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Diary Journal of thedonoman: NY Times Interview
by Jon Cobbel (Alter Ego)
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A couple days ago I decided I'd write up a small column about my experience being interviewed for the NY Times article. You might be asking, is thedonoman really important enough to have his diary...no wait Journal (it's more manly) read? The answer is no. But if you ask me neither are the millions of Xanga's and Live Journals that currently exist. Regardless, if you fall into any of these four categories, this might be of some interest to you.
1. Someone who likes anything related to Degrassi
2. Someone who'd like to get some insight into my life
3. Someone bored
4. Someone who can appreciate a semi-entertaining story
There's is one category that at this point I'm going to have to exclude. The blind. For now, the visually impaired will be forced to stop reading this column, because if you continue to, my brain will explode.
But, I digress.....
SNAP! No longer than it took something under the hood of the 1996 Grand Caravan hurdling down a small side road in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire to fall to the ground, did it take for the van itself to sufficiently break down. So there I was on a chilly January Sunday evening, stuck at a Bosco Bell, left with a couple of my friends and a Tracfone. Not long after that Ben Neihart, writer and reporter for NY Times Magazine called me.
Ben had e-mailed me the prior week claiming to be interested in interviewing me for a Degrassi piece he was putting together. Seeing as how I don't work for the actual show, I was quite surprised, unbelievably flattered and a tad skeptical. After all, my screen name was on a good number of the "illegal" Degrassi files floating around the net. Lawsuits are generally not something I try to be a part of, particularly as the defendant. But after doing some research and looking into his contact info I was confident to give him my number. Before the actual interview however, by request I emailed him my opinion of a few different characters.
Stranded, I waltzed back and forth between Lays Barbecue Chips and Hostess Cupcakes, holding my phone to one ear, and my finger plugging the other. It was difficult to hear Ben over the constant wurr of the beer coolers filled with my personal favorite Keystone Light. First we talked about how I got into watching the show. I recalled back to when noggin' began airing their commercials for Degrassi: The Next Generation, "If Your Life Were a TV Show, This Would Be It." It was scheduled to hit the airwaves April 1, 2002, a day which officially branded the-n as the Degrassi Channel. I also noted the prologue to episode 103 "Family Politics" (the first episode that aired in the U.S.) and it's distinct difference from most other "children's programming" on television. I.E. Ashley's training bra skit. Which by the way I've never heard anyone point this out and without getting myself arrested, for lack of better terms, she definitely was not using a "training" bra at that point.
We then discussed the intense phenomenon and fanbase that Degrassi has gathered over the years, in particular the online community that The Next Generation has spawned. We spent a significant amount of time just chatting about certain characters and which ones really get kids going. I referred to the Ashley/Manny/Craig love triangle of season 3 that still leaves ripples among the fans. Forever, certain kids (and adults alike) will hate one or more of the characters involved with what transpired. We also mentioned "Accidents Will Happen" the unaired U.S. episode, which can be downloaded online. After a few moments of conversation we whole heartedly agreed on the-n's upcoming summer slogan for 2005, "If Your Life Were A TV Show, Abortions Wouldn't Exist."
The next topic of conversation was in regard to the actors themselves. Specifically we talked about which actors I felt would have a possibility for bigger and better acting gigs. As I remember, I mentioned Jake, Lauren and Aubrey as being some of the standouts on the young cast. But also how Miriam, Cassie and a few others have done significant other projects in the past and could foreseeably continue to. I mean Miriam doing so well as a whore in She's Too Young the Liftetime Movie, caused Degrassi to jump on the Hummer Bandwagon in Secrets 1 +2. We quickly mentioned the music careers of Andrea and Cassie, as well as Aubrey's hip hop stylings which have yet to reach fruition. But while still on the topic of acting, Ben mentioned that Degrassi Alumni Stacy Mistysyn has been trying to hack it out in L.A. for the past few years. When watching the season finale I laughed at the parallels between her on screen character and her actual life. As a side note, I'm going on record as predicting Stacy will not be back next season as a regular.
Near the end of the conversation I was treated to a nice little spoiler. Ben had been on set while 419 Moonlight Desires was being shot. It was then that I learned Marco and Craig would be sharing some kind of hetromo kiss. Ben mentioned that there was an extremely closed set for that scene. As the conversation wrapped up, I thanked Ben for the opportunity to be interviewed, and he wished me best of luck as I awaited the still notoriously late Tow Truck to arrive. We sat in Bosco Bell for another hour or so, listening to the non-English speaking cashier's ring people up. I suppose we weren't their favorite customers, as none of us bought anything the entire time there. In any event, I made it back to UNH to enjoy another semester of questionable food, questionable drunk chicks at parties and more odd pictures to submit at College Humor.com.
I had essentially forgotten about the article all together until about two weeks ago. One day after returning from class I got a call from Douglas Gillison, another NY Times Staffer. He talked on the phone with Cerebral and I and we confirmed that all the facts that were included in the article were true. Of course, we had the arduous task of disproving a few mistakes that this fact checker and historians had made over the years. Jake Epstein is actually Taoist (not Jewish), the moon landing didn't really happen in 1969, SPAM is technically a toxin, and doctors have still yet to prove that I have no sarcasm whatsoever.
But in all seriousness, there was one real fact that they had gotten wrong. Ironically enough in the first draft of the article they had gotten my name wrong. Needless to say, after this whole charade I would have been slightly pissed off if my name went to print as "Martin Donovan."
The above article was published by dTNGHO, please credit if cited or used
author contact info: donovan@korn.zzn.com
tecnical layout by cerebral assassin (lordlitwicki@msn.com)
