PeterDavid.net

Fortunately enough for George W. Bush, when Richard Reid (the man who singlehandedly condemned all American travelers to have to remove their shoes to go through security) , tried to blow up an airplane using his sneakers, it was considered unpatriotic and borderline treasonous to lob any criticisms at the office of the President when it came to matters of home security. On vacation during the incident, Bush said nothing for six days and faced virtually no critiques or media scrutiny.

Thank God THAT’S over as GOP critics line up to try and do everything short of of accusing Barack Obama of actually putting Abdulbob Bombpants up to the challenge of trying to blow a plane out of the sky. Does ANYONE doubt at this point that if Gore had been in office during 9/11, the GOP–rather than asserting that the country should line up behind its president–would have been claiming that America was targeted because terrorists saw Gore as weak and would have been lobbying for investigations if not outright impeachment?

PAD

The final adventure of David Tennant’s incarnation of the Doctor is nigh. To my mind, it’s pointless to discuss the first half of “The End of Time” because it’s mostly set-up for the meat of the story. So instead I’m going to put forward a challenge:

What do you think the Doctor’s last words will be? I’m betting they’ll be something reasonably memorable. If it were up to me, they would evoke his very first line of dialogue and he’d say, “Bugger. I never DID get to see Barcelona.”

Anyone else?

PAD

My wife, whose name apparently was similar to someone on a watch list somewhere, was on the no-fly list (now gone from it, thankfully) while Abdul Mudallad, who was in the terrorist data base, was NOT on the no-fly list.

Thank God some fast-thinking passengers and a misfired inflammatory device prevented an even greater tragedy. In the future you can probably kiss good-bye to bringing baby powder on an airplane now. What worries me is that, a few years ago, some idiot tried to sneak on explosives in his shoes and now we all have to remove our footwear to get through security. This guy smuggled in explosives in his pants. Not liking where this is going. Maybe the next big thing for male fliers will be the convenience of travel kilts.

PAD

So over in that corner we had “Avatar,” embracing a host of story cliches under the apparent belief that technological advances in movie making were sufficient to rise above them and make the film more than it was, instead of having the unoriginality of thought dragging the whole enterprise down.

And over in this corner, we have “Sherlock Holmes,” a character who would seem the epitome of old hat, tired, overdone, so much so that there hasn’t been a Holmes feature film in American theaters in twenty years (although he has been omnipresent on television in incarnations ranging from the Jeremy Brett to Hugh Laurie as the Holmesian “House.”)

Yet the new “Sherlock Holmes” film that debuted Christmas day shows how everything old can be made new again–in this instance by returning to the source material in ways that even those who fancy themselves Holmes fanciers are unaware were ever part of canon.
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And all through the house..

Not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse.

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In the beginning, “Avatar” was unformed and void.

And James Cameron looked upon “A Princess of Mars” and “Dances with Wolves” and “Ferngully” (but not anything by Harlan Ellison, because he knew better than that) and found them good.  And he wrote a 114-page treatment, and he found it good.

And then he looked upon Gollum and realized that special effects had finally caught up with his vision, and that “Avatar” could actually be made for less than the budget of one week of fighting in Iraq, and 20th Century Fox looked upon it and said, “This could be our next ‘Star Wars’ except let’s make sure not to give away the merchandising rights,” and they made the movie and found it good.

Cowboy Pete, on the other hand, had some problems. (more…)

(Based on the news report that Laredo, with the closing of its lone B. Daltons, will be the largest city in the U.S.A. without a single bookstore)

As I read a book on the streets of Laredo.
A book in my hand in Laredo I read,
I finished that book and desired a new one
And so to the bookstore I promptly did head. (more…)

Tomorrow morning, Saturday, from 9 AM to 12 Noon EST (although we might wrap it earlier if a blizzard is rolling in) I’ll be co-hosting Ariel’s college radio show (her usual partner is leaving early so I’m subbing in).  You can listen to it on line at whrtradio.com, and not only that, you can call in at (203) 365-4747 to request songs or just chat.  So if you ever wanted to have the chance to talk with Ariel or–less likely–me, give a call.  The lines will be open.

PAD

X-Factor #200 comes out this week, along with some other books. Whad’ja get?

PAD

“Dexter by Design” is the fourth and most recent installment in the novel series by Dexter’s creator, Jeff Lindsay.  It details Dexter’s honeymoon with his newly married wife, Rita, and his subsequent dust-up with a bizarre whack-job who fancies himself an artiste.

It was fun.  It was entertaining.  It was head and shoulders above the previous installment which took the series right off the rails with the ill-advised, gothic horror notion that Dexter’s “Dark Passenger” is not a psychological manifestation of his id, but a genuine ancient dark god.

But it was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching fourth season of Dexter’s Tv incarnation,  which was partly ruined by Showtime’s ill-advised promotions warning you that the most shocking moments in the episode were the last few seconds.  Major spoiler discussion follows because, well, there’s no way around it.  So I’m seriously warning you.  Especially my sister who hasn’t watched any of the fourth season yet.  Beth, if you’re reading this:  Stop reading. (more…)

For those of you who are familiar with the group “Coheed and Cambria,” this announcement from their website will be of some interest to you:

Hey Everybody,

Happy Holidays and all that. We know you have been waiting patiently for Coheed info for 2010, so we hope this fills your hunger for now:

Our new album will be titled, “Year of the Black Rainbow,” and is set for release in April 2010 and will be followed by a headline tour of the US, and then on to Europe and the UK for festivals and such.

