposes, day of challenges, repelling, delivering water, etc.

Crazy Monday

2010-11-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Monday was kind of a crazy day. I arrived at the Regency Hotel to interview Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in connection with their new film The King's Speech. To my surprise, the whole block was cordoned off with a police barricade and there was an X-ray machine and a metal detector in front of the entrance. I had been to the Regency a few times in the past to see cabaret shows at Michael Feinstein's club, but there was never a security check, not even for Mitzi Gaynor. So to get in the building I had to give the police my bag for the X-ray machine and walk through the metal detector just like at the airport. I later heard the reason for the heavy duty security was Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, was staying at the hotel.

The interview went well. I was given about 20 minutes with the very tall Mr. Firth and ten minutes with Miss Bonham Carter who I think had a cold. She sat curled up on the sofa of her hotel suite wearing clunky glasses and the same jewelry she had on in The Hollywood Reporter cover shoot, clutching a stuffed animal and sipping tea her publicist had brought her. She graciously asked if I wanted anything, but I figured I would be in and out of there so fast, I wouldn't have time for more than a sip of anything. Geoffrey Rush was supposed to be on the junket with his co-stars, but he was still filming Pirates of the Caribbean part 37 which went overschedule.

The whole thing took about 30 minutes. Then back to the office. That night I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt I was at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, but I was locked out of my hotel room and no one had a schedule of the plays. I wandered through the theatre trying to figure out which plays were performing when and what I had reservations for, but no one knew. Finally, I found my way to the first play which starred Kathy Griffin and Derek Jacobi. What do you think that means? Don't answer that, except with comments--I never get any. Please, leave your interpretations of the dream.

Project Runway Season 8: Finale--Miscarriage of Justice

2010-11-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

A week later I finally caught up with the Project Runway finale and did my imitation of Edvard Munch's The Scream when the winner was announced. All I can say is Tim Gunn was right about the judges smoking crack. What happened between the stand-off between the Nina Garcia-Michael Kors faction and the Heidi-Jessica Simpson alliance when they said they were deadlocked and then Gretchen being declared the winner? Did Nina say, "Jessica is only a guest judge and Michael and I are more important"? I was really stunned because Mondo definitely deserved to win. The two people who would actually be wearing the clothes--Heidi and Jessica--favored Mondo, but Michael and Nina were saying Gretchen's snoozefest would sell more easily at the local J.C. Penny's.

This does not make any sense and is totally inconsistant with past seasons. Last year, for instance, the judges crowned Seth Aaron's Third Reich parade in front of Der Feurher over Emilio's very wearable and pretty collection. Nina even said in the reunion show when Emilio tearfully asked why he lost that his was a "line" rather than a collection, meaning it was too everyday. Gretchen's was definitely everyday while Mondo's was a wild, fun party--so what if it was too young, Nina. Then there was Katho whose stylish yet flattering looks lost to that shy girl--can't remember her name--with the art-school concept-y wave things. (I did like them but who would wear them except to a costume party?) And let's not forget Christian's all-black, high-couture whacky train wreck with those enormous hats. I can just see wearing one of those to the Pathmark. Obviously, Michael and Nina decided being on-trend and safe was more important this time than taking a risk.

I think the real reason for their choice was those two were pissed off that Mondo did not listen to them about the circus and kept the headpieces and the bubble dress which everybody else including Heidi thought was fabulous. They rewarded Gretchen for listening to them by heightening the styling. They praised the styling but doesn't that say that the clothes themselves need help?

IMHO, Gretchen had one or two nice outfits you could wear while shopping on a summer day in Darien, Conn. or to an afternoon tea party on Cape Cod. Mondo's looks were exciting and different and definitely his own. Gretchen's were bland and that jewelry was meh. As Heidi said, it's a fashion show, not a jewelry show.

And what were those voluminous cargo pants Andy was wearing? He had some cute outfits, but they were too similar--his models looks like high-fashion elves with all that green and those star headthingies.

The Amazing Race 17--Episode 5--No Love or Hate

2010-10-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's getting hard to work up any enthuiasm for this season of The Amazing Race. As noted in the last blog, there's no one to hate or love. The cutie-pie Glee nerds are gone--I know they were a couple, I just know it! Team Home Shopping aren't obnoxious enough to despise or grating enough to be annoying. Though I do notice the blonde always has the darker-hair one do the challenges, even after the latter got smashed in the face with a melon on the first episode. And like Blanche Devereaux, they will use any excuse to kiss any male, even the tractor guy in England who told them how to get to Heathrow--you would think they would have looked it up the night before. The tattooed bikers are too dumb to hate and they admit their stupidity. Chad is not arrogant enough to develop any strong emotions for. Miss Kentucky is a tad too perky for me. The volleyball girls were so bland I didn't even notice when they got eliminated this week. The father and son are OK I guess, but I got a little riled last week when their speed bump consisted of sitting on giant ice cubes for ten minutes. These speed bumps get easier and easier every year. And whoever heard of a non-elimination leg in the third episode??? That's a new one.

But I digress, this week we saw more evidence of the producers' cheapness by having the contestants drive an hour or two from Swedish Lapland to Norway rather than fly somewhere. The Notre Dame grad bragged about how many gondolas he'd been in while his costmetology-school girlfriend shrank with shame at never having been in one either airborne or on the water. They took the gondola all the way up to some mountain just to get their clue. What a letdown. The doctors took the fast forward--probably the only one on the race, remember when every leg had one? Fast Forward, we hardly knew ye.

While driving to the ff location, the non-diabetic doctor kept saying how she hoped it wasn't an eating challenge since she's a vegetarian. Doesn't she watch the show? Every season there's a gross eating challenge of some kind--tons of caviar, wasabe bombs, crickets, cow lips, etc. She shouldn't have been all surprised when they were presented with the chewy, gummy sheep's head to munch on. In the promos, they built it up as this big deal, but she just eat it with a minimum of fuss.

Having won the ff, they took first place. Then the best part came when Mr. and Mrs. biker chick went for it too and couldn't figure out what "taken" meant. What school you go at? Rule 1 of the Amazing Race: If you are in sixth place, do NOT go for the Fast Forward. It's probably already been taken (and if you don't know what that word means, I have a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell you) and you will lose valuable time.

Instead of a fun ski down the mountain, the remaining teams had the boring tasks of repelling off a bridge and inching back up, riding bicycles and remembering what color their lock was or taking a boat ride to deliver fish and a buzzsaw. Yawn! Lots of time wasted getting lost and watching Notre Dame yell at Cosmetics U.

At least next week, we get on a plane and head for Russia to see some vodka-soaked peasants make fun of the clumsy Americans.

Day 8--Drive from Swedish Lapland to Norway

Catching Up with Reality--Project Runway, The Amazing Race and The A List

2010-10-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Real life has kept me from keeping up with reality TV. Project Runway is almost over and the Amazing Racers have run from Ghana to the Arctic Circle. Plus those shallow idiots on the A List New York are hot for the most part, but what a waste of pecs. All they do is bitch about what big fame whores the others are and which restaurants they can get into. They're all pretty ridic. Even I, a fame whore if ever there was one, got tired of them after one episode.

Project Runway is just about wrapped up with the final three chosen and fashion week just a few days away. I felt glad for Tim who got to visit Hawaii this time on his home visits. Usually he winds up in some unexotic place like Portland. I just finished reading his new book and he spent a great deal of time in Asia when he was working at Parsons so he must have been to Hawaii at some point. Anyway, he was visiting Andy who had done hardly anything since his textiles hadn't arrived from Laos until a few days ago. He talked a good game, but the results were disappointing for me. What was up with that bikini cape thing? The model looked like she had escaped from Victoria's Secret.

I loved it when Nina called Gretchen's samples from her collection Crunchy Granola. I thought what Gretchen was wearing was a lot chicer and more interesting than anything on her models. Her new look was drab--that green,ugh--and resembled a potato sack. Mondo was the only one who was totally safe. I loved his polka-dot evening gown. Even the little headdresses that Nina and Michael thought were too circus-y I thought worked. I would have aufed either Andy or Gretchen rather than Michael C. The main complaint seemed to be that his clothes were all the same color. That's not so bad. He reacted like they were killing his baby when he lost. "What am I gonna tell my family," he moaned. There seems to be a lot of backstory there what with the kid and the partner and the unsupportive parents who think he should be a truck driver or something. He seems to have been married before then came out as both gay and a fashion desinger.

Meanwhile on the Amazing Race, the budget cuts showed when the teams stayed in Accra, Ghana for two episodes. I really hoped the cute Glee nerds would stay. They showed their intelligence by being the only team to figure out the word-search challenge, but then Johnny's lack of athletic skill tripped them up in Sweden.

I figured out why there are so many blondes. They are probably getting a lot of pressure for an all-female team to win. So they've got a lot of strong women who just happen to be blonde. I think Team Salesmanship has the best chance to take it and I don't hate them. I don't hate any team this season and that takes some of the fun out of it. I guess the only one I kinda hate is the buff boyfriend guy cause he's been so arrogant, but he's not that bad--so I don't hate him like I hated Rob and Amber or the frat boys who lost to the hippies.

Here's a quick summary and if I feel like it I'll go deeper into episodes 2,3, and 4, but it's late and episode 5 is tomorrow, so I'll try to give a better blog on that one.

Day 3--Drive to London, six-hour flight to Accra, Ghana

Day 4--Arrive Accra, sell sunglasses, etc.

Day 5--Remain in Accra, Glee nerds win

Day 6--Flight to Frankfurt

Day 7--Arrive in Lapland

Fashion Observations

2010-10-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Maybe I've watched too many episodes of Project Runway, but I recently noticed a weird fashion situation on an old Golden Girls. It was the one where Dorothy and Blanche bought the same dress and both refused to return it. It was a long flowing, drapey number in champagne. Dorothy looked great because she is so tall. On the other hand all those folds made the shorter Blanche look squat, heavy--and heaven forbid--matronly. The thing is Blanche would have known that and not picked a dress that concealed her best features.

Then to compound the mistake, Blanche bought another dress--the same one Sophia picked. It was fine for an 80-year-old, but Blanche never would have chosen a navy blue outfit with sequins and a giant bow on the neckline.

Also on the subway today I saw this Asian woman who had a perfect look--great black boots, black bag, and a neat white jacket. Her Lina Wertmuller glasses with thick gray frames set the whole thing off.

Then tonight I watched Fashion Police on E! and the stylist George with some Greek last name had a really cute outfit with a gray print shirt and a vest, and a nice tie. The new trend was nerdy glasses. Maybe next time I'll get those instead of my thin frames.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (18)--A Pro at Two Cons

2010-10-16T22:07:00.001-07:00

It's been too long since my last blog post. A lot has been happening--there was a major event I had to organize for work followed by one of my collegues taking a long vacation, then me getting a sinus infection, etc. But enough whining. There were two bright spots--Big Apple Con Oct. 2, followed by Comic Con on Oct. 9. Last year, these two cons threatened to be held on the same weekend this year, but Big Apple Con backed off on that game of chicken and was a week earlier. Holding it in the Penn Plaza made it seem small compared to last year's huge event at Chelsea Piers. There was the usual washed-up celebs selling their autographs and photos to make their Medicare payments--Lee Majors, Adam West, Burt Ward, all three of the Brady boys, one of the kids from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Richard Anderson, Majors' co-star from 6 Million Dollar Man, even Oscar nominee Mary McDonnell.

The comic book pickings were pretty lean, I hoped a lot of dealers were waiting for Comic Con the following week. There was one dealer from Virginia who has some good deals with lots of Silver Age books at about $4-$5. One guy had plenty of stuff for $1; it was all Bronze Age and I was able to fill out the Fantastic Four holes.

The following week I got to Comic Con at the Javitz Center and there had to be at least 20,000 people. There weren't as many people in costume or as many interesting panels as previous years. I did see some repeat costumed people, like the same Batgirl, Black Canary and Green Arrow as at last year's Big Apple Con.

My friend Diane was there and she turned out to be a MacGyver when her sandal broke and she fixed it with a paper clip. The only celeb we saw was Carroll Spinney who plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

There were plenty of familiar superheroes including lots of Catwomen, Supermen, and Spidermen. There was one guy who had a giant inflatible TARDIS from Doctor Who on his head. But the coolest outfits had to belong to two fellows we encountered once we left the con and started to head to Ninth Ave. in search of a restaurant. They were Unemployed Man and the Master of Degrees, promoting their own graphic novel (pictured above). I asked if the guy in the college grad gown if he was supposed to be Mastermind, a villain from Justice League of America # 28 The Case of the Forbidden Superpowers, who dressed in a college cap and gown to denote his superior brain.

There were lots of great buys at Comic Con and I didn't spend any more than $3 on a book. I did buy Action #368 without realizing I already had it and that the copy was damaged with a rip through all the pages. On top of that I thought I was going to pay $1 for it, but the dealer said "That's a $2 book, it wound up in the $1 box." I should have said, "But it's in the $1 box, so I should have it for a buck." Too late now. The highlights were finding lots of Jack Kirby Capt. Americas, and some good Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes.

The Amazing Race 17--Season Premiere--Too Many Blondes

2010-09-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

There are just too many blondes on this season of The Amazing Race. In addition to the obvious blonde beach volleyball players (zoom in on the cleavage as she zooms in for the ball), there's the blonde doctor, the blonde home-shopping host, the blonde Miss Kentucky, and two of the girlfriends in the heterosexual couples are blonde. That's seven blondes--and they all look alike. I can't tell them apart. What is going on? Did CBS send out a memo to the producers reading "We're losing the young straight males, make sure you hire plenty of bimbos next season." (It's just a joke, so no letters please. But do comment if you're offended, blondes. I have a total of 152 posts and maybe 7 comments.)

Anyway, stupid football ran long again so I had to record Undercover Boss. It's too early to pick favorites, but I love the nerdy glee team. Jonathan is so adorable and I feel I could invite them and the two African-American guys from the cast of the Wiz over for a Golden Girls and Designing Women marathon, if you catch my drift. I like the Tattooed Couple too because they admit they're stupid and may look bad ass but are totally humble. Chad and Stephanie think they're badass but got totally humbled when they allowed the nerds to beat them in the turtleshell boat challenge and then dropped three places in the race to the pit stop when they got lameass lost.

Overall, this was an exciting beginning with lots of challenges and an unexpected twist with the Express Pass-but if they explained it one more time I would have screamed (at the same volume as if they had had said "Throw him under the bus" on Project Runway one more time.) There are too many similar teams with no enough variations. They're all too young and perky--the dads are the only older people and they're probably my age or younger (early 50s). It looks like they're going to new locations. They have been to London before, but not Stonehenge and next week it's off to Ghana. So they are not staying in safe, comfortable Europe, but heading straight into the third world right away and giving everyone cultural shock in the second episode. PLus, it's a loong flight from London to Accra, the Ghanese capital, so it looks like they are making good on their promise to make this one of the most grueling races ever.

Day 1--Gloucester, Mass to Logan airport in Boston

Day 2--Arrive London, drive to Stonehenge, then Castle in Tewksbury

Winners--Jill and Thomas--bland white het couple,loot: Express Pass.

Project Runway Season 8: Episodes 8 and 9: Battle for Most Hideous

2010-09-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

The designers should know by now that if they are given two days for a challenge, there's going to be a big twist coming. For Episode 9 they had to create a whole second look--ready to wear based on their couture design. Ironically Michael C. whom everyone thinks is a lousy craftsman was already almost finished with his burgundy train wreck. So he was in the clear. It's also funny that even though he was in the bottom, the judges still said it was a well-made train wreck while Ivy and Valerie, the nasty naysayers of Michael C. from Team Luxe, had crappily made train wrecks. Ivy's was really bad with this blue material that looked like crepe paper sloppily attached. It looked like a little girl's Halloween costume. Valerie wasn't much better. I liked the outfit she was wearing better. She cried because she was saved rather than Ivy.

Last week was confusion city behind the scenes according the Tim Gunn's vlog--which was taken off of Facebook, did you notice that? The producers originally had Tim report to a dance studio for a dance-based challenge and no one was there! After some frantic calls, he reported to some historical gallery where they were to do the Jackie O challenge. And even that was screwed up because they wanted American sportswear and according to Tim, she mostly wore European sportswear.

Anyway, Ivy redeemed herself, temporarily with a sheer top and flowing pantsuit. I loved the asymmetrical neckline. But she slipped up this week and now is gone.

Project Runway Season 8: Episode 7--The Last Resort

2010-09-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

The highlight of this week's Project Runway was seeing Tim Gunn in a full business suit on that boat while the designers looked like a whore convention, especially Andy who resembled a Native American slut bucket with that Mohawk and Cher ear jewelry. The challenge was to create a resortwear outfit. The twist was they had to have another designer execute their look and vice versa. That's a good idea in fact, because a big time designer does not sew his or her own dresses. Can you imagine Betsy Johnson or Vivian Westwood at a sewing machine? I think not.

It appeared Michael C. was like the kid who always gets picked last for volleyball. In spite of his two wins, no one wanted him because if his alleged poor skills. But Mondo realized he wasn't so bad and they bonded, actually hugging by the end with Mondo apologizing for being such a bitch--I can't picture Gretchen or Ivy doing such a thing. Speaking of Ivy, she should have been the one to have been ripped off the walls (that's a pun on her name, hon). She can't blame Michael D. for her poor choice of fabrics or her ho-hum design. Her model looked like a protester at an Earth Day demonstration in 1971. That color was so blah and the blouse looked like a moo-moo on Kathy Griffin's mom (OK that was probably Michael D.'s fault, but what the hell.)

The bottom two were Ivy and Casanova, and though Casanova's work would have more appropriate for Rue McClanahan at a Florida cocktail party for seniors than at a beach in San Paolo, at least it had a certain amount of flair. And why does Casanova rate an entire clip montage when he's auffed? He wasn't that charismatic. I did like Andy's sexy bathing suit and wrap over April's punk baby doll. I loved Michael D.'s piece esp. with the asymmetrical back, I think those are always interesting.

Ivy is going down soon. I think it's interesting that all the people at the top in early episodes like Gretchen and Valerie are now in the middle most of the time and people on the bottom previously like April and Michael D. are coming out on top.

