THIS QUOTATION by Goethe has sustained me for 20 years, but it’s proving truer in the run up to the shoot for my film, Judas Kiss, next month. I share it as a followup to  the incredibly successful conclusion on Friday of our online fundraising effort on Kickstarter.com, and  just in case karma wants to continue to smile in my direction:

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.
— Goethe

IT SORT OF came out of nowhere, years later, in an interview with the U.K. magazine Radio Times. After a successful reinvention of the Doctor Who franchise in 2005, star Christopher Eccleston rather mysteriously bowed out at the end of the first season. The official announcement cited a grueling production schedule and Eccleston’s fear of being typecast. The BBC later retracted its statement and admitted it hadn’t spoken to Eccleston before it was issued.

And that’s where things remained until Eccleston’s Radio Times interview this week in the run-up to his role in the upcoming BBC biopic Lennon Naked. He tells the magazine he left the successful series because, “I was open-minded but I decided after my experience on the first series that I didn’t want to do any more. I didn’t enjoy the environment and the culture that we, the cast and crew, had to work in.”

Eccleston doesn’t explain what he found so objectionable about the environment and the culture, just that he “wasn’t comfortable.” He continues, “I thought ‘If I stay in this job, I’m going to have to blind myself to certain things that I thought were wrong.’ And I think it’s more important to be your own man than be successful, so I left.”

The Code That Dare Not Speak Its Name

The environment? Certain things? That were wrong? All these sound like code words for Something That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Especially when you consider that the “culture” was set by the show’s executive producer at the time, Russell T. Davies, notorious for his very gay Queer as Folk and for introducing the most overt gay references in the formerly staid Doctor Who franchise.

While it’s certainly troubling that Eccleston may have had some issues with appearing on a show that had him kissing another guy, it’s more troubling that this is topic is still Too Shameful to Discuss Openly. And not just by him. The narrative in the media is that Eccleston is “finally” revealing why he left the show.

Except he really hasn’t. All his vague terms are very “wink and a nod” in nature, and the media coverage is reciprocating by dutifully quoting him without really challenging what’s behind the quotes. Nobody — including the media — wants to simply say, Russell T. Davies made Doctor Who too gay for Christopher Eccleston.

If that’s not what you meant, Mr. Eccleston, perhaps you should clarify? That’s what Radio Times, the BBC and everyone else who’s covering the hell out of this story should be asking. But they haven’t. No one’s calling him to account for his comments and what lies behind them. And that’s a failure of the media, not just Christopher Eccleston.

Next: Up to the Fans to Discuss the Real Issue »

Dragon*Con recently dispatched longtime TrekTrak director Eric Watts “with thanks” for his 17 years of service and promised attendees that “nothing has prepared you for what we have in store for this year’s ‘Trek Track.’”

Wang, best known for his role as Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, accepted the position of Trek Track director. In his seven seasons on the popular series, Wang became a fan favorite as the clarinet-playing operations officer of the USS Voyager.

The Dragon*Con announcement called Wang “a science fiction fan as well as a Star Trek insider [who] will bring a fresh perspective to this year’s programming.”

I worked with him on the semi-pro production, Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, where he was very pleasant to work with. As the script supervisor, I spent a lot of time with him on set — a physically grueling experience where temperature went well over 100 degrees, even at night — and he was always professional and uncomplaining.

The track directors at Dragon*Con appear to be from the Atlanta area, where Dragon*Con is held every Labor Day weekend, so I’m guessing a lot of the grunt work (those directors work really hard, trust me) will be delegated.

The traditional Miss Klingon Empire beauty pageant is being replaced by the Miss Star Trek Universe competition. In addition, Dragon*Con has secured the following Trek guests for this year:

From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo) and Armin Shimerman (Quark) will be in attendance.

Jonathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and John DeLancie (the enigmatic Q) will represent Star Trek: The Next Generation. More Star Trek guests will be announced on the Dragon*Con website as appearances are confirmed.

Ticketing and other convention information can be found at www.dragoncon.org.

(Full disclosure: I’ve been a Dragon*Con and TrekTrak guest since 2005, and former director Eric Watts is a good friend of mine. I have been invited to return as a guest for 2010, as well.)

It will be interesting to see how Dragon*Con navigates this big change in their Trek Track’s management.

It’s Oscar season! So here are my first thoughts on the competition, though with the caveat that there are a few of the nominated films I haven’t seen.

Best Picture

Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air. All in all, not a bad crop.

