Salon.com > Star Trek http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 13:20:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Why it still matters when a celebrity comes out http://www.salon.com/2011/10/17/why_it_still_matters_when_a_celebrity_comes_out/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/17/why_it_still_matters_when_a_celebrity_comes_out/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:59:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10122557 Yep, he's gay. In an interview in New York magazine this weekend, Zachary Quinto, the 34-year-old actor who's made himself a nerd icon over the years with his roles in "Heroes" and "Star Trek," officially identified himself as "a gay man."

What makes Quinto's disclosure unique isn't that he's finally acknowledged his sexuality. It's that his announcement came after nearly a decade of high-profile success -- and consistently terse refusals to discuss his private life. Just a year ago, while he was performing in the revival of "Angels in America" and speaking out passionately for the Trevor Project, he told the New York Times, "The fact that these things are such hot-button issues right now, socially and politically, I would much rather talk about that than talk about who I sleep with. I would love to be a voice in this maelstrom of chaos and obsessive celebrity infatuation that says, 'Let's talk about something that matters.'"

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/17/why_it_still_matters_when_a_celebrity_comes_out/feed/ 18 “Star Trek”: Coming to a theme park near you! http://www.salon.com/2009/10/23/star_trek_live/ http://www.salon.com/2009/10/23/star_trek_live/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:35:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/beyond_the_multiplex//feature/2009/10/23/star_trek_live

A still from "Star Trek: The Animated Series"

Gene Roddenberry must be spinning in his grave. Or he would be if he had one; his ashes were shot into space in 1997. (Wait, I'm confused. Does that mean he's always spinning in his grave?) With Roddenberry and his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Nurse Chapel in the original "Star Trek"), now both dead, control over the "Star Trek" franchise has devolved onto a slithery nest of interlocking corporate interests. Which accounts for a troubling press release I received on Friday, announcing the creation of something called "Star Trek Live."

Although the "Trek" franchise presumably has renewed Hollywood viability after this summer's lively and successful J.J. Abrams prequel -- the 11th "Star Trek" movie overall -- it long ago entered a decadent phase of creative and marketing metastasis: Spinoffs producing spinoffs, actors becoming directors becoming authors. (I'm still waiting for a film version of "Star Trek: The Animated Series," or a Web-only series based on William Shatner's co-authored "Trek" novels. Somebody's probably working on them.)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/10/23/star_trek_live/feed/ 19 Early odds on the Oscar derby http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/oscar_kickoff/ http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/oscar_kickoff/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:23:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/beyond_the_multiplex//feature/2009/09/23/oscar_kickoff

 

A still from "Up"

It's an autumnal phenomenon, as predictable in its own way as the first signs of red and gold in the treetops: As dozens of new movies flood the fall marketplace, most of them without a hope in hell of reaching a paying audience, people in the industry begin to protest that the film economy is finally and permanently broken. This year the alarm has been sounded by indieWire blogger Anne Thompson, long among the most levelheaded and reality-based of Hollywood reporters, and that fact has momentarily transfixed the attention-impaired elite of movieland.

"The old independent market is over," wrote Thompson last week, summing up the aftermath of the just-completed Toronto International Film Festival, which saw only a handful of modestly scaled distribution deals. "A new one will take its place. But we are smack in the middle between the end of one paradigm and the start of another, and it's a scary place indeed." Added Thompson, "I saw one movie after another [at Toronto] that was unreleasable in the current climate," predicting that most of the 145 films for sale at Canada's huge film marketplace "will wind up streamed, downloaded and viewed on a small TV or computer or mobile screen."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/09/23/oscar_kickoff/feed/ 17 Why the original “Star Trek” still matters http://www.salon.com/2009/05/13/star_trek_original/ http://www.salon.com/2009/05/13/star_trek_original/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 10:53:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/beyond_the_multiplex//feature/2009/05/13/star_trek_original

Courtesy Paramount Home Entertainment

Images from "The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series."

