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The Lightsabre Interview Frank Parisi
Welcome to
Lightsabre. He’s had many
occupations. Waiter, stockboy, pizza deliverer, comic-book store manager,
games journalist, ESL teacher, indie record label
drone, Ebay posting monkey, mailroom dynamo,
barista, videostore clerk, and roadie for El Vez: The Mexican Elvis, but we know him best as the
editor of the Star Wars Insider. Please welcome to Lightsabre Frank Parisi. Q - Frank, welcome to
Lightsabre. A - Thanks. As a fan of the site it's a pleasure
to be here. I love the videos by the way—keep 'em coming! Q – As of issue 87
you’ve taken the reins of the official fan club magazine the Star Wars
Insider. How exciting is that? A –It pretty much kicks ass. Q – Tell us something
of your career. Where did you begin in
publishing and what led you to editing the Insider?
A – I began as an editor for GamePro
magazine, where I reviewed an obscene amount of horrible videogames. The
publisher, IDG Entertainment, acquired the license to publish Insider and
brought Brett Rector on board as EIC. Brett’s a trip—a very cool and very
hilarious guy whose finger has always been planted very firmly on the Star
Wars pulse—and we were always geeking out over Star
Wars and discussing the magazine. We still do. So when he left to start
working on videogames for LucasArts, our creative
director, Francis Mao, brought me on as editor and really guided me in the
beginning. He still does—he’s a great teacher. Q – What is it like to
be a part of the Star Wars phenomenon? A- Its pretty surreal. I’m continually blown
away by the talent and dedication of our contributors (both writers and
artists) whose passion for, and knowledge of, Star Wars is staggering. These
guys and gals can approach this vast myth from every conceivable angle and as
a writer it’s inspiring to see this level of insight and the unique ways of
looking at, and interpreting, the elements and themes the films present. Best
of all, my nieces think I’m cool. Q – From the earliest
days of the first Star Wars fan letter, through the legendary Bantha Tracks,
the Lucasfilm Magazine and for the last decade and a half the Insider, Star
Wars fans have come to experience the best coverage from their official
magazine. What new innovations are you
planning for your tenure as editor? A –I’m a firm believer in the philosophy of “if
it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and to that end we’re not making any major
overhauls to the magazine’s format or content as it’s been doing a great job.
However, we have introduced some new features and will continue to introduce
more. The very first thing I wanted to do was as the editor was
feature smaller oddball type articles designed to examine and address the
impact of Star Wars on culture as a whole, and to do so we changed Skywalking from a straight news section to a full front
end of the magazine where we can have random stories which don’t fit within
our departments, nor warrant multi-page feature treatment, but nevertheless
speak to all types of Star Wars fans. Some of the Q and A’s and Certain
Points of View in particular are my favorite parts of the revamped section—it
is fascinating and fun to get all sorts of different perspectives on goofy
Star Wars questions and experience just how wide-reaching the impact of the
series is. I also like these modular, quick, and entertaining reads in this
revamped section too, as our departments and features tend to be rather
dense. And we’re extrapolating the modular approach for inclusion in larger
articles and incorporating more sidebars and subsections into our features. We’re also experimenting with in-universe pieces such as issue
87’s Order 66 article, Heritage of the Sith feature in issue 88, and
Underworld in issue 89. So far the feedback to these stories has been very
positive. We’re committed to having much more original art both inside the
magazine and adorning the covers. We just got Timothy Bradstreet to depict a
beloved character, who suits his gritty style, for issue 89’s cover. As a
fan, this is very exciting. Between his cover and issue 88’s four Sith Lords
covers we’re just scratching the surface—expect to see some wicked visuals
inside and outside our pages, some from names you know and some from names
you will get to know. Also expect some very interesting exclusive fiction in
the future. Oh, and we have a new kids section called Padawan Corner which
has these cool arts and crafts tutorials for kids. That section, including
the name, was Bonnie Burton’s [of StarWars.com]
idea and not only has she been wrangling super-talented artists for the
department, but has also been coming up with some wild projects for readers
to tackle. We’d also like to do more themed issues like we did with our
recent Sith Lords issue. It makes each magazine a mini-book in a way. It’s a
challenge for myself and the designers to cull edit
and visuals together around a theme, but it’s also a lot of fun. Hopefully it
is for the readers as well. We’re laying the groundwork for another themed
issue in the near future. People will dig it. Star Wars is a niche, but I believe that within that niche you
can truly have something for everybody. To that end we are working towards
broadening the scope of the magazine both in what we cover and the way we
cover it. It’s difficult though, because there are only so many pages to work
with. Our goal, and we’re still
getting there, is to be able to say “No matter who you are, if you’re a Star
Wars fan, there’s something for you.”
I know people who read every book and comic and immerse themselves in
the Expanded Universe, and I want something in every issue for them. I know
fans who refuse to have anything to do with anything
that isn’t the original versions of the original trilogy, and I want them to
have reasons to read Insider, too. There are fans
who love the kitschy pop-cultural aspects of Star Wars, or behind the scenes
articles, or stories of interesting fans, or underground art that
incorporates imagery from Star Wars, and so I want material which appeals to
all of them as well. There’s so much more we’d like to do, but I’ll not go on record
with anything else right now except to say that we thrive on evolving and
adapting and Insider will too, especially in light of the new television and
games projects in the works.
