some kind words from harlan...

okay...

several of you have already 'e'd me and brought to my attention the kind words that the one and only harlan ellison dropped about our little perhapanauts book in his interview on newsarama. you can check it out at http://www.newsarama.com/general/Ellison/interview_p2.html

i'll say that again.

HARLAN ELLISON digs our book!

i should point out that harlan actually called me several months ago to tell me this. he told me that he thought the perhapanauts was a fun and compelling book, that he really liked the story! and then cautioned me against overusing character dialect and vernacular too much. (molly DOES say "like" a lot...) we had a nice conversation and, of course, i was quite honored. i mean, c'mon--HARLAN ELLISON!!

and so i called him back the other day to thank him for the mention, and for my pal, ron marz as well, since harlan also gave great prase to ron and luke ross' book, samurai: heaven and earth. it just happened to be harlan's birthday, so i wished him a happy one and let him get back to his celebrating. so happy birthday, harlan--and thanks again!



with so much going on these days, i must admit that i've been quite remiss in keeping this blog on schedule and apologize for it. but i've also been at a bit of a loss as to what to write about. with no actual publishing date set for a new perhapanauts series, there's nothing to tell there. and there's been very little going on in the world of the paranormal or unexplained that has been inspiring enough to follow up with here. the "five on friday" trivia seems to garner some response, but i'd like to blow the doors open a bit and try to inspire more people to write in with comments and stuff.
and so, with that in mind, i thought that i'd try to stir things up a bit with a few questions and see where that takes us. bravo has been, for the past few years, doing list shows; 100 scariest films, 50 funniest movies, 100 sexiest stars. (i also dug vh-1s shatner-hosted, 100 one hit wonders...)

try these;

1. your five funniest movies

2. your five favorite songs

3. your five favorite cartoons

i dunno. maybe this idea will tank.
but maybe not...

happy memorial day!
and also, it's JAKE'S BIRTHDAY!!!
happy birthday, puppet!
smell ya later!
todd

where is my week going...?!

okay...

i've had more things going on this week and so am late, late, late...

while craig and i are unsure as to where we might be publishing the next chapter of the perhapanauts saga, i can tell you that we're hard at work on it! and if you think that we left a few too many plot threads laying around, i can also tell you that we'll be tying many (not all...) of them up in this next story!

and that's all the perhapa-news i can tell you.
(the other stuff is secret...!)

as many of you know, i'm a huge lost fan--and even moreso now that i've been watching it with my old lost buddy again
: ) --and while we were glued to last night's season finale, there certainly were (and, lately, have been) a LOT of questions from us regarding characters motivations and dialogue. sometimes it seems that some of the characters do and say things only because it's convenient for the writers, that they accept so many non-answers from others just too readily. if ben ever jerked me around like that--even conversationally--i'd mess him up!
anyway, i don't wanna wreck anything for anybody--it's still a fun show and i'm dying to see where they're going to go from here...

nothing more to say so...

here are the answers to the
"five on friday"

1. what is the correct term for a female peacock?
a peahen

2. who played fbi director gordon cole on david lynch's "twin peaks"?
david lynch

3. what was the name of the comic book that spider-man actually debuted in?
amazing fantasy (#15)

4. what is a "yegg"?
a criminal, burgaler, usually one who cracks safes

5. what first name is shared by both members of they might be giants?
john (linnell and flansburgh)



random picture of the week

more tomorrow!
smell ya later!
todd

oddly ill

okay...

so i woke up yesterday feeling kinda fatigued and achy. but we are still on this house cleaning mission and so i went to work, scrubbing the walls and floors and dusting/packing up books and boxes.

just before noon though, the achy feeling started to feel like something else and i got dizzy, feverish, sweats and chills...weird.

i have no idea what it was.

needless to say, i didn't and couldn't get to the computer to post a new blog, but aas i'm feeling much better this morning, here we go.

no real cohesion to today's post though--some trivia and some random pictures.


the first one is one of those comic book covers from the 70's that, as a young teen i found incredibly sexy. no, i shouldn't just say sexy--it's romantic as well. that's superman and that's lois lane and that 's neal adams depicting one tender, romantic, soul-stirring kiss. it's from superman 243, by the way...


another one of my favorite superman covers. this one from superman 317.


this one was sent to me by one of my myspace friends, a very talented artist from malaysia.


"five on friday"

1. what is the correct term for a female peacock?

