Happy Birthday Bill Nye!

When we see the shadow on our images, are we seeing the time 11 minutes ago on Mars? Or are we seeing the time on Mars as observed from Earth now? It's like time travel problems in science fiction. When is now; when was then?

Everybody who's a physician, who makes vaccines, who wants to find the cure for cancer. Everybody who wants to do any medical good for humankind got the passion for that before he or she was 10.

Winter lingered so long in the lap of Spring that it occasioned a great deal of talk.

Science is the key to our future, and if you don't believe in science, then you're holding everybody back. 

You stop planetary exploration, those people who do that extraordinary work are going to have to go do something else.

There is good evidence that Venus once had liquid water and a much thinner atmosphere, similar to Earth billions of years ago. But today the surface of Venus is dry as a bone, hot enough to melt lead, there are clouds of sulfuric acid that reach a hundred miles high and the air is so thick it's like being 900 meters deep in the ocean.

You're dressed in a tuxedo, you wear a bow tie. A bow tie with a tuxedo is more formal than a straight tie with a tuxedo.

As you may know, I am a mechanical engineer. 

When one shows up in jeans and a T-shirt, I strongly feel that the audience reacts in a very different way than when you show up in a sport coat and a tie.

Television isn't inherently good or bad. You go to a bookstore, there are how many thousands of books, but how many of those do you want? Five? Television's the same way. If you're going to show people stuff, television is the way to go. Words and pictures show things. 

After I had this idea to be Bill Nye the Science Guy, I wore straight ties the first couple times, and then I got this thing going and I started wearing bow ties.

If you want grown-ups to recycle, just tell their kids the importance of recycling, and they'll be all over it.

When Rush Limbaugh says I'm not a scientist, I'm charmed - I smirk.

I hope climate science becomes the big thing. And then what I want is electrical engineers to solve the world's energy problems, energy distribution problems. I want mechanical engineers to make better transportation systems. I want chemical engineers to develop better solar panels, and so on.

It's important that our children are raised to be educated, well-rounded tax-paying citizens that understand the importance of technology and science.

Burning carbon-based substances like oil, gas, and especially coal, produces billions of tons of extra carbon dioxide each year. Methane gas from cows and pigs and other animals on our large farms ends up in the atmosphere as well, trapping more of the sun's energy as heat.

Everyone, red state, blue state, everyone supports space exploration.

I used to play ultimate Frisbee, and I just got a reputation for making popcorn at parties. I don't mean to brag on myself, but I make the popcorn in the pot, and it comes out fine every time. 

I change my socks often, because I had bad bouts of athlete's foot fungus infections as a kid. I may be able to change socks less frequently and not get the fungus. But, I'd rather not run the test to determine just how infrequently I could change socks. I don't feel superstitious about it.

It Science is the best idea humans have ever had. The more people who embrace that idea, the better.

Tax dollars intended for science education must not be used to teach creationism as any sort of real explanation of nature, because any observation or process of inference about our origin and the nature of the universe disproves creationism in every respect.

There's nothing I believe in more strongly than getting young people interested in science and engineering, for a better tomorrow, for all humankind.

What makes the United States great, the reason people wanted to live in the United States, move here still, is because of our ability to innovate.

NASA is an engine of innovation and inspiration as well as the world's premier space exploration agency, and we are well served by politicians working to keep it that way, instead of turning it into a mere jobs program, or worse, cutting its budget.

We talk about the Internet. That comes from science. Weather forecasting. That comes from science. The main idea in all of biology is evolution. To not teach it to our young people is wrong.

The information you get from social media is not a substitute for academic discipline at all.

I always liked show biz and got to make a few training films at Boeing. Soon after, I got the idea of a science show geared toward kids, around ages 8 through 12.

The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it.

I really believe in science. It is a faith. It is a reverence akin to religion. But as we always say, it's different from religion in that, as near as we can tell, it exists outside of us. It has an objective quality, the process of science.

One of the drawbacks of English is you can't spell things by hearing them. 

As a kid at the World's Fair in 1965, I missed seeing the big global population clock roll over from 2,999,999,999 to 3 billion - I was really disappointed.

Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.

I've got no problem with anybody's religion. But if you go claiming the Earth is only 10,000 years old, that's just wrong.

