Retaining the Seven Seas

Well, Leah and I promised a brief tag-team synopsis of What We Did At WizWorld East Today but we're both wiped, generally suffering more body aches than are acceptable to discuss in mixed company (hence the not-so-subtle title), and she's talking to her sister on the phone so I'll just give the run-down.

I did pretty near bupkiss at the convention itself. I think I spent more time at Casa Adezio and the highly-recommended Reading Terminal Market than in the convention center. It was like every time I walked into the exhibition hall the energy drained right out of me and my feet started throbbing. Touched base with a few more friends, most of them New Yorkers whom I always seem to see more often at out-of-town conventions; lugged my camera about but only took a few couple pictures (including one of 6-month-old Caroline David so at least it was worthwhile for that); and attended part of a Marvel X-Men panel. I was only partially conscious during much of it, but I do recall an audience member asking when the books would be more female-friendly. I thought the question kind of weird in that the panel included Chris Claremont, who has a longstanding rep for having written strong female characters for years; and Phil Jimenez, who draws lovely, logical idealized men and women. But I was pretty sympathetic to her question, as I'd been asking variations on the theme of many comics publishers and professionals for years. Thing is, if you want to impart to folks that you'd like to see more female-friendly comics, you have to either clearly define your terms or make your points through references others will easily get (such as pointing to gender-based trends in other kinds of entertainment and comparing those stories to what you'd like to read in comics). Otherwise, the reaction you're liable to get from the all-male panel of 9 or 10 is likely to range from politely dismissive to outright defensive, which is more or less what happened in this case. Still, it's better than not having the subject raised at all.

We had a lovely dinner this evening in Chinatown, only a few blocks from the convention center, with Peter's wife Kath (while he wrote and cared for Caroline) and Nick Cardy, his niece and her mother. Mr. Cardy is a classy and witty gentleman, eager to share stories of his many years in the business, and it was neat watching Kath bond with Leah's kids over this stuff that I don't even pretend to understand.

Oh, and Leah's Link o' Silliness today is... The Lord of the Peeps. Just, just go. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Greetings from the Cutting Edge of Snarkiness

Man, I'd forgotten how weird it was using a dial-up connection on a laptop without a mouse. But Leah Adezio is kind enough to let me blog from her house, so I can more than make do. (You'll meet her in a minute; her guest co-blogging tonight and tomorrow will be distinguished by italics.) The journey down was comfy and uneventful, and we only spent a couple hours in Philly at the first day of WizWorld East, pretty much locating our friends and particularly those who also know Leah, to make sure everyone was aware of recent events. If you're reading this and thinking of taking in the con, it's large enough to keep you interested but small enough that you can do the circuit of the exhibition hall/artist alley in maybe an hour and a half. DC has its usual respectable-looking booth, CrossGen has a biiiig booth, and Marvel has a signing area. Oh, and Patty Jeres' hair looks amazing; I want her stylist!

We then hopped another train out from Market East Station (amazingly easy to navigate, and right between that and the convention center is the Reading Terminal Market where doubtless I'll be spending a few hours tomorrow) to meet up with Leah, do a bit of food shopping, hang out on her patio and schmooze with neighbors, etc.

And now that we've had dinner and gotten a bit mellow, I'm going to let Leah introduce herself...


Hmmm....where to begin. Well, if you've been reading Elayne's blog prior to this, I guess I'm The Friend To Whom Sucky Things Happen. My universe changed at 1:31 am Wednesday, May 21, 2003. My husband David went into cardiac arrest in the aftermath of a seizure and could not be revived.

So now, I have to circle a new letter on all those forms that one fills out in the course of one's lifetime -- you know, the one where you circle 'S' for 'single', 'M' for 'married'? Yeah, that one. But now, I get to circle (or underline, depending on the form, I guess) 'W' for 'widow'. Ew. And may I say again, ew.

What an odd word 'widow' is. It doesn't apply to me, does it? Widows are lovely elderly ladies in their 70's who surround themselves with grandchildren and cats, right? Right? (Elayne just said to me, widows are like the 'Hell's Grannies' in old 'Monty Python' sketches....and although I do have an umbrella..........)

Widows suggest spiders. Big, icky spiders. Widows also connotate the idea of the scheming 'black widow' of 40's film noir cinema.

Now, I do have children and I do have cats (and the aforementioned umbrella)...but I'm not a spider and I look much better in color than in black and white.

But I am a widow. I'm 42 years old. Except for laugh lines that are admittedly growing deeper (but hey, they're laugh lines and damn it, I like them), I don't even have wrinkles yet. The face has not yet collapsed, thank you very much.

I'm not supposed to be a widow. David and I and our sons had just moved to Pennsylvania 6 months ago and we had just started to look for a house to buy. Tuesday night, as we sat out on the patio furniture that we'd just bought the night before having dinner, he promised me a whirlpool bathtub...and besides storage space and a place to draw, all I really wanted in a house is a whirlpool bathtub.

If that happens now, it'll be up to me to make it happen. woo freakin' hoo.

