Oakfairy

I’m working on a new book, and I had to go into my archives for some research. While I was there, I found a story I wrote when I was … 28? 29? Something like that. It’s entirely true, and I love it as much now as I did then.

This was originally published in my first book, Dancing Barefoot, and it appears here online in its entirety for the first time.

I first met William Shatner on the set of Star Trek V back in 1988. I was 16, and had been working on TNG for two years at the time. We were enjoying some success with our show, and I was very proud of the work I was doing. When I found out that the original series cast would be working next door to us for two months, I was beside myself.

Gene Roddenberry was still heavily involved with the production of TNG back then, and he and I were good friends. When I’d pass by his door, it was not uncommon for him to throw an executive out of his office and ask me in for a visit. He knew that I was a fan of the original series, and he knew that I was more than a little intimidated by these actors. He offered several times to make introductions, but I always declined. If I was going to meet these legends of Science Fiction, I was going to do it on my own.

For weeks, I tried to get up the nerve to introduce myself. When I would walk from the stage to my dressing room or school room, I would do it slowly, looking at their stage door, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mister Spock, or Doctor McCoy, or even the legendary Captain Kirk. The few times they did appear, though, I could never find the courage to approach them.

This went on for about six weeks.

Word got around our set that I was too chicken to introduce myself to the original series actors. It became something of a joke, and the crew began to give me some good-natured ribbing about my reluctance. Next Generation was immensely popular at the time, and I was still riding high on the success of Stand by Me. They couldn’t understand why I was so intimidated by these actors – my face was splashed across the cover of every teen magazine in print.

Why was I so intimidated? I was a 16 year-old geek, with a chance to meet The Big Three from Star Trek. You do the math.

One afternoon, while I was sitting outside stage 9 talking with Mandy, my costumer, they opened the huge stage door across the way, and I could see right into the set of Star Trek V. It was a large area, like a cargo bay, filled with extras and equipment. It was quite different from our set, but it was unmistakably The Enterprise. Standing in the middle of it all was William Shatner. He held a script open like it was a holy text. The way he gestured with his hands, I could tell that he was setting up a shot and discussing it with the camera crew.

I waited for the familiar rush of nerves, but it didn’t come. Seeing him as a director and not as Captain Kirk put me at ease. I knew that this was my moment. If I didn’t walk over and introduce myself right then, I would never do it.

I was wearing the grey “acting ensign” space suit, unzipped with the sleeves tied around my waist. That costume was quite uncomfortable, so I’d take the top half off whenever I got the chance. Because it was a jumpsuit, I would tie the sleeves around my waist, and wear a lightweight fleece jacket, zipped up to cover the embarrassing muscle suit the producers had me wear.

We all wore those muscle suits, but I think I was the most traumatized by it. I’ve always been a very slight person without much muscle mass (even now, at age 30, I weigh 145 pounds at 5’10”) and having to wear all that thick padding did little to improve my fragile teenage self esteem.

I turned to Mandy, and took off my fleece. I asked her to zip up my spacesuit, and fasten the collar. If I was going to meet William Shatner, I was going to do it looking as “Starfleet regulation” as I could.

She made sure my costume looked good enough for camera, and wished me good luck. I got a high-five from one of the teamsters as I confidently walked across the street and into the cargo bay of the Enterprise 1701-A.

It took about eight steps for my confidence to evaporate. Surrounded by extras in Starfleet dress, standing next to a shuttlecraft, William Shatner, director, was immediately transformed into Captain Kirk, intergalactic legend. I was transformed from Wil Wheaton, fellow actor and film industry professional, into Wil Wheaton, drooling fanboy and Star Trek geek.

I looked around. I guess I blended in well, because nobody had noticed me. I turned to make my escape, and bumped into a still photographer who had worked on TNG the first season.

“Hey, Wil. What are you doing here?” he asked.

I swallowed, and looked at the stage door.

“Oh, uh, I just came over to, um, look around, and, uh, stuff.” I said. I shuffled my feet, and began to move back    toward the familiarity of my own spaceship.

“Well, as long as you’re here, you should meet Mr. Shatner!”

Mr. Shatner? Who was Mr. Shatner? There’s no Mr. Shatner here, just Captain Kirk and several Starfleet officers.

He turned toward Captain Kirk, and called out, “Hey! Bill! Come here a second!”

My heart began to beat rapidly, as he turned toward us. Captain Kirk looked right at me. I froze. He gave his book to someone, and began to walk in our direction. I involuntarily straightened my back, and sucked in my stomach. My muscle suit felt tight and awkward around my arms and chest.

Within seconds he was standing next to us. He was about my height, and looked heavier than he did on television.

Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise said, “What can I do for you?”

“Well, Bill, this is Wil Wheaton. He’s part of the cast of The Next Generation, and he’d like to meet you.”

Captain Kirk looked at me for a long time.

