"The Strand Prophecy": a comic for & by young readers

I was reading today's Orange County Register and came across this story about two young sisters creating a comic. It's the sort of thing that Leah Adezio would have loved to hear about. I certainly wish the Weiner girls and their father all the best of luck.

If you click on the headline above you'll find the Register's article.

I know I really haven't written much about comics the past few months, but when I start working again I plan to get back into the four-color habit.

San Diego Comic Con International

The headline above will bring you over to the official SD Comic Convention site. It's my not so subtle way of announcing that I'll be attending the convention this year, at least for a day or so.

My hope is to be able to meet up with former and current members of Capa-Alpha, the comics apa. I was a member and waitlister for that particular apa for over ten years, during my extreme fanboy phase. We're talking about the years between 1982 and 1998, with a bit of fannish activity until 2004 or so.

My very first SD con was back in 1975, while I was actually stationed in the area on the USS Waddell. My actual first convention was a few months before that, in a high-school gym. There were only a few 'pros' in attendance, but I was only interested in picking up the latest issues of DC & Marvel comics in addition to any fanzines I might find. The actual SD con later in the year was a real eye-opener, as you can imagine. Who'd believe that guys like Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and a very ill-looking Wally Wood would actually talk to a kid from Taftville, Connecticut?

I'll be talking more about the convention over the next few months, as my plans become more defined. If any of you are going to be there, let me know and maybe we can meet up.

National Gorilla Suit Day

I know this link won't work, since I can't for the life of me figure out how. But you will learn some useful information about this most wonderful of holidays if you click on the headline above.

What is REALITY? On television, at least.

Originally, at least if I recall correctly, so-called “reality television” were shows like COPS. We’d see video of police officers doing their ‘real jobs’ and what happened while they were on patrol. Then you had various medical shows popping up on the cable stations, which showed operations, procedures and actual footage of women giving birth. That was about as REAL as you could get.

Somebody over at MTV came up with the idea of “Real World”. Here we would follow the daily lives of a group of Generation X types, forced to live together in an apartment or house. Each season the show would feature a different group in yet another city.

With the introduction of SURVIVOR everything seemed to change. You didn’t have folks dealing with remotely ‘real’ situations, but rather placed in totally strange environments and made to compete against each other in physical and psychological fashion. Shows as different as BIG BROTHER, TOP CHEF and AMERICAN IDOL now compete against each other for Emmy and People Choice awards. Where is the reality in any of this?

All that leads up to this:

Donna and I are actually enjoying “ARMED & FAMOUS” which started last week on NBC. If you haven’t seen the show, or the commercials, I’ll explain the basics. You have five “C” list celebrities undergoing three weeks of ‘boot camp’ training and becoming police officers in Muncie, Indiana. We’re treated to some of the training, their graduation and taking of the oath, followed by their being paired with senior patrol officers. The following shows are comprised of the nighttime patrols of the various celeb/officers fighting crime in a small urban environment. If not for the fact that the five individuals are already well known the show might be little more than second-rate COPS. In fact, many of the encounters the officers have are exactly the same as those you’ll see any evening on COURT TV or Saturday night on Fox.

The series stars actor Erik Estrada (probably still best known as ‘Ponch’ from CHiPS), La Toya Jackson (the other Jackson sister, who like her brother had a bit of work done) Jack Osbourne (fresh from rehab and a couple of years of being straight), Trish Stratus (who is known to WWE wrestling fans as a former seven time Women’s Champion), and Jason Acuña (a.k.a. "Wee Man" on Jackass).

Estrada actually seems to have brought some of the skills of his character to his current time in uniform. Osbourne & Stratus appear to be taking this very seriously, which is hard to believe having watched Jack for all those seasons on his parent’s show. It is hard to take either Acuna or La Toya totally seriously, in first case because you know a police department would never hire somebody of his physical stature (although he really does give it his best in some situations against larger criminals). You get the impression that, like her brother, La Toya, really hasn’t had much contact with the everyday. From her phobia with cats to her total confusion about shopping you feel that she has never had to actually fend for herself. You find yourself laughing, but then you begin to feel bad for her and actually feel sympathy.

There are only a couple of more episodes, but I recommend you give it a try. There are certainly worse ways to waste an hour.

