I was bored, so I accomplished something.

For some reason, I was bored at work. It's not that I don't enough work. Far from it. I have more work than most of my coworkers. My boss always piles more work on me because he knows I will finish my work on time. 

Today, however, I just didn't feel like doing much. Nonetheless, I still managed to accomplish some of my work, even though I played most of the day.

Here are a few things that happened today:

My blood work came back, and I am healthy. Earlier this month I posted to "friend's only" about being told that there was something wrong with my blood work. All evidence pointed to a possibility of bone cancer. Today, I found out that the lab made a mistake and gave me a lot of grief for nothing. I should take on the personality of one of the character's of one of my role-playing game (RPG) that I play (Danny Pickett) and shoot the phlebotomist. But the mistake doesn't matter anymore, because I'm happy. I don't have cancer and that's what matters. 

I have pain while walking, and my doctor thinks that one of my medications is causing it. I am to stop taking that medication for 10 days, and resume it again afterwards. If I find it difficult to walk again, we will know that the med is the culprit.

Ok, let's get down to my accomplishments:

1. Danny Picket put in his final posting the redemption_isle RPG, thus finalizing the first thread he participated in. I never would have believed it, but I just love this character. I am hoping that he will not be killed in the actual show. I'd love to play around with him. He is volatile, sensitive, enigmatic, stupid, low class, evil, loyal to his friends, etc. It is a gem of a charater to play. Of course, in our RPG, Danny will go on despite how it will play out in the actual show. Nonetheless, it would be nice to get to know him a bit as the creators of LOST imagined him to be.

2. Rose Henderson just answered Dannielle's thread in lost_the_rpg. The other role-playing game that I play. Hopefully, we can have a nice dialogue.

3. Benjamin Linus and Walt Lloyd (also in lost_the_rpg) are resting right now. Actually, Ben is awaiting answers from both Jack and Ana Lucia (she is not dead in this game), and then he is back in the game. Ben is also awaiting to see who is playing Juliette, as we had a "staff" turnover, and then confess to her the horrors he did to Shannon. (He beat her up but good and broke her arm.) I am really a nice person, but just play violent men.

4. Now the accomplishment that I am most proud of is the colorization of this cartoon:



I went from the black and white version to this:



5.  At work, I had a good conference with one the authors whose work I edited. She accepted most of my changes, and I accepted most of her rejections. All in all, we had a positive meeting.

6. I finished making a chart from scratch for one of the articles for my journal at work.

7. I finished reading my son's girlfriend's short story. She writes well. I liked her style and her storyline. There are a few technical things about grammar that she doesn't know. I'll correct those for her. Very few people know the technicalities. That's where my profession is needed.

8. I posted 3 replies in my favorite LOST Forum and read the new posts in Michael Emerson's forum and answered a private message.

I accomplished all of this in 9 hours. I still have one more hour to go. I think I will implement the corrections that my author and I agreed upon.

Michael Emerson featured in Entertaiment Weekly

Michael Emerson is featured in Entertainment Weekly magazine.

( Click here to view it )

Michael Emerson Is Interviewed by the Honolulu Star Bulletin

"LOST"

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM A genuine smile is something viewers rarely see on the face of "Lost" character Benjamin Linus. But the actor who plays the intriguing part, Michael Emerson, is naturally gracious and friendly. A veteran stage actor, he admits to being a bit baffled by all the attention the TV role has generated.

Always a gentleman

Michael Emerson reflects on his new fame, fortune and future on "Lost"

By Katherine Nichols
knichols@starbulletin.com

Like the character he plays on "Lost," Michael Emerson is intelligent, witty and charming. But unlike Benjamin Linus, there's no disturbing subtext to any of these attributes.

On a recent Saturday, the guest star who has become a regular force on the show was gracious as he arrived for an interview at a Kaimuki restaurant at the appointed time -- not a moment later. Dressed in cream-colored Tommy Bahama pants, sneakers and a white linen shirt, the native New Yorker worried that his attire was inappropriate after Labor Day.

In a wide-ranging interview that felt more like an animated lunch with an old friend, the youthful-looking 52-year-old chatted about William Shakespeare, the art of acting, public attention and how theater prepared him for his role as Benjamin Linus/Henry Gale, the enigmatic leader of the Others on the Hawaii-filmed hit ABC television series.

"The acting I find a breeze; it's the publicity that I find challenging," said Emerson. "On the stage you live large, and nobody knows you when you leave the theater. You have a sort of personal anonymity and a much thicker layer of disguise. When you're in close-up on TV, it's as if you and the viewer are breathing the same air. That's a kind of intimacy. It think it's a false intimacy, but it is intimate. I just haven't adjusted to it."

He seems mildly baffled that the New York Times profiled him recently -- and devoted a fair amount of space to the effort. "I understand that this work I'm doing now has global reach," he said after ordering a sandwich and a Coke. "I'm not sure that it's worthy of all of that. This is a tired thing I always say, but more people will see me in one episode of this show than in all the plays I'll ever do."

