PeterDavid.net

If anyone who is reading this works on or for the TV series “Project Runway,” please drop me a line at padguy@aol.com.

Thanks.

PAD

Question:
What has two thumbs and doesn’t give a crap?

Answer:John McCain. Glad to meet you.

Edwards is reportedly dropping out of the race. That leaves me wondering who the hell I’m going to vote for in the Democratic primary. I feel as if Clinton has too much baggage and Obama is too inexperienced, particularly if it means going up against an old hand like McCain.

Actually, a McCain/Obama race would be eerily similar to the final season of “West Wing,” which depicted a seasoned Republican with some centrist and even liberal views (Alan Alda’s Arnie Vinnick) going up against a younger, less experienced but naively idealistic Congressman who was distinctly a non-WASP (Jimmy Smits’ Matt Santos). In that showdown, Santos won…except that wasn’t the original scenario. Originally, and more realistically, Vinnick was going to win. But the death of Leo McGarry (paralleling the real life passing of actor John Spencer) prompted the producers to change the intended outcome because the felt it would be just too much tragedy and loss to dump on both Santos and his campaign manager, Josh (Bradley Whitford).

Obama, of course, won’t have that scenario available to him. Which means that if is Obama/McCain, and all things remain equal, the West Wing scenario dictates that McCain will win.

PAD

Good news/bad news. Bad news is, I have a bowling league this evening so I will not be on hand to live blog the George Bush Misstatement of the Union. Good news is, Kathleen is going to step up and live blog it right here on this site, starting at or around 9 PM.

PAD

Kathleen here. I put my POV on this behind the cut.

(more…)

“Fallen Angel” twists storytelling chronological narrative as the war, glimpsed in #22, truly starts with #23. Meanwhile She-Hulk and Jazinda talk about feelings, which of course women NEVER do. Whad’ja think?

PAD

And so “The Dark Knight” will join “The Crow” as a comic book oriented film that’s going to have a seriously tragic and creepy aspect added to it: Watching a promising young actor performing his last role as a death obsessed comic book character.

It will be a while (if ever) before we find out exactly what happened to Heath Ledger (whom I’ve liked in every film I ever saw him in.) I sure hope they don’t rule it suicide: Losing a loved one at such a young age is tragic enough for the family; but suicide is a whole new level of trauma.

PAD

Bob Greenberger has gone public on his blog with the discovery that his nineteen year old son, Robbie, is fighting leukemia.

According to Bob, if one must have leukemia, the type that Robbie has is the one to have. That is to say, medical science can successfully fight it. I’ve known Robbie since infancy, and Ariel has known him her entire life, so she’s well and truly devastated. We just saw him a few months ago when he came down for Ariel’s sweet sixteen.

Our best wishes go to Bob, Deb, Katie and of course Robbie for the struggle they’re faced with over the next months.

PAD

The Freedom Clock, started over a thousand days ago, indicates that we are exactly one year away from the end of George The Worst’s reign. At which point one hopes that the country will rise, blinking, as if shaking off an extended and hideous dream, and return to the land of the living.

Long national nightmare indeed.

PAD

I had a feeling the AMPTP was stonewalling the WGA for the simple reason that they saw no point in bargaining with the WGA. Instead they were waiting for talks with the Directors Guild. Why? Because, in my opinion, what the AMPTP *really* wants to avoid is the WGA unionizing animation writers, reality show writers, etc. So the reasoning was simple: Refuse to talk to the WGA. Wait instead for the DGA’s contract negotiations to start. Come across as completely reasonable on the very points that they were stonewalling the WGA on. And once the DGA ratifies the agreement, then the pressure is suddenly on the WGA to accept the terms and go back to work.

My guess? The plan will work.

PAD

So yes, because Ariel loves it so, I’ve been watching the opening episodes of “American Idol.” And boy oh boy, fans of “Star Wars” must have been cringing.

First there was a guy who showed up in–swear to God–Princess Leia’s slave outfit. Nowadays Carrie Fisher wouldn’t look good in it, but this guy, easily seventy, eighty pounds overweight and fairly hirstute, was just achingly awful to look upon. Paula Abdul suggested that he get his chest hair removed and, if he did, promised he’d have the chance to audition that his ensemble was precluding. To her subsequent shock, he returned after having his entire torso waxed. Did he then launch into a surprisingly, achingly heartfelt love ballad and turn the tide? Of course not. He started gyrating while singing a Spice Girls number which Simon mercifully cut short after less than two bars. Actually Cowell was probably tempted to hit a couple of bars just to blur the memory.

