One of the folks behind the ifilm website wrote me a nice message a week or so ago and my e-mail program seems to have swallowed it. If you were the person in question, could you please resend it? I promise to be more careful with it this time. To the rest of you who […]
This just in… Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, The Associated Press has learned. Like we said yesterday here: If anyone at FEMA or the Department of Homeland Security is sacked or even faulted, it will only be because they've reached some new, […]
I think it was way back last Sunday that I posted an "unofficial" Blondie crossover strip that ran in Richard's Poor Almanac, a feature that has been running in The Washington Post for some seven years now. I must admit I was not familiar with the strip by one Richard Thompson as it is not […]
If someone is compiling a list of folks who've said stupid things about the Katrina Disaster and/or tried to exploit it to push their personal crusades, make sure you include this name: Senator Richard Santorum (R-PA). Santorum takes campaign donations from private weather forecasting companies and then turns around and introduces legislation to try and […]
This one comes to me from Joe Wilmont, who showed the good sense to sit through most of my panels at this year's Comic-Con International. Therefore, I can't argue too much with him when he writes… I agree and disagree with your "rant." I think there has been a lack of accountability but there has […]
Earlier today, I browsed a batch of news and political websites. Since I was still full of anesthetic, it seemed like the ideal time. As I think I've made clear, I have a pretty low opinion of George W. Bush as a president. This has never been that rare a viewpoint in our country and […]
So about an hour ago, I'm leaving my dentist's office with a temporary filling and a cheek so full of Novocaine, I must look like Dizzy Gillespie on that side. I get in one of the building's three elevators and press the button to take me to the Parking Level, which is one floor below […]
Fred Patten is recovering from a brain stem stroke and an almost-as-serious lack of health insurance. For those of you who don't know Fred, he's been an active force for many decades in science-fiction and animation fandom as a historian and sometimes as an importer of foreign books and magazines. Back when comic book conventions […]
When Fred Willard took the podium about halfway through last night's gathering in remembrance of Pat McCormick, he said — and this is not an exact quote but it's close — "Isn't it odd that these days, we have to go to a memorial service to find something to laugh at?" An audience full of […]
Okay, here we go, trying to link to video clips on the Comedy Central website. The opening segment of last night's Daily Show is there in two pieces. The first, entitled "Inarguable Failure" contains Jon Stewart's desk comments. I think this link should take you to it, and don't be surprised if you have to […]
Since I've been working at home and not travelling much lately, today was the first time I'd bought gas in several weeks. It was…uh, a bit of a jolt. When it came time to pay, I was tempted to say to the attendant, "How about if you just keep the car and we'll call it […]
Tom Reynolds writes about what it's like to write so-called "reality shows." He's absolutely right. [Los Angeles Times, registration required] […]
Catch tonight's installment — the first since they came back from vacation — of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The first segment is brilliant. Someone will post it on the web and I'll link to it when they do, but don't wait. Watch it on real TV. […]
A number of my friends who read this page are attending tomorrow evening's memorial for Pat McCormick at the Writers Guild Theater. I would like to remind them, first of all, that this is at the Writers Guild Theater, the one on Doheny just south of Wilshire in Beverly Hills. It is not at the […]
This one is only recommended either if you think everything was just peachy down in Louisiana and Mississippi with regard to rescue operations, or if you need something to renew your anger about all that wasn't done for the victims. Briefly, it's about a band of more than 1,000 trained firefighters who volunteered to help […]