Oprah Talks OJ's New Book

OJ Simpson's creepy pseudo-confession book, If I Did It, hit all major booksellers' stands on Thursday. We're not pleased but at least most of them aren't promoting it, just carrying it due to the almighty dollar, er, customer demand. (Who are these customers - sickos?)

So, Oprah had the representatives of the two families whose loved ones OJ killed (according to the rulings of the civil court.) Denise Brown, Nicole Brown's sister, refused to share a stage with the father and sister of Ron Goldman, with whom she has been undergoing a "moral battle" not to support or receive funds (Oprah asked if they felt it was "blood money") for the sales of the book.

Oprah made it a point to say that although her show promotes books, she didn't want "to be in the position to promote this book, because [she], too, think[s] it's despicable."

We understand the pain and morality behind Denise Brown's opposition to the book (which we would never read, let alone buy) but we also very much have to agree with the Goldman's assertion that since OJ was not convicted in a criminal court, and his huge yearly pension is untouchable, the enforcement of receiving any of the $38 million settlement they received against him in civil court for the coldblooded murder of their only son, is the only avenue they have left in showing OJ Simpson what he did was wrong and that he will in some sense be punished for it. "The Goldman's retitled the book If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer."

If they didn't collect the profits, in a few years they would revert back to OJ, who would then be profiting off of the murder of his wife, and their son.

The thing that would make a lot of people, including perhaps Denise, feel better is if the Goldman's donated all profits they received from the sale of the book to an appropriate charity, or like many surviving parents, set up a foundation with the funds to prevent these kinds of murders from ever happening again.

PS. Just in: OJ was arrested in Vegas on Sunday on suspicion of breaking and entering. Class act.

Neil Gaiman: Love him or sick of him?

Man of the hour, Neil Gaiman has not one but two films out and about to come out. And we find ourselves torn, with regards to the man. Do we love him or are we completely sick of him?

Stardust was a fun story but we read it not so much for Neil's imagination and fairly good word-smithing, as for Charles Vess' incomparable skill with ink. Yes, we own a much cherished hardbound and illustrated original copy signed by both men. We will see the movie on Saturday but we find ourselves sketchy on whether or not certain members of the cast will let us down. Each of them has been fantastic in something before, but most of them have also bombed abysmally at least once as well.

We feel the same way about Beowulf due out November 16th, half-excited, half-horrified at what may have been done with one of our favorite stories. Although, we do have to give Neil credit for the wonderful job he did with the screenplay for Princess Mononoke. But then, alack, we remember Mirrormask and the whole process reverses itself.

We feel the same way about the man himself. He is an absolute darling in this interview he just gave for MySpace Comic Books, but we well remember a time when we saw him in person, way back when at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in Clairemont, California. We were getting the lovely Smoke and Mirrors signed, along with the questionable American Gods, (he looked askance at the book club version) and the man was a complete prat to the people who'd been lined up waiting to see him, including us! We know you're tired and all but pull it together, man; for God's sake you're a professional.

PS. He had to keep two of our friends from an old fashioned sibling brawl that day, pretty hilarious.


Check out this video: MySpace Comic Books: NEIL GAIMAN answers YOUR questions!



Add to My Profile | More Videos