JMS Speaks (again)

<font face="georgia">RE: Southern Baptists and B5
<font color="red">Which Southern Baptist site?</font>


I've been going through my notes trying to find the thing again...and came across some intersting, related items. Here's a church, the Shepherd's Care Ministtries, that uses G'Kar's quote about the future:

http://www.findthepower.com/inspirat...opicFUTURE.htm

About that quote, if you do a google search on "it is always born in pain," you'll find any number of sites where it's used for a memorial or epitaph. (It's also used, without attribution, on a number of other sites, kinda giving the impression that they came up with it on their own.)

There are a number of sites that look at B5 from a buddhist point of view, such as

http://www.hundredmountain.com/Pages..._babylon5.html

If you do a search for Babylon 5 and theology, or Babylon 5 and Buddhism, or religion, or christianity, you'll find the most fascinating stuff...and the most fascinating thing of all, for me at least, is that so often these sites from different or even competing religions use the *same quotes* and each gets something different, and something the same, out of them.

We live in fascinating times.

jms
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<font color="red">Just had the unusual experience of seeing some VHS tapes of B5 "dailies" from WWE. </font>

Hmph....

<font color="red">At the end of the tapes were short lengths of sound-only footage, over which ran a title card marking this as a "wild track". It all seemed to be there intentionally, but nothing in the tapes I saw/heard sounded useful at all. So.. what's a "wild track"?</font>

If there was trouble on a particular line on camera -- an actor couldn't remember it, or there was bad background noise, or other complications -- you pick up just the audio for those lines at the end of the scene. You do it in the same place because it means the background ambience will be the same, so it'll mix better when you drop it into the production track. Otherwise, no matter how you tweak the background, it never sounds quite the same. Nine times out of ten the line will fit pretty well in the actor's mouth on camera because they're still in the moment, and when it doesn't quite fit the picture, you just play it on his/her back.

jms

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RE:Lou Welch
<font color="red">I was wondering if he was offered a part on the credits, or whether his part was just to be expanded. If the former, it just boggles my mind that someone would refuse that. Even if you do get typecast (not likely for that particular part IMO) being a co-star on a show has got to look good on your resume not to mention your bank account.

So, was he offered a job in the credits?</font>

Truth is, I don't remember. But even if I did, I don't generally discuss an actor's private business terms unless there's an extremely valid reason for doing so.

So if I did remember, I'd say it's private; but I don't, so it's moot.

jms
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RE: Why is it J. Michael Straczynski
<font color="red">Actually, it's mainly to sneak up to the startling Straczynski part gradually.
And because it doesn't scare the cat. ;-) </font>


That's actually more or less correct.

BTW, for those who've been asking about Rising Stars, if you go over to

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13

you'll get a pretty good answer.

jms
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Never, ever do this again. Not to a man in my condition. And I didn't even HAVE a condition until I read this.

jms

<font color="red">It's because it has better balance: 1 syllable, 2 syllables, 3 syllables rather than 1 syllable, 1 syllable, 3 syllables.

You see, as ever, it goes back to the Minbari's obsession with the number three. Three words, with a total of six syllables. What is six, but three factorial ( 3! ), which is 3 z 2 z 1. Also, 3 + 2 + 1 = 6 - amazing! And take into account that 1 appears in both sums - yes, you guessed it - "the one" ! You see - more Minbari numerology in there!!

The Minbari connection is even more remarkable, when you do a quick numerological analysis on both forms you suggested:

-----------------------------------------

J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

J 10
10 SUB-TOTAL
M 13
I 9
C 3
H 8
A 1
E 5
L 12
51 SUB-TOTAL
S 19
T 20
R 18
A 1
C 3
Z 26
Y 25
N 14
S 19
K 11
I 9
164 SUB-TOTAL

225 TOTAL

2 + 2 + 5 = 9 = 3 x 3
-----------------------------------------

JOE M STRACZYNSKI

J 10
O 15
E 5
30 SUB-TOTAL
M 13
13 SUB-TOTAL
S 19
T 20
R 18
A 1
C 3
Z 26
Y 25
N 14
S 19
K 11
I 9
164 SUB-TOTAL

207 TOTAL

2 + 0 + 9 = 9 = 3 x 3
-----------------------------------------

At first sight, it seems that both forms are in fact Minbari-linked, with the totals collapsing down to 9. However, closer analysis shows that the first form must be the ideal candidate. If you take the first word from each form, you get J (10 summed letters), and JOE (30 summed letters).

Rewriting these in Bolloxian form, you get:

(1) J = 10
(2) JOE = 30

Substituting (1) into (2), you get:

(3) 10OE = 30 = OE = 3

Now, as we know, Joe is a great wordsmith, so it is obvious that that OE can only refer to the Oxford English dictionary. And in this context, it is obvious that (3) is telling us that we are talking about the 3 volume _Shorter_ Oxford English Dictionary. Since J is shorter than JOE, then we can only conclude that the first form is correct.

Just as an addendum, look at the numerical positions in the alphabet of JMS:

J 10

M 13

S 19

Cam you see the pattern? Yes, the differences are:

J 10
\
3
/
M 13
\
6
/
S 19

There you go again. Three and six, both multiples of three. And what do you get if you add them up?
3 + 6 = 9 = 3 x 3.
Unbelievable!


