Donald Marinelli - The Comet & the Tornado: Reflections on the Legacy of Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture & the Creation of Our Carnegie Mellon Dream Fulfillment Factory

Advance Praise for The Comet & The Tornado

From opposite experiences come two dynamic men who join forces to change not only each others perspectives, but also the perspective of an entire university. A fascinating journey told with compassion and humor.

Zachary Quinto, actor, Heroes and Star Trek (2009),
and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University

Randy and Don created what is arguably the world benchmark for advanced studies in interactive entertainment. By virtue of the interdisciplinary team project approach, ETC grads are overwhelmingly work ready. They leave with an appreciation of team strength through individual/distinct skills working together to deliver a project on strategy... and on time.

Steve Seabolt, Vice President of Global Brand
Development, Electronic Arts Inc.

Reading this transformational book will take you on a rare and touching journey, one you will never forget.

Bud Yorkin, television and film producer and director

This is the first great love story of the age of computer games. Don Marinelli writes life into every page. The first act is the heart-warming saga of the creative relationship between Don and Randy Pausch.... The second act is a tragedy with an uplifting ending, the inside story of the outpouring of affection from millions of fans for Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture.

Bing Gordon, cofounder, Electronic Arts Inc.,
and partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

STERLING and the distinctive Sterling logo are registered trademarks of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Marinelli, Don.

The comet & the tornado: reflections on the legacy of Randy Pausch, the last lecture, and the creation of our Carnegie Mellon dream fulfillment factory / Don Marinelli.

p. cm.

The comet and the tornado

ISBN 978-1-4027-7088-3

1. Entertainment computingUnited States. 2. Entertainment technologyUnited States. 3. Pausch, Randy. 4. Computer scientistsUnited StatesBiography. I. Title. II. Title: The Comet and the Tornado.

QA76.9.E57M37 2010

790.20285dc22

2009036509

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016

2010 by Don Marinelli

Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing

c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street

Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6

Distributed in the United Kingdom by GMC Distribution Services

Castle Place, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England BN7 1XU

Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia

This book is a memoir. It reflects the authors present recollection of his experiences that occurred over a period of years, and dialogue has been recreated from memory. All emails are printed with permission of the sender.

Printed in China

All rights reserved

Design by Anderson Design Group, AndersonDesignGroup.com

Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-7088-3

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This book is dedicated to the memory of

Paul Christiano, Anne Humphreys,

Akram Midani & Randy Pausch

Whats a Drama Guy Like Me
Doing in a Place Like This?

Close Encounters of
the Academic Kind

Welcome to the Entertainment
Technology Center

Its True! Two Halves
Comprise the Whole

F irst came the Tornado.

Randy Pausch, my cofounder and partner in crime at the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center (the ETC in short), gave me that name during his famous Last Lecture of September 2007. I recall hearing him use the term while I was sitting in a hotel room in Taipei, Taiwan, watching the lecture on my laptop in the middle of a typhoon (more on that later), and smiling instantly. The description fit my personality perfectly, though Id never thought about myself in quite that meteorological term.

In sitting down to write this book, I began thinking, trying to come up with a one-word description of Randy. I reflected on the amazing journey he had taken as his Last Lecture grew into a veritable phenomenon. This talk, given at Carnegie Mellon before a crowd of friends, colleagues, former and current students, well-wishers, and others, quickly reached people worldwide, thanks to the power of the Internet and the Wall Street Journal, in which Carnegie Mellon alumnus and reporter Jeff Zaslow dedicated an article to the amazing happening at his alma mater.

At first I likened Randy to a rocket ship because of the ascendancy he experienced once millions of perfect strangers were able to watch his Last Lecture on YouTube. The name seemed to make perfect sense, and was in keeping with his childhood interests. (Hed painted a rocket on his bedroom wall as a childand the book version of his lecture features a rocket on its cover.)

Then as I reflected on how Randys words of wisdom illuminated life for so many people around the world, the word meteoric came to mind. Yet while a meteor seemed more apropos than a rocket ship, it still fell short of capturing the Randy phenomenon. Think like a scientist for a moment. A meteor either burns up upon entering the earths atmosphere or falls to earth as a meteorite; meteorites can be found, retrieved, and examined. Meteorites are, by definition, finite. No, Randy far transcended that description.

So, if I wanted to stick with some kind of astral nickname for Randy, the best fit was comet. And that word has additional resonance, too, given that Randy tells a story in the Last Lecture about his great childhood dream of experiencing zero gravitya dream realized years later, when he flew in what NASA lovingly refers to as the Vomit Comet.

Comet Pausch burst upon the scene like an astral body illuminating the sky; he created an amazing glow and presence in the heavens, sharing his secrets for living life to the fullest with millions of folks who needed such guidance. Then, this amazingly beautiful comet hurtled off into the universe.

Like his astronomical namesake, Comet Pausch left millions of people stunned, amazed, happy, giddy, and seeing light where there had been only darkness. He inspired great hope and genuine resolve in a way seldom equaled by politicians, movie stars, writers, television personalities, motivators, and teachers.

There is another reason, though, why I find this term for Randy so appropriate. One of my favorite novels is In the Days of the Comet, by the famous English social commentator, historian, and science fiction genius H. G. Wells. In this fantasy, the earth passes through the tail of a passing comet. The result is nothing less than a catalytic change. The world is transformed from the bickering, dysfunctional, self-centered place we know all too well to a place more closely resembling Utopia, where all of humankind works together to improve the quality of life for everyone on the planet.

In the Days of the Comet concludes with an epilogue in which Wellss protagonist realizes the profundity of the change:

It was more and more evident to me that this was a different humanity from any I had known, unreal, having different customs, different beliefs, different interpretations, different emotions. It was no mere change in conditions and institutions the comet had wrought. It had made a change of heart and mind.