BB All Stars: Janelle's Nomimations

Following exactly the reasoning that I outlined in Saturday's post, Janelle, enjoying her second stay in the Big Brother All Stars Head of Household bedroom, almost nominated Diane, which is what I predicted she'd do. However, she decided to go after a different so-called "floater" while making it look like she's targeting Boogie. Whether her plans work out depend first on the results of the Veto competition, and secondly, I believe, on James.

James seems to think that Janelle should abandon the strategy of picking off the "floaters," which, as I pointed out, hasn't quite worked yet, and concentrate on breaking up Boogie and Dr. Will's "Chilltown" alliance. I agree with James, especially since "Chilltown" is only two people, and all you really have to do to de-fang Chilltown is get rid of one of them. That would, however, leave the five "floaters," who, if they actually start working together, could potentially become the largest alliance in the house. I do think that Janelle is giving them a little too much credit right at the present time, however. They're not an alliance yet, just a group of five unaligned players, thus the name "floaters." The danger is that going after them aggressively could be the impetus that draws them together as a force in the game.

So, with Erika and Boogie nominated, things could go either way. It could be the end of "Chilltown" or the real beginning of the "floater" alliance, and James' vote may be the one that decides. I think that, in the end, James will, as he should, look out for his own interests even if they conflict with the stated goals of his allies and vote to evict Boogie.

Of course, the nominees may change after the Veto competition. Erika's already won a Veto once, while Boogie has yet to win anything. If Erika's nomination is negated, either by her or whoever may win the Veto, then Janelle should just go full bore after "Chilltown" and put Dr. Will up beside his pal Boogie, though I doubt she will. It's more likely that Diane goes up if that happens.

We'll see tomorrow. Talk to you later.

It Is What It Is

A review in The Other Paper puts down the new Miami Vice film as just "...a bad rap video," and the reviewer seems surprised by this. I can't imagine why.

Sure, Michael Mann may have matured artisticly in the years since the TV show ended, and may have made some good films, but this is, after all, Miami Vice, and if it were anything but an extended music video, it just wouldn't be.

BB All Stars Week 3 Wrap-Up

This is getting ridiculous.

Never before have I seen one block of players so dominate the Big Brother house so early as the four returnees from Season 6 (Janelle, Kaysar, James and Howie) have in this year's All Star competition. Their reign continued as Janelle won her second turn as Head of Household in just four weeks on Thursday night's episode.

I would guess that she and the other 6ers will continue with their strategy of picking off the so-called "floaters" despite this ploy coming back to bite James in the ass when Chicken George came home to roost during the Veto competition and the fact that, so far, this strategy has not resulted in the actual eviction of even one "floater."

I wrote on Tuesday that the "floaters" should send the 6ers a message by getting together to thwart James' wishes and evict Will instead of Jase. No such message was sent, as Jase was ousted by unanimous vote. Perhaps the bizarre reverse psychology strategy that the evil Dr. Will is employing really has convinced his housemates that he's no threat to them.

I've written in earier entries about how most of the so-called "reality" shows seemed designed to bring out the worst elements of human nature in their participants. Thursday's profile of Will seemed to underscore this, with friends and family from outside the BB house telling America what a nice guy and good doctor he is in everyday life, while in the house we see only a shrewd manipulator and unrepentant liar. For Will, and other "reality" contestants, it seems that being cut off from society, even though that very society is watching their every move, gives them license to unleash the worst side of themselves and behave unscrupulously seemingly without consequence.

After the Veto competition, it seemed that, whoever won HoH, the obvious nominees were Kaysar and George, who had to agree to give up the right to compete in the next Veto competition in order to stay in the running for last week's Veto, thus renering them unable to save themselves if nominated. However, its highly unlikely that Janelle would even think of putting Kaysar up on the block and it's possible that the respect George won as a result of his performance at the Veto competition and ceremony may earn him at least a one week reprieve.

So who goes home this week?

To me, it makes sense to target Diane. Not only is she supposedly one of the so-called "floaters" that the Season 6 block makes so much noise about eliminating, but with the back to back evictions of her Season 5 housemates Nakomis and Jase, she's pretty much alone in the house, with no friends or allies, and most likely zero support for her continued presence in the house.

Well, we'll see what happens on tomorrow night's episode and I'll be back afterward with my impressions.

(STRAY THOUGHTS) Topic: Measure Of A Man

I saw a car commercial this morning that sort of surprised me.

In it, a man is at a supermarket checkout counter with his veggies and tofu regarding, with a mix of embarassment and jealousy the man behind him in line and his big stack of steaks. Upon leaving the store, however, tofu guy reasserts his manhood by climbing into his Hummer and driving off.

What surprised me is that in the commercials not too subtle subtext, it would appear that a car company is actually admitting what many critics of SUVs have asserted for several years now: That one of the main motivations for a man to drive of these big honking gas wasting monsters is as an attempt to compensate for having a small penis.

Network Viewer Grows Desperate

I just finished NY Times TV columnist Bill Carter's new book, Desperate Networks, which goes behind the scenes of the four major broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX) to detail how--and why--broadcast television has changed in the first years of the twenty-first century. Judging from last nights offerings on those very same networks, however, one thing has not changed, and that is the tendency of networks to fill their schedules with endless clones of whatever the year's hot show happens to be.
This year the template of choice is American Idol and this summer, following the unprecedented success of Idol's fifth outing, there are no less than five Idol style talent competitions currently running, with four of them all competing for viewers during last night's eight o'clock hour. While NBC offered up America’s Got Talent, ABC countered with The One: Making A Music Star, CBS put up Rock Star: SuperNova and Fox threw in with So You Think You Can Dance.

This is precisely the kind of network programming “strategy” that has fueled the growing and ongoing defection of viewers to cable and the Internet (where I am glad to have you) or away from TV altogether, a trend that doesn’t seem likely to reverse itself any time soon--not if last night is any indication of what the networks are doing to win back viewers.

BB All Stars:George Gets His Game On At Last!!!

All right. So I said I wasn't going to write anymore about Big Brother All Stars until after the eviction on Thursday, but even though I don't want to turn this into an all BB all the time blog, last night's episode contained quite a bit that I want to comment on.

First off, The Evil Dr. Will's "I Hate You All" speech at the Veto ceremony ranks, for me, at least, right up there with Sue Hawke's "rat/snake" screed from the first series finale of Survivor as one of "reality" TV's great moments.

