 Nerine Shatner Friendly House
This non profit organization is one of the nation's first residential
homes for women recovering from alcohol and substance abuse.
Donate
Here>>>
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Hollywood
Charity
Horse Show
For the past eleven years, William Shatner has spearheaded the HCHS
which features some of the best western reining riders in the country
while simultaneously raising money for charity.
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Here>>>
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William
Shatner also
Supports:
 March
of
Dimes Canada
 The Jewish
National Fund
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Post subject:
 Posted: Aug 16, 2008 - 04:21 AM
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From TechCrunch.com ...
Confirmed: William Shatner Loves TechCrunch
[Click image to view video at YouTube.com]
Michael Arrington, August 14, 2008
On May 15, I ordered a personalized autograph on LiveAutographs.com from William Shatner. For $149 I was promised a signed photo with the message "I Love TechCrunch" along with a video recording of the autograph. Today I received an email notification that my autograph will be shipped within 48 hours, and the video above. It took three months, but they came through for me.
So, anyway, the service seems legit. And I can tell that Shatner isn’t just acting -- he really does love TechCrunch.
But wait… I also received a second email this evening from a company called Meet And Greet Entertainment with the following message:
| Meet And Greet Entertainment wrote: | Dear Michael
Regarding the above article: Dude, William Shatner Totally Loves TechCrunch
FYI … Interactive Meet And Greet Entertainment (IMAGE) LLC owns the product and business operating system described in the article which is illegally being used by LiveAutographs.com.
LiveAutographs.com signed contracts with IMAGE last year to be an official licensee which they have breached. They are falsely stating that this is their unique concept, while using our intellectual property.
LiveAutographs.com has arrogantly attempted to steal IMAGE intellectual property.
IMAGE has patents pending for the product United States Patent Application: 0060221195 and will be seeking legal remedies.
Thanks for your kind attention
Gary Sohmers
www.meetandgreet.tv |
So what’s all the drama about? No idea, and frankly I don’t care all that much. Let ‘em sue each other out of existence for all I care. Just as long as I get my autograph first.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/co ... echcrunch/
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 16, 2008 - 05:00 AM
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From RealTechNews.com ...
Shatner Can Now Say "Get a Life" Virtually
By Michael Santo, Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews, August 15th, 2008
Well, William Shatner could, if he was still associated with the Live Autographs, but it appears his association ended after a signing event he participated in earlier this week. I'm assuming, of course, you remember that classic SNL sketch from 1986, where Shatner spoofed his convention experiences.
Live Autographs, according to their site, offers the following experience:
* A personalized celebrity video message
* Authentic autographed memorabilia
* Plus, a free video download that captures and confirms all the action
While you can't get Shatner any longer, there are a bunch of other celebrities currently signed up (including a ton from Lost, if you're a fan of that show), such as Danica Patrick, Hulk Hogan, Cindy Margolis, Steve Austin, etc.
You type the message you want them to say or question you want answered, and assuming it doesn't violate the site's Terms of Service, the celebrity will respond on video, as well as autograph the memorabilia you choose.
According to Reuters, Shatner gave a curt, virtual "Get a Life" sort of response to someone who asked him if he would rather captain a starship or be an entertainer:
"I can't even understand your question, but I want you to understand -- I'm an actor."
Of course, he was kinder to others.
There is a piece of Shatner memorabilia still up on the site, but clicking on it just gets you a (mostly) blank page in return.
Fees? Depends on the item chosen. If I were Live Autographs, I'd change the way the site works. If you want to select, say, a picture of Carmen Electra, there doesn't seem to be a way to get it full-screen (or even, non-thumbnailed). And if I was interested, I'd really like to see what I'm getting.
Definitely still beta, as the site itself says.
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/5953
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 17, 2008 - 07:36 PM
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From The Times (South Africa)...
Captain's log
Published:Aug 17, 2008
William Shatner, it seems, has been around forever. He chats to Oliver Roberts about hit shows, his new book and life lived at warp speed.
Interviewing William Shatner is a bit like having a conversation with your grandfather. First of all, it's like the guy has been around forever -- was there ever a time when William Shatner didn't exist? -- plus, he's done heroic, fantastical things that are outside of our time and comprehension, like captaining a spaceship into the final frontier and fighting crime with Heather Locklear.
