I just figured something out. For several weeks now, every time I go to Google, the ads in the margin are all trying to sell me Bobby Darin ringtones. I'm not sure if anyone in the world wants Bobby Darin on their cellphone but I sure don't…and I couldn't imagine why the Google people thought I'd be interested. They're supposed to have "targeted" ads, meaning that the ad relates in some way to you or your browsing habits, but I couldn't recall ever Googling the name of Bobby Darin.

So suddenly it dawns on me: My cousin David Evanier wrote a book about Bobby Darin. It's linking the name Evanier to Bobby Darin and that translates into some hyperspace assumption that I care about him. Mystery solved.

David also wrote a book about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. I don't want them on my cellphone, either.

The last few days, I've been linking to potato chip commercials with Bert Lahr. Here, from earlier in his career, is one of the comedy songs that made him famous on the stage. I'm not sure what film this is from and I really don't understand much of the number. But boy, is he good at it.

I will be on or moderating fourteen (14!) panels at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. The convention's full programming schedule (and mine) will be up in a few days but in the meantime, here's a sneak peek. And while it's not on there, yes, we will be playing Quick Draw! on Saturday morning and there will be Cartoon Voice Panels on Saturday and Sunday.

As I've mentioned before (here, for instance) I'm a fan of the 1954 movie, White Christmas which starred Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. The film has just about the sappiest, most contrived plot in the history of movies but thanks to the charisma of its stars and that great Irving Berlin score, it works. Or at least it works enough that if you can turn off a certain portion of your brain, you can have a pretty good time watching it.

So I was intrigued a few years ago when I heard that someone had made a stage musical out of it, using the plot and some of the dialogue from the screenplay, along with many of the songs and some others from the Berlin catalogue. I was curious to see what they'd done to it, how it worked, what the adapters had decided didn't work, etc. Unfortunately, the show only played around Christmas time and never near me.

Then, shortly after I agreed to come here to Pittsburgh to appear at a convention, I found out a production of the musical would be playing within walking distance of the con. I'm not sure why they're doing White Christmas in July. Maybe fate just wanted me to see it. But well before I realized how much fun Anthrocon could be and how I might regret missing an evening of it, I bought tickets. Carolyn decided to stay at the con to tend to some business, attend an event she wanted to see and work on some drawings she'd been asked to do…so I went alone down to the Benedum Center which is, I have to say, one of the most attractive theaters I've ever seen in my life. People of Pittsburgh: Take care of that place. It's a treasure.

So how did I like the stage version of White Christmas? I thought they took this sappy, contrived storyline and made it sappier and even more contrived…to the point where very little of it is coherent. I honestly don't understand why they changed what they changed from the screenplay. Remember how in the beginning of the film you see how much the soldiers love the general and how much he does for them? Well, most of that's gone. Remember how Danny Kaye saves Bing Crosby's life and they become a team and we see them grow into big stars? Most of that's gone, too. Remember how protective Rosemary Clooney was of Vera-Ellen and how that was stopping her from having any sort of love life, which was the justification for so much about the romantic storylines? Gone. Remember how when they first all meet, Kaye and Crosby dress up as the girls and lip sync a number as the girls to save them from a crooked sheriff? Gone…but for no visible reason, they do that in the second act anyway.

And so on. The plot is still about Wallace and Davis (the Crosby and Kaye roles) trying to save the Vermont Inn of their old general. In the movie, the inn's manager lady overhears the plan and thinks Wallace and Davis are planning to embarrass the general as a publicity stunt, and when she tells Clooney's character, Rosemary walks out on Wallace, with whom she's nurturing a romance, and on the show. In the stage version, the manager lady is told something which she misunderstands. She thinks Wallace and Davis are secretly arranging to buy out the general and decides this is a terrible, evil thing even though the inn is bankrupting the old guy. She tells the Clooney character who decides to walk out on Wallace and the show but not to tell her sister why. In the meantime, the manager lady doesn't warn the general or do anything to stop this awful plot she thinks she's uncovered. She and the sister even sing a forgettable Berlin tune called "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun" to congratulate the Clooney lady for leaving…and by now, if this doesn't make a lick of sense to you, welcome to where I was about a third of the way into Act Two.

It may not have been that way in earlier versions. During intermission, I got to talking to a gentleman sitting behind me who said he'd seen it three or four years ago in San Francisco and that this production was "cheaper and they cut a lot of stuff." He said in S.F. it was "a little less illogical but not enough." He didn't like the show tonight and I didn't like it…but I have to admit ours was the minority viewpoint. Most of the audience seemed to be having a very good time, largely (I think) because you can't do all that much damage to a dozen or so of Irving Berlin's best tunes. They sing "I Love a Piano" and "Blue Skies" and "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and "How Deep is the Ocean?" and the title song and others. Many involve a very energetic troupe of young dancers just dancing their hearts out on stage and having the greatest time doing it. It's hard not to love a show during such moments and I guess there were enough of them for most of those in the house.