Do I sound snarky? Well, this is The Cutting Edge of Snarkiness, after all. It's okay. Elayne says I'm often on the cutting edge of snarkiness, hence today's title. Works for me.

To steal a line from my friend Peter David (link at sidebar; go there. have fun), but I digress.

Back to the 'widow' thing. I've only been able to say it twice. I don't even try to think it. Life as I know it is just too surreal to even contemplate it. Just nod at me, smile and let me be a river in Egypt, okay? Eventually, I'll come around.

I apologize if this sounds too irreverant. What else can I do but laugh? Become a quivering puddle in a corner somehwere? Sorry, I just don't have the time. I have two teenagers to whom I now have to be both Mom and Dad. I have to go to work. I have to pay my bills, deal with the attorney who is going to establish David's estate, write thank you notes, do laundry.

Above all, I have to survive and make sure my sons survive. I want to make sure they go through the rest of their lives defining themselves by other events than 'My Dad died when I was 17'; 'My Dad died when I was 13'.

They will have significant events in their lives. My youngest will make his Bar Mitzvah this year; my eldest will graduate high school and begin college. Hopefully, they will eventually find loves of their own and have families and then I can be the elderly widow lady in her 70's with the grandchildren and the cats. But I don't want to be that today.

If I were accepting an Academy Award (insert little TM thingy here), this is where I thank my family and friends for their love and support. I'd thank my wonderful co-workers, who have been amazing in their expressions of sympathy and kindness. I thank my sons, who have been simply magnificent as we begin this strange journey together.

But it's not. It's just my life. It's my life where I have to learn how to move forward without David -- and for the record, this upcoming Monday, June 2nd, is, to be crass, going to suck. It would have been our 18th wedding anniversary. There will be no more. If only I'd known last year's would have been the last one we would spend together....but I didn't and I won't speculate on it further, for that way lies madness. I may be snarky, but I'm not mad.

So I'll just step back and say 'Thank you so much'.

And let that phrase lead you to today's Link 'o Silliness: Opera Baby.

I know it's made the rounds for awhile, but darn it, I like it. It's cute, it's easily filk-able (we have a version about the cats and their litter box) and the Opera Baby's even polite.

Go, check it out and have fun.

Oh. One more thing. If you have someone you love in your life, make sure you kiss them tonight and tell them you love them.

I'm glad I did last Tuesday night. Even though my future is uncertain, having done that, I have no regrets about my past.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

I continue to be absolutely floored by Leah's wit and facility with language, and now y'all can see why. We plan to switch gears a bit tomorrow and do a tag-team review of the convention. As Leah says, "Errors will be made; others will be blamed."

Sites of Note

My mind's already halfway to Philly, where Robin and I will be attending WizWorld East for the next three days (while I scramble looking for an Internet cafe so I can keep my "posting every day from now on" streak going), and my work stuff is pretty well in order, so I'm trying to play catch-up on all my online reading, particularly on the comics boards since I'm going to be seeing a lot of these people during the weekend. And I caught this great interview that Heidi MacDonald did with Micah Wright which I highly recommend. Wright has been on the ball for awhile, and brings up a few interesting points I haven't even seen in the progressive blogs, like the fact that mainstream radio now isn't a Clear Channel monopoly as much as a Clear Channel/Radio One duopoly - I mean, nobody ever seems to mention Radio One! - and the conjecture that Aaron Sorkin didn't leave The West Wing of his own accord but was forced out for political reasons. A terrific interview; kudos to both Heidi and Micah!

Also worth checking out is this article by Howard Zinn in the latest Progressive, which pretty much sums up the reaction I have every time I see a nasty "love it or leave it, asshole" sign or bumper sticker.

See (some of) you in Philly, I hope!

What a Card

Before Bookworm came along, my favorite computer game time-waster was probably Solitaire, and I still love me them nickel poker machines in Vegas and AC. Playing cards have always fascinated me.

And as NewsMax reminds us, the US military was following a fairly long tradition when the Defense Intelligence Agency created the "Deck of Death" (aka "Iraqi Most Wanted") cards issued by CENTCOM to our boys and girls in the Gulf. The article mentions a few examples, such as the WWII Spotter Cards and even a 2-set deck made during the Civil War which featured Union and Confederate military leaders. Of course, the article also serves as a lead-in ad for NewsMax's own odious "Deck of Weasels" card set, "depicting the 54 worst leaders and celebrities who opposed America and were key members of 'The United Nations of Weasels.'" (Doubtless this is related to Fox News' Traitors of America cards.) Creepy how opposing an unjust war translates once again in some perverse minds into "opposing America." (Even creepier how a news channel abandons all pretense of objectivity to purvey something like this.) And recently Texas Republicans printed up playing cards with the faces of the Democratic legislative "fugitives."

But of course, "our side" gets in its licks as well. One of my favorites is the Republican Chickenhawk cards. The GOP "Most Wanted" deck seems to have been around awhile, but IWR keeps adding to it. PA Senate candidate Jim Capozzola (link at sidebar) mentions a Freedom French company that's released a deck of cards it calls "Les 52 plus dangereux dignitaires américains." And lest we forget, the 2000 Politicards deck seemed to rib both sides of the fence somewhat equally.

