I have decided to use the “three things” email as a weekly
writing exercise. I will copy the
results into my blog(s) and send it to my discussion list—thereby forcing me to
keep up with my craft in some small part.
So with no further ado:
1.
Star Wars or Star trek and why?
This is one of those questions
that would have received a different answer depending on when you asked me. Growing up, Star Wars was that classic movie
series I watched when U.S.A. ran its Christmas marathon and when my
grandparents’ friends wanted something to amuse the kids while the adults
talked about adult things. It was a fun
piece of distraction but nothing special in-and-of itself. Star trek on the other hand was one of the
few shows that I loved, that my parents let me watch, and that seemed to get
bigger and bigger the older I got.
My local cable
affiliate regularly ran marathons of the original pulpy series. Late Saturday nights were characterized by
Wild Kingdom, inspector gadget, the Muppets, and Nickelodeon’s star trek cartoon. Afterword’s we would go night-sledding in my
back yard where I would pretend that the house lights were shuttle landing
lights while I slid down a hill on an alien planet into the mysterious darkness
of a Vermont winter evening. I remember
watching the original first episode of star trek the next generation—again
while my parents were having a party. I
loved Data and Worf. Reading rainbow did
an entire episode on STNG from Geordi’s perspective. I even had a couple packs of the associated
CCG when I was in high school. I got all
the novels I could find on audio from the library of Congress.
STNG’s high production values,
interesting characters, and revealing outfits seemed fresh—edgy—scandalously
adult to my elementary school sensitivities.
The original series was interesting—gritty—ruff in a way that gave it a
certain charm long before I knew what the term “pulp” meant. People forget sometimes that while Star Wars
was a movie classic, star trek was a cultural phenomenon—especially during the
late 80s. Star trek was the bigger
“thing.” I played with Star Wars toys,
colored in a C3PO coloring book, played Star Wars video games, and even
listened to a dramatization of the movies on public radio—all from a very young
age. Both franchises were present—trek
simply was expanding at the time while Star Wars wouldn’t hit critical mass
until the 90s.
Star Wars didn’t start to grow on
me until a friend introduced me to west end’s original d6 RPG. At the same time super Nintendo had a video
game that would let you fire away with blaster, homing missiles, drive a land
speeder, pilot an x-wing, battle with lightsaber, and get tons of extra lives
using the classic Capcom cheat code. The
graphics and sound were so advanced at the time that it felt like I was playing
in the actual movie. I watched friends
play x-wing the computer game, played the Nintendo and the classic Atari cartridges,
built force sensitive x-wing pilots in the RPG, and re-watched the movies
over-and-over again. In college I
watched all the remastered movies in the theatres on opening night. My two first VCR tape purchases were a
complete collection of James Bond titles and the Star Wars trilogy (the
originals thank you very much George.)
Post-college, I read the endless collection of novels, played the West
End RPG with friends, watched the prequels, and debated the nature of good and
evil—dark side VS. light side endlessly.
Star Wars seemed to age better
than trek despite Lucas’s ham-fisted attempts at revitalizing the franchise. Leia Organa Solo was a bad ass
force-wielding, blaster shooting, negotiating princess who was equally at home
in formal garb or slave bikini duds. Han
was a gritty take no prisoners softy with a heart of gold and an iron fist for
his enemies—he shot first damn it. Mara
Jade and Lando started off as supporting characters who grew into heroes in
their own right. In addition to the
characters, I found continuity issues in the world of trek. What gave the federation the right to decide
what was best for everyone else? The conflicts
that energized me in middle school seemed trite and campy as an adult. Books like red shirts did a great job of
satiring the genre to the point where I still enjoy watching old episodes—I simply
cannot recapture the wonder they evoked in my formative years. So short answer—Star Wars.
2.
What is the hottest thing you have ever eaten?
That would be the mad dog
collectors’ edition hot sauce:
They call it a sauce but I cannot
figure out who would use it as a condiment.
It is made with 6,000,000 scoville pepper extract. I made a five-pound batch of jerky recently
using a splash of this stuff and woooo boy!
My hands burned for 24 hours just from folding it into the meat. I can only eat two pieces of the resulting
death sticks before I have to down a glass of milk. The really crazy thing is that the company
that makes this stuff has a sauce called plutonium extract which is 50%
hotter. If you are interested in what it
is like to take this murder sauce straight, the following video will be
instructive.
So, not going to give that
nonsense a try without some major rewards in the offing and probably not even
then.
3.
Which fictional character most inspires you and
why?
I hate having to choose. If I have to pick just one though, it would be
paladin from the TV western “have gun, will travel.” He combines several elements I admire—taste and
courtesy—a sense for what is right even in morally gray territory—the ability
to persevere in the face of physical and emotional challenges—the desire not to
use violence to solve problems while retaining the ability to do so when circumstances
require. I love the fact that he grapples
with what is right and wrong—not just when he is justified in throwing
down. It makes for a character equally at
home ruffing it on the range and debating poetry over a game of bridge in the
salons of high society—a warrior poet in the true sense.
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