Year: 2006

I decided to head out to the Nebulas to see Harlan get the Grandmaster award. I’ll be writing about it in detail in “But I Digress,” but suffice to say that it was great to see him, Susan, and all the Usual Suspects who tend to materialize whenever Harlan makes his presence known at a convention. The get together was smoothly run, so props to chairman Lee Whiteside for keeping it all together.

I’m truly pleased that SFWA decided to accord Harlan the honor in spite of past differences they’ve had with Harlan, and equally pleased that Harlan accepted it despite those same differences.

And the capper to my trip out there: A mere block and a half away from the hotel was the Women’s Beach Volleyball tour. So I spent the afternoon in the bleachers watching Olymic Gold Medalists Misty May and Kerri Walsh gracefully pound the crap out of their opponents while sporting handkerchief-sized bathing suits. God, I love this country.

PAD

FNSM, you probably knew about. But I also wrote the lead story in Marvel Romance Redux, the loopy new series in which current writers reballoon old romance tales. It features an actual 18 page Patsy and Hedy story, that was transformed into “Patsy Loves Satan.” Whad’ja think?

PAD

I’m sorry. They are.

From the guy who hired Stephen Colbert to talk at the Washington Press Corp dinner without, apparently, having actually seen much of “The Colbert Report,” to the 2000-plus reporters who sat there stone faced while Colbert did KILLER material, they’re all idiots.

It’s not that Colbert wasn’t funny. He was. He made exactly ONE joke that wasn’t politically related: Mentioning that Jesse Jackson speaks with the speed of a glacier, and then added, “Enjoy that metaphor while you can. Your grandchildren won’t know what a glacier is.” They ROARED at that. The material was funny. Colbert’s delivery was impeccable. And if they’d been watching in the security of their homes, they’d have been laughing their áššëš off.

But because Colbert had the balls to do his routine while Bush was sitting right there, they sat there and didn’t laugh–not because Colbert wasn’t funny, because he was–but because they didn’t want Bush to see them laughing.

The degree of nerve that Colbert displayed was inversely proportional to the guts displayed by the Washington Press Corp. They saw Bush wasn’t laughing, so they didn’t laugh. The Washington Press showed a little bit of nerve in the past months, their courage buoyed by Bush’s dropping approval ratings. But when push came to shove, they retreated to being gutless wonders.

Jon Stewart–admittedly not unbiased–described Colbert’s performance as “Balls-alicious.” I agree.

PAD

The jury quite correctly spared Zacarias Moussaoui the death penalty–denying him the martyrdom he sought–and instead sentenced him to life in prison.

Please, please, PLEASE put him in with the general population. Whoever makes these kinds of decisions, please, do it. Put him in with the rest of the criminals. I’m sure the punishments they’d come up with for him would be far less merciful than the death penalty would have been.

PAD

I thought the following was pretty funny, and figured I would share it.

http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2004/04/first-annual-myspace-stupid-haircut.html

Also, the new trailer for “Superman Returns” is out on various places around the net (I figure you guys are clever enough to find it.) The basic visuals look like fun, and Kevin Spacey is clearly having way too good a time, channeling his inner Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. What sold it for me, however, was the last ten seconds, the specifics of which I won’t give away. All I’ll say is that long-time fans appreciated the first film’s little nods to previous Superman tropes, such as the quick glance at the phone booth or Superman sincerely telling Lois he’s here to fight for truth, justice and the American way. But this bit at the end of the trailer tops those.

PAD

People who are against illegal immigrants just wish they would go away.

So today…they went away.

Ariel was impressed by how much less crowded her school bus was, how it was easier to get around in the hallways, and how there weren’t kids hanging out on the front lawn of the school smoking, fighting or getting into trouble.

So this proved…what, exactly?

PAD