Jay.Leno.2007.06.21.John.Cusack.HDTV.XViD-STFU
http://rapidshare.com/files/38818733/stfu-leno.2007.06.21.hdtv.xvid.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38822717/stfu-leno.2007.06.21.hdtv.xvid.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38827022/stfu-leno.2007.06.21.hdtv.xvid.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/38830951/stfu-leno.2007.06.21.hdtv.xvid.part4.rar
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Amanda Peet Interview on the set of "The Whole Ten Yards"
Amanda Peet Discusses Life on the Set of "The Whole Ten Yards"
From the Premiere of "The Whole Ten Yards"
Did Amanda Peet have fun working on "The Whole Ten Yards?" Judging by the smile on her face at the movie's World Premiere, she had a blast. In this sequel to "The Whole Nine Yards," Peet's married to ex-mobster Jimmy 'The Tulip' (Bruce Willis) and is still waiting for her first real kill as a hired gun.
INTERVIEW WITH AMANDA PEET ('Jill'):
How was the atmosphere on set?
It was so boring. They’re so serious. It was a difficult time (laughing).
How tough was it to get back into that character?
It was very easy. I just looked at Matthew [Perry] and looked at Bruce, and we just got right back into it.
Was there any particular scene that was tough to make it through because you were laughing?
Whenever I was with Kevin Pollak, I had to leave the room. So whenever you see me talking to Kevin Pollak in the movie, I’m not really talking. I’m down the hall trying to be quiet, and he’s doing his lines with somebody else.
Could you understand him?
With that accent? What is he doing? I don’t know. Sometimes I could but when I couldn’t, it was still really funny.
Did the script pretty much just go flying out the window?
(Laughing) A little bit, yeah.
There was a lot of adlibbing?
Oh yeah.
Is it tough to keep up with Matthew Perry when it comes to adlibbing?
I don’t like to think of it as tough, but yeah. I would go to his trailer in the morning and knock on the door and say, “How do I deliver this line? How do I make it funny?” He would say, “Okay, honey, this is how you deliver that line.”
What can you tell me about your upcoming film, “Melinda and Melinda?”
Melinda is Radha Mitchell – the beautiful Radha Mitchell. I play Will Ferrell’s wife in the movie. He has a crush on Radha and we don’t have a very good marriage.
Will Woody Allen play a role in “Melinda and Melinda?”
He’s directing it but I don’t think he’s in it. I only got my own pages so you have to understand that I’m a little bit in the dark, not dissimilar to the way I was on “The Whole Ten Yards.”
And what’s “A Lot Like Love?”
Ashton Kutcher and I are playing friends, kind of like “When Harry Met Sally.” It’s a big love story that goes over [a period of] years. We hate each other in the beginning.
You play Bruce Willis' wife in "The Whole Ten Yards" and Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend in "A Lot Like Love." Do you feel like Demi Moore’s onscreen doppelganger?
I would love – and you can quote me – I would love to be Demi Moore’s doppelganger. I can only hope to be that.
From movies.about.com
From the Premiere of "The Whole Ten Yards"
Did Amanda Peet have fun working on "The Whole Ten Yards?" Judging by the smile on her face at the movie's World Premiere, she had a blast. In this sequel to "The Whole Nine Yards," Peet's married to ex-mobster Jimmy 'The Tulip' (Bruce Willis) and is still waiting for her first real kill as a hired gun.
INTERVIEW WITH AMANDA PEET ('Jill'):
How was the atmosphere on set?
It was so boring. They’re so serious. It was a difficult time (laughing).
How tough was it to get back into that character?
It was very easy. I just looked at Matthew [Perry] and looked at Bruce, and we just got right back into it.
Was there any particular scene that was tough to make it through because you were laughing?
Whenever I was with Kevin Pollak, I had to leave the room. So whenever you see me talking to Kevin Pollak in the movie, I’m not really talking. I’m down the hall trying to be quiet, and he’s doing his lines with somebody else.
Could you understand him?
With that accent? What is he doing? I don’t know. Sometimes I could but when I couldn’t, it was still really funny.
Did the script pretty much just go flying out the window?
(Laughing) A little bit, yeah.
There was a lot of adlibbing?
Oh yeah.
Is it tough to keep up with Matthew Perry when it comes to adlibbing?
I don’t like to think of it as tough, but yeah. I would go to his trailer in the morning and knock on the door and say, “How do I deliver this line? How do I make it funny?” He would say, “Okay, honey, this is how you deliver that line.”
What can you tell me about your upcoming film, “Melinda and Melinda?”
Melinda is Radha Mitchell – the beautiful Radha Mitchell. I play Will Ferrell’s wife in the movie. He has a crush on Radha and we don’t have a very good marriage.
Will Woody Allen play a role in “Melinda and Melinda?”
He’s directing it but I don’t think he’s in it. I only got my own pages so you have to understand that I’m a little bit in the dark, not dissimilar to the way I was on “The Whole Ten Yards.”
And what’s “A Lot Like Love?”
Ashton Kutcher and I are playing friends, kind of like “When Harry Met Sally.” It’s a big love story that goes over [a period of] years. We hate each other in the beginning.
You play Bruce Willis' wife in "The Whole Ten Yards" and Ashton Kutcher's girlfriend in "A Lot Like Love." Do you feel like Demi Moore’s onscreen doppelganger?
