DEVIL AND DRUNK–Sam Woodhouse (left) and Armin Shimerman converse in The Seafarer, now at San Diego Rep. (Photo: Erin Bigley)

__________________________________________________________
By Carol Davis

SAN DIEGO–I’m sorry to say I’m not much of a Trekkie so I’m not up on all the  Star Trek comings and goings. Armin Shimerman was a regular for seven years on the Television hit show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. According to my findings his fictional character, Quark owned a bar on the Promenade of Deep Space Nine. I do admit to watching the original Sci Fi TV show when it debuted in 1966 and I did visit the Star Trek museum in Las Vegas several years ago (There was a simulated ride into space, I believe.), which I found to be interesting, but no cigars just a rumbly tummy and shaky legs.  

I am however a theatre person and I do know a bit about good performances and ho hum performances. Armin Shimerman’s portrayal of the perpetual drunk, blind and belligerent rascal Richard Harkin in Connor McPherson’s The Seafarer is top notch. If I didn’t know he was Jewish and born in Lakewood, New Jersey, I would have vouched he was Irish, his accent seems so natural, and he’s so damned genuine in this role. That’s what good actors do; they make us believers. 

The Seafarer at The San Diego Repertory Theatre downtown, in the Lyceum Theatre, under the deft direction of Decilia Turner Sonnenberg will be entertaining crowds with this not so laugh out loud (or maybe so) holiday treat through Dec. 13. It is the Rep’s 34th season and what a way to kick off a season with an Irish, black humor view (according to McPherson) of the joys of Christmas. I must say the differences between Jewish humor and Irish humor are seas apart according to Davis, Carol that is. 

The Seafarer made its National Theatre debut in 2006 almost ten years after his first play The Weir (seen at the Old Globe some years ago) was mounted and premiered. Several years ago I happened to catch a production at the Rubicon Theatre in Venture of McPherson’s The Good Thief performed by Conor Lovett. At the time they were staging a series of monologues running in repertory and one such reading was McPherson’s The Good Thief. It was written in 1994.  At the time I saw The Good Thief I was non-plussed by the piece but taken with the performance. So it goes with live theatre.

The play opens in the disheveled (littered with beer and whiskey bottles scattered all over in the living room) basement flat at the childhood home, somewhere off the coast in Northern Dublin, of Richard Harkin and his brother Sharky (an effective, downtrodden but truly credible Ron Choularton). The Leprechaun looking Richard, who recently fell, hit his head on a dumpster on Halloween and lost his eyesight lives in the home alone. But he’s not alone for long. (Robin Sanford Roberts set is one of the best seen in some time on that stage with detail upon detail to give the feel of a well lived in slovenly bashed pad of a bachelor who spends his Euros on whiskey rather than a housekeeper.)

Sharky, who is without a job, cash or prospects of either, has come to help his brother out and be his eyes. The night before we meet the brothers some heavy drinking took place with Richard and Ivan Curry (Paul James Kruse is a wonderfully disheveled and willing participant), a good friend of the Harkin brothers. Sharky has been on the wagon for the last three days and is still a bit unsteady, tense and short of temper yet he is left to pick up the pieces of the morning after remains.

Ivan, we learn, had to spend the night in one of the rooms sleeping it off on a rug on the floor (no bed in the room) for several reasons, the most important is that he could barely see how to get home because he couldn’t find his glasses (he’s not too much better off than Richard in the eye department) nor could he walk the straight line to find to his house (his wife would have killed him anyway for losing his glasses) and he couldn’t remember where or if he left his car. 

Over the course of the day, two more visitors come to the Harkin homestead, Nicky Giblin (handsome and winning Robert J. Townsend) a long time friend and adversary of Sharky’s (he’s thick with Sharky’s ex girlfriend and continues to rub it in, to Sharky’s chagrin) and a mysterious stranger, Mr. Lockhart (Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse looks imposing dressed to the nines in a camel hair top coat, black fedora and three piece suit with blinding white hair and eyebrows) who was invited by his new friend Nicky to come along for the annual Christmas eve card game. One has to wonder though as we learn more, who invited whom. (Jennifer Brawn Gittings is on spot with her costume designs.)

