PeterDavid.net

Trying to be sensitive to the Bush Administration

Imagine the chagrin of the Bush Administration that that darned uncontrollable liberal media has gone and started calling the civil war in Iraq a civil war. Hilarious was Tony Snow's attempting to define exactly what a civil war was and, in doing so, described exactly what was happening in Iraq...only to try and backpedal moments later and explain why, no, no, that's not it at all.

Ostensibly the administration is concerned that referring to it as a Civil War could further voter discontent and objection to the war. It's hard to believe that discontent could be more profound than approval ratings in the 30s and an election that turned the government back over to the Democrats, so clearly the major worry is that the GOP candidate for president in 2008 is going to suffer from his predecessor's actions having launched a civil war in another country.

Indeed, the only thing we're waiting for now is assassination of the current Iraqi leaders and a military overthrow of the current Iraqi government, which seems to be on the very close horizon. Indeed, the *only* thing that may be preventing that is the presence of our troops, and I suspect even that isn't going to hold matters in check forever.

In any event, with the current battering the Bush Administration is taking, this blog will try to display some sensitivity. We here will NOT be referring to the Iraqi situation as Civil War. Instead we will refer to the overall situation as the CW, and events that transpire there as CW Programming. That sonds a lot friendlier.

PAD

Fluzzies for Sale! Great Holiday Gift!

With Peter's Kind Permission

Remember these dudes?

More pictures can be found at
Fluzzies!

You too can either own or gift someone a Fluzzie.

Here are the rules.

Fluzzies are $40.00 plus shipping.

They must be ordered before midnight December 18th, 2006 for Holiday delivery.

All those Fluzzies pictured are available for sale.

I also have orange and light blue skin. Plus access to other colors.

If you want a custom Fluzzie then I need to know the skin (head and arms), fur (body), hair(top of head), and eye color(rhinestone in the middle of the eye) you want for it.

Each is hand made and a unique gift which will bring fun into any household.

Dave Cockrum R.I.P.

Clifford Meth, a friend of the family, released the following statement:

With a heavy heart, I regret to inform you that Dave Cockrum passed away this morning. After a long battle with diabetes and its varied complications, Dave died in his sleep early this morning.

There are no details of services at this time. Dave asked to be cremated, and his widow Paty is burdened with the news, so well-wishers are asked not to call. Email can be sent to magnetorampant@yahoo.com.

OUT THIS WEEK: X-FACTOR #13

The much-awaited "Re-X-Aminations." Whad'ja think?

PAD

Happy Day After Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good holiday meal. We actually bagged the idea of cooking this year and went out to a local "Charlie Brown's" steak house (good grief) which was offering a four-course Thanksgiving meal for not very much money. There's something to be said for the convenience.

We also saw "Happy Feet." Right now it aggravates the hell out of me that there's a "Best Animated" ghetto into which this film is going to be deposited at Oscar time, because it is quite simply the best film I've seen this year, period. Technically flawless with a hell of a lot to say about matters of global importance, all it needed was Al Gore at the end saying, "I'm Al Gore and I approve this message." Okay, on second thought, maybe it didn't need that, but it was still brilliant.

Today I'm concentrating on working and staying the hell away from malls.

PAD

Once again, the right just doesn't get it

Fox Broadcasting has announced they're developing their own "answer" to "The Daily Show." In a Reuters article, they stated:

"The half-hour show would take aim at what executive producer Joel Surnow, the co-creator of "24," calls "the sacred cows of the left" that don't get made as much fun of by other comedy shows.

"It's a satirical news format that would play more to the Fox News audience than the Michael Moore channel," Surnow said. "It would tip more right as 'The Daily Show' tips left." "

Yeah, here's the thing: "The Daily Show" doesn't tip left. It gores oxen to the right, the left, and the middle.

But the conservative point of view embraces the "if you're not with us, you're against us" culture. "The Daily Show" will quickfry a liberal schmuck just as readily as a conservative, but because they *will* go after a conservative, that--to the conservative mindset--means they must be of liberal bent. A liberal mindset understands the notion that anything is fair game, but a conservative insists on lockstep adherence to its leaders and unwavering, unquestioning support. Anything else "tips to the left."

It's hardly limited to television. Compare "Doonesbury," which will easily skewer pretentiousness of either a Democratic or Republican bent, to "Mallard Filmore," which will ONLY go after liberal targets. The creator of the latter strip no doubt sees it as some sort of antidote to "Doonesbury," except actually it's just repetitive and dull. Okay, we get it, you think liberals are stupid. Got anything else? No? Okay, moving on.

Nice to know one thing, though: Fox is openly admitting that it's audience skews right, and clearly tries to program in that direction. So can they drop the "fair and balanced" thing now?

