I haven't told people why I haven't been able to blog much, but now the truth can be told.
Thanks, Ger

Labels: Prez

A quick note to let everyone know that I'll be attending CONvergence in Minneapolis from Thursday July 3 to Sunday July 6th. If you haven't been to CONvergence before, I can pretty much guarantee you'll like it. And should you not care for the amazing array of guests they have and programs they hold, heck, the Mall of America is just a hop, skip and a jump away. C'mon down and say hi.

Labels: CONvergence

That's right, LD, I've been way busy working on comics, a movie project and a game script which explains why I haven't posted these past few days. But assuming I get through them soon, I should be back in a day or two at most.

Labels: busybusybusy

Following up on yesterday's blog on California new law permitting gay marriage, I was reading an article on the reaction to it. There were mentions of protesters carrying signs saying things like "God is your enemy," as well as others continuing to claim that U.S. Soldier fatalities are God's punishment for us tolerating homosexuality. I just have one question which I know is dumb, but I'll ask it anyway: according to Intelligent Design, God created us. And while I often don't like some of the stuff I've created, I'm not God. I mean, how could he hate something he created? After all, God's perfect.

Seems to me, if you believe in intelligent design as opposed to the chaotic theory of evolution, you have to accept that God designed gay people, too. And if gays are God's work, shouldn't you not be carrying signs that say God is your enemy? Couldn't that possibly make God angry at you for hating something he designed, intelligently?

Just asking.

Labels: Gay Marriage

Starting at 5:01 PM tonight gay and lesbian couples in California were able to get married. You know, the Right Wing has been warning us for years that gays getting married would destroy the institution of marriage, and lo and behold it turns out they were right. At 5:02 PM, husbands and wives all over the state turned against their spouses and shot them. According to Police, twenty-two million funerals will be held this coming Thursday.

Labels: Gay Marriage

Here's the news: Former Hillary Clinton campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, who had been fired by the Clinton campaign, has been hired by the Obama campaign to work with them. So, is this good news or bad news for Hillary's chances to become VP.

Well, that depends on who you read. The Huffington Post utterly despises Hillary. During the primary battle they attacked her constantly and mercilessly. And even though I became an Obama supporter, I found it impossible to read through their biases. So it's not a surprise that their headline is: Obama Hires Solis Doyle: A Bad Omen For VP Hillary. In their article, which can be seen HERE, they say, 'One thing the move does suggest, insiders believe, is that Hillary Clinton's chances of being tapped for the vice presidency are now slim to nil. "This alone means Hillary won't be the V.P. choice," wrote one (pundit). The article has two updates. One is hilarious as it says, "Either one of two things happen," said the bundler. "Hillary is selected as vice president and they fire Patti, or Hillary is not going to be the vice president."

Well, duh, yeah. Either she'll get it or she won't. Stating the obvious is always a plus. Don't you love it when such hard, factual news is given?

Except that on the Time Magazine site, their link to their own article reads, "A Good Sign for Hillary?" Their article is also news and fact free. Among their wonderful quotes, which can be read in their entirety HERE, is: "The question is: Has Solis Doyle, who started her career as Hillary’s aide when she was First Lady of Arkansas (and coined the term Hillaryland in 1992), forgiven Hillary for throwing her under the bus after Super Tuesday?"The New York Times also covers the event, seen HERE, and at least when they speculate they label is as such: "Could that mean, tea-leaf reading time, that Mr. Obama is really considering Mrs. Clinton for the No. 2 position, and wants to have an ally of her in place to ease the way? Perhaps

"Or perhaps not. More likely, the Obama campaign was looking for a high-profile spot to put Ms. Doyle, given her previous position, and most of the major roles in Mr. Obama's campaign are filled." Once again she'll either get the job or she won't. You know, I didn't need to read tea leaves or the New York Times to figure out that.

I listen to a ton of political shows and read a whole slew of political articles, and things like this only remind me how true William Goldman's famous quote about Hollywood is: "Nobody knows anything."

I just wish if they don't know something they'd shut up about it.

Labels: Conflicting news

In his current movie, Indiana Jones says he's a tenured Professor. But is he really?

Labels: Indy

A unicorn deer has been found in Italy. End of the world imminent. READ HERE.

Just a quick note today as I'm in crunch time mode. Among the things I'll be doing at Comicon International, San Diego this year is conducting another of my writing seminars. I've been doing this for the past four years and each year more people attend it, the room gets bigger and the time slot is better. This year I'll be talking about character creation. I will go over the basics, suggest things you look for as you create characters, and talk about how to use your creations in stories people will care about. But I also intend to keep it shorter than usual (I usually talk fast to cram in as much as possible) because I've discovered so many of you have specific questions that I want time to answer them, too. So mark Saturday, 1:30-2:30pm in ROOM 30CDE in your calendar and I'll see you there.

Labels: Writing 101

The TSA has unveiled their new body scanners at ten airports around the country. These can scan through clothing and reveal your body parts, right down to "the sweat on your back." Based on the reactions mentioned in this USA Today article, only 4% of the people going through them have problems with this. Others go along with it in the name of security. Ben Franklin's quote* certainly comes to mind and I have to wonder why there isn't a bigger protest over this. Has the very concept of personal privacy been completely lost? To read the article, CLICK HERE. By the way, notice the very comic booky name of the former Homeland Security Inspector General who loves the idea. It's no wonder. I mean he's been X-Ray visioning us for years now.

Labels: X-Ray Body Scans

According to this month's Lighthouse Digest, a lighthouse that was thought torn down in Cape Cod in the 1920s has shown up in Point Montara, California. You can read the story HERE. I think that's great, but my only question is - there's a monthly magazine about lighthouses?

