I can't quite choke down Hollywood

A reporter I know was on a chartered flight with the Utah Jazz one year near Christmas when the NBA players took up a collection to give the airplane staff a Christmas tip for all their efforts to serve the team. A worthy cause for sure.

But the reporter wasn't just asked to donate, he was asked to donate a specific sum of money by an all-time great NBA player that isn't known for being subtle. The amount was uncomfortably large for the reporter who made at the most $80,000 (but likely less) a year. Meanwhile the poorest rookie on the plane made at least ten times that amount and received a daily per-diem that covered the asked-for tip three times while the reporter's daily travel expenses would barely cover the demanded donation. Other veteran players made more than 100 times the reporter's annual salary but were clueless of the inequality. The reporter, who counted to some degree on the goodwill of players for interviews, paid up.

The Golden Globes celebrated television and film Sunday night and I watched a portion of the program. I am a bit of a story-telling junkie and film especially interests me so I like to see what wins.

Ricky Gervais hosted and was funny because he didn't take Hollywood's stars or the awards too seriously, realizing the ceremony is rich, famous people getting together to congratulate each other. Still film and television is sometimes more than entertainment and stretches into art that can move the soul and enlighten the mind. Ideally, award shows publicize such films to the masses.

The stars gathered Sunday wore ribbons as a symbol of those in devastated Haiti and during the broadcast they took opportunities to remind viewers to donate at NBC.com at a special Golden Globes link to get relief money to the needy.

I can't argue with the sentiment. Apparently George Clooney, according to a few who spoke on television, didn't even want to be at the Globes and will soon be organizing a phone bank and a telethon to raise money. Again, nice sentiment. But I would like to know the combined income of all the producers, writers, directors and actors in the Golden Globe audience and I would like to know how much money they have donated to the cause. I want to know if say, 10 percent of the money made by 'Avatar' has been sent to Haiti. I would sleep better knowing one percent of its $1 billion at the box office is on its way, sent by the studios, actors and talent assembled to take kudos on television.

How about the giant sponsoring companies of the telecast pitch in a percentage of what they paid in advertising last night trying to get people to buy mascara? Maybe NBC could send five percent of its money made on the telecast to Haitians. I don't fault Clooney for setting up phone banks. I congratulate him for it but I would like to know that he, like viewers were urged to do, dug deep and gave what he could.

Maybe instead of spending money on limos last night all the stars could have taken taxies or carpooled and sent the difference to Haitians and made a dramatic statement by doing so. Such actions would carry a lot more weight than looking in the camera and telling me to look into my heart. Or, they could show up in jeans and send the red-carpet dress money they didn't spend to Haiti or donate the rental expenses of costume jewelry. If they did that and then asked me to dig deep and give what I could I would feel a lot better about it. (Yes, I realize this would hurt dress designers, jewelry folks and limo companies and I don't want an economic boycott, it is just that these things seem especially overboard.)

My favorite idea is that movie studios all get together with the support of stars and television networks (often owned by the same conglomerates) and pick a day as "Haiti movie day" when they promote and then donate all the proceeds of one day's box office to Haiti. I bet the public would support this in a big way, knowing the $10 movie ticket would help victims of the earthquake.

To be clear, we should all donate time and money and the Hollywood stars are doing the right thing by promoting help but I would feel a lot better knowing they are donating a proportional amount - or perhaps a greater proportion - than the average middle-class donor.

And, so as not to be thought of as a hypocrite, I have given time this week to helping stock and supply food for the hungry and I will be making Haiti donations as well but none of that had anything to do with prompting of stars. Incidentally, I hope I am dead wrong and would love to learn that all those big-income stars with big-expense lifestyles have already done the right thing.

Here are some stories about what citizens of Utah (none of them rich or famous) are doing for Haitians:
Out of Haiti comes relief and sorrow
Utahns assemble kits for Haitians
Salt Lake couple working to help Haitian orphans
Family's prayers answered by loved ones — safe and sound
LDS medical team arrives in Haiti
Dispersing LDS aid challenging

Fictional Frontiers

From time-to-time I am invited on a radio program that airs live in Philly called "Fictional Frontiers." The host is Sohaib, who uses the program to have a serious discussion about popular culture.

Often the discussions are live, which was difficult for me when they were Sunday mornings but recently they moved to Monday afternoons in the City of Brotherly Love, which is great for my schedule. Once I called him from Mexico on a family vacation which was pretty fun actually.

Monday the 11th of January he will air a recorded segment we did almost a month ago where we look back on the impact of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," movies had on the world of movies and fantasy. I can't lie, I find the whole radio-guest concept pretty fun. I can't say why exactly but I guess I like to air my views in the same way I like to blog or write for TheOneRing.net.

