Star Trekkin'!

Here we are, Star Trekkin' across the universe!!!

NOT The Star Trek I Expected

Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen “Star Trek”
and want to watch it some time, DO NOT read this!!!!
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Okay, so I’m an old fogey. I’ve been watching Star Trek since the original series first came out on tv. I had to walk over to a neighbor’s house to get to watch it in color. Through hay fields that were full of icky slugs that got in my shoes and made me go, “ooooooooooooo”. (As in a YUCK kind of ooooo – I don’t know how to spell it.) But it was worth it.

The point is, I love Star Trek. I’m a long time fan.

So I was all excited to finally get to watch the latest movie. I was sorry to have missed it in theaters, and stayed away from reading any reviews or anything that would spoil it when I finally got to see the movie on DVD.

You know, the movie advertised as the one “that follows the early days of the intergalactic adventurers” – that’s EXACTLY what it says on the movie sleeve. The one that promos lead you to believe tells you how Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all of the bridge crew met.

Well, I’m sorry. While this was a decent sci-fi movie, it is NOT how the Kirk, Spock and crew of the Enterprise we’ve known in previous shows and movies and books met.

No, instead we got some kind of alternate reality switch.

They talk about reality changing because people came back in time. And unless they do ANOTHER sort of alternate reality switch in the following movies, there's no way to segue from what I thought was supposed to be a prequel into the present Star Trek Universe.

Kirk’s dad was killed off in the opening scenes of the movie. They killed off Spock’s mother. They blew up Vulcan. Spock and Uhura have a romance. Man, it is soooooo messed up. These people (and planet) are important parts of the following Star Trek adventures.

This movie really flew under false colors. False advertising. I repeat, it is NOT how the crew of the Enterprise from other Star Trek movies met. Cause, after all, this is all a different reality.

An enjoyable movie? Yes, but, and it’s a BIG but… it’s not the Star Trek movie I was expecting.

And that’s a big disappointment.
(And I'm glad I didn't waste my money seeing it in a theater.)

Imagine A Life Without Sports

I was just browsing through Facebook, and it never ceases to amaze me how many comments over the weekends are sports oriented.

What would people do without sports?

I’m not talking about actually playing sports themselves and getting exercise. Of course it’s good to get exercise. And it’s better yet if you can have fun while doing it.

No, I’m talking about sports as entertainment.

I guess mankind (& womenkind) have a long history of watching other people compete at some sort of athletic event. Way before the Greeks came up with the Olympics, I suppose cavemen were watching footraces or dino wrestling or something.

It seems to be included in many people’s make-up to enjoy watching sports. Maybe there’s some kind of “sports” gene that makes people susceptible to the thrill of watching physical competitions.

So I have to wonder, what would happen if people couldn’t sit around watching their favorite sports? What if there were no sports channel, or ESPN, or whatever? (Maybe even no tv, period!)

Well, what would people do for entertainment then?

Are Women Born Like This?

Jonathan and I have been laughing about this video for weeks. I keep meaning to put it up here, and kept forgetting. . . but obviously, I finally remembered! (Is that convoluted, or what?)

The way that little girl keeps jabbering away just cracks me up!

Have A Dream

It seems the older we get, the less we dare to dream. Many people hit 40 and have a "mid-life" crisis because they feel like life has passed them by, and they're never going to do the things they dreamed about.

But you just never know.

I saw the link to this video on a friend's blog. A lot of people have probably already watched the video or heard about it. If you haven't, it's worth the 7 minutes or so of your time to see 47-year old Susan Boyle sing "I Dream The Dream" on "Britian's Got Talent." (They're not allowing embeds, so you'll have to go to YouTube to see it.)

This totally ordinary looking woman comes out on stage and it's obvious no one thinks she's going to be worth a flip.

But then she starts singing and jaws drop. Incredible.

So there she is, past that 40ish mid-life crisis time, and she's on stage living her dream. Just goes to show... never give up on your dreams. They may change, as Chrystie notes with her blog "Revising The Dream", but you should NEVER give up dreaming.

I'm not going to. How about you?

The King Sings About The REAL King!

Jess just sent this to me and I obviously enjoyed it or I wouldn't be putting it up here.

For one thing, I like to hear Elvis sing. When I was a kid way back when, my mom and one of her best friends, Doris, loved to listen to Elvis, so by default, I heard him a lot also. Enjoying his music stuck with me over the years.

And then, well, this is just a good song and the video they did to go with it suits it so well!

Enjoy!

Drama and Adventures in Outer Space

That’s what I put in the mailbox this morning, drama and adventure. The last episode of the seventh and last season of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Watching that last episode was like reading the last page of a really good book. One you really hate to put down, and somewhere down the road, you just know you’re going to have to read it again, it was that good.

To tell the truth, when Jonathan suggested we try watching DS9, I wasn’t too sure I was going to like it. I’m a long time Star Trek fan, so long I remember watching the original series – not reruns! - on tv. (Does that date me, or what?) I loved Star Trek then, and I love it now, but I wasn't too sure about this newer series.

We'd already went through the Star Trek: Voyager series though. (We make good use of our Netflix account!) It was pretty good, and I enjoyed watching it, so figured might as well give DS9 at try.

Well, Deep Space 9 was not only good, it was better.

Forget the fact it’s science fiction and set on a space station. For sci-fi fans that’s a plus, but what it really had going for it was drama and adventure! It had an on-going story, with lots of twists and turns, and lots of character development. People liked and disliked other people and things. People loved and fought and did all the things people do in real life.

People were real. Bad guys occasionally did good things, and the good guys occasionally did bad things. These weren't cookie-cutter characters, but complex individuals.

There were not only some excellent family relationships, there were lots of well-developed friendships. Guys who were best buddies and would occasionally even admit they loved each other. Men and women who were good friends without the erotic overtones, but valued their friendship instead. And yes, since it’s science fiction, not only were there friendships between different races and genders, but between different species.

Wikipedia notes, “The show is noted for its well-developed characters and its original, complex plots. The series also depended on darker themes, less physical exploration of space, and an emphasis (in later seasons) on many aspects of war.”

Yeah, there was a huge war going on the last couple of seasons that did indeed become quite dark. A time or two I wavered, thinking this was getting too much like the new version of Battlestar Galactica, and too dark and “real” for my tastes. But they dealt with those aspects well, and didn’t dwell in the darkness always. Light peeped through in unexpected places sometimes.

Bottom line: I was sorry to watch this last episode. I cried at the sundering of so many long-standing loves and friendships, as people were pulled in different directions, killed in the final battle, or for whatever reason, moving on. It was, by and large, a good show with few so-so episodes.

I’m going to miss all those people from Deep Space 9 and their drama and adventures.