Harvey Pekar dead, writer of American Splendor comics

Paul Giamatti and Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar is dead. The writer of American Splendor comics has passed away at the age of 70.

Pekar, most linked to his friend, the famous artist (and for a time San Franciscan) R. Crumb, was a cancer survivor who was found by his wife Joyce Brabner Monday morning at his home in a Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Harvey Pekar wrote his first comic book strip in 1972. Illustrated by his friend Crumb, it featured his life as a file clerk.

Pekar was also known as a frequent guest of David Letterman on his show. Pekar's reparte with Letterman is good television, although it's hard to tell if they're kidding or serious. Here's one of Pekar's appearances, where David Letterman calls him a "dork" and says "I'd like to apologize to Cleveland," on August 31, 1988:



Later in life, Pekar was played by actor Paul Giamatti in the critically acclaimed film American Splendor. In this scene from that movie, Toby (played by Judah Friedlander) talks to Harvey about White Castle burgers and the movie Revenge of the Nerds:



Harvey Pekar lived from 1939 to 2010 and struggled with lymphoma during his later years. That battle resulted in Our Cancer Year, graphic novel autobiography. Pekar's survived by his wife Joyce Brabner and their foster daughter Danielle.

Zennie62's Youtube Fan Page on Facebook! by Nikky Raney

The Facebook Fan Page for Zennie62.com's Youtube page has been created! This page will feature the videos on the Zennie62 Youtube page. This page is still under construction, but it will be worked on throughout this week. This page will enable the Youtube page to reach out to a larger audience, and the Youtube page will in turn gain more subscribers from the Facebook fan page. Let's all promote the fan page as well as the Youtube page.

Roman Polanski extradition rejection top Twitter trend; Polanski free

Roman Polanski 

Roman Polanski's still such a hot topic that when the news that his extradition to the United States was denied by the Swiss today, Monday, it was a top Twitter trend and a "hot topic" on Google Trends at the same time.

A rare development; the reason for the Roman Polanski extradition rejection is not just that Polanski goes free after being charged with unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in a case 33 years old, but that he was freed on a technicality.

According to The New York Times, Switzerland Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told a news conference that 76-year-old Polanski was set free because of a possible technicality: American law enforcement rejected Justice Widmer-Schlumpf's request for the records of Roger Gunson, a prosecutor in the case.

Those records were to show if Gunson did claim that Polanski's stay in a psychiatric unit counted as jail time. So because America rejected Justice Widmer-Schlumpf's request, she rejected America's extradition request.

Basically, the U.S. Justice Department screwed up on this one. Polanski is free from house arrest and can go home to France.

Roman Polanski Twitter reactions negative toward Swiss

On Twitter, when the tweets were not just reporting to retweeting the basic news, they were hostile toward the Swiss action:

markthomasinfo - Extraditing Roman Polanski not in Swiss national interests -which are tax dodging, nazi gold and rapist harboring apparently.
29 minutes ago via web

Duwli - Alarming! where's d unified voice on sexual abuse? RT @Ispookhorses: RT @Movieline Roman Polanski Free After Swiss Reject Extradition http
half a minute ago via Twee in reply to Ispookhorses

owillis - Switzerland Loves Child Rapists, Releases Roman Polanski http://fb.me/vaak1Hr5
about 1 hour ago via Facebook

Unusual in this Twitter development is that the subject "Roman Polanski" is on top of "Hannah Montana Forever," leading to this tweet from Gary Busey:

GaryJBusey - I love how Roman Polanski is on top of Hannah Montana Forever in the trending topics, because that's how it's written in his Trapper Keeper.
about 1 hour ago via web

But lost in all of this reaction is that fact that if Roger Gunson had made a deal with Polanski, and the court looked at Polanski's stay in a psychiatric unit as jail time, then Polanski ran the risk of being jailed twice. Of course, Polanski's fleeing the United States prevented that mistake from happening.

Made The Ghost Writer

Being under house arrest did not stop Roman Polanski from working. Even though he could not step beyond the property line of his three-story chalet reportedly called "The Milky Way," he could receive visitors. That's how he was able to complete and release the movie The Ghost Writer.

What will the U.S. do? Stay tuned.

Oakland News: Lake Chalet loses chef; strip clubs in Oakland?

Lake Chalet Patio in Oakland

An Oakland news roundup of things told to this blogger by a number of reliable sources. First, Lake Chalet, the favored eatery of this space in Oakland, has reportedly elected to part with its executive chef Jarod Gallagher. This word comes from people who worked at The Lake Chalet, but now are with other new restaurants in Oakland.

While I personally liked Jarod Gallagher and his food offerings, the one issue that has plagued The Lake Chalet is how the food was regarded considering its price points. Jarod did work to change the menu a few months ago, so one can't say he wasn't trying. But the word is that The Lake Chalet's going in a different direction.

Business has reportedly been good and the establishment survived the Oscar Grant verdict, so full steam ahead for Lake Chalet.

Strip Clubs in Oakland?

There's talk by some that if Oakland had more strip clubs it would get more convention business. And the people saying this are in the right places to make something happen.

But this space says that their logic is butt-backward. Oakland needs hotels before it can hope to have more restaurants or shops, let alone strip clubs. Plus, there's a heavy lobby against strip clubs that would come out full force in Oakland.

Much of Oakland's problem is San Francisco: that is many people feel they have to go to San Francisco for such sexual fun. Thus, the drive to have strip clubs of a high quality in Oakland has been all but non-existent.