I would love – and you can quote me – I would love to be Demi Moore’s doppelganger. I can only hope to be that.
From movies.about.com
Martian Child The Book
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Martian Child:
“[A] very personal account of a middle-aged gay man’s adoption of a high-risk eight-year-old boy... Charming and funny, the adopted single dad wins our sympathy.”—Kirkus Reviews
”The heart-searing moments are many but never overwritten, thanks to Gerrold's bright, efficient exposition.” —Booklist
“Gerrold, a Nebula and Hugo Award winner...deals with being a single, gay parent of a child who insists he is a Martian, a common defense mechanism used by abused and neglected children. The account moves quickly through months of adjustment, doubt, and finally acceptance of a situation that often has the potential for disaster.” —Publishers Weekly
“Sometimes parenting can be an encounter with aliens. The Martian Child is based on the author's true story of parenting as a single gay man. In the course of his undertaking, he becomes acquainted with the habits and behavior of an even more exotic creature, the Earth boy. It's a quick read, and a humanizing one.” —Bay Area Reporter
Book Description
Basis for the major motion picture from New Line Cinema —starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and Joan Cusack—in theaters October 2007
When David Gerrold decided he wanted to adopt a son, he thought he had prepared himself for fatherhood. But eight-year-old Dennis turned out to be more than he expected—a lot more. Dennis suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, the son of a substance abuser and alcoholic who abandoned him in a seedy motel at the age of one-and-a-half. His father died of an overdose. Seized by the state, Dennis was shuffled between eight different foster homes in less than eight years. He was abused and beaten severely in at least tow of his placements. Dennis was diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and put on Ritalin and then Disipramine. He was prone to violent emotional outbursts. His case history identified him as “hard to place” —a euphemism for “unadoptable.” But for David Gerrold it was love at first sight…
About the Author
David Gerrold is the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author of dozens of books for both adults and young adults. He began his career as the precocious author of the teleplay “The Trouble with Tribbles,” broadcast on the original Star Trek series and voted the series’s most popular episode of all time.
David lives with his son in Northridge, California. And while he admits he no longer believes his son truly is a Martian, in exasperating father-son moments—of which there are many—David believes he still acts like one.
From: amazon.com
David Gerrold Biography and Work
Biography
David Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman (January 24, 1944), in Chicago, Illinois, is an award-winning science fiction author who started his career in 1966 as a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one chosen by Star Trek was filmed as "The Trouble with Tribbles", which has been one of the most enduringly popular episodes of the series.
Early works
After his early success with "The Trouble with Tribbles" Gerrold continued writing television scripts (mostly for science fiction series such as Land of the Lost, Babylon 5, Sliders, and The Twilight Zone) and science fiction novels, of which the most well-known are The Man Who Folded Himself (1973), about a man whose experiments with a time machine distorts the details of his life and reality, and When HARLIE Was One (1972), the story of an artificial intelligence's relationship with his creators. When HARLIE Was One was nominated for best novel for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. A revised edition, entitled When HARLIE Was One, Release 2.0, was published in 1988, incorporating new insights and reflecting new developments in computer science.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Within days of seeing the Star Trek series premiere "The Man Trap" on 8 September 1966, Gerrold wrote a sixty-page outline for a two-part episode called "Tomorrow Was Yesterday", about the Enterprise discovering a generation ship launched from Earth centuries earlier. Although Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon rejected the outline, he realized Gerrold was talented and expressed interest in him submitting some story premises. Bearing preliminary titles and, in some cases, preliminary character names, Gerrold submitted five premises.
Two that he had little recollection of involved a spaceship-destroying machine, eerily similar to Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine", and a situation in which Kirk had to play a chess game with an advanced intelligence using his crew as chess pieces. There has been some speculation by Trek and comic book historians that the chess game was inspired by an early issue of Justice League of America, published by DC Comics. The issue in question had the evil alien conqueror, Despero, playing a game of chess with one of the Leaguers, with the pieces depicting the other heroes. Gerrold has denied this, but the speculation persists.
A third premise, "Bandi", involved a small being running about the Enterprise as someone's pet, and which empathically sways the crew's feelings and emotions to comfort Bandi, and if necessary at someone else's expense. Gerrold noted, in retrospect, that it would not be like the Enterprise crew to have such attitudes against Kirk as Bandi induced, and that he might instead set the episode on another ship where laxity has been reported.
A fourth premise, "The Protracted Man", applied science fiction to use an effect seen in West Side Story, when Maria twirls in her dancing dress and the colours separate. Gerrold's story involved a man transported from a shuttlecraft trying out a new space warp technology. The man is no longer unified, separating into three visible forms when he moves, separated by a fraction of a second. As efforts are undertaken to correct the condition and move the Enterprise to where corrective action can be taken, the protraction worsens.
The fifth premise, "The Fuzzies," was also initially rejected by Coon, but a while later he changed his mind and called Gerrold's agent to accept it. Gerrold then expanded the story to a full television story outline entitled "A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me. . .," and it eventually became "The Trouble With Tribbles." The name "Fuzzy" was changed because H. Beam Piper had written novels about a fictional alien species of the same name (see Little Fuzzy). The script went through numerous rewrites, including, at the insistence of Gerrold's agent, being re-set in a stock frontier town instead of an "expensive" space station. Gerrold later wrote a book, The Trouble With Tribbles, telling the whole story about producing the episode and his earlier premises.
