The Life Stories

I picked up The Bible According to Mark Twain and noticed I lost my place, the bookmark fell out.  I started flipping forward to another story "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven."  It was a story "as told to" Mark Twain by a sea captain that claimed to have died and visited Heaven.  This character's language and point-of-view were as salty as the waters he braved, so Twain apologetically changes the language to be more appropriate for the reader.  He did not take out some of the stronger racial slurs, presumably because they weren't strong at the time.  I slipped my hand over them as I passed by them on the page.  I was on the bus.

 

The next day I decided to crack open one of the books I borrowed that Saturday, To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu.  Yeah, it's a long title, but it's actually a quite interesting book.  He doesn't get to Star Trek until the second half of the book, this book has a different story to tell.  He wrote the book to tell of his experiences in the internment camps in Rohwer, Arkansas and Tule Lake, on the border of California and Oregon.

 

As a result, the style of writing is simple, direct, and the metaphors are usually obvious.  But it reads like it's written roughly at a middle-school reading level.  I think this was a good decision, because it helps bring this story to as wide and audience as possible.  The way he tells his story is as if it's to a bunch of kids anyway.  His voice here is one of optimism to the point of naivete, but it's refreshing.

 

What develops is a story where the foundation of his career lies in his relationship with his parents, people who, not only survived the internment camps but, helped other new Japanese Americans find jobs and make better lives.  His dad was elected the head of their cell blocks at both camps and later took on a variety of jobs including dish washer, career counselor, grocery store owner, and real estate agent.  His mother smuggled a sewing machine in an act of defiance and practicality.

 

That sense of principles and confidence led George to become a lifelong activist, constantly involved in his school's, and later his city's, politics.  A lot of celebrities attempt to get into politics, but with him learning about the US government was an extremely important part of dealing with what had happened to him and learning how he could affect change.

 

He was fascinated by acting, and the movies, but decided against pursuing it at first.  He started going to UC Berkeley for architecture, but finally decided to pursue acting because he knew he it would be irresponsible to take a casual attitude towards an art and a science that's that permanent and important to people's every day lives.

 

His parents turned everything into a lesson and negotiated masterfully with him on his decision to change directions.  In turn, he was a well-behaved kid to the point where he could get away with breaking curfew to watch his friends play Mexican music on Cinco De Mayo.  This book was also the story of a proud Angeleno

 

The second half discusses Star Trek and his later political adventures in "participatory democracy."  Walter Koening, at first competition for screen time, became good friends with Takei, often the bearer of news, good and bad, regarding any new movie or possible TV show.  In fact, his colleagues come off well except William Shatner, mostly because he fiercely counted lines, spoke to directors about shifting focus to himself, was absent at a lot of important events such as Gene Roddenberry's memorial, played oblivious to his selfishness through charming jokes and laughter.

 

As many of you probably know, Takei came out publicly in 2005, so since the book was published in 1994, he makes no mention of any relationships he's been in.  I think this contributes to the book's focus on educating the reader on the childhood fallout from the internment camps and the second-half focus on TV, movies, and politics.

 

That said, the last thirteen years have been very busy for him, so if perhaps not now, but at some point I think a sequel on the revelations of the past few years would be welcome.  I think that even if he talks about his coming out the book could still be geared to the same type of audience as the last one.  I took a look at his blog and that seems to be the way he still writes.

 

Monday, I went to class and we worked on openings, taking inspiration from abstract words, and Harolds.  I was surprised to find everyone doing solid work.  I felt like I was still doing some good work, but I got some needed direction from an unexpected source.

 

The person who asked for extra time for his improv team a few Saturday nights ago suggested I try to lead less in the opening I was involved in.  It was true that I probably was pushing forward a bit too much from feeling a need to compensate for others, but that wasn't wise.  I relaxed my grip on the scene and it worked out much better.

 

I also noticed I was dirtier than usual in my language, and as with any new skill, I could have used a bit more discretion.

 

Wednesday I decided to catch a show at IO West after work.  It was a one-man show being work-shopped by Kids in the Hall's Scott Thompson called "Scottastrophe."