And if I hear the phrase "throwing him under the bus" one more time, I'll scream. Can't they come up with another way to describe backstabbing? How about, kicking him in the bajangas?

Project Runway 8--The Story So Far

2010-09-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

I've been on vacation for most of August and catching up with work, so I haven't had a chance to comment on the new season of Project Runway. After viewing episode six in real time, I am finally up to date. Since we are now about halfway through the series, I wondered if it was even worth it to start talking about it here, but rather than go over each episode, I'll give my impressions of the first six here and then go episode by episode.

In his vlog Tim Gunn said he thought the judges were smoking crack this season because of some of their wacky decisions and I have to agree with him. In the very first episode they kept Jason and Casanova who made monstrosities and kept McKale whose look was rather cute. I believe they were told by the producers, "Jason is a straight guy and we need at least one and Casanova is a major drama queen, so he'll be this season's Santino. Keep them and ditch the vanilla girl.Besides we'll send her back to her baby at home and that will make us look good." (Although I only found out about that from Tim's vlog.)

In the second episode, the judges continued with their crack-smoking by choosing Gretchen as the winner when it should have been Valerie. Gretchen's jump suit was clean but not as exciting as Valerie's. And thank God they got rid of Jason who blamed being a straight guy in a gay man's world for his shortcomings. His silver Lost in Space uniform with the safetypins was obviously a piece of crap. But why did they have to get rid of two people that week? I do like having as many designers as possible--I think 17 is the most they've ever had. I also like to 90-minute format, it gives more time for Tim's critiques.

The party challenge was fun and I thought Michael C.'s flamenco dress from plastic cups was very pretty. Maybe he's not the best seamstress, but he does have good taste and good ideas--in spite of everyone else's mean attitude towards him. The African-American woman's (forgot her name, too lazy to look it up) dress was a real mess--the hem was awful--and I was surprised she wasn't on the bottom. Did they want to get rid of one of the two tall blondes that time?

I had to agree with the judges somewhat on the hat challenge. Christopher's heavy hostess outfit was a bit much, but it did not deserve to be in the bottom. Michael C.'s Hispanic spitfire gown was a little simple, but it work with the hat. I thought the other Michael's farmer-sun thing looked like cardboard.

Then it was the clusterfuck of Team Luxe versus the Misfit Toys and their military lace collection which I loved. It was cohesive and unified without hitting you over the head--or "matchy-matchy" as Nina likes to say. Gretchen took the cake in backstabbing. I couldn't believe the whole tearful team vow not to betray each other and then as soon as they get on the runway they throw Michael C. under the bus because he has immunity. He proceeds to cry like a little girl. Bravo to Tim for ripping Gretchen a new one.

Michael C. shocked everyone again with his slutty remake of the bridesmaid's outfit.
But how much longer will he be able to get by the judges?

Mexico-Las Vegas-Utah-Arizona

2010-08-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the past few blogs, I had limited access to the internet while I was on vacation. I'm now back home and can finally catch up with everything including all that reality TV--the finale of Work of Art and all of the new Project Runway. I had only seen the first episode and I need to see the next five to bring myself up to date, not to mention the final two episodes of Doctor Who. I'll tackle all of that in separate blogs.

The trip was fun and unusual, slightly marred by my headaches caused by my getting used to new glasses (I'm still having problems, but a recent visit to the opthamologist may finally resolve the situation.)

We flew to Mexico City to visit friends who live there and then drove with them to Malenalco where they have a second home. We stayed there for a few days during which we drove to Taxco, a beautiful town specializing in silver. Very hilly, like a European resort. It was really pretty. We had a mini-Carmen Miranda festival, watching DVDs of two of her movies. Interesting that she was never the star, always the comic relief with one or two big numbers featured all that fruit on her head. Ironically in "Doll Face," the best number was "She Was Always True to the Navy" which was cut from the film--featuring Carmen with a lighthouse on her head.

The we flew to Las Vegas. We had been there once before, staying at a sleazy motel. but now we decided to splurge and stay at Caesar's Palace. We lucked out and got a suite with an amazing view of the strip, right across from the Flamingo where Donnie and Marie were playing. We swam in the luxurious pool, used the jacuzzi in the room, ordered cocktails from room service (They didn't send the order of nuts, but the waiter told us it would ahve been $25). While walking on the strip I saw several bridal parties and three people getting arrested.

From the center of man-made splendor, we drove to natural wonders in Utah (passing several billboards advertising the services of lawyers). Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon were breathtaking. We finished the trip in Arizona visiting Jerry's sister and her partner who had a summer home in a resort area called Lakeside.

The vacation came to a mixed ending when our rental car went over a big rock in the Salt River Canyon. It caused a bad oil leak and luckily we found an open garage in Globe, AZ. (It was Sunday morning.) We had to get a cab to the Phoenix airport and we just made our flight back. But we had a great time.

Hoodoos In Utah; Papers in Arizona

2010-08-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

(LAKESIDE, AZ) We crossed the border from Utah to Arizona and were not stopped to show our papers, so the new law must be ineffective. We travelled the Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, staying at the Thunderbird Lodge in Mt. Carmel Junction. Breathtaking scenery of gigantic cliffs and mesas and hoodoos--what the hell is a hoodoo you ask? Wasn't that the villainous magician played by Charles Nelson Reilly on that awful Sid and Marty Krofft kids' show called Lidsville? Actually a hoodoo is a standing piece of rock carved out by years of erosion. We asked a ranger where the phrase came from and he said someone in the 1880s just started calling them that. It derives from voodoo and black magic. It's supposed to be a spell. Anyway, after driving out of Utah, we entered Arizona to visit with Jerry's sister who has a summer place here.

I will have to give you a more thorough account of the trip with pictures once I have downloaded them from my camera, but we did not bring our laptop. Over the last few days I've gotten a little cold, so I'm taking it easy today by just resting here at the Holiday Inn Express. I watched the beginning of Sea of Grass with Hepburn and Tracy but got bored with it and I think I'd seen it before. So then I watched Divorce Court and an episode of Law & Order. My glasses are still bothering me so I couldn't read too much, just a few pages of Atlas Shrugged. I did still in the hotel hot tub and felt relaxed.

More Vacation

2010-08-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

(MOUNT CARMEL JUNCTION, UTAH) I'm typing this in the lobby of the Best Western Thunderbird Lodge in Mt. Carmel Junction, UT. After a week in Mexico, we flew to Las Vegas, then rented a car and drove through Nevada to a little bit of Arizona to Utah. We spent the afternoon at Zion National Park and then drove here where we had a reservation.

I didn't expect to like Vegas as much as I did. The last time we were there we stayed in a crummy motel right out of "Leaving Las Vegas" with Nicholas Cage. We had a suite at Caesar's Palace--We lucked out because it wsa only for one night and we were first time guests. There was a lovely view of the giant sign of Donny and Marie at the Flamingo across the street. While walking on the strip I saw three people getting arrested and several brides. I will fill in with more later. My headaches are still here and I'm limiting my computer time.

Gays, Muslims, and Illegal Immigrants: The New Axis of Evil

2010-08-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

It´s a strange coincidence that Prop 8 was overturned and landmark status was denied to the future site of a Muslim community center and mosque a few blocks away from Ground Zero in Manhattan on the same day. Both actions infuriated elements of the right wing and for the same reason--they demonstrate the legitimacy of the Other in America and that scares them.

By these decisions, gays and Muslims are deemed equal to straights and Christians in the eyes of American jurisprudence--not barely tolerated, marginal figures, but morally equal citizens, entitled to live openly and practise their religion anywhere.

The generation over 50 will be the last with white people in the majority and losing that status scares the hell out of them. During the 2008 election, NPR inerviewed an old white woman from Pennsylvania who was voting against Obama for admittedly racist reasons. She gave voice to her fears that black young man emboldened by an Obama victory would feel free to push her around on the street. I think she was projecting her own feelings of prejudice onto others. She was afraid she would suffer the same fate blacks had when they were in the minority, and probably she had feelings of white superiority and was now guilty about it.

Another image terrified me. There was a news photo on the Huffington Post of a woman protesting a mosque coming to her little town of East Podunk. She held a sign reading ¨IT´S NOT YOUR COUNTRY.¨ I wanted to say to that woman through my computer screen, Ÿes, it is the muslims´ country, just as much as it is the Christians´, the Jews´, the Buddhists´ and the nonbelievers.¨ BTW, the anti-Ground Zero mosque people have at least the slight justification of saying the proposed house of worship is too near the WTC site. Not that I agree with them at all. We are not at war with all of Islam, just its fanatic wing.

People angry over mosques in Anywhere, USA have no rational ground for their indignation. I don´t want to seem naive. There may be individual cases where mosques may be fronts for terrorism, but judging all mosques as dangerous and anti-American would be like the blacklist days judging of all left-wing organizations as fronts for Communism.

With the call for repeal of the 14th amendment and Arizona´s racial profiling legislation, illegal immigrants are added to this new Axis of evil for the far right. Yes, being here illegally is wrong, but there is a larger subtext of anger at immigrants--largely Hispanic--for not assimilating, retaining Spanish as their primary language, and maintaining their cultural identity. It´s rage that America is no longer the Leave it to Beaver fantasy of their youth with white, straight, Christian, English-speaking people as the only worthy images in their culture. The Tea Partiers want us back to that world where gays were only seen as hairdressers and interior decorators, black people were loyal maids like Hattie McDaniel with no lives of their own, Hispanics were gardners or entertainers like Ricky Ricardo or Carmen Miranda, and Muslims didn´t even exist except as mysterious espionage agents in movies like Casablanca.

Mexican Holiday

2010-08-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

(MALINALCO, MEXICO) Currently in the gorgeous garden of the country home of our friends Nick and Jim in Mexico. We´re in the first stages of our trip which began on Fri. Somewhat weird vacation in that at the beginning of July, I began to get headaches after reading and concluded I needed new glasses for my aging orbs. The same thing happened to me last year before vacation and I had to go through about a few days of adjusting to the new specs while trying to relax upstate.

Anyway, we arrived in Mexico City Fri. Jerry had come down with a bad cold. He stayed in bed at the apartment where we were staying while I went out with Nick and Jim to soak my throbbing brain in margaritas. It actually worked and I forgot the dull ache behind my eyes thanks to the lime flavored booze.

Nick writes a blog on Mexican food (it´s linked on the side, I´m too relaxed right now to put in a direct link) and has written a guide book to Mexico City.

Sat. Jerry was almost fully recovered and we looked around the city. Had breakfast at a place called the Barracuda diner which featured American food. I had pancakes. We went to a musuem and saw an exhibit of a French artist who did nothing but black shapes and designs. We went to the University and saw two Rossini one act operas. The kid in front of us checked his cell phone three times. We decided not to sit through the second one and went for dinner at a very nice restaurant.

Sun. we drove to Malinalco where they have a weekend house. They live off the rents for the apartments they own. We´re thinking, do we (Jerry and I) want a life like this?

Observations: black market DVDs and computer programs are a big deal here. Jim and Nick took us to a place that had dozens of them for 30 pesos or about two bucks. I got Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact for next to nothing. The first was missing the first five minutes, the second was intact but both were in English. People were selling bootleg versions of Windows and Abode for like $10. I still haven´t written up the first episode of Project Runway or the next to the finale of Work of Art.

Nick is a big fan of old movies like me. We might force Jerry and Jim to watch Carmen Miranda.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector--(17)--Search for the Fantastic Four

2010-07-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I completed my collection of Marvel Essentials reprint volumes of the Fantastic Four. Volumes 1 though 8 go up to issue number 183. So rather than wait for volume 9 to come out, I decided to catch up to the present with as many back issues and other collections as I could find. There are color reprints of the FF works of George Perez, John Bryne, and Walter Simonson but they don't cover every issue. There is a gap between issues about the 190s about 214, then 215 to 220 is covered by a John Bryne collection. Bryne picks up for issue 232 and continues way into the upper 200s, but I have only gotten as far as 230, with a few sporadic issues in there. So my mission was to find the missing issues.

I went to Cosmic Comics, Time Machine, Midtown (which had no early ones), Metropolis Collectibles--really a mail order house, but I found their address on the web--and St. Marks Comics which was having a half-price sale on back issues. I went to Metropolis before work and found a few good issues for reasonable prices. I managed to find almost every missing issue. Now I just need 195, 197, and 213. A lot happens. Reed Richards loses his stretching power, but regains it just in time for a final showdown with Dr. Doom in the 200th issue. Then the FF engages in a gigantic intergalatic battle with the Skrulls which goes on for several issues and involves recruiting Galactus, the devourer of planets, to save the world from a super-powerful being called the Sphinx. It gets very distracting when a bunch of other heroes from a defunct comic called Nova into the action in a wild attempt at crossover. It's almost like a continuing episode of Doctor Who with endless space battles, a beautiful alien queen, a battle between the Skrull general and his treacherous wife, and a planet split into four separate parts.

Byrne's work starting with 232 is way too stylized for me. Everyone looks so cartoonish. I prefer the realistic earlier issues which resembles the art of Dick O'Neal at DC. In the early John Bryne series, the Human Torch finds a female equivalent, but later falls in love with Alicia Masters, the blind sculptress romantically involved with the Thing. but it turns out she's a Skrull in disguise. I hate when that happens.

Work of Art--Episodes 7 and 8--Miles Wears Thin

2010-07-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

At first I thought Miles on Work of Art was cute, enigmatic, and soulful. Now I'm getting a bit tired of him. Every week he nails together some pieces of wood and the judges love it. And yes, Jaclyn has a beautiful body, but enough with the nudity. That's the main takeaway from Episode 8. I was too busy to write my reactions to episode 7 last week. Plus I'm getting headaches from being on the computer too much so I need new glasses, but they're not ready yet. So I'm trying to limit computer time. Also I'm too obsessed with the Fantastic Four to think about art and Project Runway starts soon. But where was I?

Okay, episode 7 was the childhood one, right? Peregrine's piece looked sloppy to me. but the idea was interesting. I thought Jaclyn's was totally undeveloped. She obviously did not want to think about her childhood. I wanted to see more of Mark's comic book. It looked really intriguing and was a departure for him and they only showed a few seconds. Miles bamboozled the judges once again with some abstract empty shit--a blank crossword puzzle and some rubber band balls. Give me a break. He should have gone home for that. Abdi made a bunch of logos. If he had taken them and done something more creative than just arraging them in rows that could have worked. Nicole had a really great idea, but I couldn't make out the individual pieces and what they meant. Ryan's piece was definitely not the worst--that was Jaclyn's. But we needed to see her breasts one more time, so she stayed.

Onward to episode 8--opposites. I really liked Peregrine and Mark's heaven and hell pictures and I don't care if the snooty judges thought they were too obvious. They were right about Abdi this time however. He really dropped the ball with that green coral painting. What is with that Socrates' cave crap?? Miles sailed by with some woodwork he punched. I will say that Jaclyn's painting was actually very pretty, even though it was the same subject--herself nude--that she's been doing week after week. I'm sure it excites the straight guys--particularly Miles. I would have eliminated Abdi rather than Mark. And why was everyone crying? Was China that upset and why did she wear a cocktail dress in the morning segment? Did she just get in after a night on the town?

They said there was one more challenge before the final three compete for the prize, so I guess two will be eliminated next week. Probably Abdi and I hope Jaclyn, but she'll probably stay to disrobe and pleasure herself publicly once again.

Forget About Jobs Coming Back, Plus ruminations on Kathy Griffin and Joan Rivers

2010-07-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Despite victories on financial reform, capping the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the fine for Goldman Sachs, Obama and the Democrats are still trailing in the polls. Just as Dems hated Bush's guts, Repubs can't stand Obama's audacity to try to do something for people--and spending money doing it (even though Bush did the same thing.) It all boils down to--where are the freakin' jobs? The average American is saying "I don't give a crap about gays getting married or in the miltary, oil spills, stocks, bail outs, or any of that shit. Just give me a job so I can watch American Idol in peace."

Unemployment hovers at around 10 percent and it's probably going to stay there for a while. The reason is employers have discovered they like it like this. During the recent economic crisis, thousands if not millions of people were laid off and the companies realized, "Hey there was a lot of waste the ways things were before. Now one person can do the work of three and we only have to pay the one salary and benefit package. Why should we hire back anybody when we can work those remaining like dogs and make bigger profits?"

The repubs will use this in their bid to take back Congress in 2010. Their soul aim is to stop any sort of meanigful legislation, say NO to everything and get back in power. Fortunately Scott Brown and the women from Maine went along with financial reform. Speaking of Scott Brown, I had no problem with Kathy Griffin's joke about his daughters being prostitutes. They are both grown women and Brown set it up with his comment them being available during his acceptance speech. I also find it ironic that all this moral indignation is coming from a former Playgirl model. She's a commedienne, it was a joke. Similarly Joan Rivers was very funny in the new documentary on her life and effectively dealt with a heckler objecting to her making Helen Keller jokes. "I have a deaf son, that's not funny," he yelled. She responded, "I'll have you know I have a deaf mother and I lived with a man for 17 years who lost his leg in World war I and then went back to get it." It was pretty funny that she ad libbed all that. I haven't always found Rivers all that funny, but you have to admire her for perserving through all kinds of setbacks. Not many people of her age (77) are still on top and in the public eye. She also pointed out during her rant to the heckler that we have to be able to laugh at anything--including pompous Scott Brown. I do still like him for having voted the right way on occasion.

Work of Art--Episode 6--Eric Sulks, Peregrine Dresses Cute

2010-07-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

The first team challenge on Work of Art resulted in predictable fireworks with novice artist Eric clashing with tortured "art-school pussy" Miles (Eric's assessment not mine). I can't really blame Eric for getting pissed off because the other three in his group--sleepy Miles, quirky Peregrine and sexy Jacklyn--shot down all of his ideas for their public-space sculpture. But he should have discussed it with them instead sulking like a child and getting all passive-agressive. Then that weird note from Jaclyn. Why not openly say to him in front of everyone, "Look, I'm sorry for not acknowledging your suggestion on my photo collage in front of the judges. I'm sure you have good ideas, I want to encourage you. We don't have a lot of time so can we quickly go over your suggestions and see what works. I'm willing to listen." Slipping Eric a note was kind of a way of relieving her guilt without directly contradicting Miles.