“So, you’re the kid on that show?” He seemed annoyed.

My throat and mouth were dry, and my palms were sweating. My heart pounded in my ears, as I answered. “Uh, yes, sir. My name’s Wil.”

He continued to look at me. I carefully wiped my hand on the hip of my spacesuit, and extended it. “Nice to meet you,” I said.

He didn’t take my hand.

“What is that, your spacesuit?” He said, and made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

“Oh? This? Yeah. It’s not as cool as yours, but it’s what they tell me to wear.” I put my hand down. I really wanted to leave. I felt a little light headed. Why wouldn’t Captain Kirk shake my hand? And why didn’t he like my spacesuit? Could he see the fake muscles? Maybe he didn’t like the color. I became hyper-aware of the spandex, clinging to my body, and longed for the comfort of my fleece jacket.

“Well?” He asked.

Oh no. He’d asked me a question, and I’d missed it.

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“I said, what do you do over there?” he asked. There was a challenge in his voice.

“Oh, uh, well, I’m an acting ensign, and I sometimes pilot the ship.” Maybe he’d be impressed that I’d already logged several hours at the helm of the Enterprise D, all before the age of 16.

“Well, I’d never let a kid come onto my bridge.” He said, and walked away.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise 1701, and Enterprise 1701-A, the only person in Starfleet to ever defeat the Kobiyashi Maru, the man behind the Corbomite Maneuver, the man who took the Enterprise to the Genesis planet to return Spock’s katra, the man who I had admired since I was eight years old, was immediately transformed into WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER.

I bit my lip, and turned to say good-bye to the still photographer who had made the introduction, but he had vanished as well.

I walked back to my own stage with my head down, avoiding eye contact the entire way. When I got to the entrance, I found Mandy, and asked her to unzip my costume, so I could put my fleece back on.

As she unzipped the back, she said, “did you get to meet William Shatner?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t want to let on that I was upset.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, as she handed me my fleece jacket. There was concern in her eyes.

“Well . . .” I hesitated. Saying it out loud would make it real. “He was a dick to me.”

Her eyes widened, and she gasped. “What?! Why? What happened?!”

I fought back tears, and recounted our introduction.

“What an asshole!” She said, “Oh, Wil, I am so sorry!”

I nodded my head, and she gave me a hug. I drew a deep breath, shrugged my shoulders, and walked back to my trailer, where I sat down and cried. I had spent weeks getting up the courage to meet this man, and in less than five minutes he had insulted and humiliated me. He had reduced me from peer to peon. I had worn my stupid costume, thinking that it would matter to him, and he’d made fun of it.

15 minutes later, an assistant director knocked on my door, and told me that they were ready for me on the set. I stood up, wiped my face off, and told him that I’d need to make a quick stop at the makeup trailer on my way. He radioed this information to the 1st AD, and told me to hurry.

I walked to the makeup trailer, taking great pains to look at the ground, the walls, the sky . . . anything that would keep my head turned away from the Star Trek V stage.

I sat in the chair, and my makeup artist, Jana, began to touch me up. “I heard about what Shatner did to you.” she said. “Fuck him. He’s a jerk, and has been for years. He’s probably just jealous that you’re younger, better looking, and more famous than he is.”

I sighed. I didn’t want him to be a jerk, and I didn’t think that he was jealous of anything. I was certain that I’d done something wrong.

“I guess so.” I said, as noncommittally as I could.

She put down her makeup sponge, and turned the chair away from the mirror, so I was facing her. She looked me in the eye, and said, “Don’t let him upset you, Wil. He’s not worth it.”

“Okay,” I lied. I knew I was going to be upset about this for a long time.

“Okay,” she said, and dusted my nose with translucent powder.

I walked into the stage, and took my seat on the bridge of the Enterprise D, next to Brent Spiner.

“I heard about Shatner,” Brent said.

Jesus, was this on the news or something?

“Yeah,” I said.

“You know he wears a toupee, right?”

I giggled. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“Yep. He’s balder than old baldy up there.” He tossed a gold thumb over his shoulder at Patrick.

I giggled some more, as the stored up adrenaline coursed through my veins. “Boy, that’s pretty bald.”

“Yep.” Brent put his hands up on his console.

The first AD said, “This will be picture,” and we all focused.

“Picture is up! Very quiet please!” He shouted, “Roll camera!”

“25 apple, take 1,” the sound mixer said, “Sound has speed!”

The camera assistant clapped the slate.

“Action!” said the director.

Patrick entered from his Ready Room, and walked to the captain’s chair.

“Mister Crusher, take us out of orbit, and lay in a course for the Ramatis system, warp 6” He said.

“Aye sir,” my fingers danced over the CONN. “Course laid in, sir.”

“Make it so, Mister Crusher.”

The camera creaked back on the dolly track, as the Enterprise D went to warp speed.

“Cut! Great! New deal!” the director said.

