Category: Brooklyn

Time.com had an interesting “10 Best Star Trek Moments,” by John Cloud. I more or less agreed on his top 6, but quibbled on the rest (he counted the new Star Trek movie; really? It’s just too soon for me to do that!). Trekkies/Trekkers may debate for a million years over what is the “best” of Trek, while they might agree on some things. Really – at the risk of being a lawyer – I’d say it depends on how you define “best” – but I suppose it goes along the lines of (1) power acting and storytelling; (2) whether the Trek thing is the epitome of ST ideas and themes; (3) whether the Trek thing is memorable; (4) the extent of entertaining; and (5) whether there’s an extent of edification (not always, mind you).

My personal favorite ST moment will always be Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Best of Both Worlds,” Parts 1 and 2 – wherein Captain Picard and Crew deal with the Borg threat and Picard becomes Locutus. (what can I say; I grew up on TNG).

In no particular order, I’d say the following are the best of Star Trek, among the ST shows and movies:

(1) The Menagerie, Parts 1 and 2 (Star Trek (The Original Series): wherein Kirk and Crew find out what happened to a mission of the past Enterprise Captain, Captain Pike)

(2) The Trouble with Tribbles (TOS – wherein Kirk and Crew deal with the multiplying furry creatures)

(3) The City on the Edge of Forever (TOS – wherein Kirk, Spock, and McCoy time-travel and face the issues of friendship and love – while somehow trying not to destroy the space-time continuum)

(4) Journey to Babel (TOS – wherein Spock has to deal with his parents, while trying to be consistent with what he believes in regarding leadership, duty, and honor).

(5) Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (the penultimate Trek movie)

(6) Best of Both Worlds, Parts 1 and 2 (Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) – wherein Picard and Crew face off the Borg)

(7) Yesterday’s Enterprise (TNG – wherein Picard and Crew are affected by the time changes and the Picard’s priceless line – “Let’s make sure history never forgets the name: ‘Enterprise.’” The line works because it’s Patrick Stewart as Picard).

(8) The Inner Light (TNG – wherein Picard lives an entirely different life – more a Patrick Stewart vehicle than anything else, but powerful because of what it means to have a life, in the face of the extinction of your world)

(9) The Chain of Command, Parts 1 and 2 (TNG – wherein Picard and Crew deal with the Cardassians; Part 2 is key for having the horrific torture of Picard – torture is wrong, we learn – and this Slate article notes that this episode has quite a significant impact for that – as Julie Lapidos notes, “The Next Generation take is darker and more politically progressive: Torture is counterproductive for the interrogator and devastating—both physically and emotionally—for the subject. It makes one wonder it is still practiced.”).

(10) Star Trek: First Contact (TNG movie – wherein Picard and Crew face off the Borg from preventing Human-Vulcan first contact and the invention of warp speed travel).

(11) In the Pale Moonlight (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) – wherein Sisko struggles to not give up his ideals in the face of the war)

(12) Far Beyond the Stars (DS9 – wherein Sisko is in the place of Benny Russell, an African-American sci-fi writer of the 1950’s, who dreams of a better future called Star Trek)

(13) Year of Hell, Parts 1 and 2 (VOY – wherein Janeway and Crew face a year of adversity – and a time meddler tries to reconcile what he has been doing)

(14) The Forge/Awakening/Kir’Shara (Star Trek: Enterprise – the Vulcan arc trilogy)

(15) Star Trek VI (the latter half of the movie, anyway, where Kirk and the crew learn to overcome their biases about the Klingons).

Honorable mentions:
Trials and Tribble-ations (DS9 – wherein Sisko and Crew travel back in time and find themselves in the middle of Kirk’s tribble mess)

Timeless (Star Trek: Voyager (VOY) – wherein Janeway and Crew’s present and once future are impacted by Harry Kim’s time-meddling)

United (ST: Enterprise – wherein Archer helps lay the future of the Federation, ST’s way of bringing species together for a common cause)

At least, this is what I’d consider the best of Trek moments. Just my opinion.

The season finales of “Fringe” and “Lost” were entertaining, but mind-boggling. Most of “Fringe” wasn’t all that surprising, but the end was touching for me (it might have bothered some people, but the idea of an alternate universe can be bothersome). “Lost” … well, suffice it to say that I’d like to know who/what the heck is Richard Alpert, and how is he associated or fit in this so-called battle of good versus evil (or Hope vs. Futility, or whatever Jacob and his Opposition are supposed to represent).

The next posting is where I’ll actually have to talk about some APA related topics.