• Avatar certainly has momentum going in (here’s my review) but I don’t think it does everything it needs to to win Best Picture; its by-the-numbers story and gloss on characterization make it subpar. Its groundbreaking, gorgeous visuals won’t make up for that.
• Blind Side was heartfelt (heck, I cried), and I loved Sandra Bullock’s performance, but there’s nothing distinctive about it that would put it ahead of the other nominees.
• Inglourious Basterds was an inspired piece of filmmaking, featuring some nuanced and powerful performances; it’s certainly in the running, though its fantasy ending fizzled for me since we clearly know history says otherwise.
• Precious was precious (my review). Its depressing premise may relegate it to underdog status.
• Though I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker, I love the irony that James Cameron (Avatar) is up against this movie’s director, his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow.
• District 9? I liked it a lot, but let’s just leave it at “it’s an honor to be nominated.”
• I know critics have gone mad for An Education but nothing about its story made me want to cough up 10 bucks to go see it.
• Up? Wonderful, but I don’t see an animated film knocking off live-action performances of the kind represented in this list.
• Up in the Air was flawless, but I think its appeal is limited demographically.
• I meant to see A Serious Man since I’m a Coen Brothers fan but I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I will before Oscar Night but I don’t see it upsetting any of the frontrunners.

Next: Best Actor and more »

We’re supposed to be inspired by films about resilient inner-city children who surmount the obstacles of their lives — poverty, physical and sexual abuse, illiteracy, the shackles of welfare — and certainly that’s the proposition of the film, Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.

But inspiration isn’t what you leave this film feeling. What distinguishes Precious is its ability to draw you in because of the expectations you’re likely to bring into the theater and then push them aside, sometimes violently and sometimes with a measure of sudden grace.

The film’s trailer certainly sets up the gloom you expect from this type of story, but the film itself subverts it through a set of fantasy sequences that are a two-edged sword for Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe). Her fantasy life helps her survive the depraved abuse she suffers at home but it also threatens to keep her from grabbing what few opportunities life tries to hand her.

This is not a feel-good movie. Blind Side is a feel-good movie with a tidy happy ending. Set in 1987 Harlem, Precious will make you feel a little dirty before you are allowed to wring a tiny, yet valuable, drop of refined hope from the raw and crude morass that is the life of its main character. Precious’ happiness is in no way guaranteed, and doom hangs in the air even at the film’s end.

Next: Words hurt. A lot. »

Tragedies on the scale of Haiti’s earthquake can leave us reeling, overwhelmed by too much information, and so much of it bad news. We can be left paralyzed. Technology has helped us more easily speed dollars to relief efforts but Haiti’s lack of infrastructure has made it difficult to supply that aid as quickly as the devastation there requires.

My friend, Kellie Walsh, is helping out by sorting through the noise to find some signal, by providing a Web site (thanks, WordPress) to document what’s happening as it happens so that context doesn’t get lost later when, as she puts it, “after the details and memories have grown hazy.”

Her site, Haiti Digital Bibliography, explains her aim, an important one in a world where we suffer not from too little information but too much.

In an effort to preserve a small slice of what happened and how the world responded in the days after the tragic earthquake … I’ve set up this site to compile a bibliography of digital resources about the event and its aftermath. Though a comprehensive list of all digital materials on the web would be impossible, I hope this currently random jumble of headlines can be organized into a bibliography that might later prove helpful to those who seek documentation and understanding of what happened in these frantic few days.

You can help her effort, contributing information and/or helping organize it. You can also donate money to various relief efforts. I’ve added links to three in the ad space throughout the Cosmic Sitcom, thanks to Kellie’s direction.

ABOVE Aerial photo of downtown Port au Prince, Haiti. Source: United Nations Development Program on Flickr.
Used under Creative Commons license.

Big news the other day for people who want to make sure their sarcastic emails and text messages are understood as such by the recipients. A company named Sarcasm, Inc. “invented” a punctuation mark to do the trick. And they want you to pay for it.

I don’t know whether to be furious at or envious of a company so sarcastic that it’s invented a punctuation mark people have to pay to use. And I find it hilarious that you have to notate the (paid) SarcMark with a (free) registered trademark symbol — ®.

But seriously, if you have to use punctuation to let people know you’re being sarcastic, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of sarcasm? Witness Sarcasm, Inc.’s commercial (!) for the SarcMark:

FUNNY OR JUST MEAN? Like Alanis Morrissette’s song, “Isn’t it Ironic?“, Sarcasm Inc.’s commercial doesn’t really demonstrate what it says it does. Are the comments in the commercial really sarcastic, or merely taunts, mean and simple mockery? Sarcasm isn’t just mean. Anyone can be mean. Sarcasm is supposed to be witty, ironic, sneering disapproval disguised as praise. When done properly, it should feel like a delicious, oozing fulsomeness. No SarcMark necessary.

Sarcasm, Inc. (no matter how many times I write it, I still laugh) is marketing its SarcMark as a way to ensure people “get” that you’re being sarcastic in an email or a text message, the way the exclamation mark is used to make sure people “get” that you’re excited. Or the comma so people “get” that some kind of pause is necessary to convey a particular meaning. Or that the semicolon is for people to “get” that … what was the semicolon for again? Anyway, mark my words, the SarcMark isn’t going to help. People will continue to get confused by email and text messages.

