Book: Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss by Tom Davis

39 Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: The Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There

Tom Davis

I am a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, especially the early days, so I eat up anything to do with that era of the show. This autobiography falls into that category.

Tom Davis, as few of you may know, was part of the comedy team "Franken and Davis" with current Minnesota Senator Al Franken. Both became writers on the first five years of SNL and were also featured performers during that time as well. They also came back for a second stint in the 80s-90s.

This autobiography is unlike any that I have ever read. It reads less as a form of narrative than Davis presenting the facts of his life as he thinks of them. He jumps back and forth in time at will where most writers of memoirs would present the facts in strict chronological order.

This gives the book the feel that you are sitting with Davis somewhere and having a conversation with him.

Davis has had an interesting life outside of SNL. The book details his friendship with the Grateful Dead and Timothy Leary, a trip to India, several run ins with the Rolling Stones. There are enough anecdotes in his life that he could fill seven books.

Davis is also an excellent writer. The first mention of John Belushi's death in book is so poignant and moving that you can't help but be affected by Davis' words.

If you are a fan of the early days of SNL, then this book is a must have. He might not have been a break out star on the show, but he lived one hell of an interesting life.

Book: Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers

Devil's Cape (Discoveries)

Rob Rogers

Devil's Cape is part of what I hope will become a trend in books--comic book stories delivered in novel form. Much like the recent Soon I Will Be Invincible, it deals with costumed heroes and villains.

And it is one great book. I would dare say one of the best that I have ever read. Seriously.

The title refers to the setting for the novel, a town in Louisiana. It is a town were evil has won. They control the police, they have their hands in all the businesses, nothing happens inthe town without their sayso.

Any hero that rises up against them loses, and usually is slaughtered mercilessly.

However, a trio of new heroes enter the scene. Each has their own ties to the violence of the city. Some lost family members to the villains that run the city, some have family members in the villains number, some were villains themselves.

This was Rob Rogers first novel. But you would never believe that by reading it. He weaves a unique and realistic world like he's been writing novels for years.

His characters are vibrant and realistic. He plays with the reader's expectations of them like a master. The ones you think will end up good guys turn bad, and vice versa. And never to any of them ring untrue. 

He uses the passage of time excellently. The first eleven chapters span 35 years, providing the exposition in an interesting and effective way. And the way he jumps back and forth through time during the climax enhances the drama and suspense and makes it a real page turner.

If you are a fan of comic books, or just a fan of a good, easy to read page turner, then I can't recommend Devil's Cape highly enough. After reading this, I get the feeling that I am getting in on the ground floor of and author who will be a major talent in the future. Pick this book up and you can say you have been reading Rob Rogers before he hit big.  

Book: Comedy At The Edge by Richard Zoglin

Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America

Richard Zoglin

I had been inspired after reading Steve Martin's memoir to further read about stand up comedy in the 1970's. Lucky for me, Richard Zoglin decided to write a book about it.

This book is pretty comprehensive for any fans of comedy. It starts with the metamorphosis of both George Carlin and Richard Pryor and the effect on the generation of comedians that started after them.

Zoglin talks to almost all the major players: Robin Williams, Carlin, Albert Brooks, and even the recluse, and hard to interview David Letterman.

The story spans both coasts and traces the rise of the comedy clubs and the importance of Johnny Carson and the Tonight Show on many a career.

The one flaw about the book, and it is a minor one, is that Zoglin is a bit repetitive with his anecdotes. Say, the same story by Jerry Seinfeld speaking on how Robert Klein influenced him appears when Zoglin talks about Klein and about Seinfeld. And it is repeated almost word for word. That is a bit distracting.

But, like I said, that was relatively minor. This book is an excellent history of a unique artform. If you like comedy, you'll like this one.  

Recent Spate of False Memoirs Troubles Me.

It all started with James Frey, who gained national infamy when his some of his claims in his memoir, "A Million Little Pieces" were shown to be untrue. You'd think that after that, authors and publishers would wise up and that sort of thing would never happen again. But in the last two weeks, now less than two other memoirs were exposed to be factually challenged. More so than even Frey's book.