 

This show was a response to a show he'd written earlier, but had to cancel due to 9/11.  He talks about his childhood growing up with several brothers, implying he wasn't the only gay one.  He also talks about his close relationship with his thirteen-month younger brother who was very different from him.  When the grew up, they grew apart.  This brother of his was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic and killed himself.

 

He talks about some of his adventures circa the time of Kid in the Hall and about a boyfriend of his that made a documentary on Saddam Hussein, which got them investigated by the government.  All these stories are tied together by his ironic wish to be somewhat tragic.  I thought it wasn't a bad show, although, I thought the stuff with the brother could have been brought more to the fore-front as one of the focii of the piece.

 

It's funny how life leads you from one place to another.  After having learned about my fellow comic having taken his own life, I started lurking on The Kvetch Board again for a while.  There I found someone I knew, fellow Emersonian Max Goldberg, plugging a showcase that he and Adam Ginivisian would be doing.  I decided to check it out.

 

It was timed just right since I had a rough day at work and was pretty crabby.  I took the bus to Santa Monica and just hung out for a while, looking at the beach, talking to MB on the phone.  I got up hungry and decided to walk to the Third Street Promenade.  It felt good to be a tourist again out here.  I eventually found a pretty nice pizza place that was actually affordable and brought my meal to the street.  There were benches there of a few different lengths.  I grabbed one that was designed for one person and ate as the sun set and the street performers performed.  It felt just like Quincy Market, but bigger.

 

After I was done, I decided to stroll into a Barnes & Noble and listen to some music before realizing the show was about to start.  I had a vague idea of where the Westside Eclectic was, since I'd been there once or twice last year, but I decided to consult a map.  "Ah, I remember now," I thought as I walked through a building into an alley.  The club faced a parking garage and I knew I was where I was supposed to be.

 

I chatted with a few Emersonians and recognized one or two of them, before going in.  One person hanging out there had a shirt with a face on it.  "Is that Kirk?" I asked thinking I recognized the face.

 

"Yeah," the wearer said.  I showed him my George Takei book and chatted some more before being let into the theatre.

 

This show was set up like a stand-up show but was very clearly not stand-up.  The host was one of the people I recognized from Emerson and she opened with a letter to the helicopters that orbit the houses in LA and brought up Max.  He told a story about being a girl's last sexual experience before she got cancer, it was poignant and the best work I've ever seen from him.  Adam Ginivisian told a story about a sign he proudly displayed soliciting kisses one New Year's Eve.  Another writer was brought up with his TV credits and talked about the time he shared a house in Malibu with his dad and tried to advise him on the serial killer mysteries he decided to start writing.  He was taking so much after his son.  The headliner was Oscar Nunez from "The Office" and he told a story of some adventures partying as a teenager in New Jersey.

 

It was like a series of one-person-shows and they all pretty much successfully connected with the audience.

 

The next night was The Del Close Awards at IO West, they were awards for and by the improvisers there.  There weren't any shows in the Andy Dick Theater, just a stand-up showcase, the improvised musical, and the awards.  Since I wasn't doing lights for the Andy Dick Theater, I was a floater checking tickets.  Jeff Hawkins, who runs "Friday Night Frankenstein" the nights I intern, it's his baby, came by because he was going to receive a mysterious award.  Even though I was given permission to leave once that show started, I decided to stick around long enough to see him get that award.

 

When he did finally get called to the stage, I thought about filling the seat, but thought too long since someone sat there in his place.  His award was the "And" award.  In improv a phrase thrown around a lot is "Yes, and" to suggest that one agree and add to a scene to move it forward.  Often, beginners only do the first part, but the better you get, the more likely you'll do both.  He moved the scene at IO West forward by taking the Andy Dick Theater and putting shows there.  He gave a voice to experimental improv.  His speech started by plugging his upcoming show in preparation for an upcoming improv festival and then talked about his room a bit and urged folks to support it and improv shows like the ones there and his night of shows.  His speech, like the others that night, wasn't like speeches at most awards shows, that basically are just a list of names, this speech was about something.

 

Monday, I cracked open The Bible According to Mark Twain and flipped to "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven."  I found it amusing, but decided to return it anyway.  I had another book to read: I, Fatty.

 

Thank you, I'm Eric Cheung.  I'm on MySpace and Live Journal.