Dave Foley, formerly of NewsRadio and Kids in the Hall, is hosting a new 15-minute variety show on the Internet. It's called Can't Sleep With Dave Foley and he hosts it in the middle of his night in his bathrobe. There are guests, there's music and some of the episodes have what you might call "adult content." Ben Varkentine told me about it and I'm linking to the first episode which guests Lewis Black and musicial group Rilo Kiley…

If you like that, you can watch Episode 2 or Episode 3. That third one's recommended for Mature Audiences…as if there's anyone mature surfing the Internet.

Jacob Weisberg itemizes what he calls "The Four Unspeakable Truths" about the Iraq War. I think there's an important dialogue here that this country isn't having because of these taboos.

One of my best Conservative friends often rails at what he sees as a pernicious "political correctness" on the part of the Left that prevents, for example, a lot of valid points from being made about minorities because the observations are mislabelled as racism. I agree with a lot of his examples. Where we part company is that I see as much of that on the right. One cannot say or even suggest, for instance, that the death of any U.S. soldier was unnecessary or due to leadership incompetence or that it's anything but the noblest of sacrifices. I think everyone is now of the mind that something has been seriously wrong with the whole invasion of Iraq, or at least the aftermath of that invasion. It might be nice if we could discuss what exactly it was.

Denis Collins, Juror #9 in the Scooter Libby Trial, takes us inside the jury room.

Let's talk about Mel Blanc. Better still, let's let the fine voice actor Gregg Berger talk about Mel Blanc. This is a clip someone shot from the audience of one of the Cartoon Voice Panels I hosted at last year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. The camerawork and the ethics of taping and posting this stuff are all a little shaky but it's a good story.

I'm the big guy at the podium. Another great voice actor on the panel, Michael Bell, had just told a story about working with Mel on a Hanna-Barbera show — Speed Buggy, I think. Michael enjoyed the experience except for the fact that Mel, who was playing a talking car in that series, tended to spray large quantities of saliva in the air when he simulated the engine sounds of the character he voiced. Bell explained how he went home drenched in Blanc spit and then Berger told the following anecdote…

Now, here's something weirder. This is a video about which I know nothing other than that it purports to be footage of Mel Blanc's vocal cords as he demonstrates some of his character voices. I don't know how or where this was made or even why. I don't even guarantee it's legit. But Bob Bergen, who's the current voice of Porky Pig, sent me this link and it's too bizarre not to share it with you all…

Okay, so Jay Leno's in reruns this week. But if he were doing a show tonight, he'd do that joke.

I'm not sure how the conviction of Lewis Libby will affect the world, other than that Jay Leno will have a joke tonight about how some convicts will have a nice, spanking new Scooter to ride around the yard. Of course, we doubt that Mr. Libby will spend one night behind bars. His lawyers can easily run out the clock on appeals until George W. Bush is a lame-enough duck to issue a pardon. I wonder if the conviction means anything beyond being another in a long list of slaps to the Bush/Cheney mob.

The saddest thing to me about all this is how cynical we've all gotten with regard to the judicial system in this country. Those who'd like to see Bush 'n' Cheney brought down were so sure that Libby was, as they say in Doonesbury, "Guilty, guilty, guilty!" Those who've cast their political/emotional lot with the G.O.P. are so sure there was no harm, no foul, no case. We have this unfortunate tendency to believe that the correct verdict in any case is the one that serves our political wish list. Obviously, someone is not innocent just because they're more or less on my side, just as they aren't guilty just because they're on the other team. But it sure doesn't play out that way in Internet debates, does it?

Let's take a look at the CBS Saturday morning lineup for 1965. What strikes me about it is how unbelievably cheap the whole thing must have been for the network. CBS had purchased the Terrytoons library years earlier so they owned Heckle & Jeckle and Mighty Mouse and weren't paying anything for those two shows. Tom & Jerry and Quick Draw McGraw were old cartoons which probably didn't cost much. Tennessee Tuxedo was produced for CBS but it went on the air in '63 and I think by 1965 was all reruns.

The only show of the six that I think even produced new animation for 1965 — and they probably didn't do much — was Linus the Lionhearted. That was a fairly expensive program but Post cereals ate most of that expense. The series was done as a kind of loss leader to promote the characters who were associated with Post cereals and appeared on their packaging. I don't know how much CBS kicked in but I'll bet it wasn't much. This promo also probably didn't cost the network more than — what? — maybe fifty bucks for editing old footage and putting in a bad announcer track.

