Month: August 2010

Anyone know any females in the DCU with the first name “Amber?”

I already know the Amber who is one of the personalities of Chain Lightning, although if she has a last name, that would be good to know.

PAD

For the past ten years, the TrekTrack at Dragon*Con has had, as its last panel, a solo hour with me. I was dubious about the proposition initially, but it’s become something of a tradition and I usually have a packed house. Apparently a number of people have gotten used to finishing out the convention with that hour. So imagine their surprise when the schedule was posted this year and it was gone.

Wasn’t my idea. Someone new was put in charge of the programming. I got the schedule a few weeks ago and fired off an email pointing out the omission. I never received a response. And now the schedule is up, and people are inquiring of both me and Kathleen what the hëll happened.

Well, I’m the wrong person to ask. Apparently the person you should be asking is Dave Gordon. He wasn’t responsible for the omission, but he’s the person to address. Be nice; be polite; remember, it wasn’t his call. He can be reached at:

fantrackops@dragoncon.org

Meanwhile, what took the place of the hour with me? A generic hour in which fans are supposed to discuss what went right and wrong with Trek programming. Yeah; I wonder how that’s gonna go?

PAD

And this Democrat cleared the primaries and was the Senatorial candidate, I swear to God I’d vote Republican.

Actually, Bugs Bunny was being unfair. Albuquerque is a lovely place and that’s where I am for Bubonicon 42 where I am slated to be Guest of Honor. Tonight I’ll be taking in an Albuquerque Isotopes games (a baseball team named for the episode of “The Simpsons” where the Springfield Isotopes were relocating to New Mexico, thereby removing the state from consideration as one of the places where the Simpsons home town is.) And tomorrow I’ll be doing a store appearance at a comic book store, Astro-Zombies, from 1-3, before the convention actually gets started.

I brought a minimal amount of stuff to sell, but if anyone ever wanted to buy the script to my episode of “Ben 10: Alien Force,” you’ll have the chance.

PAD

Because of them, I found out about ABC’s special deal where the first 50,000 visitors to a specified site were able to watch the pilot of the new superhero themed show, “No Ordinary Family,” starring Michael Chiklis (last seen playing a not-dissimilar role as a big strong guy in “The Fantastic Four“) and Julie Benz (last seen playing a somewhat dissimilar role as a lesbian stripper who wants to start a better career in “Desperate Housewives.” Because when you want to introduce a character who is going to cut across all interest groups, you really can’t go wrong with a petite blonde lesbian stripper who wants to start a better career.)

The premise is simple to anyone who’s familiar with either the FF or for that matter, “The Incredibles.” A dysfunctional family goes on a trip that ends badly with a plane crash into a particularly unusual section of the Amazon (the river, not the book dealer) and as a result acquire superpowers that Just So Happen to be tailored to their respective personalities.

It would be rude to dwell on spoilers for a show that won’t air for over a month, so just speaking in broad strokes, it’s a fun, well-acted, family-friendly show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and gives hints of a broader universe within that I would think will be followed up in subsequent episodes. We’ll definitely be watching.

PAD