Last week, it was revealed Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," in which she claims that, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, was untrue. She didn't live with wolves, nor in the woods. She wasn't even Jewish. Her parents were killed, but not because they were Jews, but rather because they were resistance fighters.

You'd think that the publishers might have been a little suspicious about the fact she claimed to live in the woods, being protected by wolves. But I guess they didn't doubt her truthiness because she mentioned the Holocaust. I mean, who would be a scuzzy enough to lie about the Holocaust for personal gain.

If that wasn't bad enough. this week it was revealed that Margaret B. Jones lied in her memoir "Love and Consequences". In it, she claimed she, a white woman, was raised in poverty by a black foster mother and sold drugs for a gang in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood. Turns out she grew up in an affluent suburb with her biological parents. Never lived with a foster family, never lived in the Hood, never sold drugs for the Bloods.

Luckily, this trend in fake true stories is not going to change the way book publishers do business. Which is good because I have been shopping my memoir around. And unlike these others, my memoir is 100% true (wholly depending on your definition of the word "true". And "is". )

What's more, I have decided to print an excerpt from the first chapter here in my blog. I figure, what better way to get the bidding war started. The title, you impatiently ask?

RAISED BY POODLES, The Bill Gatevackes Story. A Memoir

Chapter one

Fleas are the bane of my existence.

 

Mom

Some might have called Sally a bitch. I called her mom.

She stood about 15 inches high at her highest point. She had intelligent eyes and grey fur which came to puffs at her ankles. She was the poodle, and she helped make me the man I am today.

How did I come to find myself in Sally's "pack". Well, I only heard this information second hand. So, I cannot verify the accuracy of this account.

My biological father is unknown to me. He could have been the lifeguard at the local pool. He could have been Englebert Humperdick. Or he could have been a member of the 1970 New York Football Giants. I just don't know. But I do know who my birth mom was.

My biological mother, I would later find out, was named Bambi Barbie, a teenage girl who found herself pregnant after sleeping with one of those 27 men. I like to think that she, freaked out by the thought of having a child at 17, gave me up to adoption and that is how I found myself in Sally's happy home. But the truth was far worse.

My mother was a Tabsca addict. You might be unfamiliar with "Tabsca", a hallucinogen with a cult popularity in the 1970s. It was a dangerous cocktail of "Tab" and "Fresca". Separately, they were refreshing carbonated beverages. Combined, they formed a highly powerful psychotropic drug 10 times as potent as LSD.  

One November, my birth mother went shopping for Thanksgiving after a six day Tabsca bender. She says the last thing she remembers is freebasing a dose of the "Tan Demon" in the car right before going into the supermarket. The next thing she remembers is arriving back at her apartment and seeing a 13 lb. turkey the car seat. She assumes that while in the store, she put switched me out with the poultry. She put my jumper on the bird and left the store with it, leaving me in the refrigerated bin with the other turkeys. Such is the horrific effects of Tabsca.

When I related this tale of abandonment, people expect me more upset than I am about the event. "She got you confused with a frozen turkey!" they ask. "Doesn't that piss you off?"

I guess I should be angrier. But I take a rather zen approach to it. This is what fate had in store for me. It was supposed to happen. This is the way my life was supposed to go.

That, and I'm glad my birth mother mistook me for a turkey while we were still in the supermarket and not when she was preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

###

That's all for now. Agents and publishers, contact me if you want more. As to what to expect from future chapters, here is a little taste:

"Sally named me Wrrrraowrrr, which translates into human as "Fluffy". I guess this is an ironic reference to my being completely devoid of fur. Kind of like calling a bald man "Curly", a tall man "Tiny" or a dumb man "President of the United States""

"I remember getting that first, simple, black leather collar. I knew then that I finally belonged."

"The family cat didn't like me. I still have the scars to prove it. But I gave as good as I got."

"I remember to this day exactly what I said when social services took me away from Sally. I said, "Aaaaooorrrrrroooo!!!""

"He said "Try these man, you'll taste the raaaaiiiinnnnbooow!" That was the day my Skittles addiction began."