I've always loved airplanes and flight. The space program was really important to me as a kid. I still have a photo of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in my living room.

A two-and-a-half-year-old is pretty experienced at making a mess, anyway.

If NASA is to reach beyond the Moon and someday reach Mars, it must be relieved of the burden of launching people and cargo to low earth orbit. To do that, we must invest more in commercial spaceflight.

But investment in space stimulates society, it stimulates it economically, it stimulates it intellectually, and it gives us all passion.

If you look back on all the teachers that you liked, I am sure you will find they were very entertaining.

To try to really land a spacecraft really on another world is really difficult, and if we lose that ability, it's going to be heartbreaking.

Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science - in all of biology.

I always liked show biz and got to make a few training films at Boeing.

If you're an adult and you choose not to believe in science, fine, but please don't prevent your children from learning about it and letting them draw their own conclusions. 

Teaching creationism in science class as an alternative to evolution is inappropriate.

Unlike science, creationism cannot predict anything, and it cannot provide satisfactory answers about the past.

Humor is everywhere in that there's irony in just about anything a human does.

You can believe what you want religiously. Religion is one thing, but science, provable science, is something else.

I worked at comedy clubs - if I can use the term 'work' - for several years. I middled at one point. I never made it; I was never a headliner. I never made enough time to write enough good material, in my opinion.

If you have this idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old, you are denying, if you will, everything that you can touch and see. You're not paying attention to what's happening in the universe around you.

My father was a very good Boy Scout. He was very skilled with knots, and he showed me how to tie a bow tie.

I like to regard myself as someone who's capable of critical thought, that is to say, who can evaluate claims.

Evolution is a theory, and it's a theory that you can test. We've tested evolution in many ways. You can't present good evidence that says evolution is not a fact.

If the Earth gets hit by an asteroid, it's game over. It's control-alt-delete for civilization. 

Happy Birthday Denise Crosby!

A lot of show business, as you know, is about all the contacts you make and who you know.

That was a surprise. I just had wished that Wil Wheaton was there. He was missing from the last show and it would have been nice if everyone could have been there.

I know who I am. 

I think that show will go down in history... people will scratch their heads and say 'How did this ever get on the air?' I mean, they finally have a planet that's populated with a black race and then they present them as savage warriors, and the men want the white girl!

The Crosby family is sort of legendary for all of its traumas and familial problems, even though it has this appearance of being this perfect world. It had quite a dark side to it.

Happy Birthday Alexander Siddig!

There was a point where I was just going to call myself "uh" because people would walk up to me in the street and say "Hey you're, uh..." That would just make it a lot easier for them. And I could just say "Yes, I am!"

There's enough of a willingness in the West to do sympathetic movies about Arab roles.

That was possibly the lamest movie I've ever been in. I mean, you know, there's some times when you do duds, and I must've been rubbish, because I think there was all of one minute more of performance that I may have done that didn't end up in the movie. So 50% of my performance was cut and...yeah, there's not much you can say about that.

When one nation is at war with another nation, the political machine does everything it can to vilify the people of the other nation, so it makes it easier to kill them. Which is understandable and it's happened this way throughout history. 

The only thing I remember about that was the first day. The first A.D. came into the trailer where we were all having our makeup and shit done, and he was, like "Guys, I need your attention, please." And we were, like "Yeah?" And he said, "Um, Mr. McConaughey's gonna arrive on set in about 15 minutes, and I have to give you a directive - which comes from the producers - that you are not to call him 'Matthew' or 'Mr. McConaughey' or anything to do with his real life. You must call him Van Zan." Van Zan was his character name. "And even if you meet him outside in the road, even if you meet him out in town in Dublin," where we were shooting this movie, "You must call him Van Zan." And that is exactly what I remember about that movie, because as that first A.D. left the building, I shouted - rather lamely - "And he's got to call me Elvis!" But he didn't call me Elvis. In fact, he didn't call me anything!

I think if you're good and you can persuade people you're going to be able to do that role and ultimately the audience buys it, then it doesn't matter whether you were really a chimpanzee in disguise! You've done it.

Something most people don't know about me is that I never grew up.

For me, it's painful to make a movie. It's not my normal rhythm. 

I wish everybody was just ethnically ambiguous. It would make life a lot easier.