And now there were five. Compared to Richard and Ivan, who look like they had slept in their clothes for days (Richard had) Lockhart looks and acts oddly out of place. Could it be because he was? You see Lockhart (nice play on words) is the Devil/Lucifer himself comin’ round to collect on Sharky’s soul because some twenty-five years after their first meeting in some jail on charges that were later dismissed, Lockhart supposedly arranged for him to be released rather than spend jail time for the crime.

The only thing that can save Sharky from losing his soul to the Devil, a deal they made long ago in exchange for Sharky’s release, is to beat Lockhart in a game of winner-take-all, high stakes poker. Lockhart is back and in a sinister no prisoners taken speech to a confused and shaken Sharky, he spells out the rules. And, oh by the way, Happy Christmas.

It is Christmas Eve day and between the drinking, hostile and familial wrangling between the brothers we learn more about the characters, their weaknesses and strengths and how their lives will be changed, unbeknownst to them, by the time Christmas Day rolls around. We may even learn more than we want to know.

We are also are left to ponder what we just saw at plays end and in a not so funny, dark and somber sort of way. There is an abundance of talk, drink and philosophy about heaven and hell and some funny exchanges about drinking, Irish style that is, that might tickle some. 

It might also appeal to some senses if you enjoy watching grown men drunk, falling, tripping and stumbling all over themselves while functioning through the haze and blur of an alcoholic stupor. What is intriguing is the menacing spell Lockhart has over them all, though. Forget the fact that they don’t know why he’s there, that he towers head and shoulders above any of them and his deep resonant voice and menacing smile is enough to frighten any one of them to sobriety, he just has that mesmerizing effect. (With the exception of a tentative and somewhat weird accent, Woodhouse is most effective.) 

Adding to the mystery of his being is that his character is real to them and feeds into the Satanic leanings and deep mystical teachings of those so inclined to believe in Heaven and Hell while conversely the sometimes lighted picture of Jesus hanging askew on the wall blinks off and on, they sing/shout out Christmas songs to their own delight as the scrawny little Christmas tree at the foot of the stairs winks randomly at them throughout. (Eric Lotze’s lighting is amazing and effective as sparks of lightning flash when Lockhart raises his arms to prove his powers which in turn outlines the stones that make up the walls of the Harkin home as he does so.) 

Finally, the poker game gives way as the tension mounts and hands are bet, won and lost by everyone but Lockhart who plans to win the BIG one, the last hand that comes down to himself and Sharky. We never know until the very end, how it will go, but we do have an idea. For you the reader, to see is to believe and in an astonishingly surprise turn of events…well.

The Seafarer’s holiday theme is a dark journey into a no man’s land dressed up with some Irish comic relief that makes the rest of the play at least palatable with The Rep’s ensemble pretty much up to the task pretty much most of the time. On opening night, though a little more group cohesion and work on those on again off again Irish accents was needed. By now it should be easily flowing so let the games begin!

The Seafarer is a poem that comes from a collection of Old English Poetry kept in the Exeter Cathedral, England, written anonymously about a “wretched sailor driven to roam the frozen seas”.

He knows not

Who lives most easily on land, how I

Have spent my winter on the ice-cold sea

Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile

Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles

While hail flew past in showers,”

(Guess who?)

Take comfort. It is billed as holiday play. It’s a Wonderful Life can also be seen later on at the Cygnet if you prefer traditional fare. The North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach is also mounting a holiday show, How Do You Spell Chanukah? It opens Dec. 5th. See them one see them all.

For more information visit www.sdrep.org

See you at the theater.

Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic.  She may be contacted at davisc@sandiegojewishworld.com

Orphans, at least in the world of fiction, get a reasonably good press. Everyone from Jane Eyre to Anne of Green Gables to Batman to Harry Potter overcomes this advantage, often facing much hindering by grotesque relatives, to eventually triumph and prosper.

The obvious reason for this, at least from an authorial perspective, is that the lack of parents allows for more interesting and different lives, as well as introducing sympathy for the orphaned protagonist.

