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chuckroWilliam Shatner outlines the rules by which he lives his life. Or makes up on the spot and claims he follows. Or makes up on the spot and claims he flagrantly ignores.
The most useful rule, “Say Yes”, is an old actor’s standby that I’ve heard time and time again from the performing crowd, which is the best generic advice you can give to someone who needs to get out of a situation they aren’t satisfied with and who has some number of options open to them. It’s also the single most important rule of improvisational acting. It’s a bit more problematic advice in your business or personal life, but that’s a longer rant than is appropriate here.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from this book is the admission that “William Shatner” is a persona affected by Bill Shatner when he’s “on”; that he acknowledged the public persona that had grown around him, got in on the joke, and built it up bigger than the real thing could ever be. Which perhaps leads to the most valuable “rule” that he never bothers to articulate—They aren’t laughing at you if you’re in on the joke. Somewhere in the mid-80s, Shatner realized the vague of playing up his public image and just ran with it, and more power to him.
I can see why people who know him personally who have come up with the basis of that egotistical, tone-deaf persona—he’s clearly full of himself and willing to play/be the blowhard when it amuses him. He apparently tried to introduce Henry Rollins to Rush Limbaugh at a football party! And then was surprised that Rollins left!
(Though you can tell his ghostwriter and editor and generally good at their job—in many of the stories, you can read between the lines and see that they’ve “softened” things so he doesn’t come off so much as an asshole, just generally old, cranky, egotistical and entitled. Really hard-working, though.)
Incidentally, he requests that slash fiction writers NOT write any Twilight Zone “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” Shatner/gremlin stories. Anybody want to just link to the one that’s inevitably been written?
Overall: Will I recommend this to Jethrien, who was thoroughly underwhelmed with George Takai’s vaguely similar book? No, I will not. And if you want a Shatner retrospective, Star Trek Memories is far superior. But it wasn’t terrible, either—quick read, couple of funny bits, inevitably will turn out to be useful in a Trek trivia competition at some point.
The most useful rule, “Say Yes”, is an old actor’s standby that I’ve heard time and time again from the performing crowd, which is the best generic advice you can give to someone who needs to get out of a situation they aren’t satisfied with and who has some number of options open to them. It’s also the single most important rule of improvisational acting. It’s a bit more problematic advice in your business or personal life, but that’s a longer rant than is appropriate here.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from this book is the admission that “William Shatner” is a persona affected by Bill Shatner when he’s “on”; that he acknowledged the public persona that had grown around him, got in on the joke, and built it up bigger than the real thing could ever be. Which perhaps leads to the most valuable “rule” that he never bothers to articulate—They aren’t laughing at you if you’re in on the joke. Somewhere in the mid-80s, Shatner realized the vague of playing up his public image and just ran with it, and more power to him.
I can see why people who know him personally who have come up with the basis of that egotistical, tone-deaf persona—he’s clearly full of himself and willing to play/be the blowhard when it amuses him. He apparently tried to introduce Henry Rollins to Rush Limbaugh at a football party! And then was surprised that Rollins left!
(Though you can tell his ghostwriter and editor and generally good at their job—in many of the stories, you can read between the lines and see that they’ve “softened” things so he doesn’t come off so much as an asshole, just generally old, cranky, egotistical and entitled. Really hard-working, though.)
Incidentally, he requests that slash fiction writers NOT write any Twilight Zone “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” Shatner/gremlin stories. Anybody want to just link to the one that’s inevitably been written?
Overall: Will I recommend this to Jethrien, who was thoroughly underwhelmed with George Takai’s vaguely similar book? No, I will not. And if you want a Shatner retrospective, Star Trek Memories is far superior. But it wasn’t terrible, either—quick read, couple of funny bits, inevitably will turn out to be useful in a Trek trivia competition at some point.
