Tag Archives for star trek

boldly going west

SO HI.

I went away on vacation and my brain forgot to come back. Sorry bout that. But I’m here now! With updates!

So. In the week+ since last we met, these things have happened:

1. Sunburn.
Ooooh sunburn. I spent an entire day by the hotel pool having people bring me drinks with umbrellas and pink bits in them, which was lovely, but I didn’t pack sunscreen. Oops. Oh well. I’m sexy-tan now.

2. Madame Tussaud’s.
Lots of fun! Observe:

(Guess which one is me.)

Also, YES PLEASE:

We also wandered around… that place where there are all the cement handprints… and stuff…

I know, right? (That extra foot belongs to the lovely Hannah Moskowitz, my partner in crime on these adventures.)

3. IT’S ITS.
Omg. I can’t even. Like.

An It’s It is an ice cream sandwich, vanilla between two oatmeal cookies, dipped in chocolate. They were a sometimes-treat when I was a kid living in CA, and I didn’t realized until I moved away that they are a WEST-COAST EXCLUSIVE.

So the first thing I did upon returning to the left coast—buy me some It’s Its and eat them all up. NOM NOM NOM. (And of course I had to take some really immature photos to send to the kidbro.)

4. SCBWI
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s conference was the main reason I was out there—not to attend, but because all of my friends were attending. (I am using the measurement “all” very loosely here.) I did crash one panel and one party, but other than that I just hung out. I did manage to meet some cool people, though, and have some simply wonderful conversations about writing and publishing and reading and whatnot. Cindy and Suz included me in their documentation of the conference, if you go want to play Where’s Waldo in their pictures. (warning: Cindy’s post also contains a lot of food pics that will make your mouth water excessively.) If I missed anyone else’s pics, let me know!

5. MuserTOWN
After the conference, my friends and I all roadtripped down to Long Beach for a fun reading of our books/works-in-progress. I read from Bethany Griffin‘s Handcuffs since she couldn’t make it. There was also an EPIC GAME of Zombie Tag, which was videotaped. Stay tuned. There may be footage of me screaming for brains. (And thanks to Scott and Sonia for showing up! Awesome surprise.)

6. MST3K
Lots and lots of MST3K.

Because really, what better way to cap off a perfect vacation?

And now I’m home and thinking of getting a kitten. Because. KITTEN. Hello.

January 2nd

I sort of wish my first post of the new year involved something more interesting than me watching my new Star Trek dvds, cuddling with my kitty, and eating peanut butter straight from the jar, but you know what—I’m happy with my current state of being. Take me for what I am. (who I was meant to beeee, and if you give a daaaamn, take me baby—or leave me!)

*cough* Uhh, end Rent interlude.

So, New Year’s in New York was all kinds of fantastic. I love that city so very much. And now, it is a new year filled with new things and new people and new adventures and I am pretty excited.

End rambly New Year’s post.

oh hi it’s thursday

I didn’t do a Wilde Wednesday post yesterday. So shoot me. I was trying not to throw up.

Anyway. First post from the new netbook! omg I love this thing so. It weighs about an ounce. Like a shot. It’s a shot of internet. I am so happy.

So yeah. I feel like shit because I’m pretty sure someone split open my head with an axe when I wasn’t looking, but before I crawl back into the darkness from whence I came I need to share with you the following brilliance, which a coworker shared with me earlier this week.

I give you… Klenginem.

Possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to the internet.

movie review: Star Trek

trekUsually I can review something without spoilering it to death, but I really don’t think that’s going to work here. So if you want to go into Star Trek unscathed, you should stop reading. You have been warned.

So if you sit back and actually think about the new Star Trek movie, it’s really ridiculously flawed. I mean, there is a lot wrong with it, from small aesthetic decisions, to large plot holes, to pure and simple what-the-fuckery.

Fortunately, JJ Abrams doesn’t let you catch your breath long enough to notice.

I’ve seen the movie twice now, and I left the second time going, “wow that was even better than the first time!” But with the space of a few days, and time to think, all the things that are wrong with it are becoming clearer—all the things that should make this movie horrible and unwatchable. And yet, I still love it. I still want to see it again.

So here are some of the many reasons we should dislike this movie:

