Saturday, July 7, 2007

The Con's Coming!

I will be on or moderating fourteen (14!) panels at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. The convention's full programming schedule (and mine) will be up in a few days but in the meantime, here's a sneak peek. And while it's not on there, yes, we will be playing Quick Draw! on Saturday morning and there will be Cartoon Voice Panels on Saturday and Sunday.

• Posted at 9:53 PM · LINK

The Best Things Happen While They're Dancing

As I've mentioned before (here, for instance) I'm a fan of the 1954 movie, White Christmas which starred Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. The film has just about the sappiest, most contrived plot in the history of movies but thanks to the charisma of its stars and that great Irving Berlin score, it works. Or at least it works enough that if you can turn off a certain portion of your brain, you can have a pretty good time watching it.

So I was intrigued a few years ago when I heard that someone had made a stage musical out of it, using the plot and some of the dialogue from the screenplay, along with many of the songs and some others from the Berlin catalogue. I was curious to see what they'd done to it, how it worked, what the adapters had decided didn't work, etc. Unfortunately, the show only played around Christmas time and never near me.

Then, shortly after I agreed to come here to Pittsburgh to appear at a convention, I found out a production of the musical would be playing within walking distance of the con. I'm not sure why they're doing White Christmas in July. Maybe fate just wanted me to see it. But well before I realized how much fun Anthrocon could be and how I might regret missing an evening of it, I bought tickets. Carolyn decided to stay at the con to tend to some business, attend an event she wanted to see and work on some drawings she'd been asked to do...so I went alone down to the Benedum Center which is, I have to say, one of the most attractive theaters I've ever seen in my life. People of Pittsburgh: Take care of that place. It's a treasure.

So how did I like the stage version of White Christmas? I thought they took this sappy, contrived storyline and made it sappier and even more contrived...to the point where very little of it is coherent. I honestly don't understand why they changed what they changed from the screenplay. Remember how in the beginning of the film you see how much the soldiers love the general and how much he does for them? Well, most of that's gone. Remember how Danny Kaye saves Bing Crosby's life and they become a team and we see them grow into big stars? Most of that's gone, too. Remember how protective Rosemary Clooney was of Vera-Ellen and how that was stopping her from having any sort of love life, which was the justification for so much about the romantic storylines? Gone. Remember how when they first all meet, Kaye and Crosby dress up as the girls and lip sync a number as the girls to save them from a crooked sheriff? Gone...but for no visible reason, they do that in the second act anyway.

And so on. The plot is still about Wallace and Davis (the Crosby and Kaye roles) trying to save the Vermont Inn of their old general. In the movie, the inn's manager lady overhears the plan and thinks Wallace and Davis are planning to embarrass the general as a publicity stunt, and when she tells Clooney's character, Rosemary walks out on Wallace, with whom she's nurturing a romance, and on the show. In the stage version, the manager lady is told something which she misunderstands. She thinks Wallace and Davis are secretly arranging to buy out the general and decides this is a terrible, evil thing even though the inn is bankrupting the old guy. She tells the Clooney character who decides to walk out on Wallace and the show but not to tell her sister why. In the meantime, the manager lady doesn't warn the general or do anything to stop this awful plot she thinks she's uncovered. She and the sister even sing a forgettable Berlin tune called "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun" to congratulate the Clooney lady for leaving...and by now, if this doesn't make a lick of sense to you, welcome to where I was about a third of the way into Act Two.

It may not have been that way in earlier versions. During intermission, I got to talking to a gentleman sitting behind me who said he'd seen it three or four years ago in San Francisco and that this production was "cheaper and they cut a lot of stuff." He said in S.F. it was "a little less illogical but not enough." He didn't like the show tonight and I didn't like it...but I have to admit ours was the minority viewpoint. Most of the audience seemed to be having a very good time, largely (I think) because you can't do all that much damage to a dozen or so of Irving Berlin's best tunes. They sing "I Love a Piano" and "Blue Skies" and "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and "How Deep is the Ocean?" and the title song and others. Many involve a very energetic troupe of young dancers just dancing their hearts out on stage and having the greatest time doing it. It's hard not to love a show during such moments and I guess there were enough of them for most of those in the house.

One other problem: When you turn a great movie into a stage musical, there's usually and unavoidably a bringdown in the cast. Only occasionally do you replace a Zero Mostel with a Nathan Lane. Most of the time, it's Lou Lipsitz trying to fill the shoes of Gene Kelly. The two gents carrying the show weren't Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby — these days, of course, no one is — but the book didn't give them a lot of help. They did their best and their best might have been just fine for a better show. (The only cast member you're likely to have heard of was Stacy Keach, who played the general. He did what he could with what they gave him.)

I was shown to my seat by a charming older woman who looked like she'd been at that theater since it opened in whenever it opened. I was turning off my cell phone and she said, "Good...I hate those things. The other night, someone had one that went off right in the middle of 'Blue Skies.' I wanted to get a shovel and whack the guy in the head." On the way out after the show, she saw me turning my phone back on and she said, "Thanks for not making me use my shovel." So I guess the whole experience could have been worse. I certainly enjoyed the show a lot more than I would have if a little old lady had whacked me in the head with a shovel.

(P.S. If you'd like to see an online video of some snippets from the production, go to this page. And there are some video clips from what I think is the version that played San Francisco on this page.)

• Posted at 9:46 PM · LINK

Today's Bonus Video Link

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this clip but I thought I'd put it up and let you decide.

