Monthly Archives: August 2008

Dick Cavett writes about why someone would want to be a standup comedian. Based on my own experiences with that breed, I agree and disagree with this piece. I think there are as many different reasons why someone takes up that line of work as there are jokes about people who work at McDonald's…or something. Most of the comedians I've known well have not been motivated by a desperate need to be loved. They've been guys (and gals) who looked at successful standups and said, "Hey, that looks like a great job and I think I could be good at it."

Okay, some thoughts on this article, which is about allegations of sexual harassment at the Comic-Con International. Can we start by all agreeing on a basic truth? Touching another person where they don't wish to be touched is wrong in about nineteen different ways. It can even be wrong when there are no sexual overtones involved. How wrong it is depends on what's being touched, who's doing the touching, how unwelcome the touching is, etc.

John DiBello, who wrote the article we're discussing, is a bright guy and his heart is absolutely in the right place. But I think he's missing the larger issue when he writes, "I would like to see something [in the convention policy statements] like 'Comic-Con has zero tolerance for harassment or violence against any of our attendees or exhibitors.'" That's not necessary any more than it is for the con to post signs that say, "No murdering allowed."

Harassment and violence are wrong everywhere. They're just as unacceptable in a Ralphs Market or at an Arby's or in your home as they are at the Comic-Con. Society needs to have zero tolerance for those things anywhere…not just where some proprietor announces it like it's a unique rule they've set up.

John notes that the convention does explicitly forbid smoking, drawn weapons, personal pages and selling bootleg videos on the floor and wonders why they don't mention sexual assault. Answer: There are people there who think that if they're not told otherwise, they can smoke, they can wield swords, etc. You have to specify because there are places and situations where it's okay to smoke or where you can request that someone be paged. There is no place where it's permissible in any way to go up to a stranger and start kissing or fondling them against their wishes. Stated policy or no stated policy, that is not acceptable. People should know this…and if they don't, the con announcing it in the program book is not going to make a lick of difference to them.

Now, John says he went to inquire about what the con would do about the transgressions he believes occurred and he could not get a satisfactory answer. He may have a good point here. As well-run as Comic-Con is (and every year, I'm amazed how well-run about 95% of it is), there are lapses. Almost everyone there is a "temp," after all. Ask a worker where the nearest men's room is and there's a 50-50 chance they'll send you the wrong way.

I'd like to think that's all that happened here: Someone didn't know what to do. I'm friendly with at least a dozen folks who work on the con, not for just one week a year but as full-time Comic-Con International employees…and if John had approached any one of them, they'd have snapped into action and made sure whatever had to be done was done. They are enormously good and conscientious people, which is one reason the con goes as smoothly as it does every year.

Perhaps they need to do more to make sure that those who work the convention for the 4.5 days are not clueless in this area; that they know what to do if someone reports that a stranger grabbed some body part or even somebody's wallet. The con doesn't need to tell us it's wrong but they may need to do a bit more so that anyone who feels victimized knows what to do about it, where to report it. They also need to make sure that those who do the alleged victimizing know that it will not go unaddressed. Even if the person being harassed is dressed like Vampirella.

That's all I want to say about this right now. Knowing me, I'll probably think of more later.

Just got an e-mail informing me that we have to vote against Barack Obama because he is, after all, the Anti-Christ.

I suppose that's as good a reason as some that some folks will have for the way they vote. What I want to know is where do the people spreading this idea go from there?

I mean, let's say you want to defeat Barack Obama. Let's say you send out messages that insist he's the Anti-Christ. Then let's say he's still doing well in the polls. What do you do then? When your crew convenes a meeting and discusses how you're going to go "more negative," what are you going to say? "He's the Anti-Christ and he pays a lot for his haircuts?"

My book on Kirby made Amazon's list of "Best Books of the Year So Far" in the "Hidden Gems" category. I guess this is a good thing.

Two online essays are generating some online debate about the Comic-Con International in San Diego.

This one is by someone I've probably met or at least crossed paths with, but I can't seem to find his name anywhere. He's a longtime attendee of the con and is rather distressed at what it's become. His criticisms are all valid in and of themselves. The con has changed and many once-wonderful things about it have gone away.

Yes, it is as much (if not more) about movies than it is about comics. I'm afraid these days that's true about the comic book business, as well. Yes, it's true that certain merchants or kinds of merchandise no longer are as plentiful in the hall. For good or ill, a lot of that trade has moved onto eBay or over to the big auction houses. Yes, it's true that parking stinks and the food in the convention center is bad and overpriced and that there are some security guards who seem to have learned tact at the feet of Genghis Khan. I've complained about all that and more…

And you know what? I have a great time down there, anyway. I guess I've come to accept that when you go to any convention center that's enveloping that many people, you're going to encounter bad, overpriced food as well as security guards who have more responsibility than manners. I also accept that the con — indeed, the whole comic book industry and surrounding community — has changed and that there's not a damned thing I or anyone can do about it. So my choices are to lament what's gone or to find something I like in what's there. I try to do both to the extent they're constructive.

Complaining can certainly be constructive up to a point. It's a good way to vent one's frustration and, every so often, you bitch about something which can actually be changed, at least a little. It's also good to remind people how it was because that kind of thing should never be forgotten. Still, I think I'm past the stage of thinking we can roll back progress and stuff the con (or, for that matter, the comic industry) back into the niche it occupied twenty years ago.

