PeterDavid.net

I’ll be really surprised if this entry posts, but…

Basically, Glenn spent hours fixing all the wrong files, and then sometime during the night, the entire site reset itself to the wrong settings again. Kind of like a sick body rejecting a healthy transplanted organ so it can stay sick.

He’s working on it.

PAD

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy purists may well despise the new film, but I don’t see how there can be such a thing as a HGG purist. Purist to what? The original BBC radio show? The books? The record? The TV series? Each different, each with story variations, each with its pluses and minus.

The pluses of the new film, which Kath and I saw this morning, is the look of it. Armed with sumptuous designs and the full might of Disney and the Henson Creature shop, HGG the movie has a budget and look to it that the makers of the TV series can only salivate over enviously.

The dialogue is kind of hit and miss, but it might seem that way to me because I’m familiar with the previous incarnations, and it’s difficult for me to step back and view it with an undiscerning eye. To me, the sequences that are most evocative of the source material are the Arthur/Slartibartfast scenes. Why? Two British actors. I understand that casting Brits wasn’t necessary save in the case of Arthur, but the moment you bring in Americans, the cadences are going to shift and the Adams dialogue isn’t going to work. So you have to rework the dialogue to match the Americans, and things can get a little schizo.

Which isn’t to say the film’s not well cast. It is. Martin Freeman is satisfyingly bewildered as Arthur, Zooey Deschanel–looking uncannily like a young Karen Allen–is lovable as Trillian, and Sam Rockwell’s Zaphod is a cross between prime Burt Reynolds and Elvis, guaranteeing a plethroa of Beeblebrox costumes at summer cons. The one problem is Mos Def as Ford Prefect. It’s not entirely his fault. Ford is the least formed, least interesting character in the story, serving mostly to be a guide and a foil. If you already know all the stuff Ford is going to explain, then that leaves him pretty dull. Which means you need a strong actor to instill the role with some of his own life and personality to beef things up. Mos Def, from my POV, brings nothing to the party. If they wanted to cast Ford with a black actor, fine. Craig Charles. Lenny Henry. Hell, even Chris Tucker, Someone with strong comedic sensibilities which, if Mos Def has them, aren’t on display.

And in the absolutely perfect department are Alan Rickman providing the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android (admit it: The moment you found out about the casting, you could HEAR HIM saying, “Oh, God, I’m so depressed”; Stephen Fry as the ever calm voice of the book (accompanied by brilliant animated illustrations) and a cameo by Simon Jones, the original Arthur, as the recorded message from Magrathea. For the hardcore fans, in the additonal cameo department are appearances by everyone from Douglas Adams himself (good trick, that) to individuals from the TV series, including the original Marvin. The original theme music shows up, and even a rubber duck which–although I could be completely misremembering–I think was on an album cover. And stay through the credits for another famed book entry about halfway in.

There are different plot tracks that will no doubt incense those who have forgotten that every version of HGG has different plot tracks, and there’s a sort of ultimate weapon introduced that’s used to hilarious effect. And I don’t mind the Zaphod/Arthur/Trillian romance triangle, particularly when one remembers that Adams had Arthur hitting on Trillian at a party before Zaphod whisked her away, so it’s not as if the groundwork isn’t there.

A theme song “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish” almost makes one wonder if Disney is trying to position this as their next Broadway musical endeavor. Since I’m reasonably sure musical theater is the one version that hasn’t been tried yet, I suppose it’s just a matter of time…which we all know to be an illusion, and lunchtime doubly so.

PAD

Well, we seem to be up and running again, although curiously enough the site remains inaccessible via Firefox. Explorer is getting the job done, though, and my thanks to Glenn for his infinite patience as he was being deluged with queries as to what the hell was going on.

Of course, when one is making a big new announcement about coming onto a title, that’s exactly the moment you want your website to crash. My advent on Spidey was being actively discussed everywhere on the internet…except here. Well, except here and the John Byrne board, where an entirely positive thread about my taking on Spider-Man–a thread that violated absolutely none of the Byrne board rules–vanished into the ether, deleted by the PTB. Threads bashing me remain securely in the archives, naturally. In the interests of full disclosure, the Byrne board moderators might want to add that, in addition to troublemakers and threads filled with hostility and bile, that positive threads about me are also unwelcome and will be deleted or banned, just to save posters trouble.