Book: Soon I Will Be Invincible

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel

Austin Grossman

One of the books I brought on the trip with me was this one. I have been reading this, like I do with a lot of books, for several months. Not that it was bad, but just because I have a tenancy to jump from book to book.

This book was very good. But of course, I am a comic book fan, so I may be prejudiced.

It tells the story of two people--Fatale, a female cyborg who has just joined a JLA-like team called "The Champions (I wonder if they got the same letter from a lawyer that Marvel did) and a Dr. Doom/Lex Luthor-like Doctor Impossible.

To me, the book seemed like Grossman took a classic Marvel comic from the 1970's, and built his book around what might have happened behind the scenes.

There are a lot of good characters in the book. Both leads have a bundle of insecurities which endear them to readers. You will secretly root for bad guy Impossible. And you will get payoff for your rooting.

This is a novel that will build on what comic fans love about the medium but stands as a pretty good read all on its own.  

Book: Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

Steve Martin

I just finished reading this book last night after getting it at Christmas, so it is a quick read.

I am a fan of Steve Martin so I was predisposed to like this. This isn't a biography, per se, but a telling of how he developed his comic sensibility.

It covers the early part of his creative life. It starts with him as a teenager working at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm up to his last stand up comedy concert in the early '80s. We see how he transformed himself from a stage magician to a comic--how he developed his act, how he chose his jokes, and the epiphanies he found along the way.

He does touch on his private life a bit but he doesn't dwell. You don't get the lurid details of his love life or his struggles with his father. But you get the sense of how they effected him.

The book moves fast. Martin has found a way to provide just enough information in a quick pace. Let's face it, he could probably write a book about his involvement with Saturday Night Live alone. But, as it is, it gets only part of a chapter.

Don't get me wrong, you are not wanting for more or feel cheated. I just included that to illustrate the tone.

I highly recommend this to any fan of Steve Martin or any aspiring stand-up comedian.

Chuck Norris sues to keep the "Truth" from getting out.

The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human

Ian Spector

I love it when a book that I bought might become a collector's item.

According to CNN, Chuck Norris is suing the Penguin Group and Ian Spector of a recent book collecting certain "truths" about the actor that made the rounds on the Internet.

Yes, I did buy this book (Don't look at me that way! I bought it at Barnes & Noble with a 25% off coupon on top of my member discount. It came out that they almost paid ME to buy the book.) because I though some of the entries were funny. But reading the book (one night, the night I bought it, pretty much in one sitting. It is not a deep book), I knew that this lawsuit was bound to happen.

By now, everybody out there must have seen the original website or got an e-mail with the sayings, right? The stuff like "Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he never cries." and "The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain"? The book has a lot of witty ones like that. But it also has a lot of crude, off-color ones as well.  So many that were so raunchy that I thought to myself "No way a Republican like Chuck Norris would find that acceptable".

So, I knew a lawsuit was coming. Actually, I though there would be many. One from Chuck Norris, and loads from the posters who submitted the pithy sayings Spector used for his book. After all, even though he is listed as the author, the book is just a compilation of reader submissions to his website.

I am of two minds on this. First, Chuck Norris has gotten a bit of a career resurgence from this phenomenon. I don't believe that it's a coincidence that he started getting soda and car commercials and began being interviewed about his political views so soon after this website started. It created a buzz that he used to his advantage.

On the other hand, some of the entries are crude. Crude doesn't automatically mean funny. Crude can be funny, but it follows the same rules as anything else that is funny. The crudest entries here are going more for shock value than a witty mocking of Chuck's tough guy persona.

Regardless, if I was a man in Chuck Norris' position, I wouldn't be comfortable having some of those crude "truths" in a book, even if I knew they were in jest.

But does he have the right to sue? On the basis of what's written, probably not. He gets off a lot easier than Jerry Falwell did in Hustler and Larry Flint won against Falwell's lawsuit. But the case seems to be about the use of his name and image (both which, as you can imagine, is all over the book) without hios permission. That he might have more of a leg to stand on, I say having nary a law degree.

But oone of the things he is asking for is for publication to be ceased and all copies being recalled. Some sort of settlement is more likely, but if a recall does happen, my copy might be hitting eBay.  