So who showed up later? A self-proclaimed geek who was wearing her hair in the Princess Leia buns. She didn’t make the cut either, which she promptly blamed on the fact that she was, in fact, a geek, and therefore that was the reason she was turned down. Well, no, the truth was that her voice was marginal at best, and her deportment merely served to be the final straw. But she set herself up to lose so she could blame the world for her own shortcomings. I think we all know plenty of people like this.

Don’t fans have enough of a reputation as fools and freaks without stuff like this contributing to it?

At least the creepy guy who advanced on Abdul while singing a song about stalking her (her body language–arms folded, legs crossed–conveyed just how freaked she was by him, and I can’t blame her) wasn’t wearing a Darth Vader outfit.

PAD

The entry for “Tigerheart” at Amazon.com now has the cover up, along with some pre-pub review comments from Terry Brooks and Bob Salvatore. Actually, it’s just the front part of the cover; the final version is a wraparound.

PAD

We took Ariel and Caroline to see the newly opened “Little Mermaid,” the musical that’s been crucified by just about every NY critic. It seems there’s no element of the show that they haven’t found bitch-worthy.

We loved it.

Personally, I think that for a show like this, critics should be required to take a small child with them so they can see it through their eyes.

Caroline was literally on the edge of her seat, goggle-eyed at the splendor of it all. Ariel (my daughter, not the mermaid) was likewise entranced. I thought it was a lot of fun.

The theater was packed beyond all belief. I’m hoping that people vote with their feet and wallets.

PAD

Actually, less walking this time. There were so many writers turning out to picket the Viacom building yesterday that there was a good deal of standing around.

More memebers of the Screen Actors Guild have started showing up to join in the march. Met Michael Badalucco, who played Jimmy the Grunt on “The Practice,” who was always one of my favorite characters on that series. Sweet guy; introduced himself to me as “Mike.” Came across much like his TV persona.

Probably the high point was that I spent a good deal of time in the line standing behind Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He used to write “Weekend Update,” and he was spending most of his time talking shop and trading stories with the writer for SNL who is *currently* writing Update for SNL. There was literally a generation of time between the two writers, but I was fascinated by all the common ground between the two of them. And when I asked them (I apologized for overhearing, explaining that I had only done so because I was intentionally eavesdropping) they agreed that, yeah, Doctor Evil really does sound like Lorne Michaels.

It’s been a fascinating experience thus far. I just hope/wish we’re accomplishing something.

PAD

The AMPTP appears to be displaying increasing desperation as the WGA’s presenting itself as a reasonable bargaining partner is showing dividends. Having brokered the deal with Worldwide Pants that brought Late Night back with writers, WGA has now cut a deal with UA and is reportedly on the brink of a similar achievement with the Weinsteins. The AMPTP’s response on their website:

One-off deals do nothing to bring the WGA closer to a permanent solution for working writers. These interim agreements are sideshows and mean only that some writers will be employed at the same time other writers will be picketing. In the end, until the people in charge at WGA decide to focus on the main event rather than these sideshows, the economic harm being caused by the strike will continue.

Curiously the AMPTP ignores that the deals don’t “mean only that some writers will be employed;” the deals also put hundreds of non-writing employees back to work. Crew people and such who were out of work because the writers had gone on strike. Yet amazingly the AMPTP doesn’t hesitate to invoke the hardship those bystanders face whenever they’re trying to slag the striking writers.

Behind the scenes they must be ballistic about the producers who are voting with their feet and their wallets by bargaining individually because it underscores what the WGA has been saying all along: The demands are not unreasonable. The AMPTP is unreasonable.

PAD

Understand, I’ve never seen his program. The times that I’ve seen him on talk shows or such, there was something about him that just annoyed the crap out of me…and it’s not just because every time I see him I can’t tell if it’s him or actor Jeffrey Tambor.

But now I know why.

The big headline in the “Daily News” is that Phil “Quick Draw” McGraw was summoned by Britney Spears’ parents for help, and that he escorted their tormented daughter from the hospital where she was quite rightly dispatched. Frankly I think the intended three days couldn’t have hurt, but she departed with McGraw after a day. As I read the article, I thought, “Okay, well…maybe I was too hard on the guy. He’s reaching out to a high-profile mentally collapsing patient and perhaps–”

Then I got to the part where he’s planning filming a TV special about her which will doubtless land him huge ratings if he can get her to cooperate.

What a slimeball. What a total scuzz. What an opportunistic creeping bag of pustulence is Doctor Phil McGraw. Craig Ferguson memorably gave a monologue as to why he had no intention of making Britney Spears jokes that was by turns honest, painful and hilarious, and in the end he absolutely nailed it: This is a woman having a public mental breakdown and she needs genuine help. Ferguson, a recovering alcoholic, understood that. McGraw understands ratings and keeping his own name out there.

