Here are two words calculated to scare the poo out of you, and it’s not a joke. Ready?

President Palin.

Yeah, I know. She resigned from office last week under what appears to be mysterious circumstances. Then she pretty much threatened to sue anybody who suggests there might have been any mysterious circumstances. Well, I’m raising the possibility that this dimwit resigned under mysterious circumstances, and if she doesn’t like that, well, evidently I like Alaska a lot more than she does and I wouldn’t mind going there to defend myself and, oh yeah, the constitution of the United States of America. You know, the very thing Palin and her equally mindless sycophants use as toilet paper.

But it doesn’t really matter. Palin’s hardcore will support her anyway. Mike Judge’s Idiocracy was brilliant, but it was set way too far in the future. If you’ve seen the movie, yes, I’d rather vote for Terry Crews. I probably would no matter who Crews was running against. But I digress.

Here’s why “President Palin” is a real possibility. The Re-Pubs have nobody else. Yes, it’s possible they can grow a new candidate, but these days you’ve got to start four years out and, besides, they can’t seem to find anybody else without a steamy sex scandal.

The Democrats can lose. They can lose if the economy is worse. They can lose if the economy isn’t better. They can lose if the United States has been attacked, if some nation – any nation – gets nuked. If Obama can’t deliver on health case, the Democrats are toast.

If that happens, be afraid. Be very afraid.

As she has repeatedly demonstrated, Palin is dumber than a bag of doorknobs. But that hasn’t stopped us before. At first, the idea of electing a washed-up faghag of a B actor as president was a silly joke, but Reagan’s controllers managed to get him 51% of the vote.

Worse still, almost 50% of us voted for little Georgie Bush, remember?

She’s poster girl for the Re-Pubs; she’s poster girl for the Objectivists, she’s poster girl for the misnomered conservatives. That’s a bigger following than any other Re-Pub has.

Don’t count Palin out.

—
Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at 7:00 PM Eastern on www.getthepointradio.com, replayed the following Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern. Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point podcasts at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #2, now being solicited in the IDW Publishing section of this month’s Diamond catalog.

Work Ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence, according to Wikipedia. It also expands the work ethic definition as “being a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character”. To me work ethic is just getting things done consistently.

Most people “act” as if they’re working, and “perform” as if they’re busy, but in reality no one believes them. The only measures of hard work are results. What’s the end product? What’s the quality of the end product? In what quantity can you consistently produce great product?

Michael Jackson, RIP, had a true work ethic and this showed in the end result of his projects. Changing and revolutionizing an industry doesn’t happen overnight. It only happens with consistent, great results from knowing without a doubt that you’re working harder than most people around you.

Before Michael Jackson, music video producers were lazy and shortsighted. “Who cares? It’s just a music video.” Well, apparently the world cared. Michael would practice a single dance move for many hours a day for many months. His results were obviously better than his counterparts. He succeeded because of his work ethic.

We live in a pleasure-driven society and we only look for comfort. “It’s too hot”, “it’s too cold”, “I don’t have this…” “I don’t have that”… excuses, excuses, excuses. When you have a true motivation to get something done, and you combine that with a hard work ethic, things will get done. There are no excuses.

Waiting for something or someone to get things done is like Michael Jackson waiting to do Thriller when it was more convenient, or when he got paid more money, or when Joe Jackson came back home. Most of the time a superb work ethic means doing things when the situation isn’t perfect.

Doing things now, rather than later, is part of having a great work ethic. Basking in the sun, resting from work you haven’t even done yet, is simply moronic. There are people out there that actually “take the weekend off” when they don’t have shit going for themselves. I truly don’t understand it… so you’re in debt up to the eyeballs and you’re “taking the weekend off?” You’re literally celebrating the 4th of July? You’re sinking in quicksand, but yet, you have time to watch the fireworks? I don’t get it.

Could it be that the human condition is to live in misery? Common sense tells us that we need to survive, so we eat, and we search for shelter, etc. So if our careers were dying in the garbage, why wouldn’t we have the same survival instincts? If our life were in danger, we would do whatever it took to survive. So if our careers were in danger or even worse, non-existent, why wouldn’t we do whatever it took, then? Why wouldn’t we do whatever it took RIGHT NOW? Why after the long weekend or after the Holidays?
I’m sure Michael Jackson didn’t have everything he wanted when making Thriller, yet he managed pretty well. You can’t substitute a hard work ethic for anything in the world.

My suggestion to developing a good work ethic is to get things done right now. Once you’re done reading, actually don’t even finish reading, go and get something, anything done. Don’t go make coffee, check your email, turn the TV on, see what’s that noise outside, blah, blah, blah, and just get things done. Don’t answer the phone, turn it off, and get to work. Submerge yourself in what needs to be done and don’t come back until it’s done.

After you’re done doing what you need to do, don’t start celebrating. You’re not done, because what you’ve just finished doing created a new set of things to do. Work ethic means that you will get done what needs to be done, and then you’ll get the next thing done, as well.

To get extraordinary results you need to work extraordinarily hard. You can start a brand new career or take your career to another level of greatness RIGHT NOW. Don’t rest. Once you die, you’ll get all the rest you’ll need.

Fireworks & beaches lay ahead and in the meantime we’ve got your answers to questions like how can I meet comics’ top notch Asian comic creators, how can I be a VIP member of MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE and how can I see GREEN LANTERN FIRST FLIGHT - first? Just click and all will be covered!

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Like Frodo’s famous ring in Lord of the Rings, Comic Con International is one of many media conventions throughout the year and throughout the world. And just like Frodo’s ring, Comic Con International rules over all popular culture conventions all over the universe.

It’s just all that.

Because Tatiana’s column appears a day before mine, she had the great idea (or perhaps she stole a great idea) to write abut the convention before me. I read her story about how she and I first met. I remember it completely different!

I was surrounded by 10 or 11 adoring women fans from Japan. Tatiana tries to get my attention. And get my attention she did- I thought she was a tall Japanese girl. For the first time in my life, I was wrong about something. Most of her story had a ring of truth and I guess it could have happened that way. But the one thing I remember clear as day, is she did eat on my dime the entire weekend and she brought her brother. But then again every year at Comic Con at least 70 people eat on my dime and that’s cool. The difference with Tatiana is that she remained in my life.

When I entertain at Comic Con, I have a few objectives:

1. To hype whatever I’m doing;
2. To establish new business relationships;
3. To preside over the hippest, most fun panel put on at a popular culture convention, The Black Panel!

Let me say something about The Black Panel and how I roll when I’m on stage-I’m not kidding when I say this, the only person who is even in the same league as me when it comes to presenting at Comic Con is Kevin Smith. He’s good but I’m better. If you don’t believe me, ask Harlan Ellison. Who’s said I’m the best he’s ever seen. And he should know, he’s a genius! Yes, I’m better than Kevin but he makes movies and…and I don’t…shit.

Yeah he makes movies…but I’m sexier.

My main objective at Comic Con is ultimately to have someone write me a check, preferably a big check. Tatiana has yet to write me a big check, the fact that she is still hanging around is a true testament to her talent…and those blackmail photos.

Because Comic Con is the single most important event in the history of mankind. I will devote the next 3 weeks, my column will be devoted strictly to Comic Con and Comic Con related events- because it’s that important.

It’s no secret that every year I give a banging party at Comic Con. In years past, the fire department has shut us down, 2 different image studio members got into a fistfight..against each other. Boys II Men showed up and nobody recognized them at the height of their popularity, and the only time I’ve ever seen Fae Desmond, Comic Con’s executive director, at a loss for words is when I introduced her to Magic Johnson at one of my parties.

Yeah my parties are pretty damn cool and pretty exclusive. They have to be, A-list celebrities, comic book legends, and Asian girls attend. So we just can’t let every Tom, Dick or fat fan in to the party. However this year because I’m so excited about the success of MDW, I am extending a VIP pass to anyone who reads the site. If you see me in the convention, mention the site and I will hook you up.

Now I can only give out so many passes- so its first come, first serve. If you haven’t been to a Michael Davis party, you haven’t been to a party. Most Comic Con parties are a bunch of people sitting around talking about comics with a drink in their hand. My parties are PAR-TAYS! I get invited to a million comic con parties a year. There are only two I attend religiously, Dark Horse’s party and Bob Chapman’s party-THOSE are great parties and the only ones that compete with mine in the fun factor.

Soooo-watch this space for all the news fit to print in the next few weeks.

Oh- about all bragging about how good I am and how much fun the Black Panel is, I refer you to a Yogi Berra quote-“It’s not bragging if you can do it.”

My love of comic books and sci-fi were instilled in me early on by my mother. She indulged her love of reading in Belize with Little LuLu, Little Dot, and Archie Comics. She spent her days in the library reading comics. As an adult, the television stayed glued to the Sci-Fi channel, Outer Limits and Star Trek. Our house was taken by storm during the Death of Superman. In 2006, I was still a neophyte on the comic book convention circuit. After being enlightened by several Illustrators that there was a lot more to Comic Con than comic books and superhero costumes, I only attended a few comic book conventions.

Among the thousands of people in attendance, I ran into an old coworker, Cedric Kinlow, who also shared a love of comic books. While we worked together, he raved about every book put out by Milestone and imparted the history of the line’s creation. He told me the next day the legendary Michael Davis of Milestone was conducting a panel and that I MUST be in attendance when he tried to meet Michael. I was in so much sensory overload from the convention floor, I never made it past the crowds and into the panels.

The next day I set off to the Black Panel and sat alone, it was impossible to find my friend! Shortly after a young woman, Suzanne Wilson, sat near me who was also alone. Two women alone at a comic book convention, we instantly became friends and had fun making comments throughout the panel and laughed at the many musings of Michael.

After the panel concluded, I ran into my friend who was happily holding an invitation to Michael Davis’ coveted Comic Con dinner. After all the bonding Suzanne and I had during the panel, she revealed to me that she was a writer working with Michael. He even gave her a shout-out during the panel but being the humble and talented writer she is, she stayed seating. Well next thing I knew, I was being swooped up and taken into the dinner. My eyes lit up as I met some of the greatest talents in comics and pop culture, everyone from the creator of my heartthrob Wolverine, Len Wein to the rapper RZA.

The next few days I volunteered in Michael’s booth and had plenty of meals on his dime. The conversations at the dinners were lively and engaging, exploring the depths of comics and pop culture. As it was my cue to leave and head back home, I asked Michael for his card. I proudly handed over my “business card” that I created specifically for the convention. I wanted to leave people with a card that showed my creativity, so the card featured an ornate filigree, illustration with Old English writing.

I could see Michael hold back a smirk when he finally said, ok you’ve eaten food on my dime and been around for a few days so let me break it down. He told me the illustration was distracting and not necessary, the font was unreadable. What I really needed was a simple card, just my name, simple title and font. As he stared at my card, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a card that fit his description. It was the coolest moment!

I cannot believe Comic Con is 3 weeks away! I also can’t believe all the work I have to do this year to prepare. I’ve been working on the launch of a online network- handling the site creation, editing sound, creating the animation, and the graphic work. The Black Panel that I attended a few years ago as a spectator, will open with a video project I create and edit. There are some very cool things planned for the panel this year, even a DJ! And this year’s party is sure to blow last year’s out of the water.

Last year I didn’t even get to walk the convention floor and get swag. I shuffled to meetings, coordinated Michael’s Comic Con party, and did it all on virtually no sleep. Long gone are the days when I could just roll in and take in the convention. I’m just glad I have apprentices this year to help!

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,
I was in the news a lot the early part of the week. It seemed that my political career was all but done. Then several famous people died and suddenly no one was paying attention to me anymore. If I want to hold on to my aspirations of holding national office, including the presidency, what can I do to keep myself out of the news?

-Mark Sanford, Governor South Carolina

Mark,

How to keep yourself out of the news, you mean besides not cheating on your wife? I think that option is still on the table. You’re gonna need to stop taking so many hikes on the Appalachian Trail. You know, during the wet season… The aroused season. Stop fucking other women. You could also switch your political affiliation. Perhaps people wouldn’t care so much about your marital indiscretions if you didn’t run on a platform of being some sort of perfect representative of God’s will on earth. We’d like to quote a passage from The Bible, “And thou shalt not nail Argentinean hose bags on taxpayer money.” This is coincidentally the only use of “nail” or “hose bag” in The Bible.

Don’t think it’s escaped out attention that the day after this story broke Ed McMahon died. Or that when that wasn’t enough Farrah Fawcett died the following morning. When that didn’t work Michael Jackson died that afternoon. Level with us man; you killed these people. We know this is a completely logical leap but some of you out there might not be able to see it so we’ll lay it out for you. Remember the ridiculous allegations that Bill Clinton murdered dozens of people because they might have been about to testify against him in Whitewater? We would like to assert that Mark Sanford committed all of these murders in attempt to draw attention away from an affair he hadn’t had yet. He was also the Boston Strangler and Jack the Ripper. He’s a time traveling serial killer.

While Michael Jackson will certainly remain dead other events may or may not be happening in the world. There’s no way to know for certain because the media certainly isn’t talking about it. Instead we’ve been treated to half a week’s worth of spectacularly empty coverage of his death and life. Not his entire life or anything. Just what his hanger-on have been saying from their front lawns and some music videos. The most insane media tidbit was their reporting that his life was made miserable by constant media scrutiny. This was coming during their round-the-clock coverage of his death. The media certainly seems to have lost their sense of irony.

This has certainly exposed all the flaws in new media. Just weeks after Twitter was being flaunted as the cutting edge in news reporting (including by us) we’ve seen that it might not be the case. Jackson’s death quickly pushed the Iranian election off the trending topics off Twitter. While we complain about the news media it seems that the media driven by the people will quickly turn to the same inane crap. Perhaps it isn’t the fault of the news outlets that we get such shoddy coverage; perhaps that’s what we’re demanding of them. Governor Sanford you shouldn’t worry, you lack the star power to stay in the spotlight. Unfortunately that probably means you won’t be President either.

The first comic book tribute to Michael Jackson is announced, plus more with SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN’s Josh Keaton, TRANSFORMERS morphs into Big Box Office and get your schedules ready for the start of the San Diego Panel Barrage! 24, WATCHMEN and…GLEE?

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Well, I guess Michael Jackson’s death pretty much blows my idea for a remake of that great German movie, M.

Too soon?

Am I the only person who remembers that Michael Jackson, by his very own words, was a child molester, or am I just the only person who seems troubled by that? How talented do you have to be in order to make up for getting little kids drunk and taking them to your bed – while naked? Just how talented do you have to be before that behavior becomes acceptable?

I’ve got to tell you, in my book being a good singer and a great dancer isn’t enough. I’m not certain coming up with a cure for cancer would be enough. “Oh, yeah, sure, he got little boys drunk and then took them to his bed, but hell, he cleared up my carcinoma.”

Sorry, folks, I’m not buying Jackson’s canonization. I won’t be doing a tribute on Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind, I won’t be dropping teddy bears off at the Apollo, I’m not going to rent The Wiz (then again, Diana Ross scares me).

I respect him as an entertainer and as a bizarre phenomenon. But I have a hard time respecting a pederast. I think Peter Sellers was an amazing talent, but when it became clear he was a dangerous asshole of the highest degree, I lost my taste for most of his work (exceptions: Dr. Strangelove and, oddly, Casino Royale). There’s no question that Elia Kazan was one of the most gifted directors to grace the screen and the stage, but when I found out about how he ratted out his buddies to the McCarthy witch hunt just to save his sorry ass from the type of blacklisting they suffered, he became El Rata Supremo and I can’t watch his stuff (exception: A Face In The Crowd, one of the greatest and most important movies ever made).

Okay. I noted exceptions for bastards like Kazan and Sellers, and I’ll note exceptions for Jackson: his videos were great, and he was possibly the best dancer since the Nicholas Brothers. Well, the Nicholas Brothers were ten times better, but Jackson was maybe a notch below Fred Astaire. Fair is fair.

But – and I can not underscore this enough – Michael Jackson was a pederast. No excuses. Yeah, he had a lousy childhood. Yeah, he had no training for adulthood. Yeah, he got little boys drunk and took them to his bed. Nothing makes up for that. Given the fact that sexually abused children tend to grow up to become sexual predators, while we’re remembering Jackson’s contributions to our culture let’s keep in mind the kids who have been fighting off this horrible legacy.

So when it comes to the death of this man, I strongly advise Keith Olbermann to remember why he quit MSNBC the first time and, then, let’s get on with our lives. As Pete Townsend said, “This is no social crisis; just another tricky day for you. You’ll get through.”

—
Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at 7:00 PM Eastern on www.getthepointradio.com, replayed the following Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern. Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point podcasts at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #2, now being solicited in the IDW Publishing section of this month’s Diamond catalog.

There truly are two kinds of people in the world: The “Negative Don’t Doers” and the “Positive Doers”. I consider myself to be part of the latter. I feel lucky and fortunate to make my living creating and producing TV shows. Of course, you might have never heard of the programs, but my bills get paid doing what I love to do, and that means the world to me.

As part of the “Doers”, I create and develop an average of two shows per month, and I have hard drives full of productions. In the past, on average, I’ve sold about two shows per year. So the math says that out of every twenty-four ideas, two of them get picked up.

The level of elaboration on each concept and development varies, and most of the product I’ve created, no one has even seen yet. There will be a time when I’ll have the opportunity to showcase my portfolio to the right studio, and I’ll be working forever on stuff already created.

Yet, the real point of this article is to create awareness to an open market that is very much unexplored. Most people trying to make it in television dream of getting to ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX. These are the Networks ruled by Union scales and residuals. Get a hit on one of these Networks and you’re set.

Luckily, Disney, Viacom and G.E do not solely own television. There’s a lot more out there than meets the eye. Cable TV has become a huge market competing against the biggest Networks, and yes, a lot of these cable channels are still owned by Viacom and the gang, but not all of them. There are a few independent factions out there looking to still compete with the big boys.

I’ve occupied a lot of my time within the young bilingual-targeted channels, and have been trying to make a mark in this yet-to-be-conquered demographic. The bilingual demographic is as huge as it’s varied. There is no one cookie-cutter operation that can embrace the entire demographic, and in actuality, young English-speaking Latinos are watching more American-based programming than bilingual programming targeted towards them.

I consider myself to work within science, into understanding the patterns of young bilingual English-dominant Latinos. Even their description is long winded, and this is part of the problem.

However, once you have the awareness that these outlets exist, you must understand that the sub-prime TV network world operates by producing high quality product under a low overhead and budget. Times have changed, and technology has made it possible for a middle school kid to create the same graphics and animations that the big Networks can produce – in half the time, and without a budget.
The days of big machinery, and the latest, fastest computers are gone. You don’t need much to create anything nowadays, and the magic of TV productions is not magical anymore. Taking months to develop a project and thousands of dollars to produce are so nineteen-nineties.

The new age tells us that only the strongest, fastest and cheapest survive. These days all you need is technology and talent, and nothing else. The Internet, which has become a huge competing factor, has made it possible for a kid in front of his webcam in his bedroom to get more hits than a professionally produced TV program. That’s the reason that the older leg of the “good ‘ole TV” days either needs to embrace the changing television production climate, or become irrelevant in no time whatsoever.

Before you needed big cameras and expensive editing equipment in order to produce television. Before you needed the ability and skill to make graphics and to superimpose those graphics within the program. Nowadays, you don’t need all of that. You can create more interesting content with your webcam than you could with a live studio audience.

It’s all about the content. If you can create engaging content, in a reliable, fast and inexpensive way, then you’re on your way to the new future of television. This is something that newspapers never saw coming. They thought that because they had big-time, well-known writers, that people would continue buying their newspapers. They were wrong. People are now reading blogs from unknown people, that even though might not have Harvard-like grammar, they tend to be naked and to the point.

Now, how can you produce quality TV shows on a low budget? Simple. Just do it. If you wait for approval, funding, financing, money, opportunity, help or anything else that keeps everyone waiting to follow their gut instincts, then you will continue waiting. The world will keep moving with or without you.

Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book “Outliers” explains that to become good at something we must engage in at least 10,000 hours of practice. So if you’re a truck driver and you do that for 10,000 hours, then you’d most likely become a good truck driver. That’s why I’m working on getting my 10,000 hours in writing, 10,000 in producing, 10,ooo in directing and 10,000 in editing. One has to become a master of his craft, but understanding that there are many sub-crafts within a craft. We have to work on them all.

So my point of this all, is that if you’re a writer, then write. Don’t wait for someone to buy your story. If you’re a cartoonist, then draw. A painter, then paint. A producer, produce. Michael Jackson (R.I.P) would repeat one dance move, eight hours every day for weeks. Kobe Bryant shoots uncountable baskets before games. Tiger Woods works out seven days a week. As artist, we must bring that same intensity into our art.

Right now, this moment, this minute, you can create high-quality product without the need for money, or a budget, or financing. If you are a true artist first, the money will follow, and if it doesn’t follow is because you haven’t giving your all to your art.

You must believe that you’re great, and not worry about approval. Let people catch up to your genius. You can’t force the Negative Don’t Doers bring you down to their level. You must remain positive, even though it will seem all everyone around you does it tell you reason after reason why what you’re working on won’t ever work. Just smile at those people politely, and realize how ignorant negativity could be.

Q. is an honorary member of Honorary Members of Associations. Q. is also on Twitter, and you may choose to follow him and he’ll follow you back @qreyes Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, and the occasional wet burrito (red sauce).

I like New York in June. How about you?

And one of the things I like most is the annual Gay Pride Parade that takes place on the last Sunday of the month (tomorrow!). It’s the culmination of a month of Gay Pride events, including parades in Queens, themed author appearances at area bookstores, and the incursion of happy gay tourists in Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and the city in general.

This year, there’s even more excitement than usual. Between the time I’m writing this (Thursday morning) and the time you can first read this (Saturday morning), the New York State Senate is supposed to vote on legalizing marriage between two people of the same gender.

Because our state government is even more dysfunctional than yours, I’m not holding my breath, nor messing with my deadline, waiting to see what happens. I’m kind of outraged that the civil rights of a group of people are subject to the vote of the legislature and not automatically protected by the Constitution. However, since I’m frequently awake and read the newspapers, I’m always kind of outraged.

The Gay Pride Parade appeals to me as a mammal. It’s a celebration of the body. Usually, the weather is gorgeous, and there is a plethora of beautiful people with very few clothes, dancing, marching, basking in the sunshine. There are also thousands of people, less conventionally beautiful, wearing very few clothes, dancing, marching and basking in the sunshine. After watching for a few minutes, anyone with a warm-blooded pulse will experience joy, and a pride, not necessarily about one’s own sexuality, but in having a body at all.

Bodies are wonderful things. I don’t go anywhere without mine. Bodies permit us a multitude of pleasures. We can taste, hear, smell, see and touch. If we’re lucky, we can share these senses with other people.
When I was a young feminist, back in the early 1970s, I had no desire to get married. I thought marriage was a tool of the patriarchy, an institution designed to control female sexuality and guarantee the property rights of men. I still think that’s part of the truth.

However …

For those of us who aren’t in college anymore (as I was in those aforementioned early 1970s), we have to make some choices in our lives. After paying a lot of attention to my relationships, I learned that they were infinite in their variety. There were people with whom I wanted to have sex, people with whom I wanted to talk, people I loved, and people with whom I could work well together.

Sometimes categories overlapped. Sometimes I liked to talk to someone I also wanted to sleep with. Sometimes I worked with someone to whom I was attracted. Sometimes I worked with someone I liked talking to.

And when I found someone who fit all these categories (and more!), we moved in together. It was so much more efficient to have this person in the same household. And when we decided the relationship worked, and we wanted our dishes to match, we got married.

My relationship with my husband is unique. It has nothing to do with anyone else’s relationship. What works for us has nothing to do with what does – or doesn’t – work for you. If circumstances change, and I enter into another, similar relationship, it will be uniquely different from this one.
We never vowed sexual fidelity but (as far as I know) that’s how things have worked out. We didn’t get together because of a desire to have children, but that’s how things have worked out. In other words, we didn’t get married because we wanted to enter into a holy sacrament.

To the extent that I believe in marriage, it’s because I think my community benefits from stable households. My husband and i take care of each other, and that means we’re able to better take care of the civic responsibilities of our neighborhood, our country and our planet.

None of this has anything to do with what we like to do in bed. Not only do you not want to know, but i insist you refrain from telling me what you like (unless I’m very drunk, and Michael Davis is listening, and it involves applesauce). But I do want you to be happy, and if that means you want to get married, then that’s what I want for you.

And if you need help picking out a china pattern, just ask.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases hopes to be outside for tomorrow’s Gay Pride Parade because she’s been cooped up enough from all the rain.

He is the voice behind the power - John Keaton is the lead on the SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN TV show and now he shares his secrets & success right here, plus a new Doctor Who RPG and will Longbox be the iTunes of online comics?

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As of 9:34 Thursday June 25, 2009 the evening Michael Jackson died I have received 23 calls asking me how I was. Friends of mine were concerned how I was doing. That’s how big a fan I was of Michael Jackson (MJ).

I supported MJ when everyone was jumping on his back. In fact I can remember the day I had my first criticism of him. I was watching the 20/20 interview with a group of people when MJ said; “It’s OK to share your bed with a child.”

Everyone in the room was shocked but even more shocked when I said; “That stupid motherfucker!” NO ONE in that room could believe that I the biggest fan of MJ had turned against him. But I had not turned against him I just thought he said something stupid and he had. The group thought I had joined the bandwagon of people calling Mike ‘Jacko.’ Nope not me, I got mad but never waivered. I’m loyal like a puppy I could care less what other people were saying about him. I got upset when HE said something I knew was going to be a problem and it was.

I was still a fan, always have been. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him a number of times and working with him. In fact the painting running here for the second time was produced for CBS records for a Jackson’s promo piece.

Over the last few years nobody has made more fun of Michael Jackson than Black Comedians. That’s fair. I’ve said myself that Mike was his own worst enemy, and the shit he did was pretty funny. I mean come on he was a hoot when it came to certain things. There’s a well know comic who I can’t mention because a friend of mine may be producing a movie with him. This comic’s routine about MJ is just raw and everyone who hears it cracks up, I think most things are funny this was not. This routine was just cruel. I’ve said a few times that people LOVE to jump on others when they are down. Well this comic is pretty hot now, but as sure as I am that in 100 years people will still remember MJ I’m just as sure that nobody will remember this comic.

Now that’s comedy.

On the day that Michael Jackson died -very few people are calling him Jacko, many in the black community who turned their back on MJ saying he was a child molester and wanted to be white are now signing his praises.

I’m amazed at that, O.J. Simpson who had as much to do with the black community as I do with Martians was embraced by the black community during his legal troubles and the same community shunned MJ. MJ has raised MILLIONS for the United Negro College Fund and never made a peek about it. I don’t what O.J. did but I’m pretty sure MJ did a lot more.

Well the King Of Pop is dead and now 24 people have asked me how I am.

I’m like millions of other fans that never waivered never doubted the gloved on, I’m bad.

You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play. -Warren Beatty

The idea of success has been a passing topic that has come up a few times in the past few weeks during my personal reflection. I’ve had a couple people approach me for guidance because they said my drive and success is an inspiration to them. It kind of threw me off because lately I’ve been consumed with work, an immense amount of work! With Comic Con nearing my personal projects have dwindled. Deadlines are mounting and projects are gearing up for their debut at Comic Con- which is in one month! Yikes!!!

I’m sure MOTU will start teasing some of the Comic Con announcements over the next couple of weeks. The Black Panel this year is impressive, the star power is out of this world and the projects that will be debuted are amazing- if I must say so myself. Let’s just say if you thought Michael “MOTU” Davis’ party last year was star-studded and filled with movers and shakers, you haven’t seen anything yet!      

The interesting thing about my workload is that it’s all centered around creativity. Something I’ve been striving to do since I graduated from college was to have a workload that is full of creative projects.

So why don’t I see the same thing others see so readily?

Hell for each admirer of my work and career, I also have my share of haters. My view in art or business in general is if you aren’t polarizing the masses, you probably aren’t pushing your limits hard enough or taking risks. I remember fondly waiting for the day when people would have jealousy or envy towards me, as I viewed them as sure signs of success.

I think the key to why I’m not seeing the success and inspiration others so readily read from me is because I need some more play like Beatty suggests in the quote above, something that excites my creativity and pushes my personal limits. Then that excitement will push my workload; letting the circle of inspiration, stimulation and enthusiasm take shape. Which is a great place to be! If my energy was stagnant and I was content with my status, there would be no room for improvement or growth as an artist.

Lately my reflections have left me feeling uninspired and longing for change. But now I can see there are endless possibilities on the horizon and I’m anxious for the discovery chapter I’m about to embark.

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,

I know you guys have become known for your groundbreaking and insightful takes on bleeding edge current events. However, I was wondering if you could address one of the enduring questions of the modern era and end an age-old feud. Which is the better Back to the Future sequel, Part II or Part III?

-Joe Bereta, www.baratsandbereta.com

Joe,

We know this is a sensitive issue that divides families and turns brother against brother. That said it also divides your humble columnists. Art prefers Part II and Chris prefers Part III. We will both make out case and allow you, the reader, decide who’s right.

Art here, Part II is, by far, the more satisfying movie experience. First and foremost it delivers on the promise of the title and actually shows us the future. For all their talk parts one and three are films about not changing the present (and I’ll get to how silly the actual stakes of the third film are in a little bit) not about the future at all. I’m sure my associate will dismiss all of this as a juvenile obsession with the hoverboards but honestly no young person has ever seen that film and not thought about how cool having a hoverboard would be. It captures the imagination with its futuristic imagery in a way that a cliché Western never could. I mean unless it’s the first time you’ve seen a Western. It’s even a shitty Western. It also presumes that everyone looks exactly the same as their great-great-grandparents which is by far the most egregious time travel logic hole in the entire trilogy.

Part II also has a real sense of consequence should the hero fail. Marty sees his future life as one of injury and ruin if he doesn’t stop Biff from taking over. In Part III if Marty doesn’t succeed an old man will die slightly before his time in the era where he decided to live his life. I find it quite unlikely that when Doc Brown fantasized about living in the Old West that he might die in a gunfight. If that tombstone had said that he had died of tetanus would Marty have hopped in the DeLorean to bring him a tetanus shot? Think of all the murders in the history of time that Marty didn’t go back to prevent. This isn’t to say that Part II is a prefect film, far from it, but its flaws are more directly because it has to be the middle end of a trilogy and therefore cannot provide any real resolution. There’s no resolution in The Empire Strikes Back but it’s still the best in the Star Wars trilogy because of the quality of the events depicted.

This is Chris now, Back to the Future Part III is a better film than Back to the Future Part II. Right now many of you may think, “Hey Chris, this is crazier than your prediction that the Mets will be the 2009 World Series Champions.” However, I’m not crazy, and Part II actually sucks worse than the New York Mets, way worse Part II is so bad it makes AIDS seem like kittens with AIDS.

Back to the Future was great. It was so great that 90% of the Part II is exactly the same. It’s basically Back to the Future with a shitty version of Blade Runner sandwiched in the middle. By the end of the film there’s approximately way the hell too many Marty’s running around the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, and I don’t know how all of them can teach Chuck Berry Rock and Roll. How many sequels suck so bad that they actually make the original movie seem worse after watching? I guess Doc Brown was right when he said, “Don’t fuck around with the past Marty.” Granted, Part II had one thing going for it, hoverboards. To this day most of us are still waiting for 2015 so Mattel can finally release the hoverboard.
Unfortunately the rest of the film is still needlessly complicated, hopelessly boring, and shockingly somber compared to the tone of the first film. Part II is less Empire Strikes Back, and more Attack of the Clones.
Now I know Part III isn’t great. The love story between Doc and that chick the Clayton Ravine was named after isn’t as romantic as the one between Doc and Marty. Also, a friggin’ train? Yeah that sucked. However, the story is simple, self-contained, and most importantly satisfying. There are Cowboys, Indians, Clint Eastwood, and ZZ Top! Part III makes me smile, whereas Part II made me think about how many plot holes there are in films with time travel. If you still think Part II is better I’ve got a ravine around here that could be named after ya.

We hope that this helped some people out there reach some conclusions on this matter. The only certainty that can really be reached here is that the original Back to the Future was by far the best installment and that maybe movie studios should leave well enough alone and not make quite so many sequels.

It’s the “lull before the ‘bots” at the box office, and Ryan cashes in plus a great new source for Classic Comic History, American Originals takes it’s place as a publisher and Disney Comics find a new (and more affordable) home!

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You may have noticed that Iran’s in turmoil once again. So it’s time for another Braniac On Banjo pop quiz. Ready?

Between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mirhossein Mousavi, the two “leading” candidates in last week’s wacky Iranian presidential election, which one is in favor of continued local nuclear build-up? Which one is a strong supporter of Hamas and Hezbolla terrorism? Which one holds strong anti-American sentiments?

Sorry. It was a trick question. Both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi are in favor of nuclear build-up, both support Hamas and Hezbolla, and both harbor strong anti-American sentiments.

While I’m at it, in case you hadn’t heard neither guy would call the shots in Iran. Both have been, are, and will always be toadies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Sure, the people can vote for president, but you cannot run for president without the support of the Supreme Leader and his inner-council.

Given all this, here’s the real $64,000 question. Why is the CIA backing Mousavi? Quite aside from the fact that the United States has no moral authority to tell others how to conduct free elections… isn’t this how our problems in Iran started a generation ago?

In 1953 we – the Americans and the Brits – dumped elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and replaced him with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi… more popularly known as the Shah of Iran. It seems Mosaddeq had, ummm, nationalized British oil interests, promoted theocratic government, and had vaguely positive feelings towards the Commies. You’d think the last two comments make a nice oxymoron, wouldn’t you?

It took a whole new generation of Iranians until 1979 to get rid of the Shah and to hold America responsible for his reign. Now it’s a generation later, and once again opportunity knocks in CIA-land. The CIA: the official intelligence gathering entity of the United States. The folks who give our president exactly what he asks for, truth be damned. The folks who have no discernable sense of history.

So, what the hell, let’s do it all over again America and back a guy every bit as trustworthy as another former ally of ours, Osama Bin Laden.

It’s amazing. No matter who’s in charge, no matter what’s at stake, we Americans never learn.

Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at 7:00 PM Eastern on www.getthepointradio.com, replayed the following Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern. Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point podcasts at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1, now being solicited in this month’s Diamond catalog.

Decision-making is one of those things we take for granted; yet, we make decisions on a constant basis. There’s probably nothing we do more than make decisions in our daily lives. How do we make most decisions? Where to eat, what to eat, when to eat, how to eat? – that’s just an example of the decisions we make all day every day.

How do we know when to NOT make a decision? How do we know when enough is enough? In poker, the term “know when to fold them” means just that. Knowing when to count your losses and walk away. Sometimes is as simple as not making a decision at all, and letting things flow naturally.

Let’s say you’ve been at a dead end job for twenty years. Is it time to “fold them”? Could it be too late to fold them now? It’s never too late, but the fact is that knowing when it’s as important as what to do.

You’ve probably have had many chances and reasons to leave your horrible job, but for other, more urgent reasons, you’ve stayed. There’s nothing wrong if you crave stability and you’re perfectly happy at a place that drains your every last bit of energy - so long as you know when to fold them.

Let’s face it. Life is a waiting room for death. It’s all it is. It’s that simple. We might think we have free will and that our choices make or break what happens to us or to the world around us, but in reality that is a very selfish view of reality.

Based on the above statement, “knowing when to fold them” becomes contradictory, since it really doesn’t matter if we “fold them” in the first place. If you believe in destiny, then your decisions are irrelevant. They’re a mere mirage of having a choice in the inevitable.

Then there are those people, however, that believe in free will so deeply, that they make even more decisions in order to prove that they’re in charge. It all works great - until they die. If you have “free will” then will yourself to live forever!

Our ultimate destiny in life is to die. Once you stop living in denial and recognize that you’re not permanent, only then you can make better decisions. A wise man once told me, “I ain’t no wise man”, and then he urinated his pants. What did I learn from this? That man’s crazy.

Back to the lecture at hand, perfection is perfected so I’m a let her understand, from a young G’s perspective, and before digging a hoe I gots to find a contraceptive. If you’re wondering, yes, those are paraphrased lyrics from a Snoop Dogg song. Don’t ask my why I just wrote that. I really don’t know.

Anyway, oh, yeah, “knowing when to fold them”. Right. Sorry I had to re-read the title. It happens sometimes when I’m trying to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” and write this at the same time. Is it true that most male dancers are gay? Sure seems that way – and by the way, I’m no fan of the lyrical-style dances. It just seems that all they do is drag themselves through the floor.

Now, in Gloria Estefan’s own words, “come on everybody come and do that conga”. Sort of like when Halle Berry showed her boobs in Swordfish, what is the moral of my story? There is none. This is just art imitating life. There is no moral to life’s story either.

My suggestion? Stop acting as if you’re full of choices, and just live your life. I have an experiment for you: Do something out of the ordinary. For the next week don’t choose what you want to eat. Just let it happen. I guarantee you that you will not go hungry. If you believe in destiny, destiny will take care of you. If you believe in God, then more the reason not to worry - you should know better than to think you’re in control.

You people are so stupid. Ahahaha! Ahahaha! I’m not stupid – I’m crazy! (and I just urinated my pants… again).

Q. is listening to Jazz right now. Q. is also on Twitter, and you may choose to follow him and he’ll follow you back @qreyes Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, and the occasional fried Twinkie.

A lot has been said about the recent election in Iran and, since it’s not over yet, there’s a lot more yet to say. Before the polls opened, the race, between four different candidates, appeared to be almost evenly split between incumbet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival, Mir Hussein Moussavi. For most of the week leading up to the election, each candidate attracted crowds of people – often hundreds of thousands of people – cheering him on.

It wasn’t like that for the whole campaign. At first, it was Moussavi who was the attention magnet. In fact, up until that point, this presidential campaign looked a lot like ours.

Now, I’m not going to say that Moussavi is like Obama and Ahmadinejad is like McCain. Both of them are supporters of the theocratic Iranian government, and both are committed to keeping Iran an Islamic republic. However, if we take the political philosophies out of the equation and only look at the way the candidates marketed themselves (or, more precisely, the way these campaigns were covered in the American media I saw), there were some striking parallels.

Consider:

• Moussavi was considered to be the “Change” candidate.

• Most of Ahmadinejad’s support came from people living in rural areas, people who were poor or in the lower middle class, older people, and people who were less educated. They considered themselves to be “real” Iranians.

• Most of Moussavi’s support came from urban areas, young people, and the college educated.

• Ahmadinejad’s leadership style was to do what he wanted to do, and the hell with what anyone else thought.

• Moussavi wanted to be more diplomatically engaged with other countries.

• Moussavi used the Internet to a much greater extent than Ahmadinejad. Perhaps because his supporters are younger and better educated, they were able to use social networking to keep enthusiasm high and prevent burn-out.

It’s interesting to me that politicians divide their people into the same kind of demographic groups all around the world. It’s amazing that, no matter what the foundation of a political system might be, candidates will shape themselves into predictable patterns. Maybe it’s something that’s innate to humans, and how our brains work. I hope not. I’d like to believe we can someday talk about politics without the stereotypes and name-calling.

As an old fogie, I was mesmerized by the way Twitter was used by pro-Moussavi Iranians to communicate with the rest of the world about what they consider to be irregularities in the vote-counting, and the government’s response to demonstrations. Up until now, I’d used Twitter mostly for laughs. The people I followed were either friends, friends of friends, or people I thought were hilarious (and I recommend this guy , this guy and this guy as especially funny lately). News? Doesn’t that require more words?

Clearly, I was wrong. The news requires only people willing to speak the truth to power as they see it, and provide perspective. It’s up to us, as citizens, to educate ourselves adequately so that we can understand what’s going on. We don’t need CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News to tell us what’s important.

As I write this, the ruling council, made up of the upper echelon of clerics, has agreed to recount 11 million votes. While I’m sure they are only trying to perform the will of Allah, and will not consider the opinions of us infidel foreigners, you might want to try this .