Since I edit and do other things for a living, having a writing outlet really helps tremendously for the comfort of my soul. I am not sure the radio doesn't do the same thing. I am told once a month, usually on the phone, that I have a great radio voice and should "do" radio for a living. It sounds fun actually but I am confident that in reality such a career might actually pay worse than journalism and would definitely be far less glamorous than it seems at first blush.

Anyway, being slightly self promotional, if you care to listen live Monday you can do so here or here. After about a week or so you can pick up the program on a podcast here where a lot of great past shows are archived, some with me, many more without. It airs live from 5 - 6 p.m. EST.

A nomination for TheOneRing.net

I spend a fair amount of energy and time building and supporting TheOneRing.net. Long story short: I had some passion, accidentally crossed paths with others who were passionate about shared interests and made some dear friends who had started TORn, a site I used and admired.

For a few years now I have presented for the site at conventions, written, photographed and helped with events around the country including San Diego, Atlanta, Orlando and New York. I have had some spectacular, memorable times. I serve as senior staff and consider it an honor to work on something great for the J.R.R. Tolkien community with people I respect.

The site has been nominated by Total Film Magazine, which I have read here and there over the years, as "Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog". It is a magazine and a Website I happen to think is respectable and cool, so the nomination and possible award means something.

Voting for the winner however, will pretty much pit the audience of the other nominations against the fanbase of the franchises they service. It will end up being Harry Potter fans vs. Twilight fans vs. Tolkien fans and clearly (at least to me) one group is less prone to enthusiastic voting and swamping the poll. It is challenging to match the enthusiasm of a largely teen audience who perhaps isn't widely read and may lack some perspective of where their favorite books fit (if at all) in the literature landscape. I don't mean that as an insult either. I love passionate fans.

I shouldn't care who wins, especially since the voting is done by fans and to outsiders all the sites probably look the same.

But I do care.

Can't help it.

I don't have proof but I actually don't think some of the other Websites would exist, or at least not as they do, if not for TORn. "Our" site (I have no actual ownership) owes a debt to TheForce.net. TORn came along in 1999 and helped put fans websites on the map. Anyway, I am really pulling for TORn despite knowing better.

In related news, a segment I recorded for radio show Fictional Frontiers will air soon and then be available as podcast. Details are on the site but this was in behalf of TheOneRing and I quite enjoyed the chat.

15 years ago, 10 years from now

In this photo, from the left is John, Russ (not a subject of this blog post), Rick and me. Like my bandanna?

Christmas brought one of my long-time friends back to Utah and although he was busy with family, he made a request of me and two other friends that we clear an afternoon and a night and participate with him in a ritual almost forgotten 15 years before.

All of us were unmarried back then and all of us were friends collectively and in every combination of pairs or triplicates that you can concoct. Brad (the returning friend - not pictured above) had a video class in those days in college and we made some movies to fulfill his assignments and had fun in the meantime.

Making use of some of that equipment we interviewed and video taped each other back then about our lives and our futures and hopes and dreams. We gathered again, 15 years later (instead of the intended 10) to have another taping session. Brad, John, Rick and I scheduled time away from the family and met together to do just that. Ideally we might have reviewed the old tape but one interview was lost and we watched a couple of the old college movie assignments (and wow did I have long hair) and proceeded with our updated interviews.

We are in interesting mix: A self-employed business owner (Rick), a world-traveling, high-level project manager (Brad) for an electronics retailer that all readers would know, a mechanical engineer (John) and this humble blogger. All of us married, none ever divorced (but with at least two close calls) and all with at least one offspring, all home owners and doing about what almost-40 people scattered around the middle-class demographic charts do. After a really pleasing dinner at Stoneground, we retired to tape ourselves for our personal history.

I learned a lot listening and talking and I can't begin to hope to put it all in one post. It was easy for the four of us to talk about deep and personal things, explore corners of our lives that few ever get a glimpse into and to put our thoughts about our pasts and futures down. I learned that we still trust each other and that our friendship never misses a beat despite the space of months or years between visits. There were no uncomfortable moments or uncertainty; we were as we always have been. When we do get together in larger groups with friends and family in tow, we still relate but not at the same level. Different social dynamics appropriately color how we interact.

The interviews have played across my mind a lot since they happened and I found the whole experience revelatory and inspiring, especially the subject of the future. We all agreed to meet in 2019 to take stock of our lives again. It makes me want to be better and to do more. Not to impress my friends but to make good use of my life. I think I may use the method with my children to record their lives and personalities and their visions of the future. I will refer to this event often for the next few months but I believe the experience was subtly and importantly life-changing.