I hope that this answers your question.</font></font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Maybe. But consider this: The "final work" in these cases is *not* the script, it is the collaborative effort of *dozens* of people from the writer to the grips, all of whom work for the studio, and all of whom are using the studio's money to produce the *actual* "final work"</font>

That's as may be. But the Berne convention was specifically put into place to protect *writers* as the authors of the story. A grip is essential to the making of the movie; a grip is not the author and makes no claims in that regard.

jms
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<font color="red">OK, so forgive an ignorant question on my part. Who owns the script of, for instance, "Value Judgements" (which was never produced) or "Grey 17 is Missing," (which, AFAIK, has never been published), or "Day of the Dead" (which has been published on its own) or "The Coming of Shadows" (which has been published in multiple books)? Do JMS or Neil Gaiman or Fiona Avery own the scripts they wrote for the show or does Warners?</font>

Under the WGA Separation of Rights provision, the studio owns the characters and the concept, but the writer owns the physical script and can do with it whatever he/she wishes, so long as in doing so no copyrighted images are used on the cover of, for instance, books containing those scripts.

Granted it would be better if the rest of the folk who worked on the picture got a *share* of the actual copyright, rather than a diminishing residual, but this is not exactly the same situation as an author's relationship with a publisher.

<font color="red">And who gets residuals? Producers? Writers? Star actors? Guest stars? Any of the production staff?</font>

Residuals are not a part of ownership or copyright; they are deferred compensation, if the film or tv series does well, they benefit, if not, they lose. Everyone on your list gets residuals except production staff.

jms
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<font color="red">Joe, I saw Babylon 5 for free</font>

Yes, and no. Technically, yes, you saw the show for free...in that *you* didn't have to pay for it directly.

But the show WAS being paid for, by the advertisers (and subjecting you to the commercials is the price *you* pay for the show.)

The actors are being compensated every time that show runs, via residuals, as opposed to somebody putting up episodes on the net.

(In point of fact, I saw a post recently where somebody was talking about uploading and downloading B5 episodes, and why it was okay to do because the studio had made their money on it, why give the money grubbing guys any more? Except, of course, that the actors, writers and directors don't get the big bucks, they get residuals when the show plays. Which makes me ask...if you like the show, and the characters, and the actors who *played* those characters, why would you take away the few bucks they make in residuals by putting their eps on the net?)

jms
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Remembering that the average novelist makes less per year than the average grade school teacher, if 2000 copies of a book are read or downloaded online instead of purchased, that loss of $2-3,000 can make a huge impact on the writer's financial life.


<font color="red">I agree that you should not be posting or copying peoples works without permission. However, I am curious how you made the above statistic.</font>

This is hardly news; this has been covered in any number of magazine articles and books about writing, from Publisher's Weekly on up and down the line. And it's not limited to prose writers; the Writers Guild of America noted recently in a report that only about 2% of its members earn $100,000 or more per year; most earn maybe $15-30,000 a year, meaning only about one or two sales at tops, and sometimes not that.

Prose advances on fiction (and nonfiction) have not even kept up with inflation. Where they were about $3,000 for a first novel about 10 years ago, they're still at or near that number.

jms
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In other words...and don't take this the wrong way, but it's the fact...you've been to the zoo, but you've never had to be the monkey in the cage. Your understanding and empathy for the situation is delineated by which side of the cage you're standing on.


<font color="red">With all due respect, Joe, your reply to Lyle is both profoundly arrogant and *wrong*.

To suggest that someone who holds a "day job" to survive (like probably 90% of all the artists, actors and writers in the world) while pursuing their creative endeavor in the precious hours outside of 9-5, is somehow less of an artist than someone who has been fortunate enough to turn their art into a paying profession (with, I might point out, the concomitant compromises that come along with commercial success) is both fallacious and condescending. </font>

Yes, it would be, if that was what I had said. Or even what I had suggested.

Let me read that over again...hmm..."less of an artist"...wait, let me scroll back a second, and go back to the original message, because I'd hate to be wrong about something as monumental as this, and check again...hmmmm.....nope, nope, it ain't there.

This is what's called "reading something that wasn't ever said or implied into what someone else said."

My point, which everybody else here seems to have gotten but you, is that a person who does something as a hobby, has a different perspective on that practice than someone who makes a living at it. Are you saying this is not so? I don't think you'd find anyone north of Papua, New Guinea who would go along with that premise.

So: no, I didn't say it, didn't imply it, didn't suggest it. And pretty much all the other replies I've seen here tend to bolster the sense that you're the *only* person who came up with this one. Because you have a tendency to do that, and to try and hammer me with stuff, usually unprovoked.

I hope that you will be as enthusiastic in your retraction of your accusation as you were in the making of it.

It would certainly be a refreshing change of pace.

jms
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<font color="red">Just wondering how far you had gotten with the outline for future Crusade stories. We all know about the ones that were up on bookface but did you have even a rough sketch of how the Crusade story would have played out over the next few years?
Are you looking at ways of continuing the story in comic, book, miniseries, series form?</font>

No, because Warner Bros. owns Crusade.

jms
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<font color="red">And when B5 went only to one cable station (TNT followed by Sci-Fi) instead of multiple syndicated stations did this not lower the revenue potential of residuals? </font>

Not in the way you mean it, but it would take WAY too long to explain the details.

jms
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<font color="red">My question is, should copyright extend past the death of the author, and if so for how long? If it were up to you? While I agree that the author should receive compensation for his works through his old age, is it part of society's obligation to provide for the author's heirs? If so, for how long? </font>

Well, that's really the rub, isn't it? If copyright means ownership -- and technically it does -- then it really shouldn't be any different from passing along anything else one owns to one's family. It's a part of the estate, same as the old rollaway desk and pictures of the family dog.

