Month: May 2004

…did we mention that the Spider-Man 2 novelization comes out tomorrow? And that you can pre-order it? Okay, then. Soft sell over, true believers.

A thirty two year old circus performer plunged to her death at Ringling Bros. over the weekend. At the moment, no criminal prosecution is being looked at, and it’s seen as a tragic accident (although why the hëll there was no net under her remains totally bewildering. Then again, even when used, nets can be missed or you can land wrong, break your neck, and adios.)

She has (had) two young children who are being trained to join the act.

Sooner or later, somehow, somewhere in this country, luck is going to run out and a child circus performer is going to be killed.

At which point no one will say there’s no investigation of criminal prosecution. No one is going to say, oh, it’s a tragic accident in a high risk profession.

Instead there’s going to be a thundering of outcries over child endangerment. Investigations will be launched. Social services will be brought in. Children will be taken from their parents. And anyone under the age of eighteen will be banned from any act more hazardous than juggling. All the safety harnesses in the world don’t matter because, sooner or later, something’s gonna break.

So circus families might as well take the initiative now and stop using kids in anything remotely high risk…before the odds, and the law, catches up with them.

PAD

Richard Biggs, one of the sweetest guys in the world, who played Dr. Stephen Franklin on B5, just died.

Apparently Rick woke up, rolled out of bed…and collapsed. Aneurysm, massive stroke, there’s no final word yet.

I’m horrified to learn this. I was supposed to see Rick at the Motor City Con but he wasn’t able to make it, so I didn’t, and now I won’t get to again. My condolences to all his family.

And folks, remember, seriously…majority of heart attacks occur first thing in the morning. So when you wake up, do so slowly. Move your feet and arms slowly, get the blood circulating. Don’t make your heart go from 0 to 60 in a few seconds.

Ðámņ. ÐÃMN.

PAD

A news item in today’s paper said that London residents are being stricken with a mysterious illness that’s rendering them mute.

Fortunately enough, both Tony Head and Allyson Hannigan are in London at the present time. I’m sure that if Sarah Michelle Geller can be talked into heading out there, the three of them should be able to attend to it in no time.

PAD

The penultimate issue in the “Odyssey” storyline. Out this week. Whad’ja think? (Not that it, y’know, matters much in the long run…)

PAD

Okay, so when I was doing the announcement of “Madrox” at the Detroit convention and talking about how–if the book had high sales–we’d continue it as a series, I also said we were going to do everything we could to try and snag people’s interest. That included the title (said I) as I took a piece of paper and wrote out a logo that looked like this:

MadroX

That is to say, we were going to make the “X” the biggest letterin the logo. “After all, we’re not stupid,” I said with a grin.

And somehow this has morphed into the silly notion that, within the interior of the book, his name is always going to be spelled as MadroX.

No! Fer cryin’ out loud, guys, no. I don’t even know 100% for sure that we’re doing it in the logo; I was half-kidding. I’d LIKE to do it that way, and I’d discussed it with the editor, but it’s not set in stone. And we’re CERTAINLY not going to have it appear that way within the body of the book. Just as the logo, if we do it at all.

Okay?

Sheesh, the stuff you have to clear up…

PAD

I was chatting with Kath about the multi-pronged cliffhanger in “Smallville,” and she put forward an interesting theory that there was more than just “Let’s knock the fans for a loop” at work. I’ll go into detail in the extended for Spoilers sake…

Continue Reading “A Theory About “Smallville”” →