“Wrong set! We are moving to the Observation lounge for scene 55!” said the 1st AD, “The actors can relax for about 10 minutes.”

On my way back to my trailer, the DGA trainee stopped me. “Gene Roddenberry would like you to call his office, Wil.”

“Okay.”

I changed direction, and walked to the stage phone. My heart began to beat hard in my chest. Had Gene heard too? WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER had known Gene for over 20 years . . . if Gene knew that I’d upset him, maybe Gene would be upset at me, too!

I passed the craft service table, setup behind the starfield that hung next to the Ten-Forward set. Michael Dorn and Jonathan Frakes were pouring cups of coffee.

“To hell with him, W,” Jonathan said. I love it when he calls me “W.”

“To hell with who?” Michael asked.

“Shatner shit all over Teen Idol,” Jonathan told him.

Beneath his latex Klingon forehead, Michael rolled his eyes. “You want me to kick his ass, Wil?”

“No, that’s okay. Thanks, though.” I said.

“I’ve got your back, man,” Michael said.

I dialed Gene’s office, and told his secretary that I was returning Gene’s call.

“He’s expecting your call. Just a second, Wil.” There were two clicks, and Gene’s soft, gentle, friendly voice was in my ear.

“Hi Wil, how are you?”

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“Fine, fine. I understand that you had some words with Bill Shatner today.”

Oh my god. Was he going to be mad at me?

“Uh . . . yeah . . .” I said.

“Wil, Bill Shatner is an ass, don’t you worry about him, okay? I am proud to have you on my show. Don’t you ever forget that.”

Did Gene just call WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER an ass? And then he said that he was proud of me?

“Gosh, Gene, thanks,” was the best I could do.

“Come by my office soon, okay?”

“Okay.”

“See you then.” He hung up.

I began to feel better. Although a childhood hero had kicked me in the nuts, a bunch of people who I cared about and respected had all made efforts to put it in perspective. I felt loved, and protected.

The next day, when I got to work, there was an envelope on my dressing room table. It was addressed “To Master Wil Wheaton” and was “From the Office of William Shatner.”

I dropped my backpack, and tore it open.

Inside, there was a single three by eight note card. The Paramount Pictures logo was stamped into the top in blue, and “William Shatner” was stamped into the bottom in gold.

There was a message typed on the card, which said,

Dear Wil,

You are a fine young actor, and I would be honored to have you on my bridge any day.

Sincerely yours,

Bill

He’d signed it in ink. Blue ink. My mouth hung open, and my hands trembled a bit. I held it up to the light, to make sure it was real. The phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Wil? It’s Gene,” I recognized his voice immediately.

“Good morning Gene,” I said.

“I spoke with Bill Shatner yesterday, and he should be dropping a note off for you today.”

“It’s already here,” I said. I read it to him.

“Good. You are a fine young actor,” he said. “See you later.”

I couldn’t believe it. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek and The Great Bird of the Galaxy, had called WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER, Captain James T. Kirk and director of Star Trek V, and asked him to apologize to me, Wil Wheaton, 16 year-old acting ensign and drooling fan boy. Of all the wonderful gifts Gene gave me across the years, that is one of the most fondly remembered, because I know that without Gene’s intervention that note never would have been written.

In 2002, Bill and I played together on a special Star Trek edition of the game show Weakest Link. He was friendly and warm toward me the entire time. Several months later, I asked him on Slashdot, “Are we cool, or what? I mean, I always thought you didn’t like me, but I had a good time with you at Weakest Link watching the World Series. So are we cool, or was that just pre-game strategy?” He replied: “We are so cool, we’re beyond cool. We are in orbit man. I don’t do pre-game strategy. I look forward to some personal time with you.

Here I am, with Paul and Storm, performing this in 2011:

Here’s a comment I posted to my Facebook:

Every time, he’s been kind toward me, engaging once or twice, and never cruel or dismissive. We aren’t buddies, but we’re cordial. I’m okay with that.

1) the words

2) the pictures

What’s better than Paul Bettany? Two Paul Bettanys. And that’s exactly what fans got in the finale of WandaVision as two versions of Vision showed down in a massive battle all across Westview.

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It’s been a full twenty-four hour since Charlie has been gotten, which is enough time for me to say that based on early observations, she is, indeed, a very good dog.

Yes, yes, all dogs are good dogs, I know, I know. But I mean that Charlie has shown herself to be a) quite intelligent, b) very even-tempered, c) socialized to an impressively significant degree, all of which we couldn’t necessarily hoped for right out of a box for any dog, much less a shelter dog whose previous home life and treatment were a mystery to us. But so far:

* She’s been great with the cats, who at this point want to avoid and/or murder her. Her response generally has been “Okay, you don’t like me, that’s cool, maybe you’ll come around later.”

