This is off the main page, and it's unlikely anyone will read this, but . ..
It's really been bothering me that this was modded as flamebait. That wasn't my intention, at all. I have an iBook, and I'm an Apple fan. I wasn't trying to troll, or cause any flamewars.
It just bugs me when I'm misunderstood, and I wanted to set the record straight.
I think you can add The White House, and pretty much every other aspect of governement to this list.
I've been arguing for years that the government has failed to represent the public interest, or the interests of the people who are supposed give it power.
We must realize that this government doesn't work for us, but actively against us, and throw them all out.
I've heard of this other show that was brought back because of fan reaction and lobbying.
Some Sci-Fi show from the 60s.
Ordinarily, studios just don't listen to audiences, as counter intuitive as that seems, especially today, when most studios are just arms of a gigantic multi-national corporation (that's controlled by the Gnomes of Zurich with help from the girl scouts and the orbital mind control lasers)
I must admit, when I saw that not only had my question been answered, but answered in the affirmative, I did a stupid little geek dance, with a nerd flourish at the end.
If you liked those cool "Game and Watch" games from the 80s, like Cement Factory, and Octopus, and the rest, you may want to get a GBA.
When I was at E3 this year, Nintendo was showing off this cool card-reader thing which hooks into your GBA, which reads entire games off of trading cards and stores them in memory. So you can buy a pack of trading cards, and get the G&W version of Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, etc.
They also offer Pokemon cards, but Slashdotters are *way* too cool for that crap, right?
However, he has a picture labeled 'the troublesome deflector dish' which he just used some brown and white blocks instead of the gray. Its been a while since I played with legos, but weren't there some parabolic dish type things that would have made a reasonable deflector shield?
See, the thing is, if you made it out of those parabolic dish-thingies, it'd be really, really tough to modify the deflector dish to interface with the sensor array, and emit a neutrino pulse into the heart of the anomaly.
Is there ANYWHERE I can go, where I'm not going to be subject to obnoxious marketing?
I wish they'd spend their time, energy, and money on making advertising less intrusive and less obnoxious. Then I may actually pay attention to something I read.
If this keeps up, everywhere we go it's going to be like a trade show, where all the advertisers are just trying to make the most noise and flash the most lights to grab your attention away from the other guy.
Directors do have creative some degree of creative control, and they are able to influence the tone and mood of their episodes. You wouldn't see an X-files director bringing the same style to, say, Hidden Hills...though it would make for an interesting story!
I know what you're talking about, in reference to shot composition and whatnot. That's usually all the director. Lighting, however, is all the Director of Photography. Usually the DP on a TV show that uses the same sets will have preset lighting (that's why the bridge and Ready Room always look the same, for instance) because it saves time. But! When a creative director tells the DP that he's going for something very dark and moody, or very bright and joyful, the DP will usually jump at the chance to do something creative...as long as it doesn't take too much time.
If I made it sound like TV directors are just point-and-shoot people, I really did them a grave disservice. They are afforded creative freedoms, and encouraged to make an episode their own, to be sure...just as long as it doesn't take too much time.
Okay. Here's my answer, based on my experience: When you're working in television, the director rarely has much room for "vision." The studio expects things delivered on a certain (usually unrealistic) timetable, and the director had better meet that schedule if he wants to come back.
When you see the same director over and over again, it's usually because he or she gets things delivered on time, and "gets" the show.
Less important, but still considered, is how well that director gets along with the cast. We had more than one director who raced through the schedule, but was a tool, and didn't get asked back. Conversely, we had some directors who we absolutely loved, but they were just too damn slow, so they suffered a similar fate.
By comparison to TOS, we had a bit of latitude on TNG, because we were first-run syndication, and our directors were more or less answering to Gene, and then Rick, who were answering to Paramount. I'd suspect that it was different back on TOS, because they were first-run network. AFAIK, we were both considered "low budget," but I'm not sure how that factored into the studio's expectations.
The two guys you mentioned, Les and Cliff, were really good guys, but vastly different. Cliff tore through the schedule, never wasting shots or over-covering scenes. He was a little gruff with me, but I'm sure I deserved it. I seem to recall the other cast members really liking him.