But the biggest surprise of the Veto ceremony was the guy conducting it. I, and I would hope his housemates, have gained a profound new measure of respect for "Chicken" George after he went all out to win the power of Veto and nix his own nomination for eviction. I told my sister as the season began that the main thing George had going for him in the game was that no one was going to take the tubbly, middle-aged guy from Season One seriously. This actually worked against him this week as it was pretty much the reason James nominated him. Kayser certainly underestimated Georgie in the Veto competition, failing to realize just how badly he wanted the veto and how far he was willing to go to get it.

Not me, however. When only George and Kaysar were left after completing a series of six progressively more humiliating challenges that culminated with them each getting their head shaved, Janelle, acting as "host" because Head of Household James was one of those competing, asked a tie breaker question: With 60 days left in the game, how many days in a row would you be willing to eat Big Brother Slop in order to win the veto? As soon as I heard the question, and sensing how desperate George was to stay in the game, I knew immediately what number he would write on his chalkboard, and I was right. Saying, "Heck, I'll take'em all," George turned over his chalkboard to reveal a big, fat 60 written there. Kaysar could only come up with 15, because, as I stated above, he didn't give his opponent full credit for being willing to go the distance.

Now that George has shown he's got game, I'll be eager to see what he does next.

As for Dr. Will, I think that he should be the one to go home tomorrow. Goerge and the four other "floaters" have the votes to save Jase, George's replacement on the nomination block and the BB6 alliance's newpick to go home this week. This would have the advantage of not only getting Will out of the house, but of sending a message to the BB6 block that their days of pushing the rest of the house around are numbered, as well as, as George's Veto victory already proved, not to underestimate any of the so-called "floaters."

I've also got some thoughts on who should be nominated next week, but those I will save for Friday after the results of this week's vote are in and a new HoH is chosen.

BB All Stars: Nomination Analysis

Turning our attention once more to the Big Brother All-Stars House, it is time to consider Head of Household James' nomination for eviction. In typical Jamesian fashion, he has said so many different things to so many people that it is difficult to fathom his exact reasoning or true intent. One thing that is becoming clearer as the weeks go by is that, for James at least, the BB6 "alliance" of Kaysar, Janelle, Howie and James is more an invention of the other Houseguests than a true alliance. He seems to be hooked up with them more out of familiarity that solidarity. He may even be carrying a grudge or two from last year. There were really three factions in the house last summer--Kaysar and his alliance, the so-called "Friendship" or, as I called it, the Cult of Eric, and James and Sarah. Frankly, the Kaysar faction treated James and Sarah far worse than the "Friendship" did, especially Howie, who essentially sold them out when he nominated both of them during his first HoH week.

Anyway, James has put up for eviction Dr. Will and Chicken George and seems to have convinced Will that George is his true target, though even if this is what he wants, somehow I doubt the rest of the house will easily fall in line. As the only past winner amongst this summer's returnees, not to mention an insufferable jackass, Will came back into the house with a neon blinking target on his head that the domination of the game so far by James and his BB6 compatriots has only partly obscured.

While it seems that Will is James' real target, I can see the logic in his stated reasons for wanting to get rid of George. A non-player like George, the type the Houseguests this summer have taken to referring to as a "floater," could easily fly under the radar right into the final four or even further. Frankly, in BB4, Jun pretty much "floated" away with the half million dollar first prize, and BB5's Cowboy got as far as the final two without doing much except being a big cowboy hat wearing goofball.

Whatever he's thinking, James, although this time he's the one doing the nominating and not himself nominated, once again has a compelling reason to win the power of veto and protect his nomination. Of course, if the power were used, it would probably be to save George. The only one in the house who would even think of taking Will off the block is his buddy and business partner Boogie.

That's all for now. I'll have more on Friday.

An Uncontrollable Attack of Nostalgia for the 1990s

In the dead of night, or the wee hours of the morning depending on how you look at it, unable to get to sleep, I found myself listening to Jesus Jones' one wondrous hit from 1990, "Right Here Right Now." Heard in the light of George W. Bush's post 9/11 "new normal" America, the song sounds dated; as much an artifact of its time, a time long passed into the mists of history, as Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco" or other hippie-dippie odes to the summer of love, yet it remains that rare song that captured the zeitgiest of the era and summed up the national mood; a mood of almost ebullient optimism that seems almost quaint when looked back upon from the perspective of a mere sixteen years. Having lived through this time, I hesitate to call it a simpler era, for me personally it was a far more complicated and emotionally trying period, though it must be admitted that there was a lot for America as a nation to be optimistic about as we entered the final decade of what many historians had long called The American Century.

The haze of nostalgia that has already settled over the 1980s makes it easy to forget that the tough talk of Ronald Reagan's "cowboy diplomacy" had increased tension with what he termed the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union and, more than any time since the administration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, war with the USSR loomed as a very real possibility in the hearts and minds of many Americans. Two graphic novels from the period, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, perfectly capture the paranoia of the era.

By 1990, however, all that had changed. The Cold War, that half century game of chicken between nations with the firepower to annihilate the world's population several times over, was drawing to a close and the good guys, as we saw ourselves, had won. The Berlin Wall had come down; the USSR was in turmoil and on the verge of collapse; and democratic governments were springing up in former Soviet satellite nations such as Poland and Czechoslovakia. It truly seemed as if a new era of world peace and prosperity, led by "the world's only remaining super-power," was truly beginning.

That feeling hung around for most of the decade as the economy boomed and it really seemed as if the most important thing Americans had to worry about was whether their President inhaled or if his girlfriend swallowed.

We know now, we found out the hard way in the very early days of this new millenium and century, that we were fooling ourselves as our relief over having survived and, indeed, triumphed in our struggle with the now defunct Soviet Union led us to turn a blind eye to a growing threat to our new found era of peace that may yet prove a more formidable and enduring foe than the old USSR.

As I sit at the Whetstone library typing this, the refrain of "Right Here Right Now"--"Right Here, Right Now; There's no other place I want to be. Right Here, Right Now; Watching the World wake up from History"-- floats through my thoughts once again and I wonder if during my lifetime I will ever again see the spirit of triumph and optimism that inspired those words.

Old News

The Columbus Dispatch has finally caught up to The Word From On High.

This week in her "Fine Tuning" column, Molly Willow touted the advantages that the merger of UPN an the WB into the CW has for the Columbus market, mainly that we'll actually be able to see the former WB shows (Gilmore Girls, Smallville, 7th Heaven, et al...) at a reasonable hour. Our UPN/WB outlet, WWHO (channel 53), has been pushing these shows further and further into the night until they currently air at 11:30 p.m after reruns of Friends.

