Category: But I Digress…

Movie reviews: Battlefield Earth and more

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published June 16, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1387

I see dead movies…

I can’t help it. Call it an obsession, call it a sickness.

I’m not talking about going to see movies that critics say are stupid. There’s an overabundance of those, and if I spent all my time going to them, I’d never have a chance to see anything good (“good” being a relative term.) I’m not talking about films that are poorly or amateurishly shot, or badly acted, or badly written. I’m talking about the kinds of films that are so over-the-top awful that they can destroy careers and even entire movie studios.

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Pittsburgh Comic Con 2000

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published May 26, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1384

Notes from the Pittsburgh Comic Con:

It has been ages since I’ve been to Pittsburgh. The program book states that it’s the first time I’ve attended a Pittsburgh Con, but that’s not quite true; I was there once before, years ago, attending a Great Eastern Con. It is daunting to think that—if one takes into account the concept that the comic industry has a reader turnover every four years or so—a couple of generations of comics readers have come and gone since I was last down there.

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Getting by with a little help from his friends…

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published May 19, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1383

I think that there’s a perception among fans that comic creators tend to feud with one another. This is, of course, not true. You don’t hear about the hundreds of pros who get along fine with one another on a daily basis for the same reason you don’t hear about the thousands of commercial air flights that land safely every day. You just hear about the ones that crash and burn.

Not to sound too egocentric, but sometimes I think this column has contributed to that perception.

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PAD of La Mancha

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published May 12, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1382

I keep seeing these ads for “The Gap,” with all these jeans-clad actors performing numbers from West Side Story such as “America” and “Cool.” The downside is that I’m still not remotely interested in shopping at the Gap. The upside is that I’m now really eager to see a Broadway revival of West Side Story, perhaps choreographed by whoever is doing the commercials. If they ever decide to mount such a production, I’m there with money in hand. Of course, if they want to make it timely, they could change the gang from Puerto Ricans to Cubans. You’d have to do some lyric tweaks (“I like the city Havana!” “That’s the place from which we ran-ah!”) but it could be done. (Me, I still think time is on the government’s side on that whole Elian matter. Bottom line, the kid can’t stay cooped up forever. If the INS really wants him, they just have to wait it out. If nothing else, they can nab him when he heads out to his senior prom.)

In any event, speaking of Broadway musicals (he said by way of clumsy segue), for those who by bizarre happenstance might be interested into the only hobby I’ve got—community theater—you’ll be interested to know that I’m in a production of Man of La Mancha on Long Island in May.

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