I blame Ridley Scott really, because he was the person who went "I love Star Trek and I'd love it if you were in my movie" and people like Oliver Stone went "I hated Star Trek and I don't want you in Alexander. I was really lucky there.

The future of Arab films is absolutely up to Arabs and no one else. They've got the equipment, they've got the will, they've got the talent, now they just need a little bit of history behind them and a bit of cultural relaxation.

I aspire to be a director...I think it stems from wanting to be a conductor, another desire of mine from my childhood, though I was not interested in music, not at all. I just wanted to control that orchestra.

I love sci-fi, computer games. I love any escapes. Give me them all. 

We're a pretty passionate lot, but we're also incredibly zipped up. We're very sort of guarded, especially in public, and dignity and sense of honour and duty are terribly important.

You know, I find people with great honesty, bodily, physical honesty, who sit just the way they like to sit, and walk the way they like to walk, and don't come into a room all pumped up, I find them elegant.

I was in a situation where I pretty much had a theater company at my disposal and a theater at my disposal and could do anything I liked...as long as I did it for nothing. Which is sort of a step before charging and not being able to do what you like. I was at a point where I could have just gone on and become a director in London, as a trainee at the Royal Shakespeare Company or something like that, and ended up being a bona fide director. It was quite a big struggle because for a year and a half, which is the time I spent directing immediately after I left acting school, you just have no money so you're just living on welfare and you're trying to make it.

I'm kind of stupid.

It was a real treasure, a treat, to find a character, a role, that wasn't intent on trying to blow up the White House or hijack an airplane.

Happy Birthday Terry Farrell!

Danson is very funny and very attractive. Hell, if he wasn't married, I'd go out with him in a minute.

I wanted to be like Vivien Leigh in 'Gone With the Wind.' I wanted to have black hair, green eyes and break hearts. 

I said that what we should do is remove the walls but retain the colonnade, and make the whole interior a park.

My eyes are different sizes, my nose is too broad at the bridge and squishes up when I laugh, and my lips are sorta funny when I smile.

I begged the producers not to kill me. They thought I was just being this neurotic little actress hoping to have a part to come back to, but I really meant it. I didn't want to see six great years end that way.

I grew up on red meat and corn. But I don't eat like that anymore. 

I think it's rather sad, there's quite a fashion for keeping the outside appearance of a building at the expense of the interior. When you're inside Battersea Power Station, you won't know it because the corridors, shops and apartments will be the same as everywhere else.

I wouldn't say the nightlife for anybody in New York is all that wholesome.

Photographers and people do try to take advantage of you. You just have to stand your ground and prove you're not an easy target. 

I like athletic men, but not like Arnold Schwarzenegger, though he's gorgeous. A guy's got to be sexy, optimistic, like to have a good time. 

You would understand far more what it used to be. It would be a sort of monument, it would be far better than going to a shopping center, or a luxury home, and saying, 'do you realize this used to be Battersea Power Station?'.

Happy Birthday Whoopi Goldberg!

All I really want to do is just keep acting, and some of it will stink, and some of it will be really good, and maybe when I'm 85 and presenting an Oscar like Bette Davis did, I can look back and say, 'It was okay, I did all right.' 

Born ham, that's basically me.

An actress can only play a woman,I'm an actor I can play anything.

Everything for me is visual. That's just how my head works.

Her least favorite thing: VOLUNTARY IGNORANCE.

For some reason, all artists have self-esteem issues.

Art and life are subjective. Not everybody's gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it.

When I listen to these women, it makes what I thought were my hard knocks feel like little nudges.

Taking action is hard, but know what? Enduring a bad situation can be its own hell.

The art of acting is to be other than what you are.

Normal is just a cycle on the washing machine.

It's being willing to walk away that gives you strength and power - if you're willing to accept the consequences of doing what you want to do.

It you want to be somebody, If you want to go some where, you've got to wake up and pay attention.

I don't look like Halle Berry. But chances are she's going to end up looking like me.

I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities.

I grew up in a time when it would never have occurred to anyone to tell me there was anything I couldn't do.

Now, I've always known that there were bullies in the world. We've seen a lot of it in politics lately as well as in daily life. You see it where people who may be stronger, or bigger, or better with verbiage than other folks... show off. To me, that's what bullying is, showing off. It's saying, I'm better than you, I can take you down. Not just physically, but emotionally.