(Thank God for Star Trek). Spoiler free commentary ahead. Plus stuff about comic strips that I read.

I’m not big on prequels, but I could forgive a reboot if it is a good reboot – see the examples of Batman (“Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”) and James Bond (“Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace“) Some reboot attempts are just not that good in my opinion (I’m talking about you, new Superman).

And, since the end of “Star Trek: Enterprise,” where I was both angry and sad yet mildly entertained but frustrated yet ready to say goodbye and yet… Okay, much mixed feelings… And, after a long break from Trek (when even Trek stuff was sold off and how I got tired jjust thinking about how romances kept getting botched in the Trekiverse): I thought I was really ready for a reboot. Maybe.

I had my doubts.

But, this is Star Trek. And, I am a Trekkie.

Yes, I saw the new Star Trek movie. It was good. Really good. Good for Trekkies and non-Trekkies. Why on earth would I have my doubts (way back when…)? This is, after all, J.J. Abrams and Friends, as I have said over and over – they are behind “Alias,” “Lost,” and “Fringe” – stuff I loved and watched, even if they irritate and drive me crazy for being twisted and not entirely desirable sometimes.

Ultimately, I’m pretty blown away by how good the Star Trek movie was; I now accept a reboot (well, more or less; we will always have 40 years of ST as it is and was; that can never be taken away from us). Kirk and Crew are as enjoyable as ever – I wanted to hug Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty. I enjoyed Captain Pike. I even missed such recurring characters as Nurse Chapel and Lt. Riley – even Pike’s old Number One (Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who later became Nurse Chapel and forever was the voice of the Enterprise computer) (I didn’t miss Lt. Rand, though; sorry, she didn’t quite fit in the whole schema of rejuvenated ST for me – yet). I wanted to cry, I laughed, and so on – it’s a good movie.

I worship at the altar of J.J. Abrams and Friends. I might dare to see the Star Trek movie again! (umm, who’s with me? Anyone up for it?).

I will avoid spoilers. I will say: go see the Star Trek movie! Enlist in Starfleet! (only, it’s not real).

Otherwise, I will gear up for the upcoming season finales of J.J. Abrams and Friends’ tv shows “Lost” and “Fringe.”

Meanwhile… in comic strip land… Mary Worth‘s boyfriend, Dr. Jeff Corey, is trying to help his daughter, a divorced doctor, recover from finding out that her fiance is a con artist who was only trying to marry her to get money from her. Frankly, after all that silliness, I won’t be surprised if Adrian starts dating the cop who arrested the grifter fiance…

who might as well come before Judge Randy Parker (see “Judge Parker,” comic strip), who took forever to win his judicial election. He’s in the middle of judging a Bernie Madoff-like character and one of the Madoff-like character’s victims is threatening to kill the Madoff-like character and tells Randy this, when Randy’s having lunch with his ex-law firm partner, Sam Driver. Umm, Victim: you don’t tell the judge that you’re going to go be a vigilante. That’s just not a good idea.

Funny thing though: “Judge Parker” is actually touching on a legal dilemma (or not so much of a dilemma – Randy doesn’t exactly have a choice in not reporting the crazy nut guy; you don’t want possible violence in your courtroom, not when you’re a rookie judge). Still – this is something right out of “Law and Order.” Hilarious!

Maybe Randy shouldn’t be too scared though – worse comes to worse, his ex-CIA love interest – who’s back in town – could protect him.

Sometimes I wonder if I should find new things to fascinate me – it’s silly that I enjoy the odd soapy comic strips or the weird tv shows. And, then I remember: I am a Trekkie. Trek rules.

… and counting. Being president ain’t an easy job, when you’re talking about how you’re taking on a dizzying array of problems. You wear a lot of hats while standing behind that podium – giving legal advice, keeping us calm, and telling us to use our common sense and wash our hands and things like that.

Plus, maybe – just maybe – you have to select a US Supreme Court justice. Are the rumors and/or reports true regarding Justice Souter? We’ll see.

Oh, and I liked how President Obama answered NY Times’ Jeff Zeleny’s four part question (what’s been most surprising/enchanting/humbling/troubling in the past 100 days). Zeleny kind of cheated though – you might think you only have question, but the fact that it was a four part one made it more like four questions!

But, seriously – 100 days is ridiculously arbitrary; there’s still a long way to go and this has only been a beginning.

“Lost” – umm, the one really good thing about the president’s press conference was that it ended on time for “Lost,” for the 100th episode (weird how the number “100” kept cropping up). It seemed like a solid but sad episode. I’m confused as ever; this is “Lost,” after all.