In perhaps the most famous "Star Trek" episode of them all, Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Cmdr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) stand in their stretchy mock-turtle uniform shirts, lady-pleasin' tight pants and pointy-toed Beatle boots on one of those studio-lot sets designed to evoke a prewar American city. People shuffle past in shabby clothes, and a black automobile with large, curved fenders crawls down the street. "I've seen photographs of this period," says Kirk. "An economic upheaval had occurred."

"It was called 'Depression,'" says Spock, raising one painted eyebrow in archetypal distaste. "Circa 1930. Quite barbaric."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/05/13/star_trek_original/feed/ 134 The utopian economics of “Star Trek” http://www.salon.com/2009/05/11/the_economics_of_star_trek/ http://www.salon.com/2009/05/11/the_economics_of_star_trek/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 16:35:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works//2009/05/11/the_economics_of_star_trek There are many clever moments in the thoroughly satisfying new "Star Trek" movie, but the one that has economists chattering is more than just smart: It strikes right to the core of what the Star Trek future is all about.

The scene comes early, when a pre-pubescent Spock is undergoing the formidable educational process inflicted on all Vulcan children. We see and hear him say the words "nonrival" and "nonexcludable" (and we can imagine his computer tutor nodding encouragingly).

And then we move on, without explanation. To my children, and, I imagine, to most Trekkies, the moment was just one more jargonistic outburst in a franchise that has always delighted in excessive indulgence in meaningless techno-gibberish. But the economists in the audience all started high-fiving each other: Whoa, who could have expected a shout-out to economist Paul Romer's breakthrough paper, "Endogenous Technological Change," in a "Star Trek" movie? Awesome!

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/05/11/the_economics_of_star_trek/feed/ 47 “Star Trek” http://www.salon.com/2009/05/08/star_trek/ http://www.salon.com/2009/05/08/star_trek/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 10:52:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2009/05/08/star_trek There's so much that could have gone wrong with J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." In fact, there's very little reason for anything in it to have gone right. The task of revisiting a much-beloved television series -- which went on to spawn several other television shows and a movie franchise -- is the equivalent of beaming yourself onto a potentially hostile planet. It hasn't helped that in the months leading up to the release of "Star Trek," audience expectations have been either way too high or too low: One-half of the world's population has been dying to see the movie; the other half, desperate not to be lumped in with the first half, has been running as far away from "Star Trek" mania as possible. But I'm here to say that they can stop running: "Star Trek" is an affectionate, exuberant picture that seeks to bring even those who don't know Klingon from Portuguese into the embrace of a pop-culture phenomenon.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/05/08/star_trek/feed/ 104 Obama is Spock: It’s quite logical http://www.salon.com/2009/05/07/obama_spock/ http://www.salon.com/2009/05/07/obama_spock/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 10:48:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2009/05/07/obama_spock "Star Trek" is a cultural comet. From its tiny, ancient core -- a mere 79 episodes, airing before we set foot on the moon -- a seemingly infinite tail has grown, its glow still bright after 43 years. The original series (featuring James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. "Bones" McCoy) ran for just three seasons, from 1966 to 1968. All of the techno-bling we associate with the show -- communicators, transporters, warp drive, phasers and Tribbles -- was introduced during that first run. It’s staggering to reflect that the premier episode aired during NASA’s two-man Gemini program -- five years before the first pocket calculator.

