Could the Nicest Newsmaker of 2015 (as voted by Ye Olde Blogge) be forced to trade in his Christmas stocking for a lump of coal?
According to the Daily Mail, Stan "The Man" Lee, the Walt Disney of super heroes, is accused of groping nurses and (SHUDDER!) demanding oral sex in the shower of his $20,000,000 Los Angeles home,but he has sent a "cease and desist" letter to the nursing company employing those women insisting he is the victim of a shakedown.
The nurses claim he wants to be seduced in his bedroom and drops the F-bomb in their presence.
That does NOT sound like the Stan I know and love! Granted, he DID make a little inside visual joke at the expense of the late Hugh Hefner in the first IRON MAN movie, (Nuff said!) and his STRIPARELLA adult cartoon starring Pamela Anderson could hardly be confused for wholesome family entertainment, but, to be quite honest, the #MeToo train has gone off the rails, and anybody, and I DO mean, ANYBODY, with a beef against a former employer who, in their opinion, MAY be a little too huggy, can just hop on social media, call the local press, or do anything they dang well please, to scream bloody murder and drag the lousy son of a bench's name through the mud.
MY Stan is a nice guy who never hesitates to take time out of his busy schedule to talk comics with the fans who helped him prove wrong the naysayers who said super hero comics were just Pablum with wooden, too-good-to-be-true characters. MY Stan, the one who coined the imperishable phrase, "With great power there must also come great responsibility!", has never forgotten his own words, and takes HIS responsibility as a leader in the entertainment world seriously. He turned a publishing company noted for pulps and rip-offs of Playboy and Mad into Marvel Comics, the gold standard in the industry, famous for reflecting real life while simultaneously transporting the reader to worlds beyond their ken. (Once upon a time, WAAAAY before Marvel's merchandising deal with McDonald's, I sent Stan a Mickey D's gift certificate for the holidays, and a friend of mine at the Marvel Bullpen doubted Stan would know a Big Mac from a Whopper, but a picture of Spider-Man (along with a veritable plethora of Marvels) came swinging my way, and the balloon issuing forth from Spidey's mask said, "Hi,Steve! Thanks for the McDonold's (sic) gift certificate!" In addition, MY Stan is a devoted husband to novelist and actress Joan Comstock Lee and father to Joanie, as well as proud parent of Spidey, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Widow, and more heroes (and villains) than I can possibly name here. The icon who made these names household words could not POSSIBLY be the old man sources for the nursing company claim to be a doddering shadow of his former magnificent self.
Don't get me wrong, I believe Donald Trump, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey, Russell Simmons,and,of course, Harvey Weinstein, are guilty of any possible wrong doing and deserve to be punished as the courts see fit (in the Donald's case, impeachment, and not a moment too soon), but the Stan I know, the Stan of "EXCELSIOR!", the Stan who created so many beloved characters, would never commit such a heinous crime, and deserves to have his name cleared. Hollywood, I appreciate your concern, but, to quote the brilliantly talented Shel Silverstein, "Some helping is the kind of helping that helping's all about/And some helping is the kind of helping that we can do without."
FREE STAN LEE!
FREE STAN LEE!
FREE STAN LEE!
Steve
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Monday, January 1, 2018
211 Welcome Back,My Friends, to the Show that Never Ends!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Congratulations on surviving 2017, and welcome to this, the very first Steve's Blog of 2018. Before I go any further, I would like to thank the people of Boston, MA, especially the Sheraton Boston Hotel, the Newsfeed Cafe at the Boston Public Library, Newbury Comics, the Reform Action Committee (who hosted a fantabulous Biennial which I had the pleasure to attend as part of a delegation from GORGEOUS Temple Emanu-El) and everybody at TD Garden, especially the Celtics and Bruins who defeated their respective adversaries JUST FOR LITTLE OL' ME, for a great long weekend from 12/6 to 12/10. I know that NYC and BOS are supposed to be rivals, but they really know how to roll out the old red carpet for tourists!