At most, the new mark will give your mean comments plausible deniability; but people will now know for sure that they’re being made fun of, and how does that advance world peace? (Oh, look! I used a semicolon! But am I really excited about it because I used not one but two exclamation marks? Or am I just being sarcastic? Do I need to create interrobang-like combinations of marks to convey my meaning?!)

Next: Better, more clever ways to convey sarcasm »

My Photoshopped version of the original cover of Mark Twain’s first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches. The original cover is pictured on page 3.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — I took matters into my own hands when I discovered Mark Twain’s first book, long since in the public domain, is not available anywhere in electronic format. So I made my own.

My friends here have chosen as their year-long project reading all of Mark Twain’s works. First on the list is Twain’s debut book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, published in 1867.

Remarkably, while you can buy The Complete Mark Twain Collection (more than 300 of his works!) in Amazon’s Kindle marketplace for only 99 cents (viewable on Amazon’s free Kindle app for the iPhone), it turns out that version is somewhat less than complete. The collection omits nearly half the 27 stories and essays in the original Jumping Frog book.

Though I’ve generally liked what I’ve bought from the Kindle store to read on my iPhone, I was pretty disappointed in what I bought from Amazon this time around. But let me dispense with the details necessary to my fellow Twain-reading colleagues; I’ll continue with my tale in a forthcoming post.

Instructions for the ’10 Twain St. Pete Book Club

Stanza is the leading ebook app for the iPhone and iPod Touch using the open-source ePub format.

To read the full ebook, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ll need the following:

• The Stanza iPhone/iPod Touch app. It’s free in the iTunes App Store (link opens in iTunes)
• The Stanza desktop app for Mac or Windows (download here)
• A WiFi network to which both your desktop computer and iPhone/iPod Touch have access. Don’t despair if this isn’t the case. Just contact me and I’ll walk you through an alternative.

Next: How to get the ebook and load it onto your iPhone/iPod Touch »

CONNECTIONS What connects these disparate pieces of information?

Here are the stories up for today’s Connections. See what you think links them.

BAD JOURNOS First up, The Atlantic’s columnist, Michael Kinsley complains that newspaper articles, as opposed to Internet news, are too long and a big part of the reason readers are jumping the paper-journalism ship.

DON’T LET FACTS INTERFERE WITH MY THEORY Second, The New Yorker travels to a remote tribe in the Amazon, the Pirahã, to report on their confounding language, a tongue so confounding — and sung as much as spoken — that it has called into question Noam Chomsky’s prevailing theory about how human language evolved.

WHITE PEOPLE ARE UNIQUELY TUNED TO BE SAVIORS Finally, New York Times columnist David Brooks jumps on the anti-Avatar bandwagon to bewail the Great White Messiah myth that drives the story so many popular films. Popular with white people, that is.

First a quick précis of each.

Cut This Story!

In “Cut This Story!“ Kinsley argues that technology is not the only reason people prefer their news from the Web over newspapers. Newspaper articles are too long, while Internet news gets right to the point. Newspaper writers themselves are not to blame, though. Crusty old news writing conventions add verbiage with little more understanding.

Kinsley points to a typical New York Times story, “Sweeping Health Care Plan Passes House,” (1,456 words long!) as an example. Here’s the lead:

Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement.

Fewer than half these 36 words explain what actually happened; the rest, Kinsley notes, are what journalists call “context”:

Once upon a time, this unnecessary stuff was considered an advance over dry news reporting: don’t just tell the story; tell the reader what it means. But providing “context” … has become an invitation to hype. In this case, it’s the lowest form of hype—it’s horse-race hype—which actually diminishes a story rather than enhancing it.

Readers who care about health reform already have the context, Kinsley argues. He also cites newspapers for a reliance on experts whose quotes “magically turn an opinionated story into an objective one.”

The New York Times, Kinsley asserts, should rely on its own trustworthiness to tell the news rather than relying on a middleman (A.K.A, expert) to make its case.

Whoa! Really, Mr. Kinsley? That’s a pretty ludicrous — and dangerous — assertion, but we’ll get back to that.

Next: Why a confounding primitive tribe threatens the leading theory of human language »

I was honored to learn that TrekMovie.com, the leading Star Trek movie news site, named the Star Trek: Phase II production of my screenplay, “Blood and Fire, Part 2” the best Star Trek fan production of 2009.

That, along with Joss Whedon telling Rolling Stone that “World Enough and Time,” the Star Trek: Phase II production I co-executive produced, inspired him to create Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog, made my year.

Rolling Stone, btw, named Phase II, which I wrote for and produced, one of their five must-watch Web series.

“Blood and Fire” is based on a script Gerrold originally authored for Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was never produced because its passing reference to a male couple aboard the Enterprise was considered too controversial by the producers.

I adapted the script for the original Trek series-based Phase II, expanding the story to include Captain Kirk’s nephew Peter as one part of the male couple. Interestingly, two decades later, that portrayal proved plenty controversial when “Blood and Fire, Part 1″ debuted a year ago.

Fortunately, Part 2′s release this past November was greeted by far fewer objections.