2. who played fbi director gordon cole on david lynch's "twin peaks"?

3. what was the name of the comic book that spider-man actually debuted in?

4. what is a "yegg"?

5. what first name is shared by both members of they might be giants?

that's all i gots!
smell ya later!
todd

my very educated mother...

okay...

the other day, my uncle, who forwards me all manner of crazy crap from the internet, sent me this e-mail illustrating the relative sizes of the planets, and of our sun compared to a bunch of other suns. mabe you've seen this already. maybe you have some crazy uncle of your own and he's sent this to you...




anyway, i always loved studying the planets--need to know for any science fiction reader--but have never seen their sizes demonstrated so clearly. and i have to say, i was astounded!




when i was in school we were taught the mnemonic "my very educated mother just served us nine pickles" to learn them in order. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto i've heard lots of variations and some totally different (and send 'em in if ya got 'em!) but to see them lined up like that really gives me pause. and then, of course, when you get out to the other suns...dude! ours is dinky!



anyway, just thought i'd share that.

hope all is well!
smell ya later!
todd

invariably...

okay...

i an effort to distract ourselves from mother's day, my dad and i, hoping that the crowds would have died down by now, went to see spider-man 3 at our local cineplex last night.
have you ever run that bit of reverse-psychology on yourself, telling yourself that it's been a whole week since the opening, plus that it's mother's day, and then reverse-reverse-psychology it wondering if EVERYONE ELSE is making the same assumption, so maybe we shouldn't go 'cause it'll be packed, but then what if THEY'RE all thinking that too and the place is gonna be empty and...

well, i don't really do that. maybe a little. truth is, over the years, i've come to shun the theater experience when i can help it. i used to LOVE going to the movies! there was a time in my life when i went sometimes 4 or 5 times a week! now though, i'm so frustrated by the incivility of people; the talking, the cell-phones, the rampant YOUNG children, who in most cases are too young for the film anyway...it seems that, since the advent of the vcr back in the 80's, people more and more feel that they can talk during a film, like they're in their living rooms! in the movie theaters, inconsideration is becoming an artform!
this is my one pet peeve.
i gotta get offa this or i'll go crazy.

anyway...

fortunately the reverse-reverse-reverse worked out for us and the place was moderately comfortable.

and here's where the subject of this little post comes in...
i had, of course, heard a few reviews and comments from friends and acquaintences over the past week, and, as i said, craig's been waiting for me to see it so we can talk about it. most comments were that it was just too much, that there were too many villains, too many girls, too much over-the-top action to be able to follow...

INVARIABLY whenever i'm given an opinion by a friend or whoever, be it a negative or positive comment or review, i then go in and have the exact opposite experience. obviously because my expectations have been either heightened or lowered, i am almost always pleasantly surprised or somewhat disappointed, depending on how i went in. oh, even my constant optimism won't save a bad movie, but i often find that, though i try not to have ANY prejudices--or pre-judgements--it's tough these days, with so many trailers and previews constantly bombarding our tvs, to not have an idea of what to expect.

anyway...
i really dug spider-man 3.
no, it's not the movie i woulda made. i didn't like spider-man 1--felt that they totally missed the essence of spider-man, his compassion and sensitivity, his love and adoration of his aunt and uncle. the only scene we saw him with uncle ben they were arguing...what?!?!? his love and respect for uncle ben is what makes him put on that costume every night.

spider-man 2, i felt, redeemed this mistake a bit (the dream sequence/flashback with uncle ben was closer to the real relationship between them) and the doc ock storyline was solid.

so building on those, i really liked 3. i thought that the night fight scene right in the beginning with harry on the glider was too dark and too frenetic--i couldn't always make out what was happening, who just got slammed into that wall.


but overall, i thought it was fun. i still think that toby maguire only has one expression and it's one of shock and confusion. my pal, terry austin, says "he always looks like he's about to bust out cryin'."
but it was fun.
and i had fun with my dad.
and that's really all that matters.



is this the greatest panel in the history of comics?
my friend (and organizer of the awesome baltimore comicon!) mark nathan thinks so.
i told him i needed some time to consider, but now i agree.
anybody got a suggestion? an alternative? a contender?
send 'em in--even if you don't have a scan--i'll get it...

smell ya later!

addendum: curious rogues

okay...

not the best pictures--i don't know how to access the focus on my digital camera yet--but here are the strange villains featured on the borders of that batman bread wrapper i mentioned on friday.






and, while we're here, here are the answers to the

"five on friday"...