Off the shelf

I have some good news to report regarding the Joe Bob Briggs reviews. At least it's good news to me.

John, to whom I send my reviews, let me know that they have somebody who will be taking over the site and reviews will once again be posted. I have about a half dozen waiting and I'll let you know if or when they become available. On the other hand, John didn't say if any new books would be sent out.

Since I can now concentrate on my own reading I've begun trying to go through the books co-authored by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. Just finished both BRIMSTONE (featuring FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendagast) and the stand-alone RIPTIDE. I'm making it my goal to catch up on the Pendagast series and to read the rest of the books the two authors have written together & separately. Pedagast was originally introduced as a secondary character in the author's first collaboration, RELIC (made into a half-way decent monster flick), but quickly became a favorite, reappearing in several more books and taking on a life of his own.

As for non-fiction, I just began MEN OF TOMORROW: Geeks, Gangsters & the Birth of the Comic Book written by Gerard Jones. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, it covers the beginnings of the comic book industry, focusing on some of those individuals who helped to found it. It also documents the early lives of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the co-creators of SUPERMAN, as well as how their creation was ultimately stolen from them by their publishers. Easy to see why the book garnered so many great reviews and stirred a bit of controversy in & out of fandom.

Our Christmas Village

This is Donna's Christmas Village up in our living room. There were a couple of other buildings, plus the 'skating ring' set which couldn't fit. Maybe next year.

If you go over to Parting Shots you'll see pictures of the Chiara & Chaput pets enjoying the holidays.

Some Christmas photos

Pictures of Kristina & Marissa's tree with and without presents. Also the whole Christmas group around the table, minus me taking the picture.

Starting from the left you have Donna, Marissa, Kristina, Marissa's grandmother Marion, her sister Dana, and Marissa's parents Lynn & Jerry, with Michael (Kristina's father) last but not least.

The cat on the couch is Kristina's Wilber.

The usual rambling....

I think I may be watching those old B&W movies from the Thirties on Encore Western a bit too much. I actually caught myself saying "Dag nabbit!" when I dropped something the other day. I've lost the Gabby Hayes whiskers, but still find myself channeling him.

Damn, but it seems like there's nothing else going on around the world since the 'war' between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump is the top story on just about every entertainment program. I guess we should be thankful that that has pushed Anna Nicole and Britney's bad behavior from the headlines. One more segment with an obviously drugged up Anna Nicole or digitized Britney crotch shot would have had me tossing heavy objects at the Sony. Remember when all the newscasters were saying something along the lines that "after the events of 9/11 everything will be different"? Television and popular entertainment seems pretty much like it did in August of 2001 to me!

Maybe I'm not watching TV at the right time, or not checking the schedule, but I have only seen a single showing any version of "A Christmas Carol" so far this season. This was the made-for-television one featuring Patrick Stewart as Scrooge, hardly one of the best. Don't get me wrong, I was lucky enough to seen Stewart's one-man show version of the Dicken's story in New York and he was absolutely brilliant. Sadly, he just doesn't seem to bring the same level to this particular telling. He almost seems bored with the whole thing. Give me George C. Scott or Alastair Sim anytime!

Review: No Time to Hide by Rob Palmer

Here's the last Joe Bob Briggs review I'll be doing for the near future, at least. They haven't posted a new review over on the Joe Bob site for over a year now, and I haven't received new books for more than half that time. I'm sorry to see it end.

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No Time to Hide by Rob Palmer
Published by Leisure Fiction/Dorchester Pub.
ISBN: 0-8439-5667-4

I actually wanted to like this book better than I did, but I don’t blame writer Rob Palmer for that in the end. It just seems that of the last four books I’ve reviewed this is the third one featuring political turmoil in Cuba as the backdrop. Also, considering the current events taking place on that island the stuff here seems dated.

Psychologist Ben Tennant works for the U.S. Marshals Service as specialist in the Witness Protection Program. It’s his job to see if candidates for the program are psychologically prepared for the types of emotional changes necessary in successfully completing the change to a whole other way of life. If Ben feels the person will simply return to criminal or anti-social behavior they are rejected.

