"Dreams with Sharp Teeth"

[mssaskia]

I'd just sat down and turned on the TV for the first time in about a week.  This documentary about Harlan Ellison was on (although Neil Gaiman's was the first talking head I saw), and it had just gotten to the part where he was talking about "The Glass Teat", his complilation of essays criticizing television and the intellectual laziness of people

Comments

[kumasan]

Ellison has been milking his Hugo's and fame from Star Trek for years, as far as I'm concerned he's a pompous windbag and is no longer relevant to his craft. But other than that he's an OK guy..laughs

Gasp

[mssaskia]

You did not just talk shit about my man. It is *on*!

Re: Gasp

[databeast]

Well, I second it.. Harlan's a Smart Guy(tm), but he's spent the better part of the last twenty years, not creating new things, but bitching about how his old things are being abusing by (intellectual property abuse of the week).

He's turned into a parody of himself.. he despises people that pilotfish their careers upon other people's work, yet he's done exactly the same thing to himself. For fucks sake he was trying to sue the new Star Trek movie out of existence, because according to him, the combination of Star Trek and time travel ('city on the edge of forever') is his unique creation, and he should receive royalties for it until the end of time.....

Genius is not immunity for becoming a parody of oneself, and Harlan Ellison has gone out of his way, to become such.

Re: Gasp

[mssaskia]

I don't know anything about his persona or legal history or any of that. I just love the hell out of his writing. Nyah.

Re: Gasp

[mssaskia]

And yes, in the short end of the documentary that I caught, there was a lot of braggadaccio from Ellison. He also seemed to have a good understanding of how big an asshole he is on a personal level, since he's got a wife who - by Gaiman's vehement account - takes no shit off him whatsoever. When she talked, he actively listened to her. That tells me a lot about a person, especially when they're famous and their partner is not.

Re: Gasp

[databeast]

hehe, aint that the truth.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I think the guy's great in many regards, I just stopped taking anything the man says seriously, about a decade ago.

But yeah, he treats people like crap, explodes in a violent fury over the slightest perceived slight against him, and has basically ran his career on an engine fueled by burned bridges.

Re: Gasp

[mssaskia]

Urk. After sifting through a link Gomez posted, I think I'm glad I haven't been more of a fangirl. It's going to be harder to enjoy his work now, knowing that his people skills are so abysmal. I will persevere nonetheless.