The last week has been spent un-jetlagging myself and slowly getting back into the pre-trip groove, hence the lack of posting. I finished writing a comic script, did a small rewrite on another and handed in a presentation for yet another. The rest of this week is going to be spent doing another Nightwing, #135 specifically. I'm shooting to get that one and 136 finished by mid-May. Then two more by mid-June. At which point I'll have to do my final Raven issue and one other book I haven't mentioned yet as it hasn't been announced. Then it's back onto 'Wing. I work as hard as I'm able to keep as far ahead as possible so my books are never in trouble and my artists always have something to work on. There are times when that's impossible, but I work to make them as few as I physically can. Anyway, expect a few less postings here as I buckle myself down to work, hence my Wolf At Typewriter pic. Mark Evanier has his soup can to let people know when he's busy working. I have my hirsute typist.

Labels: Australia

Photos later. Sleep now.


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I just came back from a really unique movie experience. I went to a theater here in Brisbane that is without doubt the coolest thing ever. I went to see Shooter, a film that I think is 3/4 good but falls apart at the end - prompting me to ressurect an idea I had years ago for a company called "END OF MOVIES, INC." where I would go over a movie script, tell the people it's really good but the ending is all wrong, then fix the ending for them so it actually makes sense. Shooter is really good until the third act where it not only falls apart completely but makes no sense. But that isn't the purpose of this piece here.
The movie house, like most, has many screens, but a private room - the Gold Star - is special. It not only has wide, comfortable recliners with footrests - which some specialty houses are starting to do these days, but you can also order food before you go in, wine included, and you can tell the people to "bring in the appetizer, oh, 20 minutes after the film starts, the main course 40 minutes in, the dessert 90- minutes later, and it shows up precisely on time. And the food is actually pretty good. I'm still coming down from the wine buzz. They did forget one dish, but were quick to issue a reimbursement. As I say, the food was good, the seat was wonderful, and since the patrons are paying more than usual, and there are only a very few seats in the house, everyone was actually quiet. You come out of the movie experience feeling that you've actually spent a night doing something different and fun. It's not cheap, but definitely worth the time.

The movie house also seems to have something called Parents day. I'm not sure if it means it's for parents bringing kids so parents can have their little devils run around screaming as they do without feeling guilty, but I think that, too, is a great idea. Fact is, I think all movie houses should have a main room for people who want to see the movie. One glassed in area for parents with kids who love to scream for no reason, and a second glassed in area for people who don't realize a movie theater is not their livingroom and insist on talking during the entire show. There are times I want to turn around and go for their throats, but as Noel keeps pointing out, they'd probably pull out a gun and shoot me, so I sit there quietly. Grumbling the whole time, but generally quiet. Separate the talkers from the humans, I say.

Tomorrow is the Australian Zoo and then it's back home. And just in time. As much fun as I've been having, I miss waking up in my own bed, seeing Noel and even LD, and strangely enough, not having to eat out every meal. I probably put on 8 pounds since I've been here since it's hard to justify eating cereal alone when you're paying buffet prices. Still, this has been a great trip and one I won't soon forget.

Labels: Brisbane, Movies, Shooter

Time for Do You Have Any Questions. If you do, hit COMMENTS and ask. I'll try to answer as many as I can. Do it to it!

Labels: Questions

I promised and I deliver. Here's two cool super hero pictures from Supanova, the Australian convention I recently attended.
The colors make these two costumes, Deathstroke and daughter, look shinier than they are. In real life they were just wonderful.
I may look real dorky here; jetlag and no sleep has me staring into space, but this anime Starfire costume was perfect. And in case you think you're seeing things, she actually painted her skin to Starfire's golden color. How dedicated is that?

Labels: Supanova Pics

I'm back from swimming with sharks and I survived. What's even better is only one of the team was eaten instead of the usual two. I was at Sea World Brisbane today, and it's an absolutely beautiful park, easily the nicest of all the Sea Worlds I've been to. There is a real feel that this Sea World is all about saving sea life and that the park is something that merely exists to bring in money so they can do their real job. If you come to Australia I would strongly urge you to visit the park. I think you'll find it an amazing experience.