Even his voice -- over the phone it comes out like the sound of your favourite breakfast cereal tumbling into a bowl -- has the comforting qualities of a man who seems averse to age and disease. And, if you're ever in an emergency, you know he's got friends at the 911 place who'll risk everything to make sure you get rescued. Ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner is here -- everything is going to be okay.
It's a wonder, then, that it's taken him such a long time to write his autobiography. It's called Up Till Now and it's just been released.
You might not guess it, especially when watching him in his role as Denny Crane, the salacious, midget-lusting attorney in Boston Legal, but The Shat is 77 years old.
When you think about it, though, it makes sense. The series that defined and immortalised Shatner -- Star Trek -- was launched in 1966, when the actor was 35 years old. The show -- in which Shatner played Captain James Tiberius Kirk -- spawned a whole new flock of super nerds and saw 34-year-old men dressed in flannel shirts emerge from their parents' garages for Star Trek conventions. Today, 42 years and multiple film and television series remakes later, the original series (which ran just 79 episodes) is still as popular as it was when it first came out, if not more so. It has generated over 2-billion in merchandise sales (Google lists more than 1.3-million sites for merchandise) and, at any one time on eBay, there are around 12000 items for sale. Random products include a Spock decanter, Enterprise earrings, Christmas decorations, a limited edition "Hand Phaser Prop" replica kit, wrist communicators, and an "I slept with Kirk" mug.
All this begs the question: If Star Trek hasn't aged in nearly half a century, can't the same be said of Shatner? The guy still rides horses for goodness' sake. And his wife, Elizabeth, is hot.
Whether or not the physics of time and space have any effect on Shatner will forever be up for debate, but what is certain is that, in the number of human years he's been on Earth, Shatner has accrued substantial wisdom. Both in his book and in person, he is profound, ponderous, witty and, most endearing of all, self-effacing. Despite incredible fame, a vast fortune and having his face on a mug, Shatner does not take himself seriously. And neither does anyone else. This is the magical parody that is The Shat.
"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Up Till Now is a surprising read for many reasons. Instead of being the self-indulgent, pseudo- philosophical itch that many celebrity biogs are, Shatner's is masterfully written -- it never borders on vanity and is never contrived. In it, he is both as serious and contemplative as Captain Kirk and as cheeky and charming as Denny Crane.
The biggest surprise you'll get from the book, though, is the realisation that you know almost nothing about Shatner. Sure, we all remember him from Rescue 911 ("After school on a beautiful summer's afternoon in Chicago, little Jake is climbing some electric pylons before tragedy strikes ... "), but did you know he was the guy sweating and freaking out on an airplane, because "there's something on the wing!" in Twilight Zone's original "Nightmare at 20000 Feet"? Did you know that Shatner was originally a comic actor who appeared in countless comedic theatre productions in his native Canada before coming to the US? Did you know that he's worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen? Did you know that he writes songs and has brought out two albums, the latest of which was produced in collaboration with musician Ben Folds? Did you know that the mask worn by the character Michael Myers in the original Halloween was a rubber Captain Kirk mask that had been painted white?
In typical style, when asked about whether he ever felt destined to be famous and whether the desire to make an impact and be remembered is a God-given gift, Shatner leaps into modesty.
"I never had any expectation," he says bluntly. "I attribute a great deal of it all to luck. I think the pursuit of success is environmental -- I had wonderful parents who encouraged and supported me and taught me the value of money and hard work."
In the book, Shatner also recounts, with admirable honesty, the traumatic events that led to the death of his third wife, Nerine Kidd, who he was with for over seven years. She was an alcoholic and he came home one evening to find her lying drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. The incident occurred just after Shatner's Rescue 911 days and he recalls the eeriness of hearing his own panicked voice on the recorded 911 call a few days after Kidd's death.
Most distressing, however, were the tabloid speculations that Shatner had murdered his wife. Even after all this time in the public eye, Shatner admits he can still get affected by false stories and the intrusion into his private life.