* She hasn’t really looked at the standing bowls of cat food or the cat’s water bowl; she understands which bowls are hers and uses them exclusively. If this continues this will be the first dog we won’t have to yell at for eating the cat food.

* She has met and played with the neighbor dogs Buckley and Gus, and has also gotten along well with Roxy and Roscoe, my mother-in-law’s Shih Tzus. She’s personable and doesn’t seem to need to dominate other dogs.

* Is housetrained and lets us know when she needs to go out.

* Is calm when meeting people and looks to us to make sure they’re okay, and if we indicate they are, is good with them.

* Is able to bark, but doesn’t unless there is a reason, which is a thing I love so far.

* Is a snuggly loving cuddlepup.

On the flip side, she did have some immediate separation anxiety when Krissy left the house; Charlie went to the door she left from and started whining and pawing the door. We calmed her down and I took her for a walk to dissipate some of that nervous energy. Then Krissy came back, proving that she had not in fact abandoned Charlie, which was a happy moment for the dog. When Krissy left later in the evening, Charlie was rather less stressed about it. I suspect this is part of Charlie’s learning curve that this is her new home and we’re her new people, and that we will go, but we will come back. The sooner she learns this the better, because in usual times, we do of course leave the house and even travel.

Also she was disappointed to learn she’s not allowed up on furniture, but seems to be accepting that fact pretty well.

But that’s it for “negative” behavior, at least so far.

Charlie’s actually pretty remarkable degree of calmness and situational intelligence suggests to me that the story we received of the previous owners surrendering her because she got too big for the terms of their apartment lease might actually be true; this does not seem to be a dog who was neglected or hurt, and indeed seems to have been as least lightly trained. Our previous dog, Daisy, had neglect as part of her backstory and it was something we did have to work through a bit, especially at the beginning. So far, what we get from Charlie is pretty much, “Is this my new home? Is this my new squeaky pig? I love all of you!” Which, you know, is great.

As with our previous dogs, Charlie’s most immediate and obvious bond is with Krissy, who she happily follows all through the house and wants to be by most of the time. I mean, I get it; I feel the same way. But it’s amusing to me that, given that all three of us met Charlie at the same time and gave her equal amounts of love and attention, she imprinted on Krissy the quickest. She knew that Krissy was her human, just like the rest of the dogs knew. They always know. The irony is that she, like all the other dogs, will spend most of her time with me, because I’m the one who is always home. And that’s fine. She likes me! And is happy to be with me! But she clearly loves Krissy the most. Again, I totally get it.

As a family unit, we’ve had three dogs: Kodi, Daisy and now Charlie. All of these dogs have something in common, which was that they were someone else’s dog before they were ours. Kodi had been claimed by someone who had then changed their mind for whatever reason, so when we mentioned to a friend we were thinking about getting a dog, he said he knew of a puppy who needed a home. Daisy we got through a lab rescue organization. And Charlie, now, from a shelter. I’m not someone who feels it is an absolute moral imperative to get a shelter/rescue pup (there might be specific and reasonably ethical reasons to want a “purebreed” dog, mostly relating to allergies and temperament), but all things being equal, I do think it’s strongly preferable to do so when one can, and I do recommend doing it that way. We hadn’t gone wrong with secondhand dogs before this, and with Charlie, at least from the perspective of one day in, we seem to be going three-for-three.

— JS

Bilden ovan föreställer OnePlus första smartklocka, rätt och slätt kallad ”Watch”. Klockan har en rund urtavla och en design som påminner om Samsung Galaxy Watch Active.

OnePlus Watch kör inte Wear OS utan ett eget RTOS-baserat system. Att företaget valt bort Wear OS innebär att klockan får betydligt bättre batteritid men den blir samtidigt mer begränsad, i vilket fall gällande app-utbudet.

Enheten kan enligt rykten hålla reda på syremättnad, puls, stressnivåer och träning med en batteritid på minst en vecka.

No, there’s no electricity-based pun here, my friend. It’s just that things I saw in the second season of The Mandalorian that I was certain were VFX are not, and some of the things I thought I knew for a fact were real were completely VFX. Spend an immensely enjoyable three and a half minutes and see how much you…

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Det är väldigt lätt att tro att man gör “allting rätt” och därför bli väldigt frustrerad när man fortfarande har problem. För att inte tala om när man har “testat allt” och ingenting fungerar.

Känner du igen dig? 

Jag får också den kommentaren “du som gör allting rätt…” problemet är ju bara att ingen vet vad som är exakt rätt. Det är bara en rad olika generaliseringar och antaganden. Vi antar att det är jättebra att träna – men är det det för alla? Är all träning bra? Vad händer om träningen sker helt fel tider, eller utan återhämtning?

Vi antar att rödvin är så hälsosamt. Ett glas rött för hjärta och kärl, för kolesterolet och för den dagliga dosen resveratrol. I vilka mängder då? Är det bra även vid fettlever? Är det bra även om sömnen påverkas? Eller om det aldrig blir ett glas utan tre eller fem?

