Today's Views is an irregular weblog updated when there are new fun things to report. Keep checking in.

Still nothing much new. Finishing up my story for the DC Julie Schwartz memorial series. Each issue has two stories built around the same cover and I'm sharing my JLA cover with two writers, Harlan Ellison and Peter David. Does that add pressure, or what?

My Escapist story should be out in a week or so. It's cover feature for issue #3. I'm really proud of it and I'd love to have some feed back on it once you guys read it.

Also, as mentioned above, I'll be at Comicon International at San Diego. I'm doing several panels including interviewing my Teen Titans co-worker Romeo Tanghal. I haven't seen Romeo in a long time so this should be fun. I'm also doing the Devil's Due panel which will be introducing a new comic's company and A Girl's World panel on internet comics. Finally, I'll be teaching a seminar on how to create characters. If anyone's interested, be sure to come by. Finally, if the schedule works out right, I'll be one of the people on the Julie Schwartz memorial panel hosted by Mark Evanier. If you're coming to San Diego, please be sure to look me up. I'll also be doing signings at the Dark Horse, booth and probably sit down for awhile at the DC booth, too. When it con date is closer I'll give you the times and rooms for all the panels.

So, was Spider-Man the best comic book movie ever or what? Manoman! What a trip!

Who doesn't like popping bubble wrap? Here's a constantly regenerating sheet of BUBBLE WRAP for your dining and dancing pleasure!

This hasn't been the best of weeks, hence the lack of posting.

Allan Rothstein, a good friend, passed away Thursday morning. Allan was a comic and SF fan, and a friend to many professionals. He also appeared in many comics both in name and in visuals. Besides his regular job for the L.A. correctional bureau where he worked with troubled kids, Allan was an officiant performing many marriages, including mine to Noel. A kind and gentle man, he will be greatly missed.

My dog, Tala, now 15 1/2, the absolute best dog in the universe, took ill this week. She's now taking about a half dozen pills and is currently sleeping somewhat peacefully in the bedroom but we had a real scare Sunday morning when we brought her back to the Vet, the second time this week. For the squeamish, don't read on, but as I was leaving the Vet and waiting for them to give me her pills, I was petting her. She aimed herself, as she normally does, with her butt facing me for scratching. Tala is a Keeshond, a very furry dog - you can see her picture on my Fun Foto page - and since she usually heads outside and plops herself down in the backyard bushes, her fur's generally filled with twigs and leaves and other stuff, so when I felt something weird down where I was petting, I assumed it was twigs. I looked down to remove them and saw what I thought were a ton of worms crawling around on her. I called the Doctor and they turned out to be maggots that were digging their way into her. While I ran off to disinfect my hands about a million times - maggots, yuck - the Vet shaved her rear area, which probably saved her life because we got the things off her before they could do anything really bad. Not fun for a healthy dog, and less so for one already feeling ill. She's all right now, sleeping peacefully in the other room, and we've got our fingers crossed.

On the good side, Thursday evening I saw Spider-Man 2. My review will be on the Creative Screenwriter website sometime this week, but I will say here that it is unarguably the best super-hero movie ever made. Because it's as much a drama as an action film, it can also stand up to almost any other movie out there. This one transends the genre. Congratulations to director Sam Raimi for a brilliant movie without a single false note in it. Spider-Man fans will go crazy over it - this is the real thing - and regular movie fans should find it a great two+ hours.

Finally, it's about time to buy a new car. I currently have a Camaro which is a great car for the driver but not so good for passengers, especially anyone sitting in what is supposed to be the back seat but is actually just an excuse solely to toss junk there because nobody larger than a fetus could actually fit in it. Anyway, I've narrowed my choices down to the Honda Accord or the Toyota Camry. I've test driven both and they're both solid. The Accord I tested had a navigational system built into it that was incredibly cool but is thousands more than the Toyota. But it's soooooo cool. If anyone out there has one or the other and can recommend them, or something else in the same price range, please let me know. I always think it's best to hear from the people who drive the cars because they'll never drive the same a year later than they do off the showroom lot. Any suggestions out there?

