Green Lantern creator Martin Nodell, R.I.P.

Illustrator Martin Nodell, who created the Golden Age Green Lantern and the Pillsbury Dough Boy, has passed away. He was 91.

I got to meet Mr. Nodell at a Big Apple Con in 1999, and purchased the Green Lantern t-shirt that I regularly wear from him.

Green Lantern remains my favorite superhero, and although I prefer the Silver Age to present incarnation, that character wouldn’t have existed without the original.

More Spy Goodies….

Caught a preview on HBO last night for the forthcoming Robert DeNiro-directed film, The Good Shepherd.

Wow. A film about the creation of the CIA, with a phenominal cast. Go check out the trailer on the official site.

I’m looking forward to it — for one thing, SPIES (duh.). For another, good cast. For a third, I really like DeNiro as a director (the last film he directed — his debut — was A Bronx Tale, which is one of my favorite films).

It opens December 22nd.

Foiled By McMedicine

Had my time wasted this morning.

For the first time in 3 1/2 years, I have medical insurance — so the plan was made to go to the doctor for a check-up, to kick off a habit of regular care. Good idea, in theory.

Unfortunately, the place where we went, Lawrence Family Practice, is what I like to refer to as a “McMedical Center” — a crowd of doctors sharing a facility, joint reception, etc.

‘s visit? Fine. Our appointments were at 10:45. She was called in, saw the doctor, went to have blood drawn, and was done.

Mine, on the other hand….I was called in about 5 minutes after her. I was then weighed and had my blood pressure checked. (weight creeping back up, after dropping 60 pounds in the last year. Need to get back to regular exercise, which I’ve slipped on in past months. Blood pressure fine). I was then told that the doctor would be “right with me.”

An hour and a half later, having not seen a doctor, I walked out to the waiting room, and informed that we were leaving.

The thing that really pisses me off is that the office wasn’t particularly busy. The waiting room was nearly empty.

I’ll be looking for another doctor….preferably one who doesn’t run their office like an assembly line.