As most of you know, the new album will be the “Origin Story” or “The Prequel,” and likely the final story of the ongoing concept story of “The Amory Wars”

With “Year of the Black Rainbow,” we will be releasing a deluxe package that includes a NOVEL OF THE SAME NAME. Not a graphic novel, but a full 300+page prose novel, which will tell the origins of Coheed and Cambria, and much more. There will be no mystery to this story, you will be able to explore it like never before. Presales will start near the end of December, exact date and pricing to be announced soon.

Co-writing the book with Claudio is Peter David.

The album will be released through Columbia Records/Sony in North America. For the rest of the world, Sony has licensed the rights to Roadrunner Records, who we feel will better make our music available in those territories, and opening up the potential for us to come to countries we rarely or never have been to before. We are very excited.

Can’t wait til you can experience it.

Peace,
Co&Ca

…because there’s damned near nothing you can’t find out on the Internet.

Paloma Faith released a video a few months back for her song “New York.”  It was shot almost entirely in a bowling alley.  Anyone know where?

PAD

Thank you for every click and poke at the Spike Website.

Shadow Complex won for downloadable game.

Kath

Not that I’m putting a gun to anyone’s head, you understand, but hey, an award’s an award. So vote early, vote often.

Vote Shadow Complex!

PAD

A teenage high school girl in Texas was benched by the coach of her volleyball team because she’s pregnant, even though she presented a doctor’s note that stated she was ready to play.

On the one hand, I understand her and her parent’s anger, and of course the inevitable law suit. But here’s the thing: I’m reminded of the fireman who took his young son on a joyride on the fire truck after he’d gotten permission from his superior to do so. And the son fell off and injured himself and the guy sued the fire department contending they shouldn’t have let him do it in the first place. Which, in fact, they shouldn’t have, but that’s not the point. The point is that a lot of people have trouble with the concept of personal responsibility. Which is a long-winded way of saying that if a pregnant girl is allowed to participate in a high speed, contact sport, Title IX notwithstanding, and she sustains an injury that causes her to miscarry…can’t you just see the parents turning around and suing the school, contending that they shouldn’t have allowed her to participate in a high-risk sport? For that matter, it’s entirely possible that the school’s insurance carrier would refuse to provide insurance to cover a pregnant athlete. Some sports, it’s not an issue: Swimming, for instance. But volleyball, soccer, La Crosse?

How to solve this problem? Four words:

Remember, kids: Use condoms!

PAD

I saw a parked car that had an American Indian Dreamcatcher hanging from the rearview mirror.

Was the driver concerned about not having bad dreams while they fell asleep at the wheel?

PAD

There’s any number of reasons that I’m thrilled to see the return of Disney’s 2-D animation department (God bless you, John Lasseter), not the least of which is that the swan song of that venerable institution should not have been the horrific misfire that was “Home on the Range.” So instead we have “The Princess and the Frog” which initiated controversy when it was first announced that the lead character was named “Maddy” and was a maid. This caused great resentment since “Maddy” apparently sounds like “Mammy” if, I dunno, your ears are clogged. My objection to the name would be that after Aurora, Mulan, Ariel, etc., “Maddy” just doesn’t sound especially exotic. Oh, and people didn’t like that she was a maid, which apparently is, I dunno, demeaning. Personally, if I were a maid, I’d be kind of insulted by that attitude, but that’s probably just me. So instead of being on the social level of Cinderella, she was instead rewritten into being an aspiring cook, thus putting her on par with a Pixar rat. Problem solved.

So with that controversy set aside, was the film worth the extra expense and time involved in our taking Caroline to see it during its limited release at the Ziegfeld?

The answer is, Hell yes. Because for all that computer animation can accomplish in terms of storytelling, groundedness, and brilliance, the one thing I have never seen is a CGI film that I would characterize as “enchanting.” The title of the Amy Adams film got it exactly right: “Princess and the Frog” is enchanting.
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…a massive snowstorm was dumped on Long Island. Kathleen and I were unaware of it because we were in a small, windowless room, catching sleep where we could, while Kathleen labored to bring our daughter into the world.

She succeeded splendidly. It was not until some hours later that I emerged from the hospital to discover the car buried under a foot of snow. I then skidded several times on the way home on ice-slicked roads, where newly minted big sister Ariel wanted nothing except to turn right around and head back to meet her little sister. That joy would wait until the following morning.

Today her little friends and cousins are en route and we are looking forward to spending yet another birthday with little Miss Caroline. Snow is not predicted until later this evening. This time Caroline and her mommy and I will have windows through which we can watch it all together.

PAD

Comics didn’t hit the stores until Thursday. So…what’d'ja get?

PAD

Which is, curiously, how pundits seem to describe every televised speech he makes.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of this awesome importance, I will be here blogging it beginning at 8 PM. Swing by for fair and balanced coverage, right in this space below!

PAD (more…)