Have I missed any? Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, place your bets in the comments section!

Pulled Both Ways

Look, I'm tired of pundits, even the ones who write well and sensibly, saying over and over that "Most people, even most liberals, are complacent. They don't realize how dire the fiscal outlook really is... when will the public wake up?" on the one hand, and on the other hand reading how one blogger after another is going on hiatus or talking about burnout from trying to fight the good fight. There's a difference between ignorance-complacency and powerlessness-frustration-exhaustion. I think the majority of thinking Americans - and by golly there are a lot more of us than we give ourselves credit for! - are "guilty" far more of the latter than the former. We're not dumb, we're not dismissive, we're just up against a lot of government power that's rewarding the rich and punishing us and at this point it's all many people can do just to stay afloat. The last thing we need is to beat up on ourselves over our inability to exert greater influence over a rigged game. The power players are beating up on us enough as it is, okay? I mean, I'm just saying.

Bug Fixes

Blogger templates are operational again, so anyone else out there who had the same problems as me (and that's, um, everyone on Blogspot) can now go to it and make your changes. 'Course, the bugger is still loading like molasses. And on a personal note, I spoke with my primary care physician and she allayed a number of my fears about the medication my ob/gyn prescribed (see yesterday's entry), but also said there are better ways to control glucose sensitivity such as - surprise! - exercise, as well as green tea, whole grains, etc. So if I decide to take the medication it'll be strictly as a fertility thing, and I'm used to fertility meds screwing with my body short-term anyway so nothing new there. Meanwhile, under Robin's supervision I'm starting on the stationary bike again, only for 10 minutes daily to build up my stamina to do 20+ minutes (when the bike actually starts doing some good in terms of burning off the bad stuff); and on my shopping trip this evening I'll be buying some whole grain bread (bye rye!) and brown rice, as well as green teabags to make "sun tea" which will take the place of my beloved Tetley iced for the foreseeable future.

Choiceless

Well, I hear the College World Series was a real nail-biter yesterday, with UCLA pitcher Keira Goerl throwing a no-hitter to beat defending champs California in 9 innings (2 innings over regulation play). I only found this out on the website. I wanted to actually watch the game as promised, but ESPN and ESPN2 apparently found it more urgent to run news shows with the same features every half hour, or means-nothing-at-this-stage-of-the-season Major League Baseball games, rather than showing the CWS. They didn't even report on the score! It's not like the NCAA was completely ignored, mind you; the men's baseball regional team selections were announced; the news even showed the score of the men's lacrosse championship, complete with highlights. But if you wanted to know anything about women's sports on ESPN yesterday, Serena Williams was pretty much it; and if you wanted to know anything at all about women's collegiate sports on the championship level, forget it. What, you thought you had a choice? Anyway, congrats to UCLA.

Speaking of having no choice, I've been told by my doctor that I have insulin resistence (metabolic syndrome X, according to WebMD) and will have to go on medication. The medicine they want me to take seems to be contra-indicated for people who've had liver problems, like my formerly-elevated ALT levels, so it looks like they'll have to slug it out with my PCP (that's Primary Care Physician in modern med-speak, not the angel dust drug) before I actually ingest anything. Meantime, I'm going to try to cut out the white rice with the sushi (i.e., eat more sashimi!) and drink more green tea and see if that helps too.

Now, the usual recommendation for this type of thing - in fact, for everything remotely related to possible diabetes - is to lose weight, which advice many fat activists know is about as practical for some of us as losing height or eye color. And which advice never seems to be given to thin people with insulin sensitivity or diabetes, but never mind. I now have to seriously think about going on a prescribed diet-and-exercise regimen of which 95% do not work and often incur gaining more weight afterwards, or just leaving things be with the sensible diet and increased exercise that I've already started plus a medication that could cause all kinds of lovely side-effects. As I get older and my body starts betraying me, I get very resentful of these rock-and-hard-place situations.

SNABU

I've been fairly well Bloggered today. I can't add my rac* friend Augie DeBlieck to my blogroll yet because I can't call up my template at the moment; and I couldn't check the blog for entries I made earlier this month because the archives weren't working properly, and when I tried to republish they all disappeared. Ah well, what do I want for nothing, a rubber biscuit? Update: Well, at least the archives are back (I was hoping that posting an entry would refresh the blog at least that much, and it did), but my template's still MIA. And hey, how about that Veronica Nelson 2-run homer yesterday? I don't know what I'm looking forward to more, Clemens pitching against Boston in the rain (hah! I have my doubts that game will be played today) or the "Wish They All Could Be California Girls" College World Series final. No, I know what I'm looking forward to more. :)

The Real Definition of High-Definition

So I was beefing up my Amazon wish list (see sidebar) with some musicals, since the cable system we have doesn't provide the channels that play musicals more often than once or twice a year and I never bothered getting most of these on video (or I taped 'em off the TV back when they were shown more often, and those videotapes are warping fast), and Robin remarked that DVD was probably on the way out by decade's end. I was confused; I know our tech-crazed society hasn't nearly reached the pinnacle of kewl overpriced metallic toys to appease or entice the relative few who still have disposable income to throw at them, and the many others who go into debt pretending they can achieve this dream of immediate self-gratification through shiny impersonal appliances. But I figured, hey, most people are pretty happy with DVDs. They're the most quickly accepted format ever!

