May 16, 2009: Veidt Magazine Profile

LOLSCHACH’s JOURNAL: May 16, 2009:

Gone to dentist’s office. Have brought shoplifter, along with Babysitter. Want to try using dentist’s tools to extract something from thief’s mouth: confession.

Old magazines in waiting room. Found profile/interview with Veidt in February 20 issue of New Voice Express. Puff piece. Magazine owned by Veidt. Liberal. Still, may contain insights. Will copy down intro today. Later, will copy down actual interview. If I can stand to. Ehhh.

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From New Voice Express, February 20, 2009

Off to See the Wizard:

At Home with Oz the Great and Fabulous

Deb Ross Visits Munchkinland Ranch to Interview Addison Veidt

Nero didn’t actually fiddle while Rome burned. George Washington never actually chopped down that cherry tree. And Addison Veidt – superhero, supergenius, trillionaire bachelor philanthropist – is not actually an Egypt-obsessed mastermind named Ozyma—

“No need to say it,” interrupts Veidt, reaching across the table to touch my wrist. His hand is as warm as the disarming grin he allows to linger for several seconds. He’s definitely bemused – and maybe just a little weary.

He has a right to be. Half of what the public “knows” about Addison Veidt comes from a 1986 comic book that is, in Veidt’s estimation, “about 77.623% fiction, give or take.” Deeds he never did have earned him fan mail and hate mail. People have been known to call him “Adrian,” or even Ozyma… well, you know. So: Nero’s fiddle, Washington’s cherry tree.

But with a blockbuster adaptation of that seminal 1986 comic book headed to theaters, popular perceptions about Veidt are bound to become even more confused than they already are. We emailed Veidt three weeks ago, hoping he would give us a quote or two about his unusual situation. Instead, he offered to fly me across the country for an exclusive interview at his rural-getaway-cum-wayward-boys’-home, Munchkinland Ranch. Even my editor didn’t say no.

Comic-book fans may associate Veidt with the color purple, but celebrity-watchers know he’s all about green. That was, by far, the predominant color both inside and outside the limo, jet, and SUV that Veidt had sent to carry me from my office to his ranch. Somewhere over Kansas, I remarked sarcastically to the flight attendant (who wore a green uniform) about the disconnect between his employer’s famed environmental activism and his willingness to burn so much jet fuel to carry one reporter cross-country. The flight attendant looked hurt. “VeidtAir jets burn only 100% organic hydrocarbons,” he said, as if he’d rehearsed the line a hundred times, “and all our fuels are recycled from fossils. The Wizard wants us to be a green airline.”

“The Wizard.”

Munchkinland Ranch. A research base in Antarctica codenamed “Glenda.” The “Emerald City” headquarters campus. And, of course, the pseudonym Veidt hid behind, along with his mask, when he was still a costumed crime-fighter: “Oz-the-Fabulous”. He may not share his comic-book counterpart’s fascination with Egypt or Alexander the Great, but Addison Veidt certainly has a fixation of his own....

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Time to stop writing. Dentist ready to see us. (Forgot to ask shoplifter about his dental insurance. Hurm.)