Month: October 2014

Originally published November 9, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1460

So after I had completed my fifteen minutes of fame at MIT and Harlan had done his forty-five—which seemed proportionate, somehow—Neil came out and did this own chat with the group, far closer to my time than Harlan’s. Speaking in that calming and urbane fake British accent he puts on, the highlight of Neil’s time (as far as I was concerned) was a charming poem he’d written for his youngest daughter called “Crazy Hair” (i.e., the poem, not the child, is called “Crazy Hair.”) After that, Neil took his seat, at which point the dogs of war were unleashed.

Continue Reading “The Three High-Verbals, Part 2” →

Originally published November 2, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1459

“It’s gonna be great!” said Harlan Ellison, which is usually enough to set off warning bells in my head.

The new great thing that Ellison had masterminded was to be my introduction to, quite simply, the big time. The Big Stage. The Rilly Big Shoo, as Ed Sullivan used to say. Ellison had put together an evening of debate, discussion, and mishugas at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The concept was that Ellison, Neil Gaiman and I would take the stage as—in the spirit of the Three Tenors—the Three High-Verbals.

Continue Reading “The Three High-Verbals, Part 1” →

Originally published October 26, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1458

Television being a spectacularly imitative medium, producers like to present new shows in ways that will evoke something else which has been successful. One also wants to have as many recognizable elements as possible in order to prompt more people to watch the show.

And it was decided that Superman remains a consistently popular and attractive character (except when Nicholas Cage is slated to play him) and furthermore that Superboy may well appeal to a youthful audience. Not to a juvenile audience, as the previous half hour Superboy series did, but rather that desirable, hotly coveted eighteen-to-twenty four demographic that apparently has money to spare and sets many of the trends for the rest of us.

One can almost see the light bulb flashing over the producers’ heads as they considered a series about Superman’s early years, and came up with the perfect pitch: Kal-El’s Creek.

Continue Reading “TV review: Smallville series premiere” →

Originally published October 19, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1457

Dragon*Con: The Good and the Bad.

Good: I was scheduled to be on two panels early Friday afternoon… both slated to be held before my actual arrival. For instance, a panel that was to consist of myself and Paul Jenkins was scheduled for 2:30 PM, at which time I was still 30,000 feet in the air. Paul showed up ten minutes late—figuring it was no big deal because I’d be entertaining folks in his absence—to discover that just about everyone had already left because they figured neither of us was going to show. So why is this “good,” you ask? Because Dragon*Con always schedules me for panels before I arrive. Isn’t it nice to know there are things in this world you can absolutely count on? Furthermore, I was also scheduled for panels on Sunday after I left, but I tricked them: I changed my airline reservations to depart Monday so I was actually able to attend the panels. Plus they forgot the other tradition of scheduling me opposite myself (for instance, having me on a Star Trek panel at 4 PM in one place while having me doing a reading at the same time somewhere else.) So all things considered, it wasn’t as disastrous as in previous years.

Continue Reading “Dragon*Con 2001: The Good and the Bad” →

Originally published September 28, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1454

Enter, a bunch of teenagers sitting around in a room, bored. It’s the summer before their senior year in high school, and a week and a half before school actually starts. They want to make this week and a half count. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to do in this godforsaken town. Their plans to go to the beach and have a picnic dinner have been smashed by the rain.

Teen One: He gets off work at five, right? And then he’s coming to pick us up?

Teen Two: Yeah. But we kinda have to figure out what we’re going to do before he shows up.

Teen Three: Hmm… nothing to do.

Silence

Teen One: Hey, I read that email you sent out. Isn’t there some new movie out with Steve Buscemi?

Teen Three: Yeah, it’s an awesome movie called Ghost World. I highly recommend seeing it.

Light bulbs go off over each of their heads

Teen Three: Hey, let’s go see that. Do you want to?

Teen Two: I’m up for it. Sure.

And off they went. Peter David’s daughter, her best friend Cayley, a French kid, and a designated driver schlepping out to Huntington, a good 45 minute drive, to see a movie. And they lived happily ever after…

* * *

Yep, it’s me again. Gwen! David. My dad took me a few weeks ago to see Ghost World with Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi.

Continue Reading “Movie review by Gwen! David: Ghost World” →