Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Good Advice

I get a lot of e-mail from folks asking me how they can get a job writing comic books. Boy, do I get a lot of these inquiries. I get more of them than I get ads for non-prescription Vicodin, and I get a lot of ads for non-prescription Vicodin. I usually refer such folks to this article I wrote on the topic but I think I may start sending people to this article by my friend Steven Grant.

This is an old column, as evidenced by the fact that in it, Steven says the Comic-Con International in San Diego has an annual attendance in the 15,000-20,000 range. Today, it's more like 75,000 and the ratio of wanna-bes to available positions is about ten times worse and everything he says is at least as true as it was then, if not more so.

• Posted at 6:57 PM · LINK

Sad Story

My old high school buddy Bruce Reznick (who wasn't drafted, either) sent me this link to a heartbreaking article about David L. Lander, who is best known to the public as Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley. Actually, it's also heartbreaking that the public knows Lander only from that since he was a very talented comic actor, as anyone who ever heard or saw The Credibility Gap (his old comedy troupe) is well aware. Being known only for one role is probably not as tragic as having Multiple Sclerosis but it still bothered me that his other performing successes weren't mentioned.

• Posted at 2:48 PM · LINK

Gill Fox Remembered

Here's a newspaper obit on writer-artist-editor Gill Fox, whose passing we reported here a few days ago.

• Posted at 11:28 AM · LINK

Caught in a Draft...

Here's a message from Larry Boocker...

I can't help adding something to your recent views on the debate about the military draft. I was also of draftable age when the political debate was fought over whether to extend the draft. Naturally, I paid close attention. In my opinion, that debate was the high point for political discourse during my lifetime. As you said, draft supporters tended to be conservative and Republican while draft opponents tended to be liberal and Democrat. But to everybody's amazement, the leader of the fight against the draft was Barry Goldwater, the most conservative politician in Washington. The fight for the draft was led by Ted Kennedy, the extreme leftist. Each of these guys was willing to go against their constituents, their friends and their image because they believed in certain principles. Goldwater's conservatism was based on individual freedom which was in conflict with the draft. He believed that if young Americans were unwilling to fight for their country, we didn't deserve to continue as a nation. Kennedy's liberalism was based on egalitarianism. He believed that a volunteer army would consist mostly of the poor and disenfranchised. A draft was most likely to treat people equally. Nowadays, when politicians march in lockstep and never surprise us with independent thinking, it's hard to believe that courage and principle were once seen in Washington. It's been about 30 years and we may never see them again.

Barry Goldwater was a pretty amazing guy, at least after he lost the presidency. He was one of the few politicians I saw place principle over partisanship. One night, he went on Johnny Carson's show and launched into a surprising defense of gay rights, essentially saying that conservatives needed to work towards smaller, less obtrusive government and that this was inconsistent with encouraging the government to police sexual relations between consenting adults. It was quite a speech and the next day on some TV news talk show — it may have been Crossfire — it was quoted to a number of prominent Republicans for their reaction. They all mouthed respectful words about Goldwater's great past service to his country, then suggested that he had gone senile.

I did not recall Ted Kennedy being on that side of the debate but very little surprises me about Ted Kennedy. I certainly never viewed The Draft as being particularly democratic. If it weren't five in the morning — what the hell am I doing posting on a weblog at this hour? — I'd write about my own experiences in 1970, investigating draft deferrments and other means of escape. I found, at least around U.C.L.A. where I was then going to school, that being white (which I was) was some help in avoiding conscription and being from a wealthy family (which I was not) was an even greater help. I am not proud that this was the case and I thought it was a horrible injustice, even though I benefited from it. I'll write more about this when I'm awake...

• Posted at 5:00 AM · LINK

Where Is It?

That stapler was here just a second ago. Did you take my stapler? I left it on my desk and then — oh, wait. Here it is!

• Posted at 12:56 AM · LINK

May 20, 2004 • Current • May 18, 2004