JMS Speaks (again)

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">"Most writers use some form of character chart as a way to get to know their characters better. Basically, you're looking for something that's a cross between a police profile and personal. Keep completed character charts handy while you're writing; with these charts posted on your bulletin board or on your computer desktop, you can instantly find the detail(s) you need."

Do you do anything like this, or keep it all in your head?
</font>
I keep it all in my head.

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia">"I keep it all in my head."

<font color="red">Have you always? Or, if I can broaden the question, have you changed the way you go about writing over the years? Sort of the way one gives up training wheels at some point? Or were you just born riding the 2-wheeler?
</font>
Yeah, pretty much...when I conceive a character, they're just sorta *there*, fully grown, and I no more have to write down their characteristics than I would have to write down the aspects of a friend I knew well, it's just the way I've always been.

jms
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<font color="red">After viewing all the friday TV oevres for the second time, I want to cast my vote in favor of JMS's opinion about this episode of Jeremiah being his finest writing to date.</font>

Thanks...for me, it's the two parts combined as one big story that pushes it over the top for me. And part two is just freakin' huge....

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">In the light of actual knowledge of this topic, I would ask, why a women's shelter ? Are we not aware that DV is a 50/50 matter, where for every battered woman, there a battered man out there ? Why no concern for the need for places of safety for men ?</font>

Because someone asked what I personally would prefer. I answered. You don't have to abide by that, it's just my preference having seen too much of this stuff. If I'd seen a lot of the other side, I might have said otherwise...but I haven't. All the DV I've seen has been against women, and that's where my emotions take me, and my answer.


jms
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<font color="red">A side thought. Jeremiah is being made in Canada. At what point does JMS have to start paying Canadian Income Tax?</font>

I was able to get a waiver on LoTR because it was a short-term engagement, but on Jeremiah I've been paying Canadian taxes (as well as American taxes) since day one.

Even so, my Canadian tax burden is still far less than the average Canadian has to shell out every year, percentage-wise. Though I'm still somewhat of a newcomer, my feeling is that, frankly, the Canadian people are getting hosed. I understand the dilemma of having a very large country and a very small population that has to support that infrastructure, but even so they're just getting hammered out of all proportion and reasonableness.

jms

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<font color="red">Don't forget we have more of a more generous social infrastructure, but nowhere near enough big profitable corporations to support it. Still, we like to think at least we're better off than the Finnish. :-)</font>

Yeah, in theory it's a generous social infrastructure, but it don't work. Between lower paying salaries and a tax burden that leads a lot of professionals in various areas like medicine to go to the US, you've got a brain drain and a resources sink that kills a lot of that infrastructure. (Which is why I spent 6 hours in the emergency room of Vancouver General Hospital, before being taken into the actual work room, and another 2 hours before getting worked on by a doctor, the day I dislocated my right ring finger...there was only ONE emergency room doctor on duty on a Saturday night.)

It costs less, but there's less OF it, and it's not terribly efficient, and doesn't give your average Canadian the value for his/her money.

Maybe I'm a bit more vocal about this than I should be, as an American (and knowing how much we've contributed to the problem) but goddamn, you guys are getting taken to the cleaners up there.

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">It's interesting that the idea of civilians looking out for each other should fill some people with dread. I attribute the fear to the elitist perception that "I can handle responsibility, but everyone else is irresponsible". Certainly the best protection against burglars is a nosey neighbor.</font>

This misses the point by a mile.

What the Citizens Corps involves is the establishment of a branch of the government which will solicit information from various sources -- none of whom are authorized peace officers or in any way official individuals trained in detection -- and take that information, gather it, disseminate it internally, and track that information about people who may not have anything whatsoever to do with anything in the smallest regard concerning terrorism.

Who gets this information? What will they be doing with it? How will it be organized and disseminated? What stops someone from sending along unreliable or false information in order to get someone in trouble? Who decides what is "suspicious behavior?" And you the person being cataloged have NO way of knowing what's in that file or that there even IS a file...further, this agency will be free from FOIA discovery, so there's no way to determine what the government has on you, if anything. The potential for abuse is mind-boggling.

The way the country has always worked is that if someone sees something suspicious, they report it to the local police, who investigate it. That's how our system has functioned for a very long time and successfully.

The acts of 9/11 should not lead us to throw out the very aspects of our American system that brought their attack in the first place, the ideals that we are, in principal, defending.

We've seen this before, in the McCarthy period. I'd hoped we had become smart enough as a people not to fall for the okey-doke a second time. I was wrong.

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">Hmm, maybe there's hope of turning JMS into a libertarian yet. [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

I like to consider my mind an open door.

It's just not a revolving door.

jms

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<font color="red">Please outline what enforcement powers this department has. Please show us the legions of jack booted thugs it employs to do it's bidding.</font>

Sure. Easy. The office of Homeland Security would have access to FBI and other resources. But more interesting, as per today's New York Times, Homeland Security head Tom Ridge suggested that one good solution would be to use the military in this situation. Further, Bush himself has requested a review of the Posse Comitatas rule, which forbids use of military forces for civilian arrests. Though Ridge says that these forces "might not be used," it'd be a good idea to have that power if needed.