—
Media Goddess Martha Thomases wishes a Happy Fathers Day because she adores both her own father and her son’s father.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a MILLION times…

You cannot regulate morality.

The GOP is the self proclaimed MORAL MAJORITY.

Really? That so?

So why do so MANY get caught cheating, or sticking their foot under a bathroom stall looking for a little homosexual penis action?

I would be lying if I said I took no joy in the recent news accounts detailing Republican RIGHT WING Nevada Senator John Ensign’s AFFAIR!

I LOVE this shit.

Yeah one of the many people in the GOP who loves to tell OTHERS how to live and who to sleep with-according to their dogma- just admitted screwing the WIFE of an employee. Why did he admit it? Was it his own moral outrage that begged at his soul screaming; “Tell the truth, be true to your convictions and make amends!”

Nope.

Allegedly two other GOP members were trying to BLACKMAIL him and… hold on a moment, isn’t blackmail a moral no no?

The guy represents the GAMBLING capitol of the WORLD and…wait a sec, isn’t gambling a VICE? I guess not if it’s paying your salary so you can get a nice hotel room and cheat on your wife. As I was ranting, this guy thinks he can tell me how to live but he cheats ON his wife with an employee’s wife.

Ensign called the affair “…the worst thing I have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything in my life that I could take back, this would be it.”

Sooooooo, was the pussy that bad John?

To big? Hairy? Smelly?

I mean if it was, the worst thing you ever did, how bad was it? Did the pussy talk back? Was the pussy a liberal?

Soooooo, when you once said, “”Marriage is an extremely important institution in this country and protecting it is, in my mind, worth the extraordinary step of amending our Constitution.”

Soooooo, you were ready to AMEND THE CONSTITUTION until you got some big, hairy, smelly, liberal pussy that wouldn’t shut up.

I don’t know if any of this is true I’m only guessing because you, self righteous hypocrite, won’t answer any questions on the subject.

Ensign was a rising star in the GOP. His name was often mentioned as a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate.

I guess that boat has sailed.

That bird has flown.

That train has left the station.

That pussy was bad.

Look on the bright side like everyone else who falls from grace all you have to do is meet with your spiritual adviser, have your wife stand by you and don’t fuck up and you may come out of it.

Wait a minute…I said; ‘Don’t fuck up.’ I guess for you it should be simply, don’t fuck.

Recently I was working on a film shoot and ran into an old college classmate from my first major- Digital/ Video Art. I was amazed that we were in the same place working in the entertainment industry but took different routes, he’s doing lighting and I’m doing Illustration, among a lot of other titles. Many choices along the way and twists and turns through the rat race have shaped my current place in my life and career.

When I was applying for college, I had no clue what I wanted to do or study. I felt the pressure mounting as I equated picking my college major to setting my path for the rest of my life. Dramatic? Yeah a bit. But everything during your teen years is filled with melodrama, this choice was no different.

I began to reflect on my passions and comb through what stood out. I’ve always had an inquisitive mind and leaned towards exploration. I had dreams of discovering a new ancient city or a long lost artifact that would change the way we view modern society.

When I expressed this interest to advisors and adults I trusted, they pointed out these two facts:

1. I faint very easily and probably wouldn’t be fit to be on an excavation dig. (I’ve suffered from fainting spells since I was 4, no clue why. But trust me I have tons of comedic and scary stories to tell on a later day.)
2. I probably would never do an excavation dig because the bulk of my work would be buried in books- researching and writing dissertations.

Being stubborn, I didn’t take those reasons without my own due diligence. My arguments were:

1. I would do digs in lands that did not have tropical heat.
2. I really didn’t see what was wrong with reading stacks of books and writing papers.

But once I realized the job market for an Archeologist wasn’t the biggest field, I decided to look into more of my passions. The only think that stuck out was my love of video games. I was and am in no way shape or form the best gamer out there but I know my games and love the craft. I spent hours watching my brother play my Nintendo 8 bit, I was always amazed at all the secret lairs and bonus levels.

So I began thinking about how to make a career of my love of video games. I was convinced I should be a programmer, since I leaned toward all things electronic and technology. But something didn’t feel right about that. I realized my passion was centered around the creative process and the storytelling aspect of video games.

With the help of my college adviser, I settled on being an Art major with an emphasis in Digital/Video Art. Up until that point, I had not viewed myself as an artist or painted a picture. So I was less than thrilled to be in the Art department, let alone be forced to take beginning drawing classes. I dreaded the first day of Still Life drawing and longed for the year and a half it would take to get to my Digital/ Video Art class. Caught up in the fact that I was a perfectionist, I submersed myself in drawing to get an A. To my surprise I could draw and it was actually quite relaxing!

After putting in time with my beginning drawing classes, I was geared up for my first Digital/Video Art class only to be extremely let down. I picked the wrong program! The video in the emphasis title had nothing to do with video games, I was in a filmmaker program. I couldn’t believe it! But I decided to make the most of it and approached my film projects with the same investigative, exploring nature of my passion for Archeology. My films were a weird but lovable, love child of Edgar Alan Poe, John Waters, Tim Burton, and Betty Crocker.

I didn’t feel at home in the program, my films were always the polar opposite of my peers. So all it took was one critique from one of the hardest teachers in the program to have me think about a new direction. He said that I spent more time with my film compositions, frame for frame than I did the entire video short and that I should look into Illustration. With the most lackluster delivery and critique, I listened and never turned back. Although I’ve veered in a variety of directions, my passion lead me each turn of the way.

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art and Chris,

Iran is a country often in turmoil.  As a young college student, this past Friday was my first chance to vote in our Presidential election.  I followed the election as closely as I could, and begrudgingly became a supporter of the Reform party’s candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, the dramatically less of two evils compared to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  As a young woman in Iran, President Ahmadinejad represents repression, censorship, and backwards-economic policies.  Mousavi didn’t seem like he’d back off some of Ahmadinejad’s ridiculous international posturing, but he at least offered the possibility of modernization, more liberal social laws, and a chance at building an economy based on more than just the ebb and flow of oil prices.  Unfortunately, according to the official story Mousavi lost to Ahmadinejad by over 8 million votes.  This seems unlikely, and many people have said that the results seem fraudulent. Now I’m filled with sorrow and rage.   Art and Chris, I’m not famous but I am in need of advice, how do I cope with such a devastating loss among such questionable circumstances?

-Massoumeh Umidvar, College Student, Azad University

Massoumeh,

We sympathize with your anger and disappointment.  While we can tell you that time and patience will soothe your rage, we feel like that would be a dishonest answer.  Honestly, we believe the only right course only appropriate course of action is open rebellion with a goal nothing short of revolution.  We’re hard pressed to think of a time when revolution is more justified then when the democratic process is openly halted in favor of maintaining an intolerant, hateful leadership.  Though we’re not encouraging violence, it’s our understanding that the bulk of Mousavi’s supporters are members of the middle class, and have the power to completely halt the structural and financial institutions on which Iran is dependent.  Clearly organizing a revolution will be difficult when your leaders have the power to stop text messages and access to the Internet, but this is all the more reason that revolution is necessary.

Don’t think we realize that there is some inherent hypocrisy in our cries for revolution in Iran.  We are keenly aware that we live in a nation where less than a decade ago the liberal choice for president was defeated by the conservative choice through what certainly seemed like voter fraud.  We should have been more outraged then, but we had just enjoyed eight years of near-peace and none of us honestly believed that the new president would suspend our civil liberties, engage America in truly unjust wars, and secretly support cruel torture tactics that we revile in our worst enemies.   In hindsight we believe that many Americans would have taken to the streets and brought this country to a standstill the day Bush V. Gore was decided by the Supreme Court if only we knew what the future had in store.  Now many of realize that ‘voting irregularities’ were truly a portent of the terrible things to come in our nation, and we can only wish that we had been stronger in those days.

This is probably cold comfort but this situation has really made the mainstream press look bad.  While there have been numerous reports about the suppression of news reporters in Iran the tone of coverage coming out of outlets like the BBC and the New York Times as recently as this Sunday afternoon suggested that Ahmadinejad had won the election fairly.  The most coverage of the potential fraud and the resulting protests has come from twitter.  Twitter’s trending topic list has been sporting Iran-centric tags all weekend with #iranelection being the most popular.  If one wants to know that military forces have surrounded the university in Tehran and have attacked the students congregating there, looking for the story on CNN would be fruitless but it’s all over Twitter.  For those who wring their hands at the fall of traditional media in this country it would be well served to note that in one of the biggest stories of our lifetime they’re completely powerless to cover it.

We’re truly sorry that it has to be your peers and allies that will have to endure this.  If this process goes forward doubtless many of you will be killed or injured as an entrenched military structure grasps for remnants of power.  If you choose not to fight you’ll have to continue to live in not only an oppressive society but also one that will no longer even hold the pretense of fair elections or political dissent.  This is a rock and a hard place that no one would envy your place between.  We hope that your people have the courage to overthrow your government and the fortune to have it be bloodless.  We hope that out of this terrible conflict that a new, free, secular, Iran can emerge and be a beacon of hope to the oppressed not only in the Middle East but around the world.

Did Marvel really expect us to be surprised? And what lies in the closet of the man who created SUPERMAN? Plus, how funny is back at the top of the box office for the second week!

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There’s a documentary that opened in movie theaters this week called Food, Inc. The folks behind it have been doing the teevee and radio circuit, getting interviews and spreading their message that corporate America is making us sick with their industrial farms, their torturous animal pens, their hormones and corn-laden feed, and their mutant chicken breasts. That’s fine. Those are very good and very important messages.

The problem is, their pompous self-righteous delivery is obnoxious and vile. Yes, honest, when we look at a bucolic scene on a carton of milk, we really do not believe that Farmer Brown personally juked the cow and poured it into a bottle, no more than we think Sauk Chief Black Hawk was really a hockey goalie.

This is a technique that is common to the food and so-called animal rights movements. There’s a particular degree of arrogance that exceeds the norm of political advocates, and I don’t understand it. Sometimes their noses are so far up in the air I think they’ll drown in a light drizzle.

Political arrogance is a mistake a lot of political advocates make; a mistake I most certainly made when I was in my teens and 20s. The Food Inc. folks and their fellow travelers may have done a great job of informing the public – probably even an important job. But that doesn’t make them smarter than the rest of us, and they should stop acting as though they are the Second Coming and we’re the Jewish Roman soldiers.

Like virtually all Americans, I eat meat and vegetables I purchase from the local supermarkets. You may categorize that behavior as dangerously self-destructive. You may think I should only purchase food from healthy organic stores where the owner keeps his wares under the counter in a Grecian urn and claims to get his stuff direct from Farmer Brown, who does not use fertilizer or hormones, and not Agrazilla, who does.

That’s nice, but I can’t afford that. In fact, most Americans can’t afford that. A growing number of Americans can’t afford that. Even if our family saves the $85.00 we would otherwise spend on tickets to Food, Inc. – the price, of course, includes the mandatory anti-organic “buttered” popcorn.

By the way, we produce a hell of a lot of food. So much that we’re sending a lot of it to people who would otherwise starve. Their choice is between food that might be unhealthy but has been fed to hundreds of millions of Americans that are living longer than ever… and starvation.

No matter how correct the message, if its advocates pompously treat me like I’m a moron because I might possibly be making a few different choices than they do, then they’re not going to get their message through. Hopefully, these arrogant elitists will climb down off the ladder and talk to the rest of us here in the Real World.

—
Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at www.getthepointradio.com 7:00 PM Eastern, replayed the following Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern. Likewise, his Weird

Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com.  You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1, now being solicited in this month’s Diamond catalog.

The creative process is not complicated. It’s simply the route we use to access our imagination. Some people use drugs, other people don’t. Some people watch porn, other people make porn. Regardless, we all get to access the thoughts that will or will not be seen by other people, at will, so it seems.

We all get our creative process to work in different ways, at times by taking action, other times by contemplating the present moment. My creative process varies, and it’s pretty crazy. Sometimes I’ll talk to myself, other times I’ll talk to my imaginary friends. I don’t like my imaginary friends too much, because they tell me to do things that I don’t agree with, and it impacts my productivity.

For example, one of my imaginary friends convinced me the other day to spend countless hours Googling “celebrity oops pictures”. This, even though bonded me and my imaginary friend deeply, was not a very good used of my time or Googling skills – because yes, I am the best Googler in the world. I can Google anything, from how to fry chicken to how to build a Mercedes Benz from scratch.

Back to the creative process, it’s important we recognize that the process, it’s an actual process. If we don’t do this, we’ll just think we get lucky every time we come up with something brilliant. Don’t be fearful of where this process takes you. Sometimes I think I’m really going crazy when I’m in a creative mode. The fact is I was crazy before the creative mode.

Find your rhythm. Are you a night person? A day person? A no time of the day person? This is important and you must act accordingly. Don’t feel guilty because all the time you have to be creative is the worse time during your day. Don’t be frustrated because you spend all your energy working at a dead end job you hate, and then you don’t have the power to let your creative juices flow. Let go of all of that – especially that miserable job.

We are all creative and we all need to be creative in order to survive. Don’t worry about who’s creating what and why, just worry about your own creative endeavor. Even accountants are creative – actually, being too creative sometimes, getting themselves in trouble. There’s only so much creativity in numbers.

It’s okay to be under the influence. A lot of people think they do their best work sober. FALSE. Maybe they do good work, but no their best work. Or maybe they do, who knows? The fact is that if a beer makes you paint better, then drink a beer. If two beers is your limit, though, don’t wake up the next day wondering why the hell you woke up lying naked on the canvas with paint all over your body and a brush up your ass. Know your limits, but explore those limits.

I like to sometimes have my mind clear, so that I can be certain that I’m doing a précised job. Other times, I like to be high on coffee or red bull. Other times I like to take a few tequila shots and see where that takes me creatively. There’s no right or wrong way to be creative, or how to get to that point.

Creating something happens constantly. We live in our minds a lot more than we live in our physical bodies. We daydream constantly and we are always imagining what the future is going to be like with whatever decisions we take at every moment.

To sum it all up, the creative process never ends. You’ve been in a creative process since you were born, and it will never stop until you die. All you have to do is recognize that this is taking place, and embrace it. It doesn’t matter what your occupation is or who you think you are.

Here are a few tips to start being creative right now:

1. Do something.
2. Do it now.
3. Make it better.
4. Make it better than that.
5. Don’t care what people think.
6. NEVER BE AFRAID TO DESTROY IT!

If you’re afraid of the destruction of your work, then you don’t have what it takes to create that work in the first place. Safeguarding whatever you think is great, is the death of the creation itself.

If you’re worried about a Golden Egg, then you’re not a Golden Goose.

Q. is sick and tired of people not recognizing that Sarah Palin is hot. Q. has never been able to pin it down, but David Letterman did for him: Sarah Palin is like that slutty flight attendant that you just wish will cause you some turbulence. Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, and the occasional twitter update @qreyes

It makes sense - the history of comics told in…comics! Plus Michael Bey promises a treat for Imax moviegoers, and if you ever wondered how your favorite TV program ended we can show you!

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I had a rant all ready to go about the feud between David Letterman and Sarah Palin. That pig with lipstick and her ass wipe husband Todd all but called Lettermen a pervert.

In fact Todd said about Letterman, “These sexually perverted comments are outside the acceptance of mainstream America.”

Really?

Letterman was making jokes about the 18 year old that had a baby at 17, after being knocked up at 16.

Why is this funny?

Because Palin and her bitch husband like to preach to the world about morals and what it takes to be a ‘real American’ when their (then) under aged daughter was getting dicked like a liberal.

Don’t push your fucking morals on me when your CHILD is ignoring you and your morals. And as to Todd’s statement that …. “These sexually perverted comments are outside the acceptance of mainstream America…” I suggest he remember that a VAST majority of Americans REJECTED Palin and her running mate’s bullshit.

So they once again must be talking about ‘REAL’ Americans.

Outside the acceptance of mainstream America?

Really?

MORE porn is rented in this country than all other categories combined. Shit, I account for at least 90% of the Asian porn rented.

Come on now! I know that 90% is a crazy number! You know I don’t rent that much porn, I kid. I joke!

It’s more like 95% but I’m trying to cut down…really.

OK, OK you got me! I don’t rent porn at all. So calm down…I get it free.

So Todd, kiss my ass you self-serving dick don’t preach to me about sexually perverted comments, to you having the lights on while doing ‘it’ is most likely sexually perverted.

Me? I want the lights on, a camcorder going and a midget singing; Follow the yellow brick road, while I’m getting busy.

Hey, it’s a GIRL midget or more appropriately ‘little person’ singing. Duh! Anything else would be sexually perverted.

So, as I was saying I had a rant already to go but then I spoke to someone special on the phone and I changed the topic of my column.

What was the above all about?

That was about my inability to sometimes let something go and that brings me to my real topic. So let’s pretend the above was not written and what follows is my Straight No Chaser # 121…

I talked to a friend today on the phone and quickly realized she felt all alone or lonely. Well, not that quickly because I was trying to write when I spoke to her then I had to drive some place. So I listened, but in retrospect I think I was a bit of a dick.

Things are not going well for this person but while I was on the phone with her all I could think of is getting her off the phone so I could continue writing my book. The book that my editor is waiting to see pages on but I’m SO anal I keep rewriting them. This after having wonderful feedback from my editor and a clear direction in which to go.

So the entire time I was on the phone with this woman, who is so dear, to me I was thinking, ‘ Get over it. It’s not that bad. I HAVE to finish what I’m doing.’

I have a great life. I wake up in the morning and my biggest problem is dealing with bullshit about Comic Con and who may not make my Black Panel or whether or not my Comic Con party is on the wrong night.

Yeah, these are my issues. I’m writing two TV shows, two books and a graphic novel. I’m illustrating a project on The Underground Railroad and another on Jackie Robinson. I work 18 hours a day and love every second of it. I’m ahead on all my deadlines and having a ball.

Yes, I have a good life but I realized that one of the MAJOR reasons I have a good life is I know good people. My sometime partner but always friend Ehrich Van Lowe said that to me years ago…”Mike, you know good people.”

With all due respect to Mr. Van Lowe, I know GREAT people- he being one of them.

Yes, and one of the MAJOR reasons I have a good life is I do know great people.

So dear heart, I’m sorry I was not more attentive to your needs today. Yes you drive me crazy and yes I want to pimp slap you sometime but I am your friend. Don’t you worry things will get better. I’m your friend and I will help you in any way I can. All this said, I know things seem bad but as long as you know me you are NOT alone.

Or as Michael Jackson put it in his badass song, You are not alone…:

For you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though we’re far apart

You’re always in my heart

For you are not alone

I heard what you were saying and I get it. I know I’m crazy busy and you look out for me and you always (when you don’t freak out) got my back.

So please FORGIVE my stupidity sometimes. I’m only human…OK, I am Master Of The Universe but ONCE I was only human.

Now, leave me alone I have to finish what I’m doing…;-)

I kid, I joke…

When I think about summer, I have fond memories of road trips. Growing up, every year my family took a summer vacation within driving distance of Los Angeles. We ventured all over, from Las Vegas, Arrowhead, Big Bear, San Diego, Yosemite, Monterrey, to Laughlin. I think this was the most American pastime my hodge-podge of cultures family engaged in, One of my favorite parts of the trip was loading up my bag with enough toys and food to keep me occupied so I wasn’t annoying my parents chanting, “Are we there yet?”

When I was first approached to do a test drive for Ford, I start reflecting on the current state of the American car industry. It took me back to my summer road trips and how much I miss them. When I was told I had a pick from a wide range of Ford cars to test drive, I automatically thought of the Mustang Bullitt or one of the sporty hybrids. I envisioned riding with the top down along the coastal PCH on a photographic journey.

After speaking to my mom about the opportunity, she suggested requesting a larger vehicle so the family could take a road trip. I was flooded with childhood memories and delighted to do a road trip. However when I realized the dates for my test drive were during the week, my thoughts of road trips went out the water. My family wasn’t able to take off of work and neither was I.