Swine flu – aka 2009 H1N1 flu – don’t blame the pig; don’t blame Mexico; blame science (or evolution, specifically).

And, maybe people shouldn’t overreact about it. Really. It’s not healthy to go nuts over something that isn’t nuts yet (in the USA anyway).

A profile on Dr. Richard Besser, CDC’s acting director, whose calmness and rational presentation on the whole H1N1 flu has been pretty solid, I think.

And there’s also the profile on Dr. Thomas Friedan, commissioner of NYC’s own Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene (although everyone just calls it Dept. of Health, because “and Mental Hygiene” is a mouthful). He’s sort of a public scold sometimes (his campaign against transfat and putting calories everywhere can be a bit irritating), but I don’t question the sincerity of keeping us all healthy. Kind of interesting that he’s been suggested as a permanent CDC director (political appointee position, I think, serving at the pleasure of the President), considering that the agency was an old stomping ground of his. Not sure what the selection of a permanent CDC director may mean for Dr. Besser, but it’s not a bad thing at all that the USA has some good doctors, nurses, and other health care providers and administrators dealing with this.

David Letterman‘s been strange of late with his sore throat. But on 4/30/09 – kind of cool that he had the cast from the latest “Hair” – a recall to how the original “Hair” cast had been in the Ed Sullivan Theater back on the Ed Sullivan show. History repeats itself, apparently.

Ah, and yes, as I said I would do, here’s an embed of one of Craig Ferguson’s pig puppet monologue… too funny…

Odd, unseasonably warm weather of the last couple of days, before we head into May. Bizarre.

Clips of the Star Trek movie are now on the late night shows, as the cast makes their visits to promote the movie, as we get closer to the premiere. Eric Bana on The Tonight Show presented a clip that gave away more than I wanted to know; time traveling in Star Trek always makes me a little wary – and J.J. Abrams and Friends have their own time thing going. I never quite fully accepted the whole Abrams’ time shifting on “Alias,” where Sydney lost a year of her life (I did enjoy that episode where Terry O’Quinn‘s character FBI Director Kendall, basically recapped Sydney’s lost year as if it were a complete lost season – and he somehow became her only friend during the lost season; there was way more exposition than I had wanted; and, hmm, O’Quinn has a Star Trek connection, forget how he later became John Locke of “Lost”!). And “Lost” – well, I think we’re all still figuring out the whole time thing there.

So, Abrams better be careful about pulling a fast one on us on the Star Trek movie! Abrams is even going as far as admitting that he is now a Trekkie, as this NY Times article by Dave Itzkoff reports (wow, has the ST fandom converted him? Can we Trekkies claim credit for doing that?… welcome to the club, Abrams!).

I’m behind the Colson Whitehead phenomenon, as the reviews and the articles are out about Whitehead’s latest book (umm, I’m pretty much behind reading any of the contemporary Brooklyn literary set – like Whitehead, Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, etc., whose names I keep seeing, but I never quite get around to reading); still, maybe I should read his stuff already. Thought this article in the NY Times was pretty fascinating about him.

Swine flu – interesting stuff as a matter of science and how we handle disease control and management – a concern right now, but not an alarm; so DON’T PANIC, as they say in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” – the humorous series that involved the end of the world, the universe and everything else. (Yeah, and it’s a comedy).

At least Hong Kong seems prepared, since SARS and avian flu kind of made things more than serious for them. The rest of us – well, just wait and see and… DON’T PANIC. (my reaction of the media coverage is more along the lines of frustration; the experts are being sensible, but not the NYC area tabloids’ headlines).

All kinds of coverage – Slate’s many articles, and the reaction – or, the way I see it – a little lesson for the young that spending spring break in Mexico can be a little difficult with the crime and disease. Well, it happens. Let’s just have some perspective!

However, science and politics are in play: see in Slate’s Explainer column about what’s with those countries’ banning pork imports (no, silly, you can’t get swine flu from eating pork; it’s human-to-human transmission – like, sneezing and unclean hands and stuff like that; the poor pig is being defamed!).

Meanwhile, Craig Ferguson has this hilarious pig puppet to bring a little levity to the otherwise serious situation (I will have to link or embed a video once I find it; but do enjoy Craig’s opening monologue, which was funny and serious all at once). The puppet pig defends himself as a pig! A Scottish pig. Who’s getting revenge on humans with his flu… And, well, as it’s probably obvious in previous posts, I am fond of puppets. (well, the cute ones; scary ventriloquist dummies, for instance, are not puppets that I like).