1. what mad artist won fame and recognition for his tiny and hilarious pantomimes in the margins of the mag?
sergio aragones

2. (i hate that new cat-look, but) what originally made rather human-looking hank mccoy gain his more beastial visage?
as scott, jeff, and colin said--thanks for the details, colin!--hank did it to himself while trying to "cure" his mutation.

3. before he became the joker, what was his wife's name?
jeannie (the killing joke)

4. who was travis walton?
in one of the most documented--and investigated--cases of ufo abduction, travis walton was a state worker in arizona who was apparently 'taken' for a period of five days. the movie "fire in the sky" was based on the incident and it's many ramifications.

5. yellowstone national park is primarily located in what state?
wyoming

smell ya later!
todd

the collector

okay...

i mentioned in my post the other day that i've been cleaning things up around here, throwing things out, and setting some stuff aside for either a yard sale or ebay, that virtual yard sale. now i have never avoided the term "collector", at times i have used it myself, been quite proud of it...but holy crap! i mean...HOLY CRAP!

over the course of my crazy, complicated, cartoon-like life, i have acquired so much trivial, useless, and in some cases, forgotten stuff that i find myself surprised by some of the stuff i've come across! an arnold schwarzenegger as sgt. rock movie promo button from the '88 san diego convention! my copy of mouse guard #1 (first printing) that i put in a safe place ('cause of the off-size) that i then couldn't find for almost a year now! three bread wrappers from the 1960's featuring batman and robin and a bunch of villains--a couple that no one ever saw! a spider-man print given to me and autographed by stan and john romita that i completely forgot i had!
COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD!!!





anyway, i've gotta go and get some more cleaing done, but i'll leave you with five for the weekend...

"five on friday"

1. what mad artist won fame and recognition for his tiny and hilarious pantomimes in the margins of the mag?

2. (i hate that new cat-look, but) what originally made rather human-looking hank mccoy gain his more beastial visage?

3. before he became the joker, what was his wife's name?

4. who was travis walton?

5. yellowstone national park is primarily located in what state?

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

catch up wednesday

okay...

i'm in a real purge mode these days, cleaning my house top to bottom, spring cleaning, getting rid of stuff and setting a lot of stuff aside to be "ebay-ed".

that idea has kinda seeped into everything i've been doing lately and has extended to my computer; i've been going through files and deleting them, updating them, etc.

as i go through the bookmarks that i have labelled "funny", i've found some of the following. if ya have a moment--read; time to kill--check 'em out. some of 'em are, some of 'em aren't, and what's funny to one person, might not be to another,. but...

here's a test you can take to see if you are a cool person.

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/general/2002/cool_test.htm

a site to find out a random fact about vin diesel...

http://4q.cc/index.php?pid=fact&person=vin

here's a picture of a dragon man bust that marvel is doing and that craig sent me 'cause he knows how much i love this character...



and a fun game...

http://www.winterrowd.com/maze.swf

and 20
Ways to Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity .

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write " For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8 Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera.

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling
"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......

and here are the answers to your

"five on friday"

1. in pulp fiction, how did tim roth know that he'd pulled samuel l. jackson's wallet out of the bag?
it's the one that says "bad mother f___er" on it.

2. what is the name of quint's boat in jaws?
orca

3. who did the voice of the joker on batman: the animated series?
maark hamill

4. how about harley quinn?
arlene sorkin

5.what's aquaman's wife's name?
mera

that's it! more on friday!
todd

occum's cell phone

okay...

once again, i have a lot of plates spinning...

several different writing projects--exciting all--and yet none that i'm at liberty to tell ya about at the moment.
i will, of course, letcha know when i can.
one or two of them will actually be big news...

i DID write the complimentary spider-man comic book that some of you were fortunate enough to get when you went to see spider-man 3 this past weekend! it was beautifully illustrated by my pal, stuart immonen, and i think it looks awesome!
the book was provided by target and marvel and, though the story had to tie in with the movie, i did try to have some fun with it. hope ya liked it.


i haven't seen the movie yet, however. hopefully in the next day or two. craig did and is patiently waiting for me to see it so that we can talk about it.

and on that note, we're making plans for our annual charlotte trip next month to be at heroescon the weekend of june 15th, 16th, and 17th! if you are a comics fan and are hankerin' to go to one of the last true comic book conventions in norht america, then don't miss out. craig and mike and i are regulars at heroes and hope to see ya there. craig and i will have the new perhapanauts>second chances trade (along with a few other interesting sundries) and mike and i >should< have copies of the tellos colossal hardcover on hand! mark your calendars and make your travel plans now!




random picture of the week--love it!

i don't really have much else to say--or rather, much else i CAN say...
so here's last friday's "five on friday"...