Society's obligation? Seems like we're again looking at the wrong end of the microscope. The Bush administration is inches away from *totally* repealing estate taxes, so you carry the burden of that lost revenue in what you as an individual pay. (Sidelight: the Democrats said, at one point, "look, tell you what, why don't we just exempt the first hundred million dollars from estate taxes, but if you get over $100,000,000, you have to pay some taxes." The Republicans dismissed it out of hand, not one person went for it. Kind of tells you where their proirities are, doesn't it? This ain't about helping poor farmers keep their farms. And whenever they've used that line, btw, it's been shown afterward that not one farmer could be produced who lost his farm due to estate taxes.)

Corporations earning billions of dollars incorporate overseas and pay zero taxes...you and the rest of society are picking up the check on that one. Personally, I'd be more concerned about that than the average novel, which earns only a few thousand bucks a year. There aren't many Steinbecks among us right now.

So yeah, I do think the period should extend beyond the author's life. Fifty years is a goodly amount of time, but if it were to be peeled back a bit from that, say to 20 or 30, I'd be okay with that.

One sidelight to this thing...most writers working at a certain level these days incorporate, and all their works are owned/copyrighted by the corporation, not the individual. So all Harlan's works are (c) the Kiliminjaro Corporation, and mine are (c) Synthetic Worlds, Ltd. Which means that the works are copyrighted for *the life of the corporation*, not my life.

jms
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Re: Attn JMS: "Superman: Birthright"

<font color="red">Get it. Read it. You'll know why. </font>

Got it. Haven't yet. Will.

jms
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<font color="red">I've noticed that when it comes to comics, it seems wherever JMS goes Fiona Avery follows shortly thereafter. Between the ASM annual, her RS mini-series, and others, a great many jobs seem to be found for her.</font>

Let me jump in here for a second....

Every writer tends to follow every other writer a bit as they first start off. The reason I was able to first write a Teen Titans Spotlight was that I knew the guy who was the editor of the book; ditto for my other first comics. You go to people you know, usually friends. That's the gatekeeping process.

Guys do this all the time, whether it's the British mafia of Moore/Morrison/Gaiman or others. Moore also mentored Gaiman, and brought him on to write the comics he was involved with, such as Miracleman. But nobody every mentions that, it's when the other person is a female that suddenly some people have a hard time with it.

Everybody goes through a learning curve when they enter a medium; Moore, me, Neil, Fi, the first few years are rocky. That's the nature of the craft.

Top Cow and I rely on her for the RS follow-ups because she knows my universe very well, and has learned to kind of write in my style, so there's a certain level of consistency there. She's doing the book in part because I asked her to do so, because I wanted someone there I could trust.

She's also done and doing a great deal of work that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. She wrote for Earth: Final Conflict, she created the No Honor book which she is currently adapting as a series for television for Gale Ann Hurd (which again has no connection to me), she's just finished off two novels, has published stories in magazines that have nothing to do with me...she's doing just fine on her own.


jms
([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">It's not as if I said she was a bad writer, or a tag-along, or kicked my puppy when we were both little. I'm honestly curious about any resistance Fiona is encountering.</font>

Aside from this discussion...none that I'm aware of.


jms
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<font color="red">Is there a point where a book *should* enter the public domain?</font>

Ultimately, yeah, I think so. I think that at some point, a work of art must pass from the hands of the creator to the hands of the world, so that it can be remembered and propagated and cherishd.

What that point in time might be, is what the lawyers are still trying to define.

jms
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<font color="red">Question -- what are the benefits of setting up your copyright with a corporation? I can sort of sketch out why, but from a theoretical point of view, not from having done it. Can you spell out why you and others do it this way?</font>

I already answered part of this in the message you cite, where I noted:

So all Harlan's works are (c) the Kiliminjaro Corporation, and mine are (c) Synthetic Worlds, Ltd. Which means that the works are copyrighted for *the life of the corporation*, not my life.

So if the corporation survives for 170 years, that is the life of the owner of the copyright, and it belongs to SWL for 170 years. Now, the odds of that actually *happening* are about zero, but that's the theory. They can also be assigned as a corporate value and transferred. It also separates out who owns what in case of lawsuit. If you are sued as an individual, the properties owned by the corporation are generally protected.

jms
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Corporations earning billions of dollars incorporate overseas and pay zero taxes...you and the rest of society are picking up the check on that one.
<font color="red">Of course you are anyway since corp are legal entities and any taxes they pay don't just spring up from nowhere. They are taken from us in higher prices, from the shareholder's equity (and with very few exceptions the vast majority of the stock is held outside of the Inherently Evil board of directors) or wages.

If you want to tax them for extra rev., go ahead and do it. Don't try to sell it like you are stopping the robber barons because all you are doing is taking money from one of these three pots. </font>

First, what you have to understand is that what doesn't get paid in taxes ends up in huge dividends to members of the BoD and to the CEO...millions of dollars in bonuses that might otherwise have been paid in taxes.

Second, you have to look at the long term trend in taxation of the last fifty years. At one point, about fifty years ago, corporations made up about 70% of the tax burden, while individual taxpayers, consumers, made up about 30%. Over the decades, that has shifted until it's nearly inverted...with corporations paying about 30% of the overall tax burden, and consumers paying the remaining 70%. Specifically because the corporations have received so much in tax breaks, corporate welfare, and other writeoffs that billions of dollars simply go untaxed.

You're right, if it doesn't come out of one pot, it comes out of the other...only in this case, that pot is your wallet.

As for higher prices...there's a limit which people will generally accept for some items, and in truth, you're getting gigged for higher prices anyway. When Michael Eisner took over Disney, he raised the ticket price at Disneyland so that it brought in millions more that year in revenue. And as it turns out, his bonus that year...was exactly equal to what had come in through the jacked up ticket prices.

jms
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<font color="red">I meant that only as the difference between potential and reality. Potential would have had B5 only 4 seasons long and maybe syndicated scattershot across the countries various TV station. The reality had it being 5 seasons long and continually syndicated since 1998 on an individual superstation that is seen by a wider audience.

