My wife and I can do the work of ten men, apparently. She asked for a quote for a spring yard cleanup from a local lawn service and was quoted nearly $2000. The guy wanted to send five men for two full days. We decided to do it ourselves and accomplished it in four hours. That’s one person-day compared to ten. Of course, every muscle in my body is aching today, but it was worth it!
I’m going to be a special guest at the Dollar Baby Film Festival that is part of Comicpalooza on May 25 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. About 20 of these short films will be screened, many of which I’ve never seen. We can’t screen Gotham Cafe any more because the rights to some of the music have lapsed, but I’ll be on a panel and otherwise kicking around the convention. I’ve never been to a Comicpalooza before, nor to any other “palooza” that comes to mind. In fact, I’ve never been in the George R. Brown Convention Center before, so it will be a weekend of firsts. I’m hoping that I’ll get to meet some of the big name guests attending, including Bernie Wrightson, Patrick Stewart and a bunch of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast. I didn’t know that Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, was supposed to be there, so I can’t be disappointed that he had to cancel, but since he’s my favorite Doctor and the one I wrote about in Doctor Who: Destination Prague, I do regret the missed opportunity. Ooh, look—the guy who played the albino in Banshee is going to be there, too!
I would have been at least mildly miffed if I’d been one of the Amazing Race contestants who was led to believe they’d be getting a photo taken with Obama, to go through all that subterfuge with the faux Secret Service agents, only to be led to a photomat and be edited into a picture. The Republican contestant was relieved, however. It was a good race, but I think the hockey brothers blew the others out of the water at the end. It’s always hard to judge, but it was twilight at least by the time the third team showed up at the mat. The team that came in second shouldn’t feel bad. They won a few legs and go home with brand new cars to boot.