"five on friday"

1. in pulp fiction, how did tim roth know that he'd pulled samuel l. jackson's wallet out of the bag?

2. what is the name of quint's boat in jaws?

3. who did the voice of the joker on batman: the animated series?

4. how about harley quinn?

5.what's aquaman's wife's name?

that's all!
smell ya later!
todd

summer reading

okay...

though, in my area, spring seems to be taking it's damn sweet time getting here, we did have a burst of warm, almost hot, weather the other day and that put me in the mind of summer. and of what to read for summer.
to me summer has always represented a fine time to read the stuff you've been dying to read. this prob'ly goes back to school days when you were always being forced to read what the teacher made you read. summer though...that's free time!

of course, MY summer reading list always comprised at least one or two runs of one comic book or another, a chance to go back and re-read something that you haven't read in years. this summer i'm thinking about getting out all of my old batman/brave and the bold's, a series i loved as a kid, not only 'cause nick cardy had drawn a good handful of them but also because of the awesome jim aparo, who followed nick on the series! he did some great stuff, moody and dynamic, and maintained batman's shadowy countenence, depicting him--like the shadow--as a creature that could easily disappear into the night. and seeing batman paired with characters from every corner of the dc universe--that was always fun! maybe not all that plausible, but...it was comics!

one issue that will always stay with me, that represents so much of my childhood to me, is brave and the bold # 115, guest-starring the atom! batman dies! he dies! he REALLY dies! gunned down by a gangster's bullet, batman checks out! the atom arrives on the scene and confirms it and then--get this--shrinks down and enters batman's brain, neurologically stimulating and manipulating the dark detective's corpse to have him solve his own murder!! awesome! (and i learned a lot about the human brain, to boot!)


a good way to catch these old issues is to pick up dc's showcase series brave and the bold. although they're in black and white and i don't think they get up into the aparo issues yet. maybe volume two.


on the flip-side, i'm also planning on getting out my marvel team-ups to re-visit marvel's amazing pairings of their galaxy of stars with everybody's favorite wall-crawler! also a fabulous series and also available in the more economical essential series!
i loved these too as a kid and was really honored to get to write a marvel adventures version a few years back. and of course, mike wieringo had everything but the marvel team-up title on many issues of our sensational spider-man run!


okay, so that comics.
but i also remember buzzing through at least six or seven good books in a summer--some fantasy or science fiction book i had found or, later, some horror. so many great summer days spent outside in the grass or on the beach reading a good book in the sun. and sometimes, it's the book. one excellent summer book--that also happens to be about an excellent, adventurous summer, is boys life by robert mccammon. though the time period is about ten years before i was having my own adventures in the summer sun, it felt just like the wonderfully lazy, incredibly endless summers that i remember! the ending rumbles around a bit, finding it's one true conclusion, but other than the the book is a pure piece of summertime gold!


another one that i actually just stumbled over because of it's suggested horror elements is richard laymon's the traveling vampire show. there are vampires, and it does have some very suspenseful horrific moments, but this book is more a celebration of the surreal, directionless, anything-can-happen promises of summer. i've read a few other novels by laymon and they're usually good, solid horror stories, but they were different to me because they didn't capture the reckless abandonment of summer that this one does. don't get me wrong--it's not great literature--it's a paperback version of an exploitation film and somewhere along the line laymon fell in love with the word "rump"--maybe it's 'cause i never ever hear anyone use the word in real life, but it stuck out like a sore thumb--but the traveling vampire show is fun! a great summer read!


so that's what summer reading means to me--anybody got some summer reading recommendations?
send 'em in and we can talk 'em up.

that's all for now. here are
the answers to the "five on friday"...