Vi antar att “frukt och grönt” i generösa mängder är hälsosamt. Gäller det all frukt och allt grönt? Frukt innehåller i princip bara socker och vatten, och några vitaminer. Klarar alla den sockermängden? Grönt innehåller fibrer och antinutrienter som till exempel oxalater. Är det alltid bra med fibrer och oxalater? Även vid IBS eller läckande tarm?

Jag tror du förstår min poäng. Det är så lätt att tänka att man lever hälsosamt, byggt på dålig observation av sig själv, bristande självinventering och lösa antaganden. Faktum är att vid observationsundersökningar där folk blir tillfrågade att tycka till om sin egen livsstil eller sina egna kostvanor, så säger de allra flesta att de lever hälsosamt och att de äter varierat. Vi associerar “en varierad kost” till en bra kost utan att ha någon som helst definition för vad varierat innebär. De allra flesta äter inte alls varierat överhuvudtaget utan har kolhydrater från bröd, pasta, ris, chips, godis, bullar och kakor i klar majoritet ackompanjerat av mejeriprodukter som proteinpudding, kvarg, yoghurt, fil och smoothies.

Ej heller de som följer en mer nischad kost äter särskilt varierat egentligen. Det ligger helt enkelt inte i människans natur, och äter man bara näringstätt behövs inte mycket variation. Tanken bakom att variera är ju att få i sig alla näringsämnen, men det glöms lätt bort. Ta ett ägg till exempel, där finns nästan allting man behöver med undantag för någon enstaka mineral.

Med grundlig självinventering kan man se svart på vitt vilka resultat som ens livsstil faktiskt får. Jag började logga allting analogt för några månader sedan för att få en bättre överblick över hur mycket jag åt och vilka livsmedel, för att hitta obalanser. Bara observationen i sig förändrade ätmönstret till att bli mycket bättre, mer fokus på näringstäta livsmedel oftare (lever och märgben flera gånger i veckan) samt minskad skärmtid och mer dagsljus. Sådana saker.

“Jag gör allting rätt”

Jag tycker att resultaten får avgöra hur rätt man gör. Finns det obalanser eller negativa saker i hälsan (tex dålig sömn) så är livsstilen inte rätt nog. Det räcker inte att “äta nyttigt”, meditera, träna och allting sånt. Det är hur man gör det som är grejen: hur man äter nyttigt (vilka livsmedel? Måltidstajming? Fastefönster?) Hur man tränar (Balans? Rörlighet? Cardio? Styrka? Hur ofta? Varför?) Hur man mediterar (hur långa pass? Hur ofta? Varför? Resultat? Integration och anpassning till vardagen?) och så vidare.

Livet är så otroligt komplext. Det är fler parametrar som spelar in än vad vi kan hålla koll på samtidigt. Därför kör jag ofta multipla lösningsåtgärder samtidigt, vilket har nackdelen att jag inte riktigt vet vad som gör vad, men det brukar i alla fall ge resultat Huruvida det är rätt eller inte, det vet jag inte. Det ska i alla fall bli intressant att se vad de kommande provsvaren har att säga!

Relaterade inlägg: 

• Om strategi och upplägg för hälsoinventering
• Om att tolka tester och provsvar
• Mitt senaste leaky gut test 

Inlägget “Jag gör allting rätt, vad mer kan man göra?” dök först upp på Next Level Biohacking.

Tea.

It’s been a decade since Stargate last appeared on television, and ever since, there’s been some low-level chatter about a revival of the science fiction franchise.

Now, it sounds as though that potential revival might include at least one familiar face: Daniel Jackson, played by Michael Shanks. The word comes from a podcast interview (via Syfy Wire) with the actor and series creator Brad Wright.

Ever since Stargate went off the air with the conclusion of Stargate Universe in 2011 (and following a mini-revival with the now-defunct Stargate streaming service and community hub Stargate Command), there have been calls for the series to return in some form, especially given the appetite for new shows on streaming services. Stargate SG-1 (but not Atlantis or Universe) recently moved over to stream on Netflix, which could introduce the franchise to another generation of viewers.

Over the years, Wright has said that he’s working on something for MGM, and last year, fellow Stargate producer Joseph Mallozzi noted on his blog that “long-suffering Stargate fans may finally be rewarded. Provided a few crucial pieces fall into place.”

Of course, that was before the COVID-19 pandemic threw Hollywood through a loop, but it sounds as though those efforts to bring back the franchise are still underway in some form.

Wright interviewed Shanks for his podcast on a site called The Companion in which they reminisced about filming the show and shared a couple of updates on the potential series, including the fact that he’s been writing lines for Daniel Jackson (at the 11:38 mark):

“Writing [Daniel Jackson] — and I have written you more recently, to tease that — I gotta say how easy it is when you’re writing a familiar character, when you’ve written 10,000 lines for. I can hear your voice very clearly when I’m typing.”

