I've been sleeping weird hours lately. Last night, it was 4 AM and the night before, it was 9 PM. 'Tis the curse of being a freelance writer. You work when you feel like writing and/or when you need to write to get it done when they need it, no matter who "they" are. Tonight, it'll be close to normal.

But I wanted to call your attention to this article by Michael Parnell, a pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. He attended a panel I emceed at Comic-Con and has a nice observation about it.

I also want to thank those of you who've donated to our little annual drive to keep this blog online and absolutely free. I'll stop with the banners when we reach the amount it's cost me to operate newsfromme for the last twelve months. We still have a little way to go. Good night.

The Seth Meyers program is on a long summer hiatus. If you miss him, you might enjoy this 48 minute video podcast — Seth and writer-producer Sal Gentile talking about the stories they'd be covering if they weren't on vacation. I liked this a lot…

Here's an example of Juan Tamariz doing what he did better than just about anybody…and make sure you watch it to the end.  The trick with the four cards is one he did when I saw him perform.  He not only fooled me, he fooled some pretty experienced magicians who were in the group watching him…

Folks in the magic community are mourning the passing of Juan Tamariz, often hailed as the greatest manipulator of cards in the world. Spain has way more than its share of great close-up card magicians and Tamariz, who was mentor to many and inspiration to all, is a big reason. He just died in Madrid at the age of 83.

One of the many perks of being a member at the Magic Castle is that I get to see masters perform…in the case of Señor Tamariz, from about eighteen inches away. It was quite a few years ago. I was taking a lady named Susan there on a first date and while the lines to get in to see his shows that evening were impossibly long, a friend got us into an unscheduled private show he did for a small group of his fellow magicians. Even Susan, who knew nothing about magic or his reputation, understood how special it was.

No matter how close you were seated to him, it was impossible to see how he did any of his tricks. It was however possible to see that some damn good magicians in that room were utterly baffled. It was also possible to see that much of his magic came from how great he was as a performer. He radiated glee and delight and was just so entertaining as a human being that you didn't want to know how he did those things. You just wanted him to keep on doing them.

And his many disciples will keep on doing his tricks and amazing feats. Or trying to, at least.

Just go read it. Here's the start of the latest from Fred Kaplan…

The dreadful conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy aircraft carrier stationed near Iran for nine months, have been widely reported. They include food shortages, water contamination, plumbing stoppages, lost mail, and mental health decay, spurring some crew members to jump ship. President Donald Trump denied the news stories as "fake," but the top U.S. commander in the region, Adm. Brad Cooper, confirmed them after inspecting the vessel.

So who do you believe? Trump, who didn't inspect the vessel or the top U.S. commander in the region who did?

In case you missed the PBS American Masters salute to Dick Van Dyke, it's been uploaded to YouTube so I can embed it here for you. In case you're keeping track, Dick is now 100 years, eight months and five days old. Thanks to several folks who alerted me to the upload…

Douglass Abramson writes…

Do you have a guess why Moe Howard appeared in a grade Z horror film in 1973: Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls? His role appears to have been so small, it's billed as "volunteer in audience".

You may not believe this but I have way more than a guess. And the reason is that back in my younger days, I was briefly a reporter for a publication that few remember called The Monster Times. They sent me out to interview the man behind Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls.

I never saw the movie — I'm not sure very many people did — but I interviewed Eddie Saeta, the producer and director of the film. And frankly, I found him a lot more interesting than the movie he had made and was promoting. Mr. Saeta was one of those people who worked behind — sometimes, way behind — the camera on dozens and dozens of movies and TV shows.

His job descriptions varied. Sometimes, he was a Production Manager. Sometimes, he was a Location Manager. Sometimes, he was an Associate Producer or an Assistant Director or an Associate Director or an Assistant Producer. Those are all terms which can denote any odd assemblage of duties and responsibilities. Anyone over the age of, say, thirty-five probably has seen a movie or TV program that Eddie Saeta worked on in some capacity.

Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls was the first and apparently the only time he got to be the producer and director of a movie, albeit a pretty low-budget one. IMDB lists 91 credits for him as an Associate or Assistant Director but only three as Director: Doctor Death, an episode of the TV series, Hondo and one episode of The Man From UNCLE. By the time he got to Doctor Death, he probably knew everyone in Hollywood, every possible aspect of moviemaking and every single way to save money on a film.

