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DEVILISHDELIGHT: Longtime Tucson Weekly contributor Stacey Richter, who stepped down from her post as film critic last year, has published her first book of short stories, My Date With Satan (Scribner, $22), available in local and online bookstores now. In this collection of 13 funny, touching tales, Richter's crackling voice reveals the hollow center of contemporary pop culture, veering seamlessly between prom night and the Twilight Zone.
This summer, she's taking the magazine world by storm. In June, "Goal 666" appeared in Granta and "The Prodigy of Longing" was published in GQ. "An Island of Boyfriends" will appear in the August edition of Seventeen. --Nintzel HE'S DEAD, JIM: It was with great sorrow that I read of the death of Deforest Kelley, who, on top of having one of the coolest first names in show biz, also played Dr. McCoy on the original Star Trek television series. Known for the fact that he was a doctor, not a construction worker, magician or tree surgeon, McCoy played Betty to Spock's Veronica in seeking out the affections of Captain Kirk, the archetypically happy-go-lucky Archie of the trio. But perhaps Deforest Kelley should be best remembered for his extra-Federational activities, as the star (in a somewhat loose sense of the word "star," such that it includes that guy who played Wojo on the Barney Miller show) of over 30 films. The best loved of those is no doubt the one that was filmed right here, in Old Tucson Studios: I'm speaking, of course, of Night of the Lepus. In our modern age, where "high concept" is all that matters, a movie like Lepus could not be made, not with its simple, human story about giant rabbits terrorizing Southwestern farmers by trampling their crops and gnawing people to death. Still, in spite of his fine work on the best giant-killer-rabbit film ever made, and the many oaters he filmed early in his career, it is as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy that we'll all always remember Kelley. For my part, I try to know everything there is to know about the characters, back-story, technology and science of Star Trek, and will long remember that it was Bones who developed the neurosurgical technique that 24th-century Emergency Medical Holograms would all utilize in addressing damaged cerebral cortices. And who could forget the cultural sensitivity he displayed during his short marriage to a Yonadan priestess? Or the fact that he was the first member of the crew of the original Enterprise to set foot on the Enterprise-D, in the year 2364, when he was 137 years old? It is a great tragedy of our primitive era that Deforest Kelley could not have access to the futuristic medical technology that would have allowed him to see that ripe old age. I'll miss you, Bones. --DiGiovanna GRUDGE MATCH: Why no one has ever done this before is well beyond me. Greg Proops, the improv great with the funny name (and long-standing Who's Line Is It Anyway stooge), hosts Vs., a Comedy Central game show telecast daily at 5 p.m. that pits two teams of diametrically opposite characters against each other. For money. Prison guards go against bikers. Goth chicks take on beauty queens. Witches face Santas. Proops ridicules them all. Structurally, Vs. follows your ordinary game show fare, with nothing more wacky than questions posed to weirdos about the weirdos' specific areas of interest. However, Proops ripping on his guests (who are ripe for the ripping) makes the whole thing worthwhile. A particular moment of brilliance has beauty queens deciding between two final categories: "Military Alliances of the Peloponnesian War" or "Pageant Trivia." Okay, so it's not quite genius, but it's pretty damn funny. One drawback is Proops' maladroit execution of his game-show host duties. His awkwardness rubs off on the contestants, making the game subtly uncomfortable at times, but a second season is sure to relax things. And there's nothing like a laxative to loosen up Proops. (Couldn't let that one go.) I'm just waiting to see the Emil Franzi--Don Diamond match-up. Talk about getting ugly.
--Vaughn
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Richter's work won high praise and numerous awards, including
two prestigious Pushcart Prizes. ("The Beauty Treatment"
appeared in the 1998 Pushcart anthology, while "The First
Men" will be printed in the upcoming 2000 edition.) Kirkus
Reviews praises Richter's "good ear for dialogue...and
strong eye for character." Last year, the Village Voice
named her a "writer on the verge."