Labels: Lighthouses

I mentioned previously that Raven #4 has come out and I wanted to mention it again because I'm noticing that many fans are starting to take a second look at the book and are liking what they see. The art, by Damion Scott, was initially attacked because, well, it's not what people expected. As opposed to the expected George Perez style, it's very manga but with a twist. When I saw Damion's very first pages I absolutely loved them - they absolutely complemented the story I was writing - but they are so different from any conceivable assumption of what Raven would look like I think many people, well, let's be frank, they hated it. But now I've noticed on a few boards that some fans are saying that the art is starting to appeal to them. Despite a highly unique style they can see Damion's story telling is incredibly strong and his characters are filled with life and movement. I'm really pleased because I so like what he's done. Also, they are finally getting past the art and commenting on the story - I've been waiting for this - and they like it. I actually have absolutely no idea how the book has sold (I purposely have not asked) but I would like to say that you can probably find all the previous issues at your local shop, or on-line, and catch up quickly. The story's only five issues long so you've got only one issue to go. Give Raven a try. I really do like the story and I think if you read what's already come out, you will, too.

Labels: Raven 4

If you're a member of the TV Academy, every year around Emmy Season you are sent DVDs of almost every TV show aired the previous year. Sometimes you get a simple DVD with one or two episodes on it, sometimes you are sent the entire season's shows, sometimes the boxes they are sent in are simple cases, and sometimes they are elaborate bordering on insane. And sometimes, like the one that arrived in this morning's mail, they are fun and totally within the concept of the show.

Labels: USA Emmy Screener

Vanity Fair says former President Clinton had an affair with actress Gina Gershon. Both of them vehemently deny it. I don't know if it's true or not - and honestly I don't care - but at least I can say if it's true it makes a heckuva lot more sense than the last time. To read about it, CLICK HERE.

Gina Gershon. You betchum.

Labels: Gina Gershon

House owning. I love it.

Labels: The Moneypit

Labels: Raven 4

I've spent the past few days at the BEA, that's Book Expo America, the new version of the ABA - the American Booksellers Association (if I remember correctly) and I am exhausted. The BEA hasn't been in Los Angeles since forever - in fact I'm probably wrong but I think this is the first time it's been here since it became the BEA. The old ABA was a cornucopia of publishers hawking their wares, authors oozing out of every nook and cranny, freebie books, shoulder bags and crowds and crowds of people in the publishing business.

This year, besides many comic companies having their own booths spread out across the main hall, there was an entire aisle for graphic novels in the secondary hall which was filled mostly with kids books. Exhibitors ranged from Dark Horse to a surprisingly small Marvel booth, to Diamond Distributing and even smaller companies like Go! Comi, the manga publishers (Hi Dave & Audry). This year the BEA actually celebrated graphic novels and comics with a graphic novel breakfast where store buyers could meet 'n' eat with some of comicdom's shining stars.

Anyway, as I was saying, there used to be tons of free books and advanced reading copies available at the ABA. But with time and falling sales, there were fewer and fewer as the years went on. I don't know what's happened, but at this year's BEA there were more freebies than ever before. They were literally forcing you to take their books. Folk were standing in the aisles handing them out to you as you walked past. Authors were crowding behind tables signing and there was sometimes no way to politely say no to a book you didn't want since the author was there. As for carrying the books, you used to have to search out shoulder bags. This year they were also being heaved upon you as if they contained a pox and the publishers had to get rid of them as quickly as possible. I brought several shoulder bags with me but I never had to use them as there were were more available, and of better quality, than ever before. Again, I never had to look for them; they were put into my hands. There is a stack of shoulder bags in my house that is more than 3 feet high.

There were also many, many celebrities hawking their books. Noel and I walked past Leonard Nimoy and his son who were signing his book of naked fat people photographs to run into William Shatner a few aisles over, signing his autobiography. We passed Hugh Hefner, Mark Spitz and a zillion other notables, and more than once or twice I even found myself signing autographs when I least expected it. The best was when I got in a line to get an autographed book from a writer who noticed my badge and said my writing on Tomb of Dracula heavily influenced his work. He even insisted on getting a photo of the two of us. That was a great moment.

One really wonderful thing is there seems to be a lot of books about chocolate coming out because almost every aisle had a publisher handing out bars as a giveaway along with their book. Also, at around 3:30 every afternoon many publishers starting handing out food and wine; a sort of mini-party. You could nibble your way across the floor with cheese, crackers, fruit, pizzas, etc. and regain some lost strength. My favorite was the absolutely incredible and super-large cupcakes given out at the DK Books booth to celebrate their book from the CRUMBS Bake Shop. As far as I can tell they weren't giving out copies of that book, but based on the cupcakes, I have got to get it. Wow. There was enough sugar in those to revitalize me for several hours.

Which is a good thing, actually. At noon time I was in line to pay for food at one of the food concessions in the LA convention center when the person who rings up the amount got up and left. Then another and another. Right at lunchtime when there was at least a million people getting ready to eat, everyone who worked at the food places WENT ON STRIKE. They just got up and left. While everyone else in line stayed there wondering what was going on, I walked off and found a manager, paid him and took my sandwich and soda. I was done while everyone else still was waiting in line as the managers slowly figured out how to do the job.

I ran into many friends and had a chance to catch up with people I hadn't seen in years. So it was a great time, except for that the fact that I'm still in pain from carrying all those freebies. On day one my shoulder was hurting so much I stopped by one of the massage booths and got a 15 minute shoulder, neck and back massage. But I was still in some pain that night. Note to self: I'm not as young as I used to be. Now, I guess I could have taken fewer books, but how do you tell these folk who are throwing them at you that you don't exactly need a 900-page book on "Post Apocalyptic Needle Pointing for Dwarfs?"

Labels: The BEA