Anyway, here it is: A whole Saturday morning schedule that probably cost less for the season than one episode of any current series…

Last year, we made a fuss over the Creamy Tomato Soup that was part of the rotating selection at the Souplantation chain. (In some states, Souplantation is known as Sweet Tomatoes. By any name, it's a place where you go, pay a flat fee and tank up on salad, soup and baked goods.) I suggested you all try it and if you liked it, call the company's Customer Service line and tell 'em so. I phoned up a couple of times and a lady there told me they'd gotten "a lot" of calls but she knew of no plans to add my favorite soup to their permanent lineup.

About two weeks ago, I happened upon those old posts and on a whim, I called up and asked it they had any plans to ever bring the Creamy Tomato Soup back again. The person who answered the phone there said it didn't look good.

Well, guess what. Creamy Tomato Soup is on the Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes lineup for the month of March.

I suppose the person on the Customer Service Line just didn't know, because these things are scheduled some time in advance. But never mind that. The soup's back and I have to get over there and have a few bowls of it and see if I still like it. The last time I tasted it was before my Gastric Bypass Surgery and there are a number of things I enjoyed then that don't taste as wonderful now. Most of those are foods with high sugar content so there's a good chance the Creamy Tomato Soup will still be wonderful. That is, unless they've done something treacherous and changed the recipe. If they have, I'm blaming Cheney. It would be just like him.

This page will show you if there's a Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes near you. I do not own stock in this company but if they make the Creamy Tomato Soup permanent, I may buy some.

Back when Mike Douglas was doing his talk show out of Philadelphia, the producers occasionally brought in famed Stooge Moe Howard to guest. Invariably, pies were thrown, which was half the point of bringing Moe in at all. Someone has posted a whole mess of these segments to YouTube and I'm only going to link to this one. You can find the rest on your own if you like.

In this one, Moe, Mike and guest star Soupy Sales do a version of the Stooges' old "Maharjah" sketch that runs a little less than ten minutes and feels like thirty. It's slow going but it's worth it just to see Moe and Soupy. The older woman at the end who gets a pie in the face is Moe's wife, Helen.

I'm back, I'm back. Before I get out of Bitching and Moaning mode, what is it with all these caste systems about who boards the plane in what order? I understand letting on the elderly, infirm or even families with small children before anyone else. I even understand letting on the First Class people, though I always thought that since they sit in the front, it would be more comfy for them to get on last. But last night at Alaska Airlines, it was like, "We now invite all passengers with elite gold level in our Mileage Plan to board," followed by "We now invite all silver card holders in our mileage partners plan to board" and then "We now invite all Alaska Air Super Saver Partnership cardholders with platinum star points to board" and so on. I don't remember the specific tiers but it seemed like those of us who'd just bought tickets (i.e., 98% of us) were in the nineteenth group allowed to go down the jetway. The whole idea seemed to be to get me on last. I kept waiting for them to say, "We now invite everyone who's never written Groo the Wanderer to get on the plane."

And here's something that's long puzzled me. Why is it that at some airports, when I pick up my suitcase at the Baggage Claim, someone examines my little claim check stub to make sure I'm taking only my own luggage out of there…but in some, nobody checks? If that's a good idea sometimes, why isn't it a good idea always? Are there times when suitcase theft is more likely to occur? Or is the checking, when they do it, in the same category in which I place most of the screening they do when you board the plane and they make you throw away lighters and take off your shoes? (That category is "Useless inconveniences they put you through to make you think they're protecting you when they really aren't.")

Okay, change of mode. Let me underscore the very good time I had at the Wondercon, doing my panels and seeing friends and just talking with people. If I'd been in more of a shopping frame of mind, I could have had a very good time purchasing goodies. The place was loaded with treasures. I've been to good conventions and bad. Wondercon is one of the best.

For those of you who are interested in such silliness, here's a report on a panel I did with Sergio on Friday.

I have a ton of work to do, as well as an awful lot of unread e-mail. So posting on this site may not be up to speed for a day or three. Or four or ten.

Welcome to the weblog that is unafraid to tackle tough questions. Today's tough question is: "Why do airlines keep telling me to be 90 minutes early for flights that take off two hours late?"

Tonight, we're coming to you from San Francisco International Airport where I arrived at 7:15 for an 8:50 flight which they're now saying may (a note of hopeful expectation in that "may" take off at 10:15. Fortunately, I found a nice eatery here in the airport called Max's Deli that has a pretty good matzo ball soup and — of greater importance — tables on which one can dine and set up one's laptop. Let's see if my patience or my Lithium Ion battery runs out first.

