Every day, ocean creatures become ensnared by nettings, fishing lines, plastic pollution and other seagoing debris that Man discards or forces upon them. Here's some amazing footage of the seal rescue team from Ocean Conservation Namibia going out and doing what they can do to help. If I were a lot younger and physically able to do what the folks in this video do, I might very well go do it. Since I'm not and I can't, I sent them a donation.

Watch this video and if you're similarly motivated, here's where to donate…

WonderCon 2025 is history so I deleted the little unpaid ad I had for it in the right margin of this page. I don't charge for anything you see there, though I get a commission from a few. I know some of you were there for the con. In fact, I greatly enjoyed talking to some readers of this site who I'd never met. I also spent a lot of time seeing chums, hosting panels and showing my friend Gabriella around her first comic-type convention. Three very busy fun days.

Seven was the number of panels I hosted and/or appeared on. Two that I especially enjoyed involved another writer and Yours Truly. On one, Danny Fingeroth (who among his other credits wrote a biography of Stan Lee) and I (biographer of Jack Kirby) discussed those two men. I think some audience members came expecting a knock-down wrestling match but it was a civilized and interesting — some in the audience told me — conversation. On the other, Mark Waid and I just took questions from the audience. Mark expects to be at Comic-Con this July and Danny might be. I'll probably be doing sequels to these panels there with one or both, depending on who's around.

The Cartoon Voices panel was one of the funniest we've done. It consisted of, as seen left to right in the photo above: me, then Candi Milo, Wally Wingert, Daniel Ross and Kimberly Woods.  There was also, at the end of the script reading we did, a surprise appearance by Cookie Monster, who devoured the script and attempted to feast on some Candi.

We had the annual Jack Kirby Tribute panel and our scheduled one-hour panels on Hanna-Barbera History and How to Write Animation kinda turned into one two-hour panel on how cartoons were made.  Participating along with me were Brynne Chandler, Paul Dini, John Semper and Greg Ehrbar.  I also guested on a panel that Gary Sassaman did on the history of the Fantastic Four and…well, I spent a lot of time talking about Jack Kirby.  As I always do at conventions…happily.

I enjoyed showing my friend Gabriella Muttone around her first-ever convention.  Gabriella is an accomplished model and photographer, and she felt right at home among all the creative types to be found in and around the WonderCon exhibit hall.  There were some remarkable arts 'n' crafts on display and you can't see it in the photo above but she bought a beautiful velvet blouse with a kind of medieval look to it.  You can see some of her photography on her Instagram page but be careful.  There's a video there of her dancing — in my bathroom, no less — to Frank Sinatra's version of the song I wrote about here back in this post. She also took the photo of me in the WonderCon program book…wearing the same hat as in the above photo.

Outside the hall as usual, one could find an amazing array of cosplayers, some of them in costumes that showed great craft and creativity. I like the way those folks seem to be getting away from merely trying to replicate existing characters from comics and movies and are more into original ideas. Then again, there was a Spider-Man there who looked more like the character than any photos I've seen from the movies. At least, he looked the part but when we rode up in the elevator together at the Anaheim Hilton, his spider-sense somehow did not alert him that he'd missed his floor.

My knees and left foot were acting up so I had to get around via wheelchair and Rollator. That's a Rollator in the above photo. In fact, it's the model that I have and it's been enormously handy since I fractured my ankle. I can walk but my balance is still a little off and I can't walk long distances. The advantage of the Rollator — and this is especially helpful wandering around a big convention — is that you always have that seat to sit on. No chairs around when you need to sit down for a sec? Sit on your Rollator.

If you're ever walking poorly or know someone who is, it's better than a walker for most purposes…and they're not as expensive as you might think. If you're still ordering from Amazon, they have 'em for a little over a hundred smackers. Other vendors have 'em for not much more. Caution: If you don't have the coordination to walk without one, you might not have the coordination to put one together. When I bought mine a year ago, I had my plumber do the assembly.

So…that was WonderCon and I can start looking forward to Comic-Con. I'd start packing but first, I have to unpack.

I don't really think Trump is going to run for a third term. I kinda doubt he'll even finish out his second. I just think he says things — and their veracity doesn't matter one bit for his purposes — because he knows they'll thrill members of his hardcore base. Also of course, he has this "I can do anything I damn well want and no one can stop me" attitude about the world. Cut the clip from The Howard Stern Show where Trump says that because he owns beauty pageants, as he did at the time, he can walk into the dressing room when the contestants are naked.