On Friday, May 8, the newest offering in the "Star Trek" canon will open in theaters around the world. The film will give us the back story of the original series, and show how its three principals got themselves onto what might be (along with Noah’s Ark and the Titanic) the most famous vehicle in history: the starship Enterprise. Only one of the three main actors of that era will appear in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." It won’t be William Shatner (Kirk), or DeForest Kelley (McCoy), who died in 1999. Though Mr. Spock’s role as a half-human, half-Vulcan Starfleet cadet is played by Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy makes a cameo appearance as the future Spock, coming to advise his younger avatar.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/05/07/obama_spock/feed/ 118 Live large and prosper http://www.salon.com/2007/12/12/leonard_nimoy/ http://www.salon.com/2007/12/12/leonard_nimoy/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:52:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2007/12/12/leonard_nimoy William Shatner seems perfectly content spoofing his iconic status in Priceline commercials, but for Leonard Nimoy, life after "Star Trek" has been a more solemn existence. The man who would rather you not call him Spock has, for decades now, immersed himself in music, poetry and fine art. His new book "The Full Body Project," is an arresting collection of black-and-white nude photographs featuring full-bodied women who stare into the camera, practically daring us to judge them on their nakedness or their size. Nimoy is one of the few contemporary artists (another would be British artist Jenny Saville) working with full-figured models these days. With its references to artists from Matisse to Herb Ritts, "The Full Body Project" recalls a rich history of zaftig women in art at the same time it reminds us of their current absence. Indeed, "The Full Body Project" could be read as a critique of Hollywood -- or at least the glamour machine that runs on size 2 supermodels.Salon spoke recently with Nimoy about how he became fascinated by female body image, the decade and a half he spent working as a photographer, and how he made Joy Behar feel svelte.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/12/12/leonard_nimoy/feed/ 39 Back to the mothership http://www.salon.com/2006/10/18/star_trek_2/ http://www.salon.com/2006/10/18/star_trek_2/#comments Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2006/10/18/star_trek On my dresser is a photograph of me at a "Star Trek" convention at age 4. I'm signing an autograph for a woman in go-go boots. I've never signed another autograph since then. It's hard when you peak at 4. In the '70s, my mother was riding the crest of popularity as T'Pring, bride of Spock. My parents had just divorced, so my mother was eager to engage us in "immersive experiences." Aside from nude beaches and est, they included "Star Trek" conventions. In those days, conventions were marked by a strange confluence of pioneering geeks and residual free love. Now, those geeks run billion-dollar corporations.

It's been more than 30 years since that photo was taken. And just as long since I've been to a "Star Trek" convention. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series this fall, I wanted to go with my mother, who now earns an income from signing TV stills of herself at these events.

The gala convention of the year was at the Las Vegas Hilton. It's an appropriate venue considering the hotel already offers "Star Trek: The Experience," where guests battle the Borg and play slots while getting drunk at Quark's Bar & Grill. The Vegas convention attracts people from 38 countries and every state in the union.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2006/10/18/star_trek_2/feed/ 35 Where no TV show has gone before http://www.salon.com/2005/07/09/battlestar_galactica_3/ http://www.salon.com/2005/07/09/battlestar_galactica_3/#comments Sat, 09 Jul 2005 22:37:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2005/07/09/battlestar_galactica It took a gay poet to persuade me to check out the new version of "Battlestar Galactica" on the SciFi Channel. The original series is nothing but a dim, cheesy memory, a haze of well-scrubbed flyboys under the beaming paternal guidance of Lorne Greene. (Surely the one foolproof way to make "Bonanza" even more boring was to put it in outer space?) But if my friend Charles -- who I'm pretty sure never sketched rocket ships in the margins of his homework as a kid -- thought the new "Battlestar Galactica" was worth a little TiVo space, I was willing to give it a shot. Two episodes and I was hooked; the second season, which begins on Friday, July 15, should be one of the rare bright spots in the summer TV schedule.

The SciFi Channel emits space operas faster than Tom Cruise gets engaged. Some of these series use the "rag-tag band of misfits" premise so beloved of American pop culture; others more or less mimic "Star Trek" by sending off a team of earnest multicultural middlemen from some indistinctly virtuous intergalactic federation on weekly missions that amount to a string of pat civics lessons. All feature stock figures, including but not limited to, the wisecracking maverick who always comes through in the end, the barely pacified (and usually quite hairy) noble savage, the goddess/nature-worshipping telepath, the pseudohuman troubled by the rumblings of genuine emotion, the tech guy, and of course freakish aliens, who, however bizarre their reproductive processes and skin textures, will, if female, be endowed with sizable breasts and skin-tight costumes.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2005/07/09/battlestar_galactica_3/feed/ 0 “Star Trek’s” new moral frontier http://www.salon.com/2003/09/10/enterprise/ http://www.salon.com/2003/09/10/enterprise/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2003 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/review/2003/09/10/enterprise "Star Trek" fans will have a new reason to sigh in relief on Wednesday night as "Enterprise" returns for its third season, ready to prove all over again that it is not "Star Trek: Voyager." The fourth Trek series, which ended in 2001, was a tired debacle in my eyes, and those of most "Star Trek" fans. Its creators seemed to think they could re-create the magic of "Next Generation" or the mood of "Deep Space Nine" by reusing their stories and adding gimmickry and Big Bangs.

