On Stage with Michio Kaku

Above, courtesy of The Commonwealth Club's great photographer, Ed Ritger, is famed physicist and co-founder of string field theory Dr. Michio Kaku (right). I'm the other gentleman in the photo, which shows us on stage at the Cubberley Theatre in Palo Alto, California, where the Club event took place before a sold-out audience of about 300 people.

I'd love to tell you that we were on stage together so that Kaku could ask my advice about various perplexing scientific problems, but in truth we were there fielding audience questions about his new book, Physics of the Future.

More on this as I write it up. But, to put it briefly, if you ever have the chance to talk with a genius physicist, do so. And if that genius is Dr. Kaku, you'll enjoy every minute of it.

Backstage with Michio Kaku

The photos here show famed physicist Dr. Michio Kaku on-stage (despite this blog post's headline), signing books following his Monday, March 28, 2011, speech and audience Q&A at The Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley.

But there was a backstage, too. Before his speech, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Kaku in the green room, where we discussed some of the ideas he explores in his great new bestseller, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100. I had known that he was born in San Jose, but I hadn't known that he had grown up in the South Bay, leaving only upon graduation from high school in 1964. He had some nice remarks about growing up here, back when Silicon Valley looked so different than it does today. He expanded upon some of his remarks during his speech to the sold-out audience at Palo Alto's Cubberley Theatre, as well as in the Q&A session, which I moderated.

I will write up a portion of the interview for my next column in Northside San Francisco. After they publish it, they also post it online, at which point I'll post an only slightly edited transcript of the interview on this blog, as I did with my Premal Shah and P.J. O'Rourke interviews. In the meantime, I will be working on the next issue of The Commonwealth magazine, which is slated to feature Dr. Kaku on the cover.

So it's all-Kaku, all the time around here. And that's not bad.

Defunding NPR

The latest political cartoon from my stepfather, Lyle Lahey.

Conflicted Americans

From yesterday's Financial Times (U.S.) website:

Winq and Mate Magazines Pair Up

As the above announcement on the web site of Mate magazine notes, two of the nicest gay lifestyle magazines you can imagine have paired up, and it just might be that the only downside is that instead of two separate good non-adult gay magazines, we now will have only one. Apparently with the current issues, Germany's Mate magazine and the Dutch Winq magazine have merged, with the unified publication to be called Mate but carrying the Winq design (see above).

In the United States, we get only a quarterly version of Winq, which is published monthly or bi-monthly (I wasn't certain which) in Holland. We also have received the English-language edition of the German Mate, which has also been quarterly. Now, presumably, we will be the happy recipients of an English-language edition of the combined Mate.

I  would like to make this pitch to the publishers of the new Mate: First, please improve your distribution in the United States. Both magazines could be hard to find here. Trust me. I live in San Francisco, so if a gay magazine should be easy to find, this is the city for it. But I know of only a few places that carried the former version of Mate, and maybe six places that carried Winq. And if you subscribed to the old Winq, you would pay about twice the price that you would have paid if you purchased it at the newsstand. This is a market that the new Mate could conquer, but it has to be better represented in the States.

Second, please make it monthly.

I'm a fan of both magazines. They have produced high-quality, beautifully designed magazines that, I think, put to shame American gay magazines. Let us hope that together they continue the best traditions of both publications and don't become a muddle.

The History of Wisconsin Governor Walker – in Cartoons

Many of you already know that my stepfather, Lyle Lahey, is a veteran political cartoonist in Wisconsin, having worked for decades at the now-defunct Green Bay News-Chronicle.

For the past several years, he has been producing his political cartoons for the web, only taking a leave of absence recently to accommodate a move across town. Then he picked a great time to come back: right in the middle of the brouhaha over Wisconsin's right-wing governor, Scott Walker, and his plans to radically alter the state's politics and economics. (Let's just say Lyle puts the "haha" in "brouhaha").

Here, then, is a small collection of Lahey comics on the topic of Wisconsin's famous and infamous maximum leader. You can see new and more than 560 archived Lahey comics at his main site, and you can follow his new ones on his blog.

Click on the cartoons to view them in larger format.

Ted Danson at The Commonwealth Club, Photos

Ted Danson in the Library of The Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco. Photo by John Zipperer.

Actor and environmentalist Ted Danson is (as I write this) speaking downstairs in the main auditorium of The Commonwealth Club of California, as part of its Climate One series of programs. An advocate of protecting oceans and ocean life, he is also discussing his new book, Oceana

If you'll forgive the grainy quality of these camera-phone photos, you can see Danson (above, in center of photo) as he prepares to go into the auditorium, and (below, right) on stage in discussion with Climate One Director Greg Dalton.