Will that change? Yes. But along with it will come a big push against strip clubs in Oakland.

Oakland Mayor's Race: one about to drop out

There's word that at least one of the current candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race is set to drop out of it, perhaps within two weeks.

Stay tuned.

San Francisco event Monday night: Young Frankenstein and Wicked cast at Club Fugazi, 7:30 PM

San Francisco's Club Fugazi, which hosts Beach Blanket Babylon, has an exciting event tonight, Monday night only at 7:30 PM featuring Young Frankenstein and Wicked cast members!

It is the Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF) presentation of "Wicked fun with Young Frankenstein."

REAF's "One Night Only" benefit cabaret series are always great fun featuring cast members from hit Broadway shows in original cabaret performances in intimate theaters. Each show takes on it's own character based on the the make up of the touring cast for each show.

The cast of "Wicked" has participated in three of REAF's "One Night Only" benefit cabarets over the past year and they always put together fun and exciting numbers for these benefits.

Add cast members from the hit show, "Young Frankenstein," which is opening this week at the Golden Gate Theatre, plus special guest MC, comic Bruce Vilanch, and you've got a recipe for a wild and crazy evening of theatre.

Tickets start at $25 and are available by calling the Beach Blanket Babylon Box Office - 78 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 91433 - at 415-421-4222. Click here for more information.

World Cup 2010: Yahoo! beats ESPN, wins World Cup web traffic prize

Koman's draws a crowd 

While watching the World Cup Soccer Final pitting Spain v. The Netherlands at The Republic in San Francisco, Yahoo!'s Cara Varni said that Yahoo! generated more World Cup Soccer online traffic than any other site,including ESPN, AOL, and the FIFA World Cup site itself.

That's true. Yahoo!, who's gotten more web pages for its CEO, Carol Bartz' use of profanity than on its website performance, scored the largest traffic volume from World Cup Soccer interest that's caused websites all over to set there own traffic records.

ComScore via ClickZ reports that Yahoo! racked up 22.7 million unique visitors between June 7th and June 13th, with 7.9 million visitors directly to the World Cup Soccer site at Yahoo! Meanwhile, ESPN reported 16.5 million unique visitors total, with a guesstimate of over 3 million for the World Cup.

CBSSports.com (CBS Sports) came in third with 7.4 million unique visitors.

Why did Yahoo! beat ESPN, even though ESPN had a television tie in via its cable programs and match coverage? The speculation here is that Yahoo did a great job of leading its user base to its World Cup pages.

As this is written the Yahoo! main page is dominated by World Cup Soccer news. The difference between ESPN and Yahoo is that ESPN's website is not a web service provider with an email system. Thus, it does not have that set of users who are on Yahoo! for something else, who then discover World Cup Soccer news.

What would Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz say to this news? Probably, "That's f-in great!"

World Cup 2010: Spain v. Netherlands at The Republic, San Francisco

The World Cup 2010 is history. Spain has beaten the Netherlands. And all we have are memories. What's cool about online video and video-blogging is the ability to capture special moments from the point of view of the vlogger.

The Republic, San Francisco

In this case, those videos from this space were created just walking down the street in Oakland's Adams Point District, at Era Art and Design Bar for the USA's dramatic win against Algeria, and for the sad loss to Ghana, and today at The Republic Bar and Grill at Scott and Lombard in San Francisco's Marina District.

The Republic visit happened because my friend Brian Zahn's a bartender there (as well as at Kel's Irish Bar, also in San Francisco), and also a Facebook friend. He sent a message extending an invitation to watch the Spain v. Netherlands World Cup Final match there.

The temptation to get up and go from Oakland to San Francisco and not via car (since a bar was the destination) was countered by the desire to either go to church or sleep. But when a friend sends a note, it's a good idea to respond in kind: The Republic was the destination.

The Republic was surprisingly crowded, meaning I totally misread just how popular 2010 World Cup Soccer matches still were even as the USA was eliminated by Ghana. The Republic was literally overflowing with patrons, spilling outside to the sidewalk - it was standing-room-only full of people expecting a great match. What they got was boring. So much so, that the conversation turned to such things as the flowers on a woman's flip-flops, and the style of cupcakes someone purchased.

If Soccer is to have any chance of being truly competitive with pro football for the American sports fans ticket-buying dollar, it can't have matches like the one between Spain and The Netherlands. The main problem is that it's just plain slow and then, suddenly, it's over. And it seems that the crowd is teased with almost goals after almost goals.

All of this is just fine for World Cup Soccer, but for a regular league game with far less television exposure and cultural impact, it's a guarantee of failure. Americans want to be rewarded with scoring and endings. For whatever reason, that's the way the USA is.

The most logical scenario is World Cup Soccer itself gets bigger and bigger, but fails to carry American soccer up with it. Meanwhile, the NFL's hold on American Culture remains for at least another three decades. The wild card is international expansion for the NFL: how far can it extend pro football around the World is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, what we had was an incredible surge in popularity of soccer in the USA. The fact the World is competing on stage where there's a final winner and in the age of ESPN, YouTube Twitter, and Yahoo, (the most trafficked site for World Cup Soccer according to Yahoo!'s Cara Varni, who I watched the match with) melded the World like no cultural event has before. The energy at The Republic in San Francisco was tremendous today. The only way it would have been better is if the USA were in and won the final.

I'm ready for World Cup 2014 already!