Despite this I think single parent families are underused in fiction (I blame Dan Quayle for that). Here are some of my favourites:-

• Atticus Finch – widowed, raised two children. Great stuff.
• Dionsyus. His father killed his mother by turning into a bolt of lightning. No wonder he took to drink.
• Dr Beverly Crusher off of the Star Trek. Gave birth to one of the most annoying characters ever: Wesley Crusher.

Who is your favourite?

 Hooray! My second eShort, “Assassins,” went up at www.echelonpress.com. This time around, the short story is classified as an “Adventure” tale even though it is set in the future on a planet far, far away. And more than a science fiction adventure, this story could be classified as a Space Western!

Hmm. Does this mean I have a stagecoach rattling along a prairie trail? No, but I do have a bus driven by a reluctant hero rattling down that same prairie trail (only it’s on Konur Prime instead of in South Dakota or Kansas). Does that mean there’s a chase scene? Yes, and the get-away horse is a big-rig truck. Does that mean there’s a damsel in distress? Yes, she’s a failed genetically altered ”experiment” who is running for her life from an assassin with her pet singing opossum. There’s even a saloon and gambling establishment run by a red-headed woman. And I took the cover photo in Colorado at Garden of the Gods that stands in for The Canyons on Konur Prime.

A little more about Space Westerns. These stories take advantage of the character-types, challenges, and situations typically found in traditional westerns — only they take place in the future on frontier planets or “along the trail” between planets.  A recent example of a Space Western is the television series, “Firefly,” and its movie offspring, “Serenity.” But the spirit of the Space Western was really rejuvenated years ago by movies like ”Star Wars,” “Alien,” and the ”Star Treks.” For those interested in learning more about the genre, read the informative article on the subject by N.E. Lilly at www.spacewesterns.com While you’re there, you can check out a story of mine, “For the Good of the Settlement” (Archive story #25) or look at my comments about the genre in an article on writers published during the 1st year of the magazine’s existence.

Whether “Assassins” is called an adventure, science fiction tale, or space western — it’s a fun read. If you’re a writer — why not try and write one? And a note to you readers, ”Assassins” has a gun fight by the train tracks at the story’s end between the good guys and the bad guys! (But I’m not telling you who wins).

i’m a little late getting this review out.  but hey, i been busy.  i just now got around to seeing this film and i can honestly say it didn’t suck.  it’s way better than the day after tomorrow.  which did suck and was the last movie by director roland emmerich.  wait, i take that back.  his last movie was 10,000 BC.  which also sucked.  but anyway…

they should have named this film 20012: an apocaliptic odyssy.

this thing is not really strong in the story department, but these catastrophe films rarely are.  not enough time for any good plot when all you are doing is trying to run from the destruction of the earth.  the special effects are what this film is all about.  but you also have some very likeable actors to make this thing run along quite smoothly.

who doesn’t love john cusack?  and everyone loves danny glover.  amanda peete is great.  the chick that plays danny glover’s first daughter is super hot and reminds me of thandie newton.  oh wait, that’s because it is thandie newton.  and even though i can’t pronounce his name, chiwetel ejiofor is one of my favs.  he plays the role of the scientist.

and it is great to look at.  watching the ocean roll over the himilayas is pretty awesome.  as is all the destruction.

bottom line this is a big budget hollywood blockbuster type of disaster film.  with a special appearance by woody harrelson.  and it flows along nicely as i’ve just said.  it doesn’t seem near as long as it’s 2 hour and 45 minute run time.  just go easy on the large soda or you might miss seeing hawaii as a giant volcano.

i’m probably not going to run out and buy this when it comes out on dvd like i did star trek last week, but this is a very enjoyable movie perfect for the big screen.

three popcorn tubs out of five.

So I’m a little late on the uptake for this one.  I tried my damnedest to find some way to watch it on the TGDoR, but nothing really wanted to work out for me on that day, period, and I wound up stranded at my trans-non-sympathetic friend’s house.  He accepts me well enough, but he doesn’t really see that there’s a tragedy going on with these people, thinks the surgery is “cosmetic” and didn’t do more than shrug when I told him what day it was, or the Statistics.  I started thinking, sometimes the ones that don’t care are worse than the ones who damn us.