This was one of two books Gerrold wrote about Star Trek in the early 1970s after the original series had been canceled. His other was a comprehensive analysis of the series entitled The World of Star Trek. He discussed them at various conventions where he was a frequent speaker and guest. In The World of Star Trek, he criticized some of the elements of the show, particularly Kirk's habit of placing himself in dangerous situations and leading landing parties from the ship himself, and suggested some things he would change about the show if it were to air again. Among these were a Klingon as a member of the crew, a counselor to look after crewmembers' inner lives, and crewmembers allowed to bring their families and children along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
All of the above noted changes were incorporated into Star Trek: The Next Generation when it debuted in 1987. In particular, Gerrold can be credited for reshaping the position of "first officer" as the ship's executive officer and commander of "away teams" (to overcome the unrealism of the ship's captain routinely beaming into dangerous situations). He parted company with the producers at the beginning of the first season, after a dispute before the Writers' Guild in which the Guild required that Gerrold be paid additional wages for the work he did helping to create the series, because he had largely written the show's bible rather than the ailing Gene Roddenberry. He was awarded cash but chose to forego additional credit.
Roddenberry's partisans struck back after his death in 1991, with a lengthy passage in David Alexander's authorized biography, Star Trek Creator, suggesting that Gerrold had plagiarized the Martian-flatcat chapter in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones for "The Trouble With Tribbles," (something that Gerrold had categorically denied in his book on the episode, saying he thought he was writing the "rabbits in Australia" story) and that only Heinlein's age and old-school graciousness had prevented him from bringing a lawsuit.
In fact, Heinlein and Gerrold became friends in the late 1970s, when Gerrold was an active blood donor in support of Heinlein's blood drives. They remained friends for many years, and Gerrold even dedicated one of his books (A Matter For Men) to Robert and Virginia Heinlein. After Heinlein's death, Ginny Heinlein gave up her California home, and Gerrold adopted Heinlein's cat, Pixel.
Another point of contention between Gerrold and the Star Trek: The Next Generation executive leadership was Gerrold's writing of an unproduced script that would have had an allegory to the AIDS pandemic along with some brief scenes with two Star Fleet crewmembers that would have subtly been identified as being a gay couple. Gerrold wrote this script in response to being with Roddenberry at a convention in 1987 where he had promised that the upcoming Next Generation series would deal with the issue of sexual orientation in the egalitarian future. The script was rewritten to remove the gay couple, and even then certain people seemed to be worried about airing an episode that made a plea for compassion for those people infected with AIDS. For more information see LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe.
Post-Trek involvement
Gerrold wrote a script for Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled Blood and Fire, which included an AIDS metaphor and an incidentally gay couple in the ship's crew. The script was purchased by the TNG producers, but eventually shelved. Gerrold eventually reworked it as a novel, Blood and Fire, the third book in the Star Wolf series (see below). He later reworked the script again, placing the story in the time frame of Star Trek: The Original Series in order for it to be filmed as an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages.
Gerrold had always wanted to appear onscreen in an episode of Star Trek, particularly "The Trouble with Tribbles." The character of Ensign Freeman, who appears in the famous bar scene with the Klingons, was originally intended by Gerrold to be a walk-on part for himself, although another actor eventually took the role. While Gerrold appeared as a crewman extra with other Trek fandom notables in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he did not get the chance to appear in a Trek series until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when he appeared as a security guard in "Trials and Tribble-ations", set during the very same time frame as his original episode.
Gerrold also published a novelization of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) and an original Star Trek novel entitled The Galactic Whirlpool (1980) based on the story outline "Tomorrow Was Yesterday". (It has been suggested that the "Specs" character in that novel was Gerrold himself.) In 2006, for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, he co-edited with Robert J. Sawyer an essay collection entitled Boarding the Enterprise.
The War Against the Chtorr
Gerrold is the author of the War Against the Chtorr series of books, about an invasion of Earth by mysterious aliens: A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1985), A Rage for Revenge (1989), and A Season for Slaughter (1993). As of 2006, he was still writing the fifth book (A Method For Madness), and has contracted to write a sixth (A Time For Treason). The ending chapters of the series have been set aside for the seventh and final book, which will be A Case For Courage. His age, combined with his health issues (from www.gerrold.com) leads many to believe that this series will never actually be completed.
In an original twist, the invasion is an ecological one. Instead of armies, the unseen aggressors gradually unleash plants and animals from their older, more evolved planet. These outcompete and displace their terrestrial counterparts and Earth becomes more and more Chtorr-like as the "war" progresses.
Star Wolf
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series of books, centered on the star ship Star Wolf and its crew: Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972) which is actually an earlier novel that features the same main character republished as Starhunt and tacked into the main continuity as a prequel. The books were based on a concept Gerrold had originally planned for a TV series. The Star Wolf series reflects Gerrold's contention that, due to the distances involved, space battles would be more like submarine hunts than the dogfights usually portrayed—in most cases the ships doing battle wouldn't even be able to see each other.
Other works
He also wrote the non-fiction book Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, published in 2001.
The Martian Child is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on the author's own experiences as a single adoptive parent, with most of the key moments drawn from actual events. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and a movie version is currently in production for release sometime in 2007.