Ah well, Robin says, they'll look positively grainy on a high-definition television. So what? I retort. There's tons of people aren't going to want to buy HDTV. A television is a major purchase for most folks! They're fairly content to stay with what they have. They're not necessarily salivating for digital TV. Heck, there's people of little means still squinting into old beat-up B&W TVs with makeshift coat-hanger antennae to pick up broadcast TV! And he responds, Not for long.

You see, a few years ago the FCC (see any number of very good media awareness blogs) followed Australia's lead and made it mandatory that every television must be digital by 2006. (It's since become 2007.) Notes the Washington Post, "The ruling will affect most directly the approximately 15 percent of U.S. consumers who do not subscribe to cable or satellite systems and who rely on over-the-air broadcast signals -- using rabbit ears or outdoor antennas -- for their televisions. With some exceptions, those broadcast signals must be converted from analog to digital by 2007. About 99 percent of the nation's 265 million TV sets are analog. With an average lifespan of seven to 10 years, many of those sets will outlast over-the-air analog signals. To watch over-the-air television afterward, owners of such sets will have to buy a digital television set, at a cost of at least $800, or a digital converter, which costs at least $400 today. All parties agree that the prices will drop by 2007." (Emphasis mine)

Oh, I'm sure they do. Why, how much would a little add-on like that cost in four years, once it's been mass-produced and can retrofit any-- what? It still won't work on older TVs? Heck, who cares, it's not like anyone's complained about not being able to hook up DVD players or cable systems to older TVs.

But see, this is more than that. This is your older TV not working at all as a stand-alone appliance in four years because there won't be a broadcast signal for it to pick up.

Oh heck, let's look on the bright side - all those people worried about the consolidation of the airwaves can breathe a sigh of relief once the airwaves as we know them won't even exist any more!

An NAB spokesman is quoted as saying, "Our position, and that of most broadcasters, is that HDTV is going to be the driving force behind digital television. Once people see HDTV, they are going to want nothing less." Way to create a need then fill it, National Association of Bilkers! We all love HDVT, especially those of us who profit from it!

Now, maybe this is me taking offense on behalf of other people; after all, I've had cable for about five years, and I got rid of my bedroom TV with the dials and the rabbit ears and no remote control at least a half dozen years ago. But it's also me being pissed that the government has once again made it obligatory for people who can't afford something to buy it if they want to have a hope in hell of staying informed or being entertained.

So back to DVDs - what happens when we don't want to play our old ones because they look too grainy? Well, on the horizon are HD camcorders and VCRs and D-VHS tapes and guess what that means?! That's right, our old VCRs (around 290-300 resolution lines per screen, if they're good) are being replaced by DVDs (480 lines) which in turn will be replaced by HD VCRs (1080 lines) - and remember, to all intents and purposes, this time it's mandatory because of compatibility issues! So by decade's end, doubtless we'll all be sold a bill of goods called High Definition Digital Video/Versatile Disks. Better start saving up now, folks.

But you may ask, Should I wait before I buy a new TV? What are you, French or something? Why are you even questioning the need to buy right away in the first place? Expect a visit from Ashcroft's crooked-nosed boys any day now...

On Leagues of Their Own

Robin informed me today that Annika Sorenstam missed the halfway cut at the PGA Colonia tournament. Depending on your choice of bias, she either leaves a hero having proven her personal goal of gender integration, however briefly; or she breaks just like a little girl. Says the latter site, "She shrugged, smiled and threw the ball to the fans. She knew the race was over. So she turned the stroll up the 18th fairway into a victory parade, as applause, cheers and wolf-whistles provided the percusssion." Cheers and wolf-whistles? We've come a long way, baby.

Now, I've professed in past entries (see April 5 and 6) to be in favor of gender integration in sports, not just at the beginning levels (like Little League, where it's already happened) but right on up to the pros. And I still do think that the lack of experience and encouragement at all these levels help keeps major sports from being gender-integrated. There's just something that strikes me as horribly biologically-deterministic about the argument that even the best female pro at some sport is only going to be as good as an average male pro, even with the continuing evidence in support of it. Because male pro sports are by and large still considered the Big Time, the only "real" sports - as opposed to "they just do it for the fun of it" sports, which usually translate into "you're not going to make a living doing this, girly!" And that's a lot of it for me, wanting to see women compete for big purses and green jackets and championship jewelry without, you know, having to buy them at Macy's.