The critics would latch on to the "potential" revenue lost to actors residuals by B5 only having exclusive rights to one station. The reality means B5 has had continual exposure with occasional efforts to add in new blood. This could mean when it is given to the open market, more stations will latch onto it for broadcast.

Of course, this was my interpretation of the matter. The writers and actors have a better position to form an opinion on the matter since the results affect their livelyhoods.</font>

It doesn't really work that way.

You're paid on the rerun qua rerun, not on the number of stations carrying it. WB makes a deal with whomever...a syndicator, a cable network, somebody...and that organization pays X-dollars per episode for the right to show it for the length of that contract (usually about 3-5 years).

There's a slightly different residual formula for cable vs. syndication, but rather than get bogged down in that, let me get to the point.

If an episode runs on a thousand stations or twenty, the residual is the same, a percentage of the purchase price of the episode. So the number of stations really doesn't matter.

jms
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<font color="red">... the real question is... would JMS like to stop eating and paying his bills, just to get Crusade back.</font>

Thing is, of course, there's zip that I can *do* that would achieve that result. I can stand outside WB and hold my breath until I turn blue, but that's about it. If a network were to come to them and ask for it, that's one thing...but the studio owns Crusade, and without a compelling marketplace and an interested buyer, there's nothing they can or will do in the matter.

(Which goes to the note some people post asking why I don't write in this area anymore, do I not care about it. Yeah, of course I do, but WB owns it, and if I went otf and started writing stories in that universe I'd be infringing their ownership.)

<font color="red">Frankly, I dont like the idea of going to a convention and seeing a bag of bones with the name tag, JMS attached to its breast.</font>

Which, actually, is not that different from the real thing....

jms
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Just a little story, a day in the life, as they say....

You'll remember, when last we gathered, I mentioned that a number of feral cats and kittens had settled onto the property. (And I think I've found a group that can help with them.)

Anyway...on Thursday morning, about 9:45 a.m., I heard a caterwauling from behind the house. I went back to see what the heck was going on, and the cats scattered from where they'd gathered. As soon as they were gone, I found out what they were going on about...a mewling was coming from one of the landscaping drains.

Understand: around the house are a series of vertical 4" landscaping drains, which usually have covers on them. Designed to carry away water, they go vertically down about 2 to 2 and a half feet, where they T into a series of smaller (maybe 3") PVC tubes that evacuate the water out into the street.

When I looked down the vertical tube, which had somehow lost its cap, I saw a kitten, maybe 4 weeks old, two-thirds of the way down the tube, where it had fallen. I reacted instantly and reached in to grab the kitten, shoving my arm into the tube as far as I could reach...and I could just barely touch fur. I tried to pull my arm back for another try...and found that I was stuck. Badly. It's worth mentioning that, at this particular moment, I was alone in the house. I fought, twisted, turned, and after several minutes finally got my arm free.

When I looked back into the drain tube...the kitten was gone, somewhere in the T that went off in different directions. I could hear him mewing down there.

I called animal control, and they sent someone over...unfortunately, it was just one person with a stick and loop, which wouldn't do any good because he was at very least a few inches around the corner of the T. And the animal control people don't dig for liability reasons. By the time she'd arrived, the kitten had stopped mewing. She suggested that perhaps he had made his way out the street-side drain already, but in any event, there was nothing that could be done until they knew a) if he was still in there, and b) where in that maze of pipes he was.

At this point I had to leave to take care of some appointments that couldn't wait or be postponed, though I continued to worry. I kept hoping he'd made it out.

I got back to the house around 6:00 p.m. or so, went back...no sound. I leaned into the long tube, and...well, mewed. Over and over. I'd just about given up, and was ready to assume he had indeed gotten out safely, when I mewed one last time...and from deep underground, he mewed back.

He was still in there. I think he must have gone to sleep or been too scared to respond earlier. Now he was calling back in a big way. And the sound was coming from between that tube and the one nearby which was a sheer drop to a second maze of tubes beneath.

Frantic, I put blocks at the other tubes in an attempt to keep him from going any further, then called every plumber in the phone book. Nobody got back to me; it was, remember, the night before the 4th, and they wanted to start their vacations. Finally, desperate, I called the Fire Department, and after several who couldn't help, I found one that would.

So around 8:00, the bigass fire truck pulled up in front of the house, and out came the fire captain and three of his guys. They went to the drain area, and the captain said, "Sir, do you confirm there's a cat in there?" I confirmed, and they went to work. They dug out the original vertical tube, pulling out a small cypress in the process, taking turns, breaking two shovels but still going Even the captain got in there to do his share of the digging.

Finally, having cleared away the dirt around the tube, we're talking about a hole nearly three feet deep and as wide around, they removed the vertical tube and put in a mirror to check the lower tube (which was, again, only about 3" wide).

No kitten. He'd either gotten past the blocks, or -- my worst suspicion -- had fallen down the intersecting tubes that would have taken him even deeper underground. And he'd gone silent again.

Since there was nothing else that could be done at that point, they headed out. Figuring that the kitten must still be mobile if he was able to get out of there, I stayed at the hole from 8:30 until 11:30 p.m., never taking my eyes off the hole, putting out cat food and lights to try and attract him if he came this way again.

Nothing.

Around midnight, the mewing came back again, weaker than before. He'd now been in these underground tubes, meant to carry away water, for nearly 15 hours. It was dark above and no doubt pitch black beneath.

I went back to the phone book. Called everybody I didn't call the first time. Finally, a 24 hour plumbing service sent out a guy at nearly 1 a.m. When I explained the situation, he said he might have to tear up the pipes, uproot another tree, and it was gonna cost a lot. I said do whatever you have to. Seeing how determined I was, and that it was a kitten, he knocked some of the price down, and started digging.