In 2000, his long-time admiration of the works of Robert A. Heinlein led him to create a new series, called The Dingilliad. It follows a resourceful teenager and his family as they try to begin a new life. Although not necessarily canon, there are hints that it ties into the War Against the Chtorr universe, with everything from the plagues to the rumored appearance of a giant purple worm. The trilogy contains the following books:
Jumping Off The Planet (2000)
Bouncing Off the Moon (2001)
Leaping To The Stars (2002)
Jumping off the Planet recieved the 2002 Hal Clement (Young Adult Award)for Excellance in Children's Science Fiction Literture http://www.goldenduck.org/winners.php
In addition, Gerrold has also published the following novels:
The Flying Sorcerers (with Larry Niven) (1971)
The Space Skimmer (1972)
Moonstar Odyssey (1977)
Deathbeast (1978)
Chess With A Dragon (1987)
In 2005, he was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in Telluride, Colorado.
From Wikipedia
David Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman (January 24, 1944), in Chicago, Illinois, is an award-winning science fiction author who started his career in 1966 as a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one chosen by Star Trek was filmed as "The Trouble with Tribbles", which has been one of the most enduringly popular episodes of the series.
Early works
After his early success with "The Trouble with Tribbles" Gerrold continued writing television scripts (mostly for science fiction series such as Land of the Lost, Babylon 5, Sliders, and The Twilight Zone) and science fiction novels, of which the most well-known are The Man Who Folded Himself (1973), about a man whose experiments with a time machine distorts the details of his life and reality, and When HARLIE Was One (1972), the story of an artificial intelligence's relationship with his creators. When HARLIE Was One was nominated for best novel for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. A revised edition, entitled When HARLIE Was One, Release 2.0, was published in 1988, incorporating new insights and reflecting new developments in computer science.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Within days of seeing the Star Trek series premiere "The Man Trap" on 8 September 1966, Gerrold wrote a sixty-page outline for a two-part episode called "Tomorrow Was Yesterday", about the Enterprise discovering a generation ship launched from Earth centuries earlier. Although Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon rejected the outline, he realized Gerrold was talented and expressed interest in him submitting some story premises. Bearing preliminary titles and, in some cases, preliminary character names, Gerrold submitted five premises.
Two that he had little recollection of involved a spaceship-destroying machine, eerily similar to Norman Spinrad's "The Doomsday Machine", and a situation in which Kirk had to play a chess game with an advanced intelligence using his crew as chess pieces. There has been some speculation by Trek and comic book historians that the chess game was inspired by an early issue of Justice League of America, published by DC Comics. The issue in question had the evil alien conqueror, Despero, playing a game of chess with one of the Leaguers, with the pieces depicting the other heroes. Gerrold has denied this, but the speculation persists.
A third premise, "Bandi", involved a small being running about the Enterprise as someone's pet, and which empathically sways the crew's feelings and emotions to comfort Bandi, and if necessary at someone else's expense. Gerrold noted, in retrospect, that it would not be like the Enterprise crew to have such attitudes against Kirk as Bandi induced, and that he might instead set the episode on another ship where laxity has been reported.
A fourth premise, "The Protracted Man", applied science fiction to use an effect seen in West Side Story, when Maria twirls in her dancing dress and the colours separate. Gerrold's story involved a man transported from a shuttlecraft trying out a new space warp technology. The man is no longer unified, separating into three visible forms when he moves, separated by a fraction of a second. As efforts are undertaken to correct the condition and move the Enterprise to where corrective action can be taken, the protraction worsens.
The fifth premise, "The Fuzzies," was also initially rejected by Coon, but a while later he changed his mind and called Gerrold's agent to accept it. Gerrold then expanded the story to a full television story outline entitled "A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me. . .," and it eventually became "The Trouble With Tribbles." The name "Fuzzy" was changed because H. Beam Piper had written novels about a fictional alien species of the same name (see Little Fuzzy). The script went through numerous rewrites, including, at the insistence of Gerrold's agent, being re-set in a stock frontier town instead of an "expensive" space station. Gerrold later wrote a book, The Trouble With Tribbles, telling the whole story about producing the episode and his earlier premises.
This was one of two books Gerrold wrote about Star Trek in the early 1970s after the original series had been canceled. His other was a comprehensive analysis of the series entitled The World of Star Trek. He discussed them at various conventions where he was a frequent speaker and guest. In The World of Star Trek, he criticized some of the elements of the show, particularly Kirk's habit of placing himself in dangerous situations and leading landing parties from the ship himself, and suggested some things he would change about the show if it were to air again. Among these were a Klingon as a member of the crew, a counselor to look after crewmembers' inner lives, and crewmembers allowed to bring their families and children along.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
All of the above noted changes were incorporated into Star Trek: The Next Generation when it debuted in 1987. In particular, Gerrold can be credited for reshaping the position of "first officer" as the ship's executive officer and commander of "away teams" (to overcome the unrealism of the ship's captain routinely beaming into dangerous situations). He parted company with the producers at the beginning of the first season, after a dispute before the Writers' Guild in which the Guild required that Gerrold be paid additional wages for the work he did helping to create the series, because he had largely written the show's bible rather than the ailing Gene Roddenberry. He was awarded cash but chose to forego additional credit.
Roddenberry's partisans struck back after his death in 1991, with a lengthy passage in David Alexander's authorized biography, Star Trek Creator, suggesting that Gerrold had plagiarized the Martian-flatcat chapter in Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones for "The Trouble With Tribbles," (something that Gerrold had categorically denied in his book on the episode, saying he thought he was writing the "rabbits in Australia" story) and that only Heinlein's age and old-school graciousness had prevented him from bringing a lawsuit.