Of course, I pointed this out back in February, just as soon as I heard of the new network, thus scooping the Dispatch by five months and putting me squarely on the leading edge of stating the blindingly obvious.

BB All Stars Update

Well, it looks like people who missed Big Brother 5 won't get the chance to see why I was so hot to see Nakomis re-admitted to the house this All Star summer as she ignominiously exited after a mere two weeks. I think that Kaysar made a smart move, taking her out before she really had a chance to get her game on, but I think it might have been better to try and bring her into the BB6 alliance.

The 6'ers, meanwhile, continue to dominate the game this season. Not only do they outnumber the remaining representative of any single season by at least two to one, but one of their number has once again taken the coveted and powerful Head of Household position.

What James might do this week there's really no way to say as, despite his being one of last summer's most formidable players, he never won HoH on BB6. My theory, however, based on what he has said to others and in the diary room, is that he's going after the so-called "Chilltown" alliance: BB2's Mike Boogie and the Evil Dr. Will.

At least that's what he'll do if he's smart. Will and Mike are really the only serious threat to the supremacy of the 6'ers, and thus must go.

I just hope that the dominance of the BB6 block does not result in Howie winning HoH any time soon. His first HoH week last summer was a disaster. He had the chance to evict the eventual winner (Maggie) and blew it, quite possibly costing everyone in his alliance the game and alienating James and Sarah. If Howie does get HoH this summer, I hope that he's at least more willing to listen to advice this time out. If he'd paid attention to hsi partner Rachel, the so-called "Friendship" alliance would have been effectively neutered right then and there, with its two main leaders, Eric the evil and Maggie, gone.

Oh, well--that was a year ago, and its a new game now.

More next week.

(Now, THAT'S Trivia #20) Whodunnit

At last, it's the triumphant and long awaited (or not) return of the Friday trivia question.

Last weekend, I was watching the first season of the classic 70's soap-opera parody sitcom Soap on DVD. Now, you may remember that main story of that first season concerned the murder of tennis pro Peter Campbell, who was shot, stabbed, strangled, suffocated and bludgeoned in his shower. The first season ends with Jessica Tate being convicted of the crime, though she eventually is revealed to be innocent. Today's trivia question is the same one that Soap's announcer, the late Rod Roddy, intoned at the end of the first season finale:

Who really killed Peter Campbell?

In 1978, viewers had to wait three months to learn the answer. All you have to do is go to The Answer Blog.

STRAY THOUGHTS Topic: Love Who?

"If you can't be with the one you love

Love the one you're with"

Stephen Stills;

Love The One You're With

Sometimes I wonder what exactly Stills meant by those lyrics.

Is it, as some of my more puritanical friends have insisted, a wonton celebration of casual sex?

Or is it, as I, through the lens of my multiple neuroses, see it, an invitation to settle for less?

So, what do you think?

Computer Warfare

It occurred to me the other night that eventually people are just going to get sick and tired of computer animated movies. As Rick Blaine said, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. Just look at the sheer number of them that Hollywood is throwing at us. Already this summer movie season we've seen Cars and Over The Hedge, and three more--Monster House (opening tomorrow), The Ant Bully, and Barnyard--are coming our way in the next couple of weeks. And if these do well, we'll see twice as many next summer and even more the next until the saturation point is reached, the bubble bursts and people start staying home.

One thing is certain....

The main reason we're seeing so many of these damned things is because they inevitably end up in the #1 box office position their opening weekend, but with both Bully and Barnyard opening on August 4, one of them is going to be perhaps the first computer animated film not to be #1 its first weekend. There can only be one #1, after all. (Me, I'm betting on Barnyard being the also ran. The ads I've seen so far make it look even lamer than Madagascar.)

The Lazy Blogger's Guide to Life

I'm just too tired to even think straight, let alone write a coherent post on any topic....but I still have the ridiculous idea that there is, somewhere in the world, someone who cares whether or not I update this damned thing on a daily basis, so I feel some responsibility to that perhaps mythical nameless loser to post something....

So, here are some links to stories on the Columbus Dispatch web-site:

The "these losers need to get a freaking life" story:

‘Save my show!':
Fans becoming more vocal when networks ax their favorite TV series, characters

Yet another dead famous guy:

MICKEY SPILLANE 1918-2006:
Writer created tough detective Mike Hammer

Article that includes the phrase: "... a suspicious bulge around his groin...":

Australian fined for smuggling rare eggs in his underwear

...Aaaand my work here is done. Who says blogging can't be fun and easy?

A Major Announcement! Pay Attention! And Sit Up Straight!!!

Well, I was going to post the first of my Big Brother All Star updates on Saturday, but several factors converged to make that impossible, including the fact that all the PCs here at the Whetstone library were down on Saturday. Of course, the most important thing keeping me from expounding on the consequences of Alison's eviction is that I didn't actually see Thursday's eviction show.

All day Thursday the cold I'd been fighting all week was making a late round rally, not to mention that I hadn't been sleeping well all week. Well, I didn't need to be sick and tired for my meeting the next day (more on that in a sec), so after completing Thursday's entry in The Word, I went home, chugged some NyQuil and fell asleep listening to the audiobook of Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. I slept for nearly twelve hours and ended up being late for work. Fortunatedly, I made it to my meeting on time.

The meeting, by the by, was with Brian Lindamood, managing editor of Columbus Alive! (the other major free weekly paper in town). Alive! recently began a program of publishing 6 week runs of comic strips by local cartoonists, and I headed to the Alive! offices on Friday with my comic strips in tow to see if I had a shot at getting in on that.

Well, Brian liked what he saw and my strip, Wasted Potential, will be running in Alive! There's two more weeks of the inaugural run of Phonzie Davis, then another artist is lined up for the next six week run, so my contribution to the world of comic strip art will begin its run in mid September.

Keep your eyes out for it, although if you keep reading this blog you can bet that I won't fail to tell you all when my strips hit the street.

A Brief Detour Into Politics....

I'm puzzle by something I read in The Other Paper last week...

No, this is not my usual and, by now, tedious rant about how TOP is a worthless waste of paper and all of its writers are talentless, lazy hacks with the maturity level of a 13 year old boy. Actually, Dan Williamson, who wrote the column in question, is the onlyTOP writer I can read without screaming.