After half an hour, he had the idea to call his brother who had a snake-camera, the kind you fish in to look at obstacles. Didn't know if he was home, but tried. Got the brother, he came out, joined the effort. Kept putting the snake in and looking around. The video carmera showed nothing, though we could still hear him. It had now been sixteen hours.

Finally, they shouted and I ran to the display. I could see the outline of the kitten, on its side, half in water. It had to raise its mouth above water to mew. The kitten totally filled the pipe, meaning there was no way it could turn around, it could only go forward. And that's what it had been doing for sixteen hours, going forward in the pitch blackness and the water, crawlling blind. It was now deeper into the maze, but at a point where if it backed up, it would eventually get to the opening dug by the fire department. But that was nearly 20 feet back. If we tried to dig, he might scoot forward and get clear...and if he went further, he'd be under concrete, and the end was blocked by roots. If we lost him this time, he'd be gone for good.

So we started bonking him in the nose with the snake camera. He put up a heck of a howling at this, but he backed up. Inch by inch, bonk by bonk, we backed him up for twenty feet.

Finally, he was getting near enough to the opening for me to see the red light of the camera lighting the tube. I dived into the freshly-dug hole face first, shoving my hand into the pipe in hopes of snaring him when he came this way. I knew I was only going to get one shot at this, and if he squirmed past me, we'd be screwed. It was now 2 in the morning, and there I was upside-down in the mud, hand shoved into the drain, with every imaginable mosquito and insect crawling over me, biting, stinging...I'm pretty sure I saw a black widow spider crawl over the back of my hand. But there was no power on earth that was going to get me to pull my arm out of that drain; I missed him once, I wasn't going to miss him again. The water was also backing up around the kitten, and I could hear him gurgling, choking.

Suddenly I felt his back feet brush my hand. I grabbed hold for all I was worth, resolved not to let go, and began pulling. To give you some idea how tightly he was jammed in there, as I pulled his fur dragged the pipe on all sides, making a shuuuuuuppppp sound as I pulled him out, worried that I might injure him by the angle I had to use.

With a final pop he came loose and up into my arms, covered in mud, soaking wet, shivering, but he was OUT goddamnit. The guys were so moved that they agreed to come back the next day for almost nothing to fix all the pipes and even replant the trees.

We bundled him up in a towel and got him to an all night emergency vet's office, where he was diagnosed with extreme hypothermia. Another couple of hours and he wouldn't have made it. He would've lost too much body heat.

He stayed at the vet's for 48 hours, getting warmed up, checked out, getting his blood work and vaccinations done, they checked his fluids and rotated his tires...and he's fine. His name is Buddy, for what I said when I got him out, over and over, "you're okay, buddy, you're okay now."

As I type this, covered in little bites, with the garden more or less back as it was, he is in one of the guest bathrooms, sleeping soundly on a warm towel, surrounded by small toys and big bowls of food and kitten milk. The one thing I've found I can't do is turn the lights off. He's scared of the dark, and probably will be for a while. He's the sweetest tempered kitten you've ever seen, with gray-blue eyes, long black and white fur, and he's just happy to be alive.

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to keep him or let him go for adoption when the other cats and kittens are taken, but the main thing is he's okay. The little buddy's okay.

A day in the life, as they say....


jms
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<font color="red">Anyway, as I sit here tearing up just a little, I have to add that I'm with Jan -- I think he's yours. You saved his life; now you're responsible for him, right?</font>

Thing is, I'm pretty much catted out right now, I just don't think I can take on another.

jms
<hr width="75%">
Re: Attn. JMS - Why Do *You* Like The Twilight Zone (1959) ?

<font color="red">Over on another group I already gave my answer (probably won't be up 'till tomorrow AM). Just wondered what *you* like about it.</font>

The ingenuity of the stories, especially for that time, the quality of the performances, and more than anything, the quality of the language, which was and is amazing to behold.

jms
<hr width="50%">
<font color="red">So I'm curious, if you're still reading this thread, and given your comments about what made the original TZ special, what you think of the new series.</font>

Haven't seen it.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">IIRC, development season should be starting around now. Any plans on dusting off "Polaris" and/or "World on Fire" and pitching them again?</font>

Polaris is still making the rounds, so we'll see what happens on that front. "World on Fire" is not do-able anymore because the events of the world caught up with the story. (Essentially, it was about the events leading up and following America getting into its next war, starting with an attack on New York. Very eerily, nearly everything that was in the script and the planned series has now happened, so the show is now a moot issue.)

<font color="red">What's happening with your other projects - new, old , TV, comic, play, audio drama or anything else?</font>

I've put my play "Among the Ruins" on a back burner for now, because it got too clever for its own good, too slick, almost self-consciously so...it needs time to season and develop the right kind of maturity.

Comics: the first issue of Supreme Power comes out August 6th, and it's going to be a terrific book. And Spidey continues apace, I'm just about to start writing issue 500, a 38 page monster that culminates a three-issue arc that encompasses much of Spidey's history and some things that should be real surprises for people.

TV: I'm making the network rounds with the people at Marvel Productions, pitching a new series, but that's all I can say about it for the moment.

Audio: I've finished the 20 short scripts for "The Adventures of Apocalypse Al" for a company that will be distributing them either late fall or early Spring 2004. It's a very, very funny series.

Other than that, working on a novel, making the pitch rounds for Midnight Nation as a feature, and taking some down time after finishing season two of Jeremiah last month.

jms
<hr width="75%">
I'll also post this in a separate thread, because I'm not sure what will show up here first, but in the interim....