My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic. I don't believe in man-made religions.

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.

You know, be an actor because you love to act. Don't be an actor because you think you're going to get famous, because that's luck.

I would love to teach every kid to say "fuck." Hang on, now, hang on, listen to why. The reason is because to me, that is a word that doesn't have any effect. But "stupid" and "dummy"? You can say it to someone who is six and you can say it to someone who is a hundred and six and they will hunch their shoulders and it will be like somebody kicked them in the stomach because they are harsh, ugly words.

If I was doing a talk show, I would do the kind of show that comes on just once a month, with amazing guests.

We forgive sometimes, and sometimes we don't. One thing that's consistent is, at least in the early going, we love to punish and we need to find a villian.

If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of 20 million full-time volunteers. 

Is there any forgiveness? If somebody does something wrong, we now have copped this "off with the head" attitude, which, I confess, feels great sometimes, but come on. Why do we paint everyone with the same brush? Why does it seem more & more we want people ruined rather than rehabilitated?

There are roles I am never considered for. Meryl Streep roles, let's say. Why not? I really wanted to do 'Ironweed,' for example, because the depression era in this country was one of the best for multiracial people, because everybody was poor. Everybody lived in the tents, and under buildings, and under gratings, together.

We are all here for a reason.I believe the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people thru the darkness.

I don't have pet peeves; I have whole kennels of irritation. 

And for some reason, there seems to be no internal policeman for a bully that says maybe you're hurting somebody's feelings. Or worse, maybe you're going to push this perons too far and they'll do something terrible. Something's not processing correctly in a bully's head. It doesn't seem to occur to them that what they're doing is corssing a line that shouldn't be crossed. And it's really, in my mind, no different than taking on defenseless kids. You do it just because you can.
It's an exercise in power; but it's also meant to dinsintegrate someone's Self. It's meant to take away their sense of who they are. And why? Because they're not as strong, or as bit, or as witty. 
Bullies are ball-less, soul-less creatures to me. And they're not just children, they're adults too. 
It's a terrorist act.
It's meant to make you feel afraid. It's meant to make you feel powerless to take care of the situation you find yourself in.

I want Carl Sagan to explain the sky to me. 

TALIBAN-ESQUE Any behavior that imposes the beliefs of one person on everyone else. Conversations with the Taliban-esque are impossible. They aren't even conversations. WIth them, it's my way or no way.

Normal is in the eye of the beholder.

Don't you believe that the punishment should fit the crime? Isn't that what justice is? Letely, though, I wonder if we've gotten more into vengenance than justice.

I am an artist, art has no color and no sex.

I should not ever live with anyone, because I just don't have the patience for it. I'm very cranky around other people.

I think the idea that you know who your inner self is on a daily basis, because... you know. What's good for you 25 years ago may not be good for you now. So, to keep in touch with that, I think that's the first ingredient for success. Because if you're a successful human being, everything else is gravy, I think. 

Before you judge me, look in the mirror.

I'm fighting the label of 'Black' actress simply because it's very limiting in people's eyes, especially people who are making movies. 

I'd like everyone to imagine a world where you get a job as Tom, and then the next day you're Tina. Imagine you're in the world where you love what you do, but people say that you can't be who you are.

Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've visited Africa, and I've got news for everyone: I'm not an African.

The original Sister Act is running all over the world now, on-stage as a musical. It lives!

Just call me black, if you want to call me anything.

What we're doing is not just about becoming a model. It's bigger than that. It's shining a spotlight on folks who know who they are. They know what they want to do. And in terms of modeling, they're already working. They know what they're doing! They're fantastic!

When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work, I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own, I was shocked.

In the dark times, if you have something to hold on to, which is yourself, you'll survive.

The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American.

When I started, I knew I didn't fit any visual that anyone was going to lie down and take their clothes off about. Work doesn't come to me; I go out and look for it. 

Actors have no color. That's the art form.

I don't really view communism as a bad thing.

I don't have to be bam, bam, bam, funny when I'm working. I can tell stories, and there's some funny in them.

I'm a big old egotistical baby and that's okay. I can accept it.

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.

I have the strangest time to get cast in anything. 'Ghost' was the same thing. Six months I had to wait for them to decide they had seen everybody possible. Why not? What limits me? I'm black? Oh, am I black?

