News from me - July 16, 2001

July 16, 2001

ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, there's a panel you might want to attend. In the program book, the listing reads as follows:

4:00 New Art Techniques — An incisive discussion of how high-tech pencil erasers have changed the way in which comic books are drawn. With Murray Fassbinder (president and CEO of the Snorp Eraser Co.), Hal W. Carter (inventor of the CartEraser), William Franjipanoski (advocate of using lumps of cheese for erasing), and comic book artist Gene Colan. Moderated by Mark Evanier. Room 8

But that's pretty much a lie. This panel is actually a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR GENE COLAN! Gene turns 75 shortly after the con. For more than 50 of those years, he has delighted comic fans with his artwork for comics ranging from Batman to Tomb of Dracula; from Wonder Woman to Daredevil; from Iron Man to Howard the Duck...and so many more. He's also a helluva nice guy.

Gene is attending this panel under the impression it's about the topic above. About three minutes in, we're going to dump the topic, sing "Happy Birthday" and bring in a huge cake. Then we'll spend the rest of the 90 minutes talking with Gene about his career and having some of his collaborators discuss their work together.

Please spread the word to EVERYONE EXCEPT GENE COLAN! His wife is in on this and is keeping him from seeing anything — like this — that would tip the surprise. So don't tell him but tell everybody else...and get there early. (The panel before in that room is me interviewing John Romita, Sr.) It should be quite an event.

That's THURSDAY AFTERNOON, beginning at 4PM in Room 8. At the con.

And I'm moderating some other fine panels at the convention. For a complete list of them, click your widdle mousie right here.

LAST WEEK, as promised in an earlier news item here, The Movie Channel ran The Night They Raided Minsky's. What we didn't know then was that someone has made an interesting alteration in the film. In theatres and in its earlier video releases, the movie ended with an instrumental medley of several of the songs from the film. The version run on T.M.C. replaced that with Rudy Vallee's vocal rendition of the title song, which was heard on the soundtrack album but not on the soundtrack. And since this song runs longer than what it replaced, they did a video freeze-frame on the last shot of the movie to extend it. I'm guessing the change was made by someone at M.G.M.-U.A., possibly as they transferred and remastered the film for a forthcoming DVD release...though other explanations are possible.

OVER IN The New York Times, they've published what some are terming an important article about the vote counting in Florida. The new configuration of the Times website makes it difficult to link to a piece and, anyway, there are several related articles there so you really ought to go there and look around yourself...but do so by 7/22 because that's when the articles are a week old and they start charging to read them. Here's a link to the Reuters summary of it but I'll also give you mine...

It's that when it came time to count the absentee ballots, both Republicans and Democrats made rabid and hypocritical attempts to get some ballots counted and others disqualified, based on projections of which ballots would help or hurt their guy. The attempts were hypocritical because (a) both sides were claiming in public posturings that they wanted every possible vote counted when they clearly didn't and (b) both sides wound up arguing one set of legal principles in one venue to try and get certain ballots counted and the opposite of those principles elsewhere to try and get other ballots tossed. The Republicans were more successful, possibly because they were smarter and/or more aggressive...and had, in Katherine Harris, certain home court advantages. They got a lot of ballots accepted that, under a strict application of law, would not have counted.

The Times says that, even if all the questionable ballots had been tossed, Bush probably would have won...so the main impact of this story is to rebut Republican claims that (only) the Gore forces tried to get ballots thrown away. And I guess it also makes the whole Florida vote count look even more like something conducted in a Banana Republic. Since all but the most fiercely-partisan "spinners" already believed that the vote count was slipshod and that both the Bush and Gore forces did everything possible to avoid an honest count, none of this is news.

Still to come, any year now, are the results of the Big Press Recount. Since nothing's leaking and no one's rushing to announce what the consortium of newspapers found in examining the ballots, my guess is that the outcome will be ambiguous. It'll say that Gore would have won, had certain precincts been recounted. It'll say that a lot of votes that were reported as recounted were never actually recounted and it will point to some stash of ballots somewhere that were never counted even once but would not have put Gore in the White House, had they been. Most of all, it will show that the voting and counting were even more error-prone than anyone previously thought, and that the outcome had even more to do with after-Election Day legal maneuvering than with how many people wanted either guy. And, of course, the Supreme Court's mantra about "equal protection" will look even more misapplied than it already does.

LASTLY: The other night, my friend Carolyn and I went to the Greek Theatre here in Los Angeles to hear a wonderful concert by jazz/blues legend Nina Simone. I got my seats through Ticketmaster and couldn't help noticing some tiny print that appeared on the obverse of my stub...

Warning: Pucks, hockey sticks, balls, bats, racquets, and other objects flying into spectator area can cause serious injury. Be alert at all times when in spectator areas. If injured, notify usher for directions to medical stations.

This amuses me, first of all, because apparently "spectator area" is fancy talk for "the audience." So if you're in your seat or even on your way to it, you're supposed to be on guard for flying pucks. Secondly, they seem to have this printed now on all tickets for any kind of event. When was the last time anyone took a hockey stick in the face at a piano recital? Thirdly, I have no stats on this but I'll bet a leading cause of injuries to folks in the "spectator areas" of sporting events is players flying or falling into the stands...and the disclaimer makes no mention of that. Lastly, is it necessary — and does it really matter in court, which is I assume why this is there — to tell people that if a baseball bat flies into the bleachers, you might get hurt and, if so, you should ask for first aid?

The ticket also says on the back, "Do not expose to extreme heat," which I guess means they're suggesting you don't set fire to it.

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