On the other hand, if women's sports is starting to attract attention on its own at the professional level, I don't see any conflict between supporting those efforts and still hoping for more gender integration. Integrated leagues aren't for every woman; there's something cool about having a female safe space on the field and in the dugout and in the broadcast booth. Today I watched ESNP2's coverage of a game in the 2003 Women's College World Series that, looking at the website, was actually played yesterday. The site supposedly lets you follow the live games, but I can't seem to call one up even though they're presumably playing right now at the ASA (Amateur Softball Association) Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Anyway, I really got a kick out of it, there was the slugger named Veronica who has the same body type as me, and the phenom pitcher named Kari who pitched sixteen innings in one day (I didn't see the first game, I guess it must have been extra innings because softball only has 7), and the avid fans in the bleachers (the stadium draws over 45,000 spectators to watch this tournament every year) and just the pure heart and triumph and tragedy and all the wonderful things played out on those young and eager and real-looking and not-in-it-for-the-money faces. And as much as I think women's sports deserve and merit attention and live coverage and the wherewithall to afford players a way to make a living, I also found something very attractive about the lack of pretense. The whole thing had a very community feel to it. The women didn't even wear hats in the field. Don't get me wrong, they were fierce and edgy competitors and all, but they weren't there for the endorsements or the airtime or anything else that smacked of over-commercialization. And if that's the kind of feel that women's sports can engender, as much as I believe it ought to be blindingly obvious that talented women deserve to make a living at it, I also like the idea of leaguing it out on one's own. We've already seen it happen with basketball and golf and a few other big-money deals, let's hope it continues into sports I actually care about. :)

Oh, and after 40 years I finally came up with the only possible answer that would ever have made sense every time my father saw a talented woman Olympian or opera singer or pianist on television and asked me somewhat accusingly, "Why can't you do that?" Ladies and gents, if this ever happens to you, the proper one-word comeback is "Genetics."

Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!

Today is a wholly day for Discordians everywhere. "Discordianism is founded upon the belief that all of the worlds ills are caused by imbalance towards Order over Disorder and a mistaken belief that Disorder and Chaos are the same thing. This is not so, Chaos is transcendant and liberated from the duality of Order/Disorder. Order and Disorder are both gifts given to us by the Chaos, which Discordians call Eris." To put this modern terms: Order is what the Bush administration tries to impose on citizens of the world through its policies; Disorder is often the result of this flimsy house of cards; and Chaos is blogtopia and all who continue to question official lies.

The Principia Discordia has been online for awhile. I'm mentioned in the intro done by Kerry Thornley, who was one of my INSIDE JOKE staff writers. "Elayne was just some broad with a funny bone until she read the Principia and asked the question that led to my great definition of theology. 'Why,' she wanted to know, 'is the Discordian Society, which worships a female divinity, so male dominated?' Recalling that more women than men are devout about Christianity with its male God and His male Son, I decided that people like religions that blame reality on the opposite sex. So let that be a lesson to us males. Behind every great idea there is a broad with a funny bone." Probably one of the nicest things anyone's ever said about me.

Holding the Center

For any of those curious, Leah and her sons seem to be holding up well, thanks in no small measure to their wonderful support system I mentioned yesterday. If you're lucky enough to be a friend of hers as well, and I haven't yet sent you the particulars of the arrangements currently being made, please e-mail me.

And speaking of wonderful friends and support, I apologize that I haven't been doing much blogroll visiting and commentary of late. Busy boss days, as I noted on Tuesday. Hope to achieve equilibrium again sometime this weekend. Thanks for understanding.

Things Fall Apart

We're such fragile creatures, wedded to such fragile machines and bonding to each other for strength. And it takes so little to upend that. The evening started out optimistically, with a Buffy finale worth sustained applause, full of empowerment and hope. "Every one of you, and girls we've never known... they will have the strength they never dreamed of. And more than that, they will have each other."

Then it sunk a bit as the Smallville season-ender featured more pain and far less resolution than I'd care to deal with in my escapist fictional entertainment. Then real life began to seep in, as Robin's monitor went bye-byes for good (fortunately we have enough saved this month to afford a new one).

And then there was the devastating 2:30 AM call from my closest female friend, Leah Adezio, telling me of her husband David's sudden passing. He was a gentle, loving man, and he shall be terribly missed. But I know this: Leah has a strength that these fictional shows can never begin to touch, a strength that perhaps she's never dreamt of. And she will prevail beyond this sorrow as she has before. And more than that, she and all her family and friends and support network, we will have each other. Please send your good thoughts towards her in this time. Per her express wishes, Robin and I will still be visiting Leah and her sons the weekend after next (see yesterday's post) if anyone would like us to convey anything in person.

Corrections

Seth Finkelstein e-mailed to remind me that he's not the same person as Seth Friedman (see my May 13 entry), but I may remember him anyway from the both of us having been on rac* during my Usenet days, so even though it's not that closed a circle at least he is someone else I know. :) Apologies to both Seths!

And I returned to the office this morning none the worse for wear (we hit all the spots we wanted to in Central Park yesterday, as well as getting a blood sugar test done, supporting the French by eating brunch here, taking in a movie, and doing the All You Can Eat Sushi thang for dinner, so I'm tired and a bit itchy but quite happy and refreshed) to find that not only had my boss flown back early from his most recent business trip, which means he'll be coming in today, but he'll be cancelling his trip this week as well, which means I'll see him tomorrow and Thursday too. So much for any plans to get out of here at a normal quitting time this week. Makes me feel even better that next week's only three work days long, what with Memorial Day and taking Friday off to go to WizWorld East and visit my friend Leah again. But it looks like I'll have to go through short-term hell before I get to that little piece of heaven...