1. starbuck's was originally owned by what famous olympic skater?
jo jo starbuck

2. what is the brand of cigarettes featured in all quentin tarentino movies?
red apple

3. what were the names of the two gangsters that bugs bunny bamboozled into the oven in the classic looney tunes cartoon?
rocky and mugsy

4. how did harvey dent become two face?
district attorney harvey dent had acid thrown in his face during a mob trial

5. in the early 90's, what burger did mcdonald's offer where "the hot stayed hot and the cool stayed cool"...?
the mcdlt

smell ya later!
todd

thank god it's friday...

okay...

so i didn't get to post a "five on friday" on saturday and even now, it's pretty late for a monday.

things have been hectic, but more than anything, thanks everyone for asking after jake. he is quite well now...actually, even better than before. seems he just had a virus, but they took blood anyway and tests showed he was a little anemic. so we have this cool new liquid iron shot to take in the morning with an eyedropper/syringe looking thing that the kid just loves. no trouble taking his iron medicine. and it's really perked him up too--i'm noticing a bit more energy and his tail seems to be wagging faster! or maybe that's the warmer weather...

working hard to hit deadlines with these two new writing projects and trying to get some furniture done at the same time made me late with this so i apologize. when it rains, it pours.

so here are your "five on friday" and i'll try to get back on track with a post on wednesday.

"five on friday"

1. starbuck's was originally owned by what famous olympic skater?

2. what is the brand of cigarettes featured in all quentin tarentino movies?

3. what were the names of the two gangsters that bugs bunny bamboozled into the oven in the classic looney tunes cartoon?

4. how did harvey dent become two face?

5. in the early 90's, what burger did mcdonald's offer where "the hot stayed hot and the cool stayed cool"...?

that's all!
smell ya later!
todd

in and out...

okay...

i had hoped that, once the play was over, i'd be able to relax a bit and let my life get back to normal.
unfortunately, that just ain't happenin'.

i had an important business meeting in nyc on tuesday only to have to rush back home and then up to albany to give a talk about comics and superheroes at the college of st. rose. lots of carpentry work piled up on my pal jeff while i was taking things easy for the play and so i've been trying to fit that in while also working on a few new writing projects, one for marvel, one for dc...
thought i was gonna have the day today to write uninterrupted and then jake got sick. real sick. my poor little guy.

anyway, what i'm saying is that there are lots of things going on--and some of them will be some BIG news revealed here when i can--but that's what made this blog entry either late or early, depending on whether you wanna count it as a late wednesday post or an early friday...

with no segue available, i move on...
i don't have as many friends on myspace as mike wieringo does (we always love the artists more...) but i do have quite a few. some befriend me because of tellos. some because of my runs on spectacular or sensational spider-man. or impulse. or x-factor. many, i'm happy to say, are HUGE perhapanauts fans.

many are also artists and i think it's so cool that i can browse through their posted artwork and see the incredible diversity of talent that's out there waiting to be discovered. or already has been discovered...

so below are some of the images that i've lifted (here without the artists permission) that i thought were cool or that moved me, that i might've used for a couple days as my desktop or sent along to craig and mike just to pass 'em on. if you dig 'em and wanna see more, i've included the names of the artists so you can google 'em, check out their websites and/or myspace pages.
again, i don't have their permission and i hope they don't get mad--i just really dig their stuff!



supergirl by dean trippe.
dean does this fun comic strip called "butterfly" about a superhero's sidekick's sidekick. check it!



rain by joe pekar.



mike corriero.


daddy's girl by michael hussar.


my favorite calvin and hobbes ever!
oh, by bill watterson.

that's all!
going on a field trip with my nephew tomorrow so i'll post a "five on friday" on saturday.
maybe next week we can get back to normal!
todd

farewell, mssr. holmes...!

okay...

i said that i'd tell you more about the play, but of course, after reading fred's regalatory post from friday, you prob'ly don't wanna hear anymore about it from me.

but here goes...

while fred's enthusiastic praise is greatly appreciately, i can tell you--as can anyone whose ever tread the boards--that, though the audience might not have noticed the various and sundry mistakes, I sure did. i completely blanked on a huge block of dialogue toward the end of the show and improvised my ass off. i tripped over a few words here and there (i think i said, "gentlemen--i'll see you at stockland yard!" rather than "scotland yard!"...) and on that particular evening, the smoke machine, meant to elicit just a few small puffs of smoke to indicate that the downstairs kitchen was on fire, generated a wall of smoke so thick that i could barely keep from laughing when my pal, kevin--playing the menacing james larraby--and i had to have a stare-down, angry exchange but could barely see each other! fun too as that cloud wafted out over the audience...

so i had fun! met lots of really nice people and felt that i did a fairly decent job of playing at sherlock holmes.