<font color="red">OK - and anonymous calls to the local police can't be used to the same purpose!?</font>

Nope. Because if you call in a police report, they won't take it in most cases without your name and address. If it's an anonymous tip, it is, nonetheless, within the legal system and can be subpoenad and produced as evidence. Further, if someone files a police report on you, the police generally investigate and you'll know that the report has been called in.

In the case of TIPS, the information goes into a general database and there's no way to know what's being gathered on you, and the TIPS program as outlined is not subject to FOIA, so you might never know you have a file or have access to it (whereas you can get FBI files on you, albeit censored, via FOIA).

<font color="red">And by the way, if it *is* abused, there is an EXISTING mechanism to right the wrongs, on many levels. First, if you are actually prosecuted, and found innocent, you can sue for overzealous prosecution.</font>

Sue who? The government? Do you know for a fact that TIPS is subject to civil suit?

Further...even if we allow that they can, which hasn't been established here...sure, you could sue, after you've spent years having your reputation destroyed. A reputation, once hit by suspicion, is hard to rebuild again. And even if you win, you're looking at another three or more years in court, again defending your reputation because the defense will make your rep the point of their case.

I don't think the possibility of suing back is in any way the equal to six years of one's life lost, along with one's reputation. Not to mention the concurrent fallout on work, family, friends, relationships, career, you name it.

<font color="red">Second, you can sue the guy whio tipped. If you actually get into court, they have to produce the guy. rule of law...</font>

For starters, see above. Second, as of this point in time, TIPS is *not* subject to the same rules of evidence as any other agency. Thirdly, all someone has to do is say the information was given in good faith, that X happened...it's just in the *way* it was reported that the trouble started.

For instance...somebody subscribes to an Persian newspaper. We note this in somebody's home. The person also has a farm, and thus access to fertilizer. Trucker sees this, files the information, and continues to the next delivery. Now you have a file, and people are going to be looking for anything that might fit the profile, because you wouldn't HAVE a file if there wasn't something going on, right?

Or what if it's not a Persian language paper? What if it's another country altogether, but the trucker made a mistake? You can't sue over something like that.

And finally, somebody like that doesn't have deep pockets as a rule...so what do you do, sue for 3 years, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, to get nothing?

People who say "Hey, just sue the guy" have generally never been sued themselves, or had to sue, so they don't undersstand what's really involved.

<font color="green">No government agency should be allowed to strike with impunity; </font>

<font color="red"> Glad you agree. There are several provisions in constitutional law that make such actions illegal.</font>

Too bad that TIPS, as currently envisioned, has exempted itself from such provisions or made it difficult to even find out what's going on so that you could try and bring those provisions into play.


jms
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<font color="red">But I think it's a baseless, and, I might say, entirely inappropriate and distressing thing to say about "the Republicans," whose collective will is not as clear-cut as that.</font>

Yes and no...but a lot of the party's stands are in total lock-step.

For instance...I know somebody who ran for office as a Republican last year (jms looks around the audience with doe-like eyes of innocence, letting folks figure out the rest for themselves)...who told me that as part of running, the Party gave him a box full of notebooks that contained what was to be his stance on any number of issues. He was not to diverge from them.

But most troubling...he was given what was essentially a loyalty oath, stipulating that he would support George W. Bush in the forthcoming primaries *exclusively*, and not McCain, and if he didn't agree, the Party would withhold its financing from his election bid.

So much for the marketplace of free ideas.

jms

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<font color="red">Yes, yes, the "platform". Again, it begs the question, "What do the Democrats (or any other party) do differently, if anything?"</font>

I don't know. Does one legitimize the other? If both are doing something wrong, does it mean therefore that either are free from criticism? I've never understood this logic: "Well, HE does it too." So? And in this case we DON'T know if he/they do it too.

<font color="red">Same question, did not the Democratic party exact a similar loyalty oath for Al Gore from candidates?</font>

Dunno. Are you saying they did? If so, if you know that to be the case, I'd be interested in hearing about it. If you don't know it to be the case, then it's just pettifogging.

jms

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Re: Nicholas Charles Wilkes

<font color="red">I was saddened to see the dedication at the end of Jeremiah, Things Left Unsaid part 1 : to the memory of Nicholas Charles Wilkes, 1979-2002. Only 23 years old. I don't know who he was, but hate to leave that go by so anonymously, when someone clearly put his name there because they wanted him remembered. Can anyone tell me about him?</font>

Nick was a PA who worked on the series, and was well liked by everyone on the show. He died in a car accident on the way to work while we were shooting TLU part one. Everybody felt very strongly that he deserved notation here.

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia">RE: Midnight Nation #12

<font color="red">I finally got my own copies of issues eleven and twelve. I had borrowed them from a friend before, but re-reading all twelve issues really left me with a desire to say: Thank you!