"Enterprise" doesn't have a gimmick. It has a premise, an interesting question to answer: How did humanity go from the bottom to the top of the galactic totem pole? What happened between the era of "Enterprise," in the 22nd century, and the time of the original 1960s "Star Trek" series, featuring Kirk and Spock, some 115 years later? Why and how did humans rise to equal status with other spacefaring species?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2003/09/10/enterprise/feed/ 0 Capt. Kirk’s bulging trousers http://www.salon.com/2003/02/26/trek_2/ http://www.salon.com/2003/02/26/trek_2/#comments Wed, 26 Feb 2003 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2003/02/26/trek The first thing that greets me is Capt. Kirk's package. Jim's intergalactic manhood is clearly, alarmingly outlined against the fabric of his tight 1960s-cut black trousers, dressing very much to the left. I assure you I wasn't looking for it -- it just loomed up like a de-cloaked Romulan Bird of Prey. It shouldn't be surprising that James Tiberius Kirk, the famously gung-ho Starfleet commander, went commando, boldly swinging where no man had swung before. Maybe that, as much as his twinkly mascara'd eyes and his captaincy of the fastest, flashiest vehicle in the galaxy, the USS Enterprise, was the secret of caddish Jim's phenomenal success with lady humanoids and aliens alike.

Indubitably, as his first officer might have said, raising one angled eyebrow: This was the crucial difference between the sweaty, highly Freudian original "Star Trek" series and the sexless, sweatless, p.c. "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Can you imagine Jean-Luc Picard not wearing spotless knickers with a built-in containment field, changed twice a day and incinerated after use?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2003/02/26/trek_2/feed/ 0 Been there, done Iraq http://www.salon.com/2002/09/27/trek_satire/ http://www.salon.com/2002/09/27/trek_satire/#comments Fri, 27 Sep 2002 19:28:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/people/satire/2002/09/27/trek_satire It has been the habit of his adversaries, and most sane people, to suggest that President Bush's preemptive strike idea is a scary, immature fantasy that bears no resemblance to any successful military strategy.

This is not entirely true.

Hollywood historians recently uncovered a cache of "Star Trek" scripts, written but mysteriously never produced, that give precedence -- and lend credence -- to the American president's plans for Iraq.

Obtained last week from the highest White House sources (OK, OK -- it was Karl Rove), here are summaries of the previously unpublished Star Trek v. Iraq teleplays:

Classic Star Trek (1965-1968): Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the planet Iraq to hunt terrorists responsible for blowing up a Federation space station, and are promptly captured by rogue warriors led by a menacing guy named Saddam (to be played by Ricardo Montalban).

The trio escapes, but not before Kirk makes it with a helpful local female dressed in traditional desert garb (ripping furiously at her layers of clothing, he gasps, "My ... God ... you ... have ... so ... many ... veils!"). The woman is Saddam's second wife, a glitch that creates a showdown in which Kirk and Saddam punch the snot out of one another in terrain that looks suspiciously like Southern California.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2002/09/27/trek_satire/feed/ 0 “The Outer Limits” http://www.salon.com/2002/04/09/outer_limits/ http://www.salon.com/2002/04/09/outer_limits/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2002 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/masterpiece/2002/04/08/outer_limits Not many television series consistently challenge their viewers, let alone risk alienating them by issuing ominous threats seconds into the broadcast. Yet by prefacing each of its episodes with the blithely unsettling incantation "There is nothing wrong with your television set," ABC-TV's early '60s sci-fi sucker punch, "The Outer Limits," did both.

