Takei Upbeat
 

In spite of what life dealt out to <font color=yellow>George Takei</font>, he usually managed to find something good to take away from the experience.<p>As reported by the <A class="link" HREF="http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald">Calgary Herald</A>, snowflakes on barbed wire became something wonderful for the young Japanese boy living in an internment camp during World War Two. "It was magical," he says. "To wake up and see everything covered in white."<p>Life in an internment camp wasn't all magic, of course, but Takei was able to enjoy being a curious boy in spite of the circumstances. "My real memories, I mean I remember the barbed wire fences, the sentry towers, the machine-guns pointed at us, the searchlight that followed me as I went to the latrine at night, having to line up three times a day to eat, that became normality," said Takei. "But my real memories are of exploration, of finding bugs and watching pollywogs sprout legs, and they're completely innocent."<p>Post-war bigotry only made Takei stronger. He went to school, eventually ending up with a master's degree in arts and theatre. He met <font color=yellow>Gene Roddenberry</font> in 1965, which lead to him taking the part of Sulu. "Not only was Star Trek more open-minded than any other set I had been on," Takei said, explaining why he accepted the role, "but it was boldly visionary. My agent told me it was some sci-fi thing, which I wasn't really interested in, but I was told that if it got picked up, it would be steady employment. But then I was intrigued when Gene told me the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Earth, and that the strength of this Starship was in its diversity, in members from all over coming together and working in concert."<p>Takei is not appearing in <i>Star Trek XI</i>, but has been helpful and gracious to the actor taking on the role that he made famous. "I have high hopes for John [Cho] and his career," he said. "I'm the chairman of the board of governors of the East West Players, which is the oldest minority American theatre company in the United States, and John has done five or six plays with us already. I was familiar with him much before Harold and Kumar and I know what he's capable of, so I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of him."<p>As for Takei, although his Sulu days are done, he keeps busy. He speaks out for both Japanese-American and gay rights (having come out in 2005,) through a number of philanthropic organizations.<p>To read more, head to the article located <A class="link" HREF="http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainment/story.html?id=d85ebc75-6ab5-4981-b90a-1017b9af45fc">here</A>.<center></center>

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

I really don't care what anyone else says. I think Takei is great, I'm happy he's speaking about his experiences, and anyone who doesn't like it can kiss my ass.

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

I agree with you. Except for the "kiss my ass" part. Y'all can leave my fat Irish ass the hell alone. :p

George Takei is great. Nice guy. Great sense of humor. Isn 't that enough?

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

Yes he's a nice guy, yes he's had experiences but for **** sake, WE GET IT!!

Not two weeks goes by without yet more Takei in the news, if it's not about coming out (really not a big deal in this day and age mate), it's about the internment camps and if it's not about that it's about his supposed plans for an Excelsior series from about 20 years ago it feels like.

What a media whore.

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

"Sulu on Cho"? Was that intentional, Bonzie? ;) :lol:

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

I was at this convention. The comments were taken from Takei's "Trek" panel, where he (and for that matter, anyone else from TOS) will repeat the same stuff any hardcore Trekker will have heard or read about for ages. Takei IS a great guy though, and a pleasure to hear talk about things.

Much MORE ado however was made about his appearance on "Ed & Red's Night Party", a rather racy talk show in Canada starring Ed the Sock (a cigar-chomping, filth-spewing sock puppet) and his busty fangirl Liana K. My improv comedy team warmed up the audience for the taping of their show at this convention, which had George Takei as the highlighted guest of the episode, along with Michael Rosenburg (Smallville), Kevin Sorbo (some Canadian SF show) and a couple comic book guys. Being a "late nite" kind fo show, the content of the show was easily past the PG-13 marker, and George jumped right in. Early on in his segment, he readily commented about posteriors:

"There are beautiful asses, and there are curvaceous asses. And then, there are... Asses."

It quickly went downhill from there... Much leg-hugging, sock-stroking, and general nasty bnater followed, not the least of which was from Takei himself... And I'm sure SOME of it will show up on YouTube eventually. The REAL highlight for me was when, upon his musing how he wouldn't be able to pass on his knowledge as Hiro's father on "Heroes", the hosts promptly selected me as his surrogate son. Some laughs later, I ended up spending the rest of the interview segment on the stage next to Takei, being lectured by him as his son and asking him questions in return. At one point he called me good-looking... Not too sure how to take that. :P Still, about the best time of the convention was had there, thanks to him. Great guy, and as convention guests go, a real sport.

Mark

Mark

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

Oh dear God. Certainly not! :lol: :rommie:

Re: Takei Upbeat
 

Yeah right. ;)