Eric really let his insecurities get the better of him. He's clearly unsure of himself and jealous of Miles' seemingly effortless way of coming up with minimalist stuff the judges love. He probably thinks, Who is this creep who can take naps in the middle of the floor and still win two challenges and makes nothing but homeless shelters. I don't think Eric is correct in believing it's all an act on Miles' part. That's how he really is. (BTW, Ryan's impression of Miles making coffee was a riot.)

I had to agree with the judges on the final results. The winning piece was intriguing and looked finished. I liked the separate little pebble pieces. The Miles-Eric thing had a certain grace, but the sheets of metal they stapled on at the last minute made it look like a sloppy patchwork.

Peregrine looked really cute in her aviator's cap. I'm loving the way she dresses, that red jacket really suited her and stood out in the crowd. I forgive her for the rabbit-ears headdress of a couple of weeks ago.

So Eric was kicked off for his non-cooperative attitude and it was great to see Miles in the bottom. He needs to be humbled. It will probably come down to Miles, Abdi, and probably Jaclyn--yes, the judges will be told by Bravo, keep the girl with the bare breasts on as long as you can. She'll attract what few straight guys we get.

Leaderboard
Miles--two wins--death portrait of Nao; sleep sculpture with concrete anuses
Abdi--one win--explosive heads
Jaclyn--one win--photo and mirror collage about how sexy she is
John (eliminated)--one win--Time Machine book cover
Nicole--one win--concept of the public sculpture with separate pebble pieces

Objections to Objectivism

2010-07-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

I recently found a video on You Tube of Rand Paul explaining he was not named for Ayn Rand, contrary to internet rumor. His full name is Randall and it's just a coincidence that he's a big fan of her anti-government novels and philosophy. Lately, I have become interested in her work. I recently read her fantasy novella Anthem about a dystopian future where collectivism has destroyed civilization and the word "I" has been obliterated from the language. I also saw and reviewed the NY premiere of her 1934 play Ideal in which a movie star is accused of murder and seeks refuge with six of her devoted fans. Like Christ she asks her worshippers to forsake safety and side with her, all but one turn her down.

I have not read Rand's longer novels or her philosophical tracts on her view of life called Objectivism, but I did see the movie version of The Fountainhead with Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, and Raymond Massey on TCM. I remember getting an almost Nietzchean vibe from it. The superhero has the right to conduct him or herself however they chose because of their superior sensibility. The hero Howard Roarke is unwilling to compromise his artistic vision in the slightest. When a building he was to have designed is erected by a lesser competitor, he blows it up and Rand believes he is justified in doing so. She later proclaimed she was not in favor of violence, but she did believe the rights of the individual supercede those of the society at large.

I think a lot of Tea Partiers have read her work and are now taking it literally. Any move by the government to have an effect on people's lives, for good or ill, is seen as the first steps towards a tyrannical dictatorship. Ronald Reagan actually made a record in the early 1960s saying Medicare would lead to slavery.

Things I like about Rand's philosophy:

1. Man should rely on reason and not faith. Therefore it is rational to not believe in a God.

2. Excellence should be rewarded. (OK, but that's like saying motherhood is great.)

3. Government should not interfere in people's lives. This can be interpreted several ways and some have taken it to mean no Medicare or Social Security or unemployment benefits. But Rand at least was consistent, believing the government should not lift a finger to help anyone, but it should also not stop anyone from getting an abortion or pass laws against homosexuality, even though she personally found gays repulsive mutant sickos.

Things I don't like:

1. No one should pay taxes. What are you nuts, Ayn? She advocates entirely private infrastructure and services. We'd all be paying tolls and fees through the nose. If every service which should be public--that is something everyone uses--were privately owned, competition would NOT drive prices down. The capitalists would all get together and drive the prices up. That is unless you have government regulations to stop them, and that is exactly what Rand was against.

2.Government should not help anyone at any time.

3.Capitalism should be totally unfettered with no government regulations as to safety, fairness to the consumer, or how the owners conduct business. (She believed the open market would eliminated crooks. Ha!) The Bush White House and Republican Congress removed constrains on Wall Street and the morgage brokers and we all know where that led: Obama getting all the blame.

Rand was raised in Soviet Russia and her father's pharmacy was taken over by the state. I believe she was a brilliant person who was so enraged at this injustice, she went to extremes in the other direction. I do want to read Atlas Shrugged, but the damned thing is over 1,000 pages.

Note: these are just impressions based on Rand's statements and what I have read of her philosophy and her interviews with Mike Wallace, Phil Donahue, and Tom Synder, all available on YouTube.

Work of Art--Episode 5--Whores for Audi

2010-07-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

If I were a contestant on Work of Art for this week's challenge I would have done a portrait of the judges as whores on Ninth Avenue in the 1970s with a big Audi car as their pimp. How do you like that, China Chow or whatever your name is? Such blatant product placement. The episode opens with Simon waking everyone up at 5:30 AM--with some gratuitous shots of the typically sleepy-eyed Miles getting out bed possibly naked--to meet him in front of the building for some shameless promotion. They will be driving through Manhattan in the sponsor's car to the sponsor's showroom to see how many times they can say the sponsor's name.

Once in the Audi Forum, which sounds like a letters column or the site of a debate society, they are given a half-hour to draw inspiration from a car! Miles promptly takes a nap and decided to take a photo of an empty space. Exciting (not)--and he almost wins--again. I will say his work is oddly beautiful but I didn't get the police barricade stuff. The promos showed him flirting with Nicole and touting him as a Casanova, when in fact it was just some brief silly talk. Yawn!

Once again Jaclyn uses males' fascination with her to create a meditation on how sexy she is. She spouts off on how difficult it is to be so attractive while the camera zooms in on her cleavage.

Ryan painted yet another self-portrait while Mark made a boring grid thing and Jamie assembled an art-school project while little figures of herself which belong on greeting cards for girls' 16th birthdays. I think she has a future at Hallmark. She deserved the boot this week.

Eric is beginning to display his jealousy of the others and it looks like it will explode next week. He still resents Jaclyn for not acknowledging his idea for her piece last week and is angry Miles always gets in the top two even though he takes naps at the drop of a hat.

My parnter watched the show for the first time last week and was fascianted with the interplay of the personalities.

Leaderboard
Miles--two wins--death portrait of Nao; sleep sculpture with concrete anuses
Abdi--one win--explosive heads
Jaclyn--one win--photo and mirror collage about how sexy she is
John (eliminated)--one win--Time Machine book cover

'Independence Day' on Independence Day

2010-07-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

This Fourth of July week, I rented the blockbuster movie Independence Day from Netflix. I had been curious about it since it come out in the late 1990s, but not enough to go see it when it opened. It's basically a large-scale disaster movie, but it tell us a lot about America's mind set at the time and now. Pop culture and massively successful films tell you a lot about a nation's pysche. That's why I like to watch silly old films of the 1930s, '40s, and 50s. A few weekends ago I DVRed Neptune's Daughter starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Red Skelton, and Betty Garrett, a silly water-splashing musical. Yet it made me imagine going to a movie theatre in 1950 and seeing this technicolor fantasy and the average drab housewife or closeted gay imagining she or he could go out to nightclubs and see Xavier Cugat or Carmen Miranda singing and dancing in enormous shapes and vivid hues.

Independence Day is a retread of HG Wells's War of the Worlds with a seemingly invincible alien force nearly conquering earth. In Wells' version, the monsters are defeated by a flu virus while in this update a computer virus does the trick. Thus we see that man and not nature can defeat the enemy from space. The characters are a who's who are cultural stereotypes played by actors popular at the time (some still are)--the cocky, charismatic pilot played by Will Smith; the quirky lovable scientist played by Jeff Goldblume; the wise and wisecracking Jewish elder played by our favorite sitcom star Judd Hirsch; the nasty, small-minded bureaucrat played by James Rebhorn (not a well-known actor, but a familiar face from similar roles in films like Scent of a Woman); the gutsy president with the fight-pilot past (Bill Pullman); even the nervous nelly hiding under the desk (Harvey Fierstein who is conveniently killed in the early part of the film just like all gays in movies up to that point.)

We get the comforting fantasy that humankind will come together, with America in the lead of course, and we will make our American holiday into a world holiday when the bug-eyed aliens are destoryed on July 4th. Of course the rest of the world goes along with American dominance and our the brave president forsakes personal safety and protocal to lead the charge. I wonder if George W. Bush got the idea for him to don a fighter pilot uniform and declare mission accomplished in Iraq from this movie? It wouldn't surprise me. There is also a satisfaction in seeing our symbols of government like the White House destroyed in a movie and then having everyone retreat to an imaginary secret installation like Area 51. It did feel strange to watch these images after 9/11.

And where does a single mother stripper like Will Smith's girlfriend, get the money to afford a nice house in a good neighborhood and still have enough to support her son and have a dog? Who takes care of them while she's out pole-dancing?

In reality, my family was visiting our upstate house over the weekend and we went to nearby Kinderhook, birthplace of Martin Van Buren, our 8th president. A retired army vet spoke about our forefathers and Van Buren fighting for limited government. I think tyranny would have been more accurate. He also mentioned our belief in God and the importance of family and community is what set us apart from Europe and why the American revolution succeeded and the French one didn't. But he didn't turn his speech into a libratarian rant and spoke movingly about soldiers under his command losing their lives.

Then we went to Van Buren's house which is a national park site and took a tour. I also finished reading Ayn Rand's novella Anthem. It was very short and didactic. I want to read more of her work because I am curious as to how it relates to what is happening now and how Tea Partiers are using it to justify their crazy no-government screeds. More on that once I have shrugged like Atlas.

Work of Art --Episode 4--Shock Value

2010-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

The challenge this week was a bit absurd--create a shocking work of art. Art should not intentionally set out to shock, it should just say what it wants to say and if
that shocks anyone, it's a by-product. If you deliberately mean to shock, you get self-conscious work which was the result of many of the submissions. And what was with Peregrine's rabbit-outfit? She should have been eliminated for that alone.

The episode opened with a tour of Simon's gallery and the graphic works of Andres Serrano. I recall his Piss Christ was the object of much hatred and derision when he received an NEA grant. Many conversatives used it as a reason for eliminating the government funding agency altogether. His point was the distortion of religion in the modern world--at least that's the explanation Jamie Lynn, the pretty Christian contestant, and Sister Wendy, the art critic nun, have given. Interesting when you think about what a free society we live in. If he had done such a thing in a Muslim country he would have been the object of a fatwa and been jihaded on the spot.

Erik and Jamie Lynn both identified with Serrano, but their work was hardly shocking. Jamie Lynn's Last Supper looked like a greeting card or a cartoon. Her concept of Christ being beset by trendy sluts and skanks looked so genteel and gentile it wasn't scary. Christ didn't even look like Christ, more like a surfer or Twilight actor. Erik's was too obvious while Mark made the same point much more subtlely with the bare, stark photos of blood stained panties and a burst balloon.

Once again Jaclyn couldn't wait to get her clothes off. I felt pretty dirty watching her second nude photo shoot in a row and I found it exploitative that the prettiest woman was once again baring her breasts. If Nao did something like that it would have been a lot more fascinating and she probably wouldn't have gotten the axe.

Back to Jaclyn--there is nothing wrong with taking an idea from another contestant if they offer a suggestion and nothing wrong with acknowledging it to the judges. From the tapes, it seemed pretty clear that it was Erik's idea to have gallery goers write on Jaclyn's photos. All she had to do was say, "It was Erik's idea." And they would have said, "Great."

Back to Nao--she really didn't have any idea what she was doing. I found it delightful that Serrano actually liked her performance and the other judge looked at him like he was crazy when he said so. Serrano made some good points, if Nao had a clear concept or focus to her piece it could have been very powerful. She could have been a homeless woman, smeared with her own filth and the crude teepee she built could have been her home. But she didn't think it through and it was a confusing mess. John was too timid and his self-gratification painting looked like bad porno from a 1970s Hustler magazine.

Despite the rabbit outfit, I loved Peregrine's anti-fashion statement and China's reaction to seeing her Dior dresses up for satire. Hated her hoop skirt, BTW.

Miles did not have to cum all over his Disney piece it was gross and shocking enough--and well drawn--and he did not have to tell us about pleasuring himself--EWWW! (This had to be the most gratuituously sexual Bravo episode ever.) Abdi's dynamite heads did deserve to win, but they didn't quite look young enough to get the total point across. I see the final three being Miles, Abdi, and maybe Ryan. Will they each have to make a ten-piece show and the judges pick a winner like on Project Runway?

Leaderboard
Miles--two wins--death portrait of Nao; sleep sculpture with concrete anuses
Abdi--one win--explosive heads
John (eliminated)--one win--Time Machine book cover

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (17)--Fantastic Four

2010-06-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

I've gone back to the Fantastic Four lately. When I was a kid in the late 1960s, they were very big and I watched the cartoon series on ABC. I even read some of the comics though at that time I was more into DC than Marvel. Marvel stories were complicated and continued from issue to issue and sometimes from title to title. DC was very simple and straightforward--which explains why kids liked DC and teenagers and adults liked Marvel.

When I first returned to the comic craze in recent years, I was only interested in the first 100 or so issues of FF because they were drawn and co-created by Jack Kirby with his bold striking images. The Silver Surfer-Galactus-Watcher saga is unparalleled in comic history for its scope and sweep, taking on almost Shakespearian proportions as these gigantic figures bestride the globe and dwarf the FF. I still love to think of the dialogue between Galactus and the Watcher as they debate the fate of Earth. When the Watcher calles Galactus "Pillager of planets," I get a chill.

Then I went beyond that into the later issues with John Romita, George Perez, etc. I've just finished Essential Fantastic Four Volume 8 which goes up until issue 183.

The fascinating thing about the FF--and I think it's what inspires loyalty to them--is they seem to exist in real time and space, and exhibit human emotions. Yes, they are in a comic-book world besides the obvious of having superpowers and not aging as quickly as the rest of us. Reed Richards and Ben Grimm are veterans of World War II which would make them in their mid-80s to early 90s if they were real people. But in a lot of other respects, their experiences parallel the rest of us. They change, get married, have children, have sex even.

For decades, Superman and Batman existed in an adolescent arrested development phase. Girls like Lois Lane and Vicki Vale were icky and the heroes hung out with younger male pals like Jimmy Olsen and Robin--surrogates for the readers. (I know it's different now, I don't keep up with the current storylines, but Superman finally did marry Lois, yet Batman remains a bachelor, having gone through several Robins.)

Reed Richards and Sue Storm actually got married and had a child. There are scenes indicating they really slept together--in the same bed--unlike Rob and Laura Petrie. In one story arc Reed's double from a parallel Earth takes his place and presumably does the nasty with Sue. The Invisible Girl is shown getting out of a king-sized bed, wearing a sheer nightie, leaving a sleeping false Reed. Her doubts about her husband apparently centered on their lovemaking. To add a touch of reality, she walks in on houseguests Thundra and The Impossible Man--a Marvel version of Mr. Mxyzplyzt (however you spell it)--watching a rerun of The Maltese Falcon on late-night TV. Their home--the Baxter Building--has an actual location in the real world, 42nd and Madison in NYC.

The current FF, they are almost at issue 600, has housed a bunch of mutant kids in the Baxter Building. Sounds kinda boring, like a kiddie X-Men. But I am now anxious to go back and read through up till the present.

Work of Art--Episode 3--Cover Story

2010-06-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'll just dispense with the cliche about judging a book by its cover when discussing the last episode of Work of Art. Most of those who failed at the assignment of designing a book jacket for a classic work of fiction concentrated on fulfilling their own vision rather than being subservient to the book itself. Jaclyn went off on her self-indulgent exhibitionist streak with her nude photo shoot. She keeps going on about what a shy person she is and then strips to the waist on a reality show. Is that overcompensating for a repressive childhood? Judith basically said "Fuck this Jane Austen shit, I'm doing what I want" and created a boring pretentious cover with the title spelled backwards and fingerpainted flowers. It would have made sense if it were by Kafka or some bizarre-reality author, but it wasn't. Then she repeatedly told us she was a "fine" artist and didn't feel comfortable doing assigned work. What the hell are on on the show for then?

Peregrine seemed to have confused H.G. Wells' stark future with C.S. Lewis' Narnia by creating a cutesy-poo cut-out valentine with sweet little teddy bears. Huh? There ain't no teddy bears in Wells' horrifying vision of the world thousands of years ahead. He was racist, you know. In another sci-fi novel called When the Sleeper Wakes, he fears African blacks being raised as an army to subjugate white Europe in the 22nd century. What an imperialist pig! But I digress. (Note: The Time Machine book cover is the one on the copy of the novel I read when I was a teenager.)

I had to agree with Judith's eviction. She didn't seem to get the concept of the show or her role within it. The idea is to maintai your own identity but serve the assignment as well. She kinda did it with her "proud pussy" portrait of Jaclyn and half-heartedly with the found-object sculpture, but totally missed the mark this time.

Miles was impressive again and proved he's a sort of mad genius. Since he hadn't read the book, he figured how long it would take him to read it (1 page a minute equals four hours) and then coming up with an original interpretation combining the lightning and electricity theme. If they had until midnight and they started in the morning or early afternoon, that didn't give him much time.

I liked John's winning design for the Time Machine which reminded of s-f book covers of the 1960s with its abstract simplicity made specific by the ladder leaning against the red, multi-faceted thing-ama-bob, and its sharp, jagged lettering. This really calls on the contestants to be graphic designers as well as artists. Mike--I think that's his name--did really well with Dracula. (I think the other Dracula cover by the young woman who constantly refers to herself as a Christian would have been better suited to Jane Austen.) But Ryan should have been in the top three with his Dr. Jekyll, I really liked the split-personality photos, even though the basic concept has been done before. He put a new twist on it. I guess the judges are not constrained to choose three top picks since they only did two this time.

Leaderboard
Miles--two wins--death portrait of Nao; sleep sculpture with two concrete anuses
John--one win--Time Machine book cover

Work of Art--Episodes 1 and 2

2010-06-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've been bereft since the conclusions of the latest seasons of The Amazing Race and Project Runway as you can tell by the lack of blogs in recent weeks. So my curiosity was piqued when I read about Work of Art, the latest Runway variation from Bravo. The idea totally stunned me. I can see having a competition among fashion designers or cooks or interior decorators since you can pretty tell good from bad in those fields. But art is SOOOO subjective, how can one judge a painting, scultpure or print as so blah! someone should be eliminated. Also it seems ridiculous to crown a struggling artist as the next big thing since that is the judgment of the ages, not a panel of critics. Remember Van Gogh only sold one painting and that was to his brother. But this will give me a chance to play art critic. As one of the judges said in his blog (the art critic from New York magazine--interesting that they have an art critic, but no steady theatre critic, shows where their priorities are), he didn't have any art training, he was just making it up as he went along.

Given all these trepidations, the first episode was actually intriguing. The contestants were so different than the fashion people I was accustomed to. I don't want to sound dismissive of the Project Runway types, but these guys just seemed more complex and serious. Yet they fulfilled the by-now standard roles of these kinds of shows. Nao is the pretentious snob whom everyone finds obnoxious. Miles is the cute outsider. Erik is the rebel who argues with the judges. Jaclyn is the pretty girl out to prove herself. Trong is the above-it-all dead-pan insider who has already established his reputation and you wonder why he's even there. Judith is the irracisble older woman who is uncomfortable with being designated as the mother figure. And I have a feeling she is the type who would snap back "I've got problems of my own" at any of the younger artists who need a shoulder to cry on. The rest kind of blend together. As the weeks go on, we'll get to know them better.

The first challenge was to do a portrait of a fellow competitor. Miles' print of Nao was indeed fascinating. Her expression was ecstatic and I liked the dark splotches. On the other hand, Nao's abstract connect-the-dots chart was lazy. It could have been a portrait of a speck of dust or a fly in the studio flitting from place to place. You can be non-representational and still capture the subject's essence. Along the same lines, I would have maybe taken dozens of digital photos and cut them up and pasted them on the dots to represent Miles' hyperkinectic behavior. Or tried to do something with the exposure to make him look like he was in several places at once.

On the second episode, they had to take junk and make a sculpture of out it. I liked Nicole's TV set-tomb, especially the dirt in the picture tube. It reminded me of a real grave site with its gritty reality. I think she could have gone even further with more artifacts stuffed into the set's gaping maw. Miles' sleep-chamber altar was interesting and well-made but a tad forced. I thought Abdi's TV-head kid figure was the most captivating. Trong's piece was not the worst. I think they got rid of him because he was showing no emotion and boring the pants off of everyone with his finishing up quickly and not reacting to any criticism. Speaking of which, what was up with Miles and his nasty comment about Trong's three TVs? Miles definitely has behavior issues and needs a therapist. He was holding up his hand like a child in class needing to go to the bathroom. "Teacher, I think Trong's work is boring and I can make number one now?" (BTW, did you notice the gallery owner judge's intense sunburn? Was in Aspen over the weekend?)

Miles is a fascinating case and so are a lot of them. I found it really interesting that Erik said he was living with his parents and Miles had to sell his clothes to get by and now they are on national TV. What will happen to them once the show is over? Even if they win, that's no guarantee of any sort of income or opportunities to make a living from their art.

I actually am considering downloading episodes so I can take more time to look at the art. I can hardly wait to see the first team challenge.

John and Abigail Adams in Heaven

2010-06-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

A brief sketch based on the fact that Rush Limbaugh's new fourth wife is a direct descendent of John and Abigail Adams.

Scene: Heaven.

Characters: John and Abigail Adams

John: Abby, take a look below, our great-great-great granddaughter Kathryn is marrying some fat lub of lard named Rush Limbaugh.

Abigail: Oh my God! Isn't it bad enough I'm going to have to spend eternity with Barbara Bush because we're the only two women who have been both the mother and the wife of an American president. Now we'll have to share space with that slimeball.

John: Evidently he's addicted to cotton.

Abigail: What? How can you be addicted to cotton?

John: They've made it into some kind of drug now and combined it with some product of oxen. It's called oxycotton and this Rush character is hooked on it but good.

Abigail: Well, John, what can we do? One of our own sons was a drunkard and died penniless.

John: yes, but at least he wasn't a nutjob like this loser.

Abigail: What does Kathryn do anyway?

John: She's a party planner. How can you make a living planning parties? I despise political parties. They are the root of all of America's problems. And this is Rush's fourth marriage. Can you believe that?

Abigail: His fourth? Disgraceful. And doesn't he go on and on about the importance of traditional marriage.

John: They even had Elton John, a known homosexual singing at the wedding.

Abigail: Now, John, homosexuals are alright these days. They call them gay. They can even get married now in Massachusetts.

John: Our own home state? Really? Well, we were always more tolerant than most of the other original colonies. Remember our son John Quincy defended those rebelling slaves on the Amistad and they made that movie of it.

Abigail: The one with that sexy Matthew Maconaughnay? Or however he spells his name? His career has just gone downhill lately. I hear they make the newcomers in hell watch Sahara that he was in.

John: It's a different world I guess. But I can't bare the thought of this hypocritical Rush person sharing the Adams section of heaven. Is there a way to keep him out?

Abigail: We always have Barbara Bush sit on him.

Rand Paul and the Tea Party Show Their True Tea Leaves

2010-06-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Tea Party appears to be gaining strength, but I still think it's doomed to be a fringe, splinter element in American politics. The reason was recently revealed by the figure who has emerged as its most visible spokesperson--Rand Paul. This candidate for the US Senate from Kentucky showed his true stripes when he stated he didn't believe the government--federal or state--had the authority to force lunch counters at public restaurants or stores like Woolworth's to serve blacks and other minorities. This is the crux of the libratarian agrument and the long-simmering rage of the Tea Party--government is too big and the individual should be not be subject to it. Why not just have 50 separate states like Reagan said he wanted, but then he seemed to have forgotten why we fought the Civil War. Paul says he himself is against discrimination, but doesn't believe the government has the right to tell a privately owned business it can't discriminate--even if that business is serving the public.

The Tea Party has gained strength because there are a lot of people who don't like taxes at all and haven't put two and two together and realized those taxes pay for things like schools, libraries, police, and cleaning up disasters like oil spills and hurricanes. The anti-taxers have joined up with the libratarian ideologues like Paul and the hysterical bigots who just can't stand the idea of a black president or anyone speaking Spanish and want things back to where they were when white people were the unquestioned top dogs.

I recall an older male relative of mine a few years ago telling me he was in a convenience store behind two Hispanic guys and they were speaking Spanish to each other. My relative actually said to them, "Hey, this is America. We speak English here." Now I can see gettting a little miffed if you were asking directions of a complete stranger or conversing with a shop-owner in a major city of the USA and this stranger or shop owner didn't speak English. Maybe you wouldn't be justified, but I could empathize with your feelings. But dictating what language people should be speaking to each other is going a bit far and this is the sentiment of the Tea Party and of the Arizona immigration law. Yes, undocumented workers should not be here, but there is nothing wrong with teaching multicultural studies in state-funded schools or giving anyone the history of the country they or their ancestors are from originally.

I believe there are legitimate concerns about the size of the defeceit, but that is only part of this movement's concern. I think many have this unrealistic dream of living out on the prairie where the only law is the sherriff in town and a man and his kinfolk live on their own land and the damned goverment leaves everyone alone expect when there's a big disaster. They want to go back to 19th century, no regulation. let business do what it wants and if they go bankrupt so be it, or if they cheat everybody blind, so what? They think the world is too big and they want it simpler and their government simpler and smaller too. Honey, I got news for you, the world is bigger and more complicated and we ain't never goin' back to the way we were. So you can sing that song all you want, but those scattered pictures and hazy watercolor memories are gone for good.

The Lost Two Months

2010-06-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Here it is June and I haven't written any blogs--except for the one on Obama and the oil spill--since the end of Project Runway and The Amazing Race. This lacuna was basically due to the massive number of shows I had to cover as the 2009-10 theatre season ended and the subsequent awards season ensued. On top of that, a record number of important shows opened after the award deadlines--technically they're still part of 2009-10 since the season doesn't really end until after the Tonys, but I think of them as part of 2010-11 since they will be considered for those awards.

Every year I say I'm going to attend all the awards but I always miss one or two. I did pretty good this year and had a lot of fun. At the Tony nominees press event, I met Valerie Harper, nominated for Looped, and she was great. I told her I considered one of her lines on the Mary Tyler Moore Show one of the funniest in TV history. It was when Rhoda was about to bite into a chocolate and said "I don't know why I'm eating this, I should just apply it directly to me hips." Valerie told me it was not in the original script and she was having lunch with her friend Mary Frann, who later played Bob Newhart's wife on Newhart. Mary said the scene needed a bit of girl talk between Mary and Rhoda and she suggested the line.

A little later Linda Lavin, nominated for Collected Stories, came in and I wished she and Harper would be together so I could take a picture and say, "Is this the first time you've appeared together since that episode of Rhoda where Linda played Rhoda' cheerleaing rival from high school at her shower that Brenda threw?" That was during the period when Linda Lavin appeared on almost every TV show--Rhoda, Phyllis, Barney Miller--before she got Alice.

Surprise! Obama is NOT Superman

2010-05-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

During the past few weeks, being the comic book geek that I am, I imagined now would be the perfect time for Superman. He's plug up that erupting volcano so air traffic in Europe would not be disrupted and for an afternoon follow-up, he'd stop the oil from flowing into the Gulf. But guess what? Superman is not real. And guess what else, America--Barack Obama is not going to find a convenient supply closet in the White House and switch into his super-suit and fly down to the New Orleans to stop the leak all by himself. I believe a lot of people think he has the power to do it, but is just being lazy going off the fundraisers for Barbara Boxer. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there were unrealistic expectations for Obama. So many were so relieved he wasn't Bush, they thought he could do anything. "Hey, he's un-Bush-Man! That's just as good as Superman!"

The ironic thing is the oil spill is not Obama's fault, but he's going to get the blame for it because it happened on his watch. What every rock-dumb American voter angry with the President does not realize is that this situation and the financial crisis and quite a few other crises were caused by his predecessor--if not W directly that the philosophy of the Republican Party, which is the less government interference in big business, the better. So Bush and his dad and Ronnie had been dismantling regulations to keep companies like BP from indulging in risky behaviour. As a result, we get lax safety standards, and big oil spills. Drill, baby, drill, indeed. I hope Sarah and Rudy can sleep at night after having chanted that dumb slogan. Maybe they will wake up to find an oil-coated pelican in their beds.

What's really ironic is Obama will get the blame and we'll have a Repub Congress and President who will push for even less regulation. These Tea Partiers want no government in their lives--and this is the direct result. People like Rand Paul are popular in Kentucky and states like that because they preach that junk--I heard he was named for Ayn Rand which makes sense since she believed if you had the right philosophy and were talented and smart enough and looked like Gary Cooper, it was perfectly all right to blow up a building if it offended your aesthetic sensibility. (Fountainhead reference)

Now it looks like the oil will continue flowing into August until they can finish drilling a second hole to relieve the pressure. I have a bad feeling Obama will become associated with this just like Carter became synonomous with the Iran hostage crisis. Then the repubs will cast some white knight--literally--to ride in to the rescue and then we'll find out he's not Superman either. Or if it's Sarah Palin, that she's not Wonder Woman.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 11 and Finale

2010-05-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

It's been weeks since TAR 16 ended and even longer since I've written a blog on that show, or anything else for that matter. BTW, I know tonight is the last episode of Lost and I could give less than a flying fig as Dorothy said on that episode of the Golden Girls when she was waiting for a call from her married lover played by Jerry Orbach. For the past two months I have been rushing from one show to another and from one award event to the next. When the Broadway season ends, everyone gives out endless awards. Tonight is the latest of these, the Drama Desk Awards and I will be taking a train from upstate to the city to attend. I will write more about that in the next blog, but for now I fell compelled to wrap up my reactions to the latest Amazing Race.

Episode 11 began in Shanghai where the cheapskate producers confided the racers to the same city as the previous leg rather than have them fly to another city. The idea was basically for the four teams to battle it out for the final three slots. Team Such As actually stepped up their game and did an excellent job. Caite mastered her counting skills and they lucked out with a good cab driver while the gay-straight brothers had the worst one on the whole race--though it was kind of ridic of Dan to think they would find an English-speaking driver in China. As Mrs. Gibbs said in Our Town, there are people in the world who don't talk in English and don't even want to. The Undercover Cops had the extremely difficult Speed Bump of tossing coins into the mouth of an idol. Why don't they just call it the Millisecond Delay and be more accurate! I am sick of these ultra-easy speed bumps. In fact, this whole race has been like the dumbed-down version. (More on that in the next episode) So I have to give credit to Team Such As. I admit it, they are not as dumb as they look.

But in the final episode all their hard work was for naught. With the cops gone, it was pretty much anybody's game. But Dan and Jordan totally turned it up a notch. Their strategy was to be meek little twinks, not be a threat, and just get to the final three. Then push everyone out of the way and cross the finish line. I wouldn't have butted ahead of the cowboys at the Shanghai airport, but Jordan knew there would be nothing the cowboys could do about it since hitting another team is grounds for expulsion. On the flight to San Francisco, they sneaked into first class. In previous episodes, it was revealed teams are not allowed to fly in anything other than tourist. But I guess the technicality is that Dan and Jordan bought their tickets in economy and where they actually sit doesn't matter (????)

I think the gay-straight brothers really wanted to win badly and it showed in their determination in the final leg. The claws were out and they didn't care who got scratched. Team Such As reverted to whiny adolescents when they drew a bad cabbie ("Oh this is so unfair!") and were basically out of the running as soon as they got off the plane. That left the cowboys and the brothers and the latter were just hungrier than Jet and Cord. The final memory challenge had to be the easiest ever. Remember when they had to get the flags of the countries they visited in order? That was HARD. And the one with the various items from the challenges having to weight exactly the right amount? This time all they had to do was remember who got eliminated in which leg.

The finish line finale was totally ruined for me with the bitch fight between Caite and Brandy (or was it Carol?) That has NEVER happened before on an Amazing Race finale when a THIRD-PLACE finisher has an argument with a losing rival. It was obviously for ratings since Caite is pretty and popular. It was awful and embarassing and took away the spotlight from the winners--Dan and Jordan. It's their triumph, their moment in the sun should not be eclipsed by a stupid grudge match. Brandy made an absolute fool of herself. She should have just said, "It's over. You got to the Uturn first, it's a game and you did want you had to do to get ahead." Plus they got a quote from ANOTHER loser--the Big Brother guy Jeff. Who cares what he thinks? He lost...BIG TIME!!! Again it was for ratings. Lots of people watch Big Brother so they needed to give that team some airtime beyond cheering on the winners. I thought Emmy winning Amazing Race was better than that. And BTW, screw you Donald Trump with your sour-grapes over losing the Emmy every time. Get over it.

Overall, this was an exciting season and the best part was that a single team did not dominate. Last season that blonde couple came in first something like seven times. It was pretty clear they would win the big prize. This time the cowboys and the police won the most, but they made plenty of mistakes too. So it could have been anybody and it was great that an underdog team like Dan and Jordan surged ahead at the end.

Day 18--Still in Shanghai, find bridge, count statues, find stamp, really hard stuff

Day 19--fly to San Francisco

Day 20--final leg

Dan and Jordan--BIG WINNERS, $1,000,000 plus one previous win, loot: two motorbikes
Jet and Cord--four wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia, trip to Maui, trip to Alaska
Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Branden and Caite--one win, Loot: trip to Spain
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"

The Amazing Race 16 -- Episode 10--Shanghaied by the Double Roadblock

2010-04-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Note: April and early May have been extrememly busy what will all the Broadway shows opening just before the Tonys, two bomb scares in Times Square, Lynn Redgrave passing, and attending all the award nominations announcements and events. I wrote this blog on Episode 10 of the Amazing Race 16 weeks ago and thought I would get back to it sooner. Anyway, here it is for all two of you who care and I will catch up with last week's episode and the finale in the next blog.

We are nearing the end of Season 16 of the Amazing Race and it's anyone's game. I like this season because there is no one team dominating the whole time like that brother and sister of two seasons back or that blonde couple last season. The remaining four teams are where they are just as much because of luck as skill. The cowboys seem to have the advantage with four wins, but they have slipped back at times because of not reading the clues carefully. In this sense Carol and Brandy were right when they said Team Such As were stupid for U-turning them because of one off-hand comment about tiaras. (BTW, I think I mixed up Carol and Brandy in the last blog, whoever is the brunette with the short hair is the whiny one, the blonde isn't so bad.) Team Such As should have U-turned the cowboys because they were a bigger threat. The detectives were right to U-turn Joe and Heidi back in France because they were obnoxious AND a threat.

So the playing field is pretty level. Dan and Jordan leave at 4:47 PM--it must be Day 17 because they were in Singapore at Day 16 and they are going to give them at least a full day to rest. I think that 12-hour rest period idea is gone with the wind. The next destination is Shanghai which is at least several hours away. Everyone eats at the MacDonald's at the Singapore airport. I'll bet Brett and Caite picked it out. They are all in Shanghai at 6:10AM of Day 18. This was fun because it's one of the cities I've actually been to. Shanghai was extremely crowded and full of colonial archeticture when I was there in the early 1990s. It was part of a package tour which included Peking, Xian, and Suzhou.I got sick for a day but I was well enough to visit the Shanghai circus.

The four teams endured the first-ever double roadblock episode with Jordan crying like a baby because his noodles wouldn't straighten out properly. Then they raced by to the glamorous Shanghai fashion district for a Project Runway style challenge and a lot of jokes at Jordan's expense. Everyone assumed the gay guy would be able to match the outfits in a breeze, but they all did pretty well. The hang-up was at the football stadium and putting together that puzzle. I know it was a non-elimination because Phil didn't say "You are in the final three for the one million dollars." So the detectives are still in it since they came in way behind everyone else. It was so much better when they took all your posessions and money, that was a real challenge, not just taking some tea to an old guy. I reall want Caite and Brent out but I have a bad feeling the brothers will go. But maybe not. The promo showed Dan having a meltdown because of a slow cab driver, which means it doesn't always turn out the way it appears in the promo. I will have to catch up with episode 11 before the big finale on Mother's day.

