Why Ditko is the tits....!

Because he could design a character like this and get away with it!

BETE NOIRE ALERT! Somebody Stop This Woman!!!!!

I don't usually go here but this weather woman has become a big pet peeve with her Ed Grimley "I must say!" froggy voice and delivery and her tipsy facial expressions and non-one-liners as she dominates the local news broadcast with her weather!

Even her surname is annoying. It's plural. WHY PLURAL? The suggestion is that there's an army of Petersons just waiting to take her place if she falters. What is she, Noman from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents?

My buddy Rich has said it again and again: do we really need weather people? They could save lots of money by just running the temperatures and having the anchors read them, like they do when the weather person's on vacation.

Sorry, I know most of you sleep late on Sundays and can not even fathom who or what she does or is. Unfortunately, I'm an early riser and, as such, must contend with her, as KABC is the only sign of life on TV while I'm eating breakfast (unless I want to go to tele-church).

PETERSONS MUST BE STOPPED!!!!!!!!

The Wisdom of THE WIRE........

Watching Season 5 of THE WIRE, my first impression was kind of smug. Boy! If this isn't a Chamber of Commerce in Reverse for the city of Baltimore. That's one hole I don't want to visit based on the way it's depicted on this show.

But when you stop and think about it, THE WIRE is not at all about Baltimore. No, sir. It just takes place there. It's actually a scathing indictment of every large city in America....INCLUDING LOS ANGELES!

If there's one thing I got out of this show, it's how, on every level, the personal agendas of rotten people, from the gangs on the streets to the gangs in City Hall, affects millions of lives. The machine is broken, and as ambitious gang members, cops, politicians, city officials and journalists jockey for power and promotion, the rest of us pay the price for it.

Well, shucks! That's the message I got out of it, anyway. Isn't that enough to wipe a smile off of a smug face?

The Art of Carpetbagging TV Shows

I would love to watch all four seasons of BSG, all five seasons of THE WIRE, not to mention season 1 and 2 of HEROES, every episode of THE RIFLEMAN, THE TUDORS, the complete BEING HUMAN series, the JOHN ADAMS miniseries, MAD MEN, the British OFFICE and THE OFFICE season 3. But I can't. That would amount to 10,904 hours of viewing. So what's my secret to being on top of all this fine, Emmy-winning programming? I carpetbag!

See, movies are always my first priority. So in-between, I'll watch episodes of a good program...but I can't commit to every season of said shows. So in the case of BATTLESTAR, I only watched the complete first season (many say it's the best) with a chance that eventually, I'll skip and watch all of season 4. And THE WIRE? I totally ass-backwards my way into this show after my pal Geoff introduced me to this great drama by playing the last episode of season 5 for me. That's right, THE SERIES FINALE! So now that I know how the whole show ends, I'm working my way towards the finale by seeing the episodes that led up to it. Maybe one day, I'll watch the first four seasons, but who has that kind of time on their hands? Also, I believe the Baltimore Sun plotline is specific to season 5 so this may be a cut above the other seasons for me, as I enjoy the journalism subplot. But that's OK, I don't need the other seasons for now....season 5 alone is like an epic movie unto itself!

There's only one series, really, that I'd like to catch every single episode of (and which I have) and that's my three-disk collection of the Fleischer Bros.' POPEYE cartoons!



That's my holy grail! Well, blow me down! Aggaggaggagg!

IT'S FRIDAY! Here's Your Weekly Comic: GREENBLATT THE GREAT!

(Click on image to enlarge)

Whoyougonnacall? GHOULA's "Spirits With Spirits" at Patrick's Roadhouse on PCH this Sunday

GHOULA (Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles), a group founded by Richard Carradine and Lisa Strouss that meets every month on the 13th at an L.A. location that's supposedly haunted, will gather on Sunday at Patrick's Roadhouse in Santa Monica Canyon (off PCH).



Patrick's, normally not in business for dinner, will throw its doors wide open from 6 to 9 p.m. to welcome the group. No actual ghosts necessary - this group uses the lore as an excuse to check out L.A. landmarks (and non-landmarks) over drinks.

What's going to be different about this month's meeting is that it's going to be captured for an article in the Palisadian-Post, the weekly paper of record of Pacific Palisades, California. So a writer (me) and a soul-stealing photographer will be on hand to chronicle the proceedings.

No admission will be charged and Patrick's will be offering its usual menu. Be there and be scared!

OISHINBO VOL. 4 - FISH, SUSHI, SASHIMI

I want to thank my lovely girlfriend, Laura, a woman of class and taste (and, ironically, a vegetarian), for getting this book for me. It's the fourth in a series of manga comics set in the culinary world. It's all about the preparation and execution. Every edition tackles another food group. The just-released fifth edition is about cooking vegetables.

In this fourth book, the lead characters are journalists for a newspaper that is compiling an "Ultimate Menu" and along the way, the young reporter male lead goes head to head with his father in a battle royale over who can come up with the best tasting fish dish. Along the way, you learn about fish and the preparation of them, with realistically drawn fish intermingled with the cartoony principles.

My favorite chapter so far (still reading it) is Round 4, in which the young reporter must save an orphanage by going up against the head of the Yoto Group, which owns the orphanage building and threatens to shut it down, and winning the round by producing the superior dish.

Highly recommended (but don't eat it on an empty stomach).

It's a simple premise, well-executed, and one of the best manga I've read. It's up there with OLD BOY and Tezuka's BLACK JACK.

I'm looking forward to catching up with the other volumes, even though I rather read about sushi then vegetables. However, my girlfriend is a vegetarian, so I'll bet she'll dig the latter volume.