William Shatner Celebrates 95th Birthday, Smokes Cigar, Revisits 'Rocket Man' and Tests X Money (orlandoweekly.com) 40
It was 60 years ago when William Shatner — born in 1931 — portrayed Captain Kirk in the TV series Star Trek. Shatner turns 95 today — and celebrated by posting a picture of himself smoking a cigar.
"At 95, I'm still smokin'!" Shatner joked, adding that in life he'd learned two things. "Never waste a good cigar. Never trust anyone who says you should 'act your age.'"
For more celebrations, Paramount's free/ad-supported streaming platform Pluto TV announced a "Trek TV takeover birthday celebration" that will run through April 3rd, according to TrekMovie.com, with marathon of Star Trek movies and TV shows — and even that time he was roasted on Comedy Central. ("Freeâ½ My favorite price!" Shatner quipped on X.com.)
Shatner still remains a popular celebrity, even travelling to space five years ago on a Blue Origin flight past the Kármán line. Since then he's led a cruise to Antarctica — and even performed an alternate take of Captain Kirk's final scene on the Jimmy Fallon show.
And this week Shatner (along with hundreds of thousands attendees) appeared at Orlando's MegaCon — and shared stories about his life with Orlando Weekly: Shatner: Last month, I was on board a cruise ship, and they said the only thing I had to do over the next three days, "before we let you go home," is sing "Rocket Man." So I thought, "I'm not going to sing 'Rocket Man' the same way that what's-his-name did. ... So, I looked at the song very carefully to see if I could find what actors call a throughline. What is the character singing? What is he singing about? And so I look through all of these weird lyrics, and all of a sudden, the word sticks out to me: "alone." So I say to the band members, "OK, let's make this song about being alone in space." And I work on it with the band and the musicians, and again on a Saturday night, I perform the number, and 4,000 people stand up and applaud "Rocket Man." And they won't let me off the stage, again and again. Four times, I get a standing ovation, wild.
And that's the progression for me, of science fiction for me, as exemplified by this song. The song went from superficial to something of depth and meaning... It touched people enough for them to stand up and applaud, and I realized that is the story of science fiction... Science fiction with all its great technology has evolved into great storytelling that reaches people in a manner that is very difficult for other types of drama to do.
Shatner answered questions from Slashdot readers in 2002 ("My life is my statement...") and again in 2011. ("I used to try to assemble computers way back when and they came out looking like a skateboard...")
And judging by his X.com posts, Shatner is now involved in early testing of the site's upcoming digital payment system X Money.
"At 95, I'm still smokin'!" Shatner joked, adding that in life he'd learned two things. "Never waste a good cigar. Never trust anyone who says you should 'act your age.'"
For more celebrations, Paramount's free/ad-supported streaming platform Pluto TV announced a "Trek TV takeover birthday celebration" that will run through April 3rd, according to TrekMovie.com, with marathon of Star Trek movies and TV shows — and even that time he was roasted on Comedy Central. ("Freeâ½ My favorite price!" Shatner quipped on X.com.)
Shatner still remains a popular celebrity, even travelling to space five years ago on a Blue Origin flight past the Kármán line. Since then he's led a cruise to Antarctica — and even performed an alternate take of Captain Kirk's final scene on the Jimmy Fallon show.
And this week Shatner (along with hundreds of thousands attendees) appeared at Orlando's MegaCon — and shared stories about his life with Orlando Weekly: Shatner: Last month, I was on board a cruise ship, and they said the only thing I had to do over the next three days, "before we let you go home," is sing "Rocket Man." So I thought, "I'm not going to sing 'Rocket Man' the same way that what's-his-name did. ... So, I looked at the song very carefully to see if I could find what actors call a throughline. What is the character singing? What is he singing about? And so I look through all of these weird lyrics, and all of a sudden, the word sticks out to me: "alone." So I say to the band members, "OK, let's make this song about being alone in space." And I work on it with the band and the musicians, and again on a Saturday night, I perform the number, and 4,000 people stand up and applaud "Rocket Man." And they won't let me off the stage, again and again. Four times, I get a standing ovation, wild.