My question below has sparked a lot of comments, not only here but on a "professionals only" email list I'm on where I asked the same question. I'm going to wait another day or so to get more comments, but already the answers are pretty interesting. I'm still not sure what I should be doing when this happens again, but I'm getting lots of really interesting letters on it. Keep them coming.

I wasn't here so I didn't mention what I thought of the last Sopranos and Shield episodes for the season. I don't want to rehash something that old, but in 25 words or less, both shows had their best season yet and strangely enough, both had very quiet season enders, the last scenes ending more on characters needs rather than big plot points. Maybe that's why I liked them so much.

In terms of movies, I saw both The Terminal and The Stepford Wives. The Terminal is a flawed movie but a lot of fun. Although there are a lot of refrigerator moments - those times when you are opening your fridge at home and suddenly go - "Wait, that didn't make any sense," but still don't hurt the slightly warm and fuzzy feeling feeling the film gives you. It's definitely not a major movie and would probably have done better in September than in June, and it's also not either Spielberg,Hanks or Zeta-Jones best films, but it's nowhere near a waste of money or time. You'll enjoy it and go home and probably forget it, but you will enjoy it.

Unlike Stepford Wives which is not so good. The movie has no real point and undercuts itself every time it starts to make one. I can't actually decide what the film is supposedly about. Unlike the book or the original film, this one went the PC route and suffers for it. The problem is, the movie should never have been made because its underlying concept, fresh in the 1970s, is 35 years out of date today. If they wanted to make a movie where the men truly wanted to put down women they needed to go all the way. But everything here was no namby pamby they undercut their satire to the point it wa no longer satire or funny. Performances, of course, were all excellent.

Looking forward to going to Spider-Man 2 which I may be seeing in preview soon.

In terms of books, while on vacation I finished reading Moloka'i by Alan Brennert who many know through either his TV writing or his comics work. I won't tell you what Moloka'i is about because the concept of the subject matter might turn you off, although the actual story won't, but this is a wonderful book wonderfully told. It frankly reduced me to girly-man tears many times throughout the constantly riveting story. Hit the Amazon.com button to the right andwhen you get to Amazon.com type in Moloka'i or Brennert's name in the search bar. Trust me when I say this one is not to be missed.

I have a question to ask everyone, but first...

I'm back but somehow I wish I were still in Florida. The weather was perfect, despite weather.com's insistance that it was going to thunderstorm every day. The vacation part of the trip on Florida's Amelia Island, was the most relaxing time I've had in years. And without a comic shop or internet cafe in sight I didn't think much about work.

First, Jacksonville. Noel and I were flown into Dreamcon and had a wonderful time . For a first time convention the people worked hard to put on a good show. They definitely had some first con problems, including a probably lower than expected turnout, but the professionals who were there were all treated wonderfully and the fans seemed to enjoy being able to actually talk with us as long as they wanted. I don't know how to exactly describe Dreamcon. It wasn't quite a comics convention, there were only a few comics guests, Peter David, me and a very few others. It wasn't quite a science fiction con although good friends Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were there, and it might be considered a media con with all the actors and actresses present but the only big name was Ron Perlman. Others might call him Hellboy's Ron Perlman, but I prefer to think of him as the Teen Titans' Ron Perlman as he does the voice for Slade on the animated series. He was also in Blade-2 which I guess makes a vague double connection with me although we probably exchanged less than a dozen words.

As I say, I can't say exactly what the con was, which might be a problem, but everyone was very well treated and as far as I can tell, everyone had a great time, which is more important than anything else. If there is a second Dreamcon, I'd recommend anyone in the Florida area to check it out. The only real problem I saw was the dealer's room. It was much larger than I expected and filled, but there weren't any book or comic dealers at all. Most of the dealers were either action figures, swords, jewelry or things of that sort.