To really distract us from swine flu (although I much prefer Craig Ferguson’s pig puppet for doing that), let’s thank US Senator Arlen Specter, with the news of his switching parties (for the second or so time in his life). The whole thing could be entertaining if it weren’t politically messy; just my two cents on that, not that I’m being very specific about my opinion anyway…

I enjoyed the Charlie Rose show of the night of 4/28/09, where Charlie Rose interviewed the Bill Gateses (Senior and Younger).

The passing of Bea Arthur. Interesting little commentary by Time’s James Poniewozik about how Arthur reminds us that the tv world is not the young alone. Thank you for being our friend, Bea Arthur! (now that the “Golden Girls” theme song is stuck in my head).

Scientists discover a new exo-planet that could be Earth-like. Why are they always so determined to look for an Earth-like, inhabitable planet, when we wouldn’t even get there for by space travel for generations. Unless… we want to be a lost colony escaping Cylons or something. … why do I even mention that when I’m not a Battlestar Galactica viewer… well…

The latest “Fringe” – hmm. Why do I think that the multiverses will collide and cause problems? Will Walter’s creepiness, humor, and guilt cause problems? Will Olivia figure anything out about her odd past – or that her sister and her niece are just drags? Will Peter realize how mysterious he is (besides being a fake MIT graduate)? Will Charlie realize that Olivia’s deep in weird shit? How much does Broyles know/not know?… Too many questions as usual; but, pretty entertaining, particularly with this Television Without Pity feature where the Fringe characters a matched with their other J.J. Abrams’ analogies.

I managed to watch some “Heroes” this week; why does the show keep sucking me in, when it’s not even that well done? Sylar’s unstoppable. How are the writers going to write themselves out of this madness? And… Uh… well… Guess Nathan’s in danger, again. Is he the obligatory whipping boy for each season? The writers of “Heroes” should consider some character consistency and trying more than recycling X-Men storylines (or, if you do, do it well, please).

I managed to catch the last 15 minutes of “Chuck” on Monday – that was fun! Actor Scott Bakula (ex-Sam of “Quantum Leap,” and ex-Capt. Archer of “Star Trek: Enterprise”) was redeemed (as an actor with a good role; and as Chuck’s long-lost dad; he saves Chuck and comes home for Chuck and his sister). Even Chevy Chase was redeemed (well, as an actor with a good role; not his character, who appears to be pretty villainous). NBC – please renew “Chuck”!

Kind of enjoying “The Unusuals” on ABC. ABC, please consider giving this show more time to grow; there’s a lot of potential and some amount of heart – which I like to see on tv. It’s not like you’ve that many stuff that’s not “Dancing with the Stars” or whatnot.

And, I’ve been pretty into Craig Ferguson – he’s a good laugh, I must say – and one word: puppets!!!

Catching up on blogging, as we fall behind yet again…! Time flies too quickly.

–> Any recent movie viewing? umm… well, I’m waiting the opening of the Star Trek movie. The cast looks hot; it’s J.J. Abrams!; and so, how bad can the movie be? … early opinions make it sound exciting. Well, we’ll see!

Awhile ago, I did watch “Confession of a Shopaholic.” I haven’t read the books by Sophie Kinsella, but I thought the movie was a fun little thing – nothing to tax the mind and the NYC filming locations were great. Actress Isla Fisher is talented, and my crush on British actors – via actor Hugh Dancy – continues unabated. Fisher and Dancy at least were quite watchable.

–> Any recent books read? I thought that Mark Bittman’s “Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating” – with Bittman Minimalist style recipes! – was a fascinating read. I recommend it. Now, if only I could eat less processed food as Bittman suggests…

–> NCAA Basketball season is well over. I was not quite right about the NCAA Final Four or the Final Twoo, or the Final One – UNC. At least President Obama got it right.

–> Time flies so quickly, with the holidays gone and past. But, some interesting articles:

NY Times article on Jewish cuisine with a Mexican touch (or maybe Mexican food with a Jewish touch?) – well, I’m not exactly big on Mexican food, but I just find the concept of kosher Mexican (Mexican kosher?) food for Passover to be fascinating; stuff that celebrates the diversity of the Americas is just cool to me.

Plus, so… no one really knows where the Easter Bunny came from, except maybe it was to assimilate or co-opt those pagans and their fertility festivals? Hmm… At any rate, I loved the photo (I insert it below) Yahoo had originally with the linked article – a zoo polar bear trying to eat the chocolate bunny. Awww!