Day 17--leave Singapore, flight for Shanghai leaves after midnight.

Day 18--arrive Shanghai, taxi to Zhujiajhao, noodle roadblock, back to Shanghai, fashion challenge, puzzle roadblock at football stadium

Jet and Cord--four wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia, trip to Maui, trip to Alaska
Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Dan and Jordan--one win, Loot: two motorbikes
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"

Project Runway Season 7: Episode 14: The Final Runway Show

2010-04-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Season 7 of Project Runway wrapped up with the final runway show and the last three designers bitching about each other's collection. Emilio called Mila's black-and-white 60s fest "severe" and "demure." How is it possible to be both at the same time? Mila's designs were somewhat predictable but they were very well made. She took the judges' advice and roughed up the models. I particularly liked that spy trench coat Brandeis was wearing and the mini-glitter cocktail skirt was Mila's best piece.

Seth Aaron took Tim's advice too literally and made his ho-hum collection into Nazis on parade, stating his inspiration as Russian and German military garb. The perfect ensemble for the next time you attend a Nuremberg rally. All of his models looked like Veronika Voss with fat lips or like they were about to burst into Lili Marlene. One girl resembled a piece of black forest chocolate cake. Another was a black widow spider. And why did Seth Aaron's hair make him look like he was wearing earmuffs?

In spite of his bragging, Emilio's designs impressed me the most. They were very wearable and cohesive with the matching shades of red and blue. I like that he went from daywear to evening wear.

I heard that the producers had to pay for a total of 10 collections because Fashion Week occured when there were 10 designers still on the show. I will try to find footage of the decoy designers. I wonder how they worked it. Did they all have to run abd be in the audience when the others were on so no one could figure out who was a finalist?

Anyway, once again, the judges go for the weird over the wearable by picking Seth Aaron over Emilio. Emilio breaks down and Seth Aaron's family greets him on the runway. I wonder what Seth's teenage son told his friends at school?

Project Runway Season 7: Episode 13: Mila-Jay Face Off

2010-04-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's really Part 1 of the season finale, but I want to call it Episode 13. Another expense account trip for Tim Gunn to Vancouver, WA, and then Los Angeles and San Francisco to visit the designers as they work on their collections. For some reason, he goes to Washington state first, then NY, then LA and SF. Why not just fly to Seattle or wherever, then go to California, and then then fly back to NYC to bitch with Emilio. Maybe it was Tim's schedule. I just saw on his facebook page that he's writing a book and making appearances all over the place.

Anyway, Tim first arrives at Seth Aaron's modest little cottage in Vancouver which apparently has a squirrel problem (did you notice the Warning: Attack Squirrel sign?) We see that Seth has produced like 5,000 dresses and Tim hates them all. Well, he doesn't hate them, they're just the same old Seth Aaron thing and Tim bluntly tells a crestfallen Seth he won't win with this sorry-ass collection. In the promo, they fooled us into thinking that's what he told Emilio after saying "You do what you want." After picking his ego off the floor, Seth Aaron introduces Tim to his wife and kids and they all play Pictionary. Then they take take Tim out into the backyard and force him to jump on the trampoline. Funny, you don't think of fashion designers has having houses in the suburbs with wives and adoloscent kids.

Then we're treated to stock footage of the Bronx in the 1970s to give us an idea of Emilio's tortured childhood which still doesn't explain the weird print dress and the washer-strewn bikini. Tim meets Emilio's brothers underneath a bridge as if they're doing a drug deal. What, they didn't have time for a meal at home or even a restaurant? Emilio steps into his time machine and shows Tim his collection from 1943. This is the part where Tim says "You do what you want" and Emilio gets all Kenley on his ass and says Tim doesn't know what he's talking about because he doesn't wear women's clothes. WHAT? That's like when Lou and Edie Grant went to a marriage counselor on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou was pissed that the counsellor had never been married so how could he know anything about marital problems. The counsellor replies "You don't have to be a whale to write Moby Dick." (I hope you enjoyed that little trip into my mind, that's just the way it works.)

Next Tim racks up more frequent flyer miles to Los Angeles and Mila displays her work, It's all geometric and black and white (WHAT A SURPRISE!) Her inspiration is shadows. How cheerful! Tim accurately dubbed the collection matronly and gives Mila Laura Bush's phone number since she would be the ideal client. Mila then introduces her family and boyfriend to Tim. Even the goddamn dog is black and white! Was Mila frightened by a color TV as a child?

Tim takes the short flight or the long train ride like in that episode of Big Bang Theory (Don't you think Sheldon is gay, but I digress) to visit Jay who has made a Blade Runner-Doctor Who collection with outer-space sleeves. Tim loves most of it but asks "What the fuck is up with these ribbons for sleeves?" Jay and Mila then give Best Supporting Actress Oscar performances as they cry about how much they want to win. M'onique and Cloris Leachman play them in the movie version.

In New York, the final four occupy the same suite. Tim greets everyone and did you notice Emilio did not go to hug him like everyone else and just shook his hand?

Jay and Mila play out a "talking it out" scene which looks like they're in an Ingmar Bergman movie. After making up, they are told they have three hours to prepare for their presentation. Mila makes the brilliant observation, "Jay's got color. Not good for me." DUH! Did she honestly think everyone else was a black and white as her?

The final smackdown is very close. Mila is too retro, but the looks are very cohesive and well-tailored. The spangled cocktail dress is very pretty and goes with the other two items which look like Mila's mother wore them 40 years ago. Jay is the other extreme with techno Judy Jetson looks and epaulets everywhere. Heidi wants Mila. Michael wants Jay. Nina is on the fence. Heidi must has threatened to auf the other two during the break because Mila wins. Jay gives another brilliant Oscar winning performance as he ungraciously accepts defeat and bursts into tears. But we all know his collection will be shown at the tents, it just won't be on TV. I'm sure it will be on YouTube somewhere. Next week is the final runway show.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 9--Hate Is All Around, No Need to Waste It

2010-04-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Now I hate Team Such As AND Carol and Brandy AND the Daddy Wolves/Undercover Guys. Well, not Brandy, but Carol needs to get a life. I love Dan and Jordan like I've loved very few TAR teams and I still love the cowboys. I hated Team Such As from the beginning, but did they have to go on and on about U-Turning the lesbians. Then Carol would just not shut up about how stupid Brent and Caite are. OK, I still think they're dumb as a pile of wet leaves too, but they smoked your asses, ladies. Carol really lost it for me entirely when she couldn't conceive why Team Such As would U-Turn them and then failed to show an ounce of prespective after being eliminated. Most teams talk about how much they enjoyed the race and each other and how they got to see so many many incredible places and people here on God's earth, but these two just bitched till the bitter end.

I now hate Michael and Louis because they were gonna steal Carol and Brandy's cab (Michael to Singapore cabbie: "They are mean, they'll be mean to you." Meaning what? They won't tip him?) Plus they're using Brent and Caite to get rid of Carol and Brandy. I think they couldn't use the U turn again because they had already U Turned the King of Siam and his vassal Tuptim, otherwise known as Joe and Heidi. I pray the cops have to do something really nasty to their wolf cubs on the next leg. Okay, hate's a strong word. I don't like that they act all friendly and decent when they'd stab any other team in the back to get ahead.

The two "nice" teams left are the two sets of brothers. I loved what Dan and Jordan said about not elbowing anyone else and just concentrating on running the race their own way. They proved that by coming from last place in the previous episode, getting to the clue first in Singapore and taking advantage of the fast forward. (Remember when every leg of the race had a fast forward? I think this was the only leg that had both a fast forward and a U Turn.) Jordan overcame his fear of heights on that giant ferris wheel which reminded me of the London Eye.

Other observations: The cowboys are always wearing those tight jeans and thick T-shirts. Didn't they pack any shorts so they wouldn't sweat so much in the tropical climates? I've been to Bangkok and, man, is it hot there.

Nice that they used the host of The Amazing Race Asia for a cameo, but it would have been interesting to see clips from that show. Maybe on the CBS website?

Now I have to wait two weeks because of the stupid Country Music Awards pre-empting the next episode. I wonder how much they paid Jet and Cord to do the promo? We're up to episode nine and they are only four teams left. CBS better not be cutting back on the number of episodes along with the plane trips. There are supposed to be 12 segments; that leaves three more. How is this gonna work? A two-parter? One more non-elimination? Everybody pray Team Such As gets the boot, they must not prove stupidity wins the day. Sarah Palin has already done enough damage in that department.

Day 15--Bus from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, to train for Singapore which doesn't leave until 9:30 PM.

Day 16--Arrive in Singapore, Dan and Jordan do fast-forward, other teams ice cream or drums, count chains, zip-line

Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Jet and Cord--three wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia, trip to Maui
Dan and Jordan--one win, Loot: two motorbikes
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"

Project Runway Season 7: Episodes 11 and 12--Costume Party

2010-04-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

There were so many twists and turns in Episode 11 of Project Runway I needed a full week to recover from the whiplash. First Maya dropped out, then Valerie took that DKNY job after turning it down the previous week. That really freaked me since she gave such an Best-Supporting-Actress-Oscar performance on the runway in her big speech to Seth Aaron about how much faith she had in him and would be anything to stay with him all the way to Bryant Park. But then I saw on Models of the Runway where they offered her double her usual fee and I couldn't really blame her for taking the job. Then Seth Aaron basically told me to fuck off when he addressed the viewers about Maya's leaving. "We all work so hard and are under such pressure, so anyone watching this and passing judgement on Maya can f--k off!" Well, screw you right back, Seth Aaron with your zippers and tailoring. I'm an American citizen and it's my God-given right to pass judgement on anyone whose kisser is on my TV machine! I'm more with Emilio who said "Quitters never win." Yeah, I hope Sarah Palin was watching.

So Anthony comes on to replace Maya and right away quotes "Gypsy" so I know we're back on the right course. (I think I'll make a separate blog about references to musical comedy in more mainstream culture that only gays will get.) The challenge was a red carpet dress for Heidi. How original and didn't they already do a make-a-dress-for-Heidi challenge? The guest judge was Jessica Alba, such a big star (NOT! what has she been in besides those Fantastic Four movies?) and she showed her lack of taste by gushing over Anthony's meh! drapey thing. I didn't find it exciting at all. Emilio did deserve to win with his glittery copper gown. We found out a little bit too much about Jay's big-butt fetish. Jonathan's shower curtain with a couple red towels on it got him eliminated and he really did deserve it this time. Irish Carrie who took Valeria's place was bounced for the second time in a row, so she went out and got drunk with Brandise ("Yiz can kiss me arse").

Episode 12 sent the remaining five designers to the circus where Jay ogled the acrobats' pecs. This was actually fun and there used to more instances of field trips (even flights to Paris) and weird challenges like designing costumes for ice skaters, female wrestlers, drag queens, postal workers, beauty pageant contestants,and relatives of the other designers. There should be more challenges like that. The idea was to design a dress influenced by the circus, but Seth Aaron and Mila made costumes FOR the circus. Both their outfits looked like they had taken too many drugs after viewing the new Alice in Wonderland movie. What's with those long sleeves, Seth? And Mila's model looked like she was auditioning to play a vampire villain on an episode of Doctor Who. Jay once again made a big butt outfit and Anthony made a huge goof with a blue polyesther thing from a 1970s beauty pageant. Despite his boasting, Emilio did deserve to win and I'm glad he listened to Tim and added more color. But I foresee problems between them when Tim visits. Also, it looks like Emilio has found a new catchphrase--"Come hard!" I'm getting the T-shirt tomorrow.

I was surprised when they announced the run-off between Mila and Jay. I thought Mila would take it because she's been more consistant if not as risk-taking as Jay. Actually both did show at Bryant Park, only one of them was on TV. I hope Mila steps outside her geometric black shapes and tries something different so Nina will finally approve of her again. I liked that Emilio said he's rather compete with Seth Aaron and Mila because they were the strongest ones, even though I don't think he likes Mila.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 8--Whack Jobs Unite

2010-04-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

Freaky alliances were formed this week and top exchanged places with bottom--but enough about Madonna's bedroom habits, this is about the Amazing Race. The detectives have bonded with Team Such As and the results are weirding me out. Michael and Louie actually stated they thought Brent and Caite were good kids and the type of young people you would like to have for a son and daughter. EWWW! I guess the Rhode Island undercover guys would rather have their children pretty than smart, or even above Neanderthal. Actually, now that I think about it Brent isn't even that good looking. So he's ugly, scared of heights, can't speak the king's English, read a map, or drive a shift. The perfect son.

Caite added to the horror by calling their new best buds the Daddy Cops. Double EWW! Soounds like an act for a club for the National Republican Committee to bring new members.

All this was revealed in between hating on the lesbians and saying how much they wanted to beat them. Jeez, I think all Carol said was something about tiaras and they get all batshit. This after Michael and Louie say how respectful Team Such As is. Why aren't those idiots basking in the sun at Elimination Station?

Anyway, this week it was hard to tell how long the rest period was since they didn't reveal the exact amount of time after that shameless promotion for 7-UP. Team no. 1 Steve and Allie opened the first clue at 7:22 PM, but they couldn't have finished the previous leg that early in the morning (7:22 AM). So I'm guessing it's 7:22PM the next day so the father and daughter had enough time to drink all that free 7 Up, but not enough time to hitch a boat back to that turtle farm and pick up their backpacks. Everyone was on the same ferry to the airport at 2 AM, followed by a 21 hour flight via Dubai to Penang, Malaysia, putting us into Day 14 by the time they start the new leg proper.

Jet and Cord soared to the front by being the only ones to choose the flag balancing rather than hauling the giant incense sticks. Since they came in last the previous leg, they had to perform a speed bump. Once again the speed bump involved the supremely difficult task of pouring a cup of tea and serving it to some old guy. I think the poker chicks had to do the same thing in Tokyo. Then everyone had the even harder task of smashing coconuts and building a little arty-crafty float. The cowboys ran a perfect race and became the first the go from last place with a speed bump to first place and winning a romantic trip to Hawaii (I loved Cord's face when Phil said the part about romance.)

I think the tasks this season are way too easy. Any jerk can do them. What happened to repelling face-first down a skyscraper, getting hauled through the mud by an ox, or shaving your head?

Steve and Allie had a run of bad luck while Dan and Jordan slipped in by the skin of their teeth. I hate to say it but they are the most likely team to be out next since they're not too swift--letting their excellent cab driver go--and Team Such As are getting help from their daddies (EWWW! It makes me cringe just to write that.) Plus from the previews, it looks like Team Such As is going to U Turn the lesbians next week. Please, please, don't let Team Such As make it to the final three, please.

Day 12--Leave Seychells at 7:22 PM; ferry to airport at 2 AM

Day 13--21 hour flight from Seychelles to Penang, Malaysia via Dubai

Day 14--Roadblock incense hauling or flag balancing; smash coconuts, build cute little arty-crafty thing, give it to guru in the water, find big mansion

Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Jet and Cord--three wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia, trip to Maui
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"

Scenes from the Life of an Amatuer Comic Book Collector (16)--Easter in Allentown

2010-04-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

Allentown, Pa., is famous as a place people need to get away from. In both the movie and Broadway stage version of 42nd Street, Peggy Sawyer hails from this hamlet. When she tells Julian Marsh "Show business isn't for me, I'm going back to Allentown," he erupts "I'm giving you the chance to star in the biggest show Broadway has seen in 20 years and you tell me Allentown???" Rose in Bye Bye Birdie and both Frankie and Johnny in Terrence McNally's play Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune are also escapees.

So where else did I spend last Saturday but in said burg? My friend Diane was visiting her mother for Easter weekend and I was visiting my folks in Consohocken near Philly. Conveniently, the Merchants Square Mall was hosting the Great Allentown Comic Con that day. I drove the hour to visit, met Diane and her mom at the mall, shopped for comics, then we had lunch at the IHOP--I had the strawberry pancakes with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausages--and we had the guided tour of Allentown. Highlights include the diner where President Obama had lunch last December and they saved the remains of his food for weeks, and the building where they hid the Liberty Bell during the Revolutionary War figuring no one would look in this hick burg. But I kid because I love, as Krusty the Clown says.

The comic con was actually a comic show with about 15 dealers selling their wares and maybe about 100 attendees, five of whom were in costume. Why do they always come as stormtroopers from Star Wars? There is always one table where they sell for half-price and I find it right away, spending over $70. I did find another table where they had really good stuff from the early to late 1960s with no covers and pretty beat up for only $1 a book, so I bought seven of those including two Mystery in Spaces with Adam Strange stories I have in the DC Showcase Adam Strange collection, but two absolutely beautiful sci-fi back-up stories with fantastic art by Murphy Anderson--The Answer Man of Space and The Trojan Whale of Space.

Here are the comics I bought:
Action 349 (coverless), 389
Adventure 385
The Atom 25
Captain America 102
DC Showcase 41 (Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers)
Detective Comics 301, 360, 443
The Flash 161
House of Mystery 163
Jimmy Olsen 79, 80, 106, 127, 130
Journey into Mystery (with Thor) 119
Lois Lane 27 (coverless)
Metal Men 37
Mystery in Space 73, 76 (both coverless)
Strange Adventures 122, 140
Superboy 132, 156 (giant)
Superman coverless giant spotlighting Lex Luthor with first seven pages missing, 230
Superman Family 165
Thor 133, 137
World's Finest 148, 181, 203 (last two coverless)

Lists Are Fun

2010-03-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Countries outside of the US I have been to:
1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. England
4. Ireland
5. France
6. Germany
7. Holland
8. Czech Republic
9. Italy
10. China
11. India
12. Thailand
13. Nepal
14. South Korea
15. South Africa
16. Turkey
17. Greece
18. Egypt
19. Belgium (train ride through)
20. Japan (airport only)
21. Scotland
22. Bermuda
23. Belize

States in the USA
1. Pennsylvania
2. New Jersey
3. New York
4. Massachusettes
5. Rhode Island
6. Illinois
7. Louisiana
8. California
9. Arizona
10. Nevada
11. New Mexico
12. Florida
13. South Carolina
14. North Carolina
15. Virginia
16. Hawaii
17. Missouri
18. Vermont
19. New Hampshire
20. Connecticut
21. Maine
22. Georgia
23. Michigan(airport only)
24. Tennessee (airport only)
25. Kentucky
26. Puerto Rico (commonwealth)
27. Ohio (Cincinnati airport only--but I think that may be technically in Kentucky)

Project Runway Season 7: Episode 10: Irish Girl Speaks Up, plus Louisville Reflections

2010-03-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Irish girl Carrie spoke up to the judges this past week when Michael Kors compared the dress she was wearing to a dirty table-cloth and Nina Garcia declared it a full-on disaster. "I have to disagree with all a yiz," she firmly said in that delightful brogue. I wanted her to go on with "And yiz can kiss me arse, the lot of yiz. I'm goin' to the pub for a pint of ale and if yiz don't like it, yiz can stuff it." She was the highlight of the episode. But how did Jonathan her designer repay her? He picked Brandeis, the odd girl and Carrie got eliminated.