My thoughts on the whole "Dumbledore is gay" thing.

If you haven't heard the story behind it yet. read here:

My two cents:

Making a major character in your novels gay as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" doesn't really work if you have to explain to readers months after the last book in the series ends that he actually was gay.

I mean, I guess it didn't really come up in the series, but as far as I got in the books there was no indication as to Dumbledore's sexuality at all. Not that the opportunity presented itself, but still.

I support broadening people's minds on this subject, but this wasn't as big a weapon for gay rights that J.K. Rowling might think it is.  

Books: Reading Comics by Douglas Wolk

Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean

Douglas Wolk

To be honest, I didn't make it all through this book. I took it out from the library, renewed it once and still couldn't finish it.

Why? Well, because Wolk doesn't make it easy for readers to get involved in the book.

I wonder what Wolk's idea behind this book was. On the surface, it seems that Reading Comics was to be a guide to for new readers to the world of comics. But the way he writes it is so elitist that I could see it failing in that task.

The first part of the book is where Wolk explains what a comic book is. At times, it appears that he went through a dictionary with a highlighter, and decided to find a way to put the biggest and most obscure words into his text.

I think I know what he was going for. He was trying to show that this is an intelligent dissection of the comic book art form. That Cahmics are Ahrt Dahling! But you can be intelligent without being obtuse.

As you can see in this blog, I use a lot of "big" words too. But not as many as Wolf did. The language of Reading Comics is not inviting. And if you are trying to welcome the largest number of people into reading comics, inviting would be better than exclusive.

The second part of the book deals with critical essays about many different comic creators. Wolk seems to go out of his way to point out something negative about each of his subjects, be they Will Eisner or Alan Moore. I suppose this is in the interests of providing a balanced view to the reader. But, if you are trying to show the good points the medium has to offer, it really doesn't do much good to tear it down in the same paragraph.

This is just my personal opinion, and all based on the idea that Reading Comics is meant to entice new readers in. If it was marketed to fans, I probably wouldn't have as big a problem with it. But as a cheerleader for the "art form", I think it is lacking.

The O.J. Simpson book debacle.

News today of The Goldmans and Denise Brown appearing on Oprah on September 13th got me thinking about the whole "If I Did It" fiasco. Several other times along this long and windy path the scandal took I was compelled to write something about it. Now, I feel I just have to.

First of all, the idea of the book was even thought of being publish I find repugnant. Here, you have a man accused of a double homicide, found innocent by a jury of his peers, writing a book on how he might have killed them if he actually did. Am I the only one who sees a problem with it? If he did it or if he didn't do it, he, and the book publishers, are exploiting a horrible loss of life for a profit. If O.J. is guilty, he got away with murder and is making a buck of it over a decade later (although, O.J. might not have had that money for long" 

Judith Reagan's defense of the project, summed up here, essentially said that she is publishing the book so O.J. could finally confess his crimes and his victims, and all victims of spousal abuse, could have some peace and closure.

This is the stupidest defense of all time. IT WS NOT A CONFESSION! If the book was a confession, it would be titled "I Did It" not "If I Did It". That "If" adds plausible deniablilty to the book and allows O.J. to keep, however slim it might be, an air of innocence. The "If" gives O.J. an out.

So, public outcry is so great that book was cancelled. I thought that the case was closed, and the whole thing was over and done with.

Then, it was announced last month that a bankruptcy court gave rights to the book to the Goldman family. You'd think the family bought the rights so no other company would pick it up and try and publish it, sparing the family grief and sorrow.

Instead, the Goldmans are going to try to publish the book and try to get a TV or Film project done in efforts to recoup some of the $33.5 million dollars in damages they were awarded in the civil case against Simpson.

Oh, and to get justice for their son Ron, as per this quote from Goldman at the time of they were awarded the rights:

"After 13 years of trying to get some justice for Ron, today's the first time that we had any sense of seeing some light at the end of the tunnel."

Justice? Justice? How is publishing this book justice?

Wasn't it enough justice when the wrongful death trial was decided in your favor?

