PeterDavid.net

We’re soliciting your vote for Coheed and Cambria. Go here to enter your ballot. It’s very close, but we can put it over the edge. Voting closes at midnight tonight.

MTV’s Musical March Madness has arrived at the regional finals, where the eight remaining bands will go through one more rigorous contest in an effort to get to the Final Four. Which of the Elite Eight bands will end up in the Final Four? You have just under 48 hours to decide what the rest of Musical March Madness looks like.

Voting for all Elite Eight match-ups will close on Thursday, March 31 at midnight. As always, you can follow all the voting here.

(6) Coheed and Cambria vs. (9) Disturbed
Now this is some serious business. Defending champs Coheed and Cambria had to go through the ringer and pull off some last-second heroics in order to topple Avenged Sevenfold in the Sweet 16. They run up against a dominating Disturbed squad, who have taken out the top-seeded Foo Fighters and then laid waste to a very spry Patrick Stump. Can Coheed and Cambria continue their winning ways, or will Disturbed deliver the New York band’s first ever Musical March Madness defeat? Who will earn the right to represent the Midwest in the Final Four? Your votes decide it!

There’s a military slang referring to someone’s location. And it’s a number. The phrase would be like “We need a twenty on the General,” or something like that.

Anyone know off hand for sure what the number is and whether that would be a correct example of its usage?

PAD

Last year, when Jason Bay was brought onto the Met and hailed as one of the great hopes for the injury-plagued team, I began Bay Watch as people were invited to predict how long until–not if, but until–Bay wound up on the DL. The answer, as it turned out, was July 27, after sustaining a concussion several days earlier while chasing down a Dodgers fly ball.

But it’s a new season and I want to start on a positive note.

So…Jason Bay, during spring training, has apparently strained his ribcage during batting practice (following earlier back pains) and may wind up on the DL. So this year’s Bay Watch is…predict when, or if, he’ll be in the starting lineup.

PAD

Obama is addressing the nation right now about what’s going on in Libya. About time. Might as well live blog it below the cut line.

PAD

(more…)

Originally published January 6, 1995, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1103

It’s that time again.

Continuing a long-standing tradition that’s been around ever since I first did it last year, BID herewith presents its list of Most Awards. Named after Donny Most, the Most Awards are a tribute to passing oddities, curious happenings, and passing fancies (all of which kind of describe Most’s brief claim to fame as Ralph Malph on Happy Days.)

Actually, of course, it’s an excuse to do a column about a variety of stuff which either bugs me or simply doesn’t fit in anywhere else. In any event: The 1995 Most Awards. May I push the envelope, please?

(more…)

Go check out “Paul.” A self-proclaimed love letter to Spielberg (who even has a cameo), it chronicles the adventures of two nerds played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, doing for alien encounter films what they’ve done for zombie flicks and cop movies. On a road trip following the San Diego Comic Con, they wind up unwillingly giving a lift to a convivial alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) who is on the run from an MIB-like agency that wants to pick his brain…literally. Filled with countless in-jokes and inspired meta casting (who runs the agency that’s out to get the alien? Sigourney Weaver, of course), “Paul” will enable you to discern the kindred spirits in the theater by who laughs at certain lines (ex: dialogue from “Star Wars,” “Aliens,” and other classics show up at unexpected and yet wholly appropriate moments.) Along for the ride is SNL’s Kristen Wiig as an die-hard bible thumper who unexpectedly has her world widened and winds up reveling in using profanity (badly) and exploring physical pleasure (awkwardly).

Naturally this is the kind of film that Oscar will never have any truck with, but if it’s not up for a Hugo next year, there’s no justice.

PAD

Originally published January 1995, in Comics Buyer’s Guide 1995 Annual

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? If so, it would seem Marvel Comics has managed it.

(more…)

You know how, when you watch “Mission Impossible” (the original series) there’s this absurd aspect to the rubber masks they would wear. That somehow they would pull on these rubber masks and then the camera would cut away and then cut back and magically the “mask” was an undetectable human face. And of course you knew they simply switched actors because in real life the “face” would just kind of hang there and look artificial.

Well, I’ve been looking at pictures of K’Daffy, and his face looks like a fake rubber mask.

Apparently the LIbyan government has been infiltrated by the IM force. Now I feel better about the end game: Phelps always knew what he was doing (I’m ignoring the movies which had the temerity to paint Jim Phelps has a traitor. No way.) This is going to end with the real K’Daffy coming to in the middle of a square somewhere in Libya, with angry people aiming guns at him from all directions, and in the distance an oversized van is going to be rolling away while familiar theme music plays.

PAD

Originally published December 30, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1102

Seeing Star Trek Generations (no, this isn’t another review) pointed out for me, in stark relief, some of the major differences between Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) and Trek of the Next Generation. So I thought I’d point them out to you, too.

(more…)

Mike Weber informs me that X-Factor won a GLAAD media award for positive portrayal of lesbian and gay characters. The awards ceremony was last night in NY.

UPDATED March 21:: Have I mentioned how much I love automatic translation programs? Naturally I did a Google search to see how widespread reporting of the GLAAD awards was. This is from the AP wire service piece:

Nonelectronic media winners include The New York Times columnist Frank Rich and Peter David for his Marvel comic book “X-Factor.”