BORN in Iowa, Emerson graduated from Drake University. He worked as a magazine illustrator and drawing teacher before finding his way to acting in the theater, a pursuit that culminated in 1999 on Broadway in "The Iceman Cometh" with Kevin Spacey.

Despite his success on the stage, Emerson said that theater life can be brutal, especially when "all of the juicy roles" go to television and movie actors. "If that's the system," he recalled thinking, "I'll go out west and get on TV so that I can do some dang Shakespeare in New York City."

When he talked about Shakespeare, his countenance changed. It's clear he'll return to the master. "It's bottomless," he reflected. "So what, you played Hamlet last year. You play it again this year, and it'll be a completely different thing. You cannot get all the goods."

Even so, Emerson is proud of his television work because it was hard won. "You can be the best stage actor and never get a break in TV," he said.

His arrived in the form of an Emmy Award for his guest-starring role on "The Practice" in 2001. He played a serial killer.

An even greater distance from his beloved Shakespeare was his star turn as Zep Hindle in 2004 in the cult horror movie "Saw," which attracted an audience that probably had not seen him perform in the theater. Emerson recalled walking through a mall in Los Angeles when teenage gang members stopped him and said, "Yo, yo, 'Saw' man, right? 'Saw' man!" He laughed. Mercifully, his character was killed, and he was not asked to return.

COURTESY ABC The actor's sinister side shows in his portrayal of the leader of the Others.

IN THE barbaric stampede called the red carpet, Emerson's pithy quotes and articulate philosophical musings separate him. But when it comes to talking about "Lost," his revelations are understandably limited.

"He's vulnerable now," he said, referring to the trauma under Jack's surgical knife that could lead to Ben's demise. "There's much more operating room drama to come; the operation has even more complications that lead to a number of crises," he added, carefully choosing his words. New, powerful characters also will be introduced, and "there will be a struggle for power within the Others' community." Then he paused and smiled. "I have to be cagey about what I say."

Ben's relationship with Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) is admittedly "sketchy," with evidence that he might have some romantic feelings for her that are not reciprocated.

Though the Others appear to be doing some "seemingly mean and manipulative things," Emerson cautioned that viewers still don't know their intentions. Furthermore, he advised the audience to withhold judgment about his character. "Ben is sometimes an actor," he said mysteriously. "But by nature, I don't think he's a liar."

Throughout the interview, Emerson routinely slipped and called the character Henry Gale, admitting difficulty warming up to a name that sounds like it belongs to a mountain man. But he said he's not the only one. Crew members still call him Henry, and some have started calling him "Benry."

 

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM "Lost" star Michael Emerson, right, leads his wife, actress Carrie Preston, from the stage at Regal Dole Cannery Cinema 18, where a panel discussion on "Lost" was held during the Hawaii International Film Festival last month. With them is Henry Ian Cusack, who plays Desmond in the ABC show that is filmed in Hawaii.

EMERSON believes theater provided the ideal preparation for the grueling work of television, which sometimes demands 15 takes from actors over a period of many hours as angles and setups vary.

"Theater rehearsals have taught me that there's more than one solution to every problem that comes up," he said. "One of the reasons I like being on 'Lost' is that I feel like I get to do the layered playing that I've always been attracted to on the stage. It's more than learning the lines. You have to create a person."

When asked why he often looks amused when delivering Ben's most ominous instructions, Emerson bit into his sandwich and chuckled. "Everything's better if people look like they have an inner life," he said. "The thing in your eyes doesn't have to be the thing that's coming out of your mouth. It's better if there's tension there."

Regarding his career after "Lost," he acknowledged concerns about his identifiable role becoming a trap. "But every role I've ever played ... if I've played it well ... people got worried that I would get pigeonholed. The only answer to that is to move on and make them worry about you in another role.

"Certainly, there will be some stage work in my future; I will be anxious for that," he continued. "Maybe some interesting turns in a movie or two. Still, I probably wouldn't take the part of an ambiguous mastermind again right after this. Maybe a sad clown, for example."

A sad clown?

"Yeah," he laughed. "I don't know what I mean by that."

His work schedule is erratic, depending on Ben's presence in the script that week. Though the show is on hiatus until February, filming continues as the producers work to assemble enough episodes to avoid reruns.

When his scenes come up, Emerson is frequently told to report to the North Shore at 5:30 a.m., which means the actor, who lives in town, sets his alarm for 3:45 a.m. At that hour, he said, "I can't even put in my contact lenses."

Ben's eyes are a defining characteristic, so Emerson leaves behind his glasses while shooting. The hair, however, looks similar. During a recent trip to Los Angeles with his actress wife, Carrie Preston, Emerson treated himself to an expensive haircut. But it didn't last long. "It was too fashionable for the character," he said. Indeed, astute viewers will note that Ben's hair gets "taller and taller" as the season progresses.

While stylish hair might have to wait, staying fit remains a priority. Running and working out in a gym near his home help prepare Emerson for scenes such as one that forced him to hike all over Makapuu with Sawyer (Josh Hollway) -- and a rabbit -- in tow. "It's important to have stamina for 'Lost'," he said.

And for the attention that is sure to keep coming his way.

SOURCE: http://starbulletin.com/2006/11/27/features/story01.html