Which leads to...

MARV'S IMPORTANT QUESTION:

Peter David and I, sitting at tables next to each other, got into an interesting discussion. If you've ever met me at a convention you know I don't charge for autographs. Neither do Peter or most comic professionals. The big bucks go to the actors who appeared in the background of one episode of Star Trek playing a horta or something. Anyway, I was signing away and because I'm pretty thick, I don't realize that over the course of the several days I'd been signing books, in dribs and drabs, for a comics dealer. When it finally dawned on me (and not because his badge actually said "dealer" by the way) I asked him first if the books I was signing were for sale. He said yes. I asked then if he was charging extra for my signature. He said yes again. At that point I said I wouldn't sign any more comics for him unless he paid me a whopping 25 cents a book. Needless to say he didn't. My belief was that since I don't charge anyone for my signature, I don't think it's right for a dealer to get my signature on a comic solely so he can jack up the price. Peter said that he knew up front the guy was a dealer - he saw the guy's badge - and he had no problem with the guy reselling the comics for more money because Peter's signature was on it even though Peter doesn't charge for his signings, either. His view was, if I can sum it up properly, is that the dealer is making available signed comics to customers who can't get his signature at conventions, and the effort he's taking to do so allows for charging extra. My view is that I don't charge for signatures and somebody shouldn't be taking advantage of fans by charging them for something they don't have to pay extra for. And if they are charging extra, shouldn't I make something off it?

So here's the question: What do you think? Am I right to be offended that dealers want me to sign their books free in order to charge more to their customers rather than use the free autograph as an free incentive for their customers to shop at their stores? Or is Peter right and am I over-reacting to this? Do you mind paying more for a signed comic at a store? Should I sign these books knowing you'll be charged extra for them?

This is a serious question and I would really love to hear from you. Please let me know.

Haven't been posting here much because,as you can see, I've got a convention the end of this week and I'm working hard to get all my work done before I take off so I don't have to do any work there. After the con, I'll be working a few days to catch up from what I missed, and I'll be back here before the end of the month. Unlike some, I don't bring any internet-connectable computers to cons; I do bring my Palm Pilot on which I can write (with its collapsable keyboard), but that's it.

By the way, anyone in the Jacksonville area, be sure to come by Dreamcon and say hello.

See you in a few weeks. - Marv

I mentioned a few weeks back that after a wonderful trip to Venice, I've been making Venetian-styled robot masks and said I'd put them up here as soon as I could take a few photos. Well, here they are. I start with a basic blank paper mache mask and then start hotglueing various objects on it, from plastic doodads to PVC plastic from plumbers parts to pieces of broken TV sets. There's lots of circuit boards and such, all glued on top of each other to create the look that I want. Afterward, I paint it with both spray paint cans and an airbrush until I achieve the effect I'm looking for. Unfortunately, the photos don't let you see the intricate work, pieces atop other pieces, etc. and wires and tubes moving in and through openings, connecting to other tubes and wires. Let me know what you think.

On his website, my friend Mark Evanier mentions that soda is called different names in different places. Well, I just had a soda that, no matter where you are, should be called bad. A whole slew of us went to the twice a year festival at Hermosa Beach, California, a lovely beach community whose only real claim to nationwide fame is that a lot of people know Tonight Show host Jay Leno practices his routines there every Sunday at the Comedy and Magic Club. The air is wonderfully clean , cool and refreshing especially if you live in the fabled and frightfully hot San Fernando Valley as we do. Anyway, we get off the shuttle bus from where we left our car and are walking to the fair and noticed they were handing out free cans of C2, the new low carb Coke product. Being that it's free, we all took the cans.