When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire. 

And I don't believe that I have to stay on one side of the fence or the other. I don't believe that there is any good career move or bad career move. I believe there are only the things that make me happy.

I think because I've gotten permission from my style icons like Tim Gunn and André Leon Talley, who say to me, "You don't need to dress like anyone else, because you're your own fashion icon. You represent comfortable. And you do fashion your way, and you should be at Fashion Week." They gave me permission to enjoy it! And it's great!

I'm as American as Chevrolet.

When I was nine years old, Star Trek came on, I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, 'Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.

Happy Birthday Robert Duncan McNeill!

Zach Levi has a huge heart.

The comedy in 'Star Trek' is always very subtle, if it's there at all.

I directed an early episode of 'Supernatural' the first season called 'Skin.'

A lot of fans know that I love motorcycles. That's a big love of mine. I could spend days on the bike if I had the time.

The first season, 'Supernatural' was very anthology-like. It was like a scary story of the week that the brothers would solve.

One week, you can have a real heavy romance 'Chuck' episode, and the next week it can be some kind of murdery mystery. It's not like doing a procedural.

I always loved working in comedy. 

Happy Birthday Armin Shimerman!

I’m particularly proud of the fifth season story ‘Business As Usual’ because it shows Quark as much more of a thinking, deeper person in the sense that he has a real problem to solve.

We were right across from each other for years on the lot, but I never met Jeri Ryan until Boston Public.

There are a number of episodes in which he must face moral dilemmas, such as ‘Bar Association’ and ‘Looking for Par’mach in All the Wrong Places.’ I always saw Quark as much more of a dramatic character than the show’s writers, who always saw him as sort of comic relief. They did give me some dramatic episodes, but there was always a lot of comedy mixed in.

I didn't take anything from the set, at the end of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. I wanted to remember everything the way it was.

Another change that took place with our show had to do with its characters. When we first started out, the flaws everyone had were minor, but as the series continued these imperfections expanded and all of our characters became much more three-dimensional because of it. Quark’s flaw was that he’d become a little too human and moral. Kira was much more of a jingoist; anything that wasn’t good for Bajor wasn’t good for her, either. Sisko struggled between being a captain for the Federation and also respecting his position as the Bajoran emissary. So every now and then he was caught up in a moral dilemma as far as which path he had to follow. All of this, hopefully, is what made the show interesting to watch and the audience tune in week after week.

Rick told me at the end of the audition process for Quark that the part had been written for me but I still had to try out for it. I was thrilled when I heard that they were doing a third Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine, but when I discovered they were also going to have a regular Ferengi character in it I was determined to get the part. I’ve always been a big fan of the show and the idea of my possibly making a bigger contribution to the Trek myth other than my work on The Next Generation really appealed to me.

The worst diva moments I ever had, without a doubt — two shows that are neither Buffy nor Star Trek — I hated the ladies on Charmed. 

Because we stayed in one place we really went from being an episodic program to something more like a serial. With an episodic show you can tune in any week having never watched before and know what’s going on as well as understand what’s going on with the characters because it’s all new every week. With Deep Space Nine we had more than 40 recurring characters and ongoing story lines, so our show was closer to being a serial. If you tuned in for the first time and, let’s say, saw the relationship between Worf and Dax you were going to be a little bit ‘lost at sea’ because you weren’t aware of what had come before.

I was the first person read for Quark, and I waited about a month and a half, two months to get feedback. I had always been a big Star Trek fan. I was very honored to have been on Next Generation - even though I wasn’t happy with my performance, I was very honored. When I heard that they were casting a Ferengi for Deep Space Nine, I did everything I could to try and get an audition - and as I said, I was the first person seen. Two months went by and I began to get depressed about the fact that it wasn’t going to go any further … because nobody was giving me any feedback. Nobody was saying, “Yes, we’re interested/No we’re not interested.” The agent said they would call, but there was no feedback.

I really did want it, for all sorts of reasons. I thought I had had a good audition, but the situation would have been better if the agent had called and said, “Armin, they loved your audition, but they’re going a different way.” Which is what you hear often.