And this was from a web site in Hunan:

Nonelectronic media winners include The innovative York epoch contributor Frank Rich and Peter David intended for his Marvel comic tome X-Factor.

PAD

In Libya, I mean. When you’ve got an international effort going on and it’s the French who are leading the charge, then basically it’s Anything Can Happen Day.

Like they’d say in Texas (or some other state where they say such things) Gadhafi is like a turd that just won’t flush. But I don’t see the international community having the nerve to go in and oust him or charge him with war crimes. On the other hand, one of his own command saying, “Enough’s enough” and putting a bullet in his brain…that I could see.

UPDATED 6:53: And what the hell is with the guy’s surname?! The New York Times has Qaddafi. The Daily News has Khadafy. This guy is like the Doctor Who of names: Every time you see it, it looks different. From now on, I’m just calling him K’Daffy.

PAD

Originally published December 23, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1101

When Star Trek: The Motion Picture (quickly dubbed “The Motionless Picture”) opened, there was no escaping the fact that it was a Very Bad Movie. Yet many dedicated Trek fans seized on the positives (what few there were) and clung to the fact that it was, at least, Star Trek. That the franchise was being perpetuated, and that the voyages were still continuing.

And so it continues. We may have lost Star Trek the dream or Star Trek the creative vision, but, by God, at least Star Trek the franchise continues unabated. And some apologists and dedicated fans have returned in force, as fresh-faced and well-scrubbed as they were years ago, and they’ve sung the praises of Generations because they want it to be good. They want it to be good so much that it’s almost painful to watch them. I feel like I’m kicking a puppy dog or knocking the crutch out from under Tiny Tim when I am forced to sorrowfully conclude that Generations is, in fact, not a very good movie.

(more…)

X-Factor #217, now on sale.

Fallen Angel: Return of the Son.

PAD

Check out this website for details about your chance to win original “Fallen Angel” artwork by J.K. Woodward.

art contest

PAD

Originally published December 16, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1100

A sort of morbid incredulity has settled, for the moment, over bleeding-heart liberals such as my humble self. Even a bit of distant black humor rears its head. For instance, I was telling a group of comics fans about an upcoming development in Marvel’s futuristic “2099″ line of books. I said, “Doom takes over America.” And the immediate response I got was, “Didn’t that just happen?”

(more…)

Lately whenever I’m channel surfing and I see that something is on PBS that looks interesting, I go to it and–lo and behold–either I hit a pledge break, or I watch for maybe five minutes and then, stop the music, stop everything, time for a pledge break.

Understand that this is purely anecdotal, but it seems to me there used to be a lot fewer pledge drives, and now it’s literally whenever I happen to tune in. Now for all I know it’s just that they only run shows of interest to me during pledge drives, but jeez. Unless I record stuff so that I can buzz past the pledge drives, it’s pretty much impossible to watch the channel.

I don’t even want to think what it’ll be like if government funding goes away altogether.

PAD

The Red Cross is accepting donations earmarked for earthquake and tsunami relief. You can go to their website at www.redcross.org.

Alternatively–and what we’ve just done–is that you can text REDCROSS to 90999 from your cell phone which will result in a $10 donation.

Help if you can.

PAD

Because you see what’s going on there and you say, “Cheeeeeez.”

Passing a law that strips an entire union of its right to collectively bargain? What the hell is up with that?

“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…”

There it is, right there. The spirit of combining power in order to gain collective strength and be able to protect mutual interests, right there in the preamble to the Constitution. We’ve got “United” in our country’s name, for God’s sake.

It’s appalling, and the only thing more repulsive than the GOP ramming this through is the fourteen Democrats who headed for the hills rather than stay and try to slug it out. I am so damn sick of Democrats rolling over when it comes to a fight. And this time it’s teachers who are paying for it.

Please tell me that a lawsuit’s going to result from this. For all I know, it’s a First Amendment issue. The Supreme Court has protected the rights of jackasses to fling insults at funerals and the rights of big business to try and influence elections. If talking is protected speech, and money is protected speech, how is talking about money NOT protected speech? We draw the line of free expression at teachers assembling and speaking with one voice saying, “This is what we want?” How is THAT fair?

PAD

Originally published December 9, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1099

Wrapping up my journal of my trip out to Los Angeles for the filming of “Soul Mates,” an episode I’ve written for the syndicated SF series Babylon 5:

(more…)

First of all…tempting fate by opening on March 15 was always a lousy idea. Even key cast members weren’t sanguine over the notion of opening on the Ides of March. How do I know? Reeve Carney, Broadway’s “Peter Parker” and a really nice guy, told me. Where’d I encounter him? At the Broadway Bears auction on Sunday. (Sorry the picture’s a little blurry; lighting wasn’t the greatest).

The announced push back comes as no surprise (although the reports of Julie Taymor supposedly departing are startling.) Anything that could be done to fix the show before March 15 would have been mere bandaids, and what the show really needed for long-term health is a tourniquet, which is what a several month delay at this point amounts to. By all reports, the second act is still a major problem (and the bizarre number about shoes remains in place for no explicable reason.) But the assertions that the show can’t be fixed are simply wrong. There’s nothing in the script that can’t be repaired. To me the delay just shows that they’re determined to do what needs to be done so that the story and score is able to match the much higher quality of the visuals.

PAD