C2, which if you think means there are two grams of carbs in the can, you'd be wrong, is, I'm afraid, awful. All six of us tossed the soda, the free soda, the free soda on a hot day, into the garbage as quickly as we could. It had a bitter after taste that stuck with all of us. As far as being low carb, well, the concept of low carb is that it helps you on your low carb diet. If you follow Atkins you're supposed to have about 15 grabs of carbs maximum in the beginning. You can add more later on. C2 has, if I remember - I threw out my can, remember? - has 18 grams of carbs in it. All from sugar. So not only is this not low carb, it's not dietetic. Yeah, it has fewer carbs that real Coke, but when you consider that dieters are probably drinking Diet Coke which has NO calories and NO carbs, I can't see why anyone on a diet would want C2. It doesn't taste like real Coke and isn't, at least by our count, even as good as Diet Coke. If this takes off I will be very surprised. By the way, we are all Coke people and not Pepsi folk so they're not even hitting their constituency.

Speaking of Pepsi, a few years back at the Hermosa Beach they were conducting the Pepsi Challenge. I had always seen it on TV and was thrilled to try it out. As I say, I'm a Coke guy, but the secret to why Pepsi supposedly wins the challenge is that they do it on hot days and Pepsi has more sugar in it, or at least more of a sugar taste, so on a very hot day drinking just a sip of it is usually tastes better than Coke even to Coke drinkers. A full glass would have a different reaction. So we all took the Pepsi Challenge, and we all picked as our favorite - Coke. I don't think they ever used our judging on any of their commercials.

Quick note: After leaving Hermosa Beach we all went to see The Day After Tomorrow. It's a helluva lot better film than we expected and we really enjoyed it.

It's ridiculous, I know, to get excited over a talent show, and especially one as overly commercialized as American Idol, but the right one won! Yay, Fantasia.

I'm no fan of the President but since the last election I've not been a much of one of former Vice President Al Gore, either. I thought his smug and incompetent handling of the debates, his sluffing off of all the good achieved by the President he served under, Bill Clinton, was a terrible mistake, and that he, not the voters or even the voting precedure in Florida, is why he's not in the White House today. If he had handled his campaign well, he would not have lost his own state. And if he had won that insignificant little fly-over territory :) what happened in Florida would not have mattered. As they say, the election was Al Gore's to lose, and he did a bang-up job of it.

But, if Gore had spoken during the election as he just did the other day, I think he would easily have won the election. This Al Gore, perhaps free from having to speak politely or feeling he needed to speak politely, is full of the fire and heart that evaded the Al Gore of four years ago. Whether you agree with Gore's conclusions or not, it's worth reading THIS SPEECH. It's strong and powerful and I wish I had this guy running today. Maybe not running for office frees one up to say what they really think.

Speaking of politics, my friend Stef Donev sent me this today. Unfortunately, neither I nor Stef have any idea who originated this. If anyone out there does - and can prove it - let me know and the correct attribution and copyright notice will be given. I don't necessarily believe everything written here is on target or even funny, but the piece is sharp and worth your two minutes to read.

IT'S HARD TO BE A REPUBLICAN IN 2004

Somehow, you have to believe that:

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.  2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U. N. resolutions against Iraq.  3. "Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.  4. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.  5. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.  6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.  7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.  9. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.  10. HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.  11. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.  12. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.  13. It is okay that the Bush family has done $millions of business with the Bin Laden family.  14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.  15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.  17. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's Harken Oil stock trades are none of our business.  18. You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.  19. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.  20. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.  21. Affirmative Action is wrong but that it is ok for your Daddy and his friends to get you into Yale, the Texas Air National Guard, Harvard Business School, part ownership of Harken Oil, part ownership of the Texas Rangers, the Governorship of Texas and then have the Supreme Court Appoint you President of the USA.