Now, I have a question about the newborn Laurel David passes on his way out of the hospital: her dad claims "It was a difficult birth. We almost lost her twice." Now, this probably refers to some specific points along David and Laurels journey, but I'm not sure where it would fit in. She was hurt fighting more often than two times, and those wounds didn't seem serious.

My guess would be that Laurel would have been 'lost' to her parents if David had agreed to let Laurel end his life. She would have returned to the void, waiting to be summoned again, and so couldn't have been born. However, Laurel asked David three times. I suppose if the first time was early in the journey, it would have been more than nine months before her eventual birth, so the parents could not have noticed anything.

So, did you have anything specific in mind with this remark? Or does anyone else here have a theory?</font>

No, basically it was just in reference to the birthing process...obviously her parents would in no way know about what went on in the other side.

And thanks....

jms

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[Wizz]

<font face="georgia">Re: ATTN JMS: I'll help with commentary compensation

<font color="red">You guys do realize that *all* commentary work is 'free' right? jms isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. It's an industry thing.</font>

<font color="green">JMS said it varied by studio. Do you know otherwise?</font>

<font color="red">Nope, although this is the first I've heard of it.</font>

Yeah, actors in features often get it. And I'm told that some TV shows have done so as well.

Anyway...old news now.

jms
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<font color="red">One thing puzzles me is the way cell phone is still working in Jeremiah's world since all the station would be gone and there is no power left to transfer the calls. (I will leave the how does one calls out from a nuclear shelter with a cell phone question out.)</font>


The satellites are still in orbit, and still available to anyone with the power to get to them.

And as for accessing them from inside the mountain...in both cases, we clearly see Markus (or Lee) plugging the phone (a smaller version of the contemporary sat-phones) into a plug marked EXT. ANT. for exterior antenna.

So we covered that.


jms

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</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">It was fantastic to see you again Saturday at Comic-Con. The panel was fun. I wanted to ask you if you have lost weight since I saw you last at Westercon in '98, because you looked great! I almost didn't recognize you when you came out onstage. </font>

It's funny, all during the convention, people kept asking if I'd lost weight...at one point, Peter David came up to me and said, "Joe! You lost weight! But you're in luck, I found it for you!"

When I'm in the midst of a series, I do tend to run around a lot. Moreso on Jeremiah than on previous shows because this is such an outdoors show...lots of running around the countryside, up and down hills, slogging through rain and mud and snow and yuck.

Also working a con takes a lot out of me; this weekend, as is usual, I lost 5 pounds between when I arrived and when I left, just from sheer running around, signing, the multiple panels (SDCC said I was the hardest working con guest there this year with the most panels/presentations)..I put a lot of effort into these things because I'm always worried somebody will come all the way from across country and not get his/her money's worth. I did a rough count and during the signing alone on Saturday I think I signed something like 3,000 autographs in two hours, though I really had to slam through them all to get it done and didn't have as much time as I'd've liked to chat.

<font color="red">Congratulations on winning the Eisner!</font>

Thanks...turns out it was the first time Spiderman has been nominated, let alone winning. I was utterly convinced that it was gonna be somebody else, probably Rucka, and twice had to fight the impulse to leave because I was just totally exhausted. I figured, why stay since there wasn't even a chance in hell of winning against such terrific competition? But I wanted to be a good sport and a good loser, so i stayed to the bitter end...almost three hours...and was wog-boggled when John and I got the Eisner. Still can't quite believe it.

jms

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<font color="red">Just wanted to congratulate you and the rest of the creative team on winning the Best Serialised Story Eisner for Amazing 30-35. I knew it was a wonderful story when I read it, but the fact that it has achieved such success at the Eisners when Marvel has been more or less absent from the nominations for many years makes it all the more important.</font>

Thanks, it's a considerable honor.

<font color="red">I still love the book and can't wait for more, including the new title (arethere any firm plans on that yet?)</font>

Just what I've heard, that the new Spidey title will start somewhere in January or February, and the new secret project I'm doing for them will be out sometime in the fall/winter.
jms

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</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">This hectic schedule you were on was why I felt bad about pestering you to visit the WETA guys. I knew they wanted to meet you, and I knew they were also very busy, but Daniel found the time to go to one of your panels. It was so funny to see how excited he was when you finally did turn up at the booth, and the fact that he brought his Gathering/In the Beginning DVD all the way from New Zealand made me realize that even though the WETA guys helped make a brilliant movie, they are just as much fan geeks as the rest of us.</font>

Thanks for doing it, though. They'd really like to find something we can do together, and I'm in the same boat, it'd be great to work on something, so we'll see what we shall see. It'd be cool, since we're both lovers of sagas, to see what we could come up with when we combine resources.

jms

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</font>

[Wizz]

<font face="georgia"><font color="red">In it he states, "...Showtime's vaguely post-apocalyptic Jeremiah, which has just squeaked into a second season."
I am reporting the heck out of this bit of news and wondered if you were able to confirm this and make it more official. [img]wink.gif[/img] </font>

As I'd mentioned at ComicCon, MGM and Showtime are in negotiations but there has not yet been a formal, official notification of renewal. They still have to make the financial deal work.

jms

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