Oot and Aboot

So I went to the Food Fest yesterday, which all told took a little over an hour. Probably the fastest time I've ever shot through the thing, and I'd intended on it being a fairly leisurely stroll up 9th Avenue from 34th (where the crosstown bus let me off after I took care of some errands on the east side) to 60th (where I turned to get the train back to the Bronx around the southeast tip of Central Park). I had my shark kebob (I passed on the gator-on-a-stick because last year I had trouble, um, passing the gator), stuffed quail, corn on the cob, water with a little lemon in it lemonade, chicken satay, a lovely garlic sourdough twist fresh from some oven somewhere, baklava, lamb on a stick and Thai iced tea. Fifteen bucks total. Passed on the mozzarepa this time, as well as the ubiquitous King of the Candy Apple stands, funnel cakes, crepes, etc. etc. Once again no sushi in sight. But cute little girls doing a song and dance on the stage at 43rd or so, the song filled with bad food puns; a very decent xylophone player; a homeless guy to whom I said "I'm sorry" when he accosted me (I could have done far worse, like peeling off and giving him one of the many flyers adorning the police barricades advertising a 2BR 2Bath apartment overlooking the river for only $3200 a month); and petted a mounted cop's horsie. My hands still itch like crazy (I don't know what airborne allergen affects me so but I'm glad I wore my jacket or my arms would be similarly affected) and the stupid big toe on my right foot is still giving me problems, but that's not stopping me from taking in Central Park today. Unfortunately our friend can't meet us but I'm determined not to "waste" a vacation day. With any luck we'll hit here and here and here, and maybe take in a movie as well, but we'll see.

Finger on the Pulse

As I mentioned yesterday in my "Public Services" entry, if you know the title of a NYT article you can probably get it on Google's News section without having to go through the Times' personally intrusive registration process. Here's the one about blogging from today's "Fashion & Style" section. Does the NY Times "discovering" blogging mean it's now time for the next big thing? As usual, the thing that tends to amuse me the most is that bloggers are shocked, do you hear me shocked, to find out that if they use their real names and blog about job details, their coworkers might find out about their bitching and they could get fired! Duh, what part of "online public diary" isn't quite clear to these folks?

The Slush Pile

Woke up too late, with the weather looking too cold, to venture out to today's Food Fest alone. Tomorrow for sure! So I'm spending the day catching up on reading, both blogs and comics. Been through almost all the Marvels I bought this past week, noting with some dismay that almost every one of them has ads out the wazoo - literally, if you use "rectum" as a synonym for "wazoo," as the ads fill up the rectos just about every time you turn the page. I was under the impression it was more expensive to print books when the ads are spread out like that than grouped or tipped-in. In any case, it makes it easier for me to read the comics folded over with the staple to the right, knowing I only have to flip them over once or twice. One exception was the adless second issue of 411, which suffers from almost no introduction or explanation of what the miniseries is about (see my April 10 entry) save a brief bit on the back cover (which also has a lovely illustration by Tony Harris and his son Enzo). It also contains, in my opinion, only one story this time clearly about taking non-violent action. But it's a good one - written by Brian Vaughan and rendered in pencil and ink-wash by Leonardo Manco (with spot color here and there), it deals with a Congresswoman's decision on whether to vote for a war resolution whose passage is a foregone conclusion anyway. Shades of Barbara Lee? Try Jeannette Rankin, to whose bravery this story is a tribute. However, $3.50 is a bit steep for just an excellent 10-page story and back cover, so you may wish to flip through this in the shop before deciding whether to buy. Now, back to my mounting pile of unread comics (goddess bless the DC comp box)!

Public Services

A brief follow-up to my March 13 post about fake news stories (no, not Jayson Blair); I'm hoping to make this a regular feature on this blog, I get a kick out of media gullibility. Yet another item now turns out too wacky to be true - the Tunbridge Wells superhero story was a hoax. Via Neil Gaiman (link at sidebar). My husband is sure to be heartbroken.

Also a reminder to anyone who doesn't want to create a fake e-mail account solely for the purposes of lying to the New York Times (no, not like Jayson Blair did) or revealing any personal information in order to get to their online articles: If you know the author and particularly the name of the article in question (article titles work best as keywords), chances are Google's news section can get it for you wholesale. For instance, Tom Tomorrow (link at sidebar) recommended Paul Krugman's latest opinion column, Paths of Glory. The link I just put up is to (persumably) the same op-ed carried on a non-NYT site. Enjoy.

Idiot Boxing Again: Part Six

See previous posts. Breaking up The Pitches (TP) and My Highly Opinionated Snap Judgements (MHOSJ) on the networks' new fall series by day yadda yadda. All times listed are Eastern and PM, and TP quoted verbatim from the nets. Thanks for sticking with me this long. No new shows listed for Saturday, but lots for...

