March 12, 2002

Make 'em Switch Blogs Andrew

Make 'em Switch Blogs

Andrew Sullivan, pointing out that William Shatner now has a blog, asks "should the rest of us retire immediately?" I'm not sure. Here's Bill:

I also had a funny moment with Eddie Murphy, when we were filming a particular scene. We began ad libbing a lot of it, and every take was different. I fell into it, due to the fact that I have to ad lib a lot in my life! I'm not sure which take they used, or even if they used the scene at all, so I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. Either way, I had a great time.

Now I'm not saying that andrewsullivan.com wouldn't benefit from a few posts about Eddie Murphy now and again. And I really like this fascinating look at the craftsmanship behind the magic of the ad libbing process. (It turns out, when you ad lib, every take ends up being different.)

But TJ Hooker is no Sulli. Where's the Clinton-bashing? The Krugman-bashing? The Tina-bashing. In fact, there appears to be no bashing of any kind on williamshatner.com. I'm sorry. That just doesn't work for me. There are no Sontag Awards, nor even a single Derbyshire Award (today's DA, by the way, from Lew Rockwell, really must be seen to be believed.) I shudder to think what kind of book club Shatner would run. And what about Sullivan's knack for finding the hagiographical content in every last quirky anecdote about GWB? Would Shatner dare to refer to the President of the United States as "Frodo"? Not bloody likely.

No, you can't have a functional blogosphere without Sullivan, Shatner notwithstanding. Perhaps, though, the blogosphere needs Sulli and TJ? Long ago, when Jello Biafra was running for mayor in San Francisco, he was asked for his solution to the problems between gays and cops in the city. His answer (presumably "ad libbed," as they say in the business) was "make 'em switch uniforms." Read Sullivan's letters section; then click on interact with this post on williamshatner.com. Imagine how cool it would be if they answered each other's mail for one weird, parallel universe week.

Here's one for Bill:

A letter-writer last week upheld Krugman's credentials, which are indeed impressive, as a bulwark against the tidal wave of ridicule rising to swamp his columnist career. Fair enough. Krugman's done the heavy lifting of study and peer-reviewed publication, so we shouldn't all blow him off, despite the burn rate he's exhibiting on his credibility right now.

Got that, Captain?

And here's a batch of Shatner's mail for Sullivan to answer:

...we're all glad to have the chance to hear your opinion and get an idea of some behind-the-scenes relations, but I hope your posts will go back to being a bit more about what goes on around here as well; beyound just what goes on around you. I'm not saying that it dosn't matter to us what goes on around you, though...

...Well, I am rambling. I am losing myself in all of these ideas., but I do feel that Star Trek hit on something in our national ethos. I am not sure what that is. Kind of hard to define...

...Bill, you're not getting older, you're getting BETTER! [posted twice--ed.]...

...Personally, when it comes down to it, I depend on my sense of humor when bad times strike. I try to see the funny side of things. Like the other day, I didn't get approved to get another car loan, so instead of sitting around dwelling on the fact, I took my wife out to the movies. On our way into the theatre, a little girl came up to me and punched me in the arm for no reason what so ever! I shook it off, my wife laughed. As we sat down in the theatre and the movie started, I realized that there was something missing. My wife! It was too dark to see where she went, eventually she and I separated, I went right and she went left. Both of us thinking that the other was right behind us. The movie started and of course, wouldn't you know it, it was ther wrong movie! They forgot to change the signs around so we and many other people got up and hurried to the other theathre before it was too late.
My wife and I laughed all night about that day and evenually, that horrible feeling of not getting the car loan faded away...

...I have always liked the original 60's Star Trek series the best. I have a very good reason too.

Posted by Dr. Frank at March 12, 2002 08:10 PM | TrackBack