Except when he writes about the strange behaviors of Republicans. But it's the Republicans who make me want to scream, not Williamson's prose.

Last Thursday, Williamson related how the Democratic candidate for Ohio state Treasurer was virtually a lock to win because his Republican opponent was unknown and underfunded. It seems, according to Williamson, that Republican voters rejected the re-nomination bid of the Republican incumbent Treasurer because of her positions on abortion and gay rights.

What????

That's the thing that I don't understand...

Certainly those are core Republican wedge issues that they love to use to lord their moral superiority over us ungodly liberals, but what the bloody hell do they have to do with the Treasurer's office????

I don't want or need any office holder, Republican or Democrat or Communist or Green or whatever, telling me how to live, and I certainly don't see how it's the busines of the Treasurer. It appears that Ohio Republicans, in some twisted quest for moral purity in their candidates, have screwed their party of an important statewide office.

GOOD.

Another Damned Obit: Barnard Hughes

While surfing the Dispatch site today, I learned the sad news that one of TV and movies favorite curmudgeons, Barnard Hughes, has died. He would have turned 91 years old this Sunday.

Hughes had a long list of acting credits, mostly guest appearances and cameos on TV, although he did star in two short-lived sitcoms: Doc and Mr. Merlin. In the latter he played the legendary Merlin the Magician of Camelot fame, now calling himself Max Merlin and running a garage in modern day (early 80's) San Francisco when he takes a curious teen who discovers his true identity as his apprentice. It was a silly premise, but the show had some good, and funny, moments if I recall correctly. For me, though, Hughes' most memorable role was as Doctor Proctor in Norman Lear's satirical masterpiece Cold Turkey, which is one of my all time favorite films.

Branding Hilary

According to an article on the Columbus Dispatch web-site today, the inexplicably popular Hilary Duff will be making a play for the allowances of her impressionable, naive (and taste challenged) pre-adolescent female fans (or their moms' paychecks) by launching a line of clothing and other items indispensible to preteen girls (though God Knows what they might be) under the brand name Stuff by Hilary Duff.

Catchy...but I've got a better name.

How about: Crap from A Chick Who Can't Act (or sing, for that matter)

Pink Floyd's Barrett Dies

Syd Barrett, Founder of Pink Floyd, Dies

Although he was only with the band for a short time, and only one album, without Syd Barrett, there would be no Pink Floyd: no "Money"; no Dark Side of The Moon; no The Wall; no A Momentary Lapse of Reason; no enigmatic lyrics for stoners to endlessley debate the meaning of between tokes. Rock and Roll, and all of Pop Culture, would be vastly different and, I think poorer.

As the "lost genius" of the early Floyd, Barrett, who shunned publicity, became an almost mythic figure and although he is gone, his legend will only continue to grow as new generations of fans discover the music that he made and/or inspired.

"Reality" Watch: Rock Star: SuperNova

Hey, I'm back--rested and refreshed. Well, not exactly. I came down with a cold this weekend which I'm still fighting off, but I'm nonetheless ready to resume my self-appointed duty to share my ill informed opinions with you, the starved for a social life denizens of cyberspace.

So, what's been going on in the world of Pop Culture since I last posted herein. Well, Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest both hit theaters, and on TV the summer onslaught of "reality" shows continued unabated with the debut of new seasons of Big Brother and Rock Star.

I will be going on at length about the goings on in the Big Brother house over the course of the next couple of months, so today I'm going to say a few things about Rock Star: SuperNova(That's the full official title).

One thing I like about RS compared to other American Idol style talent searches is that they skip showing you the audition phase and cut right to the meat of the competition. After all, there's only so many times you can see self-appointed entertainment industry "experts" delivering savage groin kicks to the hopes and dreams of naive and untalented youngsters before it starts to get old. RS also flies in the face of the Idol template by failing to include a snotty, pain in the ass Brit amongst the judges. (Maybe its because all the other "reality" shows have already taken all the jerks in Britain and all thats left over there are the nice guys--but I doubt that. The world will never run out of jerks.)

The advantage that this season's edition of Rock Star holds over last year's, for me, at least, is that I can watch it without feeling like some sort of ghoul. As I wrote at the time, I felt that the idea of INXS replacing their deceased lead singer in a televised spectacle that was more about ratings than rock and roll was tacky and disrespectful to the memory of Michael Hutchence. SuperNova, however, is a brand new band with no history or baggage of its own (though the three members, especially Tommy Lee, have plenty of history--some of it caught on tape and distributed over the Internet), so I don't feel bad about enjoying the performances.

By the way, am I the only one who noticed that the chick who sang "Pinball Wizard" messed up the lyrics. Dave Navarro and the members of SuperNova didn't seem to notice, but where the songs says,"...The Pinball Wizard has such a supple wrist" she sang "subtle." Admittedly, it's a small, nitpicky kind of thing, but it does change the meaning of the phrase in subtle (or is it supple) ways. Actually, "...such a subtle wrist" renders the phrase meaningless; it's nonsense. Once again, it's kind of nitpicky, but I'll bet that if Pete Townshend was watching, he was screaming at the TV, "It's 'SUPPLE'!!! SUPPLE--not SUBTLE!! You f****ed up me bleedin' song, you bloody wanker!!" (He's British, ya know--they talk like that.)

THE WORD SHALL RETURN...

....on Monday, July 10. Until then, here's a picture of a cute baby. Everyone loves babies.

Death Be Not Fatal

According to the Associated Press, Great Britain's richest woman, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, has confirmed the rumors that have been floating around since the release of the series' sixth installment that two major characters buy the farm in the final book, and there are intimations that one of those future daisy-pusher-uppers is boy wizard Harry his own doomed self.

Rowlings is quoted as saying: "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, `Well, I'm gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels. So it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."

Obviously, Rowling doesn't read superhero comics. Just 'cause a character is dead doesn't mean his adventures are over. It doesn't matter if, as in the case of Green Arrow a few years ago, the hero is killed in an explosion that scatters his atoms to the far corner of the universe, some writer will find some incredibly convoluted way to restore the character to life. Given that Harry Potter's world is one of magic and wizards, figuring out a way to return him from the grave should present no real problem to any half-talented hack--like Kevin Smith, who wrote the story that ressurrected Green Arrow.

"Reality" Watch: Big Brother All-Star Voting

Just surfed back from the CBS web-site, where I voted once again for my favorite Big Brother houseguests from summers past whom I should like to see return. I plan on hitting the site everyday until the voting closes on Wednesday.