To my chagrin, I had no clue what I was going to do with such a large truck, the 2009 F-150 Platinum. To all those who said the truck wasn’t big, believe me it was a behemoth! My biggest concern with driving a large truck with an extended cab, was navigating and parking. To my relief the Platinum edition is outfitted with some of the coolest additions and tools. When first opening the door, I was pleasantly surprised by the drop down step that aided me in climbing into the truck. The rear view camera that was embedded in the rear view mirror was a lifesaver! The camera gave full view of my surroundings in the rear and even provided a convenient guidelines that included a green/safe section, yellow section, and red section. If that wasn’t helpful enough, the reverse sensing system aided as well when getting out of a tight space or navigating a compact parking garage.

The F-150 Platinum would have been a perfect road trip car. The truck seated 5 people comfortably, I was able to seat 3 adults in the back seats with oversized bags at their feet without any complaints of legroom. The plush leather interior not only had heated seats, but AC seats! That was one of my favorite luxurious features. Can you imagine taking the truck to the beach, coming back to the tuck and being able to immediately enjoy the plush leather seats and drop the temperature in the seats.

Overall I liked the way the truck handled on the streets and the freeways. I would highly consider the truck if I was in the market for a truck.

—
You can follow my review at http://twitter.com/ArtofTatiana #FordDrive

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Yo, Arthur and Christopher,

You getta load of the cajones on these Miller people? Mama Mia, These a’ sons of a bitches, they thought they could get away with portraying the entire paisan community as a bunch of meatball mouthed Mafiosi. We let Miller know that if they kept running their offensive commercials they ran the risk of a terrible accident. Italian-Americans either would, or would not accidentally stop buying all Miller products. Miller respected our generous offer, and kindly withdrew all advertisements supporting their new “taste protection can” featuring Sopranos actor Frank Vincent as an insulting Italian stereotype. My question to youse is how can we capitalize on this victory and start to change these hateful stereotypes.

Lou Rago, Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago

Louie,

If we’re going to brainstorm would you mind bringing over some of momma’s ziti, and please don’t skimp on the Pecorino from Scatturo’s. Seriously though, you’re acting like you woke up next to your prized horse’s head. I think everyone knows that since Obama’s election racism sleeps with the fishes. We realize that your concern is that people will stereotype all Italians as members of the mafia. Fact is this would be a far kinder generalization than what’s actually become of the Italian people in America. (Italian-American Christopher Francis Genesius Toia wrote the remainder of this paragraph) Respectable Italians made a decision to continue living in the cities to which they immigrated. Granted, they continued to treat one another like absolute gutter shit, but most of their grievances were private. Other Italians chose to move to the suburbs, or ghettos, as I like to call them. Suburban Italians developed an affected accent, donned ridiculous jewelry, abandoned good food in favor of frozen, and are in general just plain embarrassing. On the one hand they complain about negative stereotypes, on the other hand they usually do this while showing off how they got their new BMW to play “That’s Amore” whenever they honk their horn. Which is frequently. Suburban Italians make the guidos of Brooklyn look like foreign dignitaries by way of comparison.

Now as for Miller’s new “Taste protection caps” on their Miller Lite line of products, we’re glad these advertisements are no longer aired. Adding a taste protection filter to a can of Miller Lite is like adding a taste protection cap to our assholes so that people can savor the flavor inside. A few months ago Miller campaigned that their beer was “Triple Hops Brewed,” which was meaningless marketing nonsense. That was like a chocolate chip cookie maker claiming their cookies are triple chip baked because each cookie only featured three chips. Now they’re protecting their rancid liquid’s delicate flavor from, the taste of aluminum. According to Miller it allows air to flow into the can in a way that prevents the consumer from tasting the can. Only one problem, all good beverages are consumed in a glass, this allows a person to actually smell the drink and get the full flavor profile. Drinking beer out of a can is like eating steak through a straw.

Lou, we hate to break this to you, but Miller probably did not end their ad campaign to appease Italian Americans. They probably realized that no one gives a shit about what Miller Lite tastes like, but they could get a bunch of free publicity in the form of news stories about offending Italian Americans. After all, those stories have the potential to be interesting, like an episode of the Sopranos or the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. According to a 2004 article in BarJournal per capita Italian Americans consumed the least beer out of any of the ethnicities represented in their survey. It doesn’t seem likely that Miller really was concerned about Italian Americans not drinking their shitty product.

Finally, clean the connoli out of your ears and listen. Italians are white. In our country it is acceptable to make fun of white people. Yes, if Miller Lite was running a campaign featuring Hitler shucking and jiving in black face we’d be the first to decry this campaigns as blatantly racist. We’re not saying that black people need our protection from being made fun of either. We’re just saying that the stereotypical portrayal of black people is one part of a systemic history of racism whose impact continues to hinder their fair access to jobs, services and other aspects of daily life that white people take for granted. If Italian Americans have such a problem with their portrayal in their media we have a suggestion, try dressing as an Arab American for a day and see if you feel your treatment improves.

A new facility and a great turn-out for the MOCCA Art Festival in New York - we’ve got your recap plus the newest comic publisher happens to be Uncle Sam, Peter Jackson got his ticket to ComicCon and Marvel gives us some Strange. And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24/7. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special progarmming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net.

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From time to time, it dawns upon me that I’m one of the luckiest people on the planet. Here’s an example.

For many years, I wrote for an underground newspaper called The Chicago Seed. Its circulation peaked at about 58,000, so I’ll side-step the definition of “underground.” It was housed in various locations: one of America’s first head shops, an office right between a Chicago police station and the Moody Bible Institute, and an old bar in a building owned by an ancient member of the Industrial Workers of the World. There’s a bunch of stories in each of those locations; today’s tale is set in the next-to-last and most long-lived venue, the one that occupied the entire second floor above what was then Chicago’s best-known blues club, Alice’s Revisited.

Everybody played Alice’s. Everybody. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush, Sunnyland Slim, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Hound Dog Taylor, J.B. Hutto; youngsters like Mighty Joe Young, War, and Styx… even jazz legend Woody Herman, who used to record at Chess. There were a lot of other greats, but you get the point and I don’t have a time machine.

The backstairs down from The Seed went straight to Alice’s tiny backstage, and – since there was nothing anybody could do about it anyway – we were allowed free passage as long as we didn’t invite a ton of friends that were unwilling to buy beverages. So I saw and heard the best of Chicago blues: the very best, by the people who made it electric. I can’t begin to tell you which performances I enjoyed the most at Alice’s and at similar blues clubs across Chicago, but I can easily tell you which performer knocked me over each and every time I heard her. That would be KoKo Taylor.

Her title was “Queen of the Blues,” and that one’s hard to dispute. But in order to understand her stage presence – a presence that carried over to each of her 16 albums – I’ll tell you what she really was.

KoKo Taylor was a Force Of Nature. That’s the name of an album she recorded in 1993 when she was in her mid-sixties. Ask anybody who had seen her work. Ask anybody who had ever been in her band – she worked hard to get that sound, and she worked her sidemen just as hard. It paid off. She sold records for Chess and Alligator, she won 25 W.C. Handy Awards (a record; pardon the pun), and she packed them into the blues clubs. She even appeared in Blues Brothers 2000.

When KoKo stopped singing, there was a vacuum in the air. She had used up all the sound, and the air’s very molecules had to rest and regroup. Power. Attitude. Talent. All combined in one amazing human being.

KoKo Taylor died last week at the age of 80. Services were held at Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push headquarters. Her last record came out less than two years ago.

I sure hope there’s an album worth of tracks in the vault somewhere. I’m not ready to let go.

Mike Gold will be hosting a tribute to KoKo Taylor this coming Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern on his weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind show at www.getthepointradio.com. The show is replayed each week on the following Thursday at 10:00 PM Eastern.

Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point podcasts at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to www.comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out John Ostrander and Timothy Truman’s all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1, now being solicited in this month’s Diamond catalog.

The Collective Unconscious is arguably a place that has not been explored by our generation at the depth necessary to be understood. The Collective Unconscious is the place where all that exists lives. We all think we have individual minds, individual thoughts and individual choices. The fact of the matter is that we are connected in a way deeper than what seems to be the case.

Dreaming a weird dream or feeling a dream to be “so real”, are examples of the Collective Unconscious in action. All dreams come from one central place, and when we plug into that place, we have no idea with what we’ll end up.

Sometimes you may dream a dream that is not your dream or related to your life, and that’s when you find yourself questioning what that particular dream meant. Sometimes you’ll dream about the last thing you went to bed thinking about, and it’s not hard to make sense why those dreams come into play.

Your imagination is also connected to that dream world; the only difference is that you plug into that place through your imagination while being conscious. You literally make it a goal to tap into that source and bring out those dreams, yet you might not know that you are doing this.

You may think that the things you create only come from your imagination and that you’re some sort of genius because you’re able to think about brilliant things. The fact of the matter is that imagination belongs to all of us, and we all tap into the same source of that imagination.

So to say that you have the mind of Steven Spielberg is not inaccurate, but to say that you share thoughts with Jeffrey Dahmer is not erroneous neither. We are all TV monitors that get our signal from one central broadcast facility. Some of us are tuned to different channels, some of us have better reception, but it’s the same signal, nonetheless.

Understanding how you access to the Collective Unconscious works is essential to being the most creative you can be. To willingly tap into all the mind has to offer is one of the greatest gifts you could give yourself and the world. If we all were to tapped into this place, and understand all of its mysteries, we would be better off as the people we are mean to be.

Not everyone can comprehend in a lifetime what this place is about. Not many people get to access it and use it to our collective advantage; but, the simple awareness that such place exists could be the difference between making a difference in the world, or just being another person being born, living and subsequently dying.

There are many ways to tap into this Collective Unconscious, one of the main ones being through yourself. Meditation is beyond a spiritual or religious practice; it’s a key to figuring out what you consist of.

Many religions use meditation because of the power to tap into this Collective Unconscious in a spiritual way. You don’t have to believe that. You could just find a moment to be silent and listen yourself. What do you have to say? Why are you saying that? How much do you have to say, and is it of any value?

When you do this you will notice that at first all your thoughts seem overwhelming. You’ll begin to worry and your mind will try to make you stop listening to yourself. If you’re one of the lucky people with the discipline to get beyond your own mind, you will discover the place where true imagination lives.

When we are external about what we create or imagine, we have no control of the outcome. When we are in touch and realize the mechanism that life uses to maintain itself relevant, then we let go of all fear, and we create the true masterpiece that we are meant to create.

Q. is a guy that likes orange juice a lot. Q. also enjoys apple juice. Sometimes Q. goes crazy and mixes the two, but doesn’t like what it tastes like, so he doesn’t do it again (even though it wasn’t as bad as mixing chocolate and strawberry NesQuick).

Now there is a magazine coming that will tell you which of all the OTHER magazines on TWILIGHT you need to read, plus we introduce you to a man who turned his daily walk into a book and movie deal, there’s some cool stuff out of E3 and yes, BIG NEWS about us, And (as we will tell you) you can now enjoy THE POINT 24/7. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special progarmming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net.

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Two recent events – the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas – have crystallized, for me, what The Onion refers to as “Our Stupid Discourse.” These are both extremely important events, worthy to inspire serious conversation on the issues of life, death, race, judgement and responsibility.

But we’re not. Instead, we’re having a competition to see which group is most persecuted.

The popular political stereotype would have you believe that liberals and others on the Left claim victimhood as their own. So-called “Identity Politics,” in which groups define themselves as an oppressed class (such as “gay” or “black” or “female”) allegedly stifle debate by demanding “political correctness” (which, in my opinion, ends to boil down to a resentment from the other side that they can’t use derogatory terms, like “faggot” or “lady” without getting criticized for it). The Left, according to these arguments, expects the world to take care of the downtrodden, instead of teaching the downtrodden to take care of themselves.

That’s not the way these two debates play out. Let’s consider:

* Judge Sotomayoris an experienced juror with an impressive record. She graduated at the top of her class at both Princeton and Yale Law School. She was appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, a man still recognized as a Republican.

However, she is also the child of Puerto Rican immigrants (which, since Puerto Rico is part of the United States, seems to me like saying my son is the child of Ohio immigrants), who grew up in a housing project in the Bronx. She overcame great emotional and financial hardship to succeed in school and in her career, and she has the audacity to suggest that her personal decisions might inform her cognitive process.

Specifically, she said that, just as a wise man and a wise woman would both reach the wise decision on the court, a wise Hispanic woman, “with the richness of her experience,” would reach the wise decision more often. This has the Right up in a lather about her “racism” or “reverse racism.”

Note to cede the point, but so what? Samuel Alito said something quite similar at his confirmation hearings, only in his case, he cited his experience as the child of Italian immigrants. And, not for nothing, but it’s not as if the opinions of white men have been shunted aside. There are still six of of them on the court.

* A crazy person murdered Dr. George Willet on Sunday. The murder took place in a church, as the doctor acted as an usher and his wife sang in the choir. The doctor was nationally famous because he was one of the few people who performed late-term abortions. In addition to his clinic, his home had been the object of public demonstrations by anti-abortion groups. Leading conservative figures in the media, including Bill O’Reilly, denounced him on the public airwaves.

All the evidence at this point indicates that the crazy person acted alone. He was an active participant on many anti-abortion Internet sites, but only as a commentator. He did not attend any meetings. He seems to have had few social connections to the so-called Pro-Life movement.

And yet, scarcely had Dr. Willet’s body grown cold before the anti-abortion groups were claiming that the real tragedy was not the death of an unarmed, law-abiding man IN CHURCH, but the possibility that their movement might get tainted by the actions of his killer (http://www.lifenews.com/nat5120.html).

Now, we come to my dilemma. It is my inclination to claim that the Right, in this case, are acting like weak little victims. I would like to find a word that reflects their childish whining.

Unfortunately, the word that leaps to my mind first is “Pussies.”

Why do we think this word is an insult? I know of two meanings for the word. One means a cat. I own a cat, and she is no pushover. She doesn’t whine when she wants something. She demands it. She takes it. She assumes she is the most important creature in the room, and she has the confidence one needs to sleep all day, any place she wants. This, to me, is not acting like a pussy.

The other meaning has to do with lady-parts. Not for nothing, but this is not a weak part of a woman’s anatomy. Mine pushed a fully-formed formed human being into the world. It has other uses as well, but, again, none of these functions seem to me to be related to weakness or whining.

Of course, calling each other names is not a useful style of political disagreement. You and I, dear reader, may disagree on both of these issues I’ve raised. It’s possible that we can disagree in a way that is informative to us both, allowing us each to learn something from another perspective. Through these conversations, I’ve changed my mind in the past, and I’d like to believe I’m open-minded enough to change my mind in the future.

It’s also possible to disagree with someone without alienation. For example, Mike Gold and I disagree about the right of cigarette makers to advertise their products on the public airwaves. Mike thinks its a First Amendment issue, and I think the public owns the airwaves. We disagree, but he has yet to call me a Fascist, and I haven’t accused him of being pro-cancer. Instead, in the finest Talmudic tradition, we bring our opinions to the table, take a knife, and split hairs.

Perhaps this is what the Right means when it condemns political correctness. My willingness to look at the actual meaning of the word does, indeed, limit my ability to use it as an insult. And when you have no confidence in your argument, perhaps insults are all you have.

—
Media Goddess Martha Thomases was thrilled to learn that Judge Sotomayor lives on her block. Her husband was less delighted.

I should be dead.

I really believe that. I’m convinced I’m living on borrowed time. Because of the many people in my life who have died from violence and the unbelievable close call I had with death when I was 25. I cannot believe I’m still alive sometime.

For a very long time after that incident I was obsessed with death and the fact that I felt I was (am) living on borrowed time. So obsessed was I that I have NEVER told anyone about the near death, no should be dead experience, I had aboard a Queens bound ‘F’ train April 29th at 4.a.m in the morning- my birthday by the way.

For years I would suffer horrible anxiety attacks reliving that event and until today I’ve only spoke about it but once to my mother.

On the eve of my 25th birthday, I went to a trendy club in Manhattan with my then girlfriend. The goal was to be partying at midnight to celebrate my birthday. At the time I was living in a part of Queens, which was only 30 minutes from Manhattan by subway train. I grew up living in Rockaway Queens, which on a good day a subway ride was two and a half hours from Manhattan. A half hour to and from Manhattan was a cakewalk. I had a car but it made NO sense what so ever to drive into Manhattan PRAY for a parking space and hope to God you read the street signs right. So my girlfriend and I took the ‘F’ train from Parsons Blvd in Jamaica Queens to Lexington Ave in Manhattan.

We have dinner, we go to a club, she gets drunk, and (I didn’t drink at the time. I didn’t start drinking until I moved to L.A. Now THAT’S a story, but for another time) we leave the club we get into a fight.

It was a BIG fight. It ended with her taking a cab back to Queens and my stubborn ass getting back on the F train pissed as shit. Because of the events that followed, I have forgotten what the fight was about. I still have no idea.

So I’m sitting on the F train at 4 a.m. in the morning. The train stops at the West 4th St. & Washington Square Park and in walks trouble. The most horrifying event in a life filled with horrifying events was about to happen to me. I’ve had some bad things happen to me but this was the grand daddy of them all.

Three black guys (yes it’s important to say what color they are) got on the train and they were hoods. I mean HOODS. The moment these guys got on the train I knew there would be trouble.

There is no smoking and drinking of alcohol on New York City subway trains. These guys were smoking, drunk and still drinking and as loud as you can get.

There were 3 people on the train beside me, A Latino man, a white girl around my age and another black guy around 40. The three thugs sit right next to the white girl and without a moment’s hesitation start touching her in all the wrong places.

When she started crying I looked over at her and realized I recognized her. She had just come from the same club as me. In fact, I was so bummed about the fight with my girlfriend I had not noticed that she came into the subway with me, stood next to me on the platform and sat across from me. She was not trying to flirt, she just did not want to ride home by herself and I was so pissed that she didn’t feel she could bring up the fact that we were at the same club.

When I looked at her my heart sank and I said to the guy who was tying to put his hand up her dress; “ Yo, my man I think I saw a cop on the train.”

The way he looked at me I knew at that moment I was a dead man. All three of them got up and walked to the door. I thought it was over, then I saw the guy I spoke to go behind his back, under his jacket and produce a gun. He kept the gun at his side. It took me a split second to realize that he and his boys were waiting by the door for the next stop and at that next stop I was going to be shot. I tried my best to think he had just took the gun out to scare me, then he spoke; “You seen a cop motherfucker? Or maybe you just don’t want us fucking with the white girl? You ain’t seen shit but you about to.”

From the corner of my eye I could see the train was coming out of the darkness of the tunnel and into the light of the station. The guy with the gun walks over to me as the train begins to stop he put the gun to my forehead and said; “You should have minded your motherfucking business!” He was so close to me, I smelled the alcohol on his breath.

The train stopped and he pulled the trigger.

Nothing, the gun jammed or misfired or God took pity on my stupid, stupid ass.

“Yo, money, 5-0.” One of the thugs said alerting my would be killer to the presence of police. They then all ran off the train.

And there I sat. Frozen. And although the white girl and the Latino man came over to console me I was alone in my terror.

I’ll spare you the details of my descent into the place I never want to go again. I will say this; I went straight from the subway to my mother’s house and did not leave until a week later.

It’s a horrible thing to know you are going to die.

Everyone on Air France Flight 447 knew they were going to die. For some reason my heart just sank when I heard the news about that flight. 228 people died on that flight and 228 people knew they were going to die. For some reason I could not stop thinking about the people on that plane and their families and I racked my brain for the reason, why?

Then it hit me. I knew why this tragedy hit me harder than most and why I reacted the way I have. Like those people on Flight 447 I knew I was going to die. Only by the grace of God am I still alive.

Somehow I felt that was the right reason but not the only reason. The other reason I soon realized is this, I spend a lot of time thinking about stupid, stupid shit. Stupid shit like when some in the GOP calls the first Latino nominated to the highest court in the land a ‘racist.’

That stuff just burns me up. I admit it.

I’m bad with that kind of stuff but nowhere near as bad as most.

The amount of time the media, fueled by the public no doubt, spends on silly stupid shit is just beyond me. Hey, I LOVE silly stupid shit. I watch Cheaters like a mad man. But that is not news. That show is not important.

The story of Flight 447 and all the 228 souls will soon go away to everyone but the families of the dead.