Three quick thoughts which, if I have time (or more likely energy) I'll elaborate on at least one of them. SPOILER WARNING: I thought the ending of 24 was decent. My first reaction was surprise the actual ending happened at the act four break and not the final scene as they have for the previous seasons, but I actually came to prefer that. I liked ending on character notes: the President's decision was, frankly, the only one he could make considering how he compromised his beliefs this season. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they do something to keep him in power for next season - it could happen on the last day of his term, for instance. I liked that things didn't go right for Tony. He made his bed. I especially liked the scenes with Jack. He finally had a reaction, in counterpoint to his stated detachment earlier, that really makes you care for this guy. He may have to buck up, but he's falling apart inside. If things actually go as indicated here and in press reports I've read, next season should be interesting as there will be hardly anyone on the show except for Jack that we know. Could make for a really good fourth season twist where Jack is no longer being protected by a President who has a reason to trust him.

(Len Wein points out that this is NOT the last episode of Sopranos as I say below; there is one more to go. So here's my thoughts on the penultimate episode:) The final episode of Sopranos was good, again, all character based rather than big surprises. I think we all knew who was going to die this episode, though that didn't take away the emotional impact of it, and we knew Tony would get back with Carmilla, though why she took him back is beyond me, but it still worked. This season is the best since the first; they perfectly blended character with story as they did the first year. Sopranos is never much about specific plots and stories, but the continuation of their lives and the lives of those who come into their circle.

Yeah, I've rambled on about it almopst every week but I've really been enjoying American Idol. I'm not big into singing; because of a weird ambient sound problem I can't always hear lyrics, so I never remember any words from any song and therefore I don't and never have bought many albums/CDs. I didn't see A.I. last season and who knows if I'll watch again next season, but so far it's been a blast. I do wish Latoya had continued to the end as I was looking forward to the Latoya/Fantasia duel, but we'll see more of her; she's too good to fade away. I've been rooting for Fantasia since the beginning and though I felt, as did the judges, that her first song was a mistake, only in the sense of picking it for the final show, not in the way she sung it, she more than made up for it with her final two numbers. The judges were in her corner, saying that she should win, even before the show; they made that point on practically every entertainment show out there, and even on the show Simon said she was the best singer they've had in all three seasons. I hope their support doesn't get everyone voting the other way, just to make a point. Obviously, I voted for her - took an hour to get through - but frankly it won't matter if she wins or not in terms of her career; she's got one. Still, she should win.

Can't wait to see the last episode of The Shield. But I'll have to wait a few more weeks. Heading off to sleep now.

Note to those interested; I've just added to my Scripts for Sale pages the first and second draft of my animated script for The Teen Titans - "Deep Six." You can get there by clicking on the file to the right:

It's been incredibly quiet of late; computer disasters and other such stuff, but nothing that didn't get fixed right away so there's been nothing to talk about here, hence the absense.

I haven't had the chance to get to the movies so I haven't seen Shrek, despite the fact that my wife works at Dreamworks animation. Unfortunately, company screenings were usually during her work time and this weekend she was busy with classes. Can't wait to see it this week.

I spent my time doing some of the Japanese translation work I do for Viz as well as working on designing a Venetian-style mask. When Noel and I were in Venice last October every other store sold incredible looking masks that were made right there; usually the artist was sitting in the store working on his or her creations. Their craftsmanship was extraordinary and each store seemed to be better than the one we saw before. One of the stores, however, had, a half dozen really incredible Venetian masks, but not done in their traiditional subject matter; they were doing Robot/cyborg masks that just blew us away. A look to the left and you will see what one of them looked liked. Unfortunately, the masks sold for something like $350.00, so forget that. I bought a few paper mache masks blanks and decided to see if I could make my own masks. I made one a few weeks back that worked out so well that I decided to try another while Noel was away. It's almost done and looks great. Soon as I can I'll take some photos and put them here.

Anyway, as I said, it's been quiet. Too quiet. When there's something interesting to report, I will.

If you didn't think the rapping Gollum was surreal enough, here comes THE DUEL.

Two great show enders, one for the season and one for the series.

