PeterDavid.net

“The audience will remain absolutely silent for ninety minutes.” We’ll see about that.

Bush moved faster across the stage to make it seem as if he’s welcoming Kerry. So first cred for Bush.

9:06: Kerry answered the question directly and with animation, but looks directly at the moderator. Bush looks to Lehrer but spends most of his time looking directly into camera. His answer was a non-answer, but he looked good doing it. Bush then dodges the follow up question.

9:10: Bush thumps his podium repeatedly. New drinking game: Every time a podium is thumped, toss back a shot. Kerry has yet to look into the damned camera. Ah! Okay, just for a second there. Bush looks bored. Bush continues to refer to “my opponent.”

9:18 Bush attempts to defend the multi-pronged battle against terrorism, but tends to wander and mixes up names (although points for getting that one Arab guy.) More podium thumping. Bush is now attempting to paint Kerry as flipflopping. Kerry could respond to it, but doesn’t really.

9:20 Kerry seems credible on how he would improve on homeland secruity. Bush tosses back credentials in terms of the money that he’s spent. However he’s left Kerry an opening in talking about how he established the Dept of Homeland Security…which was a Clinton idea and which Bush refused at first to establish. But Kerry missed the opening. Now Kerry is thumping the podium. Bush finished strong.

9:27 Kerry continues to use grass-root examples to illustrate points. Oooo…Kerry cites Bush Sr. I was wondering if he was going to do that. Now Bush is in an interesting situation. Does he stand there and diss his dad? Unfortunately Kerry isn’t actually responding to the original question about when and how to bring the troops home. Again Bush is trying to paint Kerry as being unsupportive. Kerry gets a good point about which is worse in terms of making mistakes, but he should have stopped talking right after that.

9:31: Kerry keeps speaking of pulling allies together, but doesn’t make entirely clear how he’s going to accomplish that other than that he’s different. Overall, his comments remain more cogent. Kerry is taking notes. Wonder what he’s going to say. Bush is starting to sound whiney. His voice is coming across as defensive. Bush keeps repeating the same phrases, claiming that for Kerry to disagree with what’s going on in Iraq is somehow “denigrating.”

9:35 Wait, what? Bush is saying that the reason we’re having all these problems in Iraq is because we did too GOOD a job with the invasion? What we’re dealing with is the result of efficiency? Uhm…okay. Kerry is now fighting back on the “denigrating” thing, but he’s leaving himself open because he said he would not have done everything the same…except he’s on record on saying he would have.

9:40 Kerry should avoid phrases like “I believe” and “I will try.” It makes him sound indecisive.

9:44 “Was it worth it.” This is the question that Kerry booted the other day with Diane Sawyer. Bush is now going for the human interest angle, and doing a good job. Kerry once again doesn’t address the notion of “was it worth it.” What the heck is his problem with answering this squarely? Say “Hell no, it wasn’t worth it.” Create a clear demarcation between him and Bush. I’m also starting to get pissed off that Lehrer that he is letting Bush steamroll into rebuttals. Especially since Bush is merely reiterating what he said before. Kerry’s thirty second rebuttal is stronger than Bush’s.

9:53 Goddammit, Lehrer, will you rein in Bush. He keeps jumping in at will.

9:54 “The enemy attacked us.” But not Iraq! This is typical of the blurring Bush has done that convinced 3/4 of this country that Saddam attacked on 9/11. “A President has to be willing to use force.” That’s not the problem. The problem is that by all accounts he was eager to use force.

9:56 Yes! Yes! Kerry hit the same line I did. Bush left a wide opening and this time Kerry grabbed it. Very solid response. And yet again Bush jumps in to have the last word. And Kerry makes an incredibly sound point in response. That round to Kerry.

10:00 “I’m not sure what he means by passes the global test?” Kerry made it pretty clear, so I don’t know what Bush doesn’t get. Bush is now defending the notion of not joining the global criminal court. Huh? Damn, I wish Kerry would push for a 30 second response.

10:03 Bush seems fatigued and wandering. He’s stopped looking into camera and instead at Lehrer. Lehrer is now starting to take a firmer hand, taking the time to try and delineate the difference between Bush and Kerry in regards to Korea.

10:10 The audience is remaining quiet. Wow. For the first time, Bush refers to him as “Senator Kerry” in the question about character. Bush is walking a real tight rope on this one. I hope they stop trying to make jokes; the silence is getting embarrassing. Bush is once again playing the flip flop card. Now Kerry can either be aggressive and attack Bush, or he can be defensive to answer the uncertainty issue.

10:13 “Certainty sometimes can get you in trouble.” Wonder how that will play in Peoria. Is Bush insinuating that Kerry has been changing his “core values?”

10:17 Kerry is so confident he can say “nuclear” that he says “nuclear proliferation” twice in a row. Bush tries to say it and misses. Again Lehrer is clarifying matters, which is good.

10:24 A discussion on Russia is deteriorating into a reiteration of Korea and yet more about Saddam. It’s like the whole thing has gone off the rails.

10:26 Kerry is now looking directly into camera for his final comments. He’s got to do more of that in the next two. Bush gets in some last minute podium thumping. The “valley of peace” line isn’t bad. Nice imagery.