It's been a strange week. I'm late with this Runway recap/blog/rumination because I was in Louisville during the episode. It was broadcast on the first night of the Humana Festival and I watched the second half at about 1:30 AM after attending the opening night reception and seeing the first play which started at 11PM. I just now watched the first half on DVR back in NYC. I'm getting kinda tired of this season. There hasn't been anything really grabby. I've had enough of Seth Aaron's zippers and Mila's color blocking. There were a few twists--Seth Aaron escaped the curse of the cell phone by speaking with a loved one on camera via personal communication device and not being eliminated. Mila actually tried something not geometric, but the skirt was so tight her model Brandeis could barely walk in it.

I didn't think Emilio's winning print was that great and Jonathan's almost-losing pale jacket and skirt combo wasn't that awful. I guess the judges thought Anthony's was boring and better a "full-on disaster" than a yawn. Jonathan is in big trouble and will probably be the next to go. Emilio and Seth Aaron are probably safe, leaving Jay, Mia or Mila for the third slot. But something big is happening next week and I think it involves Mia because I recall hearing a rumor about her not showing up for fashion week.

The rest of Louisville was fun, but they packed so much into the three days I didn't do very much besides go to the theatre. At one point we had four shows on one day. After the first one I had about two hours to kill, so I took a cab to the historical district and bought a guide to the Victorian houses. One was a sort of double house with two separate entrances. A merchant built it for his two daughters who hated each other. There were separate porches so they could each sit on them without speaking to the other. Ironically, one of the houses is now the Kentucky Psychiatric Institute.

I only got to see a few additional domiciles when I realized I had better get back in time for the next show, so I walked back--about two miles. I passed a lot of hat and wig shops. Hats are big in Louisville because of the Kentucky Derby. All the ladies wear enormous chapeaus to the famous race. I took pictures which I will post later. Later that same day after the second show, I had lunch with the artistic director and some board members of the Actor's Express Theatre of Atlanta. It was fun to talk theatre with like-minded people. They asked me what was good in NYC and I asked about their season in Atlanta. It's so refreshing to see theatre outside of NYC and realize the whole country does have a theatre scene beyond Broadway.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 7--Case of the Missing Coconut

2010-03-29T21:07:00.001-07:00

Boy do I hate Brent and Caite now. I thought we were really rid of them last week, but luck favors the drunk and the stupid. First all six teams have to take the same flight to the Seychelle Islands. Then for once in their stupid lives, Team Such As actually has a thought between them--"Let's try to get seats in the front of the plane." That just shows you, never eat lunch before getting your tickets like the cowboys and the cops did. And how long did it take them to go to the Paris airport? All of a sudden they were magically there. It must have been at least a three or four hour drive. The flight had to be eight or nine hours yet all the teams were miraclously rested.

Another mystery--how did the fruit vendor at the port know that Team Such As, the lesbians, and the cowboys did not have all their coconuts? Did a colleague call him via cell phone and say "Hey, the dumb ones, the guys with the John Wayne hats and the two women who look like Ellen DeGeneris forgot one coconut each"? But Brent and Caite showed their true colors when they found out they had to go back and get said coconut, "WAAAAH! I quit! I don't wanna play anymore! We were in first place! This is so unfair!" I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt before, but unlike the late lamented Jeff and Jordan, these guys aren't even funny when they're dumb--they just dumb!

I wondered about Steve and Allie losing their backpacks. As they raced to the finish line I thought, "Aha! We'll have another Zev and Justin moment. They don't have their passports so they have to go back and find them and then the gay-straight brothers will win." Then Steve goes, "We've got our money and our passports, but no clothes." WHAT? Did they stick their passports and money in their underwear and swim to shore with them? Something fishy is going on here. How did they know to save those items and forget everything else? Are they allowed to go back during the rest period and look for them? It was even weirder when Phil told them their prize--"All the seven-up you can drink!" Ugh! I hate that stuff!

And another thing--How come there was a seven theme running through the episode when there were only six teams? Couldn't Seven-up have counted and done the sponsoring last week? But then French champagne and Seven-Up don't really mix. That is, unless you're Brent and Caite. "It's anonymous. I mean unanimous."

Pluses did include beautiful scenery and since dumb stupid basketball ran overtime--again--I got some of 60 Minutes with Anderson Cutie-Pie Cooper getting into a wet suit.

Day 10--drive from wine country in France to Paris

Day 11--Flight from Paris to Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was probably a late afternoon flight and it had to be at least eight or nine hours

Day 12--Arrive Seychelles Islands, helicopter to La Digue, detour with ox or turtles, take boat to another island

Leaderboard
Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Jet and Cord--two wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"

Second Time in Louisville and Presidential Lovers

2010-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Louisville, Kentucky for my second visit to the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Last year was my first time here and I did so much, it feels as if I don't have the same amount of time now--yet I do. There seems to be more panels scheduled this year in addition to the eight new plays all crammed into three and a half days--even less since Sunday is not a full day of playgoing. Well, this blog is more about Louisville itself than the festival (which I will cover in my Back Stage blog). I'm amazed I was able do so much last time. I visited the Louisville Slugger Museum--where they make the baseball bats--the Muhammad Ali Center, which was interesting even though I'm not a sports fan, and I walked all the way to Bardstown Road because that was the only neighborhood that had used-book stores--and that was a looong walk of several miles from where my hotel, the Galt Hotel is located.

Louisville is right on the Ohio River and not a hopping town, like New Orleans. The downtown area feels like a ghost town with not many people on the street after 5 PM. There is a little club district with restautants and bars, but the area isn't exactly teeming. There are some points of local color and historic interest. Lewis and Clark set off from here and I want to explore the old district with its historic homes--including I think, Merriwether Lewis's house. There is a statue of him near the river and a more recently erected one of his slave York who was free during the exploration and admired by the Indians. Then he had to come back to Kentucky and return to being a slave. That would make an interesting play.

I had to change planes in Cincinnati, since the New York flight was late. I had run through the airport there and didn't get a good look at it. It did seem like Detroit, but at least better than Memphis. Once in Louisville, we didn't have a much time to rest before we were whisked off to the opening night reception and the first play which started at 11 PM (I will offer reviews in my Back Stage article). The opening play is called Heist! and is set in an actual art gallery-hotel called 21C. One interesting exhibit in the actual gallery was a group of portraits of seven women and one man, each of whom were associated with a president. Then I figured out there were all supposed to have slept with the chief executive. The man was a bachelor senator who shared quarters with James Buchanan and there were gossip and rumors about them being more than friends, though gay romances were an unknown thing at the time. The other portraits were Monica Lewinsky, Kay Summersby, Lucy Mercier, the young woman who had Grover Cleveland's baby and a slave named Venus who was associated with George Washington. I'd never heard of her. I wondered why the artist didn't include Sally Hemmings. Maybe that would have been too obvious. I explained the common thread to some fellow playgoers and one woman asked me, "How do you know that? Are you an historian?"

The play required a lot of walking around and I got back to the hotel at 1:15 AM. But Project Runway was on and I had to watch, so I didn't get to bed until very late. I'll cover that in a Runway blog, possibily combined with Amazing Race.

Health Reform--But at What Cost to Obama?

2010-03-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

I watched the Health Care Reform vote on Sunday as if it were the Academy Awards. I was happy that it passed, but I'm fearful of what comes next. Yes, it's a triumph of political maneuvering on the part of Obama and Pelosi, but can the President sell it to these angry town-hall disrupters?

What's missing is an honest, dispassionate debate on the bill and what it does and does not say. We need to get beyond the name-calling and fear-mongering and spinning--on both sides. Yes, it's reprehensible that the n-word and the f-word were flung at congressmen by a few angry protestors and that Congressman from Texas called Stupak a baby killer (or that he said "It's a baby killer" referring to the bill, though nobody has found the "It's a..." on tape). But I want to see a calm, cool discussion on why those angry people are so angry and what are they so afraid of? I want Obama to talk to people like them and allay their fears and explain that most of the stuff they think is in the bill (death panels like on that episode of The Twilight Zone with Fritz Weaver and Burgess Meredith, rationing of care, etc.) just isn't there. Or is all this just ginned up by Fox and Friends? I feel sometimes we're living in two different worlds. One says this is the best thing that ever happened since Social Security and the Civil Rights Act, another says this is the worst thing that could ever happen and it's the end of America.

I'm genuinely worried that the congratulatory ink spilled by Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd isn't gonna mean shit in November and possibly in 2012 when these red-state yahoos and tea-baggers try to take back Congress and the White House.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (15)--Nearly the Last Exit in Brooklyn

2010-03-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

The comic collecting bug is biting me pretty bad. This weekend, I went to a desolate neighborhood in Brooklyn for a warehouse sale advertised by a flyer I found at the last comic show. It was a beautiful sunny day and I ventured down to 36th and Fourth Ave. under the BQE. I wish I could say it was worth it, but all they had was lots of Bronze Age stuff (mid-70s-80s), hardly any Silver. There was an Inferior Five I would have bought, but they wanted $10. It wasn't even bagged or boarded. I did find a box of $2 comics and bought four Four Star Spectaculars. This was a reprint series from 1976 which included four stories from the 1950s. This way I found lots of stories from the Silver Age, mostly Superboys, but also some Wonder Womans, Green Arrows, and an obscure cowboy hero called the Vigilante.

One highlight was a center spread advertising the CBS Saturday morning line-up for 1976. At that point I was a junior in high school and didn't watch as much Sat. morning TV. Interestingly, there were more live action shows at this point like Shazam and Isis. The best cartoons then were the Bugs Bunny reruns. This layout made me think of that annoying child actress Pamelyn Ferdin who played Felix Ungar's daughter on the Odd Couple. She also did the voice of Lucy on several Peanuts cartoons. She had been on one of these live-action Saturday morning shows (Space Academy) and I hated her. Maybe because she was working all the time, but there was something about her that just drove me nuts. But I digress.

I had a Off-Broadway matinee that afternoon, so I left after about an hour with my four-star spectaculars. I read them while eating as chicken sandwich at Burger King on Fourth Ave. In a Superboy story, the Boy of Steel is menaced by space pirates whose costumes contain a special explosive material. If Superboy attacks them, they will blow up Smallville and themselves. Whaddya know, suicide bombers in 1960s comics.

After the matinee--and sighting Andrea Martin on the street at Union Square--I resolved to go to Time Machine and get more comics since the trip to Brooklyn was so unsatisfactory. At Time Machine I found what I thought was a Superboy 88, but upon examination, I discovered someone had taped the cover over an Adventure 276 from 1960. Roger wasn't there but the guy who works with him threw the bizarro comic in for free when I bought another Superboy, three Flashes and two Green Lanterns for only $25. He called this bogus comic a Frankenstein Superboy.

Four Star Spectacular 1, 3, 5,6
Flash 176, 180, 184
Green Lantern 27, 37
Superboy 115

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 6--Cathy Drone?

2010-03-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

I love the Amazing Race because you never know who will be on top from week to week. The order totally shuffled and yes the detectives remained on top, but Steve and Allie dropped to third from second, the lesbians moved up to second, and the gay/straight brothers were first for a little while, but they made a bad decision and dropped back down to fifth.

Stupid basketball delayed the episode for 51 minutes--WTF is March Madness anyway?-- plus the health care debate was raging on CNN and CSPAN. Budgeting continues with another car challenge rather than a plane trip and we're in France for the second week. Dan and Jordan displayed their lack of language skills by saying "Cathy Drone?" when a French citizen told them to go to the cathedral. Then Dan goes, "People don't know how to speak good English here." You're in France, genius, they don't have to speak English here! I thought that kind of comment was reserved for Team Big Brother and Team Such As.

Speaking of those two teams, Jeff and Jordan at least admit they're dumber than a bag of hammers. Leaving three hours after the first team, Jordan actually says, "Didn't Joan of Arc get all those animals on a boat?" "That's Noah's Ark," Jeff laughs, "No wonder we're in last place." That was cute and it redeemed them for me. I had this image of Joan of Arc on a boat herding animals on the ark and singing "Two by Two" from that Danny Kaye musical by Richard Rodgers. The other rock-stupid team Brent and Caite dropped in my estimation by arguing with each other, lacking a sense of humor, and --for the third time--screwing up the directions and having to double back.

Brent and Caite continued to self-destruct by quibbling over the champagne roadblock. I would have preferred Jeff and Jordan staying, but I think Team Such As will not last much longer. Other highlights include Jordan-brother (to distinguish him from Big Brother Jordan) squealing like a girl when he had to repel into the wine cellar; and Steve fixing the broken fender with duct tape.

Day 9--Drive from Vache Moulin to Reims for Joan of Arc clue; drive from Reims to Eperny for repel in wine cellar; drive from Eperny to Peirry for detour (three teams drive back to Reims when given wrong directions, then have to drive all the way to Peirry); Pierry to L'orrca.

Leaderboard
Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Jet and Cord--two wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver

Project Runway Season 7--Episode 9--Lost in a Concept

2010-03-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Amy got lost in her concept again this week. First it was the bowl of hair, now it was the umbrella dress. I had to agree with the judges on this one. Her teammate Jonathan's detail-crazy gown was pretty overworked as well. I thought it made the model look like the Transparent Woman--you know, that figurine where the skin was transparent so you could see all the organs, it was used for science class.

Everything was leading up to a big runway fight between Jay and Mila, but she did not have to throw him under the bus. The judges did that for her. Nina went back to loving her some Mila with her extravagant praise for Mila's nighttime East Village look which was very smart and tailored. But even I'm getting a bit tired of the geometric black and white thing with the lines and the stripes. I did admire Anthony and Maya's Chinatown pieces, but the nighttime would have looked better longer and maybe just a smidge of red to tie it to the daytime. Seth Aaron and Emilio did deserve to win, but what was that bagpipe bag on the daytime model's head? And what was that tiny wrench Amy was wearing on a necklace?

This time the Models on the Runway was actually more suspenseful than Project Runway. I love that the designers have almost no model loyalty so you never know who's gonna pick who. Emilio must be getting jittery if he dropped Holly. I thought it was pretty sneaky with the promo editing to make us think someone was going to the hospital after drinking too much by showing an ambulance right after a shot of the models knocking back a few. It turned out the ambulance was just a random atmosphere shot.

Anyway there are seven designers left which means four more will be eliminated before the final three, but the math doesn't work out if there are only three episodes left before the finale. Something will happen like that season where they picked four finalists and one had to aufed just before Bryant Park. I want Jonathan to make it all the way, but I have a feeling he's going to crumble. Maya is the only one not to have won so she may go. Mila is Nina's favorite and Seth Aaron definitely has a spot. That leaves Emilio, Jay and Anthony. I think Jay is fading and it's either him or Jonathan next week.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 5--Dumb Luck Strikes Twice on the Battlefields of France

2010-03-16T20:13:00.001-07:00

Sheer dumb idiot luck is what saved Capt. Peter Peachfuzz on the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show and it saved the asses of Team Big Brother and Team Such As this week. I should have known something would keep them from being eliminated and it was Joe's arrogance. While driving on their mobile pit stop Husband Overlord Joe bragged how even with his bum knee he could still beat all the other teams. I thought Wifey Heidi was going to break into "Something Wonderful" from "The King and I" after she spoke of their bond of unconditional love. Sorry, but that should have tipped me off quicker than a Project Runway designer calling a loved one on their I-phone. Louie and Michael had it in for Joe and Heidi and a U-Turn was coming up.

BTW, this is another indication that the budget has been cut--yet another bus ride. But it did save us time during the episode so there was no hanging around an airport or train station.

The fix was definitely in to keep the beautiful but dumb people on the show and I can't really blame the producers. (Just kidding, don't wanna be sued.) The dumb people make better TV than Steve and Allie, the father-daughter team, who are sweet to each other and boring as hell. So they leave from this mystery location St. Menehould in France. Heidi goes "I love driving through the French countryside" and they cut to a shot of nothing but fog.

Team Big Brother leaves a full three hours behind everybody else and they can't even figure out how to navigate a roundabout. They've obviously never driven in New England. Team Such As is not much better. Brent has the dead-eyed look of a soulless zombie like Caite has sucked his soul out during the night. The gay/straight brothers are beginning to get like the gay brothers of last season--bickering over everything. The lesbians--specifically Brandy--are beginning to get to me. Carol's not so bad, but Brandy is just bitching about everything. She began the episode with this bright sunny attitude but it was shot to hell as soon as she found out she had to crawl on the ground. What did you think was gonna happen? Carol was so right in her physical task-vs.-needle in a haystack analogy. The only team that did the Morse Code was screwed. I hope Brandy appreciated that when she saw this episode.

Anyway, the main action of the episode was the battle for the bottom. Joe and Heidi were U-turned and must have spent at least three hours on that Morse code challenge while Team Such As had to bicycle all the way back and get their clue and Team Big Brother had to perform their lame-ass speed bump (Build a fence, what a challenge!) It turns out Brent doesn't know north from south either. I should make a list of his lack of skills. Despite all these obstacles and their sheer brain-deadness, Such As and Big Brother pull ahead of Morse Codeless Joe and Heidi who huddle like whipped dogs in the trenches as Phil has to go to them to deliver the bad news.