The headlines that persist will still feature John and Kate plus 8, Madonna’s search for yet another baby and all sort of stupid shit. I know I’m spiting into the wind and this particular rant will not result in one less ratings point for TMZ as they cover the pimple on the lip of Miley Cyrus but I had to say something about the 228 people who faced that horrible realization of their impending deaths.

That’s important. That deserves my attention and that’s what’s I’m giving it.

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,

-Neil Cole, founder, The Candie’s Foundation

Neil,
Future consequences have never stopped anyone from pursuing pleasure. By way of illustration here are 20 examples. Our current financial crisis, hard drug users, thieves, adulterers, lactose-intolerant people eating ice cream, that time the writers of this column played Rock Band for 7 solid months instead of having social lives, drunk drivers, people who date strippers, watching the game instead of studying, spending money frivolously, crossing Michael Davis, backyard wresting, eating a can of frosting for lunch, watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting, agreeing to see a friend’s one-man show, playing truth or dare while drunk, going to Williamsburg (either New York or Virginia), staring at an eclipse, getting a film degree, fucking Bristol Palin without a condom. See it happens all the time.

Everyone over the age of, like, 6 understands that sex can lead to pregnancy. Or at least aware of some weird stork story. Teens are certainly aware that sex can lead to pregnancy. Unfortunately they have about 5 million other thoughts in their head; 4.9 million of those thoughts are, “man, I want to have sex right the fuck now.” The other thoughts are about how they’re going to twitter about the sex afterwards.

We don’t really understand the endgame of this whole abstinence movement. Do you just want people to get married ludicrously young? Or to the first person they want to have sex with? I can’t believe that would solve the problem. In fact, instead of deemphasizing sex as an aspect of love doesn’t it bring it right to the forefront? It’s like the movement nowadays to teach solely to a standardized test instead of focusing on having children learn the most. It turns one’s romantic life into a sex-fueled quest for marriage. If your marriage is predicated on some weird hormone-laced fuck frenzy then the odds are perilously low that the marriage is a well thought out rational decision for the rest of your life.

Abstinence is the only sure fire way to prevent pregnancy. Contraception is the only way to keep high schools from having to build day-care centers. There is no compelling evidence that abstinence-only education works. In study after study it neither changes the number of sex partners nor the median age of becoming sexually active. However, abstinence-only educated teens have a lower rate of using any form of contraception. Condoms are essentially free and, when used correctly are amazingly effective. But that only works if kids are aware of where to get them and how to use them. In fact, that’s the only painful consequence of having protected sex is the embarrassment of obtaining contraceptives as a youth. So, Bristol, if you knew that you could save people from going through these dire “consequences” by simply using protection shouldn’t you be telling them to do that instead of to deny their staggering biological urges?

For over four decades, PAT COOPER has made audiences laugh, but when it comes to the state of comedy today, Pat isn’t amused. His no-holds-barred opinion on today’s comics is red hot plus DOCTOR WHO gets a companion at last and something BIG is going on with CAPTAIN AMERICA #600length:
27:20 (!)

audio:
http://serve.castfire.com/audio/103551/comicmix_2009-06-01-100131.mp3

We understand why vultures like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh maliciously misrepresent Judge Sotomayor’s comments about what she brings to the bench as a Latina: by quoting her completely out of context, they can trade places with her on the issue of racism: she becomes the bigot, not the likes of the RePub Right.

Quite frankly, from her record it’s difficult to discern how “liberal” the nominee might be. It doesn’t matter to the RePubs; the hated Obama appointed her, even if Bush the First initially appointed her to the Federal bench. But it should matter that the so-called press – and I’m not referring to Fox “we suck, you swallow” News – would go to such great lengths to make her look like a bigot by not presenting the context of her statement. Then again, from a historical perspective, maybe not.

The non-Hispanic American public has always had a hard-on against the Latin community ever since we finished stealing their northern lands early in the 20th Century. Sensing this fear and hatred, the media has done much to whip up this hostility and turn it into something evil, ugly and dangerous. Back in the 1920s, before the Great Depression, newspapers warned us that Mexicans were swarming across the borders to take our jobs and, hopped up on the Mexican-sounding narcotic “marijuana,” rape our wives and daughters.

They sold a lot of newspapers with this crap, not just in Texas and California (two formerly Mexican areas) but also through wire services all across the easily terrified United States. “Remember the Maine” was still a contemporary battle call. It, too, was a lie, but that didn’t stop Hearst and Pulitzer from selling newspapers.

Our culture represented these defamatory values. In movies and, later, on television, Latinos were represented as lazy, stupid, filthy, and lawless. Worst still, we have denied them their heritage: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, even Brazilian – it doesn’t matter. They’re all greasy spics to these morons.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor may be one of the best-qualified individuals ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court. I haven’t personally checked the credentials of all the others who have been so appointed, but her record is damn impressive. To subject herself through this humiliating ordeal shows us exactly what a strong Latina is made of.

I don’t know her position on several critical issues such as abortion or gay rights, nor should I. She’s supposed to evaluate the issues on their own legal merits, not on the jingoism of the day. But given her vast intelligence and experience, I think we’ll all be better off if she perseveres.

Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up Sundays at www.getthepointradio.com 7:00 PM Eastern, replayed the following Thursdays at 9:00 PM Eastern. At least until he’s committed for constantly referring to himself in the third person.

Likewise, his Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants pop up every on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Gold is also a regular contributor to comicmix.com, and edits their online comic book content. Check out the all-new GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1, now being solicited in this month’s Diamond catalog.

Women think with their emotions, and this is all part of their extraordinary intelligence. They are able to feel their way through life, and this is both a gift and a curse, but either way, it is an advantage for men interested in captivating women.

Men think with their penis, which is a curse. When men stop thinking about the sex for just a moment, then it becomes blatantly obvious how much women need us.

The misconception, by both men and women, alike, is that women are complicated. This is false. Women are simple. All a woman wants is to be happy, and she wants to achieve this through the process of feeling good. Yes, that’s it. Make a women feel good and she’s yours.

Of course, there are many hormonal variants in the way human beings feel, in general, but for the most part, you can influence a woman’s attitude and behavior with simple, proven routines and systems.

Instinctively a woman wants to feel safe and protected, when in contrast a man wants to, usually, protect and safeguard. This basic survival mechanism embedded in the human being, is one of the simplest way to manipulate women.

I use the word manipulate in the positive aspect of its definition, “to manage or influence skillfully.” To take advantage of a woman for individual betterment is not the same as to positively manipulate a woman. Manipulation’s characterization could extend to the influencing of a woman’s emotional state, in order to induce and create joy and happiness for that woman. Negative men will use manipulation in a negative fashion, and that has nothing to do with the manipulation itself, but rather with the person doing the manipulating.

Women my claim they want independence and self-sufficiency, but in reality everyone needs someone. Humans would die without other human contact. It’s important not to hurt a woman’s pride or ego, however, by insinuating that a woman needs a man in particular, but the fact is that the prepared man is able to manipulate a woman at will, every time.

To influence a woman to feel good, men must break down and forget everything they think they know about women. A woman wants to feel special, unique, and beautiful, and if you’re a man wanting a woman, you must make her feel that.

A woman wants to feel she’s intelligent, so give her the opportunity to show you her mind. Listen to her words and their meaning, and nothing else. Don’t try to save the day by giving her advice; she just wants you to listen.

LISTENING is the first step in the manipulation of a woman. When you truly listen to her, you are respecting her, and she will feel important.

Keeping quiet while a woman is talking does not mean keeping silent the entire time. The next step after listening is to ASK QUESTIONS. Asking questions - the right, interesting questions, will make a woman feel that you care and that you’re interested. Don’t ask her simple “yes” or “no” questions, instead try to formulate your inquiries in a way that will spark her to think and to give you her opinion.

Beyond the listening and asking questions, you must LOOK YOUR BEST. This doesn’t mean you have to be good-looking, it just means you have to look like you take care of yourself. If a woman perceives that you respect yourself enough to wear clean clothes, smell good and groom yourself, then she will feel you’re a motivated individual. The perception of motivation and ambition is important to a woman, since it’s a great indicator of your ability to protect, safeguard and provide. Getting in physical shape is a plus, since it demonstrates that you are disciplined enough to take care of your body, and women like this - plus you’ll look good and will be more confident.

To BE A PROVIDER does not mean that you meet a woman and you immediately start paying her bills. It means that while you have that woman’s attention, you make everything about her. You provide her with all of your attention.

Before you get an opportunity to do all of the above, you need to first GET HER ATTENTION and you accomplish this by ignoring her. Sounds counter-productive, but women are initially attracted to men that ignore them. The psychology behind all of it is simple: Every woman thinks she’s special and unique, and when you don’t provide certainty that she’s all of this and more, then you’re different than what she’s used to, and you get her attention, whether she realize it or not.

To BE DIFFERENT means that you don’t ask, say or act the same as others. Don’t ask a woman’s name, or how she’s doing, or tell her she’s beautiful. They hear that all the time from insincere men wanting to get in their pants. Don’t complement a woman when you first meet her. Have her earn a compliment by forcing her to be extraordinary. Being extraordinary will make her feel good and accomplished. Be different than most men by offering introductions and conversations that she won’t soon forget. Don’t talk about you, at all. Make it about her.

To MAKE IT ABOUT HER is not necessarily about her good side, per se. It’s about treating her as your equal and not thinking that she’s dumb enough to think you care about her, when you just met her. Point out some of her slight flaws, and watch as her attention fully directs towards you. When I say “slight” flaws, I don’t mean that if she’s in a wheel chair you call her a cripple. I mean that you should point out that she has a broken nail, that her hair is a little out of place or that her lipstick is smeared. Use simple conversation starters that will have her intimidated about all her other flaws that you might be able to see. Make her feel that you see right through her.

TALK TO HER FRIEND FIRST and win her friend’s trust. Don’t go to the prettiest woman in the room as soon as you see her. That’s what most men do, and it doesn’t make you different. Rather, talk to women in order of looks, starting with the ugliest one in the room. This psychologically sends the signal to the prettier women in the room that you don’t care about their looks, which makes you apparently different than other men, and evens out the playing field.

When you do get the opportunity to talk to your target woman, CUT HER OFF SHORT. Don’t talk, talk, talk, and talk yourself out of her interest. After a few questions, find a reason to take off unexpectedly and leave her with a posed question unanswered. This is especially effective if your excuse is a bad one. For example, you ask her about what her mother (not her) does for a living, and as she begins to answer you pull out your cellphone and tell her you have to make a phone call, and then walk away as you dial. Don’t look back.

If you pull the above stunt right, when you run into her later on, she will remember you and will subconsciously feel that you have a pending conversation on hold. She’ll be more willing to continue allowing you into her world at this point, that if you never gave her an opportunity to miss how interesting you are.

If you don’t run into her again, then it doesn’t matter, since you DON’T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET. This doesn’t mean that you’re a player or a womanizer, it just means that there are millions and millions of good-looking, interesting women out there, and if you think that your only chance in the world is with that one girl in front of you at that moment, then you lack the self-esteem and confidence necessary to be an attractive man to women.

SELF-ESTEEM and CONFIDENCE are the ultimate elements when it comes to woman manipulation. If you don’t believe that you can manipulate any woman at any time, then you can’t and you won’t. Manipulate yourself before you attempt to manipulate others.

Men must also be careful from manipulating themselves into situations they can’t handle. If you use your powers for positive results then your outcome will be a positive one. The manipulation of women should only be used when the goal is to provide a woman the feeling of joy and happiness. Nothing else.

It’s been more than six months since I’ve been gainfully employed. It’s been tough, both emotionally and financially. It’s tough because I’m not the only person having this experience. While some economic indicators seem to say that the current crisis is slowing down, unemployment is still high.

The conventional wisdom isn’t working for me. I’ve spruced up my resume. I prowl the job boards. I keep in touch with those I know who have jobs and influence. I volunteer in several areas to expand my circle of contacts. My business cards are always with me. I keep myself looking like a professional.

In fact, I’m so busy trying to get a job that I don’t know if I’ll have time to get one. But that’s a problem I should only have.

My cover letter is snazzy. I study the company before my interviews so I can speak with some intelligence about the potential challenges in the job. I write sincere and witty follow-up notes after interviews. The rejections are kind (I’m over-qualified, not old). Despite my best efforts, it’s not working for me (I’m sure it’s working very well for VistaPrint).

So I have a new strategy. I’m going to start offering bribes.

No, I’m not talking about sexual bribes. Not only am I opposed to such tactics politically and morally, but it would humiliate me beyond belief to offer such a bargain and be rejected.

Instead, I’ll do something that will be a pleasure for both of us. I’ll knit something for you. Only for you. Baby, it’ll feel so good.

Already, I’ve made socks for Tatiana, who takes such good care of my copy every week, and offers moral support. Also, I’ve made socks for various people named “Mike” who have given me work. I’m working on a scarf for Kai, who mentored my resume. I’ve made a cashmere cowl (like a scarf, not a Batman costume) for my step-sister, who boosts my morale with entrepreneurial suggestions.

So help me out. An introduction to someone who is hiring will get you socks. Offer me an interview, and I’ll make you your choice of a scarf, hat or cowl. Hire me, and you get a cashmere sweater (or, if you’re allergic, another fiber of your choice).

This should work out for everyone. You will get a couture garment, made specifically for you, made to your measurements in your choice of fiber and color. Local merchants will profit from the sale of yarn, perhaps buttons and other accessories. I’ll have a chance to demonstrate my talent, persistence and efficiency.

It’s a stimulus package for those, like me, who don’t work in the building trades. And it’s a promise I will keep.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, would like to wish a most happy birthday to The Boy.

I’m convinced we are living in the last days of the apocalypse.

No, I’m serious.

Really.

Everyone who knows me or reads this weekly rant is well aware that I am a Liberal. I have some (well a few, Hell a LOT) of conservative values but mostly I’m a liberal because I believe in personal freedom, in other words stay the hell out of my bedroom.

If I want to kiss a man that’s my right as a human being. If I want to marry a man that’s a matter of MY morals not yours. If I want to watch gay porn while spanking my monkey (his name is Rush) then I’m watching and spanking to my hearts delight.

What the fish do you care if I’m watching gay porn and spanking my monkey Rush? How does this affect you and your moral fortitude?

It doesn’t, in fact NOTHING I do in my bedroom (or behind K-Mart, or a Burger King bathroom or your momma’s house) has anything to do with you. That’s right even if it’s your momma’s house and I’m with YOUR momma it’s none of your business.

And while I’m at it, I might as well come out of the closet…I Michael Davis Master Of The Universe am Gay.

The fact is I’m a Lesbian. I love women. ALL women as long as they have a good heart, are smart, care about the environment, can hold their own in a good conversation, like’s animals, and cares about the homeless. These are the traits that I look for in a woman.

Oh and they have to be smoking hot and Asian. Hey, that’s what I like. You have NO right to tell not to like Asian women. None.

So all this said, why am I convinced we are living in the last days of the apocalypse? Because the newest and possibly stupidest cause of some conservative right wing ASSHOLES is the ‘hug.’

There are some people out there who want to ban high school kids from hugging each other as a greeting.

They want to band girls hugging boys, girls hugging girls (my personal favorite) and boys hugging boys.

Why?

Where is the harm in a simple hug? Oh, will it lead to FUCKING?? Will two straight guys decide that the man hug will turn them gay and they will have an overwhelming desire to mouth each other’s penis?

I’ve hugged a lot of man in my life and I can tell you without a moment’s hesitation I have NEVER wanted to…mouth or THINK about the guy’s penis I was hugging…

Wait that did not sound right. I was hugging the guy NOT his penis. I have NEVER hugged a penis…eh, well I have but it was MY penis. I hug it often if you must know. In fact even as I type this…

Never mind.

What’s next? First no hugging then no handshakes or ‘high fives’ because there is touching involved? Let’s get ALL touching out of high school. So forget football and any other contact sport.

Hell, let’s do away with looking anyone in the eye.

Man, banning ‘hugging’ is just STUPID. Maybe some body should hug those people who want to ban it, obviously their parents never did.

Once upon a time, I was the quietest little girl in the land. I even won an award in Kindergarden with the title. My teacher, Mrs Diaz, marveled at my restraint and discipline. Fact of the matter, I was to shy to break the rules, let alone engage my classmates in conversation outside of classwork. It comes as a shock to many, as my gregariousness now does not lend people to believe I was ever that silent.

After years and years of that quiet state, I’ve come out of my shell in a major way. It always throws me off when I’m asked how I am able to be so comfortable in new settings. A bit of it is second nature, the other part is just a flight or fight sensation. Before going into a mixer, business meeting, I mentally prepare and gear myself up for the task at hand.

With social networks becoming more popular as a tool and way of life in business and inter-personal relationships, a lot of the angst that comes along with dealing with people in person is gone. I’ve also had a myriad of opportunities come my way based off of my online presence. A few months ago, I was approached by an unusual assignment via email that I thought was too good to be true. Based off of my tweets and column here, I was asked to do a job that would normally go to a car journalist.

Acknowledging the power in peer to peer interaction on the internet, Ford was interested in getting new perspectives that were fresh and engaging. I was delighted. One thing the readers may not know about me is I am a huge car fanatic. I’ve visited the Petersen Automotive Museum just as many times as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that is located directly across the street. My personal favorites are the American streamline modern cars of the 50’s.

So when I was told to pick a car, any car, from Ford’s latest crop of cars; my choice might surprise you. I chose to go outside of the box and not get the small sports car, next week I will be test driving an F-150 truck. This will be the biggest vehicle I’ve driven!

So while I go about my normal day to day work activities, I’m going to squeeze in some local day trips. Let me know if there are any Los Angeles area locations you want me to visit and photograph. Or tell me the type of things you look for in car or truck.

You can follow my review all week at http://twitter.com/ArtofTatiana  - #FordDrive

Dear Art & Chris,

I am in a real spot. I’m commissioner of the NFL, the most profitable sports league in America. This past week the one-time highest paid player in our league, Michael Vick, was released from prison after serving time for conspiracy to run a dog fighting circuit. He’ll probably be free to play for a team this season if his indefinite suspension is lifted. Is this something I can consider? Is there space in our league for a man like this?

Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League

Roger,

We totally understand your concern. You run an entertainment industry and you have to be afraid that a significant public outrage could hurt your product and diminish revenue. If tomorrow’s front page was plastered with stories about Tom Cruise killing dogs it would probably hurt his ability to make movies. Actually, that would kind of be a relief to find out that was the worst thing going on in Tom Cruise’s life. Note to Tom Cruise’s publicist: cop to dog fighting.

That tangent aside your product is the most violent professional sport with the possible exception of boxing. Why wouldn’t people pay to see Michael Vick get chased around the field by people bigger than him? During the player introductions you could list the dogs that each defensive player has owned in their life and how much they loved them. It’ll be like A-Rod, people will come to the games to boo him. The game in which he gets injured the place will go nuts, even if it’s not in Philly.

In fact, according to statistics, by setting foot on an NFL field a person sacrifices 20 years of their life expectancy. We should seriously consider making participation in the NFL a punishment for some serious felonies. They could have a special draft and those players would get salaries way below the union minimums. Don’t tell me some teams wouldn’t stack their rosters with prisoners so they had more cap room. Hell, let’s even say a Super Bowl ring knocks six months off your sentence and an MVP award a whole year. This idea is the intellectual property of Art Tebbel and Chris Toia. That is unless the Oakland Raiders already came up with this.
Really though what is the big deal about Michael Vick? Leonard Little, a defensive end for the St. Louis Rams, served six months jail for vehicular manslaughter after killing a woman while driving with a blood alcohol of 0.19 in 1998. He was then arrested again for driving drunk in 2004. He is still an active player in your league. To say that what Vick did was unforgivable when you have someone in your league that killed an actual human being is the height of hypocrisy. Does your league really think the life of a dog is worth more than that of a person?

Make no mistake we are not cultural relativists. We believe that dog fighting should be illegal and the people who engage in it should be prosecuted. People who say that this is something that African-Americans engage in and therefore Vick is being unfairly persecuted are wrong. On the other hand we both eat meat and have no delusions about where that comes from. We cannot pretend that dogs are some sort of sacred cows. Michael Vick is a football player and it’s quite apparent that that’s all he really knows how to do. To deny him of his livelihood shows an intense amount of cynicism in the effectiveness of our justice system. He’s served his time; let him play.