I have a friend who calls me like clockwork every year after each con to grouse about the traffic going to and fro. He says it like he honestly expects the convention organizers to do something about the fact that late on a summer Sunday afternoon, there's a wee bit of traffic on the 405 and the 5, especially as the latter passes Disneyland. Having bitten off large chunks of my own steering wheel some years, I know how he feels. And he knows like I do that some things ain't gonna change so you just have to decide if the total good outweighs the cumulative bad. For me, it always does.

The other essay is about some reported incidents of sexual harassment at the convention. My morning blogging time has run out on me and I have to turn my keyboard over to something that pays…but I'll try to address this rather serious topic before the weekend is out.

This is going to be kind of cryptic so if you don't understand it, just ignore the whole matter…

Around the middle of July, a stranger e-mailed me to ask if I'd help him with a project relating to comic book history. I declined and suggested he not go forward with his plans. He agreed to suspend them for the time being and to have an in-person conversation with me at the Comic-Con in San Diego so I could talk him out of them altogether…and I probably could have but he never got in touch with me at the con. I just wrote to him again and his e-mail address is a bouncer now. If you are this person, please drop me a line. We need to talk.

Tax cuts for the wealthy…but folks who receive health insurance through their employers would now be paying income tax on what was previously untaxed money. This, his backers say, is not really a tax increase.

Hey, remember when Republicans were passing around those lists of Michael Dukakis and later Bill Clinton tax increases? One, as I recall, was that one of those governors — Clinton, I think — signed a bill extending the dog racing season in his state. The logic was that since the season was longer, the government would be collecting more revenues from its cut and that qualified the extension as a tax increase.

Yeah, McCain's plan also includes a subsidy payment which people can put towards their health care costs. But it'll wind up costing middle class and poor folks more…which I suppose is the whole point of it. Someone has to make up the money Cindy McCain won't be paying.

As perhaps could be expected, I am now receiving messages from folks who live in or around Kansas City informing me that those who recommended Gates Barbecue are fools who wouldn't know a proper rib if it was used to create the first woman. (There's a better way to phrase that joke but I don't have time now for cosmetic surgery.) Most of them are suggesting not only Arthur Bryant's but that I insist on the original location of Arthur Bryant's.

If 'tis possible, I will check out both Gates and Arthur Bryant's during my brief Kansas City visit. I must admit this will not be as joyous an experience as it might have been a few years ago, back before my Gastric Bypass Surgery. Gone are the days when I could/would devour huge combo platters in such places. The stomach simply won't accommodate large portions. When dining out in L.A., I always plan to take at least 40% of my meal home and sometimes it's more like 65%. That's not always practical while travelling.

Anyway, I'll tell you which barbecue eatery I like best and then that will settle the matter, once and for all. You will all be required to agree with me and the restaurant I don't prefer will have to go out of business immediately. (I'm sorry if you work at the place I order closed…but that's the way these things work.)

Bill Stulla, a fixture of early Los Angeles television, has died at the age of 97. A generation or two of L.A. kids knew him as Engineer Bill and the L.A. Times obit will tell you plenty about him. (The above pic shows him with another train enthusiast, some guy named Disney.)

I have my own special memory of Mr. Stulla — a memory that dates back to before he was Engineer Bill. And it felt like he was Engineer Bill forever. If you'd like to read my experience, go read this post and then go read this post. In that order.

I'm not sure I can explain the appeal of Engineer Bill…though it certainly wasn't the cartoons he ran, which were among the worst ever made for television. You might get a bit of an inkling from this rough assemblage of clips, totalling about nine and a half minutes from some episode from some year…

Len Reid sent me this. It's a link to a site that will tell you what the number one selling song was in the country the day you were born (or the day you got married or the day you first ate creamed corn or any other date you enter). Caution: If you click far enough into this index, it may try to sell you the song as an itunes download.

The day I was born, the number one song was "Cry" by Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads. How appropriate.

I mentioned yesterday that I'm attending a comic convention in Kansas City next month and that I intend to try some of that town's barbecue restaurants. I have since received twenty-three recommendations that I try Gates Barbecue, which is apparently the unanimous favorite of folks in that area who read this website. A few of them also suggested that if I want to try a second place while I'm there, I should hit Arthur Bryant's, Jack Stack and/or Oklahoma Joe's.

Actually, many years ago, there was a short-lived outlet of the Gates empire in Las Vegas. I tried it and didn't like it much…but I wouldn't hold that against the ones in Missouri and Kansas. Maybe it closed in Vegas because it just didn't equal the quality of the original. If I have a say in where we go during the con, I'm dragging everyone to Gates.

In case anyone's interested, my current fave BBQ place in Southern California is Porky's, a wonderful little establishment located in a former KFC drive-thru in Inglewood, right near The Forum. I especially like their pulled pork and pork ribs, plus they serve Golden Bird fried chicken. Golden Bird was once a thriving chain in and around Los Angeles and it had the finest, extra-crispy-crusted poultry around. They're down now to just a few locations and happily, Porky's licensed the recipe and added it to their wondrous menu. (Porky's, by the way, also has a location in Long Beach — to which I have not been — and is about to open another in San Pedro.)