One other problem: When you turn a great movie into a stage musical, there's usually and unavoidably a bringdown in the cast. Only occasionally do you replace a Zero Mostel with a Nathan Lane. Most of the time, it's Lou Lipsitz trying to fill the shoes of Gene Kelly. The two gents carrying the show weren't Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby — these days, of course, no one is — but the book didn't give them a lot of help. They did their best and their best might have been just fine for a better show. (The only cast member you're likely to have heard of was Stacy Keach, who played the general. He did what he could with what they gave him.)

I was shown to my seat by a charming older woman who looked like she'd been at that theater since it opened in whenever it opened. I was turning off my cell phone and she said, "Good…I hate those things. The other night, someone had one that went off right in the middle of 'Blue Skies.' I wanted to get a shovel and whack the guy in the head." On the way out after the show, she saw me turning my phone back on and she said, "Thanks for not making me use my shovel." So I guess the whole experience could have been worse. I certainly enjoyed the show a lot more than I would have if a little old lady had whacked me in the head with a shovel.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this clip but I thought I'd put it up and let you decide.

Not long ago, a gentleman named Fouad Ajami, who's a prominent "neocon" voice, wrote a clumsy defense of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, likening the convicted Cheney aide to a casualty of war. The analogy was his first mistake. His second was going on the MSNBC show Hardball to defend it when David Shuster was hosting in lieu of Chris Matthews. Matthews, despite the name of his program, usually lobs softballs. Shuster was perhaps taking the name to heart…or maybe he was actively thinking that his network needs new programming and might welcome a series that could hold the expanding Keith Olbermann audience.

Either way, Shuster pretty much shredded Mr. Ajami's arguments and assertions of questionable accuracy. One wishes more TV hosts challenged guests but maybe not so fervently that they scared off those who need to be rigorously cross-examined. I'll bet a lot of Conservative pundits don't come near Hardball and/or Shuster after seeing this one. It runs about eleven minutes.

Once upon a time, the comic book field had a great many folks who did lettering by hand…and often, they contributed mightily (and without sufficient recognition) to the artistry of the pages. I'm talking about talents like Artie Simek, Ben Oda, Sam Rosen, Gaspar Saladino, Abe Kanegson, Ira Schnapp, Howard Ferguson and a great many others. These days, there aren't as many notable practitioners of their craft, a development that some blame on the rise of lettering being done via computer. I think it's the other way around, at least to some extent. Computer lettering caught on big and rapidly in part because there weren't enough Artie Simeks to go around. (There are other advantages, as well.)

Today's preeminent letterer — and even he does some of it on computer — is Todd Klein, who comes to San Diego every year and wins the Eisner for Best Letterer to the surprise of no one. He not only does it well but he knows a lot about lettering and how it's done and how it should be done…and lucky for us, he's opened a website to begin sharing it all with us.

As you can probably figure out from the time stamps on my posts here, I've been (happily) run ragged here at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh. The folks here — the attendees as well as the convention organizers — have been so nice to Carolyn and me that we're trying to show up for every event where they say they'd like to have the Guests of Honor in attendance.

Thursday night, we tagged along when a contingent of con-goers and the staff attended a "staged reading" of a new musical called Furry Tales. Last year when Anthrocon was in the same venue, some folks involved in local theater took note of all the visitors prowling the area dressed in animal costumes and were intrigued enough to write an entire play about "furry fandom." I don't feel qualified to comment on how well the playwrights understood their subject, and I don't think it's fair to review a work like this in its earliest workshop incarnation. But I will point you to the show's website (which doesn't contain much info) and say that I'm a bit baffled as to what they think the audience would be for this show. The furry fans seemed thrilled that it treated them without scorn but split on its accuracy or entertainment value. And if you've had no exposure to furry fandom, I'm not sure you'd have much idea of what was going on…or would care. But there's a lot of talent involved so I only wish them well with it.

Friday morning, Carolyn and I did a panel about our work and then later in the day, I was a panelist on the Anthrocon game show, which is basically Match Game and Pyramid rolled into one. Afterward, someone congratulated me on not matching one single answer the entire time and they said, "This proves you're an individual." Well, maybe…but I wish more of the contestants had won prizes.

Mostly, it's been a whirlwind of meet 'n' greet and luncheons and signing stuff and marvelling at the wonderful costumes that many of the attendees have fashioned, sometimes for themselves but often for each other. This afternoon, they had a parade through the hall with 341 furry marchers, most of them at least as well-dressed as the two dogs (I think they're both dogs) above.

