Month: February 2007

Just got back from the midnight opening at Midtown Comics for the first issue of the Dark Tower series. It was a little odd to be taking the Long Island Railroad into the city and be reading the “New York Daily News” and suddenly my name leaped out at me from the “Tuesday in New York” column. Yes, granted, I was described as being one of the artists on the book (along with Jae Lee) but, hey, at least they spelled my name right.

I got nervous as I approached the store because, looking up from street level at its second store location, I couldn’t see anyone in the windows. I thought, “Geez, nobody’s here.” But the angle was deceptive; the place was packed. At least over a hundred people there, plus an assortment of on-line video folks conducting interviews and such.

Signed a whole buncha books and everyone seemed stoked to read it. Couldn’t have been happier with the way everything went.

Before the gathering, I took in a show: “Avenue Q,” a long-time favorite of Kathleen’s. Totally demented musical. The lyrics for “The Internet is for Pørņ” are going to be in my head for awhile (“Grab your dìçk and double click, for pørņ, pørņ, pørņ”)

PAD

It’s been a craptacular few days.

First the loss of the GPS and shattered window. Then poor Caroline came down with a stomach bug and I’ve been up with her for the past couple of days. She’s been sleeping on the living room couch and I’ve been at her side with a cooking pot for her to upchuck into, so I’m fighting sleep deprivation. Now both Kathleen and Ariel have come down with the same bug, and I’m worried that it’s going to hit me during the next 48 hours…during which time I’ve got the Midnight store appearance, two bowling leagues, and a flight up to Maine for another store appearance.

Uh brother.

PAD

As I did last year, I intend to keep a running commentary on the only aspect of the Superbowl that I particularly care about: The commercials. Feel free to stop by.

in terms of the team, we will be pulling for the Colts for one simple reason: We allowed Caroline to decide based on the following conversation:

“Caroline: Which do you like better, teddy bears or ponies?”

“Ponies!”

So there it is.

PAD

Continue Reading “Superbowl Commercial review 2007” →

I had my beloved Garmin GPS system mounted in my windshield while I ran into a mall for a few minutes. And someone apparently saw it and thought it was so nifty that they just had to have one.

In fact, they liked it so much, they just had to have that particular one.

Which is why I came back to the car and found all the glass from the front passenger window inside the front seat and the GPS–Majel II, as we’d nicknamed it–gone.

Whenever I leave the car I always, ALWAYS, take the GPS down out of the windshield and put it in between the front seats, away from prying eyes…except today. Except for this one dámņëd day where I was thinking about other things and left it where it was…this one dámņëd time…

And someone smashed his way into the car and took off with it.

Continue Reading “Hey, Garmin guys…here’s how popular your product is” →

Boston was thrown into a tizzy when an attempt by Cartoon Network to promote its upcoming “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” feature film backfired into a perceived terrorist plot.

Apparently little electronic blinky devices based upon the ATHF character “Mooninite” have been showing up in major cities all across the country. But only in Beantown did citizens suddenly start worrying that these promotional devices were, in fact, part of an insidious terrorist scheme. As a consequence, the bomb squad has been spending its time running around the city defusing harmless toys, and now police have arrested the poor hapless bášŧárd who was hired to put the things up around the city.

The reason it’s of particular interest to this blog is that New England Comics (which, by the way, I’m told is having a 50% off sale that ends today) was one of the sites to receive one of the devices, and hilarity ensued. My daughter, Gwen, a store employee, was interviewed by local TV news. Click on the site link below and go to the section “Comic Book Store Employees Discuss Hoax.”

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/index.html

PAD

George W. Bush had no more caustic critics than the brilliant columnist Molly Ivins, who passed away after a long fight with breast cancer. Her various books on Bush are must reading for anyone who wants a bracing air of sanity after experiencing any neocon craziness. She will be missed.

PAD