Year: 2007

So I’m working down in my office and Kath calls. “Turn on Channel 88, the Gameshow network,” she tells me. Kath, as it so happens, loves watching those old game shows from the 1970s and 80s, and in this case she had on Match Game. Usually Match Game serves as a time capsule nostalgia trip, featuring such staples as Brett Sommers, Charles Nelson Reilly, Ðìçk Martin, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

But today’s point of interest was none of the aforementioned. Instead it was the newly arrived contestant, a young woman who had just moved to Los Angeles from the midwest and was, presumably, hoping to embark upon a career as an actress.

Her name?

Kirstie Alley.

She was only there for a brief shot before the episode ended. We presume the next show with her will be at either 2:30 today or tomorrow morning at 11 AM.

I wonder whatever happened to her?

PAD

UPDATE: Okay, it wasn’t the 2:30, so if they follow the air order, it’ll be on tomorrow at 11 AM. I tried watching it on Youtube but it kept taking forever to load.

Interesting overview in “The Week” over the problem that Bill Clinton presents to Hillary. When he goes out with her on the campaign trail and basically introduces her to the crowds, the crowds absolutely love him. He gets them incredibly stoked. Then Hillary comes out and basically puts them to sleep with her combination of policy wonk attitudes, canned speeches, and an inability to project any sort of warmth or true connection with the audience. So the question becomes, is he doing her more harm than good?

I dunno: At least people remember the “getting stoked” part, so that’s something. Memory can be a tricky thing: Later on they might just recall the warm feeling that suffused them from Bill and attribute it to the entire proceeding, rather than focusing on the fact that Bill was jazz and Hillary was Muzak.

PAD

Scientists claim to have found Superman’s Fortress of Solitude…or at least the movie version of same. Tragically, it’s not in the Arctic, so I’m not sure what the big deal is.

Now find a cave that’s got a gigantic penny in it and you’ve really got my interest.

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070801_superman_fortress.html

PAD

The Marvel ball is still ahead, but there’s only three bids. Is anyone from this board bidding? C’mon…that’d be so cool, if somebody here got it. Tell you what: If somebody here is the winning bid, I’ll send you the hat I wore while pitching, and I’ll sign the brim. (See the entry below for the link.)

UPDATE, 8/5: The Marvel ball is currently at over a hundred bucks while the DC ball is at just over fifty.

UPDATE, 8/6: With three hours to go, the Marvel ball is up to $167. Anyone from here in the hunt? (The DC ball hasn’t moved.)

PAD

In case you don’t have the faintest idea who that is, Elijah Kelley is the young man who plays “Seaweed” in the latest film incarnation of “Hairspray.” Kath and I saw it last night and, just as was the case when I saw it on Broadway, I sat there with a stupid smile on my face watching cast members clearly having such a good time that it just rubs off on you. I still believe that they should have cast Harvey Fierstein as Edna, because his performance simply adds far more dimension (and, frankly, subtext) to the film than John Travolta could hope to approach. But if you never saw Harvey’s brilliance in the role, then you’ll probably be satisfied. The rest of the cast is absolutely standout, including newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy and, in a particularly brilliant piece of casting, Allison Janney as the repressive mother of Tracy’s best friend, Penny. (Although they did cut my favorite moment with that character: As a disciplinary measure, Penny’s mom forces Penny to wear a scarlet “P” on her shirt, declaring with misplaced confidence, “Now when everyone sees that ‘P’, Penny Pingleton, they’ll know that it stands for ‘Punished’!”)

As for Elijah Kelley (the subject of my heading) I think that someone should do an adaptation of Sammy Davis Junior’s brilliant autobiography, “Yes I Can!” and cast Kelley as Davis. He can sing, dance, and his general features are evocative of Davis’. He’d be brilliant.

PAD

Hero Initiative is auctioning off one-of-a-kind autographed team balls from the Marvel/DC softball game. A link to the Marvel ball is below. Yes, there’s a DC ball as well, but hey…you want to own the ball from the winning team, right? My signature is visible in the picture. Also has signatures of Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins, Humberto Ramos, John Romita, Jr. and many others.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZheroinitiative

PAD

So another San Diego con is in the books. I’ll be heading home tonight.

Highlights:

The autographing sessions, particularly at Marvel, were well attended and enthusiastic.

The gigantic scale model of the Black Pearl atop the Pirates display.

The presentations for the Hulk and Iron Man films, complete with stars and directors in attendance. Ed Norton looks as if he was born to play Bruce Banner, and the four minutes of footage from “Iron Man” were absolutely fantastic. If nothing else, it reminds you of what a fantastic actor Robert Downey Junior is.

Saw the pilot episode of “Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Absolutely great, although there was faint moaning from the audience when the closing words, “Coming Soon from Fox” appeared on the screen, since Fox’s track record with SF isn’t exactly stellar.

Met Guy Williams, Jr., who–among other things–sells replicas of his father’s Zorro outfit. Pictures of me modeling some of the outfit will go up as soon as I have them in hand.

Bought neat stuff for the family.

Participated in Mark Evanier’s Quick draw panel, once again guessing three words that the artists had to convey via pictures only. Abstract words like “Easy” (which ironically was the hardest). Got all three in a reasonable amount of time. I always love the “Aha” moment when I suddenly realize what the word is. It’s the closest I’ll experience to the kind of moment that Monk has when he solves the case.

The Impact publishing table brought sixty copies of my book on writing comics and by the end of the con had only three left, so that was nice.

PAD