The folks at U.S. News & World Report did a not-too-deep dive into the possibility of a third term happening.

Yesterday, I mentioned the possibility of Trump running as Vice-President to a cutout candidate who'd vow to immediately after taking office, resign and turn the Oval Office over to Donald. Based on my e-mail, I didn't do a good job of indicating that while that could be what Trump means when he says "There are ways of doing it," I don't think it would work — not now, not then even if by the next election, the Supreme Court consists of seven Clarence Thomas clones.

A few of you mentioned another way he might now think he could do it: Congress names him Speaker of the House and then the Republican ticket is two people who'd vow to step down right after taking office. That would, of course, depend on the G.O.P. having control of the House but even then, I don't think that would fly. It just might be one those "ways" he'll pretend makes him eternal.

By the way: This fact check I've linked to today is a strange one from the folks at U.S. News & World Report. At one point in it, they say — and this is actually in there; I cut-and-pasted it…

According to The Associated Press, the 12th Amendment states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

What kind of fact-checker fact-checks something like that by taking some other fact-checker's word for it? Did it ever occur to anyone at U.S. News & World Report to go to a better source? Like, say, looking at a copy of the United States Constitution?

Sorry to hear the other day of the passing of Richard Chamberlain, a classy actor who lived a long life and had a great career. Obits like this one will tell you the details of that long career. I just want to add in my (very) brief encounter with the man. It goes back to when I was eleven or twelve but already pretty certain that I was going to at least try to be a professional writer.

Some much-treasured inspiration came from a man who, with his family, lived across the street from the Evaniers for several years. His name was Dr. William Swanson and along with all his doctor duties at U.C.L.A., he was the Technical Advisor to the popular TV series, Dr. Kildare starring Richard Chamberlain. Dr. Swanson got the job — and some of Kildare's backstory was based on the good doctor's own past — because he was friends with Mr. Chamberlain.

Here's what I wrote in this post here back in 2013…

I actually learned something one day when Richard Chamberlain was visiting them and I was invited to come over and meet him. He was very nice and very soft-spoken and very encouraging. But when he was told I'd been considering different kinds of writing and had settled on television, he said, "You don't have to pick one. I don't consider myself a television actor. I'm an actor who is currently on television. I don't neglect the other things I can do and you shouldn't, either. It'll make you a better writer of anything you do if you broaden your horizons. It also means there will be more places where you can work."

That's advice I've been giving to others for about the last thirty years but I only recently realized where I got it in the first place. I got it from Richard Chamberlain.

Outtakes (aka bloopers) from The Dick Van Dyke Show. I may have linked you to this before but I can't find where I did and even if I did, this is a much better copy…

By the way: A lot of you seem pretty certain that the dancer in yesterday's video link who might have been Mary Tyler Moore was Mary Tyler Moore. I have decided not to have an opinion on this vital issue.

I'm reading pieces online now by usually-sane leftists that say maybe we should start taking that threat seriously because, you know, there are things this man has done or achieved that we thought he could never do. If Trump were to announce he was going to flap his arms and fly to Saturn, they'd say, "I know it sounds crazy but that's what we all thought when he announced he was going to run for president." Me, I think he's saying it because he's always said he can do anything — you know, like his perfect health care plan or getting Mexico to pay for The Wall — and it gives his followers a thrill to think their kind will rule America forever.

In the same breaths, he's saying he's The Most Popular President Ever with a 70% approval rating — and we know that ain't true. Here's a review of what the various pollsters are actually saying.

He's saying "there's a way" he could do an end run around The Constitution and get a third term. The only thing I can think of is that he'd run as the Vice-Presidential candidate to some placeholder candidate who would promise to resign the day after Inauguration Day. I have no idea if that would work and I don't think we'll ever know because I don't even believe he's going to finish out this term…or that if he does, even his most fanatic supporter today will be chanting "Four more years" by then. I can think of a whole lotta things I'd worry about before I'd worry about Trump Term III…and he'd be responsible for most of them.

Trump has been saying a lot of things about the auto industry that the Detroit Free Press says are just not so.