It may be brutally cold in NYC as I take keypad in paw, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I plan to visit Springfield in the aforementioned great state of MA during the Fourth of July holiday to see the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, (also the home of Cumulus Broadcasting's WMAS-FM and WHLL-AM, the latter previously affiliated with Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel and ESPN Radio, now affiliated with CBS Sports Radio as well as the New York Yankees Radio Network, driven by Jeep, so I shouldn't feel too homesick) the Springfield Cardinals, (looking forward to a whole lot of "Slam-A-Lama-Ding-Dongs," to use a phrase coined by the MLB St. Louis club's lead sponsor, Anheuser-Busch. Hey, "Ballantine Blast," was already taken, and 'sides, Bud, not Ballantine, is a St. Louis beer!) and museums dedicated to other Springfield institutions such as Dr. Seuss and Parker Brothers of Monopoly fame. I'm feeling warmer just thinking about it!
Seventeen may have been a bummer of a year, but, at least Mariah Carey redeemed herself with a spectacular performance of her 1990 classic "Vision of Love" on last night's DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE! The best thing about it was I watched in the comfort of my warm home. Everybody out there who froze their butts off just to see the festivities, you're a better person than I! (And Rudyard Kipling is spinning in his grave!)
Even though Seventeen took with it "alternate facts," "Fake News," and "covfefe," unfortunately it also took Rose Marie, who boomers may remember as Sally Rogers on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, and Sue Grafton, better known as the creator of Kinsey Milhone and her alphabetical adventures. (Z you up in Heaven, Sue.)
Just so you know, portions of the preceding blog were last seen vacuuming confetti in Times Square, all opinions are mine, and friends don't let friends drive drunk or spoil the ending of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. (I WILL say the Force is VERY strong with this one!)
Happy New Year, Buckaroos!
Steve out!
Congratulations on surviving 2017, and welcome to this, the very first Steve's Blog of 2018. Before I go any further, I would like to thank the people of Boston, MA, especially the Sheraton Boston Hotel, the Newsfeed Cafe at the Boston Public Library, Newbury Comics, the Reform Action Committee (who hosted a fantabulous Biennial which I had the pleasure to attend as part of a delegation from GORGEOUS Temple Emanu-El) and everybody at TD Garden, especially the Celtics and Bruins who defeated their respective adversaries JUST FOR LITTLE OL' ME, for a great long weekend from 12/6 to 12/10. I know that NYC and BOS are supposed to be rivals, but they really know how to roll out the old red carpet for tourists!
It may be brutally cold in NYC as I take keypad in paw, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I plan to visit Springfield in the aforementioned great state of MA during the Fourth of July holiday to see the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, (also the home of Cumulus Broadcasting's WMAS-FM and WHLL-AM, the latter previously affiliated with Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel and ESPN Radio, now affiliated with CBS Sports Radio as well as the New York Yankees Radio Network, driven by Jeep, so I shouldn't feel too homesick) the Springfield Cardinals, (looking forward to a whole lot of "Slam-A-Lama-Ding-Dongs," to use a phrase coined by the MLB St. Louis club's lead sponsor, Anheuser-Busch. Hey, "Ballantine Blast," was already taken, and 'sides, Bud, not Ballantine, is a St. Louis beer!) and museums dedicated to other Springfield institutions such as Dr. Seuss and Parker Brothers of Monopoly fame. I'm feeling warmer just thinking about it!
Seventeen may have been a bummer of a year, but, at least Mariah Carey redeemed herself with a spectacular performance of her 1990 classic "Vision of Love" on last night's DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE! The best thing about it was I watched in the comfort of my warm home. Everybody out there who froze their butts off just to see the festivities, you're a better person than I! (And Rudyard Kipling is spinning in his grave!)
Even though Seventeen took with it "alternate facts," "Fake News," and "covfefe," unfortunately it also took Rose Marie, who boomers may remember as Sally Rogers on THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, and Sue Grafton, better known as the creator of Kinsey Milhone and her alphabetical adventures. (Z you up in Heaven, Sue.)
Just so you know, portions of the preceding blog were last seen vacuuming confetti in Times Square, all opinions are mine, and friends don't let friends drive drunk or spoil the ending of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. (I WILL say the Force is VERY strong with this one!)
Happy New Year, Buckaroos!
Steve out!
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