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

It’s a world gone a little mad where we tell you How To Be A Super Villain, plus Terminator falls short, Millie The Model is back and she brought Tim Gunn along in an Iron Man suit and Bazooka Joe is headed to the big screen!

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Dick Cheney. Gotta love him.

Here’s this paranoid fuck running scared all over the nation trying to taint the jury pool. Oh, clearly Cheney’s worried about being indicted – his daughter makes that perfectly clear as she runs around the nation defending her father. The Cheneys’ defense is simple: ever since we started pulling fingernails out of Moslems, you haven’t been attacked, have you, you ungrateful asshole? Quack quack.

Well, Dick’s right. And we haven’t had any elephant stampedes, either. Only Dick (and, possibly, PeTA) knows what we’ve been doing to them. Clearly, elephants are a lot larger than old rich Republican contributors, so Cheney’s probably not shooting them. And they’re a bitch to waterboard.

So… out of all this nonsense, who’s the guy I admire the most? Well, right now – and I never, ever thought I’d be saying this – it’s Erich “Mancow” Muller, the right wing radio guy. Mancow has been defending waterboarding as “not torture,” but, unlike cowardly liars like Sean Hannity, Mancow put his mouth where his money is. He got waterboarded. Live. On the air. In front of video cameras.

He lasted all of six seconds. In torture-time, that’s three-quarters of a gallon of water. And it’s about five and a half seconds longer than I would have lasted.

As soon as he was done coughing and gagging, Mancow said “yes, this is torture.” He knew he wasn’t going to be killed, he knew it would be over in a heartbeat (the average is 14 seconds), he knew the EMS was there, and he knew he wasn’t going to back to a prison cell for sleep deprivation or stress torture. Despite all those assurances and safety-nets, he only lasted six seconds and he was immediately convinced it was torture. It was being drowned, Mancow said, and he should know. As a child, he drowned and was, obviously, revived.

Here’s the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKfEjdAkmbs. Warning: this clip of the entire event might not be suitable for children, hydrophobes or Republicans.

He stood up for his principles, and he admitted he was wrong. Mancow manned up. I wish ex-Vice President Dick Cheney was one-third as honest as Mancow Muller.

• • • • •

It is with great pride and even greater ego that I announce my weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking bizarro music and blather show starts up this Sunday, May 31st, at www.getthepointradio.com 7:00 PM Eastern, replayed the following Thursday night at 9:00 PM Eastern. Love it or hate it or just get confused by it, you’ve never heard anything like it before. At least not since 1976.

Likewise, I’ll be adding Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, exclusively at www.getthepointradio.com. The regular Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants will continue every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Fear is the number one reason most people make or don’t make decisions. It rules over emotions as the master of illusion. Fear is a natural part of survival, but it could be a hindering force when it comes to living life.

Fear begets phobias, and phobias beget dysfunction; and, operating under a dysfunctional premise is unlikely to yield positive results. To get rid of fear, however, also means getting rid of over-confidence. Over-confidence is the overcompensation resulting from the attempt at avoidance of fear, and both are caused by uncertainty.

We must get rid of fear, over-confidence and all that comes with them. The only way to get rid of fear or over-confidence is to be certain. Being certain means having absolutely no doubt of the present moment. The future brings uncertainty and the past brings about doubt, so the only remaining territory is the present.

We can’t be present when we constantly wonder into the past and future. Being present means allowing yourself to accept whatever it’s going on right now. Recognize whatever is happening at this moment, not before or after. Avoid saying, “I did” or “I will” and replace those words with “I am”.

It seems like a simple concept, yet it is complex in its nature. When we are born we are perfect, and we only live in the moment. As we age we tend to look into the future and can’t hardly wait until it gets here. When we get older than that, we start looking into the past and we wish we could get more time. The truth is that we must accept where we are right now. No amount of desire will bring us the future quicker or slow down the past.

Fear also gives way to worries. Worrying is counter-productive to a solution, since it only allows you to focus on the negative factors related to your present situation. A solution is to replace worry with action. Action allows us to feel the control of the present moment, which is control we have at all times. Realizing that right now will always be right now opens our minds to the possibility of a solution, and only to further realize that the solution is the realization that a problem wasn’t a problem to begin with.

In our vocabulary we use the word “problem” to describe unwelcomed changes. Using the word changes instead of problem, automatically resolves the problem. The freedom we gain by changing the way we look at our present moment is instant and permanent. Dwelling in the future and past does not allow the change to take its course, therefore maximizing our fears.

Q. is an American Idol and is revered by some of the greatest people of all time. Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, horseback riding and yelling at the TV during The Price is Right. Q. can also be found on the internet by goggling for “Ay, Papi!”

One of my first jobs was baby-sitting for a few hours every weekday morning. I was, I think, 13 years old. My charge was two. I was paid fifty cents an hour, which meant I earned enough money to buy a couple of new record albums every week. At the time, an album cost about three dollars. Getting paid to play on the swings was my idea of fun.

This is a long and roundabout way for me to explain how I met one of the world’s most fascinating people. The mother of my charge, the woman who was fantastic enough to give me money so I could buy Monkees albums, recently married Michael Dann.

I confess I had never heard of him before. As it turns out, he’s been one of the most influential people in my life. Starting in 1948, he worked in television – as a press agent, an executive and a programmer. He started at NBC when radio was making all the money, he worked with David “General” Sarnoff and Sylvester “Pat” Weaver. He made decisions about putting programs on the air when I was a kid and thought they came from heaven. When he was at CBS, he put Judy Garland and Danny Kaye in variety shows. He okayed “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”

He passed on Lassie (which, happily, went to another network so child-me could fantasize about having a dog). He green-lit the live performance of Mary Martin’s Peter Pan. He put on Sid Caesar on television, creating one of the legendary writers’ rooms of all time (which included, at various times, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolin, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon).

Mike was a programmer, which means it was his job to create the schedule. He was in charge of making deals for new shows and canceling old programs. It was his decision, for example, to move the fledgling Dick Van Dyke Show to a different time-slot, with a better lead-in, so that it would not be canceled but, instead, stay on the air for years and win a bunch of awards.

You can find out about this job, how it works, and what a headache it could be in Mike’s new book, As I Saw It: The Inside Story of the Early Years of Television (available from Levine Mesa Press). It’s a fun book, and it reads as if you’re talking to Mike in person. (Which, if you’re interested, you can see in great detail here:http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CC0264A94D5BE3D4).

I can’t claim that I share a lot of his views. Although he was programmer when the Paul Henning shows, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and Petticoat Junction, were on CBS, he never watched them and seems to think they were stupid. I, on the other hand, think they are brilliant examples of hilarious, surreal comedy at its best. He thinks it’s great to put symphony orchestras on television so the masses can get a taste of culture, and I think it’s so boring to watch (and the sound quality can be so bad) that it probably turns off more people than it turns on.

These are just quibbles, however. They in no way interfere with my enjoyment of the book. I mean, there are great stories about what it feels like to have Danny Kaye cook for you? Lucille Ball to make him dinner at her house, after she checks her kids’ homework. He was reprimanded by Sol Hurok on the way he spooned caviar.

It a funny, gossipy book.

Meanwhile, at the same time I was taking care of Spencer, Mike was shaping my consciousness (along with the rest of the country’s) one day and one rating point at a time.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases wishes there was a way to bring back Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

There’s more with Broadway’s newest star, The Toxic Avenger plus which Troma star might make it on the stage next? Plus there’s a few causalities in comics and on television - we’ve got the latest list on who’s coming & going.

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Every year I give a party at Comic Con International. Sometimes it’s a big party like last year’s hosted by Ludacris or sometimes it’s a smaller party, like dinner for around 70 of my closest friends.

Yeah, my parties are pretty cool and if I can pull it off THIS year’s party will be THE BOMB!

I’m not kidding; this year will be the hottest party I’ve ever thrown and if you have been to any of my parties you know that’s saying something. That’s IF I can pull it off. I’m dealing with an A-list venue (place) and a superstar celebrity for my host and whenever you deal at that level you deal with a LOT of people.

I’m REAL good at dealing with people but horrible with regards to things I DON’T have to do. In other words if I have to deal with you on a business deal I have almost unlimited patience (if you’re not an asshole) but man; if whatever I’m doing is just not that important to me…I’m out!

That’s why I have Tatiana running my special projects and James running (don’t get a big head James) my studio. Let them deal with the nuts and little details that make me crazy. I can’t tell you how good it is to have good people around you. Good people that I have trained or I am training.

Not to say that Tatiana and James don’t have their own God given (like that James?) talents, they do. Both have a tremendous amount of talent and drive without little MOTU telling them what to do. In fact both Tatiana and James have brought to me things that I (GASP!) was not aware of.

Above all, you know what Tatiana and James have and had way before they met me?

Common sense.

And that is what brings me back to my parties and Comic Con. What the fish is the problem with some comic book professionals? Every year around this time or worse even closer to Comic Con I get a zillion people looking for invitations to my party or to be represented on The Black Panel.

Really?

I mean really?

Who does that? Who spends a year wanting nothing to do with me then makes a bid to party with me like it’s 1999 and they are my best friend?

Who does that?

Mike Gold and I lost touch for a number of years but Mike Gold is a dear friend who could leave the planet for 20 years and call me when he returns and it will be like we talked yesterday. When Mike and I reconnected a few years ago at Comic Con I jumped around like I was 5 and it was Christmas. Mike was cool but inside I know he was jumping around like a little girl. Hell, if I can jump around like I was 5 Mike can jump around like a girl in his mind when I describe it!

Here’s another thing, if Mike called me and said “Hey I want to bring someone you have never met to your party.” It would be OK.

Hell if Mike said; “Hey I want to bring someone who just got out of jail to your party.” It would STILL be OK.

Why? Because Mike is a friend and I TRUST him. Mike and I go back 20 (since I was 1) years. Who, I repeat WHO is so stupid that they think they can see me at a restaurant in San Diego wave ‘hi’ then think they can ask me for 20 invites for my party?

I bring this up because I just got an email from a guy who thinks I’m a fraud that’s HIS words as related to me by four good friends of mine. His email asks me for 20 invites to my party.

Who is that stupid?

This shit is so funny to me.

Should I FORGET this guy hates my guts? Is he not aware that I’M aware that he talks shit about me?

This is why I have Tatiana, she can tell him…”no.”

If I told him it would not be pretty, trust me. He is NOT the only one who’s hitting me up for access this year at Comic Con who I never hear from. There are many people who I never hear from until it’s time for a hand out.

I’m told that there are more than a few collage students who visit this site, well this following little bit of advise is for you and anyone else who needs a lesson in common sense.

In Hollywood there is ALWAYS a massive turn over with regards to people in power. So one day you could be running Sony Pictures and the next day you could be looking for work.

Here’s what I learned when I was a underage teenager getting into the hottest clubs in New York City, you know those doorman who let you pass that velvet rope? Well 100 times out of 100 times when they are fired or quit they (wait for it) END UP SOMEWHERE ELSE! D U H !

The same thing applies to Hollywood playas or any industry where the talent pool is limited, that butt of your joke when he or she gets canned will most likely end up somewhere else. Here’s what I do, the moment I hear that someone I know has been fired I reach out to them and offer them support during their transition. Except for a highly placed executive at DC who I did this with all other have remembered my overture and it’s been good.

Hear that Dan?

So if there is something that you want, plan ahead so as not to make it look so obvious and YOU look so sad when Tatiana says; ‘no.’

I’ve never met Vinnie Barillucci or Russ Rogers but we have a relationship via MDW and if they were at Comic Con I would be honored to have these guys as a guest at my party. Hell even ‘Better Red than Dead’ would be welcome. I don’t always agree with everything those guys write but there is a mutual respect there.

Respect . That’s what’s missing from those people who just don’t get it.

As Sean Connery says in The Untouchable, “Thus ends the lesson.”

Untouchables, get it?

No?

Well Tatiana will explain it to you.

I’m a very inquisitive individual and have always been interested in exploring the depths of anything that intrigues me in the least bit. If you are ever in a conversation with me and are stumped on anything, and I mean anything, my internal gears start churning and won’t stop processing until I get the information. I do the same thing about random subjects I’m interested in. I make a mental note of it, tab it and file it away.

One of those odd subjects I’ve filed away for years is handwriting analysis. I often integrate handwritten elements into my artwork and designs. With computers and machines having such a big part of our daily lives, I feel the hand touch of actually writing elements take people to a very simple place. It’s like getting a handwritten letter, who really does that anymore?

So recently while taking a short mental break from the many exciting projects I’m toiling away on, I indulged myself and read up on handwriting analysis. To my delight, I found plenty of websites that offered guidance through a hand-writing self-analysis. I instantly indulged and wrote out the wacky phrase listed-

“I saw the purple people eater say, “You and your silly reading monkey do not go home from the zoo!.” It was the strangest day. I didn’t know people eaters could talk so well. At least that silly monkey was reading a good book.”

I then was walked through a list of diagrams that showcased variations on letters- from loops, stems, height and shape of my letters. My favorite part of the analysis was in reference to my approach to problem solving.

“ She has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. Her mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. She can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Tatiana can then switch into his low gear. When she is in the slower mode, she can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. She is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.”

I recently had a conversation with a colleague, Whitney Farmer. She mentioned I had an interesting combination of talents, one being my artistic, out of the box thinking; and the other being my ability to function in a logical business structure that usually doesn’t exist in artistic types. It was quite eerie that the shape of my letter “M” and the real world experience I had with a colleague determined the same conclusion.

My inner Sherlock Holmes, Jacques Cousteau, and heck Indiana Jones were exhilarated. The results were actually quite fascinating. It honed in on my sarcasm, logical approach, and my ability to separate emotion from business yet remain extremely passionate about things that rile me up.

Let me know if you want your handwriting analyzed, I’m actually getting pretty good!

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,
I’m a third grader in living in Southern California. All I’ve seen on the local news this week is coverage of El Monte Police Officer George Fierro kicking suspect Richard Rodriguez in the head. Rodriguez had just led police on a 40 minute chase and had surrendered and was lying on the ground with his hands flat on the ground above his head when the blow was delivered. This has made me distrust what I’ve been told in schools about having faith in the police. With incidents like this how can I still trust cops?
-Juliette Borghesan

Juliette,
You can not trust the police. The difference between a stranger and a police officer is that the police officer will always have a gun and never have candy. We’re not saying that all police want to kick you in the head. They do want to frame you for crimes, lock you up for non-violent drug offenses, and tear gas and club everyone at your peaceful protest. Of course after they do these things the blue wall of silence will protect them. Again, we’re not saying it’s bad to be a police officer we’re just saying that the kind of people attracted to such unchecked power tend to be little better than the criminals they lock up.

In the interest of fairness we do have the official statement from the lawyer provided to Officer Fierro by the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association. The attorney, Dieter Dammier, said that the blow was legally justified. He called it a “distraction blow” and contended that El Monte police are trained to deliver such blows. When he made this comment there were fewer than 500 uses of this term on a google search. I’m glad he’s got a defense with legal precedent. We’re not lawyers so we’re a little unclear, was the distraction blow the kick to the head or the high five he gave to his fellow officer immediately afterwards?

This weekend KNBC reported that Officer Fierro also owns a clothing company, Torcido Clothing, which specializes in “gang-life” clothing. You’re probably thinking that we’re going to point out the hypocrisy here; that it’s fucked up for a guy to sell clothes to gang-bangers and then beat on them. We’re not going to do that. Too bleeding obvious. We’re actually not surprised. This guy is clearly a scumbag; this is how scumbags act. We would not be surprised at all if next week we found out he was selling bongs and hypodermic needles.

When people get outraged over cases of police brutality a common refrain heard is that those of us who are outraged are “defending the criminals.” Rodriguez did lead the police on a high-speed chase and endangered numerous lives in the process. However, it is not the duty of the cops to dole out punishment in these situations; that’s why we have a justice system. As soon as Officer Fierro kicked Rodriguez in the head he became just as bad as him if not worse. We entrust a myriad of powers to our police and when they abuse them they should be punished. Rodriguez and Fierro can share a cell perhaps. I think the great poet O’Shea Jackson had it correct when he penned his famous verse: Fuck the Police.

This is the week where the Final Fate of many TV shows is dealt out - and there’s actually good news - in fact a LOT of it! Plus something green is singing and dancing on Broadway, and it isn’t Shreck and STAR TREK blasts forward for another big BO weekend.

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When Barack Obama was running for president, he made all kinds of promises that helped differentiate his positions from those of the evil Bush/Cheney administration. By and large he’s kept most of those promises, and to be fair, some of those that he didn’t were mitigated for understandable reasons. Not all. Not all, at all.

Obama reversed his position against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s policy of tossing out homosexuals who come out of the closet. On May 7th, the Army chucked out First Lieutenant Dan Choi.

When such a thing happened during the Bush years, it was customary state the victim’s bona fides. Whereas that shouldn’t be necessary – it’s not okay to discriminate against, say, the bottom 25% of one’s graduating class and I, for one, hated being referred to as one of the “good ones” when Christian friends were trying to be nice to me in high school – I shall bow to tradition. Dan Choi is a West Point graduate and a decorated officer in the Army National Guard who is, by the way, completely fluent in Arabic. He served with honor in Iraq. When it comes to his career and his view of the military, Choi’s a believer. If we’re going to have well-trained soldiers in the area, Dan Choi is exactly the type of guy we need.

Now Choi is one of the 13,000 who have been chucked out of the armed forces due to nothing less than complete and utter bigotry. Obama could have stopped it, he could have put it on hold until the law could be changed. He saw what happened to Bill Clinton and he decided not to flirt with that third rail. He betrayed his promise out of political expediency, and he proved that the face of bigotry is liberal as well as conservative, democratic as well as republican, black as well as white, smart as well as dumb.

Most of all, Barack Obama proved once and for all that he’s a real politician. I am very, very disappointed. He sold himself as someone better than that. Maybe some day he’ll show the courage he showed as a candidate, but it will be too late for Dan Choi.

Obama didn’t get rid of Choi. The masters of war who hold their perverted discriminatory religious doctrine well above the oft-stated so-called “American” values of freedom and fair play for all without respect to race, creed, physical restriction or sexual orientation fired him.

As Commander-In-Chief, Obama consciously declined to lift a finger to save him. Yes, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” currently is the law of the land. So was slavery. Obama should understand better than your average W.A.S.P. that neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Bill of Rights contains asterisks.

Maybe he does. Sadly, political pragmatism is a redundancy.

13,000 down; 65,000 to go. Barack, it looks like your work is cut out for you.

—-
Mike Gold’s Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants can be heard every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at www.comicmix.com, www.getthepointradio.com, www.zzcomics.com, and www.ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.” And check out www.getthepointradio.com so you can be the first on your block to hear us when we go 24/7 – subjecting the world to new Weird Scenes rants Monday through Friday and a special two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind music and blather show every Sunday night at 7:00 PM Eastern, replayed the following Thursday night at 9:00 PM Eastern. Whew. Damn, that’s a lot of work.

I’m sitting in front of my computer smoking a cigar I bought at a Pasadena smoke lounge, sipping slowly on a Dos XX beer, having a great time. That’s my life in a nutshell – the same nutshell my business revolves around.

My business is simple: I provide media content. Whether it’d be the written word or a visual vehicle, I create amazing stuff with very little. I’m a very lucky guy and sometimes I have a hard time believing the great things that happen to me. If I wasn’t there actually experiencing those things, I wouldn’t think they were real.

I’ve met quite a few people in my life, from President Clinton to MOTU. I’ve been to quite a few places, as well. As a matter of fact, I was born and raised in a tropical island. How much more can one ask from a childhood?

My business is embedded in my life. I do what I do because of my business and my business does what it does because of me. My business and I are two different people, and sometimes we get along, and sometimes we don’t. We wake up at the same time, and do the same things. We go to bed together. It’s there when I’m taking a shower, and it’s there when I’m driving down the street.

