Not only did JJ Abrams (and crew) create one of my
favorite recent movies, and one of my favorite tv shows in Lost, but he also seems to be a generally all around cool guy.
Eliot sent me
this video of him giving a talk at the TED Conference, and it shows that he's got a wicked sense of humor and a love for all things magic. For those that didn't know, he's also remaking Star Trek which will debut in December, and in doing so gets to almost fulfill one of Randy Pausch's lifelong wishes.
If you're asking who Randy Pausch is, I could tell you (a Computer Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon with terminal cancer), but it wouldn't hold a candle to the man himself. When you can, please watch this video, it's long, but after it's over, you'll realize that it wasn't really that long.
JJ Abrams saw this video as well, and wrote this to Mr. Pausch:
Hi there -- I'm JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie.
I read about you and your condition, and ALSO your affinity for things Trek.
So, I just wanted to put the invitation out there -- that if you had any desire to be in the film (can't promise you role as CAPTAIN, but... we could do SOMETHING!), it would be my honor and pleasure.
The last thing I want to do is intrude, so feel free not to reply -- but I wanted to make sure you knew that, if you are willing and able, the door is wide open.
I hope that your treatments are going well and that we get to meet one day.
Best,
JJ
Very cool JJ, very very cool.
To read some more details about it, you can check out Mr. Pausch's blog at
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html.
