Introducing "May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way Thursday": My Worst Interview Experience
I have been listening to suggestions for The Hard Pass and one that has come up the most frequently is doing a recurring feature on the same day that people can look forward to reading. With that in mind, it is today that I present the first installment of "May the Bridges I Burn Light the Way Thursday." This is where I'll write posts that I probably shouldn't, but do anyway.
For those who don't know who that man is in the lead image, that is Dylan McKay from Beverly Hills 90210, played by Luke Perry. This particular line was from a season five episode in which Dylan finds himself fallen on hard times. He's found a liking for drugs and he's been a little too liberal about bringing his gun out at inappropriate times, at one point pointing it at some kids that showed up at the door for trick or treating. Brandon (Jason Priestley) has had enough of Dylan's behavior and confronts Dylan, which causes Dylan to lash out at Brandon. Brandon astutely points out he's one of Dylan's last friends left, to which Dylan stoically replies, "May the bridges I burn light the way." This is a wonderful response.
Back in 2010, I was at a bar and, after one too many pints, decided to subtweet an editor I wasn't happy with at the time. This was a terrible idea. To add to the ridiculousness of what I was doing, I added the hashtag #maythebridgesiburnlighttheway. And, yes, this editor certainly saw this tweet. And my not well thought out plan worked, I did burn a bridge. (We did eventually make up three years later.)
As I write this I feel like I'm slowly talking myself out of doing "May the Bridges I Burn Light the Way Thursday." Also, I can't promise that every week I will have a bridge to burn that I'd like to light my way, but I will try. And due to the nature of these posts, I do have to put them behind a paywall so this will have to only be for paid members.
Today we will look back at my worst interview experience. Which is different than my worst interview. The interview itself in this example actually went pretty well. It's what happened after that is still baffling to me. This all started in August of 2013 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Midtown Manhattan at a press day for the Edgar Wright film, The World's End. I was there covering the film for my employer at the time, Huffington Post. I was interviewing Simon Pegg.
