I've been trying to focus on other work and other topics but my mind keeps coming back to today's tragic news...the fire at the home of my friends, Len Wein and Chris Valada. I've been in that house and seen a wonderful, lived-in shrine to their respective passions. The place was delightfully full of fun stuff which, I'm told, is now all gone.
You feel helpless in moments like this, wishing you had some brilliant idea that would magically undo all the damage. There isn't, of course...but we're all sending "If there's anything I can do" messages, knowing full well there's not much any of us can do. The insurance company can and will do plenty but all the rest of us can do is to just be there for our friends.
I feel a special note of...I don't know if you'd call it guilt or what. About six weeks ago, I had a tiny fire at my home, also caused by a faulty heater. All that happened was that a wall was charred and an outlet melted but it made me realize it was about time I had some rewiring done here. That's why my power was out today...and because of the work here, I didn't hear what had happened until many hours after it had happened. Nobody phoned to tell me. They all sent e-mails, unaware that my Internet connection was out while my electricity was off. Meanwhile, several of Len's friends ran over there to help and I feel bad that I wasn't among them. I doubt I could have done much there but it might have made me feel better. (And I also feel a little guilty for thinking that way...)
Harlan Ellison was over there wielding a shovel and he described the loss to me a little while ago on the phone. It sounds pretty total. To those who ask, "What can we do?" the answer seems to be "not much right now," though Len and Chris must know they have a lot of friends they can turn to. At some point down the line though, when they're settled into new digs or a rebuilding of the old digs, I'd like to see if we can restore some of Len's book collection — particularly copies of things he worked on.
I haven't spoken to him about this or anything because, goodness knows, he's got plenty to think about without me demanding his attention. But I'm guessing he will welcome this — and it certainly makes me feel better to think there might be at least something we can do.
Fred Kaplan on what Robert Gates is doing with the defense budget. It has long struck me that a certain segment of those who comment on or lobby for certain expenditures are eager for us to buy and build the "coolest" planes, as opposed to those that might be useful. Gates seems to not be doing that so good for him.
Keith Olbermann's mother passed away the other day. On tonight's Countdown, he did one of the loveliest tributes I've ever seen, avoiding all the clichés and mawkishness that you so often get with these things. I know there are some folks who read this site who hate Mr. Olbermann and there are times when I even think he goes too far in some area where I essentially agree with him. But I can't think of another broadcaster working today who could do something quite this classy...
Much of the home of Len Wein and Chris Valada was destroyed in a fire this morning triggered by a faulty heater. Len is, of course, the creator of many famous comic books and an award-winning writer, and much of what was lost was valuable and irreplaceable artwork he'd collected over the years. I'm told Len and Chris are more upset over the death of their beloved dog, Sheba. (No humans were injured.)
That's about all I know at the moment. Friends are rallying to be of aid but I'm not sure what anyone can do at the moment. About half of the house is gone and they're still assessing the precise loss of contents. What an awful thing to happen to two great people. I talked to Len just last night to get some info for the Frank Springer obit I posted.
And to further exacerbate the problem discussed in the previous posting, a nice electrician who's rewiring my home is about to shut off the electricity for most of the day. So my Internet connection will be off too and I'll be laptopping it as long as the battery holds out. Be back later...I hope.
I'm hereby announcing a new policy here. Whenever I post or even link to something even vaguely political, I get a slew of e-mails from folks who want to rebut or engage me in long, back-and-forth discussions.
One of the few downsides to doing a blog like this is that it brings a lot of messages...more than you might think and more than I can ever possibly answer. I mean, I suppose I could give up my career and do nothing but respond to e-mail all day but that doesn't seem like the wisest of options. For a time, I answered what I could and moved the rest into a "answer when I get the time" folder...and one day, that folder had more than 2000 messages in it. Obviously, a problem.
This bothers me more than it probably should. It reminds me of one time when I briefly worked on the TV show, MacGyver. One of the show's producers had idly said in a TV Guide interview, "We're always looking for good scripts" and the next thing he knew, there was an entire room at the office filled with "spec" submissions — at least three thousand, one intern estimated.
The studio lawyers wanted none of them read. The following situation is very common: A writer in Idaho submits a script that's set in a bowling alley. Two seasons later, someone on the show has an idea and writes an episode set in a bowling alley. The guy in Idaho sues. That happens an awful lot and it can be very expensive to deal with those threats and lawsuits. It helps a bit to be able to say, "No one here read the submission."
I'm not sure how the MacGyver show eventually dealt with those piles — I didn't get along with the folks there and went elsewhere after a month or so — but I can't imagine what they could have done other than to simply not read many...more likely any of the scripts. Even if the lawyers said it was okay, how do you begin to evaluate three thousand scripts? With more arriving every minute? Even if you could find and hire a couple of extra story editors with the wisdom to find gold amongst the pyrites, how many could those folks read per day and retain any sense of balance? Ten? Fifteen? Do the math. Most were at least fifty pages and I was told that there were some, written by folks who didn't know how long an hour script should be, in excess of 100 or even 200 pages.
The scripts in that little room represented a lot of effort and passion and dreams...and just by the law of averages, there was probably some great, undiscovered talent in there. I just can't imagine how anyone could locate it.
It's not exactly the same situation but my unanswered e-mail situation reminds me of that one. Some very bright folks have written me and received either brief replies or none at all. After mulling the problem a lot, I've decided to deal with it as follows...
First of all, I'm going to ignore all e-mails not signed with what at least looks like a real name. You have every right to be anonymous on the Internet but if you sign yourself "Beefhead" or "Socrates" (two recent correspondents), you should expect your mail to go to the bottom of the stack, never to be seen again. I have my real name on everything here. I don't feel the need to be that courteous to folks who want to not be actually responsible for what they write.
Secondly, I'm going to just delete all the nasty messages — I do, anyway — and thirdly, the ones that seek to alter my entire worldview and debate every aspect of it...well, those require way too much time for a worthy response. I feel the same way about them that I feel about strangers who come to my door and think that a brief chat on my porch will cause me to adopt their religion. You might convince someone of something small that way but there will be no major life conversion and abandonment of everything previously believed.
Those steps will get rid of about half the messages. I'm also going to ignore a number of guys who spent the last few years writing me that George W. Bush would capture Osama, win a glorious and inarguable victory in Iraq and leave the economy in such great shape that America would never again elect a Democrat to anything that did not involve dog-catching. One or two such correspondents have had the class/sense to send apologies and mea culpas but a couple still think their fantasy has almost come true. No point discussing anything with those boys.
That still leaves quite a stack that will have to go unanswered. I'm sorry about that. I don't know what else to do but I do read them and every so often, someone (never an anonymous or hostile person) writes something that causes me to rethink a position or view something in a different light.
Still, please don't spend a lot of energy writing me a message if you'll feel cheated by a lack of response. I have to change my approach to my e-mailbox and treat it less like a collection of communications that, spam aside, etiquette demands I answer. There's no way to do that so I'm just going to try to stop feeling guilty about it. If this sounds unreasonable or arrogant or pigheaded to you...well, fine. Just don't write me as much and expect a reply.
April 7, 2009