"It's only human to feel a little emotion, whether irked or angry," he says.
"Although I must say that, when something bad is written about you and it's true, it makes you more angry than when it's false."
Perhaps Shatner's youthful secret lies not in the bizarre time-freezing that the very mention of his name seems to evoke, but rather in his insatiable quest for heightened experience. Some of the adventures he has undertaken include paddling from Montreal to New York in a canoe, racing a Nascar round an oval at 260km/h, and flying a stunt plane. Shatner is an adventurer, but he's wary of the sensation junkie's downfall: Ruining an intense moment by trying too hard to absorb everything from it, instead of just lying back and letting it absorb you.
"In striving to experience things, you may be rushing the experience," he says.
"That carries with it the seeds of its own displeasure, and you have to guard against that."
Certainly, having been packed with so much, Shatner's 77 years must seem like a rush to him -- perhaps this is another factor in his eternalness, as if the ageing process cannot keep up with all the fun he's having. However, when he watches himself on old Star Trek, he says the man on screen is unrecognisable to him.
"He's a complete stranger," he says. "Not only is he physically foreign, emotionally I don't know where I was at that time. There's also a certain amount of revulsion involved -- how could I have looked that young? What happened? I should have taken more vitamins. It's totally science-fictional."
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/ ... ?id=820769
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 20, 2008 - 11:43 PM
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Via Yahoo News ...
Priceline.com's William Shatner Makes AOL's List Of Top Celebrity Spokespeople Of All Time
WalletPop names the celebs who have become "nearly synonymous" with their brands
Wednesday August 20, 2:57 pm ET
NORWALK, Conn. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ten years ago, consumers first heard William Shatner proclaim that priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN - News) www.priceline.com would be "big... really big." That decade of association has paid off. AOL's personal finance site WalletPop www.walletpop.com has named Shatner to the list of its favorite celebrity spokespeople of all time. Shatner joins a star-studded list of pitchmen (and women) that includes Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan and Brooke Shields.
According to WalletPop, "Celebrity spokespeople have long been a favorite marketing tool of companies with products or services to sell. Some stars fit the bill so perfectly, that they became nearly synonymous with the brands they were paid to pitch."
As for Shatner, WalletPop says, "Famous for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, Shatner plays 'The Negotiator,' who uses his unusual-but-effective persuasion skills to negotiate the best travel deals for priceline.com customers. In 2004, Shatner was also cast as the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane for the final season of the legal drama The Practice and reprised the same character in the subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal. Shatner recently was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award in the category 'Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series' for his work in Boston Legal.
Over 10 years, priceline.com's spots have been praised by ad critics and parodied on Saturday Night Live and in the pages of MAD Magazine. "We're pleased to see William Shatner receive this recognition because he truly has become synonymous with the priceline.com brand," said Brett Keller, priceline.com's Chief Marketing Officer. "Most celebrity relationships wear out over time and are short-lived. It's a tribute to William Shatner's acting skills that the priceline.com spots have remained so fresh, entertaining and relevant for a decade."
To see the latest William Shatner priceline.com spots, visit: http://www.priceline.com/promo/shatner_ ... tiator.asp
About Priceline.com(R) Incorporated
Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN - News) www.priceline.com provides online travel services in 21 languages in over 60 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Included in the priceline.com family of companies is Booking.com, a leading international online hotel reservation service; priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers; and Agoda.com, an Asian online hotel reservation service.
In the U.S., priceline.com gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises than any other Internet travel service. In addition to getting great published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com's TripFilter advanced search technology, customize their search activity through priceline.com's Inside Track features, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices
Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.
Contact:
Press information:
Brian Ek, 203-299-8167
brian.ek@priceline.com
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/p ... ;dist=hppr
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2008 - 12:06 AM
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From The Age (Australia) ...
Adult themes on the rise
A US parents' group isn't happy with Alan (James Spader) and Denny's (William Shatner) famous heart-to-hearts on Boston Legal.
By David Ho - August 21, 2008
A study looks at marital sex on TV.
ADULTERY, teen sex, and examples of extreme or unusual lust are hot topics on prime-time TV, while sex within marriage often gets a cold shoulder, a prominent US media watchdog alleges.