There are millions of businesses in this country, and you can multiply that if you count the businesses in the entire world. Those famous businesses we hear about constantly are rarities. We don’t hear about most businesses. Especially mine.

It’s a gift and a curse to be an unknown business. You feel limited at times, and there’s little you can do about that. Yet, there’s something special about a successful business no one knows about. It’s a diamond that has yet to be made into jewelry. It’s a diamond, nonetheless.

Does money make a successful business? I don’t know yet. I know my business is successful because I’m stress free. I do what I love, and I love doing it. I wake up and make coffee and watch CNN, or check my email, or read a book, or whatever I want to do. I eat when I want. I go to the gym in the middle of the day, if I feel like it. I just don’t see how it can get any better.

Sure, I wouldn’t turn down more material wealth. Why would I? But what really matters more than accomplishment is the fact that I am a master at my craft. I would bet anything that you could count the number of people that can do what I do the way I do it. It’s seldom you find someone mentally liberated enough to look at himself in the mirror and smile every time. That’s the essence of my business.

I’m always looking to challenge my business and impress myself. I work in the business of illusion. The illusion of perfection is all but an illusion. Perfection in business means making calculated mistakes. Learning and absorbing knowledge like a sponge, while not being so hard on yourself.

Everyone in business is looking for something. Whether it’d be power, money or recognition, it all means nothing. When you realize the truth, you are instantly successful. When we stop living in past accomplishments or in future hopes, we enter success. Success is happening right now. Success didn’t happen and it won’t happen. It’s happening now.

If you don’t reach a state of business enlightenment, then you work towards a suffering obscurity and irrelevancy. The smartest business people are not the smartest business people at all. If you read business the right way, it reads Busy-ness. Panhandlers are smart business people. They get money for just existing. Talk about low overhead.

Money comes and money goes, just like our lives. The richest man will give up his fortune for just a few more moments of happy existence. We all will come to pass at one point, and it doesn’t matter how successful a business has become. Once we remove the endless goals from our life, we can actually see that all that matters is right in front of us in the first place. We already have it all, just by being alive.
I don’t believe money is the root of all evil, but I do believe that money is not the root of life. The ability to build a business from scratch and make it successful its a matter of chance and opportunity. If Albert Einstein never had an opportunity or if Thomas Edison didn’t have a chance, how would that change so many businesses today? If Barrack Obama had been a smart businessman, he would have never invested so much time and money in trying to become president.

The bottom line is that if your personal life is a mess, you’ll never be successful. Period. It doesn’t matter how much money your business makes, you will be forever miserable. Yet, the reverse is also true. If your business sucks, but you love your life, then you have achieved the purpose of the business in the first place.

That’s why my business is so successful. I’m not dependent on anyone or anything to give me more things. I already have it all. I love my life, and therefore I love my business, because my business is in the industry of living to the fullest and loving every moment.

Q. is a professor at the Compton Lawn-Mowing Institute teaching Gas-Power Mower Advance Physics. Q. also enjoys long walks on the beach, horseback riding and writing mini-bios that are absolutely unrelated to his articles or his life in general. Q. can also be found on the internet by searching for “sexy Puertoricans”.

Kevin Smith and The Green Hornet kiss and make up, there’s a new helping of THE SOUP on the web and Mike Gold makes a move on Miss California. Oh yeah, we’ve got your LOST Finale post-game with Daniel Dae-Kim.length:
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Wanda Sykes, said some really crude stuff about Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in D.C. last week. There are quite a few people who think she went to far and should apologize.

Apologize to a man who makes millions for doing exactly what Ms. Sykes did.

That shit is so funny to me.

Some in the GOP think that she went to far. Went to far doing what Rush does FOR A LIVING.

That’s fucking hilarious to me.

That to me is the single dumbest thing I have heard this year. That’s like me calling Rush an asshole and some people complaining when he returns the favor.

These are adults? What the hell has this country come to? Rush can say; “I hope the president fails’ and there is no GOP outrage but Ms. Sykes says some shit and she should apologize because she ‘went to far.’

In some places in the world Rush would have been shot if he called for the failure of the head of state.

Not here, this is America, here we have freedom of speech. If Rush wants to call for the failure of our elected leader (elected by a sizeable vote count by the way) that is his right. If Wanda says “I hope his kidney fails’ that’s her right also.

The way I see it, if you can’t stand the heat shut the fuck up this is America and if Rush (who I CANNOT STAND) wants to talk smack then so be it.

I’m smart enough to know that we NEED people like Rush. We need people like Wanda we even need people like me. But the GOP complaining about how Rush was treated is like Michael Jackson calling someone weird.

I’m a liberal democrat but I would support torture if I knew the person who was being tortured was a terrorist. If it were up to me I would forgo a trail if there were videotape evidence of a crime. I’m a liberal democrat but this is how I feel. If I now stood up and said ‘Torture is bad’ you would consider me a hypocrite and you would be right.

Saying that Wanda should apologize for saying some harsh things about a man who lives like a king because he says harsh things about whomever he wants is the TEXTBOOK definition of hypocrites.

Any criticism against me is warranted IF I have professed something then complain about the very same thing.

I would not do that because I’m an adult and can take a punch. Unlike Wanda I don’t want Rush’s kidney’s to fail…I want his car to break down in South Central L.A.

Let him talk shit about Obama then.

If you meet me, it’s likely you will think I’m a friendly, cordial individual. I’ve been told I’m well-mannered, polite, and a joy to be around. Some say I’m like a character from my beloved Disney movies. But the truth is, like us all I also have a dark side. When I reach threshold, my dark side is quick to rear it’s ugly head in a swift attempt to rectify the situation.

Four months ago I was crossed. I called MOTU with an uncharacteristic rant, to which he listened politely. I could tell later he was amused. My anger was over a situation which had been growing for over a year. I decided I had enough and was going to resolve it in a very uncharacteristic way, which no surprise to me was supported by MOTU. His exact words, I don’t use, but let’s just say it dealt with destroying them and then going after their families. Except he said it in exactly four words, you do the math.

I was delighted to have his support and ready to implement my plan of destruction until he said, “Wait- now is not the time to do it.” Then he said something I will never forget, after that he said something I will never forget but this I can print. He said, “Smart people play chess, not so smart people play checkers.” He explained that by saying chess is a game where you plan your moves well in advance, often giving the distinct impression of losing until you can mount an ultimate attack which will win the day. I said checkers is the same kind of game, he said true but checkers is a game where both players expect it to be over fairly quickly. It’s much easier to set someone up if they don’t know it’s coming. I laughed when he said white people ruled the world because in chess white always moves first.

I laughed until I noticed he wasn’t.

So yes I have a dark side and when my dark side rears it’s ugly head I want to move immediately and decisively and let the people know my displeasure with their actions. But MOTU said patience is a very deadly weapon. I found this funny coming from him considering he has no patience.

He says, “I don’t have any patience now, I’m not starting out in my career. Do you think Britney Spear would be on a comeback tour if she pulled that shaving her head shit when she was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club? I don’t think so.”

This week I pulled the trigger after 4 long months of waiting to do so. And you know what? It was the right thing to do.

Will all due respect to MOTU, I do feel that some things should be handled quickly and immediately. As a woman, it’s important for me in business and some social gatherings to let people know I am not a pushover nor will I be disrespected. I thought that, but I didn’t say it. If you know MOTU, you also know that immediately after you say to him “You are right”, the cloak of smugness descends upon him and he hears nothing else. The four months enabled me to calm down, reflect, inform certain people of my intentions- thus keeping them as valued contacts. It also enabled me to go out as a professional and thought me a very valued lesson about patience. Which I’m still learning!

Regarding the situation, I’m in a much stronger position, my professionalism and integrity are intact and I’m happy.

Checkmate.

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,
This past week my business, Kentucky Fried Chicken, had a bit of bad publicity. After Oprah gave out a coupon for a free meal and our restaurants there were seemingly instant reports of interminable lines and our New York City locations stopped accepting coupons en masse. Our official response to the furor is to offer people a rain check coupon that specifies the day they can come back for a free meal. As we clearly have no desire to actually this right do you guys have any suggestions on how we can further stick it to our customers.
Roger Eaton, President, KFC

Roger,
You guys really didn’t see this coming? We’re mired in a once-in-a-generating economic crisis and you don’t think “FREE MEAL!” is going to elicit an overwhelming response? If you were afraid of giving away too much food perhaps you should have substituted one of your less palatable menu items. There would not have been long lines and incidents over your new oven-blackened chicken ass meat. Although good luck on that roll out.

We’re also going to take an amazingly bold position here. We are going to risk our careers and even our lives. We are going to criticize Oprah. Why would a celebrity with a very public battle with her weight give coupons for free fast food? Robert Downey Jr. never gave out free hits of coke. We’re well aware that this was an attempt to promote the new line of grilled chicken that’s apparently one-third the fat of the fried chicken. However, the meal came with two sides and a biscuit. That biscuit has more calories than any of the chicken pieces. This still isn’t healthy food nor does it really even resemble healthy food. Oprah, give out coupons for fucking vegetables or something. No one will get thin on a diet featuring anything purchased at a KFC.

Really though, this reveals something that’s kind of shameful about our society. The outrageous lengths we will go for something that’s “free.” If you wait in line for two hours to get a free meal at a fast food restaurant consider the opportunity cost of all the stuff you didn’t get done then. Is your time really worth five dollars for two hours? Spend that time doing almost anything else and then come back the next day and pay for your damn chicken or your Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cone or your Denny’s breakfast. Your life is worth more than that. Although, really, don’t go to Denny’s they don’t serve black people.

We didn’t answer your question did we? How can you punish your customers? Make them eat your horrible food. Popeye’s for life!

The STAR TREK crew warps into the record books with a Big Box Office, but what do all these numbers mean anyway? We break them down for you plus Showing Soon on Facebook, it’s WATCHMEN. Then there’s GUITAR HERO the TV series and that man on the right - merely the most powerful man in America - no joke!

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Despite George W. Bush’s blunderings, lies, and power-grabs, he was not – in my opinion – the worst president in recent history. That honor falls to second-rate actor and thirty-fourth-rate president, Ronald Reagan.

Sorry, you sad, whiny Neo-Cons. Your great god and his greedy economic visions are the root of our present financial ails. We used to have a vibrant middle class. We used to manufacture stuff. We used to have fairly reasonable gaps between the sundry societal strata. Now we have stupidly rich people who demand tax cuts, stupidly poor people who sure would appreciate having medical insurance and a roof over their heads, and we have people stupidly in debt with their jobs at constant risk – if they still have jobs as all.

If you’re in debt, Neo-Cons and objectivists say, it’s your own damn fault. Oh really? Reagan and his Randites saw to it that our economy was entirely fueled by debt. If we didn’t incur that debt, the capitalist system in America would have collapsed. The sainted newspaper columnist, the late Mike Royko, said after the 1980 election that Americans didn’t vote their pocketbooks; we voted our credit cards. We should have listened to the man.

But that’s not why the very thought of Ronald Reagan causes me to choke back my bile. No, it was something he said that has become the Republican mantra and has been accepted by the average American. Something untrue, and horribly wrong.
He said: “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

That is complete and total bullshit. We are the government. We hire and fire the folks at the top.

I could fill this site with a list of government programs that work just fine, thank you, particularly under severe financial limitations imposed by our locally elected officials. But I will mention a few.

The Tennessee Valley Authority brought electric power to millions of rural citizens. Two generations later, we established a program that financed the education of doctors in exchange for their commitment to serve several years in remote areas that are bereft of medical attention.

Here’s a shocker: Social Security actually works. It’s not the fault of a program designed more than 70 years ago that we are now living decades longer. We need to update the program, but turning it into the road show to Logan’s Run isn’t the way to do it.

Our interstate highway system is pretty cool: truckers, and if necessary the military, can get pretty much anywhere in the lower 48 fast and without too much hassle. The post office works just fine, given the volume of mail it handles and the fact that we give junk mailers astonishing discounts. Jeez, you can move ten sheets of paper from Maine to California within a few days for less than the cost of a Milky Way candy bar.

And then there’s, oh, say, D-Day. The military is part of the government. Lucky for us, it’s not the other way around.

If the Neo-Cons had their way, we’d privatize everything. Really? Would you trust your financial security to Lehman Brothers? How about the upkeep of our highways to your local cable company?

Should we close down the National Institutes of Health? Sell ‘em off to Big Pharm? We could privatize the military. You know, the way we ran over half of the Iraq occupation. That sure worked out swell.

Government is not the answer to every problem, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Government of the people, by the people, for the people has provided enormous assistance to many of the problems we hold in common as a people.

We should respect that, and respect the humans who provide those services.

—
Mike Gold’s Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants can be heard every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, , available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at comicmix.com, getthepointradio.com, zzcomics.com, and ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.”

Art does not belong to the artist. The artist is a tool in which artistic expression flows through. Art belongs to the universe. We are taking colors, notes and words already created and blending them into what we think it’s an original creation, but the reality is that everything in the universe has already been created.

That’s the thought that changed me this weekend. I get it now, and I didn’t understand it before. I thought I had a gift and that I could do with that gift whatever I wanted, but boy, was I wrong? The thinking that whatever it is I create is solely because of me is the reason many people end up losing everything they’ve got.

So how does an artist move on from here? I think the urgency is found in understanding that artistic expression comes in many shapes and forms. It is not categorized as painting, drawing, singing, or writing, but it is in the capture of a moment through a means that will live forever.

Energy cannot be created nor destroy, so therefore an artist is the person transforming that energy. Transforming energy into a different form within the realms of that same energy. Once an artist allows himself to become the tool in which that energy can be transformed then he or she becomes a real artist. However, if an artist thinks that he or she is doing the transformation from within his or her own free will, then that artist will fail to transform that energy.

I’ve come up with a few things that help me stay focus on becoming a tool of energy transformation.

Not Looking For Recognition Outside Yourself – The only person that should be impressed with your work has to be you. No one else matters. If other people influence your creations, at the end of the day you still have to love your outcome.

Think Less, Do More - Thinking is counterproductive to creativity. Thinking is the analytical part of the creation process, and it’s not be rooted out completely, but managed in a way that minimizes its impact on the transformation of energy. One way to think less is to do more. To do more means to stop thinking about what you’re doing, and just do it. If you find yourself still being haunted by thoughts and doubts, then you need to do even more. Find a way to physically step up your actions.

Don’t Work To Complete Work – This is the opposite of getting things done. Most of us hear all of our lives about how we need to finish what we start, and this isn’t completely false. Yet, when it comes to creativity, working with an end in mind means that we are limiting our work to the boundaries that an outcome dictates. At the time of getting things done, creativity is on hold; but, if it is truly a masterpiece that you are trying to achieve, then you must let go of the process ever being over. Creativity never ends, and the attempt to limit such infinite process only ends in mediocre and subpar work.

Look For Art – Nothing is more inspiring than to appreciate art. Not just the art that was meant to be art, but the art in our everyday lives. It’s all around us and we fail to notice ninety-nine percent of it. Anything or anyone can become art. All nature and people are a work of art. I suggest you acquire as much art as possible. Get to your local flea market, get a great painting or photograph, and appreciate everything it means. Go to a library or bookstore, get a great book and read each word for what it’s worth. Have a great conversation with someone who inspires you, and listen. Listen to the tone of voice and the true meaning of their words. You can find art in all imperfections and life’s problems. Life is art. Death is art. Science is art. Technology is art. Google “art” and read about it. Read Shakespeare, and read a random person’s blog. Listen to music you think you hate. You’ll find art everywhere, if you are open to experience it.

The true definition of art is the transformation of energy. Sometimes we understand its transformation, sometimes we don’t. The only thing that matters is that we are not limiting that transformation; rather, we become a tool in which we can contribute to that energy transforming.

To be a real artist, you must first stop being one. To create art, we must stop creating it. Stop whatever you are doing in your life at this moment, and find something to appreciate.

Tomorrow will be the first Mothers Day since 1981 I’ve had no mother to call.  I don’t have to worry about finding a florist who can deliver on Sunday.  And, since my boy is grown and far away, I don’t have to worry about whether to wear the necklace he made me out of rigatoni when he was three years old.

I still have it, of course.  I just don’t like to wear it because 1) it might get wet and disintegrate, 2) it doesn’t coordinate well with other elements in my wardrobe, and 3) it’s made out of rigatoni.

Of course, I miss having my son with me.  I miss my mothers even more.  After all, I can still talk to the boy on the phone, or IM, or Facebook.  I talk to the Moms only in my dreams.

But here’s the dirty little secret about Mothers Day:  We don’t deserve it.  Everything you hear about the sacrifices mothers make for their children?  It’s lies.  All lies.

I mean, sure, we make sacrifices, if by “sacrifice,” you mean “choices.” Look at this blurry photograph.  There I am, the person who loves to swim laps more than (almost) any other form of physical exertion.  However, instead of enjoying the Zen-like experience of trying to count while doing the back-stroke, I’m playing with someone who is not even two years old.  Who do you think is having more fun?  Here’s a hint:  It’s not the person who is topless.

When my son was a child, I chose to leave work at five so I could pick him up from his after-school program and we could walk home together.  This meant that my bosses at work may have thought I was less-than-serious about my career, and adjusted my opportunities for promotion accordingly.  But, when I had to choose between more money and talking to a third-grader about his day, I didn’t think twice.  Have you tried to get a price on a kid’s conversation?  They can’t be bought.

Then there’s all the worrying.  From the first time your child sleeps in his/her own room, you worry about what’s happening when you’re not watching.  Every step of development just adds new layers.  Going to school.  Walking to school alone.  Taking the subway.  Taking an airplane to see Grandpa.  Going to college.  Driving a car.  You really don’t know how much there is to worry about until you have a kid.  It’s nerve-wracking, but it’s also wonderful.  There aren’t that many people in my life whom I love enough to worry about.  No worries would leave a big, empty space in my heart.

If you are lucky enough to have your mother in your life, and you haven’t yet bought her a gift, don’t sweat it.  She doesn’t want the flowers or the perfume or the bathrobe.  She wants  you.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases still appreciates all forms of tribute for any occasion.

Heading into it’s second weekend in theaters, WOLVERINE already has gathered 100 million bucks in its claws. Meanwhile, Dark Horse hits the iPhone, Marvel goes street and yes, we saw STAR TREK.

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Rush Limbaugh did not help ANY GOP candidate win in the last election. According to a recent poll only 23% of voters consider themselves republicans.  Last week The GOP announced OVER AND OVER again they were about to launch a nation wide listening tour. Limbaugh disagreed so the GOP did an 180 faster than OJ can say “Where the white women at?”

The tour is now a ‘Teaching tour.” Which is what Limbaugh said the GOP needed.

The GOP leadership is Rush Limbaugh’s bitch.

So, let me get this straight, Rush had NO pull in the last election NO candidate he backed won and yet the GOP treats this guy like a god.

I want that.

I want to be so powerful that even if I have NO pull whatsoever people still follow me out of fear. Imagine that. Imagine someone’s whose views were overwhelmingly rejected by the American people still have enough juice to lead a political party.

The GOP leadership is Rush Limbaugh’s bitch whore.

How stupid are you to follow someone with no ability to deliver on what they promise?

That’s like following the South after the Civil War, it makes no sense whatsoever.

None.

So a ‘Teaching tour’ eh? Is the GOP that stupid they need to be taught? Does no one not see how condescending ‘Teaching tour’ sounds? The GOP wants to TEACH their people.

Teach them what?

What can an out of touch fat pill popping loud mouth teach some very smart people? Hey-I can’t stand the GOP or most conservatives but I admit that there are some really smart people who belong to the GOP. I also share some conservative values but I am and will always be a bleeding heart liberal. That said, with so many smart people in the GOP what will the GOP leadership and Rush teach these people?

What?

The party is in worst shape than after Watergate and the leadership feels they have to teach the masses?

Imagine Richard Nixon deciding to go on a ‘Teaching Tour’ after he resigned the Presidency. WHO would listen? Who is that stupid they would want to be taught by someone who has fallen from the highest place in the land?

It sounds like the GOP leadership is Rush Limbaugh’s bitch, slut whore.

Man, I want that.

I want to have NO power but get people to follow me simply because I speak loud or threaten or promise pain and suffering if I’m not listened to.