On stage, Climate One Director Greg Dalton (left) speaks with Ted Danson. Photo by John Zipperer.

So, You're a Ferengi, eh? The Starlog Project, Starlog #190, May 1993

It’s Star Trek on the cover of Starlog for the second issue in a row, and the fourth time in the last five issues. If I were a better, more faithful chronicler of these Starlog issues, I would spend the time to look over all 374 issues that the magazine published in its 33-year life and report back to you on how many of those covers featured Star Trek of any sort. Then we could throw in the foreign editions of Starlog, the special one-shots featuring Trek, the licensed TV series magazines, the licensed movie magazines, the assorted Yearbooks and Spectaculars and Scrapbooks and Best of issues of Starlog, and even the paperback books. (Let us not forget the forehead-slapping-loopy cover of the fourth issue of sister magazine Fangoria, which featured Spock from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.)

Add up all of them, whateverthehell the final tally is, and I think it would be a safe bet that Starlog’s publishers produced more publications with Star Trek on the covers than anyone else in the universe.

Starlog #190
84 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $4.95

Would you date a fellow science-fiction geek? In the Miscellaneous section of this issue's classified advertising is an ad for "SCIENCE FICTION CONNECTION. Nationwide network for unattached SF fans forming. ..." Wonder how that worked out for them.

The rundown: The cover, in case you weren't paying attention, features Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Armin Shimerman, who plays Quark in that show; the contents page is given up to an illustration for a story by Anne McCaffrey, who is interviewed in this issue. In his Medialog column, David McDonnell reports that ideas are brewing to do some new things with William Shatner’s TekWar stories, which have already appeared as novels and comics. One idea: A series of TV movies. Could it happen? Wait and see. Michael McAvennie’s Gamelog column reviews T2: The Arcade Game, Dragon’s Lair, Dark Force Rising, and other games. And the Communications section includes Mike Fisher’s Creature Profile of The Phantom of the Opera, plus letters on Trek, Red Dwarf, Star Wars, and more.

Booklog’s reviews this month include The Door into Sunset, Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography, Maze of Moonlight, Stainless Steel Visions, The Architecture of Desire, Purgatory: A Chronicle of a Distant World, Skybowl, The Singularity Project, and Red Orc’s Rage, which might not be a bad name for a band. David Hutchison notes releases of new Dr. Who programs in his Videolog column. The Fan Network is comprised of the convention calendar and Maureen McTigue’s directory of fan clubs and publications. Kerry O’Quinn tells us how his friend Arthur C. Clarke “lives the large life.” And Lynne Stevens previews Raver, the new comic from actor and writer Walter Koenig.

Stephens also talks with actor Daniel Davis, who discusses his guest-starring role as Professor Moriarty in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Tom Weaver interviews Mark Goddard, the former star of Lost in Space who at the time of Weaver’s article was back in school earning his Masters degree in special education, which he would go on to teach for years. Sharon Snyder and Marc Shapiro separately interviewed actor Armin Shimerman, and Starlog knits together their interviews into one article, in which Shimerman talks about playing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Ferengi bartender, Quark (and which includes this quote: “This is not the kinky Star Trek, but there are darker, more multi-faceted sides than on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Geen Roddenberry’s vision is still here, but it’s being shifted around and re-examined through other people’s eyes.”).

Award-winning fantasy novelist Anne McCaffrey (The Ship Who Sang, the Pern series, etc.) is interviewed by Drew Bittner. Bill Warren checks in with actor Peter Donat to talk about his role as the villainous Mordicai Sahmbi in Time Trax. Marc Shapiro profiles actor Jeff Kaake, one of the stars of the ill-fated TV series Space Rangers. When the original Star Trek was being put together, actor Malachi Throne was offered and rejected the role of the Enterprise’s doctor, though he later went on to make guest appearances on the series. He discusses those roles in an interview by Joel Eisner.

Michael Wolff and illustrator George Kochell examine the history of body-snatcher pod-people movies. Speaking of which, Kim Howard Johnson interviews Abel Ferrara, director of the latest Body Snatchers film, starring Billy Wirth. Jean Airey talks with actor Deborah Watling, former companion of Dr. Who. Joe Nazzaro continues his look at the British science-fiction comedy series Red Dwarf with a profile of actor Danny John-Jules, who plays Cat on that show. And editor David McDonnell urges people to keep reading in his Liner Notes column, which is interrupted by a Kevin Brockschmidt “Terminator Bunny” cartoon. You kind of have to see it.