Be sure to tune in to “The Daily Show” and their live coverage. And boy, I can’t wait for the VP debate.

So Kathleen says, “Why don’t you keep a running blog commenting on the debate, since we’ll be watching it anyway.”

Well yeeha, campers, that sounds like a nifty idea. So I’m going to keep this blog ongoing during the debate. Check in as little or often as you wish.

PAD

Peter will be at the Graphic Novel Pavilion on Schwartz Plaza (no relation, but there should be) between 3rd and 4th Streets off of Washington Square Park on 10/2 between 4:00 and 4:45.

For more info, check New York Is Book Country or Midtown Comics.

Tom Brevoort and I have decided that “Tempest Fugit” will be five issues instead of six. That’s fine by me. The way the story’s developing, its natural length is five issues. I mean, yeah, I could (pardon the expression) pad it out to six, but what’s the point of that? So TF will be issues 77 through 81. Issue 82 will be a one-off, possibly with a guest artist depending on how deadlines are running. What I’m planning to do is a story that will be self-contained, but at the same time lay groundwork for an ongoing story arc if I continue past #82.

PAD

From the AOL newsfeed:

(Sept. 28) – Fewer than two-thirds of the former soldiers being reactivated for duty in Iraq and elsewhere have reported on time, prompting the Army to threaten some with punishment for desertion.

“The numbers did not look good,” said Lt. Col. Burton Masters, a spokesman for the Army’s Human Resources Command.

As an example of the challenges they faced, Masters held up a note from one Private Avon which simply read, “I’m not stupid, I’m not expendable, and I’m not going.”

PAD

So we finally got around to watching “Lost,” which we taped while watching another program last Wednesday. (I have to say, I’m not sure how Wednesday every year is this frickin’ clusterbomb of all the shows I want to watch while other nights there’s not a damned thing on I want to see.)

In any event, I’m wishing that “Lost” was on cable so it could have a more appropriate title…

(more…)

…when it seems to go so frickin’ slow?

At any rate, Yom Kippur is done (well do I remember several years ago when it fell smack on my birthday. “So what are you doing for your birthday?” “Not eating and going to synagogue.”

Still, I had a lot to think about this year, and a lot to be thankful for. Hope everyone else who observed Yom Kippuer this year had an easy fast.

PAD

Cat Stevens can’t set foot in the United States, but Yanni is allowed to walk around free?

Man, talk about the terrorists winning…

PAD

Yup, winter’s comin’, and that’s the signal that Cowboy Pete is back with the TV roundup. This week’s launch is a good ‘un with two episodes of “Charmed,” the season launch of “Smallville,” and a brand new “I Like This Show, I Wonder When They’ll Cancel It” entry called “Veronica Mars.” Spoilers abound.

(more…)

Right before the picture was taken Caroline tried to pull my hat off. More pictures later.

Weather was perfect for the Renfaire yesterday (although admittedly the traffic going both up and back was a horror show.) It was a nice birthday excursion for Ariel and three of her friends, Alyssa, Danica and Noelle.

The costumes Kathleen did up looked great. And I have to say, I began to enjoy all the bowing and scraping from a number of the attendees, including guys who went to one knee and cried out, “King Arthur! My liege!”

Every so often someone would try to be challenging, shouting out things like, “Where are the coconuts?” To which I would reply archly, “Bloody peasants. Come, Patsy.” And I would gallop away with Kathleen right behind me, banging two coconuts together, while Caroline rode in the backpack on Kathleen’s back, wearing a jester hat and clutching a white Monty Python huge-fanged plush bunny.

Best was the bellydancers who hauled me up on stage during their performance and I danced with them while Kathleen discovered that her digital camera was out of memory. And the crowd was shouting “Hail to the king!” and “Long live Arthur!”

Right now I’m sitting here wearing the crown. Feels good.

PAD

Ariel and I are back from Boston, where I did store signings at two of NEC’s outlets. We had a really good turn out, and I’ve already been talking with the fine folks there about returning in January to promote “Hulk #77.”

While there, Ariel spent time with her big sister, Gwen,and they checked out the Lord of the Rings exhibit which–I’m told–is most impressive.

Best of all, the chocolate bars that Ariel was assigned to sell on behalf of the synagogue were purchased in their entirety by hungry fans, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

Driving back here was a hoot and a half, with torrents of rain courtesy of Ivan hammering down. Fortunately I was driving a rental car, and had opted to get a GPS system with it. With main roads flooded out, the Global Positioning System guided us through back streets and enabled us to avoid several major trouble spots. Otherwise a four hour trip would have been six to eight hours, easy.

Tomorrow we’ll be traveling, for Ariel’s birthday, to the Renfair up in Sterling Forest. I’ll be sporting my King Arthur ensemble, Kathleen will be Patsy, and Ariel and her friends all have wenchlike outfits they’ll be sporting. Should be fun.

PAD

I’ll be at two of New England Comics’ stores tomorrow, promoting the new Madrox series as well as Fallen Angel. I’ll be appearing at the store in Brockton, MA, at 2:30 PM, and at the store on Harvard Street in Brookline at 6 PM. C’mon by, say hi.