This provocative opening statement, delivered in the gently metallic tones of the Control Voice (the show's omniscient, disembodied "host"), was only a harbinger of the aesthetic bravado and existential dread to come. For an hour each week between September 1963 and January 1965, "The Outer Limits" confronted audiences with edgy inquiries into the human predicament supercharged with expressionistic visuals, eye-popping (and frequently pop-eyed) monsters and resolutely adult themes. Its vivid mix of art and spectacle, humanism and pessimism and science and superstition was genuinely groundbreaking, and over the years it has proven both deceptively influential and virtually impossible to duplicate.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2002/04/09/outer_limits/feed/ 0 “Clockstoppers” http://www.salon.com/2002/03/29/clockstoppers/ http://www.salon.com/2002/03/29/clockstoppers/#comments Fri, 29 Mar 2002 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2002/03/29/clockstoppers "Clockstoppers" contains an impressive science-fiction idea, able special effects and a teenage protagonist who -- thanks to actor Jesse Bradford -- is real, likable and entertaining. But beware: That's not all that this PG story contains. There are also several uninspired two-dimensional villains, a lame love story and far too many gratuitous attempts to please the average 13-year-old male, either with the female navel or cool freestyle bicycle tricks.

Which of these two divergent forces wins out? Since we're talking about Hollywood fantasy -- and predictable family fare at that -- I'm tempted to argue on behalf of the forces of good, but it's actually hard to say. "Clockstoppers" is the kind of movie that rekindles interest in imaginative books like "Einstein's Dreams," while also making you want to muzzle Sen. Joe Lieberman forever. If this is the kind of trite and predictable schlock that passes for nonviolent family entertainment -- see, Senator, Hollywood's not immoral at all! -- kids with brains might as well just give up and sneak into "Mulholland Drive."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2002/03/29/clockstoppers/feed/ 0 Where no geek has gone before http://www.salon.com/2001/12/12/wheaton/ http://www.salon.com/2001/12/12/wheaton/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2001 20:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2001/12/12/wheaton Wil Wheaton will forever be associated with the television role he played more than a decade ago: Wesley Crusher, the whiny, wimpy teenage ensign on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

As one might expect, the 29-year-old actor's enduring fame is more a curse than a blessing. A quick glance at the Web's "Star Trek" oeuvre reveals that the Crusher character is a geek's nightmare, one of the most hated science fiction characters ever to grace the small screen. Bilious commentaries slam Crusher for ruining episodes; other sites argue that he's one of the top three "really annoying things about Star Trek." Some incensed Trekkies have built pages describing their preferred ways to kill Crusher off. Not even the end of the show's run, in 1994, stemmed the tide of caustic malevolence.

And yet, while Wheaton did in fact play "one of the most hated icons on the Internet," as one Web site creator put it, Wheaton, in real life, isn't all that different from his detractors.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/12/12/wheaton/feed/ 0 Blue Glow http://www.salon.com/2001/09/26/glow_578/ http://www.salon.com/2001/09/26/glow_578/#comments Wed, 26 Sep 2001 17:13:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/09/26/glow Series

The newest "Star Trek" spinoff, Enterprise (8 p.m., UPN), has its two-hour premiere. Scott Bakula is Capt. Jonathan Archer in this prequel set a century before Capt. Kirk took the Enterprise into deep space. The reality series Lost (8 p.m., NBC) returns with its second episode; contestants are stranded in the middle of nowhere and compete to make it back to the Statue of Liberty. The West Wing (9 p.m., NBC) is not having its season premiere tonight; instead, it's a rerun of last year's Christmas episode. A special "West Wing" episode about the terrorist attack runs Oct. 3; the season officially opens Oct. 10. The Drew Carey Show (9 p.m., ABC) opens its new season; so does Law & Order (10 p.m., NBC), which features a "ripped from the headlines" case about a woman killed by a vicious dog.

