Let me correct a bit of awkward phrasing on my part. A few messages ago, writing about the Wondercon in San Francisco, I wrote… Though operated by the same crew that runs Comic-Con International, it also lacks the overwhelming quality that disturbs some about its big brother. Bad way to put it. I meant that […]
Bill Maher's Real Time show is back on HBO. The first episode of its new season aired Friday evening and you have several more chances to catch it this week. I'm not sure if you want to. It's very funny in places, and some very interesting things were said. But I felt a little uncomfortable […]
I post the following for the enlightenment of you all. As you may recall, I recently networked my TiVos. They're in different rooms but I can now record a show on one and then transfer it to another (via my home network) for viewing. Or at least, I could do that until a day or […]
Several folks have written to tell me their complaints about this year's Comic-Con International. Almost all of them spin off the premise that the convention is just too big, and many lament that a certain something is absent that was there in 1977 or 1986 or whenever. The best thing I can say to the […]
Want to hear your vice-president speak? Well, you'll need to sign a loyalty oath. (Thanks to Alan Light for the pointer.) […]
Sad to hear of the passing of a darn good actor named Eugene Roche, who died last Wednesday at age 75. Frequently recognized but never enough of a star that everyone knew him by name, he still managed to work constantly and to be widely respected by his peers. He was a regular or semi-regular […]
Speaking of Laurel and Hardy, as we love to do here, several folks have recommended to me a new BBC radio play, about 30 minutes in length, called Stan, by Neil Brand. It's a touching — some might say overly-sentimental — supposition of the last meeting of Stan and Ollie as Ollie was dying. That […]
When talking films came in, the movie studios had a problem: How to market their product overseas. In the past, it had just been a matter of redoing the title cards in another language. Later on, the equipment would be developed to redub the soundtrack in a foreign tongue. But for a number of years […]
I watched a few more speeches and wasn't too impressed. Yet another of the things that has made political conventions boring is the idea that everyone must stay "on message" and hew to the current campaign strategy. Apart from the personal references, 90% of the speakers up there could have given each others' speeches…and in […]
Forgot to post this yesterday: Happy 90th birthday to "Professor" Irwin Corey who's currently appearing on Broadway in the revival of Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox and everyone who's seen it tells me he's the funniest thing on the stage. This is easy to believe about one of the funniest comedians around…a man who has raised […]
I thought it was pretty good. Liked the first part more than the end, and I'm sorry he felt he had to load it with so many promises to not fulfill the Republican stereotype of a Democrat (soft on religion and national defense, big on taxes). But he looked presidential and passionate, and I don't […]
Here are two photos of the late Jackson Beck in roles he played on radio. At left, he has the title role in Philo Vance, Detective, which ran from 1948 through 1950. At right, he's The Cisco Kid from the radio show of the same name, which aired from 1942 through 1945. (Two years later, […]
Here's a short film/political ad starring Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. […]
Here's an odd article by Tom Junod that makes a case for George W. Bush. It's kind of a weird, not-entirely-flattering case, but it's a different way of looking at Bush that is worth perusing. […]
If you are repulsed at the sight and/or sound of Michael Moore, skip this item. But if, like me, you enjoy some of what he does, you may enjoy a 43-minute speech which is currently up on the C-Span page. It's an address he made in the last day or three to some delegates at […]