I’m not sure how many years it’s been since I last saw Brian Thomsen. I do know that it was more than five years ago, because Julius Schwartz was still alive. Julie, for those who didn’t know him, was THE DC editor in the 60s & 70s. Until his death in his 80s, he had an office at DC that he visited every week. I always saw Julie when I was in New York. I was in his office when Brian arrived. Brian and Julie had a standing lunch date, and on the previous one, Julie mentioned that Dean and I were going to come visit him. So Brian stopped by too. We had a lovely time. I always had a lovely time with Brian … Read entire article »

I realized somewhere around May 17 or 18, when I discovered that our local theater was going to have a midnight show of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Wednesday, May 21 (actually May 22 at 12:01 a.m.), that I am a true fan. Of Indy. I became obsessed. I needed tickets. I needed them immediately. Let me explain. I hate spoilers. And these days, the culture is full of spoilers. Everyone wants to be the first to tell me the secrets of the movie or the current hot show. Even when you try to avoid spoilers, they attack you. For example, when the first major character died on Lost, I wasn’t able to watch the episode … Read entire article »

I promised myself when I started this website that I would put a new essay on the site every month. I also promised myself that I wouldn’t start flamewars or write about politics (no matter how much I’m tempted). So this week, when I sat down to write my monthly essay, I stepped right in the middle of an on-going flamewar. I put that essay aside (maybe it’ll be relevant in six months and the flamewar will be over), and started another essay—about politics—which I abandoned. Because I used all my free writing time on those two abortive attempts—I make a living at writing, folks, so writing for free, no matter how much fun it is, isn’t something I should do very often—I had a choice. I … Read entire article »

When did Americans become so angry? That’s the question of the morning. I’m writing this at six a.m. in the Orlando airport after watching several outrageous incidents. First, a man carrying a cup of gourmet coffee screamed at a security checker when she wouldn’t let him into security screening with his precious brew. “I’ll finish it before I get to x-ray,” he said. “No beverages, no liquids past this point, period,” she said, pointing to a nearby sign. This exchange went on for several minutes, getting louder and louder until the man realized he wouldn’t win. He called the woman several choice names, then stalked off, drank his … Read entire article »