One of the main things I got out of him, and I don't think I mentioned it in the article I wrote, was how little money they had to make this film.  Mr. Saeta seemed very proud of bringing the film in on budget and didn't want it to be judged against movies that had a seemingly-unlimited budget.  Not long before, he had worked on Diamonds Are Forever and he mentioned some scenes in that film which, all by themselves, cost more to film than the entirety of Doctor Death. He assumed (wrongly) that I would be writing a review of Doctor Death and wanted me to keep that in mind.

Working on such a shoestring meant that he called in a lot of favors from friends. Our local horror movie TV host, Larry "Seymour" Vincent was a friend who acted in it for little or no money. (I also interviewed him on a different assignment for The Monster Times.) So was Moe Howard…and how, you may be wondering did Eddie Saeta know Moe Howard? Well, Saeta did a lot of crew work for Columbia Pictures when the Stooges were making films there and he was also Assistant Director on The Three Stooges in Orbit and The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze.

I know that because I asked Mr. Saeta that very question and he told me of his long friendship with Moe. And I don't remember the precise wording but he did indicate that turning down a legitimate job, whatever it was, was something that Moe Howard simply didn't do.

Incidentally: The lady in the photo with Moe is Sivi Aberg, a former Miss Sweden who was in an awful lot of movies and TV shows including being a prize model on some of the Chuck Barris's game shows and a hostess on The Gong Show. I told a story about Ms. Aberg back in this post.

And that, Douglass, is a pretty long answer to what you surely thought was a quick question. Oh — and before I close, I should inform everyone reading this that Doctor Death, Seeker of Souls is viewable on YouTube at this link. I can't recommend or not recommend the film because, like I said, I've never seen it and I have a feeling I should keep it that way. But you might enjoy it, especially if you keep in mind what it cost to make.

As you probably know, Jack Kirby was honored a few years ago by being named to the ranks of individuals the Disney organization designates as "Disney Legends." How does one qualify for this? I think you just have to have a solid contribution to something that made the corporation a lot of money. Which is fine. It's their award and they can give it out to whoever they like for whatever reason they like. I am, however, not waiting for them to say, "Hey, we oughta give this to the guy who wrote the Super Goof comic book in the early seventies."

And recently at D23 — the all-Disney Mega-Con — it will be announced that a special plaque honoring Jack will soon be added to the opening of the Avengers attraction at their theme parks. Also fine with me. Like I said here the other day, more and more people seem to be aware of what he did, which makes me happy. You can read more about the plaque here. Thanks to the many folks who let me know about it.

We have a new Fred Kaplan report on the military ineptness of the Trump Administration. The headline on it is "Trump Is Turning His Back on Most of East Asia — and Embracing Kim Jong-un." Here's an excerpt…

With one action and one statement over the weekend, President Donald Trump has pretty much vaporized the United States' reputation as a serious power in East Asia — the region that includes China, Japan, and the two Koreas — and with it, possibly, in much of the rest of the world.

The statement, which he filed on social media late Sunday afternoon, ordered the Pentagon "to substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea. He gave three reasons for his order. First, the exercises are "costly." Second, they send a "signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, who, "as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful." The third reason for the cutback is that South Korea's president refused "to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran." With one action and one statement over the weekend, President Donald Trump has pretty much vaporized the United States’ reputation as a serious power in East Asia — the region that includes China, Japan, and the two Koreas — and with it, possibly, in much of the rest of the world.

I don't even know what to say to this apart from "This guy has gotta go!"

I'm kidding, right?  I haven't fully unpacked from this year's Comic-Con International and I'm going to start posting about next year's Comic-Con International?  Am I mad?  Well, probably yes but I'm doing it anyway.

As you've seen me post here 364.8 times, the secret to having the best possible time at Comic-Con in San Diego is planning ahead.  And having the best possible time involves gaining admission to Comic-Con International and that too involves planning ahead.

Not that you can't have a great time there without getting in.  A few days after the con went away for this year, I spoke to a couple folks who couldn't score badges but they went to San Diego anyway while the con was in progress. There were various "street fair" events — music, cosplay, giveaways, etc. — that took place around and about the convention center.  These folks probably didn't have the best possible time but since they couldn't get inside, they didn't let that stop them and had the second-best possible time. Which, they said, was still pretty good.