In any event, we’re back, and no, I didn’t watch the Bush press conference last night. I watched “West Wing” repeats instead, because gosh darn it, if I’m going to spend time with a fake president, it’s gonna be Jeb Bartlet.

PAD

As many of you surmised, we had major site problems here. We were unable to post, our spam blocking was disabled and we were unable to delete comments, which led to us turning off comments altogether lest we get swamped.

We’re in the process of cleaning up now, which required some herculean efforts by the good folks over at Hosting Matters. Bear with us all while we straighten this out.

When “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” the new Spidey series coming from Marvel late this summer, hits the stands, it will be launching with a different creative team than previously announced: Mike Wieringo as artist, and yours truly as writer.

I’m really excited about this, since it’s been years since I’ve written on ongoing Spidey title and fans have been asking when, or if, I’ll ever have the opportunity again. I’m pleased to be working with Ringo, whose art I’ve very much enjoyed, and am grateful to editor Tom Brevoort for offering me the assignment (and Joe Q, naturally, for giving the final OK). Spidey was my very first comic work for Marvel, and it’s great to be back.

PAD

Had a rough night. Caroline has been vomiting or having diarrhea for a couple of days, and we were worried what would happen if we left her in her crib. So I kept her in the living room where she slept in my lab pretty much the whole night while I stayed more or less awake the entire time. I kept my hand lightly on her stomach, and every so often I’d feel her stomach muscles tightening and have that much warning that she was about to barf, so I’d quickly get a large pot in front of her so she could puke into it. By 6 AM I felt like Kari in that Jack-Jack short cartoon, at which point Kath came downstairs and relieved me of duty. I literally don’t recall going up the stairs to bed.

Then I had to drive out to JFK in the afternoon to pick up Ariel, returning from visiting her mother in Arizona. Her plane was scheduled to get in at 5:15, and I wasn’t looking forward to driving back during rush hour. Then I suddenly thought, hey, we’re all the way in Queens, the Mets are at Shea tonight, let’s see if I can score some tickets and we’ll take in the game. Which was what I did, and we wound up in field level seats watching the Mets beat the Braves 5-4.

And, of course, now I’m working. Caroline, whom we took to the doctor who basically said to us, “It’s a virus, twenty dollars please” as we knew they would, seems to be recovering. So I’ve got the nursery monitor on, listening to make sure she’s okay. If something sounds amiss, I’ll try to get upstairs before she wakes up Kath.

Onward.

PAD

Even more Twisted ToyFare Theatre: “Seder-Masochism”

The site that dares to ask: Why is Moon Knight different from all other knights?

UPDATE: Randy Lander points out that this was published elsewhere first, which I didn’t realize. The link has been removed. My apologies.

Yes, Cowboy Pete followed the stuttering beginnings of the presidential campaign on “West Wing,” suffered through the shark-jump-worthy fist fight between Toby and Josh, and even managed to find some of the episodes engaging in a hit-or-miss manner.

After much thinking, the Cowboy is ready to state his preference for the new President in the next season:

(more…)

A high school teacher in Florida is looking to put together a comic book curriculum for a course on comics. The book budget will likely be non-existent. He’s looking to score forty copies each of UNDERSTANDING COMICS and Parts 1 and 2 of MAUS, I presume either for as cheaply as possible or free.

Anyone who thinks they can help out, in whole or in part, please e-mail me at padguy@aol.com, and I’ll give you the specifics.

Thanks.

PAD

Right now I have on, in the background while I work, the original 1936 film “Reefer Madness.” Immediately after that, they’re airing the new musical version (an adaptation of the Off-Broadway version which was more or less put out of business by 9/11) which I’ve already seen, and was hilarious.

If you’re reading this, are working or an insomniac, and have Showtime, and haven’t seen either film yet, put it on.

PAD

Understand this about me: I am a sore loser. It is a character trait I’m not proud of, but I’ve been that way for 48 years and I’m not about to change now.

