PeterDavid.net

Nearly three weeks ago, for no discernible reason, I started developing pain in my right hip. I was fine once I started walking or if I was sitting or lying down; but the transition from sitting to standing was agonizing. (And if that doesn’t seem a problem, then keep track of the number of times you go from sitting to standing and vice versa in the course of a day). They took X-rays and found nothing relevant to hip pain. So they put me on some heavy-duty pain killers and recommended, just as a precaution, that I see an orthopedist.

By the time I saw the orthopedist, it had gotten worse. Walking no longer kick started my hip; now I couldn’t walk without a cane (although to assuage my new found sense of vulnerability, I was using my sword cane.) The orthopedist believed that it could be a pinched nerve and put me on a prescription of pregnazone, but also slated me for an MRI. And I was on the clock, because this was happening on Wednesday and I was slated to get on an airplane the following Monday for a business trip.

The MRI was barely 24 hours later. By that point, it had spread to both my hips and my thighs down to my knees (although not into them, thankfully). I couldn’t believe how fast I was degenerating. I was now in pain 24/7. There was no comfortable position for me; at most, I could become so exhausted that I would pass out for an hour here or there before the pain awoke me. That was my equivalent of sleep.

They got back the MRI results and that’s when it pretty much went right off the rails. (more…)

Originally published May 21, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1018

I am shortly (if I have not already left when you’ve read this) off to Romania to observe/help-where-I-can with the filming of Trancers IV and Trancers V.

Therefore, in my endeavor to thrill and entertain folks on a consistent basis, I’m going to be writing the next four installments of BID one after the other, bang bang bang. This might have some effect on the timeliness of the column, but that’s the way it goes. Things will return to normal once I’m back.

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by Kathleen David

As some of you know Peter had surgery on Friday to relieve a rather serious back problem that was progressively getting worse. He got through it as well as expected all things considered. He is resting comfortably at home now working on getting better. His time on the internet is rather limited but he wanted to assure those who have been asking him questions, that he will get to them in a day or so.

The girls are fine. Caroline has a pretty good understanding of what is going on but I think it is still pretty scary for her. Ariel has been helping a lot with Caroline so I have been able to concentrate on Peter.

More news as we have it but right now we are taking it a day at a time.

Originally published May 14, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1017

Several years back, I wrote a four-issue run on Web of Spider-Man about a group called the “Cult of Love.” A grief-stricken Betty Leeds was easy pickings for the mind-manipulating group, and the story focused on Spider-Man’s attempts to get her out of the Cult’s clutches.

(The story also featured a subplot about Mary Jane contemplating posing nude for Playboy—a storyline which was the victim of last minute editorial cold feet. It was art-and-dialogue-changed to MJ’s trying to decide whether she should model skimpy lingerie—rendering the subsequent angst totally nonsensical. So if you ever happen to reread the story, all you have to do is substitute “naked” for “in skimpy underwear” and mentally undress MJ during the photo sequences, which shouldn’t be too much of a chore. But I digress.)

At the climax of the story, a crazed cult member wound up torching the whole establishment. Most of the cultists managed to get out, although the leader did not, when the roof collapsed on him.

The storyline was written up in the Skeptical Inquirer, a publication that debunks professional scam psychics and other “paranormal” activities. They said nice things about it because it helped to explain, in detail, some of the tricks that cult leaders use to convince their followers that they are genuine miracle workers.

It was a nice little four-parter (Mary Jane story butchering aside), but I hadn’t given it much thought until recently when I was at home watching CNN, which was covering the FBI tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidians, the followers of self-proclaimed messiah David Koresh. And I watched in amazement as, suddenly, fire started to break out in several different places in the compound.

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It’s been a while since I’ve thrown the site over to questions, so: Anything you want to ask about?

PAD

Originally published May 7, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1016

Previous installments:  Part 1 – Part 2

In the past two weeks I’ve been juggling a young adult novel, a screenplay, income taxes, and my daughter’s Bat-Mitzvah. With all those balls in the air, I’ve got my butt in a sling, which means—yes, that’s right—a quick fill in. And that means one of two things:

1) Top 10 list

or

2) Barf bags

Show of hands. Who wants a top 10 list? Please, no pushing. No, you over there, you can’t raise both hands. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Hands down.

Okay. Who wants barf bags?

Ah, that’s rather overwhelming. OK, then—

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You don’t need me to tell you how brilliant “Toy Story 3″ was, so I’ll just move right onto my scenario for “Toy Story 4″:

Sid from the original “Toy Story” shows up (all grown up and totally psychotic since the toy-attack incident from the first film) and destroys all of Woody’s toy friends, leaving Woody’s face partly melted. Now it’s up to Woody Hex (and the only other survivor, Buzzeye–Bullseye but with Buzz Lightyear’s head attached)–to track down his friends’ killer and seek vengeance upon him. The climactic sequence when Sid dies from the snake in his boot would be an instant classic.

PAD

Originally published April 30, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1015

“Tragic failures become moral sins only if one should have known better from the outset.”

The above quote is from The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond, a fascinating book on humanity—where we’ve been and where we are, in all likelihood, going to wind up.

I finished reading it during Wonder-Con in Oakland. It was unquestionably the best of that series of conventions I’ve been to: the best attended (it seemed) and most enthusiastic.

However, in the course of the weekend I was also witness to, or made aware of, two incidents that directly relate to Diamond’s gem mentioned above. Both of them, interestingly, are also germane to comics as well.