In a study of more than 207 hours of scripted shows on the five main American broadcast networks, the Parents Television Council found spoken references to non-marital sex outnumbered mentions of marital intimacy by about three to one. For scenes that visually depict or imply sex, the ratio was four to one.
Citing an array of shows ranging from Desperate Housewives to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the study also said once-taboo topics are increasingly common, including partner-swapping, threesomes, strippers and prostitution. The study found 74 mentions of still more explicit or "kinky" sexual behaviours.
TV networks "are more interested in being shocking," said Melissa Henson, the study's author. "They're more interested in being provocative than telling a story that's going to resonate with the vast majority of TV viewers."
The study comes at an uncertain time in a debate in America over what is appropriate for broadcast television. TV networks and government are duelling over the rules of broadcast indecency, and a Supreme Court case looms this year. TV networks also face increasing competition from steamy cable shows not burdened by many of the restrictions.
Technology is rapidly changing the way people watch shows, with payTV and the internet offering a host of new options.
The PTC, a leading critic of sex and violence on TV, is known for campaigning against shows it deems offensive and flooding federal regulators with complaints.
Critics of the group say its studies support a broader agenda.
"The Parents Television Council won't be satisfied with television content until they convince the Government to enforce their personal, selective judgements," said Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, an advocacy group backed in part by the entertainment industry and CBS, Fox and NBC.
Dyke called the PTC study biased, faulty and designed to influence legislators and raise money. He said the study supports the belief that "parents aren't competent enough to make television viewing decisions for their own families".
In another take on PTC criticism, one network recently used the group's complaints that the show Gossip Girl is too racy as part of its advertising.
The PTC's four-week study of programs on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW networks found 151 verbal references to non-marital sex and 54 to married sex. Henson said that when marital sex is mentioned on TV, it is often described in a boring or disrespectful way.
Prime-time TV "seems to be actively seeking to undermine marriage by consistently painting it in a negative light," the study said.
Asked by reporters if non-marital sex is just a more likely part of dramatic or humorous storytelling, PTC president Tim Winter said there were decades of shows with positive descriptions of intimacy "that served the medium extremely well".
The PTC said the ABC network had most sexual references, particularly to adultery, and often cited the network's shows in the study, notably Boston Legal.
The study quotes a Boston Legal character as saying: "Here's the thing about monogamy. It only works if you cheat."
ABC, part of the Walt Disney empire, would not comment on the study.
US Federal Communications Commission rules limit broadcasts deemed offensive involving profanity, sex and bodily functions to late-night hours, a schedule intended to keep such subjects away from children.
Last month, a federal appeals court threw out the $550,000 government indecency fine brought against CBS for Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show.
The court said the commission was wrong to impose a fine for the fleeting moment of nudity during the live broadcast. It was a departure from the agency's long-held approach to enforcing broadcast indecency rules, the court found.
Another legal case with potentially great impact is expected in the next few months when the Supreme Court considers its first broadcast indecency case since 1978.
That case stems from a commission decision in 2006 that Fox violated decency rules with two broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards, which included swearing by Cher in 2002 and Nicole Richie in 2003. The commission had ruled earlier that even isolated broadcasts of the F-word are usually a violation.
Last year, a federal appeals court in New York tossed out that government policy banning fleeting curse words on broadcast TV, setting the stage for the Supreme Court case.
- COX NEWS SERVICE
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio ... 00826.html
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 21, 2008 - 12:36 AM
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Via the Canwest News Service (Canada)...
Finally, William Shatner's true story
Alex Strachan, Canwest News Service : Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Author, actor, producer, celebrity pitchman. He is Shat, and he is everywhere. E! True Hollywood Story, the often trashy, occasionally revealing profile program about all things Hollywood, unmasks the man behind Star Trek's Capt. James T. (Tiberius) Kirk and Boston Legal's Denny Crane, not to mention countless other stage and TV roles from the golden age of TV.
The Shat, in case you've forgotten, famously appeared in a classic Twilight Zone episode as a panicky airline passenger who spots a gargoyle on the wing during a thunder-and-lightning storm. John Lithgow famously reprised the Shatner role in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie. Now you know. Of such stuff is True Hollywood Story made.