Not long ago, a gentleman named Fouad Ajami, who's a prominent "neocon" voice, wrote a clumsy defense of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, likening the convicted Cheney aide to a casualty of war. The analogy was his first mistake. His second was going on the MSNBC show Hardball to defend it when David Shuster was hosting in lieu of Chris Matthews. Matthews, despite the name of his program, usually lobs softballs. Shuster was perhaps taking the name to heart...or maybe he was actively thinking that his network needs new programming and might welcome a series that could hold the expanding Keith Olbermann audience.

Either way, Shuster pretty much shredded Mr. Ajami's arguments and assertions of questionable accuracy. One wishes more TV hosts challenged guests but maybe not so fervently that they scared off those who need to be rigorously cross-examined. I'll bet a lot of Conservative pundits don't come near Hardball and/or Shuster after seeing this one. It runs about eleven minutes.

• Posted at 3:22 PM · LINK

Letter Perfect

Once upon a time, the comic book field had a great many folks who did lettering by hand...and often, they contributed mightily (and without sufficient recognition) to the artistry of the pages. I'm talking about talents like Artie Simek, Ben Oda, Sam Rosen, Gaspar Saladino, Abe Kanegson, Ira Schnapp, Howard Ferguson and a great many others. These days, there aren't as many notable practitioners of their craft, a development that some blame on the rise of lettering being done via computer. I think it's the other way around, at least to some extent. Computer lettering caught on big and rapidly in part because there weren't enough Artie Simeks to go around. (There are other advantages, as well.)

Today's preeminent letterer — and even he does some of it on computer — is Todd Klein, who comes to San Diego every year and wins the Eisner for Best Letterer to the surprise of no one. He not only does it well but he knows a lot about lettering and how it's done and how it should be done...and lucky for us, he's opened a website to begin sharing it all with us.

• Posted at 3:10 PM · LINK

Anthrocon Report

As you can probably figure out from the time stamps on my posts here, I've been (happily) run ragged here at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh. The folks here — the attendees as well as the convention organizers — have been so nice to Carolyn and me that we're trying to show up for every event where they say they'd like to have the Guests of Honor in attendance.

Thursday night, we tagged along when a contingent of con-goers and the staff attended a "staged reading" of a new musical called Furry Tales. Last year when Anthrocon was in the same venue, some folks involved in local theater took note of all the visitors prowling the area dressed in animal costumes and were intrigued enough to write an entire play about "furry fandom." I don't feel qualified to comment on how well the playwrights understood their subject, and I don't think it's fair to review a work like this in its earliest workshop incarnation. But I will point you to the show's website (which doesn't contain much info) and say that I'm a bit baffled as to what they think the audience would be for this show. The furry fans seemed thrilled that it treated them without scorn but split on its accuracy or entertainment value. And if you've had no exposure to furry fandom, I'm not sure you'd have much idea of what was going on...or would care. But there's a lot of talent involved so I only wish them well with it.

Friday morning, Carolyn and I did a panel about our work and then later in the day, I was a panelist on the Anthrocon game show, which is basically Match Game and Pyramid rolled into one. Afterward, someone congratulated me on not matching one single answer the entire time and they said, "This proves you're an individual." Well, maybe...but I wish more of the contestants had won prizes.

Mostly, it's been a whirlwind of meet 'n' greet and luncheons and signing stuff and marvelling at the wonderful costumes that many of the attendees have fashioned, sometimes for themselves but often for each other. This afternoon, they had a parade through the hall with 341 furry marchers, most of them at least as well-dressed as the two dogs (I think they're both dogs) above.

I'm due at another event so my big discourse on Anthrocon will have to wait for another time. All I'll say for now is that this is one of the happiest conventions I've attended in 37 years of con-going. It's not about selling things. It's not about launching careers...at least, not in the way it would be if there were publishers here looking to hire. It's not even all that much about dressing up as some other species. I'll try and articulate what it is about when I don't have to rush off and shake hands. Or paws. Or whatever it is some of them have.

• Posted at 1:42 PM · LINK

Saturday Afternoon

If one believes this poll — and keep in mind it's only one poll — more Americans want Bush and Cheney impeached than ever wanted Bill Clinton impeached.

It's kind of an odd way to look at the situation. In order to impeach those guys, someone would have to come up with one or more specific crimes with which to charge them...and the poll doesn't even ask about one. While a clear majority of Americans might wish Bush and Cheney were gone, I'm not sure they'd agree on a particular impeachable offense...or that the administration will ever yield sufficient evidence or comply with the subpoenas necessary to make that case...or that the current Supreme Court would compel them to cooperate. Methinks Bush and Cheney could go around robbing 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint and Antonin Scalia would say, "Oh, yes...they're allowed to do that. And by the way, my ruling is non-precedential."

Besides, even if you could prove High Crimes and Misdemeanors, how do you impeach both men at the same time? That's got to be a legal nightmare of procedural rulings, most of which would wind up before the Supreme Court, which did everything in its power to put those guys into office in the first place. If you impeach Bush first, then Cheney becomes president, which even most Republicans wouldn't want. It would be interesting to see Cheney try to name his successor...and I suppose that he'd also argue that he can't be impeached as president for crimes he may have committed as vice-president...and back we go to the Supreme Court to rule on that. On the other hand, if you impeach Cheney first then Bush would try to name a successor and would also argue that any crimes he may have committed were actually the doings of that snake, Dick Cheney.

I don't think there's any chance of impeaching these two fellows, no matter how much America may dislike them. But it is going to be fun watching Democrats keep the possibility alive and Republicans distancing themselves from the White House.

• Posted at 1:08 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Hey, let's watch another one of those Lay's Potato Chip commercials with Bert Lahr. What a great face that man had.

• Posted at 8:49 AM · LINK