here are some of the cast backstage which was the only place i could really get any pictures~!


watson and holmes
i shang-hai'd my friend j.d. lewis into auditioning--and playing watson. not only is j.d. a great actor, he's a huge comics fan to boot!


risa petrone played billye, holmes's young assistant/eyes-on-the-street, one of the famed baker street irregulars. unfortunately for risa (and stefan/moriarity, pictured below) they both fell victim to the lure of the perhapanauts and had each purchased the first blood trade in the first couple weeks of rehearsal. i comped 'em the second chances run.


mary pasquale, renee credendino, emme knauss (in back) and nick capra.
mary played lady edwina leighton, one of the upper class dames who hire holmes onto the case. (she and her partner, linda roper as countess von stalburg stole the show every night just before the final scene...) renee, here in one of her many costumes, played eliza forman, holmes's other assistant and spy in the house where bad things were happening. (renee and i had a lot of fun figuring out holmes's relationship with this now-grown baker street irregular...). emma was terese, the french maid. and nick played lightfoot mcteague, one of the thugs sent out by moriarity to do in the irritating detective.


mary and linda.


kevin edwards, me, and stefan bozydaj.
out of the whole cast i think (and hope) that i'll stay in touch--and perform again!) with these two. kevin played james larraby and stefan, moriarity. i had a showdown scene with each of these guys and more fun with them during and after rehearsals than with anyone. these guys mean trouble! : )


actually, the person that i had the MOST fun with--and totally adore--is this girl, jeanne! or as i like to call her, crazy jeanne. since we live near one another and about 45 minutes away from the school, jeanne and i carpooled and there were many times, much as i love theater, that i had a lot more fun coming or going to rehearsal 'cause of this chick! our senses of humor and levels of insanity are completely in sync and i hope you know how much i love ya!
jeanne played leary, one of moriarity's crew and a spy for the devious professor.


and this is me with steve press, the director.
steve is my friend/teacher/mentor and way-back-when taught me more than i ever knew i knew.

okay, that's enough about me and alla my stuff--wednesday we'll get back to a normal post with some more perhapa-centric stuff.
see ya then!
todd

the lovely and talented...FRED HEMBECK!!

okay...

i said that i'd fill you all in more about how the show--sherlock holmes--went, and i will...but not just yet.
first, being that i am still pretty tired from the whole thing--as well as spending time with my favorite 2 and a half year old, john conrad rousseau (i sdon't know how craig and trish--or any parents do it. i'm exhausted!)--my head is still spinning from the experience.
second, and even more importantly, i am lucky to be friends with a very talented and fun and funny fellow named fred hembeck.



now i have been a fan of fred's for close to 25 years now--his wonderful comic strips, books, commentaries, and interviews have always made me smile, laugh out loud, or wax nostalgic for the innocent days of comic books. i have been his friend for the past 14 years or so, many of those years spent talking to each other through a volleyball net during our tuesday night comic book guys volleyball games. fred has an awesome serve, an almost daredevil-esque radar sense, and the absolute best color commentary this side of fred willard! if you haven't checked out his site, run, don't walk over to www.hembeck.com and see what you're missing out on! fred's site--and especially his blog--are full of fun! (and don't miss the gallery of his excellent cover recreations!!)
i check out fred's blog every time he makes an entry. i used to only catch it now and then, but now, thanks to myspace, i am linked to his "fred sez" column/blog every time. in his post from last sunday however, i was amazed to see that the topic was...me!?! sure, i had seen fred after the saturday night performance, but never thought that he would honor me with an entry. i, of course, blushed like a schoolgirl, but that won't stop me from reprinting the entry here. with fred's permission, also of course. (but don't let that stop you from checking out his siote like i toldja to at www.hembeck.com )



anyway, remember that this guy is a good friend and a little crazy.
heeeeeere's fred!

Clued in!
Current mood: chipper

It happened about seven or eight years ago.

I was home alone one day, sorting through some books and magazines on the living room floor and I had the TV on--I think it was tuned to a baseball game, but it could've been cable news. I had my back to the screen as I went about my paper shuffling, y'see, and was only dimly aware that a local commercial for an Albany based medical facility was playing. A series of heart felt testimonials from past patients droned on, barely making a dent on my otherwise engaged consciousness.

Then, without any warning, I stopped, stunned by what I was hearing!

I KNOW that voice!