When I posted my personal list of former houseguests I wanted to see again, it was well before the list of candidates was announced, but I seemed to have a pretty good line on what the producers of BB were thinking as half of the dozen that I named made the list. (Marcellas, though, was a no-brainer. You didn't have to be freakin' Nostradomus to predict that he'd be on the list.)

Of those six, there are four that I've been voting for and really, really, deeply want to see back in the house:

Nakomis (BB 5): She's a much better strategic player than she gave herself credit for on Wednesday's special. The "backdoor" nomination strategy (the Head of Household putting up two "pawns", then nominating the person he really wants gone after the veto ceremony when that person can no longer save himself) that was used to devastating effect last summer was pioneered by Nakomis. Plus, she's a hot chick with green hair. What more could anyone want?

Janelle (BB6): A lot better player than anyone gave her credit for. No green hair but still hot.

Kaysar (BB6): As I said two weeks ago, Kaysar was one of the finest strategic players the house has seen before he let his emotions get the best of him and made a stupid mistake that got him tossed out a second time.

Howie (BB 6): Quite frankly, Howie is not a good player. His stint as HOH was disastrous for his alliance. He is ,however, unpredictable and funny.

Then there are the people I really don't need to see again.

Ivette (BB6): No. Just NO. That's all I'm gonna say.

Bunky (BB2): As I've stated earlier, I didn't really get into BB until BB3. This guy--Bunky--is the reason I didn't watch BB2. I saw just enough of it to know that I didn't want to see anymore of this big hairy crying freak.

Alison (BB4): Geez, hasn't this wench been on TV enough? After BB4, she and her boyfriend Donny did The Amazing Race. I think the world has seen enough of her.

Well, we'll just have to wait and see who gets in and who doesn't.....Excuse me, I've written enough for today, I'm going back to vote again.

(Now, THAT'S Trivia! #19) Hail To The Chief...

I came across a book at the library called The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia by Noah McCullough (who is supposedly only ten years old) and here's a question from that book's "Ultimate Political Quiz". (This one stuck in my mind because it's kind of a trick question. I like trick questions.)

Q: How many presidents are not buried in the United States?

The answer lies on The Answer Blog.

(POKER MOVIES) "The Cheater's Game"

(To be quite honest, I am just horribly depressed today and do not feel like writing anything. However, a few months ago, I wrote a series of entries on Poker-themed movies that I was planning to post when the Rat Pack Bar League started up again. Since that apparently ain't gonna happen, I will instead being posting them on days like today when I can not conjure the energy to come up with an original thought. This first entry in the series offers an overview of the way Hollywood has portrayed the game of poker over the years. Future entries critique specific films.)

I've heard a lot about how the recent explosion in the popularity of poker, fueled by televised Hold' Em tournaments, has done much to dispel the "negative image" of the game. It's true the game has had a bit of a P.R. problem throughout its history, often being regarded as the exclusive province of cheats and hustlers. In fact, according to many of the books on poker that I have read (and I have read many) poker was widely known as "The Cheater's Game" in the 19th century.

One of the things keeping this negative image alive in the public consciousness is the way the game has been portrayed in movies. In nearly every "poker movie", from The Cinncinnati Kid to Maverick, there is some sort of cheating going on or scam being run. Even Rounders, one of the linchpins of poker's newfound popularity, has Ed Norton's Worm, an unrepentant cheat.

When there's no cheating going on in a film, the image presented of poker players is still less than flattering. For example, in Robert Altman's California Split, Elliot Gould and George Segal's characters are portrayed as pathetic losers who turn to gambling to fill a void in their souls. Then there's High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (a.ka. Stuey), a biography of the three time World Series of Poker champion. While Ungar may have been, as many claim, "the greatest poker player who ever lived", he is hardly a positive role model, what with the cocaine and the Mafia connections and all.

Why can't someone make a film about a well-adjusted, honest family man who happens to be a professional poker player? Say, something like: Ten-Deuce: The Doyle Brunson Story. That's box office gold, baby!

"Reality" Re-Cap: Last Chance for Last Comic Standing

After last night, I'm just not sure that I want to continue watching Last Comic Standing. Now that the preliminary rounds are behind us, the show has morphed into some sort of half-assed cross between Big Brother and American Idol. I wish they'd drop the "behind the scenes" crap and concentrate on the performances by the comics. If I want to see who unfunny fat chicks yelling at each other, I'll go---well, nowhere, because I just don't need to see that crap. And I just don't need a Big Brother clone right now when the real thing is about to kick off. In fact, tonight the special which will present the past houseguests eligible to return to the show for this year's All Star edition airs at 8 pm. Fans will then have a week to vote on who gets into the house.

Anyway, back to LCS. I think I'll give it one more chance, but if the stunningly unfunny Roz makes it past next week I'm so outta there.

It's News To Who???

Here are this week's biggest non-news stories from the Pop Culture front:

Paul McCartney turned 64 on Sunday.

It must have been a slow weekend for news, since just about every news show I saw had a feature on the ex-Beatle's 64th birthday, just because he once wrote a not very good song called "When I'm Sixty-Four." Big Fat Hairy Deal.

Jar Jar Binks named Most Annoying Film Character

This is the "DUH!" story of the week. No one needed to take a poll to figure that one out; they just had to watch The Phantom Menace. (or better yet--don't. Just forget that it and the next two films were ever made.) Actually, I'm surprised that the rest of the characters named in the survey weren't from the awful second Star Wars trilogy.

Today's News Highlights

In the Columbus Dispatch today:
AK superheroes hail from Middle East

The interior voice of "Cynical Ray" says that this sounds like just another in a long line of new comic book "universes" built on a marketing gimmick rather than solid, entertaining storytelling. "Curious Ray," however, thinks that he might check these Middle Eastern super-heroes out--as soon as their initial storylines are collected in trade paperback, because Ray no longer buys comics periodicals.

Minorities absent in new comedies

It seems that nothing ever changes, you know. I swear that I see this exact same story, featuring minority leaders complaining that there aren't enough minority faces on TV, every single year as the start of the fall TV season gets closer. It's kind of sad, really.

"Reality" Watch: The Pride of Britain

If the Fox TV network were your only contact with the outside world, you could easily be forgiven if you were to come to the conclusion that all British men are obnoxious jackasses. This may not be the case in real life, but on the network's so-called "reality" shows it most certainly is true.