I have to admit I would have missed Jeff and Jordan if they were eliminated. Who could resist Jeff's total cluelessness over not finding the clue in the baguette. He reminded me of this octopus I had seen in a nature documentary. The octopus is presented with a bowl with a tasty fish inside. The bowl is corked. It takes the octopus 45 minutes to figure out he has to remove the cork to get to his lunch. Jeff had the same octopus-like blank expression of not realizing his objective is in his hands, all he has to do is take it. Both Jeff-Jordan and Brent-Caite appear exhausted and are now realizing this race is hard work, unlike hanging out in the Big Brother house or smiling and waving during a beauty pageant or tensing your pecs during a photo shoot. The previews shows Brent and Caite cracking under pressure next week, but it will probably be a two-parter or some other ploy to prolong the agony. The champagne-glass tower looks as if they will still be in France for episode six. Another budget saving measure, no doubt.

I predict Such As and Big Brother will not last much longer. Then the lesbians and the brothers will find their constant fighting will be their undoing, leaving the cowboys, the detectives, and the father-daughter team.

Day 7--overnight mobile pit stop from Hamburg to Les Monthairns, France.

Day 8--Drive from Les Monthairns to St. Menehould for bread clue, then to Le Main de Messiges for WWI battlefield challenge, bicycle four miles

Leaderboard
Jet and Cord--two wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia
Louie and Michael--two wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver

Ready for the New Doctor

2010-03-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

I finally caught up with Doctor Who, viewing the last David Tennant episode which was broadcast on BBC America over New Years weekend with a marathon of Tenant. I DVRed them and just watched the second installment of The End of Time. I am now ready for the new 11th Doctor and have seen almost every episode available in this country. My relationship with the Doctor is a long and twisted one with a major break-up, but now we are back together.

My first exposure to Doctor Who was via the Philadelphia public television station WHYY which showed Tom Baker episodes on Saturday afternoons. Howard Da Silva did voice-overs explaining what had happened in the previous segments. I was in high school and was immediately intrigued by the humor and infinite possibilties of a series which could go anywhere in time or space and a hero who could regenerate whenever the lead actor was tired of playing him. Baker was dryly funny and not your typical action hero--the Doctor used his brains rather than his muscles or martial arts.

I have met several of the doctors. There was a Baker-Baker event at Brooklyn College when I was living not far from there. Tom Baker and Colin Baker, the sixth doctor, appeared and signed autographs. I also attended a massive Doctor Who convention in Valley Forge, Pa. in the mid-80s which featured Jon Pertwee (second Doctor), and several companions. Continual episodes were shown all day. I got the closest to Peter Davison (fifth Doctor) and Patrick Troughton (second Doctor) at the convention in which I was a guest escort for George Takei of Star Trek (See previous blog where I encountered him again on the subway). I remember asking Troughton what it was like to act with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh--he played in their productions of Antony and Cleopatra and Caesar and Cleopatra.

I blush to admit it but at one time I was actually a member of the UNYT, the NYC-based Doctor Who fan club.

Tom Baker was always my favorite, perhaps because he was my first doctor. But dreamboat David Tenant has taken his place in my nerdy heart. I look forward to seeing his Hamlet on TV.

I lost interest in the show when Slyvester McCoy took over. Nothing against McCoy who is a fine actor--I recently saw him play the fool opposite Sir Ian McKellen's King Lear at BAM. The scripts lacked tension and the whole series seemed tired. There was an attempt to bring it back with a pretty lame TV movie which I couldn't even watch all the way through. Then Russel T. Davis rejuvenated the series several years later and here we are.

Beck Speaks for God Now

2010-03-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I hope Glenn Beck has finally gone too far. But I fear he'll just dial it back a bit and keep his show with its seed and gold advertisers. This guy is like a cockroach, you just can't kill the bastard. I am speaking, of course, about his call for all Christians to leave their church if the words "social justice" are mentioned on the church website. Glenda claims this is code for Communism or Nazism--and they're basically the same thing, right? Do you believe this, America? And if you do, I've got a some loan derivatives, a bridge and some swamp land to sell you. I recall that Joe McCarthy finally crossed a line when he accused Eisenhower's church of being filled with commies. That tore it!

Christian bloggers and media figures began voicing their protests and some even called for a boycott by Christians of Beck's shows on TV and radio. The next day Beck amended his statements--just as he did with the climate change thing--saying he was talking about churches which were for big government programs to help the poor.

It's all so offensive and meaningless. He attacks the very core of Christian faith and Christ's teachings--that you should help those less fortunate than yourself, not be primarily concerned with material wealth, and work to stop the defects in society which make people poor--and then backs away and none of his zombie followers are outraged.

My feeling is charity and compassion are the only things organized religion are good for. I think a lot of religion is about fear of death--one of Beck's biggest bargaining chips for viewers and their money. The selling point of most churches is: If you go to my church every Sunday and drop a few bills in the collection plate, you'll go to heaven, float on a cloud, and play a harp all day. The really imporant thing is to be kind to others while you're alive and I don't think you should be forced into it by the threat of hellfire. You should because it's the right thing to do. I hate the idea that if you don't have Christian values then you have no moral values at all because God the policeman is not there to keep you in line.

But back to Beck, his whole message is--I overcame my alcoholism and crawled out of the dungheap to become this raving success, so you should never lend a hand to anyone who's in trouble. You should be afraid that Obama and the commies and the lefties are going to take away every penny you've spent your life earning and give it to lazy undeserving black and Hispanic people. And you'd better be ready for the Apocalypse because it's coming any minute, so buy up these seeds and gold my advertisers are selling you.

What sort of church does Beck want? One where you worship at the altar of the almighty dollar, keep out those who are different, and praise the mighty bomb which protects us all--kind of like the one in Beneath the Planet of the Apes where the mutated humans including Victor Buono worshipped in the subway system. At least that would be somewhat entertaining.

Project Runway--Season 7--Episode 8--Big Bowl o' Hair

2010-03-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

I thought my DVR was going to record this week's Project Runway from the beginning but for some reason it didn't. So when I came home at about 10:30PM after a hard night of reviewing plays like Jennifer Jason Leigh in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, I was looking forward to watching the show from the top. When I discovered it wasn't recording I thought, OK, I'll watch the runway show now and catch up with the repeat at 11:30. As a result, I was totally unprepared for Amy's horrifying big-bowl-of-hair. It scared me out of three years' growth. The model turned the corner and I said "What the fuck is that? It looks like she's balancing a bowl of hair on her breasts. Why doesn't she throw in some chips and pretzels and make herself useful by serving them to the judges?"

Amy described her objective as "controlled chaos." Well, she got the second part right. She screwed up last week too, so I don't know why she stayed. Her work was far worse than Ben's shark suit. But I guess the judges are thinking out-of-box crazy shit beats out ho-hum bad stitching. Jay's twister-sister look from the tornado ballet in The Wiz induced jaw-dropping stares from the judges, but he couldn't be eliminated. Mila couldn't color-block the pain and got a tongue lashing from Nina. Jonathan's laughter in the air dream was reminscent of his toilet paper in a windstorm, but this time it worked, plus Irish Carrie looked beautiful. Seth Aaron's leather outfit was fierce, but what was the extra piece on her ass? Nina was really hard on Maya and that French guy seemed like he was a little too relaxed, maybe he was drunk and could have used some peanuts and pretzels from hair-bowl girl.

After the runway show, I caught up with the first half during the repeat. This would have tipped me off that Ben would have been on his way to the gallows because he was talking with his boyfriend, or husband since they got married, on that little keyboard-iphone doohickey--always the kiss of death. BTW, why does Ben always look like he's on his way to Rawhide (a leather bar for you non-New Yorkers) and do the contestants all get those cute little phone things? What's her name who cried all the time had one too.

Ben and Jonathan had a really interesting talk about being safe and staying in the middle. You'll recall I spoke about this very topic in my blog last week and that the middle pack would have have to drop out or rise to the top. Ben did the former and Jonathan the latter.

And how many times did they mention Garnier? I should keep track of the product placements.

Oscarcasts Past

2010-03-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

This year was the first Oscar show in a while where I've actually been home. Last year we were in Rincon in Puerto Rico on the big night. The American family who were renting the house next door--I think they were from Boston--were all leaving the next day so they were having a big-ass loud farewell party. Long after the Oscars were over and the Slumdog Millionaire people had all flown back to India, these bastards were still partying hardy. My partner and I did not get to sleep till just before the local guy who lived across the street woke up to go to work and his roosters started crowing. If you are reading this, you sons of bitches, thanks a lot.

The year before in 2008, we were in Cancun at a Palace resort. The entire broadcast was dubbed in Spanish except for Javier Bardem's acceptance speech for No Country for Old Men. They had two local celebrities offer commentary while sitting in front of a movie theatre in Mexico City. These two would occasionally cut away to a Mexican lady correspondent was actually there at the Oscars, standing with the parking valets!

Before I met my partner I would run the office Oscar pool and hang out in bars to watch the show. Then I would mark the ballots like a teacher grading papers. I would sometimes be accused of cheating because I won sometimes. But to insure impartiality, I would give my ballot to a friend who would be at another party and have them grade mine. Everytime I won, people in the office would yell "The fix is in" the morning after the Oscars. The pot would sometimes get up to $150 so we are talking serious money. After a few years, it got to be too much trouble.

The Amazing Race 16-- Episode 4--The Fix Is in in Hamburg

2010-03-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

Not only have they cut the budget on TAR, but they've also put the fix in to keep Team Big Brother and Team Such As on for as long as possible. They've made all the tasks super-easy as Joel McHale on The Soup and several anti-Jeff and Jordan bloggers have pointed out. This week all the teams had to do was bungy-jump, eat a small plate of sauerkraut before a five-minute song ended, drink some beer, and find a bar in the middle of some strip clubs. If you will recall previous eating challenges included consuming an entire HUGE bowl of caviar, an omelet made from ostrich eggs, and that Hungarian soup that made more than one racer sick. A little plate of sauerkraut was nothing.

To get to the particulars of this episode--I am probably the only person in America who watched the first half-hour instead of the Red Carpet arrivals at the Oscars, then switched to the Oscars at 8:30 EST, and caught up with the final half-hour on Monday night.

There were several pluses to this leg despite the disappointing finish. There was no time spent at the airport. I find watching teams standing in line and getting tickets so exciting--NOT! And those close-ups of the tickets being printed--such drama! This time they went right from Jet and Cord opening their envelope to everyone getting on a plane for Europe. I marvel at how no one seemed to be jet-lagged after what had to at least a 12-hour flight from Bariloche, with some layovers in Buenos Aires and San Paolo. Incidentally how did the direct flight which carried Team Lesbian and gay/straight brothers manage to fall behind the flight with the cowboys and the cops which had a layover in Buenos Aires?

The intersection idea was a good one. They did have something similar on the race with Mary and Dave where teams had to team together to deliver bedding--was it in India? Anyway, I thought it was weird when Heidi said she and hubby overlord and the father-daughter team all came from good families and therefore got along. Huh? What does that mean--good families? Does she mean if somebody had gotten a divorce or didn't go to tailgate parties, they wouldn't bungee jump as good? Anyway, I loved it when Caite and Jordan teamed up and got lost on the subway. I guess they couldn't figure out that the train usually has the name of the last station it's going to on the front and that's how you tell which direction it's going in.

Brent proved himself to be a real wuss, not being able to kick a soccer ball or hold his beer. I could see it if he had done the bungee jump and/or ate the sauerkraut, but he did neither. So this guy can't drive a car, read a map, kick a soccer ball, is scared of heights and can't drink a boot of beer. The cowboys proved they're pretty adaptable by kicking their soccer balls quickly even though they'd never played soccer before (I guess it's considered too European and sissyfied in Oklahoma) But then they wussed out at the beer challenge and let Joe-and-Heidi-from-the good-family kick their asses at chugging brewskis.

Jeff and Jordan made one stupid mistake after another, they couldn't even eat that little plate of sauerkraut. But I can't stay mad at them, they've kinda grown on me. I guess it's cause they're never mean or arrogant like some past teams. Stupid and arrogant are a lethal combination. And they openly admit how dumb they are. "We are so stupid," Jeff keeps saying. I'd rather see them stay rather than Team Such As. So of course they come in last and it's a non-elimination which leads me--and my friend Lydia--to think it's a fix to keep them on as long as possible.

I liked it better when you came in last and were not eliminated, they took all your money, your clothes and all your possessions. Now all you have to do is some lame-ass Speed Bump like taking a pot of tea across the street and serving it some old guy or finding a bar and drinking a shot of vodka or sitting in a sauna. It's rigged to keep the stupid people on. The previews say there will be both a speed bump and a U-Turn in the next episode. Also they have to dress up in WWI outfits which I hope doesn't mean they get stuck in Germany for another episode. Maybe it's France.

Summary:
Day 5--Leave ranch at 10:57 PM, getting to airport at Bariloche, waiting 11 hours til planes leave

Day 6--Flights leave Bariloche at about 11:10 AM

Day 7--Flights arrive in Frankfurt from 2:35-3:40 PM the following day. Train to Hamburg, getting there early evening. Bungee jump intersection challenge, soccer or sauerkraut, drink a boot of beer at the shark bar, find Indra in red light district.

Leaderboard:
Jet and Cord--two wins; Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia
Jeff and Jordan--one win; Loot: trip to Vancouver
Louie and Michael--one win; Loot: two Discover cards worth $5,000 each

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (14)--Lois Lane Fights the Death Penalty

2010-03-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

The most recent comic haul (see earlier post) has yielded a fascinating insight into the mindset of the comic-book industry. Evidently it was quite liberal. In Lois Lane #44, published in 1963, the first story "The Murder of Lana Lang," features Lois being sent to the gas chamber for killing her red-haired rival for Superman's affections, Lana Lang. But it turns out the whole scheme is a stunt cooked up by Lois and Lana to prove the death penalty is cruel and unusual and an innocent person could be sent to their maker because of circumstantial evidence. Lois pretends to fight with Lana then takes her to a desserted island and leaves clues pointing to Lois as the culprit in Lana's supposed demise. Lana will return at the last minute and prove she hasn't been killed and Lois would have been executed for a crime she didn't commit.

But Lana runs into a storm at sea and is knocked unconscious. Lori the mermaid rescues her and Superman manages to straighten everything out. The governor pushes for an end to the death penalty. But strangely, Lois and Lana are not persecuted for attempting to pull over a balloon-boy-type hoax.

An other interesting comic is Prez: First Teen President, a short lived series from the early 1970s in response to the voting age being lowered to 18. In this four-issue series, not only is the voting age lowered but so is the eligibility for president and members of Congress, flooding in an 18-year-old named Prez for President. He appoints his mother as his secretary and an Indian companion named Eagle Free as head of the FBI. Kooky, huh?

In a prescient plot in Prez number 3, a rag-tag army of isolationists not unlike the current Tea Party movement attempts to assassinate the Prez when he pushes for a law banning all hand guns! The rebel army pays its men with phony confederate-like money and their camp is called--wait for it--Valley Forgery. (Knew you'd love that one!) This was in 1972 and that gun-control issue is still with us. The Tea Party-like army, lead by a descendent of George Washington advances on the capital. The forces clash right outside of the White House. Prez proposes he and the leader of the insurrectionist fight hand to hand to decide the outcome. The Washington descendant cheats and substitutes a huge wrestler-type for himself, but the Prez has been trained in Indian combat by Eagle Free and he bests the big bruiser who turns out to be agovernment counterspy. BTW, I bet none of the Tea Party people actually drink tea, they probably think it's all sissy and elitist. Coffee is good enough for them.

And speaking of sissy stuff, one of the newly purchased comics contained a one-page public service announcement called Touchdown for Picasso. In many comics, there would be the equivalent of PSAs offering advice on the right way to study, how to behave on a bus, not dropping out, starting a hobby, having a productive summer rather than just goofing off and reading comics, etc. This one features two kids after school. One says to the other "Hey, my parents have an extra ticket to a Beethoven concert tonight. Wanna go?" Rather than pounding the little poindexter to a pulp, his companion simply says "That's sissy stuff. I wanna be a football player." The miniature barbarian later learns his football hero is not only a classical music lover, but also an amateur painter (horrors!) I doubt this little vignette resulted in an increase in concert attendance among the small fry, but it may have shown an uptick in tolerance for those of us who enjoyed movies like "Gay Purree." That picture deserves an entire column of its own. You could see it as a litmus test for future gayness. Show it to a kid and if he asked "Where can I get the original soundtrack?" you could measure him for his interior-decorator sash right then and there.

Project Runway Season 7: Episode 7: Slutty Stripper Outfit Beats Jiffy-Pop Skirt

2010-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

I thought for sure Emilio was going to buy the farm this week because he had sooo much screen time. There was that long explanation of how he didn't have enough cord and washers for his mini-skirt, which would have looked like a curtain in a gypsy's house except not as shiny. Or maybe Jay because starting with a garbage bag is always a bad sign if you'll recall from past seasons. I think Stella (the Leatha Queen from season 4, or was it 3?) used garbage bags on her very first challenge and almost got eliminated right out of the gate. But Jay managed to pull it off and made something pretty. The blue piping was a nice touch.

It looked bad for everyone, particularly when Jonathan predicted "You ten have the worst scores." And speaking of the number 10, what was all that shit about being in the top ten at the top of the episode? They never did that before. Did they want to refresh our memories as to how many contestants there were because they skipped a week? They still haven't explained why they were pre-empted last week. Was it fear of competing with the Olympics? And why did Ben wear pink shorts this week?

I also loved it when Tim said , "Alright designers, this....is....it!" just before they had to go down to the runway as if he knew disaster awaited them all. I laughed at that cymbals-crashing sound before each model made her entrance. It was like a cartoon scene and everyone looked like they had stepped out of a bad musical version of "Metropolis."

Jesse's outfit was indeed bizaarely awful. In addition to the epithets thrown by the judges--giant Hershey's kiss, dirty vacuum bag, ballerina in tin foil--I will add my own: Jiffy-pop popcorn bag. Maya's key necklace was indeed stylish and striking but what was that Spiderwoman web-net jacket? She looked like a villainess in a comic book, not even a Marvel comic book, but a Charleton or Dell or Gold Key comic book (For you non-geeks, those are real cheap comics.)