PAD

The first of the five issue series about Jamie Madrox, mutant detective. Whad’ja think?

For some bizarre reason, my conservative friends (and I use the term insincerely) on this board keep pestering me to comment about the whole CBS thing with Bush’s time protecting the skies over Oklahoma while Kerry was, y’know, apparently the one soldier in the entirety of Vietnam not being shot at. Politicians and supporters who swallow whole anything the Swifties say are suddenly demanding hearings because of the CBS reports. And people are throwing it in MY face like I’m the head of the Dan Rather fan club. Why they’re not throwing it in, say, Jerome’s face, since he’s a working reporter and–if it’s false–then it’s a commentary on the lack of quality of the Fourth Estate, leaves me mystified (and I again use the term insincerely.)

I didn’t comment on the story when it was released because, frankly, it didn’t interest me all that much. The debate barely interested me four years ago, and it certainly doesn’t now. Bottom line is that all the masterminds currently waging war in Iraq have never been under enemy fire themselves, period. So it’s of little relevance to me HOW they avoided it. They used all the powers at their family’s command to avoid enemy fire, period. And John Kerry didn’t do that, again period. So the basis of the argument is hazy to me at best.

Furthermore, truth to tell, I learned back in Journalism 101 that if a piece of information seems too good to be true, it usually is. So at best, I was leery of it. I still am. And if it turns out CBS was suckered, they should admit they made a mistake. If nothing else, it will put them several points ahead of the President, who lacks that capacity.

But trying to pretend that Bush’s dubious military service is somehow legitmized if the CBS story is indeed false is like saying that Piltdown Man being a hoax invalidates evolution.

PAD

I think the following would be an interesting script for a commerical for a Democratic activist group:

1) Footage of Candidate Bush stating that he’s against nation building.

2) Footage of dead and dying American soldiers and dead and dying Iraqis, including some of that brutal footage from “F 9/11.”

3) Footage of Bush declaring “MIssion Accomplished.”

4) Footage of headlines declaring over a thousand Americans killed.

5) Footage of Candidate Bush stating that he supported the assault weapon ban.

6) Footage of newspaper headlines about the assault ban treaty being lifted without a word of protest from the White House, intercut with dead and dying young people or terrorists fighting assault weapons.

7) Footage of Bush saying that he’s keeping us safer. Freeze Frame, and the following words appear:

“While he’s lyin’, we’re dyin’.”

Paid for by the Committe of People Who Don’t Want to See More People Die On George Bush’s Watch.

Just a passing thought.

PAD

Although this has been announced at various conventions, I haven’t stated it here,and word hasn’t apparently filtered through to the on-line community. So I figure I’ll clarify matters, especially since I see folks on Newsarama wondering if “Tempest Fugit” is going to be a $3.50 per issue price point similar to the current Hulk/Thing limited series.

Bottom line is this: The combination of the positive fan response to the “Hulk” limited series by Lee Weeks and me, and the fact that Bruce Jones is now exclusive with DC, prompted Marvel to say, “Why the heck are we doing this as a limited series instead of as part of the ongoing?” So rather than it being issues 1-6 of “Tempest Fugit,” the Hulk series will simply start up again in January after a four month hiatus and my storyline will be issues 77 through 82 of the regular book. Which means that, to all intents and purposes, I’m back writing the Hulk.

Whether I’ll stay beyond that hinges on a few things. First, I want to make sure that I’m comfortable back writing the Hulk. So I’ve really only committed to six issues Then again, I initially only committed to six issues of “Young Justice,” so it’s not unprecedented for me to stay around.

Second, of course, is fan and retailer response, and third is whether Marvel wants to keep me around on the series. But naturally those two aspects are inextricably bound. If the retailer and fan support is there, that will send Marvel one message. If it’s not, that sends them another. And they will act accordingly, and I wouldn’t blame them.

So ultimately what it comes down to is, I’m back on “Hulk.” Whether I stay or not is up to a variety of factors, not the least of which is you guys.

PAD

Unbelievable. The free edition of “Fallen Angel” designed to get fans to sample it and, ideally, pick up the trade?

A retailer has put one up on Ebay. And it’s already got two bids bringing it up to $3.75. This for a book that says “FREE” on the cover. Check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35764&item=2269079664&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

PAD

On the anniversary of September 11th, I would like to bring to your attention my multimedia adaptation of John M. Ford’s “110 Stories“.

You can view the Quicktime file (13 MB, just under 7 minutes) at http://110stories.malibulist.com/110Stories.mov, and you can read the original text at http://www.110stories.us/. If you happen to have the bandwidth to mirror this, please do, as I anticpate traffic– if you do, please email me with a link so I can post it properly.

And to all of you who helped contribute to the making of this project… thank you.

…or are more people than ever trying to exploit 9/11 for personal gain? Be it the GOP or some of the most remarkably tacky 9/11-related commemorative merchandise ever.

If anyone is interested in seeing the tragedy used for keenly dramatic purposes, I refer you to the FX series “Rescue Me,” in which it’s three years later and a group of firemen are still wrestling with the aftershocks of what they witnessed that day.

PAD