I've previously mentioned my new book from Marvel, called Supreme Power. I just got a note from Marvel mentioning that the cutoff for orders is going to be this Thursday, July 17th (also my birthday). I genuinely think that Surpeme Power may be one of the best things I've done in the comics field, maybe the best to date, and I just want to put out the word to any Babylon 5 folks out there who don't normally read comics, and encourage them to check this one out. This is a great book for people who don't generally go for comics, a strong character story from end to end.

Anyway, once the orders for issue #1 are filled by the 17th, they won't be taking any additional orders, and Marvel doesn't do reprints anymore. If you miss issue 1, you'll have to wait for the trade, which could take six months or more. So I wanted to let everyone know that this is your last chance, 'cause this is almost certainly going to sell out and be impossible to find afterward.

As I've noted here before, I don't usually go to this length to promote something I'm doing -- I've really not spoken a lot about the Jeremiah series for Showtime, or the B5 quote book, or other projects -- but I'm making an exception for this one because I truly believe this is something extraordinary, in large measure thanks to the amazing artwork by Gary Frank, who also penciled Midnight Nation.

You can get more info on the book at:

http://www.diamondcomics.com/news/news.asp?ai=5386

http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazi...30616-five.cfm

And for a peek at issue 2:

http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/onsale.htm?id=1150

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0306/05/

So: long story made short, July 17th is the cutoff date for orders at comic shops. Just so's nobody can say later they didn't have fair warning on what Marvel thinks may end up being the book of the year for them.

jms
<hr width="75%">
<font color="red">Ok, sir, just want to hear your explanation for this little number (realaudio)...

http://209.15.18.249/captainpower/vi...ize.ram</font>

Apparently someone's taken out some additional life insurance.

jms
<hr width="75%">
http://entertainment.signonsandiego.com/profile/174658

Just a head's up for anyone who might be coming by...I'm ONLY going to be doing panels/talks on Saturday and Sunday, and my ONLY autograph session, at which the last of the Sleeping in Light scripts with deleted material and suchlike will be availabale, is Saturday at 3:30.

Because 2003 was our 10th anniversary, this will be the last time that the SiL scripts will be available at conventions.

jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">I noticed on the S.D. Comic-Con web site that they anticipate your autographing to be on Saturday from 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Are you autographing on other days as well? If so, do you know the schedule?</font>

As far as I know, that's the only one.

jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">What's your general policy with autograph sessions? Are there certain items you prefer to sign, or prefer not to sign? Will you sign two or three items, or just one? And will you personalize autographs?</font>

In the past, I've always had a simple policy: put it in front of me and I'll sign it. But the problem lately has been, as I've gotten more known in comics, the dealers have been taking advantage of this. They'll show up with stacks of 20-30 at a time, I'll sign them, then they'll get in line again, and I'll sign a hundred or so, which they just go out and re-sell at marked up prices.

So this year I may cut it back to maybe ten per, or somewhere around there. Because it's not fair to make the honest fan with two things to have signed wait behind a guy who doesn't care either way to get his 30 or 60 copies
signed.

Y'know?


jms
([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

</font>

<font face="georgia">If you're a fan of the matrix, copy this into your inernet browser so that windows media player will open it.

mms://wmt-od.stream.ne.jp/ntv/hkzkt/hkzkt10.wmv

nuff said.

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">When will you be selling the autographed SiL scripts, Saturday only?</font>

Yes. For whatever reason, the auto session didn't show up in the program book, so I hope folks can find out about it.


jms
<hr width="75%">

For those who will be at my talk on Saturday, or know someone who will, Warner Bros. will be there with a film crew to interview fans and tape material for the season 5 DVD, which at my request will have a whole section on the fans, since that has always been an important part of the show.

So if you're at the con, you may want to be sure to come by to get into a little slice of B5 history.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">OK, it looks like B5 is gonna go the distance (all 5 seasons) on DVD, crusade is still in "being considered" limbo, and rumors are flying thick & fast on Jeremiah.
</font>

It's my understanding that if the sales continue as they have for B5, they will indeed release Crusade on DVD.

I read on the net -- was never informed by MGM -- that Jeremiah will be coming to DVD in January or February of next year, and season 2 begins September 19th on Showtime.

<font color="red">What about the other B5 movies? I suppose Call To Arms might reasonably go in a Crusade set to bulk it up but that still leaves Thirdspace and River Of Souls. Are there any whispers/hints you can give on the possibility of them finding their way to DVD?</font>

If things continue, I think it very likely from what they've said.

jms
<hr width="75%">

<font color="red">...bad news about Jeremiah... IF there is a third season, JMS won't be attached. Seems he's having a bit o' problems with MGM, which leads him to the "life's too short" argument....</font>

There was a lot in that article on the Pulse that was really badly reported, things were misphrased, two different sentences were put into one, sections are wholly incomprehensible...it's just a train wreck of a piece.

However, even though the article totally misstated the sentence so it didn't make any sense, the last phrase is correct, in that I have zero desire to return to a third season of Jeremiah. Showtime was great, no mistake, but MGM has overall been the most heinous, difficult and intrusive studio I've ever worked for. I've worked for, and had great relations with, Viacom, Universal, Warner Bros., and a bunch more. But I will never, ever, work for the present administration at MGM.

I didn't know why so many other writers had a problem there and never wanted to go back. Now I do.

jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">Joe, could there even *be* a third season of "Jeremiah" without you? I don't know how this works--i.e., whether MGM owns the show and could conceivably bring in someone else to keep it going.</font>

Sure, they could definitely do so. At the end of their day, it's their show, and if there should be a season three, they would have no choice but to bring someone else in.