In fact, Heinlein and Gerrold became friends in the late 1970s, when Gerrold was an active blood donor in support of Heinlein's blood drives. They remained friends for many years, and Gerrold even dedicated one of his books (A Matter For Men) to Robert and Virginia Heinlein. After Heinlein's death, Ginny Heinlein gave up her California home, and Gerrold adopted Heinlein's cat, Pixel.
Another point of contention between Gerrold and the Star Trek: The Next Generation executive leadership was Gerrold's writing of an unproduced script that would have had an allegory to the AIDS pandemic along with some brief scenes with two Star Fleet crewmembers that would have subtly been identified as being a gay couple. Gerrold wrote this script in response to being with Roddenberry at a convention in 1987 where he had promised that the upcoming Next Generation series would deal with the issue of sexual orientation in the egalitarian future. The script was rewritten to remove the gay couple, and even then certain people seemed to be worried about airing an episode that made a plea for compassion for those people infected with AIDS. For more information see LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe.
Post-Trek involvement
Gerrold wrote a script for Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled Blood and Fire, which included an AIDS metaphor and an incidentally gay couple in the ship's crew. The script was purchased by the TNG producers, but eventually shelved. Gerrold eventually reworked it as a novel, Blood and Fire, the third book in the Star Wolf series (see below). He later reworked the script again, placing the story in the time frame of Star Trek: The Original Series in order for it to be filmed as an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages.
Gerrold had always wanted to appear onscreen in an episode of Star Trek, particularly "The Trouble with Tribbles." The character of Ensign Freeman, who appears in the famous bar scene with the Klingons, was originally intended by Gerrold to be a walk-on part for himself, although another actor eventually took the role. While Gerrold appeared as a crewman extra with other Trek fandom notables in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, he did not get the chance to appear in a Trek series until Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when he appeared as a security guard in "Trials and Tribble-ations", set during the very same time frame as his original episode.
Gerrold also published a novelization of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series premiere "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) and an original Star Trek novel entitled The Galactic Whirlpool (1980) based on the story outline "Tomorrow Was Yesterday". (It has been suggested that the "Specs" character in that novel was Gerrold himself.) In 2006, for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, he co-edited with Robert J. Sawyer an essay collection entitled Boarding the Enterprise.
The War Against the Chtorr
Gerrold is the author of the War Against the Chtorr series of books, about an invasion of Earth by mysterious aliens: A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1985), A Rage for Revenge (1989), and A Season for Slaughter (1993). As of 2006, he was still writing the fifth book (A Method For Madness), and has contracted to write a sixth (A Time For Treason). The ending chapters of the series have been set aside for the seventh and final book, which will be A Case For Courage. His age, combined with his health issues (from www.gerrold.com) leads many to believe that this series will never actually be completed.
In an original twist, the invasion is an ecological one. Instead of armies, the unseen aggressors gradually unleash plants and animals from their older, more evolved planet. These outcompete and displace their terrestrial counterparts and Earth becomes more and more Chtorr-like as the "war" progresses.
Star Wolf
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series of books, centered on the star ship Star Wolf and its crew: Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972) which is actually an earlier novel that features the same main character republished as Starhunt and tacked into the main continuity as a prequel. The books were based on a concept Gerrold had originally planned for a TV series. The Star Wolf series reflects Gerrold's contention that, due to the distances involved, space battles would be more like submarine hunts than the dogfights usually portrayed—in most cases the ships doing battle wouldn't even be able to see each other.
Other works
He also wrote the non-fiction book Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, published in 2001.
The Martian Child is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on the author's own experiences as a single adoptive parent, with most of the key moments drawn from actual events. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and a movie version is currently in production for release sometime in 2007.
In 2000, his long-time admiration of the works of Robert A. Heinlein led him to create a new series, called The Dingilliad. It follows a resourceful teenager and his family as they try to begin a new life. Although not necessarily canon, there are hints that it ties into the War Against the Chtorr universe, with everything from the plagues to the rumored appearance of a giant purple worm. The trilogy contains the following books:
Jumping Off The Planet (2000)
Bouncing Off the Moon (2001)
Leaping To The Stars (2002)
Jumping off the Planet recieved the 2002 Hal Clement (Young Adult Award)for Excellance in Children's Science Fiction Literture http://www.goldenduck.org/winners.php
In addition, Gerrold has also published the following novels:
The Flying Sorcerers (with Larry Niven) (1971)
The Space Skimmer (1972)
Moonstar Odyssey (1977)
Deathbeast (1978)
Chess With A Dragon (1987)
In 2005, he was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in Telluride, Colorado.
From Wikipedia
Production Notes About 'Martian Child'
David Gordon (John Cusack) is an eccentric science fiction writer who considers adopting Dennis (Bobby Coleman), a young orphaned boy who claims to be from Mars. Ignoring some sage advice about the perils of parenthood from his sister, Liz (Joan Cusack), and the qualms of children’s group home director, Sophie (Sophie Okonedo), David decides he wants to be a father to the odd youngster who keeps insisting he is an alien. Even with the support of his sympathetic friend, Harlee (Amanda Peet), the aspiring dad soon finds himself in way over his head.
For starters, he’s in danger of missing his next publishing deadline and that has his nervous agent, Jeff (Oliver Platt), pretty worried. And then there is the social worker, Lefkowitz (Richard Schiff), and his review board who also have some serious doubts about David’s suitability as a dad.