The expedition was arranged by writer, protographer, etc. Sonny Whitelaw. She and her friend, fellow writer Jennifer Fallon and I made the trek to Australia's gold coast. While Sonny stayed outside with her camera, Jennifer and I along with two others made our way into their shark lagoon. Here are some of the pictures Sonny took.

Labels: Sea World

Supanova, the Brisbane, Australia convention is over. It was a small show, by US standards, but a good one and from what I understand, a growing one. As I've said repeatedly, cons are made by the people in attendance, and everyone was wonderful. I was so surprised to see so many of my comics here, current ones to my old ones. I didn't realize so many of them made it all the way to Australia. As usual with most shows these days, there were a number of clebrity guests from Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars as well as other shows in attendance. There were of course comic book guests as well.

The con also seemed to encourage cos play. There was a fantastic Deathstroke costume - with Stroke's "daughter" in costume, too, as well as a wonder Starfire from the cartoon show costume; the people wearing them fit their suits perfectly, which to me is even more vital than how well the suits are made, although these were as perfect as you could get. People need to know their body types and costume accordingly. When I was younger, and a bit heavier than I am now, I came to a convention as Herbie The Fat Fury (and yes, I had to use a pillow to fill me out, that big I never was) but I knew my body type would be wrong for say, Superman. Not only weight wise, but lack of muscle wise, too. Later on, when my weight distributed differently, I came to a con as NoMan from the Thunder Agents. Some people dress all wrong for who they are, and honestly no matter what kind of body type one has, there are great costumes that can work for it. I will be getting a jpg of both the Deathstroke and Starfire costumes tomorrow that I can put on this site to show you

Tonight everyone will be getting together for on last dinner before we all go our separate ways. But before tonight, I'm heading off to Sea World to swim with sharks and other fish in one or two of their giant tanks. SF writer Sonny Whitelaw set this up and it sounds like a lot of fun. Supposedly they have wet suits for us which of course means the tanks may be freezing cold. Since I'm a cold wimp, if I don't chicken out and merely stick a toe in it, I think I'll have one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

This trip has already been filled with several of them, from feeding the kangaroos to hugging the koalas, to meeting lots of wonderful people at the con, and now diving into a tank of sharks and such. Great, great time.

Labels: Sea World, Supanova

In re-reading my previous Slingbox comments (I've been not only watching my TiVo recorded shows but shows on my other DVR as well - Slingbox Pro accepts up to 4 devices which includes one HD input) I realized I didn't mention that in showing it to you I had the picture small on my computer, but you can let it fill up the entire computer screen if you prefer. In fact, since the table where my internet connection is in my hotel is across the room from the bed, I set it on "Fit to screen" and watch it as I would any other TV from the bed. Slingbox also lets you see the image in widescreen, letterbox, full screen and several other ratios. My hotel room has an ethernet connection, but yesterday I was at a place that had wireless and it was just as good. Listen to it through a good set of earphones and the stereo is perfect.

As I mentioned, I don't know how it's done. Perhaps Harry Potter has something to do with it as this transends science and delves into magical realms. And I don't know how the Slingbox folk do it without charging some kind of subscription fee. There is one charge only - for the box, although you might also have to get a re-router if you don't have an internet plug by wherever you're putting the very tiny Slingbox in your home. I have a Buffalo router downstairs by my TV (the one I have has four inputs so I also attach my Xbox 360 to it for internet play - and speaking of which, they say you can play Xbox live over the Slingbox, too). The Buffalo sends a wireless signal to my Airport Extreme in my office upstairs and that's what is sending the signal to me. Because I set up my system myself and never have any idea what I'm doing, it's overly complicated. You can do it much, much easier. While I was home I did have to call the Slingbox folk a few times to help me set up IP addresses, etc, but as long as you don't mind calling tech support you will get it to work. And if you have anything resembling a brain or are tech savvy - which I am not - it shouldn't take you that long at all.