Today's session of the Wondercon didn't seem as crowded as yesterday's. Then again, there were scenes in Ben-Hur that didn't seem as crowded as yesterday's Wondercon. The joys were many, the complaints were the usual for most cons…rotten, overcrowded food stands and long lines and nearby hotels and eateries that charge on the presumption that everyone's on an expense account and is charging it all to the home office. I think I may stop bitching about these things and just learn to accept them as a part of most convention-going. Wherever you go, no matter what the con, the food at the convention center is going to be awful and way overpriced, and there's nothing the operators of any one convention can do about it.

I did a nice panel today called "The Art of the Cover" with Al Feldstein, Nick Cardy, Gene Colan, Phil Jimenez, Tony Harris and Michael Turner. I showed random covers these gentlemen had drawn for comics and they discussed how and why they'd done what they'd done. Not only did the audience seem to find it interesting but the artists were intrigued by the "shop talk" aspect of it all. Gene was supposed to leave early for another engagement but he elected to stay because he found the discussion so enlightening. (Gene's been drawing comics since Johannes Gutenberg used to print them between running off Bibles. And I suspect that one of the reasons Gene is still doing stellar work, eclipsing his previous personal bests, is that he doesn't regard himself as too experienced to learn something from someone else.)

Not much more to report other than to say it was a great con, as always. Oh, yeah — and there's this: Late in the day, Russ Heath (who's been doing comics about as long as Gene Colan) packed up his table and left, and he gave me permission to set up my laptop there and get a little work done, which I did. So I'm sitting there typing on this here machine and a young man comes up with a pile of DC war comics. Seeing the sign on the table which still says "Russ Heath," he informs me that he always loved the way I drew Sgt. Rock and asked if I'd mind signing a batch. I know Russ doesn't look his age but still…

I can't post this from the airport without paying T-Mobile a serious chunk of change for wireless access so I'll put it up on the site when I get home. If you're reading this, I did. I hope the time stamp below isn't too late.

Whadda ya say we all watch an interview with Charles Schulz? Here's a nice little ten minute chat with the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang. He makes a good point in this, which is that people often said that Peanuts was about children talking like adults…but their dialogue was only slightly like adults, not a lot like the way adults talk. There were occasional exceptions in the strip but only occasional ones.

Second day of the con: Same as the first, only a lot more people there. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, you could have lifted your feet off the floor and just let the crush of humanity carry you down the center aisle. But off to most sides, it was a bit less cramped and most people didn't seem to mind a lot.

I did three panels, starting with a nice chat with Nick Cardy, one of the great comic book artists. Here's a link to Nick's website and if you browse about, you'll agree with the way I introduced him: No one ever drew handsomer men or sexier ladies. We discussed his work for DC, particularly on Bat Lash, and Nick narrated a slide show of his paintings and advertising work. He did some real nice movie posters but the paintings he did for his own edification were even better.

Then came a MAD panel with Sergio Aragonés and Al Feldstein. Al was Editor-in-Chief of the rag for more than a quarter of a century, back when it was selling more than 2.5 million copies per issue. (Current sales are a lot less…like 2.4 million less.) Al was fascinating and some publisher is missing a bet by not making a grab for his autobiography, which he's still trying to find a home for. It's the story of how he went from writing and editing horror comics that almost killed the industry to helming the best-selling humor magazine of all time. He took over MAD after its original editor, Harvey Kurtzman, departed with most of the staff. In an amazingly short span of time, Al stepped in, restaffed and reinvented the magazine and it became a success in so many ways, including its influence on a generation or two. Somebody, please. Publish this man's book so his story can be properly documented and shared with the world.

Lastly for today, I did an interview with Gene Colan. Here's a link to his website — and come to think of it, here's a link to Al Feldstein's website.

Everyone who ever read Marvel Comics knows what a class act Gene has always been. He drew most of the major Marvel titles at one time or another but particularly distinguished himself on Iron Man, Daredevil, Tomb of Dracula and Dr. Strange. We discussed all that and how movies had played such a vital role in his work. People write a lot about the intersection of those two media, film and comics, but it was never more visible than in Gene's work, especially in how he "lit" his world and positioned light and shadow. If you were there and had as much fun listening to Gene as I did interviewing him, you had a great time.

I roamed the hall after that and enjoyed talking to an awful lot of people whose names I won't itemize. If you were among them, it was a pleasure to chat with you. Maybe I'll see the rest of you there tomorrow.

Steve Duin reports on the panel I did yesterday at WonderCon with Gerard Jones.