At that time I was doing a production of Richard II at the Mark Taper Forum, with Kelsey Grammar. So I was doing a play, and I was thinking about it, but my mind was focused on the play. But I was thinking about it. Also during that time, I think I finished Richard II and started doing a production of Hamlet as well … Then after two months they called me in for callback, and I read. While I was sitting in the room waiting for the audition, I saw another actor who I recognized from TNG, Max Grodenchik. I never met him before. I waited for him after he had finished reading, he was reading for Quark as well. We went out and had a long, 45 minute chat about the audition, about the script and about the roles. When I left, I sort of said to myself, “I guess it must be between me and Max.” Then there was a third audition about a week or ten days after that one. I walked in and there was no Max Grodenchik - however, there was Rene Auberjonois, there was Avery Brooks, and there was Nana Visitor… I think Sid was there, too …

Yes, essentially the cast was there. I didn’t know that, of course, at the time. I looked around, and there weren’t any other short actors there. That gave me pause. I thought, “Well, maybe they’re coming in later.” Of those people, I was the first one to read, and I read all of Quark for the “Emissary” episode for the suits in Paramount. When I was finished, Rick Berman came out and chatted with me for a little while. I told him I was very nervous about it, and he said, “There’s no reason to be nervous, Armin, we wrote this role for you.” Now, I wish they’d told me that at the beginning of the audition process, but as it turned out, everybody that Rick had handpicked for that day’s audition, he got.

Classical literature is primarily about language. The plots are rather stodgy and they’ve been copied over and over again. The language that the great playwrights used to talk about those plots and characters is what fascinates, intrigues and why those particular plays have survived the centuries. In the theatre, we call it language or composition – in Star Trek, they call it techno-babble. It’s the same thing. But the actor, teacher,  has to be able to use that language correctly to reach the audience to facilitate understanding through imagination.

I’m somewhat within the nexus of acting and teaching. One of my many hats at Antaeus is that of a teacher of Shakespeare. I’ve been teaching there for quite some time.

To be an actor capable of shouldering those huge topics is essential to communicate with them.

Of course! We store curse words in a different part of our brain than language. Which is why when you hit your thumb with a hammer, that’s what comes out!

The generosity of the entire company has been astounding. We are blessed to have so many passionate people in our midst whose hearts are so devoted to the arts. Having emptied our pockets, we now look to a wider community to help build our new home.

I got involved as an actor back in 2005, I had tried to get into the membership years before. It started in L.A. about 25 years ago by a wonderful Shakespearean scholar by the name of Dakin Matthews. I had just moved to Los Angeles and very much wanted to be a part of the company because of my Shakespearean background. I had a lot of Broadway experience and a great deal of Shakespeare festivals and thought I’d be a good part of the ensemble. But… they rejected me!

Language. Language and the struggle – climbing that impossible hill. The other thing is, in TV and film, in which you can find wonderful work, you have relatively little time to craft a performance. You show up on the set, you make some choices, the other actors make some choices, and in a relatively short matter of time – in TV it’s usually an hour, in film it could be half a day – you come up with a performance, and it gets put on tape, and it lives there forever.
In the theater, you get a month to craft every nuance of your performance, and that’s appealing to actors of all stripes, because you have a more sculpted performance, and you can be proud of all your choices. You can be proud of your choices when you do them quickly too, but this gives you the time to really hone your work, and really be sure of what it is that you’re doing.
And there’s also the immediacy of the relationship between the actors and the audience. You’re immediately given feedback when you do something on stage, which you don’t get on-camera.

Each actor finds within himself the essence of what he thinks the character is and then plays that essence. So the scamp that is Quark is somewhere inside of me and I let that part show. The anal-retentive son-of-a-bitch that is Principal Snyder must be inside me as well and I let that show. And Anteaus, who I found to be a wonderful mercurial fantastical fairy-like character, that must be in there too.

I'm often asked that but, no, I don't have a favourite character. I do have favourite experiences though. It's not so much what happens on camera but rather what's happening off camera. Each character is a part of me so it would be wrong of me to prefer one part of me over another. As far as backstage experiences go, my favourite would be Buffy.
When I was working on Buffy it was a new show that was just becoming quite popular. I was working with young actors who were very excited about the opportunities they were facing and that they knew eventually that they would attain. It was a great delight to watch that take flight. Star Trek is a brilliant franchise and everything works like clockwork and works perfectly, but everyone knows what's going to happen. There's a security in that, but there isn't as much epiphany in that.