Ben also has a kind of side business, which is known to only a few associates and pretty much ignored by those of his fellow Marshals Service agents who know of it. Under the code name The Laundry Man, Tenant will help people who don’t qualify for the ‘official’ program disappear into another identity safe from those who may be hunting them. Patrice Callan, a con artist is one of those unofficial clients, with whom Ben had spent several months creating a new identity. Unfortunately for Ben, he also found he was falling in love with her. When Patrice disappears Ben realizes that he was also one of Patrice’s cons and she has taken files which reveal the identities and locations of all of his other clients.

When elements of the CIA begin pressuring Ben to turn over Patrice, he finds that several other people including anti-Castro Cubans are seeking Patrice for their own reasons. It’s up to The Laundry Man to help Patrice, despite what she did, and stop what could be an international incident which would take hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives.

Palmer does a good job making Ben someone you like, and even allows some of those on the other side moments of humanity. Sadly, for me, it was Patrice who is the weakest character, so you don’t have as much sympathy for her as you should given the events. Even at the book’s end you get the feeling that things aren’t going to remain quite as sunny as they are. Whether this is setting up a sequel or not, remains to be seen.

I think Palmer has created a very interesting character with Ben Tennant, but I think I’d like to see him in action either before or after Patrice is part of his life.

Two and a half stars

Dogue Vogue: Who are these folks?

Two weeks ago I attended DOGUE VOGUE, which was held at the Cox Sports Park. As it is located right next to Heritage Park, I couldn't resist walking over.

I have more pics, but just wanted to give you a taste of what some folks put their canine friends through just to prove how much they love them. Right! Food, boarding and companionship aren't enough.

Remote viewing: Encore

With Cox Cable here in Ladera Ranch, we have a number of stations we didn't have access to back in Brooklyn. Part of their Digital Tier gives us the full range of Encore stations, which feature older movies and TV shows in various genres, plus we also get IFC & Sundance.

Naturally, I'm loving the ability to watch hours of Westerns any time I want. Encore Westerns not only shows the usual major films with Big Name stars, but also older B&W stuff with Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Don "Red" Barry and others. I can't get enough!

Click the above headline and it will take you to the Encore Western site where you can check out for yourself what I may be viewing.

One of my favorite non-movie things on Encore Western is "Cowboy Poet" Bob Boze Bell, who is featured on the True West Moments every day discusssing how things actually were in the Old West, as opposed to what we are seeing in some of the films.

Happy Trails!

Cardinals Win!

Well, it's all over and the St. Louis Cardinals have won the World Series. I feel bad for the Tigers, but at least I saw them whip the Damned Yankees. :-)

Wonder what company will be using the team in promotions? Expect to see some ads hitting the airwaves in the next few days.

Review: A Time to Run by Barbara Boxer

Personally, I like Senator Boxer but that has nothing to do with my review. Again, it is one of those books that I get sent by the Joe Bob Briggs folks that I don't feel fits the 'thriller/suspense' genre I'm supposed to be reviewing.

Oh, and in case you're wondering I'm rooting for the Detroit Tigers.

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A TIME TO RUN by Barbara Boxer with Mary-Rose Hayes
Published by Chronicle Books; ISBN: 0-8118-5043-9

The first novel by Senator Barbara Boxer is set in a world she knows very well, namely the insider world of Washington, D.C., with the usual suspects. You have the ‘good’ liberal Senator from California, first-timer Ellen Fischer and her staff, up against the ‘evil’ former GOP member whose seat she won, long-time political wheeler-dealer Carl Satcher. This takes place during hearings for a Supreme Court nominee, the ultra-conservative, Frieda Hernandez who just may be the one to swing the Court votes over on a number of issues.

Senator Boxer, aided by Mary-Rose Hayes (who has several romance novels to her credit), certainly knows what it’s like in the nation’s capital, but we can only hope that political decisions there are not made in the fashion described in this book. Frankly, it appears that the authors really wanted to write a straight romance novel about three people who meet in college and become friends. Since there is one gal and two guys it is evident that both men will fall in love and when the lady chooses one guy the other spends the rest of his life trying to win her back. After they got that part down, Boxer & Hayes probably figured that throwing in a bit of politics would help, given the Senator’s name on the cover.