But then I watched Boys Don’t Cry.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the story front to back, watched the documentary on Youtube, read the blogs and news journals, but they don’t take you into the experience of the story like the movie does.  And I tend to relate very heavily to a given character when I watch a movie, whether I’ve got much in common with him or not.  Brandon was Me in too many ways for me to even feel comfortable with, before we even got to the bad part of the movie.  (Well, except in the juvenile delinquent sort of way.)

Anyway, I got to sit down properly with my boyfriend last night and watch it (until his mom got home, at which point I got to sit down awkwardly and stiffly and watch it.  I don’t think she likes me and she’d like me even less if she knew I was a guy.)  But as awful as it was, it was worth watching.  He gripped my hand tight through the worst of it.  The rape scene WAS the hardest part to watch, but I think most of the horror of it all washed over my head until the end of the movie.  I think I sat there staring blankly at the screen for about five minutes.  And then his mom told us dinner was on the stove and she left the room, and then I got my plate and sat with it and I couldn’t eat, and then I noticed there were tears dripping onto my plate, and I just sat there like a statue until reality snapped back and I had to go to the bathroom to blow my nose.

I’m trying to think of the only other movie that made me cry.  I can’t remember.

(Might have been Wrath of Khan.)

So on one hand it kinda left me feeling scarred for life, and on the other hand it brought home how dangerous it is out there, really sort of made the danger and hurt mine to own and internalize, really sparked a spirit to do something about this in me.  I’m not sure what yet, but it’s brewing.  After all, I’m only 20.

…

And that brings home another point.  Last night I stared at my boyfriend’s calendar and started shaking when I realized I have no more than three weeks to come out to my dad if I want him to know about this before my 21st birthday.

I don’t know how to cope.

I’m just scared of how things are going to change around here when he knows.  We’re really tight these days; he’s slowly been turning me into a Trekkie by ordering the first season of Star Trek through Netflix.  Whenever we go out to do yardwork or something together, I call him Captain and he calls me Mr. Spock.  It’s really dorky but it’s something we share, and I think he’s somehow slowly coming to understand me by it.  I don’t want it to end, but in that same way, I don’t want our relationship, as good as it is, to be fake in any way.  I don’t want to be whatever he wants me to be just to preserve our friendship.  I have more respect for him than that.

…

On a happier note, I came up with a name for my… upper region that’s better than “tumors” or even “moobs”.  They are my chestnuts.

wOOt

After the book fair yesterday, we went to watch 2012. Some of my students had already seen it and told me it was great with excellent special effects. The story has quite a few holes in it but the effects were excellent, it has to be seen of the big screen to enjoy them. We went with our friends Tim and Laura, Tim told us his students didn’t like it but when the film finished everyone was cheering and clapping. It’ll be a film to get for sure on Dvd when it comes out, right along with Star Trek

Our view of the 'future' is now 'outdated.'

I grew up under the understanding that the term ‘modern’ referred to the current time, especially when denoting that the past was behind us.  ’The dawn of the modern era’ brought an end to our ancient ways and beliefs, but brought a birth to ways of thinking and doing that were, well, modern.  Thus I conceptualized time in three categories: the past, the present (or modern era), and the future.  However, a recent term has cropped up that simply baffles me: post-modern.  To me, that sounds fairly cut-and-dry as the future.

I think that our generation created this term in order to reconcile the fact we have advanced quickly in recent years, but are still not in the future.  Thus we entered the kinda-future, or so they believed.  However, as loathe as we are to admit it, the future is not coming; it is here.  By our own admission, the modern era is over.  We are in the future.

I imagined more flying cars, movings sidewalks, and stomach-filling food-pills.  But, I guess we were wrong.  The future is not so glamorous, but it is far more clever.  We have so many devices that do so many things that we can effectively ignore the world around us and still function as human beings.  Even human-to-human interaction is available through our technology, though if our friends are not wearing the same clothes as in their profile picture, we may not recognize them.  When the modern era (or perhaps the pre-future) came about, we rebuilt over the past, creating a stronger world.  This time around we have chosen to simply ignore the vestiges of the modern era.  We are here, and it took no hard work.

Brilliant.

Proof that we are in the future is all around us.  We can communicate with people across the globe instantly.  We have car seats that remember who we are by judging the weight and girth of the backside put in them.  We move grass from one place to another.  We do not re-plant it; we up and move it.  We have handheld, battery operated devices that can record sensory input of objects they are pointed at, look up information on almost anything, give directions to any point in the country from where you are standing, and communicate with anyone, provided you know the lookup ID of their device, which your device can look up.  That sounds like a few gadgets from Star Trek rolled up into one.

And do you realize how many years it has been since we put men in a capsule, blasted them from the surface of the earth and out of our gravitational pull, landed them on our orbiting satellite that has no air, talked to them while they walked around on it, and finally returned them safely back to our planet?  And we call our time post-modern?  No, this is the future.

People, myself included, are reluctant to admit that the future is here.  We use a trend common in the field of Artificial Intelligence where whenever a new advancement is made toward creating real A.I., we claim that it is not really A.I., and set the bar of prerequisites higher.  I know that we do not fly jet-packs to work, but we are so used to flying across oceans in mere hours that we need in-flight movies to distract ourselves.

This does not mean that we are done advancing.  No, certainly not.  We will have starships, though we will probably call them something far less cool.  We will colonize the moon, the ocean, and all manner of places without air.  We are already working on Arcologies.  We already have cell phone coverage in the African bush, where people do not even have clean water to drink.  The future will get better,  but we are already in it.

Mais um passo foi dado em direção à tecnologia de star trek. Agora foi a arma de laser ou phaser funcionando como paralisante. Tudo bem que a manchete é maior que o que foi provado, afinal o que conseguiram até agora no máximo foi paralisar um verme! Isso mesmo um verme, mas paralisou o coitado!

A pesquisa foi desenvolvida pela Universidade Simon Fraser, no Canadá. A notícia completa pode ser lida aqui.

Fonte: Info Online

Great price as elsewhere this is: -
Zavvi £37.85
Play.com £37.99
DVD Source £49.99
HMV £49.99
CD WOW! £52.49

Star Trek I: The Motion Picture
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

DEFO xmas prezzie for me, wellll good deal too

Video game publisher Atari, together with developer Cryptic Studios, have invited gamers to sign up at StarTrekOnline.com in order to secure themselves a special serial key allowing them free access to the massively multiplayer online game for up to two weeks before the game’s release on February 2 in North America and February 5 in Europe.

A closed beta had been offered to players who had made the most of six-month or lifetime subscriptions offered for one of Cryptic’s previous hit games, Champions Online.

Now there is an open beta available on a first-come first-served basis for anyone that heads to the Star Trek Online website and submits a request.

The open beta will run from January 12 to January 26, 2010, by which point the game should be almost complete. The beta will allow Cryptic to iron out any last-minute issues, such as those brought about by an increased number of players exploring the game universe at the same time.

Due to Cryptic Studios’ good pedigree with previous superhero-themed online multiplayer games City of Heroes, City of Villains, and Champions Online, Star Trek Online is expected to fare well on review and amongst paying customers.

Star Trek Online is expected to cost $49.99 / €49.99 for the standard boxed version, with special editions available and the normal monthly subscriptions to be around $14.99 / €12.99, in line with Champions’ pricing structure.

‘Star Trek Online’ gets free-to-play open beta trial period – News, Gadgets & Tech – The Independent

WHAT THEY TALKING BOUT…..