Wasn't it enough justice when O.J.'s plans to get the books on shelves failed?

Isn't it justice enough to sit on the rights so the book will never see the light of day?

Goldman wants us to think that he is hurting Simpson by publishing the book, that he will be making money of the rights so O.J. doesn't. That's just stupid. O.J. wasn't making anything off it anyway. And I doubt that anybody would have fought for the rights if Goldman didn't scarf them up. The book was dead and toxic. I'd argue that if anybody besides Goldman got the rights, the book still would not see the light of day.

If, somehow, that by publishing this book that the case against Simpson would be reopened and he might actually be convicted of the slayings, then I would say that Goldman's justice argument might hold more water. But that can't happen due to double jeopardy and the pesky "If" in the original title.

So, what this all comes out looking like a ploy for the Goldman's to get money. Perhaps they truly believe that they are getting justice against Simpson by doing this, but in reality, they're not. Is it a shame that the Goldmans are having such a hard time collecting the funds from Simpson? Yes. And if there was something I could do to fix that, I would. But the money they make after the portion of the proceeds goes to the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice will assumedly go right in their pockets. And that looks like they are after financial gain more than anything.  

I hope Oprah asks the hard questions on the 13th. I'd like to find out what really is going on here.

More fun with the Atari 2600 label maker!

Yes, I have already had some fun with the Atari 2600 Label Maker:

 

Gates rants atari

But Dave of Dave's Longbox has inspired me to get even more goofy with it. Here we go!

 

Jane Austin AF

DESCRIPTION: Mr. Darcy has been kidnapped!!! Now you, as Jane Austin, must lead a team of highly trained commandos on a top secret mission! Armed with only a stunning wit and a mastery of the English language, can you even hope to over come the forces of the evil Dr. Conventional Social Mores of the Time!

 

Paris hilton

DESCRIPTION: This is the perfect game for people who think video games are too hard. What happens is Paris Hilton will do something stupid and the players will mock her. Extra points go to the first player who makes her cry or has her mother scream at you.

 

Celebrity knitting

DESCRIPTION: Can you make mittens faster than Jack Nicholson? Can you make a sweater faster than Russell Crowe? Can you make an toaster cozy faster than Will Smith? You will find out in this game as you go head to head with Hollywood's finest to see who is the best knitter in the land! YARN NOT INCLUDED.

 

Saving ll

DESCRIPTION: Co-sponsored by People and US magazines, the goal of this game is to save Lindsay Lohan's career and or life. You can play as either her rehab counselor, her agent or the LAPD. Your mission? Keep her away from her wacky parents and out of any kind of trouble.

 

Recreational gardening

DESCRIPTION: Do you like gardening, but hate getting your hands dirty, opening seed packets or even going outside? Then this game is for you! Now, from the comfort of your own home, you can experience the thrill of outdoor gardening with out ever leaving the house! No muss, no fuss!

 

Bush Atari

DESCRIPTION: In this game, you will be given a series of simple tasks and your mission will be to do them with out looking stupid. Some of the tasks include: eating a pretzel, leaving a room, and talking. For bonus points, you will be asked not to get us locked into a neverending land war in the Middle East.

 

Lolcats

DESCRIPTION: the LOLcats trend is sweeping the nation! Now, anyone can do it! In this game, players will be given a series of adorable animal pictures. The objective is to write the cutest caption ever! Extra points given to using the "perfect voice", wittiest reference to the situation, and the most heinous mangling of the human language.

 

COVERING MY BUTT: This blog post is meant to be taken in a humorous light and is intended as satire. Any similarities to real games is purely coincidental. All photos copyright their respective copyright holders.

Entertainment Weekly ticks me off...

Ew simpsons cover

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly really ticked me off. No, not because it had four variant covers. I have a subscription, so the variant cover thing didn't really affect me that much.

No, it's the coverage of the forthcoming San Diego Comic-Con that did it.

It started with the title "Geek Revival". EW has been covering Comic-Con for several years now and has alway found a way to work the word "geek" into its articles somewhere.

Geek is a word, like certain other epithets, that I could refer to myself as one and it would be fine, I could refer to my like minded friends as such and it would be okay, but if the uninitiated says it, it is insulting and offensive.