William Alan Shatner -- just plain Bill to his friends and colleagues -- was born in Montreal. Star Trek may have brought him fame and fortune, but it's Boston Legal that has hauled in the silverware: Two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe in just the four years Boston Legal has been on the air. As True Hollywood Story shows, what you see is pretty much what you get with the artist formerly known as Capt. Kirk. The Shat didn't get where he is today by being shy and retiring.
He has the requisite star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to show for his decades in showbiz, and an accompanying star of Canada's Walk of Fame to go with it.
More revealing, at least in terms of showing who he really is, he was chosen last year to induct legendary pro wrestler and broadcaster Jerry "The King" Lawler into World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Hall of Fame. Now we're talking. You can keep your Emmys, your Golden Globes, your stars on the various Walks of Fame. You haven't really made it until you've flirted with fame in the WWE.
True Hollywood Story is on E! (CHCH TV) tonight 10 pm Eastern Time.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolo ... e79966ca33
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 22, 2008 - 08:17 PM
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 23, 2008 - 11:24 PM
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From The Sunday Times UK...
A Life in the Day: William Shatner
Interview by Danny Scott. Photograph: Daryl Weisser. August 24, 2008
The 77-year-old actor, best known as Star Trek's Captain Kirk, has recently enjoyed Emmy success with Boston Legal. He has just written his first non-Trek autobiography, Up Till Now, and lives in Los Angeles with his fourth wife, Elizabeth.
I wake up any time between 5am and 7am, depending on what the day holds. If I'm working I have to be up early, but if I've got the day off I like to sleep a little later. On those days I let my beautiful wife take care of me. She lavishes attention on me, and I luxuriate in that. Five or six times a week I try to do some exercise, which usually involves the swimming pool. We've got a nice pool at home, and I work out for 30 to 40 minutes. The exercise is important, you see, because I am trying to develop a six-pack stomach. At the moment, unfortunately, it's a 12-pack... It needs a little trim here and there.
Breakfast is always light. Maybe just a bowl of fruit, but I've developed a taste for rice cakes and fresh tomato. Don't ask me why. It just fills me up without being too calorific. That will be followed by coffee -- four shots of decaf. Actually, I take it as a macchiato. I've had to cut back, but I still see myself as... shall we say, a coffee-lover. My sine qua non is Starbucks. That's the coffee against which I measure all the others. My wife stocks the kitchen with many different types and I try a new one every day. And I love the fact that the cocoa bean -- I'm talking about chocolate, too -- has so many subtle variations. It's like wine.
Just for a change it would be nice to try the scruffy, unshaven look, but that only really works if you're a young guy. The problem is that I have become an old guy, so I have to shave every day. Me! An old guy! How did that happen?
I think it must be a mistake. Shaving, showering and taking my vitamins -- I'm very fastidious about my supplements -- adds up to about 30 minutes. After that I might do some delegating. I am a great delegator. If the fountain isn't working I get the fountain guy in. If the toilet is leaking -- as it is at the moment -- I get the toilet guy in. Probably my favourite phrase is "Let's get somebody to fix that." Having said that, my wife and I have done a lot of work on the house. Okay, that's not strictly true. A lot of work has been done on the house. By the building guys, the decorating guys and so on. We have a wonderful old house in the Los Angeles hills -- that's old in American terms, which is about 100 years. Out of one window I can watch the sun rise, and out of another window I can see the sun set. The vista must be at least 270 degrees, with an incredible view out over the San Fernando Valley.
If there's time, my gorgeous wife -- make sure you get that in -- and I take the 45-minute drive to where we keep our horses. Horses have been my passion for many years. I've competed at all levels, and I still have ambitions to win a world championship. The only problem with horses is that it's a rich man's passion. I had to wait until I was earning a bit of money before I could really indulge. You have to worry about shoes, socks, blankets, stables, trainers, hay... And the more expensive the horse, the more it costs to keep it. The bills are triple what they'd be if I had an old nag.