The novel begins in 2001, several months before 9/11 and sets up the plot of Fischer being given documents showing that the Associate Justice nominee may be guilty of child abuse against her own daughter, going back years. It doesn’t take long to discover that the ‘evidence’ may not be all it appears and that the Senator is being set up by old foe Satcher. We then jump back to 1974, where Ellen meets Josh (who would become her husband) and his friend Greg (who would become a muck-racking journalist and eventual cause of Josh’s death), all of whom are attending Berkeley at the same time. The rest of the story weaves through the next several decades following the lives of the three characters until we get back to the current situation.

The story of whether Ellen falls into the trap set by her enemies, or is able to rise above it, sort of disappears while Boxer & Hayes spend most of the book in a Harlequin Romance tale of love & betrayal. Not badly written and actually more interesting than I would have expected, still not the political novel that folks would seem to be looking for given the well-known author.

Two and a half stars.

So much for that Subway series, huh?

While there wasn't a lot of joy this post-season for me as a Red Sox fan, it is great to see the Mets doing so well. I know that Donna, Fran and Donna's Aunt Marge couldn't be happier. Also, my friend Sue Raboy and my ex will be delighted I'm sure.

For me, of course, the icing on the cake was seeing the Damned Yankees once again fall short after the season ended. There won't be many tears shed west of Queens on that account. :-)

I think a Detroit/New York series would be pretty interesting myself, but we still have to see the Mets through one more NCS. Fingers crossed for Willie's boys!

Remote viewing: the fall season

Haven't been able to catch all the new shows and not sure that I'd want to. It was so much simpler back when there were only the three networks and a few syndicated shows. Now it seems that everybody from Animal Planet to The Weather Channel are bring in new programming at the same time. Thankfully USA won't be showing new episodes of MONK, PSYCH & THE 4400 for a couple of months.

Caught one episode each of THE CLASS, 'TIL DEATH and SMITH. Not sure that I'd set the DVR for any of them at this point. The first two episodes of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, both of which I enjoyed. Matthew Perry & Bradley Whitford are both doing great jobs as the writing/producing partners out to save a threatened network comedy show. However, I just don't see this as drawing in the audience that the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin captured with WEST WING. Come Emmy time the show might garner some nominations, but I don't know if the show itself will still be around.

I really like JERICHO, especially as they are keeping much of what actually happened to the U.S. a mystery. Two episodes in and there are several characters, including Skeet Urich (as Jake Green) the lead who has about five years in his past that he is keeping hidden. It appears that Robert Hawkins (played by Lennie James) is hiding things for some unknown reason from the rest of the town also, including just where the bombs may have gone off.

I'm sure you're surprised that a fanboy like me hasn't seen even a single episode of HEROES. Maybe I'll eventually have a chance, but as in the case of CSI: MIAMI the show is on opposite something else that Donna and I are watching.

Probably have more to say on television later, but that's it for now!

Watching zombies & other creepy stuff

Donna had to be recertified in CPR before returning to work, so was attending a class last night. I took advantage of that and our free HBO on Demand to see a couple of horror movies I haven't had that chance to catch.

The most fun was George Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD from last year. Dennis Hopper chews the scenery as a nasty business tycoon who has created a 'safe' haven for the living in what used to be Chicago. Simon Baker & John Leguizamo are mercenary types who go out among the walking dead to scavenge goods which Hopper can then sell to his clients. Plenty of zombie action, with pretty clever leader "Big Daddy" (played by former CLF offensive lineman, Eugene Clark), bringing the dead into the city. Romero's movies are always a lot of fun, as he doesn't take much of this seriously. His zombies in the mall scenes have become a zombie film staple.

While each of the four "Dead" films stand alone, Romero has created a history of sorts which you can follow. I read a neat book a few years ago called "Book of the Dead" which takes place in Romero's world. Sadly, it was one of the books I donated to the library before moving out here. Recommended for some great zombie stories by Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Ramsey Campbell and others with an introduction by Romero himself.

The second film was a sequel to one of my favorite horror films of the past few years, THE RING 2. Simon Baker is in this film also but has a smaller, though pivotal, role as a co-worker of Naomi Watts. Watts returns as Rachel Keller, whose son Aidan is the focus of supernatural forces. Once again a videotape starts the action, but it switches to that of Watts attempts to keep Aidan from becoming possessed by Samara ( the girl from the well in the first film). Not as good as the first American version (and no where as excellent as the Japanese original), there are still some nice scare scenes. If nothing else it proves that even deer can be pretty damn scary if used in a certain fashion.