  • Time travel wtf. The movie begins with a time travel/alternate reality trigger so that JJ Abrams could ignore canon and basically do whatever the heck he wanted. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but what’s the point in having canon if you’re just going to throw it so far to the winds? It doesn’t really seem like a real Trek movie. JJ basically just ran rampant through Trek lore.
  • One of the most blatant examples of this was the Spock/Uhura romance. Granted, I generally tend to be against romantic entanglements in my action movies. (“hey! something could be exploding right now! stop it!”) But alternate reality or not, I really don’t think Spock would have turned out that differently…
  • Some of the comedy was atrociously out of place. The swollen-hand-and-tongue gag was interminable and seemed to have stumbled in from a different movie. The Scotty-in-the-tubes gag was funny for approximately 2 seconds—actually more like negative 2 seconds, when Scotty was still just in the big canister. But yeah that got old quickly. (even though I would pay good money to watch Simon Pegg do, well, anything. paint fences. drool. sneeze.)
  • There were some ridiculous Star Wars moments. Let us take, for instance, the Hoth scene. (Delta Vega in Trek) Our Fearless Hero is marooned on a snowy, icy planet, and then OH NO there’s a big toothy furry creature coming after him! We then switch monsters, as one eats the other, and then our Fearless Hero is saved by an Old Guy waving shit and making lots of noise to startle off the creature. (*cough* Obi-Wan and the Sand People *cough*) So basically… yeah. That’s the only time I was really jolted out of the movie, when I was like, “uhhhh is JJ confused about which saga he’s working on?”
  • Also, of all the gin joints in all the world… Young Kirk and Old Spock just happen to end up in the same random icy cave together?
  • The Ewok. Excuse me. The weird alien thing that’s hanging out with Simon Pegg on Delta Vega. Apparently it’s played by Deep Roy (the guy who played ALL the Oompa-Loompas in Tim Burton’s Charlie in the Chocolate Factory). Which is really all you need to know. Seriously? Didn’t people learn anything about annoying alien sidekicks from Jar Jar Binks?
  • So at the end of the movie (in case you ignored my previous spoiler warning, I repeat it now) when Old Spock is talking to Young Spock, he says something along the lines of “You ask why I did not just come aboard the Enterprise and explain everything? I could not do that! You and Kirk had to find each other and realize you are meant to be lifelong friends.” Ummmm sorry? Total bullshit. Yeah it’d be nice if Kirk and Spock stop hating each other but there’s a universe to save damn it. If I’m Spock, having mini-me be friends with Kirk is not worth an entire universe.
  • “Red Matter?” Really?

I could go on. The fact that the movie has all this^ but still makes me want to see it surely is a credit to JJ Abrams’s filmmaking abilities. Right? Or maybe I’m just a sucker for shiny exploding things and men in Starfleet uniforms. I don’t know. Anyway. Here’s some of what makes it good:

  • The acting. I’m going to go ahead and place Simon Pegg at the top of the list, because he is so absolutely, absurdly amazing that I pretty much died of joy every moment he was on the screen (too rarely), but really everyone was fabulous. Zachary Quinto played young Spock to perfection. His voice was perfect, his eyebrows were perfect, even his shoulders were positioned right. Chris Pine (cue swoon) played young Kirk to cocky asshole perfection, a reluctant young hero who grows up to be a kick-ass hero. And Karl Urban, bless him, made Bones a character I was actually interested in. Eric Bana as the bad guy did not have as much to work with, but still managed to growl his way into a memorable performance. And did I mention Simon Pegg as Scotty?
  • Rip-roaring action. Even though there’s a totally superfluous car chase scene, it’s crazy fun. The whole movie is crazy fun. It just goes by in a flash, so quickly you don’t even notice the plot holes.
  • It makes enough sense. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. But it makes enough.

Really what it all comes down to is that the movie’s a great ride. One that I want to go on again and again and again. You shouldn’t think about it too much (she says to Star Trek fans… yeah right) and just go with it. You won’t be sorry.

N.B. This may actually be the worst movie review ever written. I do apologize. List format? What Grace?

I’m a Doctor, not a Physicist

Wow, loooooong week.

I just slept for 18 hours, if that gives you some idea of how my week’s been.

Our work conference ate my life and my time and my sleep but I still managed to see the new Star Trek at midnight on Thursday. (Full review coming later, but seriously Simon Pegg is worth the price of admission.) So I’m resting this weekend by watching the X-Men trilogy (“I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!”) and eating massive amounts of ice cream.

A More fascinating blog post will be coming soon. At some point.

beam me up

So. I have a question.

The new Star Trek movie comes out in two weeks. I have been looking forward to this for over a year, ever since I knew Simon Pegg would be playing Scotty. Because I love Simon Pegg and would pay to see him read the phone book. Also because I… liked… Star Trek.

I couldn’t really say that I loved it because until a couple of days ago I’d seen maybe 6 episodes total.

I realize my sci-fi street cred is tarnished slightly because of this. It’s not that I ever disliked it. I actually know quite a bit about the series (well, TOS and TNG at least) considering how little I’ve seen of it. (Though I must admit I get confused sometimes because my original introduction was my childhood friend’s Star Trek toy set wherin Counselor Troi, Captain Janeway, and Mr. Spock all shared the bridge.) I simply never got around to watching it in great quantity. I’d enjoyed what I’d seen (except for Wesley, bleh), I’d just never taken the time to get into it.

But I didn’t want to be one of those people who becomes a fan only when something new and shiny happens. So, in preparation for the movie, and in order to try to regain some of my credibility, I am now watching basically the entire original series. Cramming Star Trek, so to speak.

And I’m loving it. Like, when I show up to the movie in two weeks, I will legit be a fan.

So the question: how legit is this fan-ness?

I’m not going to pretend that I’ve been a fan for ages or that I’m a true Trekker/Trekkie (someone difference please?). But my excitement is real. My love of the series is real.

It just… started like 48 hours ago.

Legit yes/no?