But I know you.  You want to get inside that building if only because that's where I do my couple thousand panels and I've heard there may be other good things, as well.  If you don't have some "in" to get professional badges or exhibitor badges or volunteer badges, you're probably reliant on the online sales.  That may or may not get you what you want but it'll be your first opportunity to try.  If you had a paid 2026 badge, you're able to participate in Returning Registration.  That will take place this year on Saturday morning, October 17.

(There's also some sort of deal where if you didn't have a paid 2026 membership, you can still get in on Returning Registration if you attended the smaller-but-still-pretty-darned big WonderCon Anaheim and stayed at least two nights at a hotel in the official WonderCon hotel block. But I don't understand how or when that works so I won't attempt to explain it.)

A large chunk of the available badges will be snatched up in that Returning Registration sale. Another large chunk will be available for Open Registration. That's open to anyone including folks who qualified for the Returning Registration sale but got shut out. Open Registration is scheduled for Saturday, November 14.

After that, obtaining badges becomes a lot more difficult. Unless you want to become a member of the Comic-Con Museum at the "Legend" level — very expensive, indeed — it's pretty rough and I don't know what to tell you…

…except this: Don't decide next May that you want to attend Comic-Con 2027. Decide now…or at least in time for online registration. The longer you wait, the less possible it becomes.

Neil Patrick Harris and a bevy of guest stars…

George Carlin explains The Safety Lecture as only George Carlin can — or could.  He's such a presence on The Internet that it's hard to remember he ain't with us anymore.  Wish he was…

Rosie O'Donnell, who all but disappeared from my television for years, may be getting back into the talk show business. The main thing that I liked about her old show was that she featured a lot of numbers from what was currently playing on Broadway. At this link, you'll find a nice collection of some of those numbers.

Last evening, my pal David Schwartz — not to be confused with two other pals I have named David Schwartz — came over and we watched Stan Lee: The Final Chapter. This is a just-released documentary made by a gent named Jon Bolerjack who was Stan's assistant/driver/friend for a goodly portion of Stan's final years. It's a hard film to watch especially if, like me, you knew Stan and have, as I do, extremely mixed feelings about the man.

Stan could be very charming and funny and ingratiating. But like the stereotype of a Marvel Super-Hero or certain Super-Villains, he was not all-bad or all-good.  Sometimes, with folks who worked a lot for or with him, I've found myself in long discussions on exactly how you process that duality. No one though would have wished on him (or anyone) what occurred when he was in last years on this planet. I can't help but view it as a severe case of "Be Careful What You Wish For."

Like just about all human beings, Stan wanted to be wealthy and like many, he wanted to be famous. I've known a lot of famous people but I can't think of anyone who wanted to be famous as much as Stan Lee wanted to be famous. Even his loudest detractors would tell you that much of the success of Marvel had to do with the good job Stan did of promoting the company. In a way though, that was Stan promoting Stan and he couldn't do that without promoting the company as well.

In his nineties, he was very famous and he loved it. Absolutely, positively loved it. He loved going to conventions or other public gatherings and being greeted by huge crowds and long lines of people willing to pay serious bucks for his autograph and/or a little Stan Time. That should have given his life a happy ending but at some point, it got out of control…or, rather, into the control of others. The documentary shows you that period, attempts to assign blame to those others and suggests they got an awful lot of the money that should have gone to the old guy doing endless hours of autographing.

I have no idea if that's a proper assessment of the situation but you do see a lot of Stan being unhappy, exhausted and in a fair amount of depression, especially after his wife of 60+ years died. The documentary is dead-on right about how happy the two of them were together. It also takes close to two hours to tell a story that could have been told properly in under thirty minutes. It's like someone thought we'd enjoy as much footage as possible of Stan in pain.

I sure didn't. I have a book coming out next year about Jack Kirby, who of course did most of the heavy lifting in the Lee-Kirby collaborations on which The Marvel Age of Comics was built. The film makes no mention of Jack, Steve Ditko, anyone named Buscema or the rest. It exists in a universe where Stan was the sole genius. My book will explain way more about what I — the only person alive who worked for both men, I believe — believe. I do feel that Stan wronged Jack and many of his other co-workers and I am pleased at how far public opinion on this seems to have swung in that direction.

Still, what happens to Stan in this film is at times very painful and frustrating and I'm not including a link here to where you can see for yourself. You can if you want but I'm not going to help you do that. Maybe it's a story that had to be told but I don't want you blaming me if you seek it out, pay for it and wish you hadn't.

It's been a while since I had a Lewis Black clip up here. But here he comes to tell us all about Labubus…