The Latest "Let's Rebuild Len Wein's Comic Book Collection" Project Update
As you no doubt recall, we're soliciting the donation of comics written and/or edited by my pal Len Wein to replace those he lost in a big house fire not long ago. You people are terrific. I've just posted the latest update on the site and as you'll see, we only have a few more to locate for Len. If you can help out, please do. And if you've sent an e-mail and not heard back from me...my apologies. It's taken 'til today for me to have time to update the list and now I can tackle the mail I've yet to tackle.
For some reason, people are sending me e-mails telling me that I got the time wrong for Dreams With Sharp Teeth. I said I'd set my TiVo to record it at 6 PM. I did...and it started at 6 PM here. It's on right now.
Someone sent me an e-mail to say it's on 11 PM CDT. Someone else wrote that it's on at 9 PM Pacific Time. Someone else wrote that it's on at 8 PM where they are but they don't say where they are.
Times can vary because of different time zones. Times can also vary because some cable companies out west run shows "live" from an east coast feed, whereas some time-delay the schedule for two or three hours. You always need to check when a show will air on your set.
I have a DirecTV satellite. Dreams With Sharp Teeth started at 6:00 on my set. Your mileage may...well, you know what they say.
The Sundance Channel is running Dreams With Sharp Teeth, a recent documentary on the writer sometimes referred to as Harlan Ellison. I haven't seen it but I've seen Harlan...known him for close to forty years, in fact. Nothing about him is ever without interest so I can't imagine how a film could possibly be.
I've set my TiVo to record it at 6 PM Pacific time tonight. It airs again on May 28 and May 31 and maybe other times after that, plus I think it's just out on DVD.
One thing I like about Memorial Day — beyond the sales and barbecues and general restfulness — is that we slightly changed the definition of it. Originally, the premise was to remember those who'd died while serving in our military...and that's still a noble reason for the holiday. But understandably, I think, people decided that what we really needed was a day to thank those who are still alive (and maybe currently serving) and to make sure their needs are not forgotten.
I made my first visit to Washington D.C. a few years ago...and everywhere I went, I was reminded of a comment I heard once about the place; that you can't turn around without seeing a monument to those who've died in the service of their country. Not that that should ever be forgotten but I'd sure like to see us doing more to salute those who haven't died when they've served this country. And I'd like to not read news stories about filthy conditions in military hospitals, cuts in military pensions, raging unemployment among veterans, etc. It would also be nice if men and women weren't still dying in service of this country.
I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Matt Taibbi's writing. Here's a blog post about who's to blame for the financial crisis. Here's a blog post about the moral dysfunctionality of the Sarah Palin family. I still think that if a Democratic candidate had an unwed mother as a daughter, all the Palin boosters would be out there arguing that that, in and of itself, disqualified the parent from elected office. (I don't think it should, by the way. I just think most of those who'd vote for Palin would so argue.)
Tom Spurgeon offers sound advice (and a lot of it) about the upcoming Comic-Con International in San Diego. I concur with darn near all of it, especially the point about how if you're gonna go, you'd better commit to that now and firm up your plans. Those who complain to me that they didn't have a good time at the con are usually those who didn't get the necessities of travel settled well in advance.
A musical tribute to Star Wars...or maybe to John Williams. The vocals are by a group called Moosebutter and the kid doing the lip sync below is named Corey Vidal...
I am not going to try and convince you of the merits of professional wrestling. Speaking as someone who writes about it and for it and helps promote shows in Montreal, it can frequently be a sordid world where the talent is ruthlessly taken advantage of by the promoters putting on the shows, much like the rest of show business in fact except without even the fig-leaf of union protection that writers and performers like you have.
And this is why you are wrong about Jesse Ventura, specifically about this: "The man's first claim to fame was in professional wrestling, an occupation where you can't utter five sentences without lying in at least two of them.
OK, yes technically this is correct, the same way that it is true of any actor. Unless you would like to suggest that June Foray is in fact a flying squirrel? Would you have said the same thing about Norm MacDonald?
Jesse Ventura played a role on camera. His famous line was "Win if you can; Lose if you must; But always Cheat!" But that character was not him.
(Sure wrestling had a huge advantage of other show business professions that the suspension of disbelief is easier if people believe from the outset that what they are watching is real, an advantage that wrestling no longer has. And you may not necessarily believe this, but wrestling is a story-telling art form. Like any such art form it can be brilliant or wretched.)
From all that I have heard from wrestlers of that time period, Jesse Ventura was a gentleman backstage. Opinionated with an ego like any star, he nonetheless was one of the few wrestlers to stand up to promoters famously with Vince McMahon to argue for the protection of all wrestlers not just the well-paid stars. That the promoters should provide health care and other benefits for the wrestlers and that they should allow the wrestlers to form a union. Rare among his peers, he said this publicly and openly while he was a star and in fact Vince fired him from the WWF as a result. (He landed another gig with WCW soon after.) Unfortunately, wrestlers are as hard to organize as cats and no one has ever been successful at organizing a wrestler's union, but no one ever risked as much when they were a star to try and bring one about.
Having once produced a special for CBS with a cast of pro wrestlers (and Vince McMahon as exec producer), I know a fair amount about that world...and all you say about working conditions is true. All you say about Mr. Ventura's rabble-rousing to improve them is also probably true. But when I wrote about wrestlers lying, I was referring to one key part of their job and it's where your analogy to June Foray or Norm MacDonald doesn't work.
There is no one alive who thinks June is really a flying squirrel and if you ever asked her, she'd tell you that every line she utters that suggests that is fiction. On the other mitt, there are actually people on this planet who think that the outcome of most pro wrestling matches is not predetermined...or at least think the games are a lot less scripted than they are. And whenever I've seen someone ask Jesse Ventura if his old wrestling matches were rigged or planned or fixed, he changes the subject, attacks the questioner, and generally fudges the truth as baldly as any politician he condemns for the same kind of tap-dancing.
Now, granted: Lying about whether a wrestling match was rigged is nowhere near the same sin as lying about C.I.A. intelligence or the circumstances of war. And I suppose a case could be made that since Jesse's wrestling days are behind him, he's just trying to not piss on his old livelihood and perhaps disminish it for those still working in those salt mines. My point was just that his old job afforded plenty of practice at avoiding the truth and fighting dirty...two skills that come in handy when one runs for elected office.
I like Jesse in a way. I don't always agree with him and I don't feel qualified to say if he was as poor a governor as the polls in Minnesota would seem to indicate. But I like that he's not out there parroting Talking Points or hedging his views to protect his political options. I also think it's great to have a few loud Libertarians out there, especially of the kind that don't compromise their views of the Constitution for the sake of personal expediency or gain. He adds a lot more to the public debate than any dozen Democrats or Republicans...even when I think he's wrong. I just think that back in his wrasslin' days, he did an awful lot of fibbing.
May 26, 2009