The prototype is, of course, American Idol's Simon Cowell. A large part of Idol's appeal comes from watching Simon lay waste to the dreams and aspirations of naive hopeful young singers. Perhaps his popularity speaks to some essential mean-spirited in the American people...or perhaps not. Such conclusions are better left to sociologists rather than media critics.

The nicest of the bunch is So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel. He can dish out the venom just as well as Simon, but it seems his heart really isn't in it. It's almost as if he tosses out the occassional put down simply because he feels it is expected of him as Dance's answer to Simon. Perhaps a quota of insults per episode is in his contract.

Hell's Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay, on the other hand, positively revels in his obnoxiousness. He knows he's a jackass and he likes it that way. Unfortunately, he is missing the one element that makes Simon bearable: a sense of humor, both about himself and his show.

These three make me nostalgic for aTV show that featured a kinder, gentler, and far more likable example of British manhood: Fawlty Towers.

Great Moments In Comics' History: Amazing Spider-Man #147

Former comics writer, and current "supervising producer" for Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Gerry Conway's 38 issue run on Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man stands out not only as some of the finest work of Conway's career, but as second only to the 106 issues penned by the character's creator, Stan Lee, as the highpoint of Spidey's career in the comics. However, he is also responsible for what I consider to be the greatest unintentionally funny line ever to see print in a super-hero comic book.

He wrote this memorable bit of dialogue in ASM #147, toward the end of his run. In that story, entitled "The Tarantula Is A Very Deadly Beast," Spidey and the titular villain engage in a brawl through the streets of New York City that eventually spills on to a crowded city bus. Despite two super-powered lunatics pummelling the crap out of each other right in front of him, the driver of the bus appears not to notice anything out of the ordinary taking place as he calmly requests the combatants to move to the rear of the bus and emotionlessly reminds a clone of Spider-Man's dead girlfriend that she forgot to pay her fare when she boards.

Finally, an exasperated webslinger can take no more, insisting that, "Mister, you can't be real! Nobody behaves like you do---NOBODY!"

Finally acknowledging Spidey's presence, the man pulls off his "bus driver" mask to reveal another mask, with impossibly large protruding ears, underneath--the mask of Spider-Man's nemesis The Jackal! As he does so, the villain proclaims,"Nobody 'real' does act the way I do--(And here's the funny part..)--Because no one 'real' is THE JACKAL!"

I first read that story back when it was originally published in 1976. I was ten years years old and took such things much more seriously than I do these days, thus I failed to see anything even remotely funny about that particular panel. Re-reading the story as a somewhat more jaded adult some two decades later, I was struck by the utter absurdity of it and simply cracked up laughing, as I continue to do to this day every time I read it.

(STRAY THOUGHTS) TOPIC: Rhymin'

One of my favorite things about the English language is that the word "pants" rhymes with "dance," thus making possible some hilarious couplets such as the motto by which The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Chuckles the Clown lived by: "A little song, a little dance; A little seltzer down your pants."

My favorite, though, is the opening of the theme song from Cartoon Network's IM Weasel:

"You don't need pants for a Victory Dance."

That is the art of poetry at its finest, my friends.

(Now, THAT'S Trivia! #18) This Time It's Personal

Well, the trivia question is back for better or worse for those who give a crap...and Summer is less than a week away, but the "Summer Movie Season" has been with us for awhile...Today's question has nothing to do with movies, but instead is about early 1960's pop music. However, while sequels run rampant in the movie industry, especially in the summer months, "sequels" to hit songs are less common. Leslie Gore, however, did produce a follow-up to her smash hit "It's My Party" that continued the story and even brought it to a happy ending (for Leslie, at least).

What was that song called???

As you well know by now, the answer is to be found at The Answer Blog.

Frankly, My Dear...CAPA Movie Series Begins With GWTW

Just a quick reminder to my readers who are also fans of classic films and live in the Columbus, Ohio area that CAPA's Summer Movie Series kicks off this weekend with the overblown, overlong, over-acted and highly over-rated 1939 "classic" Gone With The Wind, a film most notable for shocking millions of blue haired old ladies by being the first American movie in which a character used the word "Damn," and for an early screen appearance by future Superman, George Reeves.

Future films in the Series, which runs through August 27, include Citizen Kane, Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Brigadoon, Chinatown, and the best damn movie ever made (a.k.a. Casablanca) as well as two Saturday morning sessions of classic theatrical cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry and other favorites.

All movies in the Series screen at the beautiful old Ohio Theater downtown. Gone With The Wind plays tomorrow through Sunday at 7:30 pm nightly with 2 pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $3.50 or $3.00 for senior citizens with a strip of ten, good for any movie in the series, available for $21.50

"Reality" Re-Cap: More Last Comic Standing

So, last night on Last Comic Standing they sent not five, but seven, comics to the finals. Host Anthony Clarke called that a "twist." Heh. That's no twist. If you want to see twists, watch Big Brother. The producers of that show could teach you a thing or two about screwing with peoples' lives for entertainment value.

Remember BB4, in which many of the houseguests were thrown together in the house with an ex- girl/boyfriend? Then there was BB5, in which not only were a pair of identical twins fooling everyone in the house into believing they were one person but the producers found a brother and sister who had not only never met but didn't even know each other existed and let them figure out that fact for themselves.

Yeah, LCS apparently has a thing or two to learn about "twists."

Meanwhile...

Before I criticize the choices for the last seven finalists, let me say that I know the "celebrity talent scouts" have a difficult job, and the chance of their choices pleasing everyone is absolutely nil. At least in the case of a show like American Idol, just about everyone agrees on what good singing is, but what's funny is an extremely personal thing to each individual. That said, I actually have very little problem with the comics who made the cut...except for one.

Stella Stolper was crude and unfunny and, worst of all, unoriginal. Her act has been done before, and much better, by female comics from Joan Rivers to Roseanne. Thankfully, the decision to pick two additional finalists meant that the inclusion of Stella did not mean that Kristen Key was denied the shot at the LCS title that she richly deserves. If there's one comic who should've made the finals who did not, though, it's the little lisping fireball, Nikki Payne.

Well, that's all about LCS for this week....we'll see if there's anything worth writing about after the next episode.

Football Already?

For those who give a crap--and let it be proclaimed through all the vastness of cyberspace that I am most definitely not one of them--here's a link to this upcoming season's Ohio State Buckeyes football schedule, posted today on the Columbus Dispatch web-site.