And that's the progression for me, of science fiction for me, as exemplified by this song. The song went from superficial to something of depth and meaning... It touched people enough for them to stand up and applaud, and I realized that is the story of science fiction... Science fiction with all its great technology has evolved into great storytelling that reaches people in a manner that is very difficult for other types of drama to do.
Shatner answered questions from Slashdot readers in 2002 ("My life is my statement...") and again in 2011. ("I used to try to assemble computers way back when and they came out looking like a skateboard...")
And judging by his X.com posts, Shatner is now involved in early testing of the site's upcoming digital payment system X Money.
How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:1)
Did Norris kill himself?
Re:How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:3)
Re: How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, perhaps the GP was just returning the favor for Trump baselessly blaming Rob Reiner's death on his political affiliations.
Re: How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:2)
Re: How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:4, Funny)
It wasn't an argument, it was merely speculation.
For arguments you want room 12A, next door.
Re:How come he outlived Chuck Norris? (Score:5, Funny)
Chuck Norris didn't kill himself. He just got tired of defeating everyone on earth, transcended life, and decided to go try and punch God.
Re: (Score:2)
Norris did not die. Life tapped out.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Chuck Norris killed Jeffrey Epstein.
Re: (Score:3)
That's Shatner for you. Ever hear the clip of him really laying into a recording engineer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] Shatner knows he nailed it on the first take.
Re: Sustained by pure ego (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
No, just ego. Shatner has always been an egotistical ass, but he gets away with it somehow; you wear a Starfleet uniform for a while and you get a pass. Fans link their egos with their love of Star Trek and suddenly it's almost impossible for him to do any wrong in their eyes.
I mean, the guy probably watched his wife drown instead of helping - despite quite a long time hosting a show about emergencies - but nobody questions it. There's audio recordings of him when he finally called 911, and he's left her
Re: (Score:2)
At puberty, I was sworn to secrecy by the international brotherhood of lying, fickle males
I can't tell you anything, and I can't commit
You're right, I can't commit
To you!
https://youtu.be/JtW1oMPFYxI?s... [youtu.be]
X-money (Score:1)
Re:X-money (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds accurate though. Ex-money. Used to be your money.
Captain Kirk... bleh (Score:2, Funny)
Denny Crane.. a man who knew the real meaning of marriage
Well, Danny Crane, (Score:2)
May the Force be with you.
Took the advice (Score:3)
Taking "Live Long and Prosper" to the extreme. Good for him!
"Act your age" (Score:2)
My life philosophy has always been "Growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional." There's no reason you shouldn't do what you want to do, ... other than knees. Fuck knees and them preventing you doing what you want to do.
Re: (Score:2)
Knees suck!
Re: (Score:2)
Knees... can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
Re: (Score:2)
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Fuck knees and them preventing you doing what you want to do.
Thanks for this. I hate my knees.
Most of the ST cast hates him (Score:4, Interesting)
The first time I met him was at Dykstra's house for a scavenger hunt picture. I was pretending to play the cello in a pretend wedding that had to be officiated by a ship's captain. He was very curt to everyone, but we got a great picture out of it.
A happy birthday (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed, I wish I will be in such good health when I turn 95. If I make it that far.
you can see Kirk once again (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I rather like the "Kirk" character in Strange New Worlds. The actor (and the writers) do a pretty good job of being true to the character without trying to turn him into Shatner (which would be a fool's errand).
March 22nd is a great day for birthday. (Score:2)
I know! Because it's my birthday too! Happy Birthday Bill!
The last living super hero (Score:3)
Now that Chuck is gone William Shatner "Capt. Kirk", and Clint Eastwood are the last super heroes from my childhood.
Getting old sucks....