There's a wonderful Italian restaurant not far from the stables. My beautiful wife and I -- make sure you get that in -- are often joined by the trainer, the trainer's wife, the assistant and anyone who happens to be there. And the food... Well, once the menu's in my hand there's no stopping me. Sometimes I order everything on the menu. Sometimes I order two or three of everything on the menu, so we can try a little bit of each dish. So much for the six-pack.
I have an office in Los Angeles, and in the afternoon I might take a trip down there to work on one of the projects I'm involved in. It could be Boston Legal, it could be Gonzo Ballet... That's right, a ballet. Somebody has created a ballet to go with six songs from my last album, Has Been. Driving to the office -- in fact, driving anywhere -- is one of life's real pleasures. I have an Aston Martin DB7, and sometimes I just stand there and gaze at this work of art. This is a car to relish. Sitting inside, I'm engulfed by a patina of thankfulness. I've been known to drive a little too... er, enthusiastically. And, yes, I have been stopped by the rozzers -- the coppers, that's what you Brits call them, isn't it? -- several times. They always call me Bill. "Bill, you were driving a little fast there." I always agree with whatever they say and I always call them sir. "Yes, sir, I was." Most of them like to have a chat about when I was the captain of a spaceship. Then they say: "Okay, Bill, not so fast next time."
In the evening I love, love, love it when my children come to visit. All three of my daughters live close by, and I have five grandchildren. I sit them on my knee and tell them stories. They're probably still a bit too young to fully understand what a fantastic storyteller I am. When they're a bit older they will appreciate my true value. At the moment they just think I'm the weird old guy that they have to put up with once a week.
If it's not too late, I'll watch something on TV. Maybe sports, news or a movie. Sci-fi? I'm not too crazy on sci-fi. And I don't like talking. I don't like didactic movies. I like instant entertainment.
If there's nothing on TV, I listen to jazz, but I never know who I'm listening to. I just listen to the radio.
By 10pm my incredible wife -- make sure you get that in -- and I are in bed and asleep. In fact, it's normally before 10pm. Not a bad day, eh? I'm a very lucky guy.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 572706.ece
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 01:10 PM
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 09:15 PM
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From AL.com ...
Capt. Kirk may get beamed off Alabama TV ad
Posted by Associated Press - August 24, 2008 11:56 AM
MONTGOMERY -- Boston Legal actor William Shatner may play a lawyer on TV. But his ad for an Alabama law firm is raising concern at the Alabama State Bar.
The State Board of Bar Commissioners has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to approve new rules on advertising by Alabama lawyers. One of the rules would prohibit the use of paid actors and testimonials. State Bar President Mark White says the proposed rules are designed to keep lawyers' advertising professional.
Auburn lawyer Mike Slocumb uses Shatner in his ads. He says the proposed rules would violate his First Amendment rights.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2008/08/cap ... off_a.html
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Post subject:
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 - 10:55 PM
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Posts: 10561
Location: Never you mind where I'm at! You don't need to be knowing! Snoops!
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| TRexx wrote: | From The Times (South Africa)...
Captain's log
Published:Aug 17, 2008
William Shatner, it seems, has been around forever. He chats to Oliver Roberts about hit shows, his new book and life lived at warp speed.
Interviewing William Shatner is a bit like having a conversation with your grandfather. First of all, it's like the guy has been around forever -- was there ever a time when William Shatner didn't exist? -- plus, he's done heroic, fantastical things that are outside of our time and comprehension, like captaining a spaceship into the final frontier and fighting crime with Heather Locklear.
Even his voice -- over the phone it comes out like the sound of your favourite breakfast cereal tumbling into a bowl -- has the comforting qualities of a man who seems averse to age and disease. And, if you're ever in an emergency, you know he's got friends at the 911 place who'll risk everything to make sure you get rescued. Ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner is here -- everything is going to be okay.
It's a wonder, then, that it's taken him such a long time to write his autobiography. It's called Up Till Now and it's just been released.
You might not guess it, especially when watching him in his role as Denny Crane, the salacious, midget-lusting attorney in Boston Legal, but The Shat is 77 years old.