Daniel Jackson was a major character for much of Stargate SG-1. First introduced in the original Stargate movie (played by James Spader) as a brilliant archeologist who unlocks the secret to activating the Stargate ring, he later returns to Earth after his wife is kidnapped by the Goa’uld, a civilization of parasitic aliens, and joins a military unit tasked with exploring the vast network of planets connected by Stargates.

While the Stargate franchise moved on from SG-1 with two additional shows, Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate Universe, the character does appear in a handful of episodes in each.

It’s unclear what a revival of the franchise might look like: Universe ended on a cliffhanger, so there’s potential for some sort of conclusion there, but that series featured a new cast and largely stood on its own. Going by Wright’s statement, it seems as though Jackson could play a role in whatever project they’re working on. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer before we see what they’re up to.

WandaVision spent the majority of its season referencing and revering 70 years of sitcom history, including Bewitched, Family Ties, and Full House, among others. But there were other classic TV series considered to serve as inspiration for Wanda’s magical reality—and one wasn’t a sitcom at all.

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Presented here for archival purposes, and also because I know not all of you go to the Twitters.

Background: Writer Matthew Yglesias, who should have known better but I guess needed the clicks, offered up the opinion that the term of copyright should be shortened to 30 years (currently in the US it’s Life+70 years). This naturally outraged other writers, because copyrights let them make money. This caused a writer by the name of Tim Lee to wonder why people were annoyed by Yglesias’ thought exercise, since he thought 30 years was more than enough time for people to benefit from their books (NB: Lee has not written a book himself), and anyway, as he said in a follow up tweet: “Nobody writes a book so that the royalties will support them in retirement decades later. They’re mostly thinking about the money they’ll make in the next few years.”

This is where I come in.

First Twitter Thread about Copyright, from yesterday:

The fuck we don't, pal

I write books as a fucking business, thank you very much, and part of my business is the long tail — creating a body of work that is saleable for many years. It's one reason I have that long contract with Tor: All my novels at one house, motivated to keep it *all* in print.

MOREOVER, a backlist I control means the ability to sell older novels as new in foreign markets and into other media formats years after the were originally published. Those additional publications/adaptations feed into backlist sales of the original work, and thus, royalties.

It is true that no one knows how well a book will sell in the long run — but then no one knows how well they will sell in the short run, either. Authors should have the opportunity to benefit from their work whenever (and if ever) it generates income, certainly in their life.

If you were to ask me the ideal copyright length for individuals: Life+25 (or 75 years, whichever is longer). This way I can profit from my work, and so can my spouse if I die before her. My grandkids can work for a living. Corporations: 75 years.

I get annoyed when people who clearly don't know my business opine about my fucking business, why I do it, and how I do it. I'm an "artist" but I tend to my career and I have built a business for a long haul. Which, yes, includes royalties as a potential long-term income stream.

Done with this nonsense now.

After this was was the usual back and forth by people who don’t seem to know much about copyright and/or have a pet idea they think is actually useful (but usually isn’t) and/or wanted to go a-trollin’. Dealing with all of these prompted a second thread about copyright, which I posted today:

1. So, as a follow-up to yesterday’s thread and comments about copyrights and lengths thereof, some additional thoughts about the practical and theoretical issues revolving copyrights, their length and copyrightable intellectual property in general. Ready? Here we go:

2. To begin, the pipe dream of a 30-year-term of copyright really is just that, a pipe dream. 179 countries including the US are signatories to the Berne Convention, a treaty tightly wound into the World Trade Organization. Here’s the actual text:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

3. Basically, the Berne Convention and its terms are the “floor” for copyrights; you can’t offer less protection than it offers and be a signatory. A copyright term of 30 years-and-out is, uhh, *less.* It is not seriously going to be considered any time soon. So, it’s Life+50, folks.

4. Now, and of course, you may rail, if your heart desires, about the injustice of this particular term of copyright; I myself would trim it back a bit to life+25. But unless you convince 179 national signatories to amend a highly standardized and *functional enough* treaty, meh.

5. Beyond that very practical issue, there’s the matter that you need to make a compelling moral, ethical AND economic argument to copyright holders that they should accede to your revised-but-certainly-less-than-current copyright term. Spoiler: Good luck with that!

6. The moral/ethical case is ironically the easiest to make: think of the public good! And indeed the public domain is a vital good, which should be celebrated and protected — no copyright should run forever. It should be tied to the benefit of the creator, then to the public.

7. Where you run into trouble is arguing to a creator that *their* copyright should be *less* than the term of their life (plus a little bit for family). It’s difficult enough to make money as a creator; arguing that tap should be stoppered in old age, is, well. *Unconvincing.*

8. Likewise, limiting that term limits a creator’s ability to earn from their work in less effable ways. If there’s a 30-year term of copyright and my work is at year 25, selling a movie/tv option is likely harder, not only because production takes a long time (trust me)…

9. …but also because after a certain point, it would make sense to just wait out the copyright and exclude the originator entirely. A too-short copyright term has an even *shorter* economic shelf-life than the term, basically. Why on earth would creators agree to that?