PAD

COWBOY PETE'S TV ROUND-UP: HEROES

I was delayed in watching "Heroes" last night because Kath and I went to the annual SFWA get together, informally known as the "Mill and Swill," and Ariel was good enough to record it. She also recorded "Studio 60." Haven't had a chance to watch that yet, but I know that for some insane reason you guys are really interested in my opinion on "Heroes," so I'm not wasting any time. Spoilers follow:

This episode climaxes a lot of what the past weeks have been building toward: The instantly iconic "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" mantra. Shockingly having nothing to do with Buffy, this enigmatic phrase has spurred a number of our heroes to track down Cheerverine (who I still believe is going to have to save NYC from a nuclear meltdown that only she can get to because, like the climax of Star Trek II, only she has the endurance to handle unfettered radiation to get to wherever the shut-off switch is) and save her from the even more enigmatic Syler, who apparently has a thing for slicing open the tops of people's heads that surpasses Hannibal Lecter.

The trick when building up to something as big as this episode, with all the foreshadowing, is the problem of raised expectations. That and, in the interest of full disclosure, I was tired and fighting off falling asleep. That said, it was certainly engaging enough, particularly the sequence where Syler mistakenly goes after Cheerverine's rival, killing the wrong cheerleader. Nevertheless, the episode was lacking two things for me: Hiro, who was MIA until the final scene, and remains the most engaging character on the show; and any real suspense as to the outcome. The painting that depicted Peter dying in his battle with Syler was utterly pointless because, although granted Peter had no way of knowing he'd survive and was thus heroic in his actions, no question, as a viewer I'm going, "Well, once he's in proximity to Claire, he'll just absorb her Cheerverine properties and heal himself." Any other character being sent to the rescue, there's suspense; with Peter, not so much.

None of which deters my enthusiasm for the series, and my continued relief that it doesn't air on Fox since it would be on at 8 PM Friday and be canceled already. Unlike other such serialized tales in which things only seem murkier as the show progresses, "Heroes" is actually coming more and more into focus. However I think it's time for them to lose the snore-enducing opening and closing narrative. Aiming for portenous, it's simply pretentious, adding nothing and illuminating nothing. Unless they're going to have the observations made by Mary Alice from "Desperate Housewives," I'm not really seeing the point.

PAD

What If the OTHER and 1602:So what did you think?

I found them both to be really good.

It is interesting to note that these two titles had the same penciler but the looks were totally different.

Kath

"Friday Night Lights"--Official Cowboy Pete series goes whole nine yards

"Friday Night Lights," the series that we here at the Cowboy Pete TV roundup have made our official series--due entirely to the presence of star Scott Porter who is a genuine, dyed in the wool, convention-attending comic book fan--received a full season pick-up from NBC.

Furthermore, surprising many including me, NBC has also made a full season commitment to "Studio 60."

Watch these shows, folks. Not that your support matters unless you're a Nielsen family, of course, but at the very least you'll be seeing some nifty programs. More detailed comments below:

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: You think everything Bush says or does is held under a microscope? That's nothing compared to the small-town football coach living in a small, football-crazy town where the citizenry second guesses his every move and winning is the only acceptable option. This week's episode focused on crippled QB Jason Street (our hero Scott Porter) who accepts the invitation to appear--wheelchair and all--at the homecoming game. When he comes rolling out onto the field, a dead, stunned silence falls upon the crowd before the announcer encourages the crowd to welcome him back, at which point there is thunderous applause.

The really sad thing is that the show's target audience--football fans--don't seem to be paying the least bit of attention to the series (at least insofar as my admittedly unscientific poll can determine). I guess they figure there's no point in watching fictional football when they can watch the real thing. Which is a shame since they're missing one of the great dramas to air on NBC in recent years.

STUDIO 60: The presence of John Goodman seems to have kickstarted the energy level on the series. Goodman plays a small-town judge who is less-than-impressed at the presence of the high-powered network stars and executives who have wound up in his jurisdiction thanks to some old warrants and some unfortunately placed pot. I almost wish they'd brought Goodman in in another role so that he could be a regular.

I have not seen the most recent episode, although I will as soon as I have a chance to watch the recording of it. However, as energetic as the first half of the two parter was, I didn't buy the basic premise: That the potential jailing of the show's lead actor posed a threat to the next episode of the show-within-a-show. I doubt it would. They all work off cue cards: If the actor were not available, someone else could step in and do his skits. And if THAT were not possible for some unknown reason, then they could just drop in a repeat. The notion that the absence of a single performer would entail last minuterewrites or some such...it's ridiculous.