Emilio's bikini was really slutty and cheesey. He was sweating bullets when he was trying to talk his way out of it. I couldn't believe Nina actually said "It wasn't that bad." Oh come on, Nina, it was right out of the Badda Bing Club on the Sopranos. They really should have eliminated Emilio and not Jesse. I suspect the reason was that Emilio is the stronger designer plus they kept the pretty white straight boy too long last season and didn't want to make the same mistake.

Did you see Milla's face when she didn't win? She was pissed even though Heidi paid her a big compliment by saying it was another fine job.

With the numbers getting smaller the middle crowd (Jonathan, Ben, sometimes Seth Aaron) is going to get pushed up or to the bottom. Anthony is hanging by a thread--wasn't that hiliarous when he just shut up and walked off when he was told he was safe? He probably said to himself "Girl, you better not say a word cause your ass is just lucky to be still alive." I think Milla, Maya, and Amy may be the final three. Jay might squeak in.

The Amazing race 16--Episode 3--Do Cry for Brent and Caite, Argentina

2010-02-28T19:35:00.000-08:00

Now I KNOW the budget has been cut because for the second week in a row, the Amazing Racers had to take a bus to their next destination. The cowboys continue to dominate and that's great. I'm also finding I don't absolutely hate Team Such As (Brent and Caite) and Team Big Brother (Jeff and Jordan). I hated Rob and Amber because they were arrogant and sneaky and thought the world owed them a living because they were big stars on Survivor (BTW, I know Rob is back on this new Survivor season, but I have gotten over him and don't even watch it.) These two reality-pretty teams aren't arrogant or nasty like Romber, so I am not broken up each week if they do well.

Caite and Brent paid for their good fortune in the looks department by contracting food poisoning and going to the hospital. While they were on the IVs, the lesbians were grilling the cowboys to find out how they found a quicker bus last leg. The cowboys were all "Oh, I want someone to care about me when they talk to me" and upset the lesbians were not making with the warm fuzzies. Hey, they were just trying to get information, you were under no obligation to tell them anything. Maybe they were confused by the use of the word "enigmatic." But, I don't mean to be mean. The cowboys are showing they're pretty smart and have made up for their mistake with getting the wrong money the first leg.

Once everyone got to Bariloche, it was just a matter of luck at the challenges. Of course Jet and Cord were going to breeze past the lasso task. We also found out that Brent can neither drive a stick or read a map, neither of the gay/straight brothers can drive worth a damn, and that the shorter cop only executed search warrants and never did a grid search--whatever that is. At the choice between finding the buried loot and riding the wooden polo horse, I would have taken the polo horse right away. Anything with a compass is going to screw me up as I found out at camp decades ago.

It's looking like the race will be dominated by the cowboys, Joe and Heidi and the lesbians. The father and daughter surged ahead to second, but I don't see them lasting there. The brothers, the cops, even the reality and pretty people will drop off. Thank god we're finally getting out of South America next week, getting on a plane and heading for Europe for some serious drinking and bungee jumping.

Sidenote: This morning on CBS Sunday Morning, they profiled Blake from Amazing Race 2 who is now a shoe entrepeneur and distributes shoes to improverished countries. Also Joel McHale has been showing more clips on the Soup of this Amazing Race than any other. Maybe it's becuase Jeff and Jordan--specifically Jordan--were so dumb on Big Brother. He said you'd have to be a brain-dead gerbil not to do well on this season.

Day 5--Bus from Puerto Vargas, Chile to Bariloche, Argentina. Arrive around 2:30 PM. Poker with the gnome. Lasso challenge. Wooden polo horse or buried treasure.

Jet and Cord win again (two wins so far). Prize: ten-day trip to Patagonia. But they were just there! Plus it's all earthquake-y now. A friend who lives in Santiago sent some pictures and it looks pretty bad there.

Leaderboard--
Jet and Cord (2 wins) Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia
Jeff and Jordan (1 win) Loot: trip to Vancouver

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (13)--Comic Show in the Snow

2010-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

New York was hit with a big snowstorm this past week, but that didn't stop me from going to yet another comic book show. This one was at the Penn Plaza hotel on 33rd and Seventh. Wearing my rubbers and a heavy coat and sweater, I went through hundreds of box of comics to find the following haul:

Action Comics--315, 325, 369

Adventure Comics--285, 287, 295

Atom--32

Batman--163

DC Showcase--66 (Bwana Beast)

Green Lantern--50, 66

Flash--152

House of Mystery--168 (Dial H for Hero)

The Inferior Five--6

Jimmy Olsen--59, 77, 85, 89

Lois Lane--29, 38, 39, 42, 44, 61, 70, 78, 83, 113 (80-page giant) (I've got so many Lois Lanes, it's ridic)

Metal Men--8, 46

Prez--3 (America's first teen president)

Strange Adventures--154, 190

Superboy--139, 150, 216, 250, 255

Superman--174, 182

Tales to Astonish--68

Thor Special--3

Thor--166

World's Finest--153, 180, 186, 187

Project Runway Skips a Week, Health Care Takes Precedence

2010-02-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

So I get home last night after a hard day of reviewing plays expecting to watch the latest fashion smackdown on Project Runway and for some reason, the damned thing ain't even on. They're showing last week's episode and then some lame Will and Grace rerun (the one with Matt Damon pretending to be gay). We turn on Hardball with Chris Matthews who has an extra-long show to dissect the health care summit. Obama was on fire telling those obstructionist Republicans where to get off with their "Let's start all over again with a blank slate so we can get the credit" crap. When he told that smarmy congressman who favored health-care saving accounts, "Well that's fine for you because you make six figures, but what about the average American making $40,000 a year?," I was like "YEAH! Stick it to that smug bastard."

This is what the Prez should have done MONTHS ago, but he was too afraid of looking partisan and worried about another dose of Hilarycare with the Congress not being allowed to put together the legislation. He needs to go before the public every day of the week and sell the hell outta this bill. He needs to tell the people who don't watch Fox, CNN and MSNBC 24/7--"Look, don't listen to these right-wing talking heads, I am fighting for you every minute to get you affordable health care. Bohner and those other guys just want to help the insurance companies. Just listen to what they say--you don't need unemployment insurance or stimulus-created jobs, just suck it up. That's how they think. They think government shouldn't help ANYBODY except big corporations and you know where that leads. I am here for YOU, the mom working two jobs at Walmart and the Stop and Shop, the dad taking an extra shift at the toothpaste factory, the freelancer who can't afford a decent TV." Please make that message clear, Barack. People will listen.

Failing the Purity Test

2010-02-23T14:28:00.001-08:00

Repubs continue to eat their own. Newly elected Mass. Senator Scott Brown voted with the Dems on the jobs bill (along with Collins and Snowe from Maine and the guy from Ohio). Immediately Glenn Beck and the right-wing horde pounced on him for betraying their trust. Reportedly Brown's facebook page was inundatded with hate comments from Tea-baggers. I couldn't comment myself unless I became a fan. So I did, though I am not a fan in the strictest sense, I just wanted to tell him how I felt. So this is what I wrote:

"Scott, I became a fan just so I could say this: I am a NY Democrat and hated it like hell when you won against school librarian Cokley. But I'm glad you voted with the Dems on this and it shows you are not just a rubber stamp Republican. You want to get things done and don't want to just say "NO!" to everything Obama does in order to make him look bad--which is all Bohner, McConnell and their pals want to accomplish in this congress. Good for you. Like Republican governors Crist and Schwarzenegger, you realize that it's okay to support the prez when you think he's right and not just toe the party line and be Glenn Beck's lap dog."

The reference to Repub governors is about how Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist both came out and said it is a lie that the stimulus package did not create one job, because both of their states benefited from it and they aren't afraid to say so. The GOP is cracking with people like Michelle Bachmann wanting to get rid of Social Security and Medicare calling for the heads of reasonable people like Arnie and Charlie.

Beck's CPAC speech is a further example of extremism pushing and shoving its way to the center of the conservative movement. He says no more "big tent" in the Republican Party, America is not a circus or a clown show. Yeah, Glenn, just have everybody think exactly like you: no taxes, no government regulation, no laws, everybody owning their own home with all the money they save from all those taxes they save. But no trash collection, state parks, highways, public libraries you like so much (OK, I got that one from The Daily Show), no regulation on big business, etc.

Look, CPAC-ers, I am a chablis-drinking, brie-munching, NPR-listening, show tune-lovin' gay boy and I am just as much a part of America as you. We're equal. As Aunt Eller sang in Oklahoma: "I ain't sayin' I'm better than anybody else/But I'm be danged if I ain't just as good!"

The Amazaing Race 16--Episode 2--Stuck in Chile

2010-02-21T21:11:00.000-08:00

Something tells me they've cut the budget on The Amazing Race--even more than last season--because we're still in the same damn country as episode one and the main means of transportation is a bus! I love that they skipped everyone opening the envelope with the route info and just started with the first-place Big Brother team leaving and then the rest of them just suddenly appearing at the bus station. No wasted time giving us info we already have about the teams and their relationships. If you missed anything, just go to the CBS website.

All the teams were on the same bus from Valpairso to Santiago. Brent and Caite whined about the lesbian couple joking about her tiara. Hey, if you can't take a little teasing, get outta the kitchen (or whatever), you pair of big model-babies. What the women said wasn't so bad. Go back to your photo shoots. When everyone ran to get their tickets for the second bus, the Asian couple held a place for the lesbians and everyone bitched because they got the last four seats. Hey, there is no rule against forming alliances and making deals, so the other teams should just suck it up.

Then some of them got clever--the supposedly dumb ones--the cowboys, the beauty queen and male model and the reality people. They all found a faster bus going through another town to make a connection. But the cowboys discovered the connecting bus was at another terminal. I thanked the Lord when they didn't say anything and prayed again as Team Big Brother and Team Such As all got in taxis for the other terminal and then just missed their bus (Hooray!) Then it got even sweeter when they rushed back to the first terminal and missed the bus there too! Sweet! They had to wait til 1 AM for the next bus. But the victory was bittersweet. They were behind the cowboys, the lesbians, and the Asians, but still ahead of everybody else.

Once everyone got to Puerto Vargas, it looked like Team Grandma would battle it out for last place with Team gay/straight. But the undercover cops' keen powers of observation failed them and they totally missed the location for the last challenge, allowing the brothers to surge ahead and the gay brother to sashay around with the llamas, doing that weird strip dance. Sidenote: Joel McHale pointed out on The Soup that the police guys can't really be undercover anymore because they're on national TV. another interesting sidelight: while waiting for one of the buses, the male half of the Big Brother team actually said he didn't understand how dogs could speak Spanish but not English. Incredible! Right up there with his partner asking for tickets to China when they wanted to go to Chile. Yet these mental giants keep placing high. Unbelievable.

It looks bad for the gay/straight brothers and the cops. The former's lack of stick shift skills and the latter's ironic cluelessness (they're cops and they keep missing stuff and getting lost) is gonna bite them. I don't see them lasting much longer. The cops are so worried about female teams beating them. The way things are falling out, it looks like it'll be the cowboys versus team Big Brother and Team Such As (NOOO!) Go cowboys! I also noticed the two cowpokes don't like to hug.

Day 3--Valpairiso to Santiago; half the teams to Puerto Vargas

Day 4--rest of the teams to Puerto Vargas. Challenge with llamas or candors and roadblock with German refugees, several kicks in the head by cows.

Jet (like James Dean's character in Giant) and Cord finish first. Win a sailboat.

Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (12)--

2010-02-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

I stopped by Time Machine recently just before it was closing and brought up an old Jimmy Olsen (103) with the top half of the cover slashed off. Roger said it was worth about $4, but he'd let me have it for free. Here's an interesting letter from Jimmy Olsen's Pen Pals in that issue:

Dear Editor:
We all know that Jimmy's favorite girl friend is Lucy Lane. But who is his favorite boy friend, his best boy pal?
Gloria Samuels, Leonia, NJ
(Robin the Boy Wonder. They frequently work together on cases with Batman and Superman.--Ed.)

So, I wonder if Gloria Samuels is still around and if she realizes the homoerotic can of worms she opened?

They were other gay goodies to be found in my most recent batch of Silver Age purchases. In Superboy 147, an 80-page giant starring the Legion of Super Heroes, the story about the initiation of Ultra Boy is most interesting. In the first panel, a new kid and an older man alight from a train in Smallville, Superboy's home town. "We will go directly to the home I've rented," the older man says, "Be on guard! No one must suspect we are...different!" (Cue the creepy music) In the next panel, both figures are in their new home and taking their shirts off! They reveal bright red action costumes with a green bird insigna. Now if that's not gay, I don't know what is.

It turns out the kid is Ultra Boy and he's in Smallville to pass his initiation into the Legion of Superheroes in the 30th century. He must discover Superboy's secret identity. The older guy is later revealed to be some old coot named Marla, the Legion's senior advisor. But Marla never showed up again in any of the Legion stories when they got their own feature in Adventure Comics. What happened to him?

In The Story of Superman, Jr., reprinted in Superman Annual no. 7, Superman adopts a young boy who had gained superpowers when his father shot him into space thinking the earth would explode. But he didn't know Superboy would save earth. Years later, the now super youngster returns to earth and the grown up Superman adopts him. The boy's dad has since passed away. Superman just drops his Clark Kent identity and pretends to be the boy's dad. Weird, huh? It gets weirder. In one panel they are actually sleeping in the same bed. Later Superman Jr. loses his superpowers and Superman Sr. just leaves him on the street. Presumably Superman found a home for his former adopted son, but why just abandon him?

Project Runway Season 7: Episode 6: Send in the Clowns or Color Block the Pain

2010-02-20T15:56:00.001-08:00

Tim Gunn has a new favorite phrase: clown clothes. He's used it twice so far this season. And what does he do for those 15 minutes while the contestants are sketching on their HP notepads? Anyway, Amy fell down the well this week with her bizarro outfit which didn't even look finished or tailored. That little kid nailed it when she said to the model, "Are you ready to go to the circus?" Jonathan's "toilet paper in a windstorm" wasn't that bad. It made me think of whipped cream. But Janeane's safe, drab thing was so nondescript I can't even think of a bitchy way to describe it. As soon as she was on that phone-organizer-keyboard doo-hickey to talk to her husband, you knew she was dead meat. My friend Lydia pointed out that whenever a designer had an extended scene via 21st century communication device with a loved one, they would be aufed by the end of the episode. Did that happen to Epperson last season?

Jessie looked much cuter this week with that adorable little hat and the bow tie untied. I think he's much cuter than that straight boy from last season that all the girls and the models had a crush on--see, I've forgotten his name already and I'm too lazy to look it up.

Anthony's no-talking challenge was funny. It broke the monotony with something different.

Not much else to report this week except that five years old is a little young to be walking the runway.

Memories of a TV Childhood--Part 3--The Funniest Moments in TV History

2010-02-18T21:47:00.001-08:00

1. That episode of Maude where Vivian was trying out someting called Total Womanhood, a reaction to Women's Lib in which the wife is supposed to be all sexy and submissive instead of an "aggressive female." Maude and Walter go over to see Vivian who has been acting strange lately. She answers the door stark naked except for Saranwrap. You can only see her from the neck up. She was obviously expecting her husband Arthur. She screams and slams the door. Maude and Walter stare at each other for about 30 second totally deadpan.

2. That episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show where Rob accused Laura of opening his mail. He sends for an inflatible raft. Laura can't resist her curiosity and opens it. The raft inflates and now she can't hide it. Millie and Jerry come over from next door and just the way they laugh so hard without uttering a sound is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

3. That episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Paul Sand is an accountant auditing Mary. He sends her a box of chocolates. Rhoda starts to eat one and says "I don't know why I should bother to eat this. I should just apply it to my hips directly." At the age of 11, I had this image of Valerie Harper smearing her hips with chocolate.

4. That episode of The Carol Burnett Show when Carol as Eunice and Vickie Lawrence as Mama were having a fight. Lawrence delivered the line "Eunice, you gotta hole in your dingy! Your pilot light blown out! You got splinters in the windmills of your mind." Carol then breaks character and cracks up, sputtering "That's a new one, Mama." Obvioulsy Lawrence either ad-libbed the last one or the writers gave it to her as a surprise. She stayed in character and said "Now you look at me when I'm talking to you, Eunice!"

5. Laugh-In. There was one show where one of the running gags was Lily Tomlin as a strict librarian and Larry Hovis as a patron.
Hovis: Do you have any books on manners?
Tomlin: No we don't, stupid.

Hovis: Do you have the autobiography of William F. Buckley?
Tomlin: Yes, you go down that aisle and take a radical turn to the right.

Hovis: Do you have the autobiography of Lawrence Welk?
Tomlin: Yes.
Hovis: Is there a penalty if you keep it late?
Tomlin: Yes, if you don't return it after three weeks you have to keep it.

Speaking of Laugh-In, I'll never forget when the producer of the show was on the David Frost Show and he said they did 250 jokes every show. Of course, the next time Laugh-In was on, I counted every joke. And it totaled about 252.

6. On The Jetsons, daughter Judy was once again bitten by the love bug. Rosie the Robot Maid was sick of it. "This is Miss Judy in love, tra-la-la, tra-la-la" she said and pretend to prance around as best a robot can. "This is Mis Judy out of love, eh-heh, eh-heh" and then she bends over and moans. "I never sounded like that," Judy says. "I bet you could if you tried real hard," Rosie answers. My brother and I started imitating Rosie, going "Eh-heh" and moaning at the least provocation.

7. The episode of Batman with Tallulah Bankhead. She has them trapped in a giant electronic web and is open to unleash two spiders on them. "Well, dahlings, you may be caped and you may be dynamic. But to me you are a crashing BORE! So bye-bye, bat-baby."

8. On the Today Show they were interviewing people who were the subject of weird stories in the National Enquirer (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize this year for their John Edwards coverage). One woman claimed she had a toaster possessed by the devil. She displayed samples of toast with pictures of the antichrist scratched out of the burnt part. She put in a piece of bread and it caught fire. "So, why do you keep this toaster if it's so much trouble," the interviewer asked. "Well, you know, in spite of everything, it still makes a pretty good piece of toast."