Les started out as a First Assistant Director in our first season, and worked his way up to director (Star Trek has a long history of promotion from within...it's pretty cool).
Everyone liked Les, but boy was he slow! We usually referred to his episodes as "Late Night With Les," because we'd go into overtime so much. I think they cut him some slack, though, because he was part of the family, and his episodes were always pretty good.
When I was working on "Nemesis," Patrick and I walked past our old stages where they now film "Enterprise" on our way back to the make-up trailer one night. We saw some people we knew who were still at work, even though it was nearly 10PM on a Friday night.
We asked how it was going, and the reply was, "Oh, you know...having fun on 'Late Night With Les.'"
I was happy to hear that he was still in the family.
Slashdot Mirror
This is off the main page, and it's unlikely anyone will read this, but . . .
It's really been bothering me that this was modded as flamebait. That wasn't my intention, at all. I have an iBook, and I'm an Apple fan. I wasn't trying to troll, or cause any flamewars.
It just bugs me when I'm misunderstood, and I wanted to set the record straight.
Well, they just showed a shot of him. Thick black glasses, flat top, blue Star Trek : TOS shirt, no hat.
TOS shirt?!
TOS shirt?!
TEE OH ESS SHIRT?!
Oh Cory, why hast thou forsaken me?
I gotta agree with Cory Doctorow, who said "Thanks, Apple, for making my computer less functional."
Very well said. Very well said.
I think you can add The White House, and pretty much every other aspect of governement to this list.
I've been arguing for years that the government has failed to represent the public interest, or the interests of the people who are supposed give it power.
We must realize that this government doesn't work for us, but actively against us, and throw them all out.
Am I the only person who glanced at this headline and thought that Slashdot was posting headinlines in leet?
I've heard of this other show that was brought back because of fan reaction and lobbying.
Some Sci-Fi show from the 60s.
Ordinarily, studios just don't listen to audiences, as counter intuitive as that seems, especially today, when most studios are just arms of a gigantic multi-national corporation (that's controlled by the Gnomes of Zurich with help from the girl scouts and the orbital mind control lasers)
No problem. Just pick it up, and send the bill to Rick Berman, c/o Paramount Pictures.
. . . but they cut me out, in an effort to be as authentic as possible.
Somebody on Slashdot modding down Wil Wheaton, yeah right! :)
:)
Heh. I think it's a hobby for some people to take their mod points and burn them hitting me -1 five times in a row.
Hey, at least this time it's for a good reason.
This is totally off topic, and should probably be moderated as such, but I just wanted to say that Kevin Rose is a really, really, really great guy.
:)
And he didn't punch me when I made fun of him drawing on his face when I co-hosted his show.
Maybe we can use this technology for good, and we'll finally be able to tell the difference between the Trekkers from the Trekkies.
Dr. Who fans, you're next.
The Lone Gunmen are killed in the final episode.
You have been warned.
Well, quasi-geek. I'm sorry, Wil, but anybody whose photo has been in Teen Beat has a limit to how purely geek they can be.
Hey, I was young and I needed the money.
I must admit, when I saw that not only had my question been answered, but answered in the affirmative, I did a stupid little geek dance, with a nerd flourish at the end.
Thank you, Slashdot.
No, thank you! I...thank you!
You mean 555 is the area code?!
All this time, I've been thinking it was the exchange.
No wonder none of my calls ever get through.
Oh well, at least every car I hop into has keys already in it, and I never need change from a cabbie.
I believe it's program Barkley 6 9, Holodeck 3.
Ewww! I'm in that one!
God I hate slash!
I've got this, uh, friend, you know.
He doesn't own a computer, so he thought I should ask Slashdot what, uh, adult movies are 3D, and where he could, uhm, get them, or something.
I must respectfully disagree with Michael on this one.
James Bond films have always reflected the times in which they were made, for better (1960's) or worse (1970s-80s).
Right now, an invisible car is just what you'd expect from a Bond picture, IMHO.
If we needed a reason to dislike DAD, look no further than the TERRIBLE visual effects.
If you liked those cool "Game and Watch" games from the 80s, like Cement Factory, and Octopus, and the rest, you may want to get a GBA.