Smallville's season ender demonstrated so much of what is wrong with comics. The show was filled with character and surprises and cliffhangars galore. It worked as part of a whole and yet also as a self-contained chapter with a beginning, middle and end. If you never saw the previous episodes you still learned what you needed to learn, and yet, because of the story, you are compelled to come back for the next episode. This is exactly what a TV show should do, and Smallville did it wonderfully. Unfortunately, this is something comics these days no longer do, probably because stories are now designed to be done in 4-6 issue increments so they can be reprinted later in graphic novel format. I read comics and hardly ever feel that I've gotten anything resembling a story or even part of a story. That's spending about three bucks for a 22-page snippet. However, on Smallville, each episode is self-contained and yet continues. All the characters on the show were touched in one fashion or another and we have no idea where the plot is going. I love the soap opera attitude the show has, and it's one I obviously used as much as possible with both Teen Titans and even Dracula, among others. I care about the characters more than the stories, as frankly we should. Fantasy plotlines can rarely rise above a certain level; there aren't as many all original 'super-heroic' stories out there as we'd wish. What can be done, however, is get you to care about the characters, and that's what Smallville does, in spades. When I can I want to get into this more, but this will have to do for now.

Angel's series ender was absolutely what I wanted to see, and it's frankly an ender that I've pulled myself a time or two. I want to see the heroes march off into final battle. Will they live? Will they die? It really doesn't matter. They are heroes and that's what heroes do. Again, I'll get into this more in a day or so, but I thought this was a perfect last episode should we never see Angel again, and the beginning of something even better should he return in some other form at another time. Congrats to Joss Wheadon and company.

I also have no complaints this week about 24, which keeps tightening its grip on its characters. Also no problems with The West Wing which picked itself up out of the ditch it fell into a few weeks back. The dialogue this time around was solid and characterization came through without hitting us over the head with badly written exposition. I loved the latest episode of The Shield even if I don't necessarily like the last scene or its implications, and, finally, absolutely agree with this week's results on American Idol. Still, something needs to be done about calling in. I kept hitting redial on my phone for two solid hours before I got a single vote in. I know people who finally gave up without voting. I'm still voting for Fantasia who proves week in and week out that she's not just covering other people's songs but is the only contestant on the show who makes them her own.

All right, don't even ask what this is about, but how can you refuse to listen to a rapping Gollum? Just CLICK HERE and be afraid. be very afraid.

Yesterday was my birthday. Another day older but better than the alternative.

So, as I was saying yesterday, a new air conditioner guy was coming today. Now remember, Guy 1 from Company A said my machine was fine, the problem was I kept the temperature too low. Guy 2 from Company A said my machine was dead and we needed to buy an entirely new machine. And what did guy 3 from Company B say? Nothing. He just swapped out a part and ten minutes later my air conditioner worked perfectly, now set for a wonderful two degrees to make up for the two weeks of heat.

I have no idea if anyone else cares about American Idol, but last night's removal of Latoya was ludicrous. I suspected something was up in the first few minutes because of a comment or two Ryan made and the tone in which he made it. It just smelled like he was setting us up for a fall later on. I thought my favorite, Fantasia, may have been booted but I knew something dumb was going to happen. And when Diana was 'saved,' I turned to Noel and said the bottom two are Fantasia and Latoya. I don't know if it's because Hawaii has more hours to vote than the rest of the country, or if when they vote they can get through easily (the rest of the country is asleep) but certainly as good as she might be, she's not number one, two or even three in quality. I'm disappointed. I don't think, as many do, that American Idol is racist. Left to the Judges' devices Latoya would have won - it's the American public who voted her off and the show can't be blamed for our bad taste - hell, the American public made Paris Hilton a star. I don't know if it's because, as good a singer as she is, Latoya has such an icy presence she turns people off, or if computer re-dialers were going full tilt on Maui Tuesday night, but the rules need to be changed somewhat if really good singers can be tossed off and second raters are allowed to continue.

