Is It Clobberin' Time Yet?

So yesterday's post got deleted due to some crazy internet shutdown I experienced yesterday. So now, the short version:

1.) I didn't get the Studios Production assignment at NBC. And that sucks. This was my last real chance in the near future of participating in an assignment via the page program that I was really interested in, and now it's back to square one. So now it really is time to reevaluate. Not saying that I'm leaving NBC yet, and defininitely not saying I'm through with showbiz. Hells no. But this is really frustrating, because the page program is supposed to give you that first foot in the door and so far it often seems like it's just giving an extra shove to the lucky few who already have both feet inside and their coat already hung in the closet, if you know what I mean. I mean, I come from Bloomfield freaking Connecticut, knew absolutely nobody in the entertainment biz, and my parents and I are making a huge investment to allow me to have moved all the way to CA on a moment's notice and live here on a laughable salary with no health insurance. I can't claim any connections, ins, or special treatment to have gotten this far. All I can claim is a passion for entertainment and creativity and a willingness to work hard, which at this juncture apparently amounts to jack squat. Oh well, don't count me out yet Hollywood - because you damn sure won't get rid of me that easily. And for now I'll stick to being the best damn tour guide at NBC - at least they can't take that away from me.

2.) Yesterday also brought about some very sad news for any of us who were fans of one of the all time great comic book artists: Jim Aparo, who tragically passed away yesterday. Aparo, a masterful artist with unparallelled longevity, was one of my earliest artistic influences and someone whose work I greatly admired and often sought to emulate. When I wrote a column on this blog a few weeks back about the greatest Bat-artists ever, I had this to say about Mr. Aparo (paraphrased here):

To many, he is THE definitive Batman artist. Aparo drew Batman throughout the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and when multiple generations of Batfans think of Batman, they envision him as drawn by Aparo, who seemed to know just how long to make the ears, how dark to make the shadows around the cowl, how sharp to make the gauntlets on the gloves. He just did Batman right, as he should be. His versions of Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, the Joker, Commisioner Gordon - all classic - he picked up on the move towards realism that others had started and refined it, until Batman simply existed as drawn by Jim Aparo - his Batman became THE Batman, to the point where any other artists' rendition looked a little off, because it could only be viewed in comparison with Aparo's classic, elegant rendition.

Jim Aparo was for me, as he was to many, one of the first artists whose distinct style I immediately recognized whenever I saw it in print. He was so prolific that the thought of no new material from him is almost incomprehensible. For me, art, especially comic art, has always been one of my passions along with writing, and my younger years were often spent at my bedroom desk, drawing away at superhero epics and fantastic adventures. The character I drew most was Batman, and often I'd sit with a Jim-Aparo drawn comic book carefully open to a page featuring one of his trademark dynamic poses, dynamite storytelling sequences, or clean, distinct figures. All I can say is that it truly is a Dark Knight indeed.



Anyways ... back to the present ...

Well today was crazy at the Tonight Show. CRAZY. In a BAD way. Basically, my job today was floor seater - I had to fill the lower levels of the studio with audience members, keeping in mind that many of the seats were taped off, reserved for people on the show's guest list. So I get that part of the job out of the way and then stand in the entrance hall to the studio, checking in groups of people as the come in and occasionally escorting them to their seats if they had ones which were specially reserved. So it seems we're all clear, show's about to start ...

When suddenly Scott, our audience coordinator, runs down the hall, yelling for me to bring this woman to an empty seat in the FRONT ROW. Empty seat in the front row is NOT GOOD, since if unfilled it looks terrible on TV. So I run out as the opening theme song plays, and Jay Leno is ABOUT to come onstage. And guess what? NO EMPTY SEAT IN THE FRONT ROW. So I'm standing there, RIGHT IN FRONT of where Jay would come out to do his monologue, like a deer caught in headlights. I was totally panicking, as I had no idea what to do with this woman. So I see no seat in the front row, but look up and see THREE taped off but unfilled seats a few rows up, which is equally bad as those seats should have been filled as well. Something went very wrong in the seating process. I reach up, lean forward, yank off the tape, and point to the woman to sit in one of those seats, AS THE BAND KEEPS PLAYING MUSIC TO DELAY THE START OF THE SHOW. Oh my God. I duck under the camera, run off stage, and run back to Scott to tell him what happened and that there's still TWO EMPTY SEATS right in the front section. I'm not really sure how this mixup occured, but suffice to say I was totally traumatized by all this and stood in the back the rest of the show mentally recreating the scene and trying to figure out what the hell happened. Half a second more and I would have had to do the freaking monologue. Oy - not fun.

What else?

Today on the show Kyra Sedgewick aka Mrs. Kevin Bacon appeared (eh, okay, kind of weird), as did D.L. Hughley (surprisingly he was hilarious) and none other than Patti LaBelle performed (wasn't a fan going in due to years of parentally-induced overexposure to her and other adult contemporary artists) and wow, she tore the place up! So much so that for the first time I've ever seen, the crowd burst into unbridled applause midway through her song. Her voice was spot on, and she was really putting it all out there, quivering and shaking with emotion and showin' the young 'uns how it's done. Now there is a true American Idol.

Monday I saw the odd pairing of Sen. John McCain with the always insane Gary Busey (McCain looked ready to run for the hills while sitting next to Busey on the couch ...). Yesterday Diane Lane appeared as did Len Berman, the innovator of sports bloopers broadcasting - plus Babyface appeared, to which I say: eh, whatever.

Tonight I finally saw FANTASTIC FOUR. My quick review: Pretty much sucked. The cast aside from the miscast Alba was actually pretty good (Chiklis and the guy who played Johnny Storm were great, Mr. Fantastic alright, and Dr. Doom kind of miscast as well but still decent), but the direction by Tim Story of TAXI fame was attrocious and the script and plotting was abysmal. The f/x were poor, the set design boring, uninspired, and not befitting characters that were so artfully and imaginatively co-created by one of the greatest artistic visionaries ever, Jack "King" Kirby. The uses of the 4's powers was very limtted and rarely exciting, and the pacing was just way, way off. And yet, despite mostly reeking of sucktitude, the best thing that I can say about this movie is that despite how wrong it got it, if they can get a decent director and script for the sequel, this first one actually set things up quite nicely for a potentially kickass part 2. So get James Cameron aboard, mine Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and John Bryne and Mark Waid for the plot, up the f/x budget, and bring on the sequel. But as for this one, it gets a far from fantastic grade of C -, and ranking amongst the worst comic to film adaptations to date.

Alright, more later. And since the movie lacked any real drama, conflict, or great action moments, I have to get this out of my system:

ITTTTTTTT'SSSSSSSS CLOBERRRRRRRRRINNNNN' TIIIIIIIIMMMMME!