10. (Not to mention that if creators *do* want to offer their creations in a substantively freer fashion to the public before their copyright term expires, they already have options via Creative Commons and estate planning; for those folks, it’s a somewhat solved problem.)

11. But wait, you say, copyright terms used to be shorter! Yes! They were! And at one time they didn’t exist at all! But that’s not *now.* And *now* is what you have to work with. And *now,* it would be you who has to make a compelling argument to lower those term lengths.

12. Let me come at it from another direction: You want things in the public domain quicker. Okay! But what do I get for agreeing to this, that *replaces* my ability to control and benefit from my creations? Are you offering UBI? Universal health care? A robust safety net?

13. If the answer to the above questions is “no,” then fuck you, pal, I got no reason to play your silly game. I live in the US of fucking A, where we have shitty wages, shitty health care and a truly shitty safety net. My creations are how I eat, pay bills, and care for family.

14. “But you can just write other things!” Sure. OR, I can write other things AND still control the things I’ve written before. “But society benefits from public domain!” Sure! AND they’ll benefit even more if I can live comfortably to create more things to go into PD later.

15. Want to make a robustly moral AND economic argument for shorter copyright terms? You MUST start with building a society that does not punish creators for having those shorter terms. Until and unless you do, your words won’t convince creators whose lives depend on copyrights.

16. In sum: Practically, copyright terms are settled (and slightly too long), but even if they weren’t, we have not (in the US at least) created a society where shorter copyright terms make sense for many creators. Let’s create that society! I’d be happy to revisit this then.

17. Thanks for your attention. And now, as usual, a cat picture to close out the thread. Here’s Zeus, all casual.

Always close out on a cat.

— JS

Earlier this month, WandaVision star Paul Bettany teased a cameo for the Disney+ Marvel series that would set our hearts, minds, and vibranium aflutter.

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Polling company Gallup reports that the number of Americans identifying as LGBT is up to an all-time high, at 5.6%, and that this identification is especially high amongst the younger generations. Most surprisingly to a lot of people, I think, has been the rise in the number of (declared) bisexuals, which you can see from the numbers above has shot up considerably in recent generations. Likewise the number of (declared) trans folk is way up in younger generations than it is in previous generations. But in every case, the number of folks who are out in each generation is growing.

This will no doubt freak out some extremely conservative “family values” folks — the recruiting is working! — but I think the reason for the rise is pretty obvious: The number of LGBT people across all generations is almost certainly constant, what’s changed is the level of open social acceptance that comes with being LGBT. There’s a huge inflection point in identifying as LGBT that starts with Millennials, who are the demographic group who came of age when same-sex marriage started becoming legal in the US; Gen Z is the first group becoming adults in an era where it is completely legal.

Millennials and Gen Z are also the demographic groups who regularly see positive and varied LGBT representation in common culture, with, I think, trans representation being especially changed in recent years. As a Gen X person, nearly all my pop culture trans people were people with something to hide, played for comedy or disgust. Millennials and Gen Z get to see trans people in a far wider range of roles and situations, and sympathetically. And that matters. When you see yourself, you can be yourself.

Not that we live now live in a perfect world for LGBT folks, of course, particularly for trans folks. Transphobia is the new conservative hotness these days; having lost all the other culture wars, this is where they’ve decided to plant their flag. As someone who knows and cares for trans folk, it’s exasperating (to use the mildest possible term for it) to see the conservative outrage machine revving up on them. But that’s American conservatism for you, isn’t it. The American conservative prayer is Jesus Christ, let me have someone punch down on. Trans people are who they’re punching down on today.

Also, seeing the increase in the number of people identifying as bisexual, the thought I immediately had was I bet that’s driven by women. Anecdotally, the number of women I personally know who identify as bisexual is far higher than the number of men who do so. The Gallup poll seems to bear out that anecdotal observation of mine: “Women are more likely to identify as bisexual — 4.3% do, with 1.3% identifying as lesbian and 1.3% as something else. Among men, 2.5% identify as gay, 1.8% as bisexual and 0.6% as something else.” I personally don’t suspect women are actually more bisexual than men; I think men think they lose “man points” for coming out as bisexual. Patriarchy! It’s a hell of a drug.

(Also, not appearing in this poll: Non-binary, genderfluid and ace folks, who, again anecdotally, I see far more openly represented in Millennials and Gen Z than I do in older generations. I’d be curious to see the numbers there and how they interact with the other components of the queer spectrum, in terms of identity.)