How Microsoft blew it with Windows Mobile (CNN.com)

J.J. Abrams Comes Clean on Star Trek Coincidences, Sequel (Wired.com)

Google OS: the end of the hard drive? (CNN.com)

Week in Style: 11.20.09 (GQ.com)

Female Depression: Why Women Are Unhappier Than They’ve Been in Years (Elle.com)

316,000 Bongs, Disguised As Christmas Ornaments, Seized By Customs Agents In LA (Huffingtonpost.com)

Steve Harvey, Cash Money Records Giving Back for Thanksgiving (Blackvoices.com)

How To: Back Up Any Smartphone (Gizmodo.com)

Urban Mogul Life Needs You (Urban Mogul-Life)

]]> http://teksttalenten.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/amerikaans-taalkundige-leerde-zoon-alleen-maar-de-star-trek-taal-klingon-spreken/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:56:48 +0000 teksttalenten http://teksttalenten.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/amerikaans-taalkundige-leerde-zoon-alleen-maar-de-star-trek-taal-klingon-spreken/

Een Amerikaans taalkundige maakte het wel heel bont, aldus de Engelse krant The Sun. Drie jaar lang sprak hij alleen Klingon tegen zijn zoon. Dr. D’Armond Speer kreeg deze lumineuze ingeving na het zien van een aflevering van de sf-serie Star Trek. Dagenlang vertaalde hij Amerikaanse zinnen in het Klingon. Hij hoopte dat het eerste woordje van zijn zoon niet ‘dad’ maar ‘vav’ zou zijn.

Hoewel de uitspraak van de kleine volgens de experimenteel ingestelde taalkundige uitstekend was en steeds beter werd, gooide vrouwlief roet in het eten. Zij moest er niets van hebben. En ook zoonlief bleek Klingon eigenlijk helemaal niet een fijne taal te vinden. Hij is inmiddels 13 jaar en redt zich zonder Klingon prima in de aardse maatschappij.

C’est une note tirée de PSFK qui inspire ce post. Un chercheur travaille actuellement pour Lego afin de comprendre et analyser la manière dont les enfants nomment les briques multicolores. Il apparait en effet que dans chaque foyer propriétaire de Lego, les joueurs inventent un argot facilitant l’appellation de chaque brique, notamment lorsque les constructions sont collectives.

Cette pratique est une des nombreuses illustrations des jargons propres aux communautés : métiers, classes sociales, musiciens, etc. En linguistique, on les appelle des langages vernaculaires. A l’origine, cet adjectif qualifie les caractéristiques propres à un pays ou un groupe de personnes. In extenso, il recouvre également les dérivations de langage utilisées par des catégories de personnes.

Dans le fond, le langage vernaculaire observe un avantage majeur : il joue le rôle de ciment communautaire. Il permet d’identifier ses utilisateurs : untel est charpentier, untel est breton, untel est emo, untel est un nerd…

La capacité des briques Lego a créé du langage vernaculaire est évidemment intéressante, il y a peu de marques qui génèrent un tel effort intellectuel. Certaines parviennent bien à intégrer des gimmicks langagiers dans la vie de tous les jours (“la vie est une question de priorité, “what else?”, etc.) mais peu induisent la création non imposée d’un jargon vernaculaire, clef d’entrée cruciale à la dimension communautaire d’une marque.

Pour la blague, on peut évoquer le klingon, la langue de Star Trek, dont il existe quelques locuteurs fans (quelques uns ont même essayé de l’inculquer naturellement à leurs enfants ou en faire des pubs…).

Pour terminer, il est difficile de passer à côté du langage vernaculaire geek (cf. image d’en-tête), mix d’anglais et de SMS mélangé à la sauce gaming. En voici une sélection de choix :

Verra-t-on des marques tenter de créer des langages vernaculaires? Des tentatives ont sans doute été lancées mais jusqu’à preuve du contraire, elles ont du être marginales…

Source : PSFK

I was a fan of the Star Trek series once upon a time. Infact, I vividly remember waiting for 9PM on saturdays just to watch this series. So I chose to watch this film because….Chris Pine, new technology and a fresh new look to the show.

Star Trek: The Future Begins features Chris Pine as James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, and seems to focus more on how their destinies are shaped by the outcome of events beyond their control.  The story revolves around Earth, Vulcan and Romulus. The starting scene is like a nuclear bomb that sets off a chain of events…a USS Enterprise ship – Kelvin is destroyed by the Romulan rogue ship, Narada whose captain Nero wants to exact revenge on Spock. Then we are shown the childhood days of Spock, the human/vulcan hybrid and James Kirk, the son of the deceased captain Kirk who commands the ship Kelvin. Both are highly intelligent beings with IQs off the charts but both try to rebel against the established order.