As for price, the Slingbox is remarkably inexpensive as far as magical electronic doodads go. I bought a Slingbox Pro (because I have more than one DVR) from amazon.com and if memory serves it was less than $225.00. Add about 50 bucks if you buy it at a local electronics store. Slingbox comes in three models. And before you ask, NO, I don't own stock in it or even know anyone who works there. I just really like the results. If you're interested, why not type Slingbox Pro into the amazon.com box to the right on this page and look for yourself. If you order it through my link, I get a few cents rebate a couple times a year. Usually nothing more than $20.00 or so, but it's the thought that counts.

Labels: Slingbox

I've been getting lots of wonderful mail and reviews on the current Nightwing issue, and I thank you all for it. But as I say in my response to one of the letters a couple posts back, if you like Nightwing, please let others know; let's get the sales soaring. Also, let DC know directly that you like what you're seeing. Don't just post to the website; write directly to them. It's important for the company to know if you like the direction we're taking, so if you feel passionately about Nightwing, send a snailmail letter to DC. Okay? By the way, although I'm the writer and I don't get to see sales figures, I do see the fan sites reprinting of the Diamond Sales Chart and the book seems to be healthy. I'm not writing this to "save" the title in any way. I just think it's important that companys know directly what you think and not just on the website which is really fan based. So don't start sweating. Just start writing.

Labels: Nightwing

Labels: Australia

If the picture above comes out clearly - it was taken by my Treo phone and that doesn't have a great cameras - you will see that I've been watching tonight's Amazing Race over my computer. That is not a big thing. Even that I'm watching tonight's Amazing Race over my computer - from Australia - isn't the really cool part of it. Though honestly it is cool. After all, downloading is something loads of people can do - although not me. What is cool is what I'm watching is my own TiVo - in Los Angeles - remotely from Australia. And I'm doing this from my new SLINGBOX that somehow send the contents of my TiVo over the net to my MacBook here down under with perfect clarity of picture and sound. Trust me, it looks a lot better than the above picture indicates. That also means I can watch American TV live here as well. All 500 channels that i get at home, which included 450 channels showing nothing but CSI shows. The only thing I have to be careful about is that I don't watch it while Noel and company are watching it at home, because once I boot up my Slingbox software, it actually takes control over the TiVo. I don't know if we could have a long distance remote control war - and I don't think I'd want to. All Noel would have to do is unplug the Slingbox and I'd be stuck here without a clue to who was kicked out of the show tonight (and I bet it won't be Sanjaya who isn't even on the show, but seems invincible anyway). Actually I do know who was kicked off - the show just ended, but for those who haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil your fun.

My TiVo tells me the season premiere of Sopranos and Entourage are waiting for me, too. But I think they may wait for the morning as I'm pretty tired. I'll explain why in a second.

One of the coolest parts of the Slingbox is that as you can see, my TiVo remote control appears next to the screen which means I have complete control over the TiVo. I can watch the shows, erase them, fast forward, freeze frame, and even set the TiVo to record something else I may have forgotten. Slingbox will also work in the same exact way with nearly every other DVR as well. It's truly a miracle. By the way, I left the remote showing because I wanted you to see it. I normally watch the Slingbox material without the remote showing. If I need it all I need to do is move the cursor and it appears again.

Just above I mentioned that I'm tired. I've spent the day touring Brisbane (incredible weather, blue skies the likes of which I haven't seen since I was a kid, and big puffy white clouds) hugging koalas and feeding kangaroos, and as soon as I can upload my pictures to the computer, I'll share them with you. But for your info, Koalas are heavier than you'd think for such little guys - but they are incredibly cute, and kangaroos eat out of your hand very gently - frankly with a lot more care that LD does if I'm holding one of her milk bones. She'd just as soon eat my fingers to get to those cookies.

