Month: January 2016

I will never forget: I wasn’t watching the launch. At the time, I was working as Marvel’s sales manager and so for me it was just another workday. And then my then-wife called me and told me. She’d been watching it live and sat there in horror as the ship blew sky high. She was choking back sobs as she told me what had happened. I was one of the first people at Marvel to find out, but within minutes word spread throughout the office. Everyone was in shock, stunned.

I wound up honoring them in my own small way years later in the TV series “Space Cases.” We named the ship the “Christa” in honor of the highly publicized teacher who was part of the crew.

My greatest condolences to the families and NASA on their loss.

PAD

Yes, it’s that time again. Caroline is selling Girl Scout cookies for her troop.

However, the Girl Scouts have joined the 21st Century and you can now buy them on line on a website where Caroline will be credited for all sales.

So please spend a few buck to support my daughter and her troop.

You can find the cookies here.

PAD

(UPDATE: Kath here. They finally figured out what happened and Caroline’s site now has her name. Thank you for your support)

You know, this whole kerfuffle with Ted Cruz talking about “New York values” seemed familiar to me for some reason. I wasn’t sure why.

Did he mean generally liberal? Or was there something else involved?

It took me a while to remember, but I finally did. It was from the pilot of “The West Wing.” When Josh had wound up offending religious types on a morning talk show and the crew is having a meeting with them at the White House to try and smooth things over. And one of them, a woman named Mary Marsh, starts off an exchange that immediately puts Toby’s teeth on edge. This was the exchange:

MARY MARSH: You people…that New York sense of humor…it always…

CALDWELL: Mary, there’s absolutely no need…

MARY MARSH: Please, Reverend, they think it’s smart…smart talk…but nobody else does.

JOSH: I’m actually from Connecticut.

TOBY: Yes, but she meant Jewish.

A stunned silence. Everybody stares at Toby.

TOBY: When she said, “You people and your New York sense of humor,” she was talking about you and me, Josh.

So basically, if we follow the thought of Aaron Sorkin’s writing, can we safely assume that Ted Cruz just used conservative religious political code to make a nice big anti-Semitic swing?

PAD

In her life, Kathleen has portrayed three fictional characters as part of the Shore Leave Masquerade.

The first was Jareth from “Labyrinth.” The second was Professor Snape. And the third was Vincent from “Beauty and the Beast.”

We lost Bowie only a few days ago. Now we just lost Alan Rickman.

I sure hope Ron Perlman has had his health checked recently.

PAD

Okay, not really.

But hey, have you gotten my book Artful?

9:00–We’ll be watching the State of the Union on PBS. We figure that’s the equivalent of non-denominational.

9:08–You could cook an omelette in the time it takes him to work his way down the aisle.

9:09–I noticed on “Robot Chicken” whenever they do stuff set in Congress, the flag is always backwards. They should fix that.

9:10–I’ve never understood the need to introduce him twice.

9:11–Starts with a joke. Bold choice.

9:12–Yes, because bi-partisan has been the watchword for the last seven years.

9:13–I wonder if he’ll quote David Bowie at some point.

9:14–Who are those nuns and why do they look like they want to slap somebody?

9:16–The guy sitting next to Nancy Pelosi looks asleep.

9:16–What’s wrong with his skin tone? He looks jaundiced.

9:17–Seriously, Ryan? You can’t even applaud for marriage equality?

9:17–He said he was going to ask four questions. I thought sure he was going to ask why is this night different from all other nights.

9:19–How can we make politics reflect what’s best? That’s easy: shut all the conservatives up. Problem solved.

9:21–So the entire GOP is peddling fiction? I can see that.

9:23–We agree that Jon Snow shouldn’t be dead in “Game of Thrones.”

9:24–Ryan won’t applaud MAKING COLLEGE AFFORDABLE?! Jesus Christ.

9:24–Bernie Sanders has been saying community college should be free for years.

9:30–Nice comment about food stamp recipients.

9:32–“We were walking on the moon.” Which to this day some people still refuse to believe, so it all goes around, I guess.

9:34–I remember the West Wing episode where Bartlet wanted to say that we were going to cure cancer in his state of the union.

9:35–Uhm…because we’re insane?

9:37–Remember when Obama’s critics declared that if he were reelected, gas would be up to $5-$6 a gallon by this point?

9:38–A 21st century transportation system. Ðámņëd right. Where are the flying cars and hover boards that actually hover?

9:40–Or they call the Ghostbusters.

9:45–And, oh yeah, we killed bin-Laden.

9:46: THERE we go.

9:48–“Quogmire?” Is that like quagmire?

9:52–That’s pretty much what Jesus said. “That which you do for the least of my brothers, you do unto me.”

9:54–So there goes Donald Trump’s campaign.

9:57–So it’s never gonna happen, is what he’s saying.

10:00–Yes, but one of the main reasons for the divisiveness in DC is the GOP’s determination to stop everything that Obama does, no matter what. It’s no longer about serving the people. It’s about stopping government.

10:08–But he doesn’t see it on the Internet, that’s for sure.

10:09–Crap! They ALWAYS say the state of the union is strong. I was so pleased he avoided the cliche and then at the end, boom, there it was.

Pretty decent overall, I believe. Thoughts?

Swing on by PeterDavid.net this evening and feel free to comment.

PAD