I'm due at another event so my big discourse on Anthrocon will have to wait for another time. All I'll say for now is that this is one of the happiest conventions I've attended in 37 years of con-going. It's not about selling things. It's not about launching careers…at least, not in the way it would be if there were publishers here looking to hire. It's not even all that much about dressing up as some other species. I'll try and articulate what it is about when I don't have to rush off and shake hands. Or paws. Or whatever it is some of them have.

If one believes this poll — and keep in mind it's only one poll — more Americans want Bush and Cheney impeached than ever wanted Bill Clinton impeached.

It's kind of an odd way to look at the situation. In order to impeach those guys, someone would have to come up with one or more specific crimes with which to charge them…and the poll doesn't even ask about one. While a clear majority of Americans might wish Bush and Cheney were gone, I'm not sure they'd agree on a particular impeachable offense…or that the administration will ever yield sufficient evidence or comply with the subpoenas necessary to make that case…or that the current Supreme Court would compel them to cooperate. Methinks Bush and Cheney could go around robbing 7-Eleven stores at gunpoint and Antonin Scalia would say, "Oh, yes…they're allowed to do that. And by the way, my ruling is non-precedential."

Besides, even if you could prove High Crimes and Misdemeanors, how do you impeach both men at the same time? That's got to be a legal nightmare of procedural rulings, most of which would wind up before the Supreme Court, which did everything in its power to put those guys into office in the first place. If you impeach Bush first, then Cheney becomes president, which even most Republicans wouldn't want. It would be interesting to see Cheney try to name his successor…and I suppose that he'd also argue that he can't be impeached as president for crimes he may have committed as vice-president…and back we go to the Supreme Court to rule on that. On the other hand, if you impeach Cheney first then Bush would try to name a successor and would also argue that any crimes he may have committed were actually the doings of that snake, Dick Cheney.

I don't think there's any chance of impeaching these two fellows, no matter how much America may dislike them. But it is going to be fun watching Democrats keep the possibility alive and Republicans distancing themselves from the White House.

Hey, let's watch another one of those Lay's Potato Chip commercials with Bert Lahr. What a great face that man had.

Hello from a city which already seems to be a much nicer city than years of Pittsburgh jokes might make one expect. I often think that some unfair comments aren't so much inaccurate as they are out of date. You can almost sense that this was once a grimy, grey town but that that's in the past and the snide remarks simply haven't caught up with reality.

But then it's been a journey of surprises so far. Last week, Northwest Airlines was cancelling flights the way certain network execs I could name cancel programs…with reckless, panicked abandon. One day alone, 25% of all Northwest flights didn't take flight due to some sort of pilot "sick-out" and labor dispute that I won't pretend I fully understand. What I did understand was that Carolyn and I were booked to take not one but two Northwest flights on July 4 to get here…so the odds suggested a good chance of trouble.

Didn't happen. Not for us, not for anyone flying Northwest yesterday, as far as I could tell. Every time I looked at the departure board in three different airports, it showed every Northwest flight as "on time," meaning either they've solved the problem for now or those monitors were lying to all. Both our flights took off exactly as advertised and landed a bit ahead of schedule. It remains to be seen if the return trip will be as flawless.

We're here for the Anthrocon, which as I've explained is a convention of "furry" fans — folks with a passion for human-like animals or animal-like humans or blurring the line of demarcation between them. This fandom has endured a fair amount of mocking in the past, often from folks who oughta know better, given how their own interests have prompted ridicule from others. I come to it with my belief that, first of all, every group — up to and including those in which I am a willing participant — has its overzealous, embarrassing faction. It's not only wrong but a cheap, disingenuous trick to characterize an entire movement by its atypical element. It's kind of like those political arguments that try to tar every Republican/Conservative with the low moral standing of Ann Coulter or every Democrat/Liberal as being guilty of the sins of Lewis Farrakhan. Secondly, I figure that anything that makes people happy without making others unhappy is worthy of great respect.

Things are just getting started here but already you can walk into the lobby of the Westin Hotel and find yourself in a mob scene of people with tails and animal ears…or even ornate, full-body costumes. And boy, are they all happy to be here with one another. That's pleasant to be around and so is the unleashed creativity. I'll write more about it later in the con when I may have more to say about it and maybe post some photos.

A not-dissimilar joy was witnessed last night at a local mall/shopping area called Station Square. Carolyn wanted to see fireworks so the convention organizers, who are as nice as any convention organizers I've encountered in 36 years of con-going, sent us in a limo to dine and watch pyrotechnics over the Monongahela River. The show was fine, the restaurant was fine but the best part was just to be out among all those merry folks having a good time…although I always feel odd getting out of a limousine. I always spot someone who sees the car pull up and watches eagerly to see what beautiful celebrity is about to emerge…and it's me. You can smell the look of disappointment. It's like, "Oh. I was hoping it would be somebody." I wonder if they'd feel better if I started yelling, "No pictures, please!"