Anyway, I wanted to share the miracle of the Slingbox with you if you're leaving home but still want to watch your digitally recorded material or even your local TV. I understand I could, if I want, Slingbox the video directly to my Treo phone, too, but my Treo has enough stuff in it already. And frankly I don't need to watch anything on a screen that small. I've spent most of my life wanting a wall sized TV. Why should I go to something that could be measured in millimeters?

Labels: Slingbox

Labels: Nightwing

Since I spent a couple of paragraphs putting down what has been one of my favorite shows - 24 - I thought I should also welcome back one of my other favorites, but a show that not only hasn't disappointed me, but has actually gotten better with each season. The Shield. The first episode of the new season played the other day and they somehow pack more story and character into any given five minutes of it than most shows do in 2-3 episodes. If you've never seen The Shield, try to catch one of the repeats that are showing this week on FX. The opening "Previously" scene will explain pretty much all you need to know.

The show is a master's class in writing and acting. It shows better than any other how you can develop characters, build intensity and drama and yet make it realistic and frightening at the same time. The acting is all excellent, the camera work fits the show perfectly, but it's the writing that truly shines here. I strongly recommend as this may be the show's final season.

Labels: The Shield, TV Reviews

If any of you happen to be in the Brisbane, Australia area - it's just around the corner, assuming your corner takes 16 hours to get around - I'll be attending the upcoming Supanova Convention. I have a table there and I'll probably be appearing on some panels, but they haven't worked up the schedules yet. At any rate it's my first trip to Australia and I'm looking forward to it. So if you do happen to be in that vicinity, please come by and say hi. I'll also try to post some pictures of the con from there, assuming the hotel has high speed wireless.

Labels: Australia, Supanova

Noel and I spent the last four days in Las Vegas and had a wonderful time. We're not gamblers, but there's so much to do there you don't ever need to step foot in a casino, except, perhaps, to get to the other side of a hotel. We got to see the Blue Man Group, which though not exactly what I expected based on their TV appearances was a lot of fun. And highly interactive. We had a great time walking through hotels, window shopping, dining, etc. I love the city for what it offers in spite of the gambling not because of it.

I wish I could say I also enjoyed the reason for the title of this blog. As much as I love the TV show 24 ,conceptually, man, last night's episode jumped several major sharks. It was stupider than a barrel full of Pauly Shores. What is going on? What happened to the personal story of Jack's family? Hell, what happened to anything about Jack's two year confinement in China? It seems as if no two parts of the show connected with anything before of after, as if the story was being generated as they filmed it rather than in advance. And speaking of which, was any of this season worked out in advance? Did they have the slightest idea where they were going? And I say this as someone who loves the show.

The weird thing is as I was typing this a friend called and asked if I saw last night's episode and asked if I thought it jumped the shark. I had already written my title for this as was into the piece when he called. And he's a bigger 24 fan than I am since he actually buys all the DVDs (I rarely if ever watch TV DVDs that requires me watching things in sequence, so I don't get those sets). So, to the people who make 24, please spend some time working this out.

Bring back the emotional content of the show. Use the characters correctly. Have ramifications for actions and pay off story lines. Anything happened to President Logan who was stabbed? How can someone who was put into a coma 6 hours before be up and ready, even with an adrenalin injection? The President was gravely injured.

Don't keep repeating storylines. We've seen 4 Presidents attacked, died or killed in this series already. We've seen embassy invasions. We've seen it all. Most of all, spend time in advance actually working out the episodes so the events are logical rather than seemingly tossed out . Even if you do spend time working out the season it doesn't appear that way and appearances are everything. And even if you somehow can bring the season together in the last half dozen or so episodes remaining, it will still be your worst season to date, and it began with more hope and promise than any previous season had.

I don't know why this season has fallen apart, but if someone who loves the show thinks it has, then the casual viewer is probably already giving it up. I know the series has already been renewed. So spend this summer coming up with something special for next year. Something smart and fun and brutal. Make it feel like we're watching a novel unfold instead of disparate story elements that when put together make little or no logical sense.

Labels: 24, TV Reviews