Buckeye Football Schedule

"Reality" Re-Cap: Last Comic Standing

Last Wednesday, before my (at first) enforced retreat from the blogosphere, I was going to write about last Tuesday's episode of Last Comic Standing. I'm going to do that now, just in time for an all new episode this evening.

I wish they would expand to two hours, enabling them to show the comics' entire 3-minute sets and the judges' (or "celebrity talent scouts") comments on all them, rather than only a select few. That certainly would have been better than wasting an hour of airtime with an edited "recap" of the premiere. This week they're filling the 8 o'clock hour with something even worse: Fear Factor. I've said that since I've been writing about TV on this blog, I've watched more so-called "reality" shows than I ever did before, but, blog or no blog, there is no force in heaven or on Earth that could ever compel me to watch an episode, or even part of an episode, of Fear Factor.

All right, with that mini-rant out of the way, let's look at the first five comics selected to advance to the finals: Chris Porter, April Macie, Joey Gay, Roz, and Josh Blue.

I'm not all that happy with the choices.

First of all, I am disappointed that my personal favorite from the first two episodes, Nikki Glaser, didn't make it. I really like her and feel she was the best comic on the show. Her material has a dark, almost uncomfortable, edge that in the hands of a lesser talent might induce cringing ranther thatn laughter, but she managed to pull off jokes about alcoholism and domestic violence and make them funny. I hope that I'll get to see more of her in the future, if not on LCS, then elsewhere.

Joey Gay is loud...I think he'll get tiresome after a while.

Roz told the audience in her nightclub audition that "I don't have jokes; I have problems!" She was right about not having jokes, and her problem is that she ain't funny.

April Macie's routine last week contained a few too many penis jokes (and not very funny ones, at that) for my taste.

Okay, this may sound crass and insensitive, but while I find Josh Blue funny, he is basically a one-note performer relying on a gimmick, in this case, that he has cerebral palsy. (That does make me sound like a horrible person, doesn't it?)

Chris Porter? He's OK, I guess.

Anyway, tonight we get to see who the remaining five finalists are, and maybe we'll get to see Tim Meadows again. That'll be a treat. You just don't see enough of him on the tube these days.

Odd--In Disturbing Sort of Way--Story of The Day

Arizona police say parents gave pot to their kids to reward good behavior
Okay...this is definitely taking the "cool parent" thing a little too far.

I'm BACK! (And I Brought A Friend)

Greetings, friends!!
I'm back. In retrospect, frustrating as it was at the time, the fact that due to problems with the Blogger web-site I was unable to update The Word From On High for two days was a good thing. After four months of posting nearly every day, I was getting a little burnt out. So I took a couple of extra days off, after a perfunctory post to let the world know I hadn't slit my wrists in the bathtub, to renew my creative energies and revive my will to write. And to eat and sleep, neither of which I do enough of. It is, however, time to get back to the daily grind of the unforgiving blogosphere, lest I lose my audience completely. If I take any more time off, my five readers may abandon me in frustration. Besides, the daily routine provdes me with some semblance of sanity or an unreasonable facsimile thereof, sorta.
Okay, I'm rambling. Let's move on.
In the near future, I'm finally going to get to some reviews of books I picked up at SPACE last month, and take a look at what the broadcast TV networks have in store for us in the fall, and tell you what I really think of Last Comic Standing.
For today, though, I thought I'd ease back into the swing of things and share some pictures from the aforementinoned Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, which took place right here in the magical land of Columbus, Ohio on May 13.
The first pic is of me posing with the Drunken Cat eponymous namesake of Drunken Cat Comics. (Click on that link for a shot of Cerebus writer/artist Dave Sim hobnobbing with the DC)
The second is me wearing the head of the Drunken Cat costume and standing next to Drunken Cat Comics guiding light, Brian Canini.
Big THANKS to Brian for sending me copies of the pics and for allowing me to stick my greasy head into his nice home made mask.

Too Much Tim

It's ironic, isn't it?

After two days of being unable to update The Word From On High because I couldn't access the Blogger site, I don't really feel like writing anything today. Maybe I'll take the weekend off as well and get my head together (by which I mean drink heavily).

One thing, though...What's up with that Tim Meadows guy?

Between Last Comic Standing and Game Show Marathon, it was almost impossible to get away from his smarmy, self satisfied grin this past couple of weeks.

Is he just a total TV whore who will do anything to get his face on the boob tube, no matter how ridiculous? If he's that desperate to get on TV, maybe he should just swallow what little pride he may have left and go crawling on his belly back to Lorne Michaels, admit that his "movie career" is a pathetic joke and an abject failure, and beg Michaels to let him back on Saturday Night Live. After all, anyone who'd appear on Game Show Marathon obviously has no self respect.

All right, that's all the bile I wish to spew today. The trivia quiz shall return next Friday.

Billy Preston Dies..

Singer-songwriter Billy Preston dead at 59

From jamming with the Beatles to being the musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, Preston had quite a career in the 60's and 70's. I remember my friend Jonny Hartwell telling me, one time when I played Prteston's Nothing From Nothing on an oldies radio show I hosted on WCCB, the Clarion University of Pennsylvania student radio station, that it was the first record he ever bought. For me, it was one of the songs on the radio that helped define the summers of my childhood. I'm sorry if I'm rambling a bit here. I don't really have much to say here, I'm simply too overcome with shock, sadness and nostalgia.

Ill Omen

Not a lot of movies get released on Tuesdays, but I guess if your movie is a remake of the 1976 horror classic The Omen the date 6/6/06 is almost two good to pass up. In fact, the smarmy smart asses at The Other Paper have even joked that the only reason the film was even made was to take advantage of the date. As much as I hate to agree with anything printed in that not-fit-even-for-wrapping-fish piece of pseudo-journalistic garbage, I think that they may be onto something, because from all I've seen and heard of this new Omen I can't think of any other reason for it to exist.

The new Omen is billed as a "faithful remake" and comparing trailers from the two films last week, I noticed that many scenes had pretty much recreated exactly. In his review, Frank Gabrenya of The Columbus Dispatch states that the remake was made using the same script of the original. If you're going to remake a movie, especially one as well regarded as the original Omen, then you should have something new to bring to it. A shot for shot rehash like this is simply a waste of time and film, and the studio could have just saved themselves the cost of making this travesty and re-released the original.