When you think about it, though, it makes sense. The series that defined and immortalised Shatner -- Star Trek -- was launched in 1966, when the actor was 35 years old. The show -- in which Shatner played Captain James Tiberius Kirk -- spawned a whole new flock of super nerds and saw 34-year-old men dressed in flannel shirts emerge from their parents' garages for Star Trek conventions. Today, 42 years and multiple film and television series remakes later, the original series (which ran just 79 episodes) is still as popular as it was when it first came out, if not more so. It has generated over 2-billion in merchandise sales (Google lists more than 1.3-million sites for merchandise) and, at any one time on eBay, there are around 12000 items for sale. Random products include a Spock decanter, Enterprise earrings, Christmas decorations, a limited edition "Hand Phaser Prop" replica kit, wrist communicators, and an "I slept with Kirk" mug.
All this begs the question: If Star Trek hasn't aged in nearly half a century, can't the same be said of Shatner? The guy still rides horses for goodness' sake. And his wife, Elizabeth, is hot.
Whether or not the physics of time and space have any effect on Shatner will forever be up for debate, but what is certain is that, in the number of human years he's been on Earth, Shatner has accrued substantial wisdom. Both in his book and in person, he is profound, ponderous, witty and, most endearing of all, self-effacing. Despite incredible fame, a vast fortune and having his face on a mug, Shatner does not take himself seriously. And neither does anyone else. This is the magical parody that is The Shat.
"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Up Till Now is a surprising read for many reasons. Instead of being the self-indulgent, pseudo- philosophical itch that many celebrity biogs are, Shatner's is masterfully written -- it never borders on vanity and is never contrived. In it, he is both as serious and contemplative as Captain Kirk and as cheeky and charming as Denny Crane.
The biggest surprise you'll get from the book, though, is the realisation that you know almost nothing about Shatner. Sure, we all remember him from Rescue 911 ("After school on a beautiful summer's afternoon in Chicago, little Jake is climbing some electric pylons before tragedy strikes ... "), but did you know he was the guy sweating and freaking out on an airplane, because "there's something on the wing!" in Twilight Zone's original "Nightmare at 20000 Feet"? Did you know that Shatner was originally a comic actor who appeared in countless comedic theatre productions in his native Canada before coming to the US? Did you know that he's worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen? Did you know that he writes songs and has brought out two albums, the latest of which was produced in collaboration with musician Ben Folds? Did you know that the mask worn by the character Michael Myers in the original Halloween was a rubber Captain Kirk mask that had been painted white?
In typical style, when asked about whether he ever felt destined to be famous and whether the desire to make an impact and be remembered is a God-given gift, Shatner leaps into modesty.
"I never had any expectation," he says bluntly. "I attribute a great deal of it all to luck. I think the pursuit of success is environmental -- I had wonderful parents who encouraged and supported me and taught me the value of money and hard work."
In the book, Shatner also recounts, with admirable honesty, the traumatic events that led to the death of his third wife, Nerine Kidd, who he was with for over seven years. She was an alcoholic and he came home one evening to find her lying drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool. The incident occurred just after Shatner's Rescue 911 days and he recalls the eeriness of hearing his own panicked voice on the recorded 911 call a few days after Kidd's death.
Most distressing, however, were the tabloid speculations that Shatner had murdered his wife. Even after all this time in the public eye, Shatner admits he can still get affected by false stories and the intrusion into his private life.
"It's only human to feel a little emotion, whether irked or angry," he says.
"Although I must say that, when something bad is written about you and it's true, it makes you more angry than when it's false."
Perhaps Shatner's youthful secret lies not in the bizarre time-freezing that the very mention of his name seems to evoke, but rather in his insatiable quest for heightened experience. Some of the adventures he has undertaken include paddling from Montreal to New York in a canoe, racing a Nascar round an oval at 260km/h, and flying a stunt plane. Shatner is an adventurer, but he's wary of the sensation junkie's downfall: Ruining an intense moment by trying too hard to absorb everything from it, instead of just lying back and letting it absorb you.
"In striving to experience things, you may be rushing the experience," he says.
"That carries with it the seeds of its own displeasure, and you have to guard against that."