Spock and Kirk meet during one of Kirk’s simulation trainings where Kirk is accused of cheating in the test and is under probation. But then news of an attack on Vulcan reaches the Starfleet which immediately dispatches a fleet of ships on rescue mission. All but the one on which Kirk is smuggled in by his friend are destroyed in a trap laid out by the Romulans. Kirk who remembers the pattern that precedes the attack by Narada warns Captain Pike who hatches a plan to destroy Narada’s jammers. Kirk and the ship’s pilot, Hikaru successfully destroy the jammer only to see Narada drop the red matter into Vulcan’s core to create a black hole through implosion. Spock tries to save the elders but loses his mother seconds before the planet is consumed by the black hole.

Meanwhile Captain Pike is tortured by Nero. Spock being Spock decides to reconvene with the Starfleet for further instructions and maroons Kirk on a nearby cold planet for mutiny. Kirk meets an aged and wizened Spock there who tells him that Kirk is the one to stop Nero in his scheme to destroy Earth. Kirk acting on Spock’s plan enrages Spock to the point he gives up his Captainship and then orders a full attack on Narada. Kirk and Spock then join forces in destroying the red matter within Narada and rescuing Pike. The Narada is destroyed successfully and so is Nero.

Back on Earth, Kirk is promoted as Captain of the Enterprise while Spock encounters his future self in the hangar and the two have a brief chat about the events before Ambassador Spock leaves for the new colony. The younger Spock and Kirk try to establish a friendship aboard the Enterprise. And this is just the high level overview of the story. There are more deeper concepts and backgrounds behind each character which is explored a little in the film.

Star Trek as a series was certainly very interesting but as the series progressed it failed to retain my attention. I thought the movie was well made what will all the 3D technology at disposal and certainly hope to see more films under Star Trek saga. This movie falls into a class of its own where you can’t comment on the actors per se but more on the storyline. But Pine does have the charisma to re-enact the original Captain Kirk’s role for sure. Its a must-watch for all Scifi fans out there.

Colossians 3:9 to 10 (NIV) ~ Since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 

Can you picture this verse coming alive before you? Can you imagine that you have been out rolling around in the muck, you are covered in dirt, and then you take off all your filthy rages and put on new white garments that are clean and spotless? The Bible says in Ephesians 4:22 to 24 (NIV), “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

Not once, but twice in the Scripture, this descriptive phase is used, “Put on the new self,” the new Christ-centred attitudes and characteristics. Cast away your old rags and clothe yourself in and with Christ Jesus.  When you come to Christ Jesus you are a new creation, for the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 

My friend, God is calling you to take off the old and put on the new, to exchange your filthy rages for royal robes you don’t deserve, but by His grace, mercy and love He wants to give them to you. So take off your old self and put on the new in Jesus, and be made new in every area of your life as you clothe yourself in Christ Jesus. 

In the words of an old gospel song:

The windows of heaven are open; the blessings are falling tonight,
There’s joy, joy, joy in my heart, for Jesus made everything right
I gave Him my old tattered garment; He gave me a robe of pure white
I’m feasting on manna from heaven, and that’s why I’m happy tonight. 

God bless you my friend, Matthew.

felt the need to blog.

then the feeling disappeared.

evaporated into thin air.

just like a ninja.

yeah.

a ninja.

my brain is in a weird state.

don’t know what it thinks it is doing.

I only took a 15 minute break at work the other day.

then I showed up half an hour early the next.

and then I was in bed and asleep by midnight.

yeah.

crazy.

i’m okay with this though.

maybe it will become permanent.

time can only tell.

back to my ninja brain.

it just realized Simon Pegg is Scotty in Star Trek.

awesome.

my ninja brain feels like it got in a fight with another ninja.

ugh.

stupid ninjas.

i think i am ready for bed.

but i have to finish my ice cream instead.

and my movie.

i love Star Trek.

i also loved watching Up.

I cried.

in the first 5 minutes too.

it was awesome though.

not the crying part.

the movie.

haha.

hoping tomorrow is a good day.

it’s a monday.

let’s hope it’s a good monday.

i think this is it for today.