Friday

ABC: Back to Kansas (8:30) - TP: In Tom's marriage to Susan Kelly, everything is relative. Tom, an only child, quickly learns that Susan's family is not only larger-than-life... it's larger than most. Tom and Susan moved from New York to Kansas to be closer to the quirky, tight-knit Kellys. The in-jokes, the family quirks... every get-together tests Tom's nerves, but nothing compares to his worst nightmare - game night. From befriending Susan's weird, bug-collecting brother to schmoozing with her smug, condescending uncle, Tom tries to become one of the family... whether he likes it or not. From exec-producer Brad Grey (The Sopranos, Just Shoot Me) comes a family-sized comedy with a super-sized heart. MHOSJ: You know, if game night is your worst nightmare, I'd say you're doing okay. If this show were done by middle Americans rather than left- or right-coasters, I might be more attracted to it. Then again, the fish-out-of-water premise worked well for Rob Morrow (although I think the appeal of Northern Exposure lay more in its magical realism).

ABC: Hope and Faith (9:00) - TP: Stay-at-home mom, Hope (Faith Ford), leads a busy, family-centered suburban life with her husband, children and live-in father. Her celebrity sister, Faith (Kelly Ripa), has been living the high life in Hollywood as a daytime soap opera diva. But when Faith's character is suddenly killed-off on "The Sacred and the Sinful," she flees Tinseltown and the relentlessly inquiring minds of the tabloid press, and seeks refuge in suburbia with Hope. Hope & Faith is a comedy about what happens when the fast lane collides with the carpool lane. It's about the moments that make you want to hug your sister... and the times you want to write her out of your life. MHOSJ: How stupidly precious is it that the actress named Faith plays the character named Hope rather than the character named Faith? And Kelly Ripa??? I'm wincing already. But I kinda want to like this one, so I hope it pleasantly surprises me. Seems like a good pairing with its lead-in (another middle-America show presumably written by people who don't live there).

CBS: Joan of Arcadia (8:00) - TP: Not your typical family show. Not your typical family. Will Girardi (Joe Mantegna) is the new police chief of Arcadia, California. Helen, his smart, tough wife, is trying to get their 19-year-old son Kevin, who was disabled in a car wreck a year earlier, to take an interest in life again. Luke, their other son, is a nerdy 15-year-old who thinks he has it all figured out. And Joan, their 16-year-old daughter, is a typical teenager oblivious to her treacherous surroundings. But family life in the Girardi household has just become a bit more complicated: God has decided to talk to Joan. And that's not something a teenager wants to handle. Joan of Arcadia traces the overlapping lives of the Girardis as it focuses on the family's evolution and on Joan's now even more interesting journey toward womanhood. God help her. God help the Girardis. Academy Award® winner Mary Steenburgen costars, with Amber Tamblyn as Joan. MHOSJ: It's so crazy it just might work! And I love the little register symbol the pitch uses after "Academy Award."

CBS: The Handler (10:00) - TP: Joe Renato (Joe Pantoliano, The Sopranos) is a handler, an FBI agent who trains street operatives and prepares them to go undercover. Deep undercover. The Handler follows the way he supervises his team--including Lily (the rookie) and Darnell (the veteran)--while giving us a psychological portrait of a man who manages the lives of his agents as he interacts with the law-enforcement bureaucrats who need his services. MHOSJ: Oh look, another cop show. (See previous posts.)

TheWB: Like Family (8:30) - TP: Holly Robinson Peete and Amy Yasbeck return to The WB in the realistic multi-ethnic comedy Like Family. When two families - one black, one white - share the same house, they discover that their differences are definitely more than skin deep. Tanya (Peete), Ed and their teen kids are a middle-class African-American family who open their doors for an old friend who is down on her luck. Newly single Maddie (Yasbeck) and her 16 year-old son Keith just need a place to stay until they can get back on their feet. What sounds like a perfect arrangement soon becomes non-stop tension (and laughs) as the two families argue about everything but skin color! An autobiographical take on family from creator Dan Fogelman with executive producers Rick Wiener & Kenny Schwartz (Mad About You), Warren Littlefield (Do Over) and Warner Bros. Television. MHOSJ: Crossover appeal? They sure seem to salivate over that possibility. Although in saying "they argue about everything but skin color" you do realize they're emphasizing even more that this a show about skin color. I'll probably watch it once or twice if I remember it's on.

TheWB: All About the Andersons (9:30) - TP: The WB is proud to welcome comedy sensation Anthony Anderson (Barbershop, Me, Myself & Irene, Big Momma's House, Life) in an all new multi-ethnic comedy. Anthony plays a struggling actor and single dad trying to provide a stable environment for his son, Tuga (8). No sooner has Anthony moved back into his parents' home than he suddenly remembers why he left in the first place. His mother is always understanding and supportive, but his cantankerous father hasn't changed a bit. He tells Anthony to abandon his acting hopes and get a "real job" working with him in the family beauty salon/barbershop. To complicate things, Anthony's old room is being rented out to a medical student - which leaves Anthony alone in the garage. Torn between teaching his son about determination and providing for him, Anthony decides to give up his dreams until Tuga reminds him that besides each other, their dreams are all they have. A semi-autobiographical comedy about fathers and sons from Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers Adam Glass, Anthony Anderson, and Marco Pennette, with executive producer/director Jamie Widdoes. MHOSJ: See, this is one where they say "multi-ethnic" but it actually seems to mean "black." In any case, it sounds cute and I like the idea of setting a TV show in a barber shop, but what I really want to see is the inevitable show set in a nail salon. I mean come on, every neighborhood shopping district seems to have at least one nail salon per block (more if it's a working-class neighborhood). I smell sitcom premise!!