In the midst of all this, young Dennis exhibits some pretty strange behavior and adamantly insists that he does indeed come from the red planet. A series of inexplicable events ultimately leads David to wonder if the boy’s claims are based on fact or fantasy.
Whatever the true origins of this strange little boy, David gradually finds himself growing more and more attached to him. Finally, when Dennis tries to live out the last chapter of his fantasy and unknowingly puts himself into serious danger, David discovers the transformational power of his love for the ‘Martian’ child.
Martian Child is a thought provoking comedy-drama about a widower who adopts a highly unusual young boy. Introducing Bobby Coleman, who stars opposite Best Actor Golden Globe Nominee John Cusack (Must Love Dogs, High Fidelity), the film also stars Amanda Peet (Something’s Gotta Give), as well as Oscar nominees Joan Cusack (Working Girl, In and Out) and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), and Golden Globe & Emmy nominee Oliver Platt (“Huff,” “The West Wing”) and Emmy winner Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”).
Based on the Hugo and Nebula Award winning short story by sci-fi luminary David Gerrold, the film is directed by Menno Meyjes (Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Color Purple and writer/director of Lionsgate's Max). The producers are David Kirschner, Corey Sienega and Ed Elbert. The screenwriters are Seth Bass & Jonathan Tolins.
The behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Robert Yeoman (The Royal Tenenbaums, Dogma, Drugstore Cowboy), production designer Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski (Dirty Pretty Things, Birthday Girl, Snatch), costume designer Michael Dennison (Mona Lisa Smile, The Chronicles of Riddick) and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Forrester).
From Official site
For starters, he’s in danger of missing his next publishing deadline and that has his nervous agent, Jeff (Oliver Platt), pretty worried. And then there is the social worker, Lefkowitz (Richard Schiff), and his review board who also have some serious doubts about David’s suitability as a dad.
In the midst of all this, young Dennis exhibits some pretty strange behavior and adamantly insists that he does indeed come from the red planet. A series of inexplicable events ultimately leads David to wonder if the boy’s claims are based on fact or fantasy.
Whatever the true origins of this strange little boy, David gradually finds himself growing more and more attached to him. Finally, when Dennis tries to live out the last chapter of his fantasy and unknowingly puts himself into serious danger, David discovers the transformational power of his love for the ‘Martian’ child.
Martian Child is a thought provoking comedy-drama about a widower who adopts a highly unusual young boy. Introducing Bobby Coleman, who stars opposite Best Actor Golden Globe Nominee John Cusack (Must Love Dogs, High Fidelity), the film also stars Amanda Peet (Something’s Gotta Give), as well as Oscar nominees Joan Cusack (Working Girl, In and Out) and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), and Golden Globe & Emmy nominee Oliver Platt (“Huff,” “The West Wing”) and Emmy winner Richard Schiff (“The West Wing”).
Based on the Hugo and Nebula Award winning short story by sci-fi luminary David Gerrold, the film is directed by Menno Meyjes (Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Color Purple and writer/director of Lionsgate's Max). The producers are David Kirschner, Corey Sienega and Ed Elbert. The screenwriters are Seth Bass & Jonathan Tolins.
The behind-the-scenes team is led by director of photography Robert Yeoman (The Royal Tenenbaums, Dogma, Drugstore Cowboy), production designer Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski (Dirty Pretty Things, Birthday Girl, Snatch), costume designer Michael Dennison (Mona Lisa Smile, The Chronicles of Riddick) and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Forrester).
From Official site
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Amanda Peet (2007.05.07)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien - Amanda Peet (2007.05.07)
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879623/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879590/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879578/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879233/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879623/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879590/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879578/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/30879233/Conan.O.Brien.2007.05.07.Amanda.Peet.HDTV.XViD-STFU.part4.rar
JOHN CUSACK Interview to TISCALI about Serendipity
John Cusack's on a rom-com roll. After the huge success of High Fidelity and America's Sweethearts, now he stars alongside our own Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity, a tall tale of two young people trying to find each other, years after the briefest of encounters. The word Serendipity, coined from the title of an old Sri Lankan fairy story, means "an aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally", and that's just what the couple have - in spades. Without ever getting too slushy, the film's a rush of smart detective work and crazy coincidence that really does get you rooting for the increasingly panicked protagonists. It's very Christmasy, it's set in a sparkling New York untouched by the hand of fear - it's a fun waste of an hour and a half. Here, TISCALI gets the lowdown from Mr Cusack himself
Your onscreen relationship with Kate Beckinsale is very natural, very convincing, as if you'd known each other for a long time.
JC: "I'd met her once before, but I didn't know her. I think sometimes you meet people and you feel like you've known them for a long time. And I think good actors can sort of see into people and immediately you have a chemistry with them or not. It's like an affair with no mess. You don't actually consummate it, but you get to pretend, imagine what it would be like. And you get to have a great time with that person - if you like 'em."
One person John HAS known for a long time is co-star Jeremy Piven. As a kid in Chicago he attended Piven's parents' theatre workshop and the pair, great friends ever since, have appeared in nine movies together. In Serendipity, Piven plays Cusack's best buddy, who joins him in the search for Beckinsale and is gradually changed by the experience. The banter between them is always easy, and hugely entertaining.
JC: "We just have a good time. A lot of acting is about developing shorthand with somebody. So, if you're working with somebody you've known for a long time, you already have all that history".