You ruined my evening.

And the way you did this was outbidding me at the last minute for the Londo prop over on the B5 auction. I wrote the episode. I conceived the idea of both the souvenir shop and the Londo doll. I wrote all the dialogue from those scenes. I’ve wanted that prop for years. And you got it instead.

So now I’m going to go off and sulk for a while. In the meantime, I seriously suggest you never, ever come up to me at a convention with them and ask me to sign them. That would be a Very Bad Idea.

Yours in pissiness…

PAD

10) Pope George Ringo
9) Pope Alexander
Pope Carmelita
7) Pope On a Rope
6) Pope Sicle
5) Pope Skippy
4) Pope Tevye
3) Pope Bush Sucks
2) Pope Doggy Dog
1) Pope Peil Pocket Fisherman

…well, actually, Kim McGinley, costumer extraordinaire… but now I am Mighty N. Dowd!!!

With the power of my mighty headlights!

And yes, when it’s cold out, they become high beams.

These photos were taken at the masquerade at Lunacon a few weeks back, and Kim won multiple awards for her recreation of the Young Justice villianess, including technical and best recreation. She displayed the awards quite prominently, as you can see.

We here at PeterDavid.net salute her. And that’s a salute with our hands, you sickos.

Until recently, it was “Lost,” with “Desperate Housewives” a close second. And in a few weeks, it will go back to that, most likely.

But right now, for the time being, the most unpredictable TV series on the air is “Tru Calling.”

Now the ol’ Cowboy doesn’t generally wish unemployment on anyone, but really, the chowderhead at Fox who chose to cancel TC in favor of the already-cancelled “Point Pleasant” deserves to be given the heave ho. Progressing from a first season which already left me impressed by how many ways they could come up with to provide variation on what would seem a repetitive theme, the second season of “Tru Calling”–truncated as it is–progresses with a confidence and ingenuity that makes the show’s woefully premature dumping all the more regrettable. Not since the chuckleheads at the WB tacitly admitted that they’d screwed up by canceling “Angel” with their floating notions of a “Spike” series has a network’s complete and utter balls-up been so screamingly evident.

The addition of Tru’s nemesis, Jack, to the cast was nothing short of a masterstroke, and the backstory and mythos being steadily built for the series is quite simply brilliant. So much so that it seems to the casual observer that the producers of the struggling “Joan of Arcadia” are following suit by giving their protagonist her very own evil opposite. But that seems slapped on, whereas Jack’s introduction and involvement–whether intended or not–at least seems to have developed organically from the series’ progress.

And they just keep peeling the layers, like an onion, but without the unfortunate stinging smell. Just when we think that Jack is perfectly happy in his job, convinced of the rightness of his actions, we discover, no, that’s not so much the case. And the upcoming episode seems to be sending Tru tripping over into Jack’s territory, as she appears to be drawing a line in the sand and picking and choosing who she’s going to save, whether they ask for her help or not. Plus we’ve not seen hide nor hair of Tru’s annoying sister, which is fine by me. They’ve got enough going on right now.

I keep hoping that either the boneheads at Fox or perhaps someone at Sci-Fi will realize what a worthy series this is and keep it going.

PAD

For those interested–although I know it’s a little late–I’m quoted several times in an article in the Long Island section of Sunday’s “New York Times.” Entitled “A War of the Worlds at Stony Brook,” it focuses on last week’s I-Con convention.

PAD

Ariel had her bowling league this morning, and–after some initial problems in her first two games, solved the lanes and shot a new high game of 212. Whenever we go bowling now, people always tell me what a great approach and release she has. Come November she’ll be trying out for the high school team.

Kath has taken her and her friend, Alyssa, out to see “Fever Pitch,” leaving me here to work. Caroline is napping, but I’ve got the monitor on so when she wakes up, I’ll know it.

Been contacted by Matt Brady at Newsarama who wants to do an interview about “Hulk.” Actually I’ve been getting a number of interview requests lately. It’s nice to know folks are still interested.

