Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Mad Wednesday

Don't expect a lot of posting today. It's Getting Ready for Comic-Con International Day! I'll do what I can to report from the con...which generally means a lot of posts about "Boy, was that place crowded" and "All my panels went well," plus lists of some of the people I talked to. But hey, that's what passes for a convention report.

If you attend, try to go to some of my panels...and if you see me walking around, say howdy. If I look like I'm terribly busy, that's probably an act to make people think I'm terribly busy.

If you don't attend, please don't write and ask me how you can obtain a tape of that great panel you missed. I can't help you with this. Sorry.

Oh...one more tip. If you live to the north of San Diego and you're considering going down there for a day or two, consider the train. The Amtrak station in San Diego is not far from the convention center and taking the choo-choo saves you having to find a place to park. It also saves you having to pay for gas, which may be its greatest appeal.

Gotta go pack. Bye now.

• Posted at 8:36 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Before he hosted his unreal "reality" show, Jerry Springer dealt in the even tawdrier world of politics. He was elected to the Cincinnati city council in 1971, then forced to resign in 1974 when the police broke up a massage parlor ring and unearthed a check he had written to a young lady engaged in a very old profession. I'm not sure if Springer was more humiliated by the revelation that he'd been to a prostitute or by the fact that he was dumb enough to pay by check. Either way, he did an apology tour that impressed voters enough that he won back his seat in 1975. Later, there was an opening for Mayor and the City Council appointed him to serve in that post for a year.

In 1982, he ran for governor of Ohio and came in third. That was the end of his political aspirations. He went into broadcasting and soon became a top-rated news anchor and commentaor, which led to the job he holds today. Our video link today is a commercial he did for his gubernatorial run. His opponents were either hammering him with the old prostitution scandal or about to, and Springer made this ad to try and deal with that problem and perhaps turn it into a positive. It didn't work but it was nice try.

• Posted at 12:13 AM · LINK