The repeated use of the word by EW when it covers Comic-Con and other comic related news items strikes me that they think covering Comic-Con is beneath them. That they would wish anything but to associated with those freaky, costume wearing weirdos who like comics, anime and sci-fi.

But then, I rethought. Maybe I was being too harsh. EW does give comics a lot of page space. As a matter of fact, the Books section in this very issue leds off with a full page review of comic writer Warren Ellis' new novel.

But then, I read the first paragraph:

"Cannes has Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the Croisette. Sundance has Robert Redford on the slopes. And Comic-Con? It's got Klingons in Renaissance costumes running around downtown San Diego."

 This is especially annoying when the list, later in the article, that Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Edward Norton and Judd Apatow will be there. Sure, those guys aren't Bradgelina-type famous or as legendary as Redford, but they are nothing to sneeze at either. Yes, there will be Klingons and Stormtroopers. But there are some freaky people at Cannes too. Usually, they are brought over by Troma or Porn companies, but still. The point EW was trying to make is that Cannes and Sundance are classy and cool, Comic-Con is dorky and silly.

Let's talk about the title of the print article, by looking up the meaning of the word "revival" as it appears on Encarta.

re·viv·al [ ri vv'l ] (plural re·viv·als)

noun

Definition:

1. renewal of interest: a renewal of interest in something that results in its becoming popular once more

2. new production: a new production of a play or opera that has not been performed recently

3. process of reviving somebody: the process of bringing somebody back to life, consciousness, or full strength

4. recovery: the recovering of life, consciousness, or full strength

5. religion renewed religious interest: a new interest in religion, or the reawakening of such interest

6. christianity evangelical Christian meeting: a meeting or a series of meetings of evangelical Christians intended to awaken religious fervor in those who attend

7. law reestablishing of legal validity: the renewal of the validity of a contract or the effect of a judicial decision

Now, I don't know which definition EW is working under. Some might say number 6, which doesn't really apply but kinda sorta fits. But the tagline to the print article leads me to believe that it means definition number one:

"EW scopes out Comic-Con, the convention that's suddenly bringing Hollywood to its knees."

Suddenly? Suddenly? You've been covering the convention in one form or another for at least 5 years? What is the statute of limitations on the word "suddenly"? It's got to be under five years.

Pop culture has been taken over by the "geeks" for years and years. They haven't gone away and come back. And it doesn't need to awaken any sort of fervor.  They have been responsible for the movie success of Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow, the popularity of sci-fi and superhero fare in the movies and TV and made Harry Potter a worldwide phenomenon.

Don't believe me? Look at this year's spate of movie releases. You have Transformers for the toy "geeks", Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, 300, and Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer for comic "geeks", Shrek the Third and Ratatouille for the Animation "geeks" and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Harry Potter "geeks". And so on and so on. This year could be the biggest grossing year in the history of movies, thanks mainly to "geek" films.

But EW is trying to make it seem like it just happened and it is just a temporary stage. The latter might be true, but the previous isn't.

They quote Brad Meltzer, who shall now be referred to as the self-hating geek, to put a negative spin on it:

''It's the golden age of geekdom,'' says frequent Comic-Con conventioneer Brad Meltzer, a novelist and comics writer. ''Hollywood has figured out the location of the supergeek clubhouse. They've jimmied the locks, moved in, and spruced the place up. And we're sort of sadly and pathetically okay with it, because they bring lots of hot actresses and nice film clips.''

On the surface, that seems to be some strained wit and fairly innocuous. But what is Meltzer really saying? He's saying that Hollywood is the dominant form of art and comic fans are submissive and at the whim of Hollywood bigwigs. When, really, it's closer to the other way around. Hollywood is coming to Comic-Con because of the power genre fans have to make or break a movie. Therefore, Hollywood is coming to the "supergeek clubhouse" humbly and submissively, presenting offerings that they hope the genre fans will like and enjoy and tell their friends about.

