Scooping Adequacy

I was asked by adequacy.org to do an interview, quite sometime ago. Of course, being Mister Responsibility, I read the questions, and said, “I’ll get to those later today”.
Well, this day has lasted 5 weeks.
I finished the interview this afternoon, and I’m scooping adequacy, and posting one of my answers, here:

P: Let’s say some group of terrorists blew up a Federation planet, and
Picard had to decide how to respond- how to protect civilians from getting
blown up without starting a huge galactic war. What do you think he’d do?
Do you think that Star Trek’s mushy liberal view point, like the Prime
Directive of non-interference, holds any water in today’s post-tragedy
world?
W: Well, the first thing he’d do is hide out for the better part of the day, when the planet was blown up, because his handlers knew he wouldn’t be able to address the UFP with any grace or aplomb. Then, when he did speak, he’d tell the UFP that everyone is either with us, or with the terrorists, to effectively quash any criticism of his policy decisions. Then he’d find a planet where he could claim the terrorists lived, and he’d launch a long and profitable war against that planet, with no endgame in sight. His approval ratings would skyrocket, because nobody would want to be perceived as “against” the UFP. As an added bonus, when he wanted to do something really stupid, like drilling on Lothar 7 for oil, in the Lotharian Brazilfish Reserve, it’d be very easy for him, because everybody would be so focused on the war that they wouldn’t notice.
Wait, none of that makes sense. That’s just plain stupid. Nobody with any brains would do anything like that.
Picard is smart, and what he’d do is improve security within the UFP, for REAL, even if it cut into profit margins for the big companies that drive the UFP’s economy. He’d also do it in an informed, well-thought out way, ensuring that all UFP citizens were safe, without having to trample all over their rights as UFP citizens.
But something like that would never happen. That’s just TV.

Now, I gotta finish the /. questions. Sure, I could get to them later, and I could always start my training tomorrow…tomorrow…tomorrow…

Have I told you about my condition?

Beat The Geeks was lots of fun. I searched *all* over the net, trying to find anything about it…but, alas, I came up empty.
Unfortunately, nothing very funny happened, and I thought about making something up, but I’ve decided against it. I’m just not feeling very funny the last few days.
I hate it when I lose my funny. It’s like someone left the door to my house open, and all the comedy ran out.
I’m reading my emails today, and I got the following, and I’m trying to decide if it’s a Troll or Flamebait…
I’m guessing that everyone here is familiar with me, more or less, and you’ve read my entries. So read this, and comment on it. Do you agree?

To:
Subject: Old Fan of Wesley
Hi,
I just found your web page and read your faq. I’m really disappointed in the reasons you left Star Trek, I hope you have grown up and realized you screwed up. I hope you find work in the future.
I hate to see so many actors think they can do better only to find out they were very lucky to begin with.
Your character ( Wesley) was going to go so far….
I really hope to see you get back on your feet.

The thing I love the most is that this guy marked this email “Highest Priority”.

Semper Geekus

Good Monday morning to everyone!
I am off, to work on my friend Keith’s show, “Beat The Geeks”. I’ll have at least one cool story to tell this afternoon.

It’s funny, because it’s true.

When the body speaks

I’m going through my email, and I was read the following question. What started out as a simple answer has turned into a new entry:

Oh, my girlfriend…wanted me to mention that she was completely and totally infatuated with Wesley and Gordie 🙂
Do you consider yourself a part of these characters? Or were they just roles?

That’s a good question…
When I am working on a show, that character that I am portraying takes on certain aspects of me, and I take on certain aspects of him. Sometimes, it is very hard to determine where one ends, and the other begins. There are some characters that I can’t wait to let go of, and others that I am sad to put to rest…it really depends on how good the script is, and how much I have invested in the project, emotionally. I feel that it’s my job to realize the vision of the screenwriter, so I always endeavor to do what the writer is asking. When the writing is very clear, it is easy, and fun. When the writing is unclear (as it was, sometimes, on TNG), it can be like teaching a pig to play poker.
I start out every project full of hope and excitement. Sometimes, that hope and excitement fades to resignation, when I realize that the director is an complete moron, and he’s going to ruin the project, or when one of the main actors is an unprofessional jackass, who thinks he can just do his own thing, and not what the script is asking for. Other times, that hope and excitement endures, and is justified with a terrific final cut.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend.