Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Recommended Reading

Paul Waldman likes the post office. This is another one of those "Hey, he wrote the article I was thinking of writing" articles. Which is great because linking takes a lot less time than writing.

• Posted at 8:50 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Remember the "Filegate" scandal? When it broke in 1996, detractors of Bill and Hillary Clinton said it was a major outrage, a crime the equal of Watergate and maybe even a reason to drag the Clintons from the White House and toss them in prison. Clinton supporters said there was nothing there, no wrongdoing, no scandal. Turns out the Clinton supporters were right.

• Posted at 6:04 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

This is video of the demolition of the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, which occurred on Tuesday, November 13, 2007. You see some of the fireworks display that preceded the bringdown...and I always think these say something about that city. It's not spectacular enough that they're about to blow up an entire building. Someone actually said, "Gee...it needs something. Maybe we oughta have a fireworks display first."

And I've never really understood the point of these. That's — what:? — a few hundred thousand dollars worth of fireworks. Why? Who profits from getting a big crowd to turn out for the demolition and making sure they're entertained? There's no two-drink minimum to watch it. No one sets up slot machines in the viewing areas. Of what value is that publicity to anyone? More to the point, aren't they just drawing crowds away from the gaming tables and other places where they'd be spending/losing money? I'm not groping for a bit here. I really don't understand how anyone profits from (a) drawing a crowd for the implosion and (b) spending money on fireworks to make the moment more special. There are those who'd say just exploding that hotel was memorable enough. It was a true Vegas landmark rich with history, some of it not the most pleasant history.

Here's the end of all that history...

• Posted at 9:16 AM · LINK

Amazon Update

Hey, remember that unintentional sale Amazon had on comic book collections and graphic novels? I'm hearing from some folks who got their mispriced bargains and others who didn't. I seem to be among the "didn't" group. I've yet to hear a thing from the Amazon folks about it but the online invoice for my order is mysteriously missing most of the items. They just removed them from my order without telling me, which is a bit odd. I'm not surprised not to be getting 'em but I was expecting some sort of note or notification.

• Posted at 9:02 AM · LINK

Panel Discussion

Going to WonderCon in San Francisco? You should. It's April 2-4 and a great time is already had by all. I'll be moderating a bunch of panels. On Friday, I get to introduce Stan and Hunter Freberg. On Saturday, I interview Murphy Anderson, discuss Creator Rights, appear with my friend Sergio and interview Joe and Adam Kubert. On Sunday, I host "Art of the Cover," a great shop talk panel where great cover artists discuss what it takes to make a great cover. If you click on the banner above (or here), you'll get all the details. See you there.

• Posted at 12:08 AM · LINK