As an aside...none of this should be taken as a diss of the coming season. I honestly think that the second season is miles better than our first season. It's more consistent, takes more chances, it's really a very strong season.

Thing of it is, you look at the quality of the work, and the amount of blood on the floor in getting to that point, and have to decide if the one is worth the other. The process is hard enough without others making it even harder than it has to be.

And there we are.
jms
<hr width="50%">

<font color="red">A couple of purely selfish questions, if I may... Did MGM's intrusiveness affect the Jeremiah story the way that TNT tried to affect Crusade? </font>

No, but not through lack of trying.

<font color="red">Did/does/will the second season end with a cliffhanger?</font>

Yes and no.

<font color="red">Why, when they've got somebody who's proven that he can tell a whopping good story _and_ handle their money responsibly, can't the studios just leave him alone to *do* it???</font>

It's not something I understand either.

jms
([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)
</font>

<font color="red">Correct me if I am wrong, but did TNT want more sex and violence in Crusade?</font>

Yes.

<font color="red">I read this from every news source out there so it must be true.</font>

Well, the one does not necessarily follow from the other....

<font color="red">How is it that a studio after seeing your work on Babylon 5 could have so little faith in your work? </font>

It wasn't a matter of faith in my abilities, it was that they wanted one kind of show, I wanted to do another, and there was no common ground we could stand on.

<font color="red">Couldn't they see where the story was going?</font>

Yes, but it wasn't where they wanted to go.

<font color="red">Are they totally out of creative mindset?</font>

One assumes.

<font color="red">Couldn't they see future profit in the series? </font>

Networks don't get future long-term profit, they only get what the ads bring in first run (and reruns on their network). Only the studio reaps long-term profits.

<font color="red">After all of the series box sets for Babylon 5 are all out will Crusade be released on DVD? </font>

My unofficial understanding is that this will be the case, yes.

<font color="red">And, if the sales go exceptionally well is there hope of reviving Crusade? I know that WB owns B5 but is there a chance?</font>

Thing is, Crusade wasn't a show that went many seasons and then disappeared with a strong fan base and a recognizeable name, both elements necessary to a revival. It was shot through the head while still in its metaphorical cradle, and didn't have the time to acquire either of those.

So, bottom line, I really don't think it's ever going to happen. And the more time passes the less likely it continues to become.

<font color="red">If Crusade will never be revived will there be any future B5 projects?</font>

That's a whole different subject, and there may be a few things in the offing there, but I'm keeping a low profile on this in case it doesn't go anywhere, which is so often the case with TV and such.

jms
<hr width="75%">

I haven't really commented on this because others have addressed the specifics quite well, I think. Of the projects cited, only two of the TV projectrs ended with enmity, Crusade and Jeremiah. I'm on good terms with SFC with Rangers, good terms with WB on the same basis after B5...the problem with Rangers going down had nothing to do with personalities or difficulties working with anybody and everything to do with ratings vs. costs.

The B5 graphic novel has simply been waiting time for me to get it done because of the number of commitments I've been dealing with.

So the premise is faulty to begin with. You (the original poster) are asking people or myself to defend something when your premise is misleading and untrue. There are FAR more difficult people, or people who are perceived as difficult, out there working nonstop in TV. This is a profession and a town where eccentricity and difficulty is pretty much expected.

And part of your note proceeds, from my point of view, from fear. There's this thing of, "Well, you shouldn't make trouble, you'll never work again," which keeps people in bad places long after they should go, or at least protest. I don't believe in that kind of weakness or fear. By all rights, I should be hard-core unemployable. My rep for being a perfectionist, and being a fighter, has been there from 1984, when I started working in TV. But I've been consistently employed more than any other writer I know in the field. With very few short gaps, I've been working in TV almost nonstop for nearly 20 years. That simply doesn't happen.

The reason it happens is because I'm known for being a pain...but also for being good, very good, at what I do. After Murder, She Wrote ended its run, they tried without success to get some MSW TV movies going. It totally stalled out, script after script. Finally, one day, they said, "Well, there's always Joe." Then they went to lie down for a while, but they made the call, and I wrote a script that got approved, got made, and broke the logjam.

Jeremiah had lain moribund at Showtime and Lion's Gate for *five years*. They couldn't get it off the ground. Finally, they said, "Well, there's always Joe." After the usual lie-down, they called...and it went from a nearly-dead project to on the air for two years.

And as I write this, I have two new series in development, at least in the formal pitching and development stage with studios attached, and I've barely left Jeremiah. I've had to turn down other requests for TV series development because you can really only do two max at a time, one in first position, the other in second. No network or studio will take you in third position.

I've *always* been very open about people or situations who piss me off, but only after being pleasant and negotiating has proven useless, and I've been the recipient of that lethal combination of arrogant stupidity.

See, if a network or studio and I disagree, then we just disagree, it's honorable, that's the give and take you *want* on a show. I have a lot of respect for Showtime, because whenever I wrote a script and kind of glossed over anything in the first draft, figuring I could address it in the next pass, they always caught me at it. *Always*. And as annoying as it was at times, it was also kinda cool and gratifying to know that they were paying that kind of attention. And we never, ever had a problem. Honorable people can have honorable disagreements. When that happens, my rule is that I don't walk out of the room, or let them walk out of the room, until either they convince me of the rightness of their views, or I do the same to them. They agree not to pull rank and I agree not to pull a prima donna.

And when you have a situation like that, as big as the arguments may get, I never have a problem with it. I actually *enjoy* that.

I *do* have a problem with dishonorable behavior. Always have. When someone lies to me, fucks me, or otherwise acts toward me in a dishonorable way, then as far as I'm concerned the rules of engagement change at that moment. And I do so unapologetically.