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1) Jaden Smith clearly actually KNOWS martial arts, and it shows, with the climactic championship square off way more convincing than the original.

2) His character, Dre, is taught by Jackie Chan, who IS martial arts.

3) Dre’s (Smith’s character) romance with a young Chinese violinist is utterly charming.

4) Michelle Yeoh, the greatest martial arts actress in the world, has a marvelous cameo in which she engages in a staggering display of control while squaring off against a cobra.

5) For those decrying a remake as sacrilege, I would point out that kung fu being the offense of choice in China makes way more sense to me than karate being the offense of choice in southern California.

PAD

Sheila O’Shea is an occasional contributor to this site and also happens to be my sister-in-law. Today’s her birthday and I didn’t have a chance to get her anything, so this attempted helpful posting is my gift: Sheila’s an unemployed paralegal in Atlanta and could really use some help with being employed. She’s bright, articulate, and also has experience as a copy editor, a notary and as a technical writer for a software firm. She also won a lip-synching contest for Duran Duran, for what that’s worth. So if someone in the Atlanta area is looking, drop me a line at padguy@aol.com and I’ll pass it along.

PAD

Originally published April 23, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1014

More miscellaneous stuff:

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While watching the Tony Awards, in welcoming two of the cast members of “Glee,” they talked about the two actors’ Broadway careers. One I knew about, but the other I didn’t. So I did some fast checking. Then I went upstairs to Ariel’s room and said, “Where do you have that script book from ‘Hairspray’ that you got cast autographs on?” She pulled it out and I flipped through it, and then pointed to the signature of the actor who had portrayed Link Larkin, one Matt Morrison. I said, “Congratulations: You got Will Schuster’s autograph.” She shrieked.

And just now, during the Tonys, host Sean Hayes ran onto the stage in a full Spider-Man costume singing a very muffled version of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” He then pulled off the mask and wondered how in God’s name Spider-Man’s gonna sing in that outfit. He may have a point.

PAD

A cliffhanger? Really? They ended the strip on a cliffhanger? I mean, if they can’t afford to keep the strip going in a market where story strips are almost a thing of the past, fine, I get that. But they couldn’t give the creators a sufficient heads-up that they could have tied up the current storyline rather than leave Annie and Warbucks separated? I don’t care if they brought in Mr. Am from nowhere and he transports her home. She deserved better than what they gave her.

PAD

Back in the days when I actually went into work in NYC every day, there was a big video arcade in Penn Station. And I would always stop on my way in to play “Dragon’s Lair,” which was big and new and splashy and right up front, with a television mounted above it so that passers by could see the game play. I have no idea how many quarters I plunked into that thing. And I managed to last longer and longer at it, moving through the set pieces with increasing ease, discovering little tricks along the way to maneuver through some of the trickier bits. (more…)

Originally published April 16, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1013

More assorted stuff:

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Gentlemen: Today you announced that there’s going to be a movie focusing on Les Grossman, the abusive, abrasive producer brilliantly played by Tom Cruise in “Tropic Thunder” (not to mention on the MTV Movie Awards.)

Four words: I am so there.

So here’s the open request: Find a way to work in a confrontation between Les Grossman and Ari Gold from “Entourage.” Jeremy Piven’s superagent squaring off against Cruise’s demented producer would be the show business showdown of a lifetime.

PAD

Check out this business card, autographed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which he’s apparently telling someone that “The Valley of Fear” is going to be the final outing for Sherlock Holmes, which of course it was not. I’ll bet it goes for way more than the projected $8000-$12,000. This is one of those moments where I wish I had a ton of disposable cash.

Sir Arthur’s Calling Card

In the spirit of the notion that the unexamined life is not worth living, I’m starting to rethink my devout opposition to drilling in the arctic.

This may seem like an odd time to do so considering what’s gushing in the Gulf of Mexico.  How could I possibly reverse my position when we’re seeing what an oil spill can do to the environment and the creatures that live in it?  Okay, but…anywhere there’s an oil spill, the environment’s gonna get FUBARed, right?  Shouldn’t two major considerations be (a) accessibility to the source of the leak and (b) whether people are going to be impacted as well?  I mean, yeah, an oil spill in the arctic would be a terrible thing, but at least it would be way easier to fix it.  Wouldn’t it be BETTER for the environment overall because the damage would be minimized?  Plus you don’t have people’s lives and economies going down in oil-soaked flames.

Like I said, I haven’t decided yet.  But I’m starting to see the other side of it.  I know the negatives, and I agree that the best case would be developing alternative energies.  But if the current fiasco isn’t spurring development in that direction, I’m not entirely sure how cutting off another potential source of oil is gonna do it.

Feel free to convince me one way or the other.

PAD

Originally published April 9, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1012

Back to bits and pieces—

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Get this:  Abby Nurre, a math teacher at a Catholic school in Iowa, has been fired from her job.  Is she incompetent?  Was she making sexual overtures to a student?

Nope.  She was fired because, in the privacy of her own home on her own home computer, she joined an atheist website.  And administrators at St. Edmund’s Catholic school, which seemed to feel that this was somehow their business, fired her for it.  They even want to deny her unemployment benefits.  I don’t know which is more disturbing:  That they monitored her home computer and invaded her privacy, or that they’re under the impression that one’s religious beliefs somehow impact on numbers.  Hot news flash, you idiots:  Whether Pythagoras believed in multiple gods, one god or no god, A squared plus B squared is still going to equal C squared.

I firmly believe this country is over-litigious, but I hope this woman sues their asses.

PAD