While EW seems clueless to this, Hollywood producers and directors are not:

"''We premiered a special trailer we had prepared,'' says director Zack Snyder. ''The crowd demanded that we reshow it — three times. After Comic-Con, 300 changed its place in the collective consciousness and in geekdom in general.'' Says Murphy, ''You go to Comic-Con, tell a roomful of fans what your movie is going to be, and you end up not only reaching them but 500 Internet reporters as well.'' Adds a studio exec, ''I'd much rather spend money on Comic-Con than on a splashy premiere the day before my movie opens.''"

EW seems to think that San Diego Comic-Con is a small fringe of geeks and is amazed that Hollywood will kowtow to it. But Comic-Con is a small microcasm representing a real, large and valid sub-culture. One that EW will one day be forced to respect. After all, their coverage has grown from a small blurb to a one page article to two pages leading off the "News and Notes" section. In a few years, the Comic-Con will probably be a cover story in a few years. But EW will probably still call us geeks.  

To read the article online, click here. 

Vox Hunt: On Writing

Book: Show us a book that has helped or inspired your writing.

On Writing

Stephen King

I've read a lot of books on writing, but this one has helped me a lot. It's entertaining, informative and made me respect Stephen King even more.

Vox Hunt: On Writing

Book: Show us a book that has helped or inspired your writing.

On Writing

Stephen King

I've read a lot of books on writing, but this one has helped me a lot. It's entertaining, informative and made me respect Stephen King even more.

Book: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel

Michael Chabon

Something bothers me about this book. It's the same thing that bothered me about The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

In that book, he spent chapters and chapters developing the character of Kavalier. He detailed his adventures with a Golem he brought in from the old country, his time in the arctic, and his time in the military.

When it came time to develop Clay's character, he did only one thing. He made him a closeted gay. What's more, this feature of Clay's personality caused the character to be focus of a government raid and also to be publicly outed before a Congressional committee. Basically, by being who he is, his life is ruined.

In this book, a Mendel Shpilman is the scion of a powerful Jewish Rabbi in a militant sect. He may also be the messiah.

But he is also a closeted gay. This feature of his personality causes him to break ties with his family, reject his possible destiny, decent into the depths of heroin addiction and eventually leads to his murder.

Now, best case scenario, Chabon simply went to the same well twice when it came to character traits. However, it could be portrayed that the point being made is that being a closeted homosexual is bad. A less enlightened person might just interpret this as simply that being gay is bad. I'm not sure that I am comfortable with people thinking that or being encouraged to think that.

It seems, and this is just speculation and opinion, is that Chabon has some kind of personal issue regarding this topic and is using his characters to work it out. To have two characters in two separate novels be closeted gay and have their lives ruined by it seems to be more than a coincidence. And I don't just don't like the point these two occurrence could be making.

Other than that slight annoyance, the book was very good. It is a detective novel with an "alternate Earth" twist. Instead of settling permanently in Israel after WW II, the Jews settled temporarily in Sitka, Alaska. The murder of Shpilman comes at a time when the lease in Alaska is up and the Jews are in a state of uncertainty. The investigation of the murder leads to the discovery of a conspiracy that is wide ranging and pervasive.

The characters are well defined and the plot rolls deftly through a variety of twists and turns, coming to a satisfying conclusion. I liked this book, but I would have liked this book more if not for the thing I mentioned above.

Book: Hollywood Babylon

Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets

Kenneth Anger

In preparation for my trip out to Los Angeles, I picked up a guide book that listed locations of historical importance to movies and television in Los Angeles. They could be movie studios, shooting locations, and. more often then not, the places where some of the greatest tragedies in Hollywood occured.

In listing the places where these suicides, murders and other nefarious acts took place, they also mentioned Hollywood Babylon, which supposedly was supposed to go into more detail into them.

Obviously, I had to get it.

See, I have a morbid, dark side. I am also, I am ashamed to say, very nosy. I need to have the story behind the story. So, when I heard of the content of this book, I had to check it out.

The book reads like a it was written by a casual acquaintence who likes to impress you with the amount of gossip they can spread.

Originally written in 1954, with a chapter or two written after for later editions to cover the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Sharon Tate, Jayne Mansfield, and others, the book mainly covers the early days of Hollywood, from the turn of the century to the 1940's.