…lata days

Week after week (after week after week…), CollegeCandy and our pal John bring you some of the weirdest, funniest, and saddest things he hears on his college campus. And we know he’s not the only one who hears this stuff. Join the Overheard revolution! Listen in on some weirdos’ conversations and share them in the comments or send ‘em over. You know there’s a lot of funny things to be heard on your campus, so get to it. We’ll throw them in a future post!

(Girl, on the phone.)

Girl: Lil Wayne was in my dream last night! Yeah. He had a farm. No, I mostly just made fun of his voice a lot. “Hey, girl, who knew we’d have so much in common?” And I was like “Lil Wayne, I had no idea!”

(Professor, heard from outside a chemistry lecture hall.)

Prof: Okay. Now, imagine you’re all molecules. Good. But I hate molecules! Uh-oh, really bad!

(Two girls, talking at a library study table.)

Girl 1: Were they at least cute?
Girl 2: The girl was a cute Latina woman, but the guy had a scum-stache. I had to turn up my Walkman to drown out the squelching noises.

(English professor, in a small lecture.)

Prof: Government needs hospitals and other utilities to run smoothly. Something like the Starship Enterprise.
Student: ExCUSE me?
Prof: What?
Student: Have you … have you ever even seen an episode of Star Trek?

(Guy, girl, talking in the Music building.)

Guy: Did you see the tree-lighting ceremony that year?
Girl: No, was it good?
Guy: Yeah. Josh Groban got so turned on, he ate the microphone.

(Guy, at a bus stop.)

Guy: It’s November. I’m rolling. I’m all by myself. I’m rolling, and I think I’m gonna write a Christmas song.

(Two girls, coming out of an exam.)

Girl 1: Bombed it. That was terrible.
Girl 2: I think I did okay, actually.
Girl 1: And – damnit! And I forgot to water my veggies in FarmVille!

(Guys, coming out of the gym locker room.)

Guy 1: Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift?
Guy 2: Probably Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift looks like a cat that got hit by a makeup train.

(Guys, in the Student Union cafe.)

Guy 1: Dizzy Bat, flip cup, pong. What else.  Need some more.
Guy 2: Forty-hands?
Guy 1: Maybe.
Guy 3: Pitcher drink?
Guy 1: What’s that?
Guy 3: You drink until you pass out.

(Guy, waiting at  a Starbucks.)

Guy: Listen, if I’m gonna date a girl, I’m just saying, she’s gotta respect my ass. I got a pretty big ass. It demands a lot of respect.

I’m going to the Star Trek exhibit at a museum today. My friends Charlie and Brandon are coming along too! I heard the exhibit is pretty cool, and it caught my attention when I saw the commercial for it on TV. Well, I put more about it after I come back from it. See ya later!

Ryan

I haven’t done an “Image of the Day” for a while, so here’s one.  In retrospect, I guess I could have called these “Image Every Once in a While.” 

When I originally made this background, I thought it looked like a bright star.  Then I rendered the ship in and did a lot of post-render work (which made the start brighter) and I realized it looks like a start that’s perhaps too bright.  Like, say, one that’s going to go Nova pretty soon.  Hence, the image title. 

I bought the new Star Trek movie on DVD and watched it today. My expectations have been quite low and I though this is going to be like Muppets Babies and Muppets – the original characters but just younger. From what I have seen in the trailers the movie looked like a mixture of Star Wars and Die Hard but everyone recommend it to me so I bought it finally. I didn’t get disappointed! The movie is really great for people like me who grew up with Star Trek Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space 9… I also watched “Classic” but just because everything looked so funny there. The new movie is amazing! You see the Star Fleet Academy, how the Enterprise gets built, how Spock gets a kiss and how Kirk gets born… wow!

This is Muppets Babies BTW- a cartoon with Muppets as babies

… I just found out there will be a new Star Trek game. A massively multiplayer online game… nice

My last Star Trek game has been Voyager Elite Force 2 and I just loved it – that’s the intro

Spock and Kirk – Star Trek: The Original Series