At this time in my life, it is enlightening to discover that I much prefer writing to acting. Writing is more creative because you are the principal creator as a writer. As an actor you are always the interpretive vessel.

The gods have made science fiction my favourite genre. But I've always thought of myself as a classical actor so classical theatre would be my favourite genre. One of the reasons I write about John Dee is that he is an Elizabethan and my forte is Elizabethan theatre and history. I actually teach seminars on Elizabethan language. There's something called Elizabethan Rhetoric, which was a primary study at the time.

I am greatly honoured. I campaigned strenuously to become Quark because I'd always been a major Star Trek fan, so nothing was going to stand between me and that role. I am very proud to be one of the icons of Star Trek and by extension of modern television.

The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck and unwavering focus.

Creativity can only happen if you take risks. But there are no guarentees, only the hope of artistic rewards.

Creative people often want to be outsiders.They want 2 live in chaos 2 maximize the creative tensions between different parts of themselves.

Trying 2 determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying 2 tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock

Never loose sight of the fact that just being is FUN! Let us celebrate the enormous miracle that we ARE.

A school principal may not behave in an autocratic manner,but he or she is a prince or princess, etymologically speaking.Same Latin rootword

Got my taxes done.The liberal in me wants to pay more;the Ferrengi in me wants to pay less. At least,there's the satisfaction of finishing.

Nearly had heart attack.Backed all up then rebooted computer 4 test.For 10 minutes,I thought I had lost 44 chapters of my novel. Found them!

Sitting home memorizing lines. The challenge never gets easier. Tedious and painfully slow.

Seems to me that the root cause of our political differences is whether one has faith in government or not. Is that intelligence or nurture?

Everything Bill Shakespeare ever wrote can be reduced down to 140 characters.
Yea verily!

Shot the Ghost of Hamlet's father today. What a glorious experience. How I love doing Shakespeare.

While I was signing photos in Nashville, the world turned a corner on Syria. We should all be grateful for global sanity and cooperation.

To those kind enough to inquire, laptop is going in for a checkup tomorrow at Apple store.Everything copied including the book in progress.

Time weighs heavy today.Nothing on the schedule.Perhaps, I should return to my novel; but my laptop is on the fritz. Maybe its just the heat

The word FASHION was invented by Shakespeare in AYLI. 11 letters and the world has been debating its meaning and relevance for centuries.

A small prayer to all.Whatever weighty problems you may be facing, no matter how dreadful, I wish you the strength and courage to persevere.

On all matters of controversy,the Pope's question must be asked first,"Who am I to judge?" So much anger & misunderstanding could be avoided

Alert the media.I came through my minor surgery w/flying colors.However, my refrigerator is completely empty.Time and travail have their end

Off to hear a Mozart concert at the Mirabelle palace tonight. then on to Wels to meet Max's Lenya and Carina. Cuddles and hiking to follow.

Liz. Saltzburg is just as you said. Brilliant. Kitty and I are gobbsmacked.

Salzburg.Wow! Most beautiful city me and @kittyswink have ever seen. Sat by the river &stared at castle in the distance.Young lovers again!

Packing to travel abroad is always an adventure.What do I need?What have I forgotten?Though surely they must have stores in the UK & Austria

Having lunch today with @RobertPicardo and Ethan Phillips. Star Trek characters never die; they just wallow in ice tea and smoke cigars.

Sliced my index finger while cutting the cheese. Two stitches. Recovering nicely. Luckily not my autographing or directing hand.

Skype'd Max Grodenchik in Austria today,setting up plans 4 our visit in July.Saw him, his wife, his baby-all while I sat in Los Angeles.Wow!

Just come from a High School seminar on the Crucible.Later today I walk the red carpet for small film"Intelligence."Life is real interesting

Finished first week of Crucible rehearsals.2 acts blocked. Inspiring cast. Talk of rebellion in play,but luckily none in the dressing rooms.

Just about finished casting for the Crucible. Start rehearsals in 48 hours. Did you know in Shakespeare's day, hours was pronounced whores?

Just taught a brilliant bunch of people in the ways of Shakespearian Rhetoric at Theatricum Botanicum. Bravo to the nine of them. A real joy