‘Futurama’ Fame
Even though Al Gore’s book tour has strict rules for each book signing — “Due to time constraints, and in an effort to have all books signed, only books distributed and sold at the event will be signed” (see “Yeas & Nays,” May 30) — there’s one contraband item that the former vice president is willing to bend the rules for: DVDs of
| Courtesy photo |
“Futurama.”
Writer Claire Zulkey reported on her Web site,zulkey.com, that during a Wednesday book signing in Chicago, she presented the former vice president with a DVD of “Futurama,” the cartoon series by “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening in which Gore has made two cartoon cameos (his daughter, Kristin, has also written for the show).
Says Zulkey: “As I neared towards the front, I fully expected that at any moment a no-nonsense government agent would cull me from the herd and put my on a list somewhere. To my surprise, I was allowed to approach without interruption. ‘I really liked your voice-over on Futurama,’ I told a person who had once been one of most powerful men in the world. Seeing the DVD, he seemed to break out of his polite-but-numbed, repetitive book-signing stupor, saying, ‘You know there’s a movie coming out?’ I told him that I did and asked him if his daughter was writing for it. He informed me that she was not, but that he would appear as his own head in a jar. (In the series, all celebrities from our period appear as living severed heads in jars.) He then cheerfully signed my DVD.”