And I don't mean I know that voice like it's some favorite celebrity trying to make a few extra bucks on the side by doing a sales pitch anonymously. No, this was the voice of someone who I'd actually spent time with in the same room! Believe me, the last thing you ever expect to hear when you're only paying half attention to the tube is the sound of an actual pal piping through the speakers!

I whirled around, to see if I was going batty, but sure enough, there he was, testifying earnestly for the Albany Medical Center--Todd Dezago!

You may know Todd for his Spider-Man and X-Men scripts, or maybe for his two fine creator-owned series, TELLOS and THE PERHAPANAUTS? Me, I'd known Todd since he was one of the clerks at A Strange Land (along with Tom "Hutch Owens" Hart), a long-shuttered Kingston Comics shop. And over the intervening years, I had encountered Todd at many a local party, and--up until it's untimely demise about three years back--on the courts during our decades spanning weekly volleyball game. But because of where Todd lives--pretty darn far away from yours truly--we generally tend to meet up somewhere in the middle. Fact is, in the ten years we've been happily ensconced in this house, Todd's only made out here once.

Well, twice, if you count that commercial.

(Which I never saw again, incidentally. And when I quizzed him about it at a subsequent volleyball gathering, turns out he was never a patient at said hospital at all! It was--to borrow a phrase from Jon Lovitz--acting!....)

Which brings me to last night....

Lynn, Julie and I drove over to Hyde Park to meet Terry Austin for dinner at the Everready Diner, a nifty fiftiesesque eatery, after which we headed out to the Dutchess Community College campus to catch a performance of "Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Alice Faukner", a play written back in 1899 by William Gillette based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and later made into a 1981 HBO telefim starring Frank Langella, following a Broadway production headlining same that Terry recalls seeing on The Great White Way back in his younger days).

The big attraction here? The star.

Forget Basil Rathbone! Disregard Peter Cushing! Dismiss Frank Langella--for now and evermore, after last night, for me anyway, Todd Dezago IS Sherlock Holmes!!

(And THIS time, I made a specific point of not turning my back on him!)

As odd a sensation as it was seeing his head pop up, unannounced, on my television set years back, it was nearly as peculiar watching someone I knew reasonably well (we don't see each other nearly as often as we may like these days.) up on stage for nearly two-and-a-half hours, portraying one of the most iconic characters in fiction--and doing a damn fine job of it, to boot!!

I'd been aware of Todd's thespian proclivities in the past, but I'd never quite gotten the opportunity to witness them. He really was quite good, and I'm not just saying that because he's a friend. The rest of the cast nearly matched him as well, I hasten to add. Oh sure, there were a few flubs along the way, but nothing worthy of a blooper reel. The play took a while to start cooking, storywise--no fault of the cast--but as soon as Todd showed up, deducing the bejeezus out of every little thing, we were well on our way! I wish you could all make it down to DCC for the show's final pair of performance's tonight and tomorrow, but as that isn't very likely, allow me, in my guise as Mr. Second-Nighter, to shower the productions with kudos. particularly the star, Todd "I-was-sick-but-Albany-Medical-Center-made-me-better" Dezago!

(I admit to chuckling out loud when Mr. D uttered the immortal line, "Elementary, my dear Watson", but waited in vain for that OTHER famous quote associated with the master detective, "No sh*t, Sherlock!". And, as I told Todd afterwards in the hallway, I was moderately disappointed that he regularly doffed his headgear as soon as he walked into a scene each and every time. I for one thought the show would've been even better if Sherlock had kept his coonskin cap on throughout! Well, maybe NEXT time...)

Summing up, a fine time was had by all (except maybe Julie--there were certain aspects of the mystery that confused her), and I even scored a nifty little Nick Cardy illustrated postcard promoting the play for my trouble (on view over at Fred Sez, natch)!

(And here's an article about the play from a local paper, featuring a photo of Todd alongside Sherlock's lady-love. No truth, however, to the rumor that the great sleuth wed the beauteous Alice and later fathered a baby girl named Katie. That, my friends, would be just Cruising for trouble!...)


thanks, fred! i am honored, flattered, and totally in love with you now!



have a great weekend everybody!
smell ya later!
todd

space and time travel

okay...

i'm on the phone with mike and sitting here in my office/studio/underwear (mike added that underwear part...) with craig and his baby daughter (my goddaughter) catherine, and that's the blog for today...
hope you like very much.

more on friday--back to normal with trivia, some interesting stuff and more.
mike is now singing the theme song to 30 rock for us. nert, nert, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nert, nert...do dobie do dobie do...