“That was the three years on Lost in Space for me: ‘Is the show good enough?’ ‘Is it getting the ratings?’ And the cast was worried: ‘Is this laughable?’ Especially after Star Trek came on – ‘Can we compete with this kind of a show?’ Then, we went up against Batman and that hit us – they got good ratings and we didn’t, although we did come back later. ‘Batman’s a real camp show, we're not a camp show. Are we a real show? We’re not a real show like Star Trek and we’re not a camp show like Batman.’ Tension! We didn’t know where we fit, we hadn’t found an identity. An identity came near the end, when finally it was Smith and the Robot doing silly things, and that’s what the show became. But that’s not what it set out to be. I always wanted to do a comedy, but I never knew [while on Lost in Space] that I was in a comedy. One day I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been doin’ all this Method stuff – I didn’t know we were doin’ a comedy here!’”
–Mark Goddard, actor, interviewed by Tom Weaver: “Space Duty”

For more, click on Starlog Internet Archive Project below or visit the Starlog Project's permanent site.

The Print Avengers

Last night at a fundraising dinner, my tablemates included a number of members of the working press. On my left was the editor of a major city magazine; to my right was the publisher of an upscale regional lifestyle magazine. It didn't take long for the discussion to turn to one of my favorite topics, and it did so at their initiative, without prompting by me.

Both of them were saying exactly what I have been writing for years here and in my digital magazine-about-magazines, Magma: Print magazines need to be high quality to survive, but there's no reason they shouldn't survive.

The editor talked about the importance of having strong editorial content, even if it's just a couple significant pieces every issue that really make one invest time with the magazine.

That goes nicely with my argument that a magazine is a medium with which a reader spends time, reading it on long subway commutes or putting their feet up on their desk or lying on a couch. Make the experience worth it. Publishers and editors who try to make their magazines full of nothing but short, fluffy items that could just as easy be Newser.com articles are missing the point and are shooting themselves in the feet. Those magazines will always be beaten by the internet, the medium that does such things better. Even moreso than with online properties, the greater amount of time one spends using and enjoying a magazine, the higher its value to advertisers, the greater the likelihood the reader will purchase another issue of the magazine or even subscribe, the greater the likelihood the reader will share the magazine with friends and family (or discuss it with online pals).

The publisher at our table noted that her readers really identify with her magazine, and the magazine in turn has been careful not to cheapen the experience. The paper quality and production value of the magazine have remained high, something appreciated by reader and advertiser alike. The editor, likewise, agreed with my contention that magazines should refrain from shrinking their size, as so many do by cutting their trim size ever so slightly ever so continually. His magazine is much larger than 8-1/2" by 11", and as a result its perceived value (not to mention its ability to feature greater designs and layouts) is greater than that of a standard magazine.

Should it surprise anyone that the editor's magazine is the healthiest prospect in his company's print unit, or that the publisher's company is planning to launch two new titles in the next year or so?

Missing from our table was a friend of mine who owns two local publications, both healthy. She strongly believes that quality counts, and she spends the time and money doing investigative reporting, follow-ups on previous stories, and in-depth profiles. Again, am I surprised that her company's prospects are so good that she recently brought in a partner to allow her to ramp up the publications even higher?

None of these three magazine professionals is tech-phobic. In fact, I know two of them have had extensive careers in the high-technology fields. They are, however, able to see value where others are blind to it.

I'm beginning to think of magazine professionals such as these three as the Print Avengers, superheroes of the medium. Their main foe is conventional wisdom that print has no future and no value. Their superpowers are the ability to prove the conventional wisdom incorrect month after month.

Dr. Michio Kaku Coming to The Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley

Dr. Michio Kaku will be coming to The Commonwealth Club of California in Silicon Valley later this month, and I'm pleased to say that I will have the honor and pleasure of moderating the program.

Kaku is a very well-known physicist (the co-founder of string field theory, no less), futurist, bestselling author, television personality, and all-around extremely smart guy. I've had the pleasure of twice seeing him live on stage, both times about a decade ago when I lived in Manhattan. One of the events involved him talking science and science fiction, an intertwining of topics he took to new heights in his 12-episode Science Channel TV program Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible. His books include the brand new Physics of the Future, Hyperspace, Physics of the Impossible, and others.

He also hosts a radio program, Science Fantastic, on about 90 radio stations across the country, and another radio program called Explorations. And you are likely to see him show up frequently on Fox News and other programs as an expert on many topics (lately he has been offering his scientific expertise on the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear tragedies in Japan). How he finds the time to do all of that, plus make public appearances at The Commonwealth Club, I don't know, but I'm glad he does because I can guarantee he's worth seeing in person.

Kaku, who was born in San Jose, will speak to The Commonwealth Club in Palo Alto, California, on Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. If you're in the area, please join us for the program.