As the dearth of postings here would suggest, I've been Insanely Busy here at WonderCon but it's been a good Insanely Busy. Five panels down, two more to go today. Last night, I made it back to my room about 9:30 PM. I decided to lie down for a few minutes, then get up and write something for this here blog. The next thing I knew, it was 5:30 in the A.M. — so that should give you some idea of the sleep deficits I was racking up here the previous nights.

This has been a great con so far for me and it would be an even greater con if the Hilton could manage to have both banks of elevators operating at the same time and if there weren't workers pounding away on something — no Hilton employees to whom I spoke seemed certain — in the lobby throughout all daylight hours. But those are teensy things in light of what a good time everyone seems to be having — and by "everyone," I mean (of course) me and maybe others. Lotsa great cosplayers. A great diversity of things for sale in the exhibit hall. Many interesting people to talk to.

I always have a great time at WonderCon. Once I'm home, I'll try and write more about what's been so great about it.

I'm not sure I like appending "gate" to some noun to denote a scandal but it does seem to be the easiest way to denote something folks are concerned about. This whole mess with the group chat is discussed here on Factcheck.org and one does get the idea that a lot of lies are being told by those who want to make it go away and that the combined forces of Congressional Republicans and the Trump Justice Department are going to make it go away. Me, I'm waiting for Dogegate. And/or maybe Measlesgate.

For reasons I can't quite explain, I've always had a fondness for Jimmy Durante singing so here's a musical number from a 1956 episode of The Jimmy Durante Show with Jimmy, Peter Lawford, and Anna Maria Alberghetti. Some YouTube commenters think one of the chorus ladies is Mary Tyler Moore but I'm not convinced…

Groucho Marx hosted the original You Bet Your Life quiz show for fourteen seasons, starting on radio and moving into television. Since he stopped, there probably hasn't been a week when someone in the game show profession didn't say to someone else, "Hey, how about if we revive You Bet Your Life with…" and then they mention the name of some prominent comedian who is not and never will be Groucho Marx. Even in my very brief brushes with that kind of programming, I've heard talk of that at least a half-dozen times.

Usually, all it is is talk but they revived the show in 1980 with Buddy Hackett and in 1992 with Bill Cosby and reportedly in both cases, everyone knew the first week that it wouldn't last long. In 2021, it was revived yet again, this time with Jay Leno. His lasted longer than Hackett's or Cosby's and some reports say it might have lasted longer if not for the Writers Guild strike of 2023.

What I didn't know until recently is that in '88 between the Hackett version and the Cosby, there was a pilot done for You Bet Your Life starring Richard Dawson. I always liked Dawson on other shows but I don't think you'll have to watch much of this one to see why it didn't sell…

So let's see…The New York Times lists some of the bullshit things Elon Musk has claimed about cutting government spending.

Fact Check.org discusses the latest real stupid things Robert Kennedy Jr. is advocating about Bird Flu that stand to make a lot of people and animals sick or dead.

And as Snopes points out, Trump really did say that really noxious thing about January 6 rioters maybe deserving compensation for being unjustly arrested. He's really out to rewrite history and turn those people into heroic martyrs.

I had a great time at the opening day of WonderCon today…but then I always have a great time at WonderCons.  Lots of people to see.  Lots of stuff to buy.  Just being around so many people enjoying themselves is not without its value.  And I'm too tired to write much more than that right now.  I will, soon.

Steve Benen over on The Maddow Blog points out how Donald Trump's spin on the Group Chat scandal is not being believed…not even by Donald Trump. And Benen lists some of the many times Trump has dismissed legitimate investigations as "witch hunts."

When it came time to find someone to replace Bob Barker as host of The Price is Right, the folks in charge auditioned a number of different possible choices…and then the job went to Drew Carey, who I believe hadn't even auditioned. Some friends of mine are shocked that I think Drew Carey does a better job than Barker did, at least in Barker's last decade or so on the job.

Someone has made up a little mashup/melange/montage of clips from the auditioners' unaired auditions. One of them is Mike Richards, the fellow who was producing Jeopardy!, selected himself to emcee the show after Alex Trebek died and then was replaced after one week. I am reminded of the old Jackie Vernon joke about the man that people would look at and say, "What a personality that guy needs!"

My thanks to my friend Stu Shostak, who told me about this. Stu is one of those people who disagrees with me about Bob versus Drew but he's entitled to his opinion, wrong though it may be.