We have more work to do before everyone feels free to be who they are. But it’s still nice to see more people feeling they can be so. If you feel more able to be who you are today, then I’m happy for you. And if you don’t well, I hope I can be part of making the world be a place where you feel you can.

— JS

The first meeting I had with a studio (Warners) about doing a live action adaptation of Sandman was early 1990. I told them I didn’t want them to do it, because I was writing Sandman and it would be distracting, and they agreed.

 The first Sandman movie scripts to be written were in 1996, by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio – http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/SANDMAN.cover.html – their introduction to it, circa 1998, is at http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/SANDMAN.intro.html, and there are links there to the script as well.

There were other Sandman movie scripts written, some less good than others along the way, and I wasn’t involved. This was mostly because I had no power or authority, and I was the guy who wrote the original comics. Here’s a review of one of the less good versions: http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/2571

There were attempts to get it made for TV – an HBO version that James Mangold wanted to make that foundered circa 2009 was the most interesting, and more movies: Jack Thorne wrote a wonderful script for a 2014 version that Joe Gordon-Levitt would have directed (and played the Corinthian in), that died when Warners moved it from Warners to New World, and so on.

The biggest thing that changed was, I wrote and showran Good Omens, and people loved it, and suddenly realised that I knew what I was talking about. That having me involved in Sandman would be a good thing. So I became an Executive Producer, as part of a creative triumvirate. (Allan Heinberg is the one on set doing all the work. I’m the one looking over his shoulder and saying “Good call,” or “I like the second version best” or “tell them I said no”.)

I think they’re doing a wonderful job of making something that feels a whole lot like Sandman, and that looks like Sandman too.

So where you’re seeing ‘a sudden “I want my books to be adapted for live action” craze’, I’m seeing a slow process that’s been grinding on for the last 31 years, and that, currently, is producing something wonderful, that I’m proud to be involved in.

And, fortunately, it’s not a zero sum game. You can have the Sandman graphic novels, the Audible series AND the TV series. One won’t stop the others from existing.

jaubaius:

Octopus walking on the beach

Excuse me but, Lieutenant Trouble would like a word.

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sirfrogsworth:

When you can destroy a false Republican talking point using fuzzy penguins that is a win-win in my book. 

Last week’s episode of WandaVision gave us a moment that rocked our world and Wanda Maximoff’s alike. Much to do has already been made about just what it might all mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large—but maybe it’s not quite worth getting ahead of ourselves just yet.

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As long as we got each other / We got the world spinnin’ right in our hands - Wanda Maximoff, basically.

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A bonafide treatment for the common cold has eluded scientists for decades. But recent animal research from a team in Australia suggests that their experimental drug—delivered via nasal spray—could help the immune system fend off all sorts of respiratory infections. The treatment is now set to be tested out in a…

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När romanläsningen slog igenom i delar av västvärlden i slutet av 1700-talet och tog verklig fart under 1800-talet förfasades folk. Här gick människor runt och levde sig in i fiktiva världar, alltid med näsan i en bok. Det var ett beteende på kant med arbetsmoralen. Läsningen förknippades med beteenden hos aristokratin och hovet som den allt mer dominerande medelklassen vände sig mot, lyx och sysslolöshet. Den som läste romaner förslappades till kropp och själ, ägnade sig inte åt någonting nyttigt och uppbyggligt. Här satt kvinnor och läste fiktion istället för att ta hand om hem och familj. Lite som debatten om datorspel i dag: de ägnar för mycket tid framför skärmen, rör inte på sig som de borde om de tog sitt ansvar för folkhälsan, missköter förmodligen sina läxor och lär sig inte att läsa ordentligt. En generation halvanalfabeter med dålig hållning bristande social förmåga och så vidare.

I jämförelsen mellan boken och datorspelet är det lätt att konstatera att det som är gammalt har status och det som är nytt och förknippat med ungdomen alltid betraktas med viss misstänksamhet, men att sätta punkt där blir en väldigt grund analys. Det finns en anledning till att folk oroar sig mer över att ungdomen läser så lite än att den inte går på opera: vi lever i ett samhälle där så mycket i livet och så många arbetsuppgifter kräver att vi hanterar stora mängder information, inte minst i text. Att läsa bok efter bok tränar mycket tydligt en färdighet vi vet att samhället behöver. Det är fortfarande arbetsmoralen som pekar med hela handen. Dess behov har ändrats, inte dess närvaro. Sedan kanske vi i framtiden kommer tycka samma sak om datorspelande, men än så länge är det inte fullt lika stor acceptans för argumenten om World of Warcraft-gillenas mellanchefsförberedande roll.

Läs poesi, barn. Arbetslinjen kräver det.

Hey, you know that sweet remastered edition of the beloved ’90s sci-fi series Babylon 5 that came to Amazon and iTunes a few months ago? Well, the spruced-up titular space station has now docked over at HBO Max, too, meaning all 110 episodes of J. Michael Straczynski’s space opera-cum-political drama are finally…

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