The New Star Trek Movie

**** WARNING ! ****

** 'Ere Be Spoilers ! **

Saw the new Trek movie yesterday. It was cool.

I thought Chris Pine would be too pretty to play Kirk, and he still kinda is, but he did an excellent job. I heard he didn't watch any of Shatner's performances beforehand (how that's possible, I honestly do not know, unless he's been living under a rock), yet managed to do a convincing Kirk.

The boy that played young Kirk kinda looks like Spaghetti Jimmy from the Visa card commercial, but apparently isn't.

It wasn't until I watched “The Menagerie” again, that I realized how much New Spock really does look like Old Spock. Quinto was perfect for the role. I do wish he'd get rid of the birth control eyeglasses though.

New Zealander Karl Urban is usually known for playing hulking, tough guys in Lord Of The Rings, Chronicles Of Riddick and Doom, and I couldn't imagine him as McCoy, but he really came through. He must've lost half his body weight for this part. He looked and sounded just like him though. “I'm a doctor, not a nuclear physicist!” He nailed it.

Effects were incredible. Of course.

It was cool to see the original Enterprise fly again.

The new time line quandry didn't bother me until the end of the movie when I realized they weren't returning things to the way they were – it was just left as an alternate reality for Trek.

When Nero captured Captain Pike and had him strapped to a slab, surrounded by water, I really thought they were going to make a Hollywood-ized “waterboarding” statement. Thankfully, they did not. It would've ruined the film and franchise entirely, and unnecessarily.

Also, why does Hollywood think every action film needs a love story? Every movie does not need this formula:

Special effects? Check.
Way too handsome actors? Check.
Lots of explosions? Check.
Dopey love story that does nothing to advance the plot? Check.

I am sad that Vulcan is gone. This really kinds screws with Trek canon. I would've preferred they stayed true to Star Trek history, and wrote a prequel around that. But, I can see both sides to this argument.

This movie is well worth seeing, and I am looking forward to more adventures with this “new” crew. I give it an A-

Serendipity Kitteh

Last month our cat died. It was bad. I'm not going to bore everyone with the details, blah blah blah. Besides, I'm saving that one for a different post.

I should at least mention this:

1) she was a “mutt”
2) she was an indoor cat
3) we bought her from a local mom 'n pop pet store for $10.

Best. Cat. Ever.

So we've been thinking of getting another cat, and toyed with the idea of a pure breed. After Googling around, we found that this could cost somewhere between $300-$1200 dollars, and often requires a contract of “things you will do, and are not allowed to do”. If the cost alone isn't a deterrent, the contract certainly is. I can sort of understand this if you're going to buy a show quality cat (snicker), or you're going to breed other show quality cats. But a pretty, pure breed pet? Nah.

Then some friends told me that adopting a regular “mutt” cat isn't too different. A few adopted from a chain pet store, only to find out the store itself doesn't sell the cats. They're just acting as the liaison between the crazy cat ladies and the customer.

It can be expensive too. I know someone who paid $100 for one of their “babies”. And then there's that contract again. Declawing is the biggest no-no. I've also heard: “you must spend at least ___ amount of time with pet”, and “no children under the age of ____ in the household”.

And the people selling the cat had the right to follow up with you and physically inspect the cat to make sure you're taking proper care of THEIR animal. If they find that you've broken the contract, they can take the cat back. No refund either.

Even weirder, sometimes the cats (and kittens) come PRE-NAMED, so if you were hoping for a Fluffy or Whiskers, it sucks to be you. Instead, you're getting a Winslow Forester Bartleby, or whatever other dopey name they came up with. In reality, you're just borrowing their pet.

So we put the word out to a few friends who sometimes have kittens, in the hopes of finding a free (or $10) kitten who needs a good home.

Then last night around 9pm – the first night with no rain and enough warmth that we could open the windows again – I heard a funny-sounding bird calling from the yard. It screeched for a solid half-hour before I decided to find out what it's problem was. So with flashlight in hand, I went trudging out the front door. The noise was coming from the hedge just below the open window, and now I wasn't totally convinced it was a bird.

Hubby came out, pulled back the shrubbery and found a baby kitteh. Eyes were still closed, ears were not up yet, but it was fuzzy – so about a week old.