There seems to be a popular belief that the years prior to the 1960s were a simpler, more innocent time. If the stories in this book are to be believed, they most certainly weren't. Rock 'n Roll wasn't around at the time, so they made due with more Sex and Drugs.

If I had to pick one word to describe the book, the word would be lurid. Not only in detailing the stories, but also in the inclusion crime scene photos of corpses or the rich and famous and pictures of many a star in the nude. Some of it is in bad taste, made more so by some of the captions included. This is not a book for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

It is a quick read and interesting if you take it with a grain of salt. It did provide me with a story idea. A Vertigoesque one which will probably never see the light of day.

Books: Wertham was Right!

Wertham Was Right!: Another Collection Of POV Columns

Mark Evanier

I know what you're thinking: "Two books in one day!!!! You're a machine, Bill" Actually, A) I finished Thunderstruck yesterday, and B) I usually read about 20 books at the same time, bouncing back and forth between them all. I has been know for me to spend years to finish one book, but sometimes I finish two in close proximity to each other.

But if a book is really good, I usually breeze through it. And this one is a good book. If you search around the blog, you'll see a review for Mark Evanier's other book, Comics and the other Necessiies of Life. This one is a follow up to that one and is just as good.

It seems like the articles in this volume are a little bit longer.  But that's okay because Evanier is such a good writer that you really don't notice much.

The title comes from an article where Evanier examines the now classic book Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederic Wertham. Another good part about this book is that when I ordered it on Amazon, Seduction of the Innocent came up as being eligible to be ordered. Yes, the most infamous book in comic history, the book that cause EC Comics to die and changed the face of comics forever, was apparently reprinted in 1996.Of course, I had to but it. Expect a review of it here in the future.

Books: Thunderstruck.

Thunderstruck

Erik Larson

I was a big fan of Erik Larson's last book, The Devil and the White City. It told two stories. One, it was the about the creation of the 1893 World's Fair. Two, it was the tale of one of America's first serial killers, H.H. Holmes.  The hook was that both stories played over time, 1893, and in the same place, Chicago. The dichotomy made for an interesting read. The fact that a stunning act of creativity could happen in at the same time and in the same place as something so vile and evil drew me in.

Thunderstruck travels along the same lines. In moves forward a few years, to the turn of the century, and acroos the sea, to London. But it also is a tale of stunning creativity-Marconi's creation of the wireless telegraph--and a murder both vile and evil--the North London Cellar Murder.

But, for some reason, I wasn't as in to Thunderstruck as I was Devil. I don't know why. Maybe because Marconi was more cold and Aloof than Devil's Burnham. Or maybe because Thunderstruck's killer, Hawley Crippen, was more sympathetic than Holmes.

Or maybe it was because the stories are not balanced. Both stories in Devil were interesting to me. So when it bounced back and forth between them, it kept my interest. In Thunderstruck, I found the murder story much more interesting than Marconi's. I couldn't wait to read more about Crippen. At times, I was bored reading about Marconi.

Overall, even though it was not as good as Devil, I liked it. But it would have been better if it focused exclusively on Crippen.   

QotD: Luxury Wish List

If money were no object, which five luxury items would you rush right out and buy? 
Submitted by lorilyn.

I am going to cheat here a little bit. I hope that's okay.

1. I would buy land here and in Nepa and build mansions in both locations. Lots of guest rooms for my out of town friends to sleep over. And comic vaults.
2. I would hit Best Buy on New Release Tuesday's and load up on all the new CD's and DVD's that came out. And then I'd do the same at Barnes & Nobles for books.
3. I would buy every comic I needed to complete all the sets I currently am collecting.
4. I would hit up Amazon.com for all the CD''s, DVD's and Books I always wanted but never could afford.
5. I'd buy some more land and build the Bracken Theater Company of Wilkes-Barre a state-of-the-art theater to call their home. And I would force them to do at least one of my plays a year.

 

Vox Hunt: Required Reading

Book:  Show us a book everyone should read before they die. 
Submitted by Rob.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Neil Gaiman

My favorite book ever.