Every time I see ads for “Underworld,” I keep thinking it’s for “Birds of Prey.” Am I the only one?

PAD

Rave reviews for “Fallen Angel #3” are up on silverbulletcomicbooks.com and Randy Lander’s section in thefourthrail.com. The reaction to the series is very gratifying.

PAD

Had a small belated party for Kathleen’s 40th birthday today. Webmaster Glenn Hauman and his wife Brandy (or is it Brandi, dammit, I always forget) came by, as did Del Rey editor Steve Saffel and his wife Dana. They gave this incredible gimmick for her I-Book that essentially turns her computer into a video phone. She used it tonight to talk via her computer to her parents down in Atlanta. I half expected to see a tram filled with tourists wearing Mickey Mouse ears and Goofy hats cruising slowly past us as a guide intoned, “And to your left we’re passing through the (echo effect) House of the Future. Yes, in the Future, people will park their hover cars, sit down in their living rooms and speak to their parents on video phones!”

So where are the dámņëd hover cars?

PAD

(Webmaster’s note: It’s Brandy. Brandi was her Tuckerization in New Frontier.)

Boy, talk about a jaw dropper. I mean, Johnny Cash wasn’t look any too good recently…which is not to say his death isn’t depressing, but it’s not a total shock. But John Ritter, taking ill right on the set of his series and dying shortly thereafter? What a crying shame. From all accounts an extremely nice guy, a thorough professional, in the midst of a career comeback…and boom.

Heck, I still remember him from the dramedy “Hooperman,” in which his character convinced a suicidal jumper not to jump by dropping a watermelon from the ledge, pointing at the smashed and pulped remains, and saying, “Is that really what you want to wind up looking like?”

bin Laden survives bombings, John Ritter drops dead. I’m reminded of the line from “The Princess Bride”: No one ever said life was fair. It’s jus fairer than death, that’s all.

PAD

Via Teresa Nielsen Hayden we have a legal primer on Fan Fiction from Stanford University Law School.

Bonus Essay Question: Who is most likely to sue over The TARDIS at Pooh Corner? Discuss, using citations. This will count as 25% of your final grade.

…and I commented to the teller that when the first of the Towers fell, I was standing right there, at the bank. It’s one of those moments where people always remember where they were.

And she smiled sadly and said, “Oh, I remember exactly where I was. I was rushing to Brooklyn to be there for my mother when my sister’s tower fell.”

I asked with the terrible feeling that I knew the answer. “Was she all right…?”

The teller shook her head and pointed at a photo over on a little shrine at the front of the bank. “That’s her picture over there.”

“I’m…surprised they didn’t give you the day off.”

“I wanted to be here,” she said. “Doing this is how I’m dealing with it.”

I think I’m just not gonna talk to anybody today…

PAD

Exploring the world of Casey Jones. Whad’ja think?