Certainly, having been packed with so much, Shatner's 77 years must seem like a rush to him -- perhaps this is another factor in his eternalness, as if the ageing process cannot keep up with all the fun he's having. However, when he watches himself on old Star Trek, he says the man on screen is unrecognisable to him.
"He's a complete stranger," he says. "Not only is he physically foreign, emotionally I don't know where I was at that time. There's also a certain amount of revulsion involved -- how could I have looked that young? What happened? I should have taken more vitamins. It's totally science-fictional."
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/ ... ?id=820769
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"People reveal themselves over a period of time, and over that time the true you comes out," says Shatner over the phone from Los Angeles. "Whatever the relationship -- whether it's a marriage or a group of actors together on set -- you cannot hide from who you are for very long."
Ain't that the God's honest truth! Very wise our Captain is. Personally I hate playing guessing games. Honesty is the best policy. |
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Posted: Aug 25, 2008 - 11:54 AM
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From the New York Post - Page Six...
From Bard To Worse
Canadian thespian Christopher Plummer
By Richard Johnson - August 25, 2008
Christopher Plummer will never forget the one-night stand he picked up in a bar before he was to perform Henry V in 1956 -- because it helped make William Shatner a star.
In his upcoming autobiography, In Spite of Myself, the veteran actor writes: "I woke up alone the next morning . . . [pain] all around my groin and lower abdomen . . . I started to whimper like a whipped dog. 'So this is what syphilis is like?' I thought. 'I suppose I deserve it, but Christ, how the hell was I to know?' " It turned out his sex romp dislodged a kidney stone that doctors had to remove via a horrifying procedure with a surgical wire. Just as bad, "It began to sink in . . . Shatner, my understudy, would have to go on . . . [It] instantly brought back the pain. I screamed for a nurse who jabbed me with more morphine." Shatner didn't let his big opportunity get away. "I knew then that the SOB was going to be a 'star,' " recalls Plummer.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08252008/go ... 125919.htm
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Posted: Aug 28, 2008 - 10:03 AM
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From the Stamford Advocate...
Priceline 'Negotiator' comes in at 24
By Michael C. Juliano, michael.juliano@scni.com - 08/28/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
After finding fame as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, William Shatner has established himself as one of history's most famous pitchmen as spokesman for priceline.com, Norwalk-based online travel company.
A decade after saying the e-commerce service would be "big . . . really big," the 77-year-old star of Boston Legal has been named to WalletPop's list of 25 favorite celebrity of all time -- a roster that includes Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, and Brooke Shields.
Shatner was voted to the 24th spot by WalletPop's editorial board, behind Joe Namath for his Beautymist pantyhose ads, and in front of Verizon's spokesman James Earl Jones. Bill Cosby comes in at number one as the lovable pitchman for Jello brand products.
"William Shatner is a really iconic figure, and I think he works it well because he plays against type," said Beth Pinksker, WalletPop's editor. "It's so cheeky, and that's why he's so memorable."
Brett Keller, Priceline's chief marketing officer, said Shatner's recognition is well-deserved.
"We believe he's the longest tenured celebrity spokespersons to appear on behalf of companies in TV commercials," he said, adding that Shatner's fame as Captain Kirk has worked well with Priceline's image as the future of e-commerce. "He's the perfect fit for us."
Shatner, who was nominated for a 2008 Emmy for playing an eccentric attorney Denny Crane, on Boston Legal is now positioned in Priceline's commercials as "The Negotiator," whose role is to negotiate the best travel deals for customers through unusual-but-effective persuasion skills.
Frederick Moran, a Stanford Group analyst, said Shatner's designation as a top celebrity spokesperson reflects his tenure and efforts to enhance Priceline's visibility for the traveler.
"With Shatner's backing and Priceline's efforts, it has become the fastest growing e-commerce service, exceeding Expedia and Orbitz."
Kevin McEvoy, a marketing professor at the University of Connecticut's Stamford branch, said 10 years is a good run for a celebrity spokesman, but what that means is hard to say.
"Because he has a degree of credibility, people may feel comfortable using Priceline," he said. "It gets him publicity, but it doesn't build his credibility as an actor."
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/norwalk ... i_10321750
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Posted: Aug 28, 2008 - 09:16 PM
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