PAD

I was going to post that there was this nice write-up on HULK #80 over on aintitcoolnews.com. But for some bizarre reason, subsequent discussion of the review on that site has morphed into fans bitching about an issue of X-FACTOR I wrote in which it was revealed that–contrary to John Byrne’s story revealing Lockjaw was a misshapen Inhuman–Lockjaw was in fact a dog and the Thing had been hosed.

I was going to respond, but my attempt to do so was thwarted since I did not have an AICN account. When I tried to create one, I was referred to a page saying that the account process was screwed up and it asked for patience. Considering it hadn’t been updated since November of 2004, I’m figuring I won’t be replying anytime soon.

So if anyone who DOES have access to AICN wants to reprint this entry or refer people to this site, I just wanted to make things clear: For what it’s worth, I didn’t give a damn about the Byrne story one way or the other. I thought it wasn’t bad; not great, but not bad. It did, however, frost the flakes of several writers and the “X-Factor” editor, basically because Byrne’s story made the Inhumans look like assholes. John Byrne, foremost advocate of adhering to creator intent, ignored not only sequences where Stan and Jack had the Inhumans referring to, and treating, Lockjaw as their pet or dog, but the subsequent decades worth of continuity that did the same.

So, since Quicksilver was going to be in “X-Factor,” the writers–and the editor in particular–asked me to take the opportunity to undo that development as quickly and simply as I could. I shrugged, said, “Okay, boss,” and did so.

Now Rick Jones laughing off the Skrull involvement in the Hulk’s origin during an issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL…that was all me.

PAD

Good day: Out of the blue, got an offer from a comic publisher for a new title. Details should be available in a few days. So that was good.

Bad day: Was cruising along during my Wednesday night bowling leagues. Had shot five games in the 170-190 range, was about to start my sixth game…and my right Achilles tendon abruptly just went. I was making my approach and suddenly, bam, suddenly could barely walk. I called Kathleen, who came running with an ankle brace, and I strapped up the foot. Completely changed my approach, moving a foot closer to the foul line, taking very small steps, and putting everything I could into my release. Wound up shooting 215 of all things, so I may well maintain that style of approach, but it still hurt like hell and I don’t know what caused it.

PAD

I’m starting to piece things back together after a busy few days.

I attended I-Con on Friday and Saturday. I’ve been going to the con regularly for over twenty years now. This time out, part of what made it special was that Jewel Staite was there. Jewel, who Bill Mumy and I helped cast in “Space Cases” so that we coulc cunningly rip off Joss Whedon’s casting her as an engineering genius on a space ship a mere eight years before he did. Her husband, Matt (sorry guys) was along with her. Also met Rockne O’Bannon, who astounded me by knowing who I was (which surprised the hell out of me.) It was also nice seeing Bob Greenberger, who must be getting well and truly sick of me since we saw each other at the Eisner Memorial.

Sunday I attended the World Horror Convention, mostly because it was a change to see Harlan and Susan. Saw someone unexpected as well: Rev. Al Sharpton coming out of the Sheraton Hotel, who walked right across my path. I told him I thought he’d done well on “Boston Legal.” Got to the convention, went to the charity auction, and won the oppportunity to be brutally murdered in an upcoming fantasy novel by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson. So that should be fun. Went out in the evening with the Ellison, Cliff Meth and his wife, and Kathleen came into the city to join us.

Went today to Mets opening day. Everything was going fairly well until some seven year old boy running with his open bottle of Pepsi collided with me and spilled a measure of the contents all over the front of my pants. Thus it appeared as if the Mets come-from-behind win had caused me to lose bladder control. So that was great.

Then I go on line for the first time in a few days and discover that a spam bot unleashed on this website caused my mail account to be flooded out (thanks to my receiving an e-mail confirmation every time any posting is made on this site.) Wonderful.

PAD

Yes, in response to several queries, I will be attending ICon this weekend in Long Island. Not that you could tell it from the website, of course, where several requests to include my name in the guest list have been ignored even though I’m slated for programming (including a panel with Jewel Staite on Friday). I will be there Friday and Saturday, but not Sunday, because I’ll be going to the World Horror Convention Sunday to see Harlan.

PAD