That is exactly how pimps keep their whores in check.

Exactly.

Well, GOP if you are going to be done like a whore as least get paid for it.

You might as well get paid like a whore because Rush keeps fucking you.

It’s Time Now - To Sing Out
Though The Story Never Ends
Let’s Celebrate
Remember A Year in The Life of Friends

Remember The Love (x3)
Measure in Love

Oh You Got to You Got to Remember the Love,
You Know that Love is a Gift from Up Above
Share Love, Give Love, Spread Love
Measure, Measure your Life in Love.

Holidays are great ways to measure milestones and usually put me in a reflective mode. Celebrations are best shared with communities and I’m ecstatic to be apart of the great mix of people we have on MDW. Since I’ve been writing In The Mix for MDW, I’ve had the pleasure of writing on Christmas Day and New’s Years Day. Today I’m happy to share my birthday with you all. Since I’ve surpassed MOTU’s 21st birthday last week, I thought I would share a few things I’ve learned over the years.

Things are never really that bad. As my mom would say, “This too shall pass.” I’m amazed at how strong I’ve gotten over the years and how situations have shaped me to be who I am today. But while I’m the thick of things it’s sometimes hard to see the minuteness of it all.

Find Inspiration Everywhere. I was a very inquisitive kid growing up. Some may call it nosey, I called it a thirst for knowledge. Nonetheless I was drawn to the adults or “elder circles.” It even forced me to learn spanish so I could understand the grown up talk between my mother and grandmother. I’m really happy that I started that practice so early, now in my adult years I feel like I’m more open to new experiences and ways of viewing life.

Don’t take for granted what seems commonplace now. It’s great to remember your past and know your roots, but don’t forget to enjoy the present. There have been many points in my life where I didn’t enjoy the company of people around me as much as I would have liked to.

On my birthday, I always take the time to wish my parents a Happy Birthday as well. Because my life and experience would not have been the same without them. So although today may not be your birthday, please take a moment celebrate what’s important to you!

What will you be celebrating?

—
Editor, writer, and artist Kevin McCarthy lives, and occasionally works, in Milwaukee, WI. Visit http://mccarthy-comics.com/ and offer him a job.

Dear Art & Chris,
I seem to have a medical problem and seeing as I have no health insurance I’ve decided to let you guys diagnose me by mail. I have a stuffy nose, my eyes itch and I have a mild fever. I want to make sure this isn’t swine flu. Please tell me it isn’t swine flu.
-Dan Ventimile

Dan,
You, sir, are completely fucked. You have so much swine flu. Your personal death clock has just about run out. We would make peace with your loved ones or at least get an awesome hooker, have her wear one of those paper masks. We also think the only responsible thing to do is call anyone you’ve ever touched and tell them they might have swine flu.

Dear Art & Chris,
I’m a senior in high school and now that I’ve been accepted to college I have almost no desire to go to my remaining classes. The calendar says the school year goes on for another month but I just have no drive. What’s causing this? Does it have a name?
-Megan McRoberts

Megan,
What you have is becoming increasingly common especially among high schoolers. It’s called swine flu and it is going to kill you and your entire family. According to the New York Times this is “ a… virulent form of the flu.” Your only hope now is to hide under your bed and hope that death can’t find you there. Your schoolwork should seem particularly meaningless now.

Dear Art & Chris,
My baseball team has a weird affliction. They play the game but they never score any runs. When they do score runs they always seem to let the other team score more. This past weekend we had an inspiring rally to tie the game in the late innings only to walk in the winning run in extra innings. What’s wrong with my team? Do they have swine flu?
-Jerry Manuel, Manager, New York Mets

Sir,
Your team just sucks. They were named “Most Disappointing Team of April” by an ESPN reader’s poll. We actually believe researchers have traced this back to a condition known as Mets-itis. Excellent players join the Mets and then contract it almost immediately. The only cure is a trade out of town. Go ahead and test your players for swine flu anyway. If any of them have it; trade them to the Yankees. Fuck the Yankees.

Dear Art & Chris,
This week my party was dealt a heavy blow when Senator Arlen Spector defected to the Democratic Party. This will likely give the Dems a 60-seat majority when we finally let Norm Coleman drop his frivolous appeals. Do you think it was the swine flu that got old Arlen to switch on us?
-Michael Steele, Chairman, Republican National Committee

Mike,
While we don’t think Senator Specter has swine flu he might have been worried about contracting it. You guys have become such pig fuckers that the logical conclusion for him to reach has to be that you guys were going to be teeming with swine flu. Perhaps if you guys could ease up on the dickishness you might not have people fleeing your party. Talk to Senator Snowe about this too man, we hear she isn’t too pleased with your sow-loving either.

Dear Art & Chris,
Don’t you think you guys might be fueling the media-driven panic over the H1N1 strain of influenza? All evidence seems to indicate that while a pandemic infection is possible it’s unlikely to result in significant numbers of deaths in the United States. You’re clearly following in the footsteps of the major news outlets of scaring people for more attention. This week Vice President Biden called on people to avoid subway trains and Congress seriously considered closing the border to Mexico. Don’t you think this has all gone too far?
-Dr. Richard Besser, Acting Head, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Besser,
Clearly the swine flu has gotten into your brain and is making you say these things to trick us all into letting our collective guard down. You should no longer be trusted.

WOLVERINE hits theaters with IRON MAN impact, while TRANSFORMERS has a cool new trailer on line and we talk to the creator of BATTLE FOR TERRA on how he chose Evan Rachel Wood for his lead. There’s a new Pull List of great things in the comic shops and just three days until STAR TREK. Thank God it’s Monday!

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(Author’s Note: This is an expanded version of next Friday’s Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind podcast on The Point; you’re getting an early look, you lucky debbil. Yeah, I know, I did this last week too, but I’m out of town, time is short, and my attention span is even shorter. As always, to get the full experience, read this, listen to The Point and dig the music from Danny Elfman, Paul McCartney [!] and Al Hirt [!!], and grok the subtle sarcasm of my melodious voice.)

Okay, you people who wallow in popular culture and, given the pedigree of many of the contributors to this site, probably enjoy comic books as well. It’s honking-big-comic-book-buying-time. And it’s a great one this time, worth putting down your Purell to purchase. Because this one’s magic.

Damn near everybody knows about Jack Kirby. When he died 15 years ago, long before comics became cool, he was eulogized on the network news. He partnered with Joe Simon throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In case you didn’t know, Joe was Marvel Comics’ first editor-in-chief, and he’s still with us today. Together, Joe and Jack created some of the most powerful work of the era, in all genres. War, crime, mystery, humor, s-f, superheroes such as Captain America, The Fly and my favorite, Fighting American. They even created the romance comic book.

Just about everything Jack did at Marvel and DC in the 60s and 70s has been reprinted in hardcover, but while some of their higher profile creations like Captain America have once again seen the light of day, the bulk of Simon and Kirby’s massive and massively important output has been restricted to those wealthy enough to buy the original comics. At long last, this has changed.

Last month, The Best of Simon and Kirby released by Titan Books. Introduced by the 95 year-old Joe Simon, edited by Steve Saffel and annotated by Kirby biographer and former assistant editor Mark Evanier, this brilliant 240-page tome covers all aspects of their work, including their creations for Marvel and DC during the period. The art restoration is impeccable; perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.

For people who are enthusiasts of the medium, interested in our 20th century cultural history, or simply looking for a read that’s great fun, you will not do better. The Best of Simon and Kirby is but the first of several volumes, and I eagerly await the next.

By the way, this series has motivated DC to publish the Simon and Kirby run of The Sandman, from the 1940s. It will be out in August.

The Best of Simon and Kirby, Titan Books, edited by Steve Saffel, $39.95 retail, available at your friendly neighborhood comic book store (well, at least they can order it for you, and maybe they’ll give you a discount if you pay in advance) and from the usual retail and online sources.

—
Mike Gold’s Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind rants can be heard every Monday and Friday on The Point podcasts, , available right here at www.michaeldavisworld.com, as well as at comicmix.com, getthepointradio.com, zzcomics.com, and ravenwolfstudios.com. You can subscribe to The Point at iTunes by searching under “The Point Radio.” This is the best way to hear his dulcet tones while doing your daily jog. By the way, he loves writing about himself in the third-person.

Writing is an ever-evolving process of communication that has been changing since its inception into the human mainstream. Vocabulary has expanded greatly since the Shakespeare days, but that should only mean that we can express ourselves a lot more clearly now.

Whether you write poetry or you write end of the year financial reports, you are a writer. We all have to write our names in all types of forms and we have to scribble our signature in receipts when we use credit at a store.

Writing really is about capturing a moment. That signature on the receipt its a personal stamp you use to prove to the bank that you’ve made that purchase at that particular time. There’s other purposeful writing, as we already know, television, films, comic books, newspapers and the list goes on and on. All these institutions are dependent on the written word.

Writing to me is like author Anaïs Nin said, “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.” To me that sums it up. No one can, or should, duplicate your signature. That’s your personal stamp. Your writing is as personal as a toothbrush, and you must look at it in that way in order to keep it pure.

Sometimes, however, it’s hard to really say what’s in our minds. Our fear keeps us running away from the judgment of others. It’s the same fear that haunts people when it comes to public speaking. This article is about how do we beat that fear. How do we overcome something so embedded in our soul? How do we let go of the chains of mediocrity?

The first step is to not think that it’s all about you. That somehow everyone knows how special you are. The truth? No one cares about what you write. Once you understand that you’re just a grain of sand in a world full of beaches, then you are able to write without worrying about what the next grain of sand thinks.

Don’t be a perfectionist is another good way to write better. Trying to be perfect is the reason that most people don’t finish things. Also trying to be too artistic, or too intelligent. Just the term “trying to be” should be a big red flag. We should just be. If you’re an anti-social asshole, then be that. People will appreciate that a lot more than trying to be nice.

Another step is to understand why do you write what you write? Why do you do it? If you’re looking for praise, that’s the wrong reason. If you think people will think you’re special, that’s the wrong reason. If you do it because you think you’re better than other grains of sands, then you’re wrong. You should do it to challenge yourself. To express exactly what it is that you are feeling. What emotions are you experiencing? What’s your day like? What’s your life like?

You can translate your writing in many languages and use many vehicles to get your words across the universe. You can write your emotions through a screenplay, a book, a blog or even a text message. The fact of the matter is that the vehicle does not matter. What matters is the context.

Take what I’m writing right now for example. I have no clue or even a remote idea of who may possibly read this one day. I don’t care. One day is not right now. That leads me to the next step to writing better, which is focusing on the NOW.

Don’t write what’s hot right now. Write what you know right now. Don’t think because someone wrote something and got something good out of it, that you can do the same thing. It won’t work that way. Focus on what’s inside of you right now. If you feel good, write that. If you feel depress, write that. Worry about yourself, and not what other people think.

Another step to writing better is to write about what you know. Don’t write a story about a police detective’s life, when you’ve never even met a police detective. Don’t write about a mother’s struggle, when you’re a man with no kids. Write what you know. Write about your life and your own personal situations. You are your life’s expert. That’s the only expertise you have. Just your own.

Another step to writing better is to do it constantly. If you wait to get in the mood to write, you’ll write nothing but garbage. The best words have been written under stress. Nothing better than hardship to make the best come out in people. That song you love? That song was written from a real place in time.

Keep in mind also that writer’s block it’s a myth. Procrastination and lazy ass people it’s a fact. When you use writer’s block as an excuse, it’s saying, “you don’t care enough about something to put the time and effort it takes to get it done.” Don’t confuse writer’s block with lack of inspiration. Lack of inspiration it’s real. You get that inspiration back by jumping in the cold pool of writing with all your clothes on. Just write, and inspiration will come.

—
Q. is a dude with limited opportunities, but with giant motivation. Q. enjoys long walks in the beach, horseback riding, and witnessing human race’s stupidity. Q. can be usually found at a Starbucks near you trying to hustle a free refill.

When I was a child, I remember a time before both Hawaii and Alaska achieved statehood. I pledged allegiance to a flag with 48 stars. I remember a time before color television. I remember a time before zip codes.

And I remember when there was no Free Comic Book Day.

Yes, those were barbarous times.

Free Comic Book Day was created so that people who didn’t read comics could sample them without risk. It was a way to get them into the store so they might consider becoming regular – or even occasional – customers. The price to give away comics can be high, but publishers participated by providing specially printed, low-cost copies. A person who would walk into a store, even if only to get something free, is presumed to be somewhat interested in the product. For example, you don’t see a lot of people lining up for free swine flu samples.

Over the years, the event has evolved into something more than an introductory offer for new readers. The date is now in early May, to coincide with the release of the first summer blockbuster movies. Instead of all publishers offering all-ages material, some offer titles with cussing and boobage. Stores advertise well in advance on their websites and in-store. At least one of my local outfits promises that the first hundred or so people who come in will get all the different books.

In these difficult time, it warms my heart to see an industry that’s investing in marketing. However, in this case, it seems to me to miss the point. I mean, I know that every store is different, and relies on individual relationships with customers both current and potential. The store I frequent offers steady customers a discount on new comics. Others may offer price breaks for those who order ahead. Still others give free bags and boards with purchase.

However, I’m already a regular customer. I routinely pay for those comics I want to read. While I have my regular books that I follow like soap operas, I’m also open to trying new titles. For me (for now), an extra five dollars or so to see if I like something doesn’t seem like too much of a risk compared to the chance of finding joy. I don’t need anyone to offer free samples to me.

The person who needs the free sample is my neighbor. She’s a busy single mom, and she’d probably appreciate a book like Persepolis. Her daughters might have a good time with Leave It to Chance.

I don’t know what they would do with this year’s titles. The Avengers, Savage Dragon, Blackest Night — these are not for them. More friendly titles include media tie-ins like the Archie, Boom!/Pixar, Star Wars, Transformers or Bongo books.

Still, in my opinion, none of these really shows what fun graphic story-telling can be. Instead, they’re either heavily geek-oriented, or counting on the readers’ familiarity with the source material.

Even more to the point, it’s not anything that you need to offer your regular customers. Most likely, they already have it, or they know enough about it to know they’re not interested. Instead of your regular customers getting all the issues, I think they should get none.

In my day, we didn’t need introductory comics for newbies because every comic was introductory. Every comic contained at least one complete story. Publishers didn’t do this out of the goodness of their hearts, but because distribution was so funky that no one knew where or when the customer would find the comic. At the same time, it was understood that comics were for kids, specifically between the ages of six and twelve, so that a significant percentage of the market was always new.

The direct market and the emergence of retail catering to hard-core fans over the last three decades changed all this. To my mind, this has been mostly a good thing. The quality of the material, at least at the high end, is much better, and there is more variety in tone, style and subject.

The medium is ready to bring happiness to millions (or at least twenty minutes or so of cheap, escapist entertainment, which is also a good thing).

We just have to find a way to tell them.

—
Media Goddess Martha Thomases is neither cheap nor escapist. As for entertaining, you’ll have to judge that for yourselves.

WOLVERINE is on movie screens from coast to coast and now it is a wait for the numbers game. we talk to Michael Uslan who recalls what was like waiting for the same a few years ago with a film called BATMAN BEGINS and then great ready for the scoop on what his next super hero project will be (look here for a hint). Meanwhile, since you are already in the theaters, check out BATTLE FOR TERRA - but only after you hear our exclusive interview with the creator/director of the new animated film.

length:
23:10

audio:
http://serve.castfire.com/audio/90345/comicmix_2009-05-01-111535.mp3

As most of you know I’m writing a book called Everything You Want To Know About Black People But Are Afraid To Ask. When I first started talking about it, most people thought I was kidding.

Nope, not kidding. It’s a real book from a real publisher and I’m going to get into real trouble when it comes out. I will certainly get some people pissed at me after they read the book. In fact there will be people pissed at me who won’t even read the book. The title alone will cause some people to attack me. How, they will ask, can you speak for all black people? When I’m interviewed on the Today Show I will answer, “ I don’t speak for all Black people, I’m answering questions that people are afraid to ask of Black people.”

Some people will get the joke, some won’t. I’m sure most of the people who don’t get the joke will be…Black People.

Before I go on let me be very clear, I am PROUD to be a Black man. Except for when I’m stopped by the police for no reason I love being Black. But man, will I take some shots from some Black people when this book comes out.

Why?

Well, once again LET ME BE CLEAR I’m NOT talking about ALL Black people just some Black people. In fact I’m talking about some Black people that I know.

Now, I’m saying again I’m not talking about ALL Black people just some that I know personally. You see how many times I said, Let me be clear and stated that I’m talking about Black people that I know personally? You see the lengths I went to avoid grouping all Black people together? You see all the effort I’m making to avoid any shit from anybody?

It won’t matter. I’m a marked Negro.

Now before I go on, I don’t need any (no matter how well written it is and it always is) like I was saying, I don’t need anyone telling me that in every race there are people who act in the ways I’m about to describe. I know that, I don’t care. I’m talking about SOME Black people I know.

So yes, I admit that my issues with SOME Black people are commonplace among other races of people but like I said. I don’t care to hear about (no matter how well written it is and it always is) examples of such.
You got that Vinnie?

I also don’t care to listen to anyone’s (no matter how well written it is and it always is) thoughts on why race does not matter. For the sake of this piece and my book…race matters!

I’m on this particular rant because I’m about to tell someone Black “No’ and then I’m going to have to listen to Black crap which will be a huge waste of my time.

I hate having my time wasted more than most anything.

Look, some, wait, forget that ‘some’ shit. Black people don’t like to hear ‘no.’ OK SOME Black people don’t like to hear ‘no.’

I’m talking ANY ‘no’ not just ‘no’ you can’t buy a house or ‘no’ you did not get into the college of your choice. Those are ‘no’s” that deserve a reaction of pain and sorrow. I’m about to tell a well known Black artist ‘No’ and I KNOW I’m going to have to deal with a bunch of ‘Black’ bullshit regardless if the ‘no’ is a business decision because he and I are friends.

Or we were friends, we will see if we remain friends after I say ‘no.’ That’s just one of my issues with SOME Black people I Know. Another major issue is the sense of entitlement SOME Black people have like the above-mentioned artist.

I still get people who S U C K asking me to be on The Black Panel at Comic Con. There is a group of horrible and I mean HORRIBLE Black artists and writers who every year BITCH at not being invited to sit on my Black Panel at conventions.

Let me deal with this shit once and for all. For years at comic book conventions all over the country there were panels called Blacks in comics’ or Black comics. In my opinion these panels were nothing more than Black creators moaning about the treatment of Black creators or Black characters at Marvel and DC. I will never forget what Dwayne McDuffie said at one of these panels when asked about Marvel and DC’s lack of Black Characters and storylines, Dwayne said; “It’s not up to Marvel and DC to tell our stories it’s up to me and you.” That statement alone made me rethink the way Black creators dealt with the rest of the comics industry.

The next year, I created the Black Panel and the goal of the panel is to share information, network and create a positive place where people can not only be informed but also be inspired.

Now, it’s NOT easy getting on the Black Panel. Over the last seven years the panel has included, CEO’s of major entertainment companies, superstar creators, network presidents, mega hip hop stars and the like. This year I can’t believe who’s on the panel but that’s a column for another day.

Now why in the world would I put Larry Suck a HORRIBLE comic book ‘artist’ who inks his work with a ballpoint pen on the same panel as the President of B.E.T.?

Because he’s Black?

Hell, if that’s the case I should be paid like a porn star, I like sex and I think I’m real good at it. Doubt me if you will ladies, I’ve been told it’s the best two minutes ever!

So to my earlier point (lost I know in my unrelated rants) I know that some of my views in my book are going to get me into trouble and the only reason I’m even writing about this now is because I’m just pissed about having the ‘no’ talk with a artist who I KNOW is going to pull out the ‘Black Card.’ Oh yes, Black people SOME Black people use the ‘Black’ card on other Black people. It’s usually a You know how they do us or You know how it is or some such comment that speaks to the injustice being wrung on us by the White Man.

Hey, I’m not saying there is no injustice. I’m just saying to the artist; in the immortal words of American Idol’s Simon Cowell; “It’s a no.”

Or…You know how it is.