Peeps!!! Curious WaPo contest. Those people in DC are a bit… imaginative… check out the accompanying slide show in the linked page…

Really intriguing article: apparently, the way to save Mangalitsa pigs, a breed of Hungarian pig, from extinction is to eat them (i.e., create a market, to encourage the continuation of their breed – and they’re apparently best when raised the old-fashioned way, on a nice farm and all).

However, what really amused me was the NY Times photo of the pigs:

Very furry/woolly pigs, I must say.

–> Other articles of interest:

NY Times’ A.O. Scott on how maybe it’s time for the short story revival, in the age of the Internet…hmmm… novels can be a bit unwieldy to read on-line w/o a Kindle or other e-reader; maybe there’s something to this; but short stories are not very easy to write, that’s for sure.

–> It’s the return of baseball! … Why is it that opening day of baseball season always makes hope spring eternal, even for one day? Well, on that note, we have the new stadiums in NYC. Interesting architectural analysis of the new stadiums and how they seem to fit their respective teams’ personalities – upright dignity of the Yankees; umm…something else with the Mets (looser; friendlier; imitative of outerboro Brooklyn/Queens traditions) (well, I’m going to still try to root for the Mets, but it’s been real hard the last 2 years; I haven’t felt quite at home with seeing Citifield on tv; maybe it’ll feel different actually visiting the place).

–> Recent tv viewing?

Early this month, I watched the “ER” series finale – grim, powerful yet quiet, and a reminder that life and death continues, whether we like it or not. Rachel Green, the late Mark Green’s daughter, returns; John Carter is back – and wistful about the changes and the status quo. I thought it was sad that his marriage was on the rocks (they couldn’t give him one bit of happiness?). I could have lived without the unnecessary guest stars (the bit about the feuding bride and her new mother-in-law was just stupid). But, it was a nice “ER” way to go, with returning Drs. Weaver, Benton, and the two women of Mark Green’s life, Elizabeth and Susan (and the guest stars of George Clooney and Juliana Marguiles a few weeks before that was sweet and just not a big deal – in the ER manner – without the exploding ambulances and murderous helicopters – yeah, I could live without that too). Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker had a nice blog post on EW.com; some nice analysis by NJ Star Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall; and Time’s James Poniewozik calls it an end of an era of broadcast network tv; a farewell to Chicago hospital shows (yep, I remember “Chicago Hope” and the 1990’s era of tv). Sigh.

Ah, and the return of “Fringe”! Boo and hiss to American Idol for going overtime and messing up the time slot for “Fringe two weeks ago (AI was slightly better this week, but still…). EW’s Ken Tucker got all bullet pointsy about the good stuff of Fringe’s return. And, this week’s episode was creepy and disgusting (I so now am more disgusted than ever by maggots; plus the Monster of the Week would have been more creepy if they simply didn’t show the whole thing at all – CGI ruins the creepiness, I say). Thumbs up about putting FBI Agent Charlie Francis in danger (and… his character’s happily married? What? Guess he and Agent Olivia Dunham really are Just Friends). Dr. Walter Bishop, for a mad scientist, does have some morals (emphasis on “some”; his merely feeling guilt doesn’t quite reform him yet). Peter Bishop having a “thing” for Olivia’s sister? Um… ewww. Do they have to go there? Maybe they need to develop the sister character more, but she’s not interesting to me.

“Life on Mars” (series) finale – was so not a good twist on the original British “Life On Mars” finale. Sam’s life in 1970’s New York and 2008/9 New York… was all in his mind? And, I never expect a show to take its title literally; so, no, I didn’t think Sam would be on Mars. Really. NO.

“The Unusuals” premieres – interesting quirky show. I’m not sure how much ABC plans to stick with it (shows that come after “Lost” don’t have it easy) – but we’ll see.

“Lost” – Miles’ back story is revealed this past week. Sweet stuff.

Okay … so just in time for the new Transformers and GI Joe movies, they’re going to release dvds of the 1980’s cartoons? So what else are they going to bring back from my childhood? The Care Bears? The Smurfs? God Forbid – the Snorks? If they make a live-action or CGI animated movie of “My Little Pony,” then it is the end of civilization as we know it.

Closing this post with this:

I must be in a mood to be back on board with the Trek thing; it must because of the upcoming movie. Nonetheless, this was a nice video – brings a tear to the eye in remembering years of good stuff. (I’d embed the video, but this is a long post already! But, really, see the video – the fan did a great job).