The Starfire maquette is out and it looks great. This is the first of five maquettes coming out based on the Teen Titans cartoon show, and as Kory's Dad I couldn't be more proud. I was astonished to discover that there are only 800 of these things being manufactured, so if you're interested in them, get 'em fast. Now I'm anxiously awaiting Raven, Cyborg and the others as they come out over the summer and into the fall. You can see what they, and all the other Titans Toys, look like by CLICKING HERE, which brings you to my Titans menu. From here you can easily navigate to the toys pages.

Television updates: 24 keeps getting stronger and more intense. Last night they caught the bad guy but the story isn't close to ending. This is TV at its best, riveting and constantly surprising. It doesn't bother me that they don't work out the stories in advance because, as long as they don't greatly contradict themselves, it makes for great drama. Good work. American Idol is another show I begrudgingly started to watch this season and got hooked on it. It's not a so-called Reality show, but a straight forward talent show. I often disagree with who is sent home (Jennifer!) and who stays too long, but the show is fun. My vote has been for Fantasia. She's got a unique voice and an extremely personal style that comes through her singing. She, Latoya and Diana all have really good voices, but Fantasia also has that certain something that keeps you wondering what she'll do next. I'd rather go to a Fantasia concert than any of the others because you just feel she'd make it fun. And though the judges didn't care for her choice of "Hero" last night, I thought it was great. Here's hoping she's not kicked off this week and that she makes it to the very end. Star Trek: Enterprise is winding down for the season, and, one hopes, for good, unless they bring in an entirely new crew of writers and producers. I fear the show is leading us toward the story where they solve everything in a time flux paradox that, at the end, will mean the Earth was never attacked. If this happens it means that 98% of the fans will have guessed the ending almost from the moment the storyline began. And if it does happen, then Paramount has simply got to get rid of those in charge of the show and find new people with real imaginations. Sopranos is enjoying their best season to date since season 1. The stories are both chracter and plot driven, and for the first time since the first season, it has an almost operatic feel to it. Great stuff. And the same goes for The Shield. I can't say enough good about this series.

Updating the air conditioning fiasco mentioned below. Company A first came over and said there was nothing wrong with my air conditioner and that the problem was I had the thermostat down too low. I said there was no cold air pumping out of it. They insisted it was my problem. I called insurance and they had Company A send over another technician. This one said the pipes couldn't be opened and that the machine was dead so it would have to be replaced completely. In less than a week it went frombeing okay but my problem to being dead. Insurance okayed the replacement, but Company A said because I live on top of a mountain there was no access to the house so they couldn't bring it in. Now, they didn't call me to tell me this, so had I not called insurance I'd never have known. I complained to insurance and they sent another tech out, but this time from another company, Company B. He came buy and said the problem was a framistat or whatever he actually called it and he'd fix it tomorrow morning. More to come...

I've been getting a lot of mail pointing out that Ross did not live in the same apartment building as his sister, but across the street. I've actually gotten more mail on this than I do when I say something political. I thought the building was a U-shaped complex as some New York building complexes are, with a courtyard in the center. Others pointed out why Ross couldn't easily take over Monica's apartment: It was explained in the one about Joey having to give the building manager dance lessons so he'd look the other way and let Monica stay. I stand corrected. Humiliated, but corrected.

Survivor All Stars is over. Thank God. I'd given up the show a few years back; I don't like all the back-biting, lying and sneaking about. I don't like to see people reduced to nasty little woodpeckers, chopping away at their own morals like they're disposable because A: you're not home but somewhere else, and B: you're on TV so anything goes. But I decided to give All Stars a try. This was the worst yet and I will never watch it again. And what's worse, the people who were the sneakiest and most back-biting, the ones who lied to everyone (and therefore played the game the best) actually won, once again rewarding bad manners. This show is based on the need for people to debase themselves for a million bucks, minus taxes. The ones who did it the most won. What a nice lesson to teach the world.