Sports

Baseball:
Braves at Marlins (7 p.m., ESPN)
Cardinals at Astros (8 p.m., ESPN2)
Giants at Dodgers (10 p.m., ESPN)

Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Regis Philbin, Linda Ellerbee, Usher
David Letterman (CBS) Ben Stiller, Tenacious D
Jay Leno (NBC) Megan Mullally, Train
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Eric McCormack, Lynn Redgrave
Craig Kilborn (CBS) James Cromwell, Melissa George

All times Eastern unless noted.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/09/26/glow_578/feed/ 0 Gay “Trek” http://www.salon.com/2001/06/30/gay_trek/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/30/gay_trek/#comments Sat, 30 Jun 2001 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2001/06/30/gay_trek "Their lips touched. The shock jolted down the Vulcan's spine ... Then Kirk moved against him, the velvet of Kirk's lips so much softer than Spock had imagined -- and that awareness came crashing through him, tearing down layers and levels of carefully placed defenses. Imagined, yes, in all those dark, forbidden hours of the night. Dreamed of, yes, though Vulcans claimed not to dream such things. He had wanted this for so long that he could not remember a time before he had wanted it. His eyes closed against his will, and he moaned faintly against the human's mouth."

-- From "Turning Point," a 1995 "slash" fiction novel by "Killashandra"

The Starship Enterprise, arguably the most famous vessel in the history of fiction, has seen some amazing sights. Its crew has gone back in time, averted intergalactic war and defeated monsters that eat whole planets. In one "Star Trek" episode, crew members were turned into little crystalline polyhedrons. In another, Mr. Spock's brain was surgically removed by an alien supermodel wearing a silver miniskirt.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/30/gay_trek/feed/ 0 Who owns fandom? http://www.salon.com/2000/12/13/fandom/ http://www.salon.com/2000/12/13/fandom/#comments Wed, 13 Dec 2000 20:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2000/12/13/fandom For Carol Burrell, running a Web site was just another step in a long life of sci-fi, fantasy and horror devotion. Her fannish enthusiasms began in early childhood, when family dinner was scheduled around "Star Trek" reruns and horror stories were read before bedtime.

The magic of these fantasy worlds proved alluring, but even more appealing for Burrell was the communal, participatory nature of fandom itself. "I wanted to be part of that world, the world that creates that kind of entertainment," says Burrell.

The Internet gave her the opportunity. By the early '90s, Burrell had already racked up a veritable checklist of geeky fandom qualifications: She chaired conventions, shot Super-8 films, edited zines and ran a dial-up BBS out of her home in Riverdale, N.Y. But the Internet, she found, proved an even more perfect outlet for her wide range of interests, as well as a natural way to unite the geographically disparate members of the fan community she so valued.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/12/13/fandom/feed/ 0 Heart of Stone, nerves of glass http://www.salon.com/2000/10/25/nptues_22/ http://www.salon.com/2000/10/25/nptues_22/#comments Wed, 25 Oct 2000 16:57:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/10/25/nptues Sharon Stone may be the first woman on record to suffer postpartum depression after adopting a baby.

At Glamour magazine's Women of the Year awards at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art Tuesday night, Stone looked great in a black dress and white overjacket, her blond hair tussled just so. But from the moment she stepped onto the red carpet and began to hold forth on her admirable fight against AIDS, her emotions proved dangerously close to the surface.

Perhaps we can blame it on new mother sleep deprivation?

When one TV reporter asked Stone, as she'd been asking other women treading the ruby rug, the first thing she'd do if she could be a man for a day, the actress turned a teary eye to the camera. Her handlers, perhaps sensing danger, pleaded with the actress to continue on her way and leave the question unanswered. No, Stone would not be swayed. This was an important question, and she would give it her all.

"If I were a man for a day," she emoted to the camera. "I'd just try to be a good man, do everything in my power to be the best man I could be."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/10/25/nptues_22/feed/ 0