No momma kitteh to be found though. After scanning the yard with the flashlight, there she was, about 50 feet away under a tree watching us as if to say, “Hey, look what I did!”.

This was one of several strays in our neighborhood; usually found skulking through our yard, eating baby bunnies and pooing in the daffodils.

Hubby and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing. We'd like another kitteh, and look! Here's a kitteh. Delivered right to our doorstep.

Serendipity kitteh?

There really wasn't anything we could do. The kitten needed mother's milk at this stage, and you shouldn't take them away from their mother til they're at least 4 weeks old. So we went back inside and waited for momma kitteh to come back.

And she did. We checked this morning and both were gone. I'm sure she found another place to hide her little one. Except now we want her to stick around so we can “adopt” baby kitteh.

We put a bowl of kibbles by the hedge in the hope she'll come back (I hate it when people feed strays – but I'm willing to make this one-time exception). However, it's quite possible I'll attract every other cat in the neighborhood, but I'll worry about that later.

Right now I have to shoo a large squirrel away from the bowl.

Oh God! Please... NO

For heaven's sake. TopShop has brought back one of the more heinous offenses from The Late Great 80's.

The Harem Pants:



I know we love to rehash and reinterpret fashion from bygone years, but please. Not the 80's.

Just say NO.

Daily Snort

Read this on MSNBC this morning:

Jobless claims at lowest level since January
New Labor Department data show decline of 34,000 in latest week

“The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless aid unexpectedly fell by 34,000 last week, sinking to the lowest level since late January, new Labor Department data showed on Thursday.”

Wait, didn't Microsoft just lay off over 3000 people yesterday? What about all the other companies that are laying people off ? The article goes on to say DuPont plans to cut 2000 jobs.

WTF? Are we supposed to be excited about this?

So, YAY, unemployment is momentarily down this week. However more suckage is on the way, when everyone who was layed off this week, files their claims next week?




And then there's this little gem on Madonna:

Mercy’s father questions Madonna’s morals

I personally find this headline hilarious. No need to read any further, really.

See, there's this dude in Malawi (Africa), who's allegedly the father of a child Madonna is trying to adopt. The headline is supposed to be his reaction to Madonna's wacko out fit for The Met gala. Which isn't even one of her bigger calamities.

He's quoted as saying, “What morals can a woman of 50 have, who has no qualms in showing her delicate parts and displaying herself like that in front of her children?”. He does have a point though.

God forbid he sees ANYTHING Madonna did during the 80's and early 90's. His head might explode.

“Delicate parts”. He really doesn't know Madonna.

Schizophrenic Spring in Pennsylvania

It's been raining for a week solid now. Just prior to that, we had a 4 day heat wave where it reached 100 degrees. That's right. One. Hundred. 100 smelly, sweaty degrees. In April.

Since then, it's back down to 40 degrees in the mornings, and maybe 65 by mid-afternoon. And wet.

This is one of the many reasons I hate PA. There's never a gradual move into Summer, with cute, light jackets, and kicky new ¾ length tops. Spring is a schizophrenic season where one day you're wearing a down-filled parka, and the next it's shorts and a tank top. If you're lucky enough NOT to get SNOW in MAY, you're waterlogged with rain.

I've lived here all my life, and have never gotten used to it. Someday, I'll move to a state with stable weather.

Tiresome

I'm so tired of sensationalized news. At this point in my life, I pretty much don't believe ANYTHING written by the main stream media.

This particular story is annoying me because it's misleading, among other things:

Topless photo could cost Prejean pageant crown

1) She's not topless. Side-boob doesn't count.

2) Even if she was topless, who cares? How does that make her unChristian?

3) Apparently she was 17 when the photos were taken. Well then, why wasn't the photographer arrested on “Peter File” charges?

4) 10 points for a dumbass career move (hasn't she heard of Vanessa Williams?). Also, awesome lack of guidance on her parents part.

5) Last time I checked, this country still had free speech. She voiced her opinion. The left may not agree with it, but she's entitled to it.

6) Can the we stop beating up on Christianity already? The MSM preaches tolerance for every other religion, except Christians.

7) Who else is really, really tired of this story??




UPDATE 05/07/2009

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of not being able to avoid this story, I happened across more articles that insinuate there are more photos of this woman, that are actually topless. And it seems she may have taken them herself at 17.

