Month: April 2015

Or at the very least put down a major legal marker as they hear the lawyers argue the merits of state recognition of same sex marriage. Four states are insisting that it’s their right to refuse to recognize gay marriage because ostensibly it’s not protected by the Constitution.

Technically I suppose they’re right. Then again, neither is straight marriage. However the Fourteenth Amendment which states, in part, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” pretty much seems to cover it.

Is it possible the Supreme Court could stun everyone and make a dumb ášš decision? Of course they can. But one hopes that they take this occasion to just state the obvious and make it illegal for states to decide that gays are effectively not American citizens deserving of the same rights as straight citizens.

To me, it’s amazing how within one generation this issue has gone from being an unspeakable, way-out-there concept to something so commonplace that it’s made it to the Supreme Court. Yes, there are still idiots out there declaring, “What next? Man marrying dogs?” Because two male adults making a conscious decision is exactly the same as deciding to fornicate with a dumb animal.

Let’s hope that next June brings good news.

PAD

My father, Gunter David, passed away today at 2:53 in the morning. He died of cancer at the age of 85. He has been in hospice care for some weeks and lapsed into a coma several days ago. He died in his own bed, with his daughter Beth and my mother lying next to him.

I miss him terribly.

PAD

Fox has announced that they’ll be doing a new version of “Rocky Horror Show,” the 1973 play that was immortalized as a memorable film adaptation.

Fans are, of course, freaking out. Oh, what a horrible idea! How could they do it? It’s an insult! It’ll be terrible!

I don’t get it. Where were all the shrieking people when it was revived on Broadway back in the beginning of the century?

It’s a PLAY. It’s SUPPOSED to be done multiple times with different casts. We saw it several times back in 2001 with various actors. The narrator one time was Ðìçk Cavett and another time Penn & Teller. It was a lot of fun. And Terrance Mann was, quite frankly, a better Frankenfurter than Tim Curry. If Fox casts him in the new version (unlikely, but still…) you guys would be in for a treat.

Yes, the movie was great, but there is absolutely zero reason that a new one can’t be just as entertaining, and it will appeal to a new audience featuring actors they’ve enjoyed in other programs or films. I wish fans would learn to just chill the hëll out.

PAD

So I’ve been thinking about the whole thing for a few days, and here’s what I keep coming back to:

If a group of fans felt strongly enough about something I wrote, or me as an individual, to organize a voting block that got me nominated, I’d have zero problem with that. So I don’t see how I can, in good conscience, resent fans doing that for others, for whatever reason.

Plus Kevin Anderson is nominated, which is long overdue.

PAD

I asked fans to nominate “Artful” for the Hugo. Apparently we were shut out by puppies or some such.

My thanks to anyone who did make the effort to support me. There’s still the World Fantasy Award, but I doubt there’s any point at this juncture.

PAD

I literally cannot remember the last time I went to a Broadway show with pretty much no idea of what to expect. But Kath and I ventured out last night to a brand new musical, still in previews, called “Something Rotten.” We knew that it was basically about the creation of the first musical, but nothing beyond that. But we liked the ads (“The New York Times says: We haven’t seen it yet!”) and tickets were relatively inexpensive for Broadway. So we figured, What the hëll.

Technically since it’s still in previews, we shouldn’t be doing reviews. But I’m not a reporter, and besides, the performance we saw could easily have been opening night. There were no screw ups (at least none that we could see), no stoppages in the performance. It was fully performance ready, and it was absolutely fantastic.

Continue Reading ““Something Rotten” most definitely isn’t” →

A couple months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I could substitute for him at the Great Philadelphia Comic Convention this weekend. He’d committed to going but had to cancel due to family obligations. I said sure. He contacted the convention.

No one called me. Or wrote to me. Or contacted me. No one arranged travel of any sort. No one contacted me about a hotel stay.

So I figured, Okay, they don’t need me, and I forgot about it.

Flash forward to yesterday. Someone tweeted me and asked me where I was, because they couldn’t find my table. I went to their website and, sure enough, there’s my picture. They listed me as a guest.

So I apologize to anyone who might have gone to the convention solely to see me. The good news is that I’ll be at the Wizard Philadelphia convention next month, and also at the Atlantic City convention later that month.

PAD