When I was at E3 this year, Nintendo was showing off this cool card-reader thing which hooks into your GBA, which reads entire games off of trading cards and stores them in memory. So you can buy a pack of trading cards, and get the G&W version of Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, etc.
They also offer Pokemon cards, but Slashdotters are *way* too cool for that crap, right?
However, he has a picture labeled 'the troublesome deflector dish' which he just used some brown and white blocks instead of the gray. Its been a while since I played with legos, but weren't there some parabolic dish type things that would have made a reasonable deflector shield?
See, the thing is, if you made it out of those parabolic dish-thingies, it'd be really, really tough to modify the deflector dish to interface with the sensor array, and emit a neutrino pulse into the heart of the anomaly.
Jesus.
WTF is it with advertising?
Is there ANYWHERE I can go, where I'm not going to be subject to obnoxious marketing?
I wish they'd spend their time, energy, and money on making advertising less intrusive and less obnoxious. Then I may actually pay attention to something I read.
If this keeps up, everywhere we go it's going to be like a trade show, where all the advertisers are just trying to make the most noise and flash the most lights to grab your attention away from the other guy.
Precisely why from now on I will NEVER use my credit card when making crack purchases.
But if you don't use your credit card, you're missing out on the Cash Back! And the Bonus Miles!
Why get just crack, when you could earn credit towards a trip to Bolivia?
Well, let me clarify:
Directors do have creative some degree of creative control, and they are able to influence the tone and mood of their episodes. You wouldn't see an X-files director bringing the same style to, say, Hidden Hills...though it would make for an interesting story!
I know what you're talking about, in reference to shot composition and whatnot. That's usually all the director. Lighting, however, is all the Director of Photography. Usually the DP on a TV show that uses the same sets will have preset lighting (that's why the bridge and Ready Room always look the same, for instance) because it saves time. But! When a creative director tells the DP that he's going for something very dark and moody, or very bright and joyful, the DP will usually jump at the chance to do something creative...as long as it doesn't take too much time.
If I made it sound like TV directors are just point-and-shoot people, I really did them a grave disservice. They are afforded creative freedoms, and encouraged to make an episode their own, to be sure...just as long as it doesn't take too much time.
Hey! He's Bill. I'm Wil. There can be only one!
Okay. Here's my answer, based on my experience: When you're working in television, the director rarely has much room for "vision." The studio expects things delivered on a certain (usually unrealistic) timetable, and the director had better meet that schedule if he wants to come back.
When you see the same director over and over again, it's usually because he or she gets things delivered on time, and "gets" the show.
Less important, but still considered, is how well that director gets along with the cast. We had more than one director who raced through the schedule, but was a tool, and didn't get asked back. Conversely, we had some directors who we absolutely loved, but they were just too damn slow, so they suffered a similar fate.
By comparison to TOS, we had a bit of latitude on TNG, because we were first-run syndication, and our directors were more or less answering to Gene, and then Rick, who were answering to Paramount. I'd suspect that it was different back on TOS, because they were first-run network. AFAIK, we were both considered "low budget," but I'm not sure how that factored into the studio's expectations.
The two guys you mentioned, Les and Cliff, were really good guys, but vastly different. Cliff tore through the schedule, never wasting shots or over-covering scenes. He was a little gruff with me, but I'm sure I deserved it. I seem to recall the other cast members really liking him.
Les started out as a First Assistant Director in our first season, and worked his way up to director (Star Trek has a long history of promotion from within...it's pretty cool).
Everyone liked Les, but boy was he slow! We usually referred to his episodes as "Late Night With Les," because we'd go into overtime so much. I think they cut him some slack, though, because he was part of the family, and his episodes were always pretty good.
When I was working on "Nemesis," Patrick and I walked past our old stages where they now film "Enterprise" on our way back to the make-up trailer one night. We saw some people we knew who were still at work, even though it was nearly 10PM on a Friday night.
We asked how it was going, and the reply was, "Oh, you know...having fun on 'Late Night With Les.'"
I was happy to hear that he was still in the family.
...and seeing as how you are The Man, if you want one, you can have one. I'll even autograph it for you. ;-)