Happy viewing, all.

Idiot Boxing Again: Part Five

See previous posts. Breaking up The Pitches (TP) and My Highly Opinionated Snap Judgements (MHOSJ) on the networks' new fall series by day yadda yadda. All times listed are Eastern and PM, and TP quoted verbatim from the nets.

Thursday

ABC: Threat Matrix (8:00) - TP: Our nation is a target. An attack could come at any time, from anywhere around the globe. Against this rising threat, the Homeland Security Agency has created a highly specialized, elite task force trained and equipped to counter anyone or anything that threatens our nation. The head of this super-secret team is Special Agent John Kilmer. Working with cutting-edge technology, this clandestine team fights the many faces of terror to keep America safe. The one wrinkle in Kilmer's dream-team is his ex-wife, Frankie. She's as beautiful as she is fearless and lethal. Together they've averted disasters of all kinds, except their marriage. MHOSJ: Again, not enough digits to count how many ways this premise offends me, but by now if you don't know my feelings about the Homeland Security Agency, glamorizing spooks just because they're Our Spooks, the seemingly obsessive need to add a physical descriptor like "beautiful" whenever a female character is mentioned but never for a male character (excuse me, 99% of all Hollywood actors are "beautiful," okay?), and the idea of exploiting and sensationalizing real-life fear and tragedy just to make a buck - heck, even the offensiveness of the title itself (combining a scare word with a misleading association to a hot movie franchise) - I'm afraid no explanation is possible.

NBC: Coupling (9:30) - TP: Let's see if we have this straight... Steve's with Jane but he's suddenly hot for Susan who met Steve through Jeff whom Susan used to go out with though she's just dumped Patrick despite the great sex so Patrick's asked Sally out which bugs Susan since Sally is her best friend... Based on the outrageous British hit series of the same name, Coupling concerns love and lust among six thirtysomethings who are either involved, formerly involved or looking to become intimately involved -- often with each other. The result, not surprisingly, is a very involving comedy filled with eye-popping situations and equally jaw-dropping one-liners. The comic possibilities for pairings appear as limitless as the characters' desires for Coupling. Wild comedy... Insatiable laughs. MHOSJ: True confession time: My husband loves the "outrageous British hit series of the same name," which runs on a local public TV station every Friday night at 10:30, at which time I usually walk pretty quickly out of the room. I don't see either of us getting into the American knockers knocked-up knock-off.

TheWB: Steve Harvey's Big Time (8:00) - TP: "...people of all ages in this country can do incredible things and that's missing from television. All you need to know is how to get their stories out of them. If you can do that, viewers will be amazed at what they'll be watching." - Steve Harvey From television to film to his hit syndicated radio show, America can't get enough of Steve Harvey! So we're teaming up with the award-winning comedian once again to create a primetime talk/variety show in the tradition of the golden age of television. Showcasing Harvey's stand-up talents and inimitable quick wit, the show will forego celebrity interviews and instead spotlight everyday people with extraordinary and humorous gifts. One of "The Original Kings of Comedy," Harvey has shown an uncanny knack for bringing out the very best - and the very funny - in regular people. From executive producers Steve Harvey, Rushion McDonald (The Parent 'Hood) and Madeleine Smithberg (The Daily Show, Late Night with David Letterman) in conjunction with Telepictures. MHOSJ: I guess, once again, I'm not part of America, because I can certainly get enough of Steve Harvey. (See previous "little going a long way" comments vis a vis John Larroquette and Whoopi Goldberg.) Although I do like his quote about good stories, and I like that it's a variety show (although it's labelled on the WB's site as a "reality" show!), so I'll probably watch this. (Of course that's what I said about Wayne Brady... is that show still on the air?)

TheWB: Run of the House (9:30) - TP: Sally, Kurt, and Chris are three perfect examples of "The Boomerang Generation," which, as the name implies, refers to kids who grow up, leave home for college, and then come right back to the nest. For their younger sister, 15-year-old Brooke Franklin, the sociological phenomenon is a lifesaver since her parents are always away on vacation. Left to fend for themselves by their globetrotting parents, the four create an unusual surrogate family marked by the usual sibling rivalries and power plays. Somehow they manage to overcome the pettiness, however, in a uniquely genuine attempt to create a nuclear family in the absence of one. Realistic, funny, and hopeful, this is a family comedy from Tannenbaum Co., with creator Betsy Thomas (My So Called Life), executive producers Rob Sternin & Prudence Fraser (The Nanny), and director David Trainer (That 70's Show) for Warner Bros. Television. MHOSJ: Cute premise, sounds fairly winning and harmless. And it's got Mo Gaffney and Joey-- 'scuse me, Joe Lawrence in the cast.

Concluded above...