Reality Preview: America's Got Talent

Two of the most annoying men on TV are teaming up to bring us the latest "reality" show hoping to cash in on the success of American Idol. The annoying men are Idol's co-creator Simon Cowell, and the man who helped kick off the current "reality" TV craze as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Regis Francis Xavier Philbin, and the show is called America's Got Talent, created by Cowell and hosted by Philbin, debuting on NBC on June 21.

Unlike other recent talent competitions, such as Idol, So you Think You Can Dance and Last Comic Standing, AGT is open to anybody with (or without) any talent. The promos have shown singers, dancers, and even jugglers. Personally, I hope to see a plate spinner. You never see plate spinners much anymore, not since the demise of The Ed Sullivan Show. (I do remember seeing one on David Letterman's show a few years back, though..which is appropriate, as Dave broadcasts out of the Ed Sullivan Theater) It would be a shame for plate spinning to become a lost art, even though it is kind of a silly thing for people to be entertained by. But then again, so is 85% of what's on TV.

A Rare Admission of Error

DAMN. DAMN! DAMN!!

I really, really hate to be wrong, and I hate admitting that I was wrong even more.

However, it is important to me to maintain the faith and trust of my readers, therefore I will admit the rare mistakes that I do make.

A while back, I posted a trivia question that asked for Clark Kent's favorite book, and the answer was To Kill A Mockingbird. Later, when I read the collected edition of the Reign of the Supermen storyline, published in trade paperback as The Return of Superman, it was the film version of Mockingbird that was revealed as Clark's favorite movie. I wondered if I'd remembered it wrong or if DC had changed it for the book for some reason.

My copies of the original issues are stored in my sister's basement, so I couldn't check right away. In fact, it wasn't until yesterday, when I was at her house for the monthly poker game which she graciously allows me to hold there, that I was able to dig out the relevant comics.

Well, it turns out that I had, in fact, remembered that sequence from Superman #81 (Sept. 1993) differently than Dan Jurgens had actually written it. To Kill A Mockingbird is, in fact, Clark Kent's favorite movie.

I guess a guy like Superman who's constantly saving the world from super-villains and alien invasions just doesn't have a lot of time for reading novels. Although, as he is a newspaper reporter, it sort of made more sense to me that he would prefer the printed version to the film. (But expecting anything written by Jurgens to make any sort of sense on any level is futile, but that's an entry for another day perhaps.)

"Reality" Preview: Big Brother All-Stars

The summer "reality" TV season is in full swing and Survivor and American Idol clones are set to dominate the brodacast networks schedules for the next three months. Up until I started blogging about "pop culture" on a daily basis and needed material about which to write, I pretty much avoided the "reality" genre, with one big exception.

Big Brother has been what you might call a "guilty pleasure" of mine for a few summers now. I first began watching with BB3. I did not have cable, so my TV viewing options were somewhat limited, and on Thursday nights I'd fallen into the habit of watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? until about mid-summer when ABC kept pre-empting it with movies. I'd lost interest in Friends a couple of seasons before, and I can't remeber what Fox was offering but I do know that I wasn't interested. So my options were shutting off the TV and reading a book, or watching BB3. I chose BB and ended up hooked. I eagerly look forward to the arrival of each year's new set of houseguest to my TV screen. This year, though, the houseguests won't be completely new to the game.

Ever since Survivor did it's All-Star edition, I've been wondering if we'd ever see a similar stunt on BB. Well, this summer we will. BB7 is the BB All- Stars competition. In a BB special on June 21, CBS will roll out a list of 20 houseguests from seasons past who are vying for the chance to return to the house and take another shot at the half million dollar prize. BB fans will then have one week to vote on-line for who gets to come back.

The voting, and the unveiling of the candidates, is still about two and a half weeks away, but I was browsing the CBS site, and the homepages for past editions of BB, to refresh my memory a bit and I have come up with a list of 12 past BB houseguests whom I would like to see again. Of course, I have no idea who's on the list that I'll be voting from (and I will be voting), these are simply some of my favorites.

From BB3: Marsallis and Amy. Marsallis is one of the most popular houseguests ever, so he most likely will be back, and Amy was his best friend in the house.

From BB4: Retired FBI agent Jack, and former couple Robert and Erika

From BB5: Will, Nakomis (Jennifer), and Marvin

Finally, from BB6: Howie and his BB6 partner Rachel, Janelle, and Kaysar. Kaysar, during his first stint in the BB house (he was evicted and voted back in on-line by the audience), may have been the best strategic player the game has yet seen. He let his emotions get the best of him after his return and his second chance lasted only a week. I think he deserves a third shot.

Well, that's all for today. Gotta run.

(Now, THAT'S Trivia! #17) A ? About Prince

Okay, for today I have come up with probably my most obscure piece of trivia yet...except for the one about the movie 48 Hours and Zagnut bars. Yeah, that was a bit esoteric.

Anyway, today's question concerns Prince and his performance of his 80's classic "Kiss" at the ceremony in which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2004. There's a line in the original version that goes: "You don't have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude.." For his 2004 performance Prince plugged in the name of a more recent, and I believe still running at the time, show. What was it?

The answer is at the Answer Blog.

Whatever Happened To...That Guy...From That TV Show?

I was watching Last Comic Standing on Tuesday night, and among the thousands of people vying for a spot in the next round I was surprised to see someone I actually recognized, Marc Price, the former child actor who played the Keaton's annoying next door neighbor "Skippy" on the quintessentially 80's sitcom Family Ties. He joked that he chose Last Comic Standing to make his return to weekly TV because his only other option was Celebrity Fit Club (seems he's gained a pound or two since Ties ended).

Back when I was in college, only a couple of years after Ties ended and more people still knew who he was, Price did a show at my college, Clarion University of Pennsylvania. I didn't attend and I've always regretted that. (I do not, however, regret my decision to stay home when Yakov Smirnov came to campus.)

It looks like little has changed for Price in the twenty years since he passed through Clarion, Pennsylvania. Apparently, he's still doing his stand up act and attempting in vain to recreate his seven and a half minutes of near fame. At least he seems healthy and well-adjusted, not dead, on drugs, or in jail like some other former child stars.

Unfortunately for "Skippy" (I bet he hates it when people call him that, and I bet many still do), despite being invited back by the judges to perform in front of a live audience, he failed to advance to the semi-finals. Well, Skipster, there's always The Surreal Life.

By the way, all this has got me wondering whatever became of Saved By The Bell's Dustin Diamond (Screech)?