Between barreling through the adaptation of the second issue of “Negima,” and the CBLDF gathering, I’ve been missing or fallen behind on television. I know, I know…where the hëll are my priorities. I’m still behind, but I’ll write up on what I’ve seen or at least remember seeing and will try to get current.
Continue Reading “BELATED COWBOY PETE’S ROUND-UP, Part I–ANGEL, SMALLVILLE”
I’ve returned from Las Vegas, where the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund had a two day brainstorming board meeting to discuss the Fund’s future, the cases on our dockets, changes in by-laws, and pretty much everything else having to do with the past, present and future of the CBLDF.
Why Vegas? Lots of cheap airfares (since we paid our own way), lots of cheap hotel rooms, plus stuff to do in the evening after long days of work. Particularly entertaining was Thursday night when Neil arranged for the bunch of us to see his pals, Penn and Teller, performing in their new permanent theater. We went back stage and hung with them for a bit afterward, so that was cool.
With various states stepping up various laws ostensibly designed to “protect the children,” but which can be used to cripple comic book stores (not just comic book stores, but book stores, magazines, even 7-11s), we’re thinking that the next year (or four, if Ashcroft remains around) could potentially be a horror show of litigation. Check in with the CBLDF site for details, and watch for announcements as to future activities.
PAD
Seems that Oceana has had some ads censored by Google:
Oceana recently bought two ads with Google for its Web sites oceana.org and StopCruisePollution.com. Only two days after the ads started running, Google shut them down…. They tell us that they will not run any ad containing or linking to a Web site with “language critical of Royal Caribbean” or “the cruise industry”… Never mind that none of their written policies include such a rule, and only one of the two canceled ads even mentions Royal Caribbean in the first place.
We sympathize. So we’ve decided to block all of Royal Caribbean’s Google ads, and we strongly encourage you to do the same (the URL for you to do so is at https://www.google.com/adsense/filter. And if Google doesn’t get their act together, we’ll pull their ads all together.
…oh wait, there are some of you who haven’t seen the episode yet. We’ll just continue it in the “read more” section to avoid spoilers.
Since the Farpoint thread is quickly being hijacked by discussion the announced or pending cancellation of “Angel” and “Enterprise,” please continue all discussion about that topic over here. Thanx.
PAD
We’ve returned from our sojourn to Farpoint. Kathleen noted the surprising number of babies who were three months old, which led us to the conclusion that there’s a new generation of fans who owe their conception to their folks being snowed in for three extra days at year ago. Really, what else was there to do back then?
It was great seeing old pal Bill Mumy, who had brought his entire family of wife Eileen, son Seth, and daughter Liliana. Liliana, a pint-sized actress in her own right (currently on view in “Cheaper by the Dozen”) was a great hit with the crowd with her and Bill’s father-daughter act. At one point on stage, Bill commented that they were like George and Gracie, and Liliana piped up, “Who are they?” There is of course no reason she should know who Burns and Allen were, but it still broke everyone up.
Ariel did a great costume presentation for the costume call. She was “Shlepper the Leper,” who (the announcer informed us) wandered Medieval Europe, alone and friendless and untouchable…only finding joy when she danced to the ancient leper anthem.” At which point MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” came on and she bounded around the stage, even peeling off several pieces of “skin” and tossing an eyeball into the audience. She won Best Fantasy and Most Humorous. I was a judge, but recused myself from voting or having any say in the deliberations about her (just as Bob Greenberger always does when his daughter, Katie, participates.) So she won fair and square.
The most bizarre moment in the costume competition was a girl who had to be maybe thirteen years old, coming on as Ginny Weasley and doing a striptease with her cloak and scarf. Granted, that was all she took off, but we judges were looking each other *very* uncomfortably, muttering, “This is just wrong on so *many* levels…”
Only downside of the whole con was that some scheduling miscues prevented me from being able to do any autographs on Sunday. Otherwise it was a great job by all concerned.
That evening, on the way back, we stopped in NYC and attended the “Broadway Bears” auction hosted every year by the Broadway Cares organization which raises money to fight AIDS. It’s always a great evening in that these are bears wearing costumes that meticulously re-create ensembles from various Broadway shows, and signed by the stars who made them famous. Also on hand were folks like Bebe Neuwirth and Lucie Arnaz. It’s always a great time. High bid for the evening: A bear wearing a costume from a show starring Meryl Streep, signed by Streep, that went for a staggering $22,000. No, that’s not a typo. Most went for considerably less, but boy, must be nice to have that much disposable cash.
PAD
Lisa Sullivan, my co-writer in No Limits, has given me something else to write about: she will be participating in the 7th Annual Revlon Run/Walk For Women on May 3rd in New York City, fighting against women’s cancers. And yes, she’s trying to get me to “collaberate” by walking with her. You can donate or pledge by clicking here.
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