Why? Because it scares off the snakes. If you know that you're going to be raked over the coals if you act dishonorably toward me, it mitigates against those with such intentions, they think twice. Those who are honorable never seem to have a problem coming to me. It's the same reason I always tell every studio I work for my three rules: I don't lie, I don't bullshit, and I never, ever bluff. And I expect the same in return.

So no, as far as my work is concerned, it is not and has *never* been a problem. And if it ever *were* to become a problem, I'd move off into writing comics full time, or novels, or something else. I'm more or less set in a variety of venues. The result is that I write what I want, for whom I want, and I get paid for doing things I'd have to do for free otherwise.

Your concern, really, is that *you* are afraid that *you* won't get what *you* want. That ain't my problem. Nor will I allow your fears to become my fears. I do what I like and I say what I like. I've worked my whole life to get to that point, a point very few manage to achieve, and if you think I'm going to change that because you're concerned you might not get your fix of a certain kind of story...dream on.

As per:

<font color="red">So I comment on the side stories, and the DEVALUATION of JMS' brand of arc-based storytelling in the eyes of casual tv watchers and diehard fans.</font>

It ain't my brand in the sense that I do other things, and I don't think I have it in me to do anything of the complexity of B5 again for television...to write 91 out of 110 eps and be that gonzo nuts in every detail. It damn near killed me the last time; if I tried it again, it *would* kill me.

It's great that you want the next thing I do to be the same as the last thing I did. But that ain't why I'm in the game. I want the next thing I do to be *different* from the last thing I did.

It's the difference between having ten years of storytelling...or one year of storytelling ten times.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

<font face="georgia">RE: Jeremiah
<font color="red">Did you approach parts of the second season finale knowing that you wouldn't be doing the third season? </font>

Yes. That thought was pretty much all that kept me going at the end.

<font color="red">My question is whether there will be some sense of closure at the end of the second season. Will people be able to look on the first two seasons as some sort of whole project and enjoy it as such? Or will we be left hanging and wondering what might have been?</font>

No, it actually does have some closure to it. So if that were to be the last season, it would have a good end to it.

Jms
<hr width="75%">

[img]graemlins/cat.gif[/img]
Just to let folks know the latest...Buddy is still hanging fire over in the guest bedroom, where he's had his digs set up. Gaining weight and cuteness factors by at a frightening rate. Still looking for someone trustworthy to adopt him. The cypress trees we dug up to get him will never be the same again, I fear, but I'd rather have them dead and him alive than vice-versa.

If somebody wants to put up some photos where people can see him, let me know here and I'll send you some jpgs of His Unholy Cuteness.

One sidelight: a local cat and kitten rescue group has been extremely helpful in dealing with all the other cats that moved onto the property, getting the adults spayed/neutered, and finding homes for the kittens. If any of the folks who've been following this story want to make a donation in the name of Babylon 5 to this group, you should certainly feel free to do so. Like any such group, they live from hand to mouth (or paw to maw), and I'm sure they'd be happy with any help.

Jms

</font>

Link to photos of Buddy

Buddy Photos http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~bfrazer1/buddy/

Edited by AsIs to fix link.

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ August 04, 2003 11:22 PM: Message edited by: AsIs ]</font></font>

--My apologies. I can only plead excessive nerves, as I was getting ready to start my new job (finally!) when I posted. Normally, I would have proofed the link before posting.
Bee--

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 06, 2003 01:01 AM: Message edited by: MightyLady77 ]</font>

<font face="georgia"><font color="green">JMS, who I find boring and pretentious.</font>

<font color="blue">Careful. He's so boring he's hanging around here.</font>

<font color="red">So does Erik Larsen, and I a) don't particularly care what either think of my opinions and b) doubt they think much of my opinions anyway.</font>

Not at all. Not in the least respect. I did some checking around, got your main handle of [email protected], and found your website at http://www.geocities.com/mh_prime/ and your fan fiction, and whatever you may think to the contrary, I feel you're *profoundly* qualified to talk about boring and pretentious writing. Indeed, you may be one of our nation's foremost experts in this area, so please don't underestimate yourself in the future. (Some might venture that the handle, Prime Eternal, alone would qualify you for such status, but I think they sell you short since at most it is pretentious, *maybe* boring. I think we owe it to your expertise to use a much higher standard.)

Suffice to say that if they ever offer degree plans in this area, I will be happy to add my name as a sponsor should you decide to pursue a PhD.

Ever your pal,

jms
<hr>
<font color="red">Please allow me to respectfully retract my earlier comment concerning sarcasm in the works and windings of one J.M. Straczynski, dear Sir.</font>

You may sit down now.

And finish your broccoli.


jms
<hr>
<font color="red">Well...that certainly showed me. I'm surprised you went to the bother to look me up, or to read my fan-fiction (fan-fiction I'm not particuarly fond of myself). In defense of my handle, it was chosen more to help promote my first website than as any reflection on myself.

But I guess I'll have to retract my earlier e-mail...turns out that I *do* care about your opinion of me...because that reply really *hurt*.</font>

Such things *do*, and that's one of the points I've always tried to bring home to folks, which is to just remember that the people you're talking to and about are people also, and you shouldn't say things to them that you're not prepared to have someone say to you. I don't think anyone should ever have to curb their opinion, but that's not the same thing as how you present it. We sometimes forget that the people at the other end of the modem, or the indicia page, are people also.

By contrast, if one *does* let fly, one gives up all rights to be offended by the response. Do unto others, as the saying goes.

<font color="red">I apologize for my earlier rudeness.</font>


And I apologize for mine.

jms

([email protected])
(all message content (c) 2003 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

...and everyone gets a hug.