Cusack's finest and funniest scenes, though, are those he shares with Eugene Levy, star of Best In Show, who plays a neurotic and hilariously controlling shop assistant.
JC: "Yeah, he's like a bulldozer. You have to step back and get out of his way. Those scenes had a lot of ad-libbing, and they were so good they ended up being much longer than they were in the original script. And they added a scene so Eugene would reappear at the end."
Having co-written Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, and started his own New Crime production company, Cusack is something of an artistic Defender Of The Faith. Like his friend and mentor, Tim Robbins, he likes his movies to be deeper than the norm. Serendipity, though, is very simple.
JC: "Yeah, it has a light and romantic feeling. You know what's gonna happen - boy's gonna meet girl, they miss each other and they're gonna end up together again. It's a piece of entertainment. You buy the ticket and take the ride. You try to make it as good and enjoyable as you can along the way, but you don't want to make it too complicated. That would be like trying to get blood out of a turnip."
After starring in Con Air, Cusack said he took the role because the money, fame and consequent power would allow him to concentrate on his own New Crime projects. Is this also why he chose to make Serendipity?
JC: "Yeah, but it's not just about New Crime, it's about doing things I find interesting."
Cusack found himself promoting Serendipity in New York, shortly after the September 11th catastrophe. Was that problematic?
JC: "That was very difficult to do. I didn't want to do any talk-shows or do anything for the film, but then we had everyone, including the Mayor, saying 'Please come to New York'. Then I talked to the people at Miramax and Harvey Weinstein and he said 'We're a New York company, the film's set in New York - we should come and do this for the city.' I was OK with that, as long as I knew the movie was positioned right, as long as we were SUPPORTING the city. Most of all, the city WANTED us there. They wanted their baseball games back, and their movies, and this movie had a nice, romantic vision of New York that people want to remember, and will be again."
Serendipity makes New York look truly beautiful, a real wintery wonderland. Incredible really, as it was filmed throughout a boiling August, with shooting shut down on several occasions due to Central Park being sprayed for mosquitos. It's great to see, a real change from the grim pictures we've endured in 2001.
JC: "I think people were really glad to not see those images in their head any more. They'd got to the point where they wanted to feel something else. So people seemed to be drinking the movie up, really glad to see the city in a different way than as the home of a mass tragedy. Which is true, it IS much more than that."
Did any shots have to be edited out, in the wake of the attack?
JC: "I guess there was. I didn't see the edit before they made the cuts, but I guess there was a shot of the World Trade towers."
Did the events of September 11th have any impact on Cusack's choice of future roles. Did it see him shying away from violent movies?
JC: "No. My perspective on that was well formed before all that happened in America. It just made me more resolute in doing stuff that I like. Though I do think there's gonna be more opportunities to do stuff that looks at things in a more complex way, rather than giving very simple answers to very complex questions, like most films do. Those films just don't seem very helpful."
Does he think the movie industry is over-reacting to the attack, maybe even cashing in on the current burst of patriotism?
JC: "I haven't seen any of those movies yet. But I think any time you stop looking at evil as a black and white thing, it's helpful. So the fact that there won't be any of your obligatory Islamic terrorist stereotypes in movies any more, that'd be helpful."
Is that why Cusack chose his next project, Max (formerly known as Hoffman), where he plays an art teacher who ends up teaching the young Adolf Hitler?
JC: "Well, it doesn't at all condone or sympathise what Hitler did. It looks at him as a complex human being. An evil one, but a human being nonetheless. He's not a cartoon, he's a 31-year-old corporal who was a racist, who wanted to learn about modern art."
The next time we'll see Cusack onscreen will be in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. John, of course, starred as puppeteer and weirdo Craig Schwartz in Jonze's brilliant Being John Malkovich.
JC: "Yes. It's an insane script, obviously, because Charlie Kaufman wrote it. There's a point in the movie where Charlie - I mean his character - goes to visit the set of Being John Malkovich, which he also wrote. So the Escher maze just keeps going. So I'm an actor playing Craig Schwarz in the film Being John Malkovich, in the film Adaptation."
He's also signed on to make White Jazz.
JC: "Yeah, that, Being John Malkovich and Max were the best three scripts I've read in the last six years. In White Jazz, I play this guy called Junior Stemmons in Fifties' Los Angeles. It's typical James Ellroy insanity, very dark, very dreamscapey. I think it's starting up in January, maybe February, as soon as the finances are in place."
Serendipity is directed by Peter Chelson, British helmsman of Hear My Song and Funny Bones. Does he have any plans to work with British directors or actors again?
JC: "Well, the British keep employing me, and that makes me like them. It also makes me think they're very intelligent.
And is he aware of the campaign to get him to run for president?
JC: "Yeah".
Is he supporting it?
JC: "No."
He doesn't fancy the pay cut?
JC: "Hah! No, you couldn't say what you wanted if you were president."
from tiscali.co.uk
Your onscreen relationship with Kate Beckinsale is very natural, very convincing, as if you'd known each other for a long time.
JC: "I'd met her once before, but I didn't know her. I think sometimes you meet people and you feel like you've known them for a long time. And I think good actors can sort of see into people and immediately you have a chemistry with them or not. It's like an affair with no mess. You don't actually consummate it, but you get to pretend, imagine what it would be like. And you get to have a great time with that person - if you like 'em."