Giving the series some thought, I believe I've figured out what it lacks that previous Sorkin series had: A father figure. Someone with gravitas. "Sportsnight" had the wonderfully acerbic Isaac, while "West Wing" had Bartlet. Indeed, Sorkin quickly realized the necessity of having such a presence necessary after initially thinking that the president would only be an occasionally recurring character. The strongest episode of "Studio 60" remains the pilot, which was due in no small measure to Judd Hirsch. The series either needs to get him back into the mix somehow, or else expand the equally avuncular Ed Asner who thus far was limited to a cameo. Matt Perry and Bradley Whitford are both wonderful comic actors, but they're simply not old enough to be the father figure a Sorkin series in general, and this one in particular, needs to be at its best. Someone whose very presence would both lend weight to what they're trying to do, while at the same time having the age and sense to be able to say, "We're just making a television show here; calm down."

PAD

ATTENTION, METS MANAGEMENT

Whatever else you do in the off-season, you must--MUST--make arrangements for John Hall and Stephen Colbert to sing the National Anthem on opening day, 2007. Their perfectly harmonized performance was one of the best renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner" I've ever heard. They're two New York guys, the Mets are the division champs...it's just got to happen.

PAD

Back from United Fan Con

We attended United Fan Con in Springfield, MA, this past weekend. A very smoothly run, very "personable" (if that word applies) convention. In attendance were old friends Jewel Staite and her husband, Matt Anderson, Claudia Christian, Peter Tork and Davey Jones of "The Monkees," two of "The Lone Gunmen," and Grace Park of BSG. The most high-profile guest, however, was William Shatner. When I was fifteen years old, Shatner was in a play at a theater in New Jersey. My father, a reporter, pulled some strings so that I could interview Shatner for my school newspaper. Now, with Ariel the same age as I was, I managed to do the same thing so that she could interview him for her school newspaper. Worked out great. One has to admire UFC's efficiency in siphoning a huge number of people through both for autographings and picture taking. Credit Shatner for handling it all: Having just flown in to Boston Airport and limoed out, he was clearly running on fumes, but still managed to fulfill all his obligations.

Met a lot of fans, many of whom were pleasantly surprised that I wasn't charging for autographs.

PAD

A smart move

Gotta give Bush credit: He made the exact right move at the exact right time. Ditching Rumsfeld, the single most visible symbol of the Iraq debacle short of Bush himself, was perfectly timed. Had he dumped Rummy shortly before the election, it would have been seen as a desperation move. I suppose there's a possibility that it might have changed the outcome, which has been seen as a voter repudiation of the war. But I don't think it's a sizable chance, and probably would have been seen as a case of "too little, too late." In this instance, though, it managed to grab headlines from the Democratic triumph back to the White House. Bush has snared the spin cycle before the election dust has settled. He did the right thing in getting rid of an advisor who has given him nothing but bad advice and been a PR catastrophe on more than one occasion, and he did it at a time when his support base is at an all-time moral low. He has sent a definite message: He's not going to be spending the next two years with more of the same and staying the course, steering the remainder of his presidency into irrelevancy.

With a smartening-up Bush and a newly energized Democratic majority, let's see if the government finally gets on the right track.

PAD

I have every confidence in the President

The people have spoken. They have put the Democrats back in charge of the House, and--as of this writing--are two seats away from retaking the Senate. Furthermore, on the state level, another attempt at banning gay marriage was voted down, along with a ban on abortion and a nod for stem cell research. Virtually all of this can be attributed to Bush's policies on everything from Iraq to science to morality.

President Bush, the acclaimed uniter, not divider, now has a choice: To honor the will of the people and do everything he can over the next two years to work with the new political landscape and try to give the people what they want and need. Or to do everything possible to block any and all progress on any number of issues the Democrats may try to make while foisting the blame for gridlock onto the Dems in an attempt to put the GOP in position to retake their power base in the next election.

I have every confidence in which direction he'll go.

PAD

Discussion Election here

As the voting unfolds, I figured I should just have a separate place for folks to discuss the results. So far the Democrats seem to be kicking ass and taking names, despite the GOP's desperate attempts to turn John Kerry into a cause celebre.

Looking forward to the Daily Show's live episode. It'll be interesting to see Colbert's reaction if it's a Democratic sweep.

PAD

The only thing that could get me to vote Republican

I am so freaking sick of getting recorded phone calls from Democratic candidates urging me to vote for them. What is the POINT of this? Is there really anyone out there who remains undecided the day before election day and suddenly a recorded phone call from Hillary Clinton is going to make them say, "Well, I was waffling before, but this settled it for me!"

If any of these people want to call me themselves and chat for a couple minutes, thatwould interest me, just as it does when local candidates come knocking on my door and want to talk about the issues and ask for my vote. But this recorded stuff just makes me want to go vote for whoever isn't derailing my train of thought with these annoying interruptions.

PAD

Our job

This should be interesting. Saddam Hussein, whose gun is a trophy in the Oval Office (am I the only one creeped out by that?) has been sentenced to death, along with several of his co-conspirators, for crimes against humanity.

Obviously I ain't shedding a tear over his fate. I am reminded, though, that he was once an ally of the United States. And I am also pondering the repeated assertions by the President and all his spokesmen that we cannot "cut and run" and must instead remain in Iraq "until the job is done."

Well...it's done. Buh bye.

Our "job," as laid out repeatedly by the administration, was to disempower Saddam Hussein and get his weapons of mass destruction. Well, there's no WMDs, so that is never going to happen. And Saddam is slated to be executed. I don't think you can be more out of power than being dead.

The only other job that remains is to get the Iraqis to stop killing each other. Here's a news flash: Not going to happen. They're going to keep killing each other over differences that go back since God-knows-when, and our presence is not going to deter that. The only presence that deterred it at all was Saddam's, and the way he deterred it was through means so fierce and brutal that he was judged guilty of crimes against humanity. Now he will die but the killing will continue. And with him as a martyr, it will likely intensify. In the meantime there are people in charge of Iraq now who are our allies, but ten years from now, I will not be remotely surprised if they or someone else are using the exact same tactics that Saddam used to try and keep order. I don't think we'll ever know whether Saddam shaped the circumstances or if the circumstances shaped him. But we sure know that perfectly decent, upstanding service men and women were thrust into a situation where they had to keep order in a prison and they turned almost overnight into people whose actions were unrecognizable to their loved ones. So don't tell me that Iraq won't see the return of executions and secret death camps within the next few years, and then what? We start carpet bombing again?

Here's what we know for sure: Iraqis are going to keep killing each other, will not be stopping anytime soon, and will doubtless ratchet up the body count once Saddam is a martyr. They'll do it whether our young men and women are there or not. The ONLY question anyone should be considering is if our people should be killed while the Iraqis are going about killing each other, and whether anything is to be gained from their deaths.

I don't think so.

Our job is done. Sooner or later, we're going to have to acknowledge that it's up to the Iraqis. I opt for sooner. There's nothing undignified or wrongheaded about cutting and running. The administration has tried to characterize that notion as dirty and stupid...you know, just like they've done with the word "liberal." I find it funny that phrases they don't want to deal with, such as "death" or "slaughter," becomes "collateral damage" or "acceptable losses." But "cut and run" doesn't get embellished into something acceptable. Me, I have no trouble with it at all. It's not "cut and run." Call it "strategic withdrawal." Call it "organized troop relocation." Call it whatever you want that will save lives.

In the words of the shepherd, let's get the flock out of there. Because when Saddam dies, that place is very likely going to erupt whether we're there or not. I vote not.

PAD

OUT THIS WEEK: FALLEN ANGEL #10

An off beat done-in-one story. Whad'ja think?

PAD

Well, that explains it

According to the US military, things are increasingly going down the tubes in Iraq. Check out who's predicting disaster:

" The analysis was prepared by the command's intelligence directorate, which is overseen by Brig. Gen. John M. Custer."

General Custer. No wonder we're screwed.

PAD

What's just crossed my desk

In the past few days, this is what I've been up to creatively:

1) Working on an original "Fantastic Four" novel slated for publication from Pocket Books next year.

2) Just finished proofreading the manuscript for the novelization of "Spider-Man 3."

3) Am about to start proofreading the manuscript for "The Hidden Earth," first book in a new series from Tor slated for Spring of 2007.

4) Finished proofreading "Fallen Angel #11" which has gone out to the printer (and, by the way, J.K. Woodward has updated his website and is offering cover art from retailer incentive covers of "Fallen Angel." Several have already sold, so check them out at http://www.jkwoodward.com

5) Finishing proofreading "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14." As to what's coming up in that issue, two words: Ben Reilly. I will say no more than that (okay, Deb Whitman and the Vulture). But...Ben Reilly.

6) About to start scripting issue #2 of "Dark Tower." Jae Lee's artwork will knock you off your spider throne.

PAD

Pronoun Trouble

The comedy stylings of John Kerry have provided something else to play into GOP hands besides congressional pages. They're teeing off on his statement that lack of education "lands you in Iraq," claiming that he was trash-talking the troops. Everyone knows that lack of supporting the troops has replaced social security as the third rail of politics. Kerry's response is that he was making a misfired joke about the administration.

Who to believe? Well, putting aside my personal dislike for Bush and the fact that I voted for Kerry, let's see what makes more sense: The notion that Kerry, who served in the armed forces, would be dissing the troops, or that Kerry, who despises Bush and Co., would be dissing the administration.

To quote that great pundit, Daffy Duck: Pronoun trouble. Displaying the comedic instincts of a California Redwood, Kerry SHOULD have said "we." "We wind up in Iraq," which would have made it at least somewhat clearer. Or if he insisted on "you," then it becomes, "you wind up landing us in Iraq." Something like that.

Considering word around the campfire is that "Studio 60" may be shutting down soon, perhaps Kerry can draft Aaron Sorkin to write some jokes for him.

PAD