Wired Auction, And Why I got Into Journalism
posted at 11:01 am
on Nov. 12, 2002
Previous entry:
Susie Starts a Small Business
Next entry:
My Christmas 2002 Gift List
I think I know why I got into journalism.
No, it’s not because you can drink on the job.
It’s because I get to go just about anywhere. I love that! Exploring behind closed doors, attending events I wouldn’t be invited to just for being me, visiting places I haven’t been, meeting people I wouldn’t normally have met—and getting to ask them whatever fool question enters my head.
Tonight, for example, I went to the annual Wired Auction in Westwood, L.A. Wired magazine does this event every year; this year the proceeds go to support the Starbright Foundation, which supports terminal children in various important and digital ways.
At the event, I encountered actor Hector Elizondo, recently of “Princess Diaries,” and “Runaway Bride,” and most memorably the hotel manager in “Pretty Woman.” Also present was Mark Feuerstein, of “Good Morning, Miami,” and originally of “Caroline in the City.” Both of them seemed in good spirits, but I didn’t expend the energy needed to press through the throng to reach them (though I did hear Mark comment on how he almost had bought a Sony Viao computer system like the one I was drooling on. The main speech, preceding the live auction, was given by producer Walter Parkes, who wrote 1983’s War Games and produced Minority Report and The Ring recently, and did a bunch of good stuff in between. He really has been a pioneer in exploring the use of technology, both in the stories he produces and in the ways he produces them.
But as I was saying, I’ve always been one for wanting to go places others aren’t allowed. Like exploring the back lot at Universal Studios. Or making it a personal goal to visit the roof of every single building at USC while I was there (I didn’t succeed, mostly because some of the roofs weren’t flat, and one was a science building where they did dastardly things to animals (and thus had very high security)).
As a journalist, I get into interesting conferences and meetings, I interview interesting people, and then, as an added bonus, I get to tell people about it.
Like today.