I still recommend the original Japanese version RINGU with English subtitles. It is different enough from the Americanized film, but you can see why it created a cult in its native land, with novels, sequels and manga adaptations. In fact, the director of that film, Hideo Nakata, directed this American remake of his own Japanese sequel.

The first movie, along with the previous year's MULHOLLAND DR. made me a huge fan of Naomi Watts.

I'm back!

Hard to believe that it has been a month since I last posted here. I've dropped a line or two over on the other site, but haven't gotten around to this one.

Not going to go all political here, but I must note the anniversary of 9/11. Almost all the stations have had something to commerate the event this past weekend, and the major networks & news channels have gone overtime. Best to just take a moment to reflect on those who lost their lives and their family members who will always remember them.

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Caught a few segments of Stan Lee's WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPER-HERO? sometime last week. If nothing else it shows how silly the costumes are and why super-heroes in movies often modify (as in the BATMAN films) or do away with them (as in the X-MEN). SUPERMAN really isn't SUPERMAN without the red/yellow & blue outfit, so you can't do much about that, although SMALLVILLE seems to be doing quite well without Clark putting on the cape & tights.

Kristina & Merissa were over the other night and we all watched DERAILED, with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen. Not a bad film at all and with a number of surprises, I suppose I should have seen coming but didn't.

Just finished DR. DEATH by Jonathan Kellerman this morning. I'm a fan of Kellerman having read or listened on tape to over a half dozen of his books, including DOUBLE HOMICIDE which he co-wrote with his wife, Faye Kellerman (an equally well-known writer). I'm going to get started on the last two Joe Bob Brigg's review books I still have on hand. As I've said before, the website hasn't posted a new review since last year, but I still feel obligated to finish what I started. The Kellerman book was not a JBB book, by the way, but rather something I picked up out of the apartment complex 'library'.

I will try to post at least once a week from now on, if I can.

Mike Douglas Passes Away

I was sorry to read over on Mark Evanier's site, as well as at CNN.com (you can see the CNN obit by clicking on the above headline), that talk-show host Mike Douglas as died. Along with Merv Griffin, Douglas commanded a very loyal following for years. Doing during the day what Johnny Carson was dominating on latenight, Griffin & Douglas were both entertaining and yet were hardly similar. Douglas was more like Carson, in that he brought a gentle mid-West style to his show, while Griffin was totally Vegas/Atlantic City in the way he did things.

I was always more a Jack Paar/Steve Allen kind of guy, but my mother loved Douglas.

Respect and condolences to his family and many friends.

Going, going, gone!

Seems that those boxes of comics (photo posted last week) are going to go to a good home. Or at least not taking up space at the soon to be vacated Chez Chaput. Apparently, Christina Stoffo's boyfriend Dan will take them off our hands sometime next weekend. Fortunately, just a few days prior to the movers coming in to remove everything else.

For those who care about such things dozens of fanzines, comics related magazines and other such things from the past are heading to recycling tonight. Trust me, it hurts to see much of it go like this but we have to be realistic.

You don't even want to know about the boxes of photographs, videos and other personal stuff that both Donna and I are parting with.

Quick Review: The Flash #2 (DC)

THE FLASH #2 (Sept. '06)

Writer Danny Bilson and artists Paul Demeo & Ken Lashley do another nice job bringing the latest Scarlet Speedster into the DCU. I’ve always been fond of Bart from his introduction as Barry’s grandson from the future. The IMPULSE series was a lot of fun, as was Peter David’s YOUNG JUSTICE stories. This Bart is older and much more serious, but I think I could grow to like him as much as I grew to like Wally before him.

This story continues to fill in new readers and folks returning to the character, by retelling much of the history of not only Bart but the other speedsters in the DC Universe who he has encountered. It also shows us a new speed oriented character, but it’s not yet known if this one will be a hero or villain. By issues end Bart has put on the costume we all know, this one a “clone” of Barry Allen’s which S.T.A.R. Labs created from remains of the original. I thought that was a nice touch and, of course, the Flash ring once again makes its appearance.

As I mentioned in my review of the first issue, I’m not regularly reading and buying comics at this point. If this series continues to be this good it might be something to bring me back.