I haven't been able to find an article that definitively backs that up, but since this non-story is getting really boring, I didn't try that hard either.

If it's true, then it just proves dumbass theory #4 above.

Little Friends

Yay! Just had my first spider of the year. Under my desk.

I haven't even seen one in the frickin basement yet. Why under my desk? It's clean... mostly. You'd think the dust bunnies would frighten them away.

Welcome Back To Hell

I'm baaaaack. Like a bad cold. Or the swine flu.

I figured I'd give this another shot, this time with a wider range of topics and general rantiness.

I've changed up the site as well. Less pink and perky - more cranky.

On that note...

Today was worse than a Monday – which is exactly what happens on a Tuesday, after taking a mental health 3 day weekend. I managed a complete meltdown long before I caught up with the 300 emails in my inbox.

My company has a “relationship” with a certain store. When there's a problem, our “relationship managers” open a work ticket to us (IT Department) to investigate the issue.

I've told these “relationship managers” time and time again to open these tickets to our group, not directly to ME. The reason being, if it's assigned to me and I'm not in the office, nobody will work on it. Everyone else in my group will assume I already know about it – simple right?

So invariably I come back from vacation only to find 50 emails from the dumbasses, who are freaking out because the ticket they assigned to me hasn't been worked on (obviously), and they failed to actually read my out of office message.

Of course, they escalate this to Herr Manager the morning I returned from vacation. So now he's yelling for a status on an issue that I've had not five minutes to review – and apparently being out of the office is not an excuse.

I need another mental health vacation.

Spring Break

The beloved family pet died.

My company is laying people off and I may be next.

Things suck.

I think I'm going to take a break for a while and get my head together.

Thanks everyone :)

Let Me In, A Non Book Review

No, I'm not dead. Not yet at least.

Well, it was only a matter of time before something came along that either impressed me greatly, or irritated the hell out of me – and then I'd feel inspired to write about it.

In this case, it's a book. And I'm writing a non-book review, because I've managed to only get halfway through it before deciding it's a complete piece of shite. I pushed myself to get this far, only because I hate leaving a book unfinished. I may yet finish it; but doubt I'll enjoy it.

I purchased Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist because of a positive review I read on RevolutionSF. (This was originally titled Let The Right One In, and was made into a movie in Sweden).

Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk reviewers gave it rave reviews. Things like :

“Oooh it's so EDGY!”

“It's so disturbing you won't be able to put it down!”

“It's not like any other vampire novels!”

The few that did not give it 4 or 5 stars, seemed mostly bothered that the story meandered around and didn't go anywhere and that a lot of material could have been cut; thus creating a much smaller volume (This book is over 450 pages in length).

I agree wholeheartedly with those reviewers - the story could have used a good slashing of it's own content. However this alone isn't enough to make me walk away from a book (I've muddled through many a boring tome).

What killed this story for me was that it certainly wasn't like any other vampire novel I've ever read. Or, any other novel I've ever read, for that matter. This isn't “edgy”, unless you happen like reading about “Peter Files” [sic].

I fully understand that in purchasing a book, you never truly know what you'll get. Reviews are not comprehensive, and something that one person would like, others may not. However, out of 30+ reviews, only a few people alluded the book's child abuse/murder and “Peter File” [sic] character.

To the rave reviewers, this is apparently “edgy” and titillating. Or just plain below their radar maybe? Not important enough to be mentioned? It's a sad world where we're that desensitized to such violence. I found it deeply disgusting, and it would seem I'm the only one.

Why is this titillating? It shouldn't be. It's not as if this is a book educating one about the dangers of “Peter Files” [sic], it's using this as character development. Lindqvist paints this character as though we should pity him. It felt like a deliberate attempt at raising a sensation. Sorry, there's still some of us with a sense of decorum, and that just doesn't fly.

I do, however, highly recommend Theodore Dalrymple's Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses.

In his book, Mr. Dalrymple takes aim at many of the things that are contributing to the disintegration of our society. He has an excellent chapter called “Trash, Violence and Versace: But Is It Art?", which really says it all better than I ever could.




NOTE: I must give credit for the term “Peter File” to Graham Linehan and his television show the IT Crowd.

UPDATE 03/04/2009: I finished the book. My opinion has not changed. Not an entirely bad plot, however it could've been done without the "Peter File".