'cause this blog is so wacky today, here's a couple a' sketches from mike that no one's ever seen before...





and here's one from craig...



that's all!
smell ya later!
todd

amelia earhart

okay...

once again, buying me some time and showing me how a real blog is done, my good friend, scott weinstein...
(thanks, scott!)


Amelia Earhart is an OTHER



It's one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the last century. What happened to Amelia Earhart? She was officially declared dead in 1939. But, like all celebrities who die young, her legend lives on.

On July 1, 1937, Amelia Earhart, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, took off from Lae, New Guinea in her Lockheed Electra 10E. Their destination was Howland Island 2550 miles away. They would never arrive. The Coast Guard cutter Itasca was assigned to wait for them near the island, stay in communication, and when they arrive help them find the island. But, what no one at the time knew was that her plane's radio-reception antenna had been ripped away during take-off. People could hear her, but she was unable to hear anything.



In the early hours of July 2, the Itasca received a transmission from Earhart saying that she was running low on fuel. A second message said that she was on "line of position 157 dash 337." That was the last they heard. The ship then began a search northwest of Howland Island. They found nothing. As news of the missing plane spread, the Navy ordered six ships to join the search. A pilot flying over Gardner Island, an uninhabited atoll in the Phoenix Islands hundreds of miles to the south, reported seeing "signs of recent habitation." But, no people were spotted. It was assumed no one was there and they moved on.

But, you know what they say about assume?

What happened to her? Well, clearly she crashed. That's pretty obvious. Many theories have surfaced over the years. Alien abduction is among them. But, we determined in the last post that while aliens exist, they haven't been to Earth yet. So, rule that one out.

Many people have speculated that she was captured by the Japanese, who executed her for spying. Other stories claim that she was forced to make broadcasts as one of many women known as Tokyo Rose. All those theories have been disproved. And some researchers think that for wartime propaganda purposes, the US government may have spread those false rumors.

There is also the claim that she survived the flight, moved to New Jersey, changed her name, remarried and became Irene Bolam. But, the real Irene Bolam refuted this. And even sued the author of a book pushing that theory. When they actually looked into her life, they realized this poor woman could in no way be Earhart.

So, what happened? A newly discovered dairy, kept by an AP reported aboard the Itasca, has awakened interest. The diary itself offers no new clues. However, it does provide an account of the search and rescue efforts. And of her last transmissions.



According to the current theory, that pilot flying over Gardner Island may have been too hasty. In 1940, a British overseer on Gardner recovered a partial human skeleton, a woman's shoe and an empty sextant box at a former campsite. The initial examination of the bones claimed they belonged to a stocky European male. Of course, the original bones were lost. But, modern supercomputer forensic scientific examinations say that the measurements of the bones are consistent with a woman of Earhart's age and height. In addition the shoe matches those she wore in photos before she left for her trip.

Currently, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (or TIGHAR, seriously, that's what they call themselves) is planning a ninth trip to Gardner Island. It is safe to assume that any remains have been devoured by the surroundings by now. But, there is a little insight into what her final hours may have been like. Thanks to short-wave radio. Harmonic frequencies in the middle of the ocean can often be heard thousands of miles away. And that July night Betty, a 15 year-old girl in Florida, was listening. She heard Earhart's final transmissions and took notes in her school notebook. The woman on the radio was with a man, who was "coherent at times, then would go out of his head." Earhart was trying to keep Noonan from leaving the plane, and kept telling him to come back to his seat, because she needed to stay near the radio. And as the transmissions faded, she heard her say that they "were leaving the plane, because the water was knee-deep on her side." Betty's father notified the Coast Guard, but they dismissed him. There had been several hoax transmissions that night.

So, who knows how things really ended. Maybe they made it off the reef onto the island. Built some form of shelter. Eventually, they started exploring. Earhart probably had to smack Noonan around some, since he was clearly loosing it. And eventually, she had to "take care of him."

But, that doesn't mean her adventures were over. Maybe there were other inhabitants. Maybe a smoke monster. And hatches. Hey, is that a Dharma logo on the side of her plane. Did she become an Other? Is she really Ben's mom? Of course, her bones mean those adventures ended pretty quickly. But, it's fun to imagine.



And don't forget, check out my comic...
After School Agent

Thanks for listening,

SCOTT