I'll have more to report tomorrow. It's three hours later here than the time stamp on this posting will indicate and we have a busy day ahead of us. G'night.

Glenn Greenwald on America's popularity and moral standing around the world. I don't necessarily think we ought to be panicked when they don't love us in some other nation. But a lot of the things "we're" doing that are lowering world-wide opinion of the United States are things we don't like, either.

The late, great Bert Lahr was best known for his classic role as The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. But there were a few years there where people knew him best as the guy in the Lay's Potato Chip commercials. Here's one of those classic spots…

There's a limit as to how much of a candidate's distant past should be held against them today. I have enough trouble finding things to admire in most people currently seeking high office without dragging in the scummy thing someone did in 1973 or whenever. On the other hand, it doesn't reflect well on the present-day human being when they attempt to mispresent or otherwise fib about past indiscretions and deeds. Which brings us to Fred Thompson. As you may know, I'm a major wallower in Watergate, still utterly fascinated with almost every aspect of what some thought would be a major shift in the tone and ethics of American politics. It wasn't. About the only lessons that came out of it were "Don't get caught" and the rarely-heeded "The cover-up is worse than the crime."

Fred Thompson was the Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel. Nothing wrong with that. Somebody had to defend Richard Nixon in that venue. But it long ago struck me that once Nixon went down, a lot of folks who'd been fervently taking his side and branding the opposition as partisan witch-hunters suddenly began taking credit for leading that witch-hunt in the first place. And there was Thompson at the head of the pack, pretending he'd only been after the truth and had helped bring it out. This recent article pretty well summarizes the revisionism.

I have little enthusiasm for any of the announced candidates for president and the lowest regard for those who seem unlikely to start undoing the damage of Bush-Cheney. So that puts Thompson way down on my list to begin with. Nothing I've seen of the man lately has changed that. He seems to think it doesn't matter what you say or what you believe as long as you're glib and you sound presidential about it. As with many a Democratic candidate, I think his current high standing in the polls is a function not of how much is known about him but how little. I don't know why we don't all just do what most of us would really like: Elect "None of the above."

Harlan J. Protass makes an interesting point about Lewis Libby's "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

So…what's about to happen to the Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood?

Sunset Gower is what they call it today but once upon a time, it was Columbia Studios. The area was nicknamed "Gower Gulch" because back then, it housed a lot of cheap, low-budget studios that made B-Movies, many of them westerns. Columbia started out as one of those ratholes but through the tenacity of its president, Harry Cohn, and filmmakers like Frank Capra, it became a major player. A lot of wonderful movies were made on that lot.

Cohn died in '58. They held his funeral on two adjoining stages at the studio. That was where Red Skelton reportedly looked around at the huge mob scene that had showed up and made the famous remark, "That just proves what Harry always said. If you give the public what they want, they'll turn out for it." Mr. Cohn, obviously, was not well-liked…but his absence seemed to harm his studio. Throughout the sixties, its fortunes declined. Even with a couple of hit TV shows, it couldn't support that huge studio complex and between 1970 and 1972, Columbia began closing it down, step by step, moving their ongoing production to other facilities, primarily the Warner Brothers Burbank lot.

The operation at Sunset and Gower was almost a ghost town for a few years there. Around 1977 however, a producer named Nick Vanoff and some partners purchased the lot and began to run it as a rental facility. I worked on that lot for a few years in the eighties and it was a great, albeit seriously old place to produce shows. It's been upgraded a lot since then and has remained a busy place…but one wonders if that's going to continue. Or if something else is in the wind as an add-on.

In 2004, a company called G.I. Partners purchased the lot and announced an ambitious upgrade construction plan, adding new structures and refurbishing the more ancient ones. A six story post-production building for the Technicolor Corporation is nearing completion. That would make it seem like Sunset Gower Studios will remain up and operating. But just last week, G.I. Partners sold out to a commercial real estate firm called Hudson Capital. It has been suggested that while G.I. Partners wanted to run Sunset Gower as just a TV-movie production facility, the new owners will want to sneak in retail stores and maybe condominiums or apartments, too. Every real estate company in town, it seems, looks at a movie studio and thinks, "Hmm…mixed use and condos."

I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. Just wondering out loud what's going to happen. No, I take that back. I know what's going to happen. Someday, there will be a big shopping center on that land, possibly with places to live, as well. If the current owners don't do it, the next ones will.