Q – As editor you are
in daily contact with Lucasfilm. How
exciting is this, being in a working relationship with the real home of Star
Wars? A – It's great on so many levels. Lucas Licensing
has entrusted us with a huge responsibility and has been amazingly supportive
of our ideas from the get-go. Going to the Letterman Center to meet with the
folks over at licensing and StarWars.com is always a complete geek-fest and
always reinvigorates my excitement for the gig. They’re an interesting bunch
because each one has his or her area of expertise and their own ideas about
what they’d like to see in the magazine, and are always eager to give
valuable input. And this helps us to broaden our scope and cater to all types
of Star Wars fans. They are also as professional as they are enthusiastic and
demand a high level of editorial and visual quality, and although it can be
demanding delivering this to them, it really has made us much stronger
editors and designers than we were six months ago. I can only imagine where
we’ll be six months from now. Q – The official
magazines have always had charismatic editors, from Maureen Garrett on Bantha
Tracks to Dan Madsen at the Insider.
What flavour do you hope to bring to the
magazine as Star Wars enters the television and multimedia era? A – Like any myth, Star Wars is a living tapestry
that all types of talented and creative people can contribute to, and do, and
I find that the creative energy I’m attracted to the most comes from the
fans. This encompasses everything from underground art and graffiti to
fan films (parodies, mostly, not a fan of the more dramatic stuff), sculpture
(have you seen Nathan Cabrera’s life-sized Tusken Raider? It’s wild!),
essays, fan and collector sites. In my opinion this massive pool of raw
talent contributes just as much as licensed creators and their work is a
testament to the enormous impact the films have had on our culture and their
ability to encourage us to imagine. That’s not even mentioning the massive
community of fans who make the effort to connect with one another. I think
it’s great that Star Wars offers so much more than just passive entertainment
if you so choose. That said, the flavor we are trying to
bring to Insider is a celebratory one that captures the energy of this
massive creative output and community. At the same time, we also like to
adopt a slightly irreverent tone towards Star Wars because when all is said
and done, Star Wars is fun and goofy and great and intense, and that’s why it
rules. We should be having fun with, and at times make fun of, Star Wars.
Basically, we at Insider are a bunch of dorky Star Wars fans and are using
the medium to speak with other fans in our own quirky ways. Q – Which of the
myriad Star Wars characters do you feel the most affinity for? A – Anakin, by far. I get attached to people.
I’ve made reckless decisions for what I thought were good reasons. There were
times when I didn’t react in the most positive ways when frustrated or when I
felt I deserved something that I perhaps didn’t. But somehow I’ve managed to
learn from these things, grow, move on, and wind up on my two feet. So yeah,
I can see a lot of myself in that character. Man, that’s kind of scary now
that I think about it. Q – Tell us something
of your other interests outside of Star Wars? A – For the past few years I’ve been studying
martial arts—now I focus mainly on boxing because I love the upper body
movement—the slipping, the bobbing, and the weaving. I love seeing movies and
live bands—mostly metal and indy rock—and in that respect I’m very fortunate
to live in San Francisco where there are tons of great bands playing always
and small independent theaters showing killer stuff. I love to travel and
have been to Japan twice and India within the last couple of years. Q – Tell us a tale
about the time you worked for El Vez, the Mexican
Elvis. That must have been a trip. A – It literally was a trip as we toured Europe
for two months—Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, and Spain. Altogether
there were about twelve of us and we lived in this huge bright blue tour bus
driven by an ex-lounge singer named Tony. He loved to sing gospel songs and
had a mustache the same color as his flesh. My friend and I worked as roadies,
sold merchandise, and handled lighting and stage effects. We were also part
of the act and I basically wore a black jumpsuit and black wrestling mask,
stumbled around and got beat up every night. After a show in Berlin, a fan asked what I did in the band and
when I told him I was the black Mexican wrestler he started pointing at me
yelling “The gimp! You’re the gimp!!” It makes sense if you’ve seen Pulp Fiction. Q - What lies ahead
for you in the future? A – Man, I’m probably the last person that can
answer that! If you had told me eight months ago that I’d be the editor of
Insider I’d have checked your apartment for discarded crack pipes. Q – A quick question
about our site, Lightsabre. Any
comments? A – Well as I said before, I love the videos. I’m
also impressed by the breadth of your interviewees and the types of questions
you ask. Keep up the great work!
Q - It's been a great
interview, and thanks for being our guest on Lightsabre. Just one final question. El Vez, a very
short Stormtrooper and legendary video store clerk Quentin Tarantino are cast
adrift on a rubber dingy far out at sea.
Suddenly a leak springs and water begins to fill the boat. Who is to blame, and who manages to save
the hapless trio? A – The leak is caused by the stormtrooper
who, at Tarantino's prodding and because he has a Napoleon complex, takes pot
shots at El Vez’s shoes, trying to make him dance.
Being a stormtrooper, and thus not the sharpest
tool in the shed, be blasts a hole in the dingy, consigning the three of them
to a watery doom.
Gamera, the atomic turtle, notices the mishap
during a routine fly-by and rescues the group, dropping them off at the
Bikini Atoll before zooming away to Indian leg-wrestle a giant cosmic
squid. Quentin Tarantino takes all the
credit for the rescue, the stormtrooper goes on to
become a famous midget porn star, El Vez develops a penchant for shooting TV sets. Gamera O.D.'s on hallucinogenic
cosmic squid ink, mistakes skyscrapers for giant female turtles...and does
very bad things... |