If McGraw said he was taking a month off from his program to try and spend time setting Spears on the road to recovery, that I could respect. But seeking merely to exploit her in order to score ratings…well, frankly, one has to wonder about the parents who sent the call out to him. If they knew that was his intent, it’s little wonder Spears is as screwed up as she is.

PAD

Dave’s widow, Paty, is selling off his comics. You can read more about it here:

http://thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com/2007/12/own-dave-cockrums-comics.html

They’ve just released studies that say skim milk and low-fat milk increases the likelihood of prostate cancer?!? So I’m supposed to drink whole milk, which is fattening?

It just isn’t fair.

PAd

John Edwards.

I fully admit that my reason for doing so is probably stupid, but it’s mine and I’ll stick to it. The reason I’m pulling for Edwards is because when the WGA had a rally in Washington Square Park a few weeks ago, Edwards was the only presidential candidate who actually showed up to address us (as he had in a similar gathering on the West Coast.)

By contrast, Hillary and Obama merely sent letters of support…letters that, as it happened, had grammatical errors. Never a good idea, sending letters with grammatical errors to a gathering of cranky writers.

And by the way, considering how much of a hullabaloo the media made over his $400 haircuts, I have to say…damn, the man has good hair.

In any event, my simplistic view is that if he took the time to support us, then it’s the least I can do in return.

So John Edwards gets my vote come the Democratic primary.

PAD

Dave’s back, along with the writer’ staff, and thus far (I’m writing this 45 minutes in) it’s been great. It’s certainly a terrific venue to bring positive attention to the strike.

What’s going to kinda suck is if Leno’s ratings, sans writers, are higher.

PAD

I posted a fairly neutral comment about how OMD wasn’t the direction I would have gone in, and suddenly that comment is making the rounds as some sort of proof that I “hate” (exact words) One More Day. This despite the fact that I specifically mentioned I hadn’t read it and I tend not to make judgments on stories I haven’t read.

So I shall now clarify: All I said is that it’s not the direction I would have gone in. That’s a far cry from saying that I hated it. Let’s remember I’m the person who did a three part storyline that brought back Uncle Ben and was pilloried by any number of fans for it, in some cases sight unseen. So it’s not as if I can claim to have my finger on the pulse of what makes fans happy where Spider-Man is concerned.

Hell, lots of fans dogpiled on my run on “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man,” crabbing about everything from a high schooler contemporary to a teen Peter Parker who had an on-line blog to the fact that I “wasted” two issues on a story involving Mexican wrestling, to the entire notion of how dare I write a follow-up to “The Other” (not to be confused with the fans who complained bitterly because they believed that there would be NO follow-up to the Other.) They crabbed about Todd’s artwork. Hell, they even crabbed about the title of the comic, for God’s sake, claiming that it made it sound like a comic for kids…because, y’know, heaven forbid that kids should find anything about Spider-Man appealing.

Yet suddenly I’m embraced? Held up as the poster boy for being on the side of the same fans who didn’t hesitate to slag just about every aspect of my two years on FNSM, and lauded for my brave stance? Yeah, uh…I don’t think so. As Groucho so immortally said, I don’t care to belong to a club that would have me as a member.

There are complaints because years worth of continuity has suddenly been rendered moot? Okay, well…did you enjoy the stories when you read them? Yes? Good: You got your money’s worth. Can you still pull them out and re-read them? Yes? Good: Then OMD didn’t somehow cause the previous comics to magically vanish from existence. I mean, I *wrote* a number of those stories that, in terms of plot and character development are no longer relevant, and I’m not cracking up over it. I wrote them, they were enjoyed for what they were (or disliked for what they were), and that to my mind is the end of it.

Frankly, I’m kind of annoyed that all of a sudden my fairly neutral statement is being held up as an example of Spidey-writers uniting against some great outrage. I mean, jeez, we’re dealing with a medium in which death itself is simply a temporary set-back, and fans are treating an updating of “Doctor Faustus” as if it’s a crime against humanity.

Fandom really needs to get some perspective here. Perhaps it will lead to great stories and everyone will hail it as a great move after the fact. Perhaps it won’t, in which case it can always be reversed. Personally, I’m actually planning to pick up the new stories to see where it goes (yes, I don’t get them for free; shut up) if for no other reason than that they’re being written by some writers whose work I like. And I say that, not as a Marvel employee, but as a guy no different than the rest of you: A long-time Spider-Man fan.

PAD