One person John HAS known for a long time is co-star Jeremy Piven. As a kid in Chicago he attended Piven's parents' theatre workshop and the pair, great friends ever since, have appeared in nine movies together. In Serendipity, Piven plays Cusack's best buddy, who joins him in the search for Beckinsale and is gradually changed by the experience. The banter between them is always easy, and hugely entertaining.
JC: "We just have a good time. A lot of acting is about developing shorthand with somebody. So, if you're working with somebody you've known for a long time, you already have all that history".
Cusack's finest and funniest scenes, though, are those he shares with Eugene Levy, star of Best In Show, who plays a neurotic and hilariously controlling shop assistant.
JC: "Yeah, he's like a bulldozer. You have to step back and get out of his way. Those scenes had a lot of ad-libbing, and they were so good they ended up being much longer than they were in the original script. And they added a scene so Eugene would reappear at the end."
Having co-written Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, and started his own New Crime production company, Cusack is something of an artistic Defender Of The Faith. Like his friend and mentor, Tim Robbins, he likes his movies to be deeper than the norm. Serendipity, though, is very simple.
JC: "Yeah, it has a light and romantic feeling. You know what's gonna happen - boy's gonna meet girl, they miss each other and they're gonna end up together again. It's a piece of entertainment. You buy the ticket and take the ride. You try to make it as good and enjoyable as you can along the way, but you don't want to make it too complicated. That would be like trying to get blood out of a turnip."
After starring in Con Air, Cusack said he took the role because the money, fame and consequent power would allow him to concentrate on his own New Crime projects. Is this also why he chose to make Serendipity?
JC: "Yeah, but it's not just about New Crime, it's about doing things I find interesting."
Cusack found himself promoting Serendipity in New York, shortly after the September 11th catastrophe. Was that problematic?
JC: "That was very difficult to do. I didn't want to do any talk-shows or do anything for the film, but then we had everyone, including the Mayor, saying 'Please come to New York'. Then I talked to the people at Miramax and Harvey Weinstein and he said 'We're a New York company, the film's set in New York - we should come and do this for the city.' I was OK with that, as long as I knew the movie was positioned right, as long as we were SUPPORTING the city. Most of all, the city WANTED us there. They wanted their baseball games back, and their movies, and this movie had a nice, romantic vision of New York that people want to remember, and will be again."
Serendipity makes New York look truly beautiful, a real wintery wonderland. Incredible really, as it was filmed throughout a boiling August, with shooting shut down on several occasions due to Central Park being sprayed for mosquitos. It's great to see, a real change from the grim pictures we've endured in 2001.
JC: "I think people were really glad to not see those images in their head any more. They'd got to the point where they wanted to feel something else. So people seemed to be drinking the movie up, really glad to see the city in a different way than as the home of a mass tragedy. Which is true, it IS much more than that."
Did any shots have to be edited out, in the wake of the attack?
JC: "I guess there was. I didn't see the edit before they made the cuts, but I guess there was a shot of the World Trade towers."
Did the events of September 11th have any impact on Cusack's choice of future roles. Did it see him shying away from violent movies?
JC: "No. My perspective on that was well formed before all that happened in America. It just made me more resolute in doing stuff that I like. Though I do think there's gonna be more opportunities to do stuff that looks at things in a more complex way, rather than giving very simple answers to very complex questions, like most films do. Those films just don't seem very helpful."
Does he think the movie industry is over-reacting to the attack, maybe even cashing in on the current burst of patriotism?
JC: "I haven't seen any of those movies yet. But I think any time you stop looking at evil as a black and white thing, it's helpful. So the fact that there won't be any of your obligatory Islamic terrorist stereotypes in movies any more, that'd be helpful."
Is that why Cusack chose his next project, Max (formerly known as Hoffman), where he plays an art teacher who ends up teaching the young Adolf Hitler?
JC: "Well, it doesn't at all condone or sympathise what Hitler did. It looks at him as a complex human being. An evil one, but a human being nonetheless. He's not a cartoon, he's a 31-year-old corporal who was a racist, who wanted to learn about modern art."
The next time we'll see Cusack onscreen will be in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. John, of course, starred as puppeteer and weirdo Craig Schwartz in Jonze's brilliant Being John Malkovich.
JC: "Yes. It's an insane script, obviously, because Charlie Kaufman wrote it. There's a point in the movie where Charlie - I mean his character - goes to visit the set of Being John Malkovich, which he also wrote. So the Escher maze just keeps going. So I'm an actor playing Craig Schwarz in the film Being John Malkovich, in the film Adaptation."
He's also signed on to make White Jazz.
JC: "Yeah, that, Being John Malkovich and Max were the best three scripts I've read in the last six years. In White Jazz, I play this guy called Junior Stemmons in Fifties' Los Angeles. It's typical James Ellroy insanity, very dark, very dreamscapey. I think it's starting up in January, maybe February, as soon as the finances are in place."
Serendipity is directed by Peter Chelson, British helmsman of Hear My Song and Funny Bones. Does he have any plans to work with British directors or actors again?
JC: "Well, the British keep employing me, and that makes me like them. It also makes me think they're very intelligent.
And is he aware of the campaign to get him to run for president?
JC: "Yeah".
Is he supporting it?
JC: "No."
He doesn't fancy the pay cut?
JC: "Hah! No, you couldn't say what you wanted if you were president."
from tiscali.co.uk
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