Well, still no air conditioning. The company said the insurance company didn't okay it and the insurance company said they did but there was a "getting it to my house" problem. I live on top of a hill overlooking the smog of the San Fernando Valley and it's hard getting anything large up the narrow stairwell. Fortunately, it's still somewhat cool, not that I'm getting much done anyway. Having to navigate through insurance and company problems is a pain. I also had several air conditioning companies come directly to the house to give us an estimate on putting in a new machine on our own, and they all diligently did their measuring, etc. and so far not one of them has sent me their estimates. Don't they want work?

Every so often you find out something the administration is doing that is so sneaky you either want to congratulate them on their cunning and their blatant "the hell with you" attitude or to donate every penny you have to getting them out of office - tomorrow, if possible. This might not seem big, but reported in the New York Times today is one of those mind-bogglers. Despite announcing themselves as concerned with the environment, the administration has done everything they can to dismantle legislation that actually does help the environment and instead create laws to help corporations make even more money as they decimate our wild life. The Bush administration has hired one of the lawyers working for the lumber industry who came up with a plan to help his own group at the expense of the fish population, namely salmon. Anything I say to explain what is being done won't do the actual story justice, so why don't you CLICK HERE.

The bad news is the air conditioner is dead and has to be replaced. The good news is that it's cooled down here in LA and it's once again comfortable to work. 'bout time. The bad news is that we'll be without one for over a week until it can be installed. The good news? Actually, there is no good news on this, not until I'm breathing good old-fashioned air-conditioned air again as God meant me to.

Not much to say this week; I think the heat sapped my brains. The last episode of "Friends" was okay. Not the best they've ever done but at least they weren't going for "something special." Instead, it felt like just another episode. Ross and Rachel are together again, but we didn't doubt that would happen. They've been together on and off throughout the series. For those of us who want to project our favorite characters into the future, we hope they'll stay together because we invested so much in watching them not do anything stupid again. But I have to congratulate the people behind the show for absolutely perfectly throwing us all a curve ball. For months they've been "accidentally" dropping hints that the show was ending in Paris when, of course, it ended where it should: New York, where the entire series took place, even if it was shot in Burbank, CA. I've seen pretty much every episode from the beginning and almost alwsays enjoyed the sharp writing and acting, even when the series was way down. Decent job, hyped to hell and back, but it ended well.

Only one question: since Ross was planning on staying in New York, and he lives in the same building as his sister, why didn't he take over his Grandparent's apartment which was, as we've been told, rent controlled and therefore cheaper than whatever his apartment could have cost. Nobody in New York ever gives up a rent controlled apartment if they don't have to. Especially not a legacy apartment. Would've been nice to think Ross and Rachel would be living there keeping it among friends and it could have still been the hanging out apartment for all of them, minus Joey who now is abandoning everyone to move to LA. And to think, he was the one angry at Rachel's leaving.

Waitwaitwait! It's only a TV show. Gotta keep telling myself that. "Must. Stop. Being. A. Fanboy."

Okay, I'm better now.

See you next week!

I've mentioned playing Hero Clix several times - and even though my friends and I don't play by all the rules, it's still a lot of fun. After all, several of us created the characters we're playing with and you have no idea what it's like when I'm trying to pit Starfire or Blade against Wolverine or Swamp Thing. Anyway, two new Titans figures — Raven and Cyborg — are now available for play. And they are great. The thing about Hero Clix, beyond the game, is that you can find the figures on the net for a fairly low price. You can see all the Titans Clix as well as many of the other Titans Toys by CLICKING HERE.

Happy Cinco De Mayo. There hasn't been much coming from here the last few days because this week, in which the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles has been sweltering under 105-degree weather, my air conditioner decided to spit up oil and die. My office, on the second floor of the house, is simply too hot to work in. I'm hoping it will be fixed later today when the repairmen come, otherwise we're going to have to get an entirely new unit.

Cross your fingers it works so I can.

Well, this just in! They ain't coming today! Damn you, bad lousy weather!

Now I've seen everything. Want to know which Teen Titan you are? Well, take THIS TEST and see the results for yourself. BTW, I turned out to be Robin, even though I did everything I could to skew the results.

 

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