I have been a bit lackadaisical about posting as of late (if 'lackadaisical' means what I think it means; lazy would be a better word anyway).
I've been studying a bit heavily, so too bad for all of you.
Anyways, just imagine I have posted a large analysis of something related to Star Trek.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Midwest Memory again
With classes and socialization, it has been pretty hard to blog.
I'm lying... I just can't think of anything to blather on about.
I guess I'll just trudge up another memory that I spent so long trying to forget. Talking about something is the first step of healing, right?
----
A day after a rain storm, my mother and I went out to check on the cattle herd. In our humongous van, we prepared to make our way across a moist and murky landscape (much like my attempt to recall this). The gate to the field was a heavy metal construct (no, I don't mean it was the crap that kids listen to nowadays, I meant it had properties of both steel and other heavy elements). Directly in front of the gate was a large puddle formed by the previous rain.
Eventually getting to the gate, my mom got out to lift the heavy gate and swing it open. The reason I wasn't doing it was that my strength was similar to my maturity, meaning I was pretty weak.
Mother had me get into the driver's seat and instructed me on the key actions I would need to pilot through this gate (because it wouldn't make any sense for my mom to open the gate and walk back to drive through and get out again to close it). Being short, I had to maneuver myself to be close enough to the breaks and have a good view through the windshield. Eventually reaching an equilibrium, I could neither reach the breaks or see through the window. Time to drive!
Hitting the gas with spirit and gump, the van went careening forward. Out of fear of breaking the van with my poor driving, I immediately struck the breaks. Stopping as fast as I started, the van stopped right in the middle of the thick puddle.
It took my mom half an hour to get out. Pretty good for a first try at driving.
I'm lying... I just can't think of anything to blather on about.
I guess I'll just trudge up another memory that I spent so long trying to forget. Talking about something is the first step of healing, right?
----
A day after a rain storm, my mother and I went out to check on the cattle herd. In our humongous van, we prepared to make our way across a moist and murky landscape (much like my attempt to recall this). The gate to the field was a heavy metal construct (no, I don't mean it was the crap that kids listen to nowadays, I meant it had properties of both steel and other heavy elements). Directly in front of the gate was a large puddle formed by the previous rain.
Eventually getting to the gate, my mom got out to lift the heavy gate and swing it open. The reason I wasn't doing it was that my strength was similar to my maturity, meaning I was pretty weak.
Mother had me get into the driver's seat and instructed me on the key actions I would need to pilot through this gate (because it wouldn't make any sense for my mom to open the gate and walk back to drive through and get out again to close it). Being short, I had to maneuver myself to be close enough to the breaks and have a good view through the windshield. Eventually reaching an equilibrium, I could neither reach the breaks or see through the window. Time to drive!
Hitting the gas with spirit and gump, the van went careening forward. Out of fear of breaking the van with my poor driving, I immediately struck the breaks. Stopping as fast as I started, the van stopped right in the middle of the thick puddle.
It took my mom half an hour to get out. Pretty good for a first try at driving.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Best television episodes
Top Nine Episodes of Television, because I have nothing else to blog about...
While Phoebe is off to have her brother's baby, the rest of the cast come together in the spirit of competition. What makes it great are the interactions between the cast. Friends has always had a large number of guest characters that are used for both their humor and as catalysts to the plot. This episode shines because of its focus on the core cast and some extremely well written jokes.
The first great case I remember from CSI, a quadruple homicide is the main focus for the CSI team. I am not a fan of the spin offs and the original series has been wearing thin on my patience over time, but this episode was the one in which all the people gelled and the story was woven in beautifully.
7) Homicide: Life on the Streets - Three Men and Adena
The case that started in the very first episode would end up being the one detectives Moby Dick. As two characters attempt to wring the truth out of a street vendor about the murder of a young girl, their vigilant battle is finally lost. The drama comes together so swiftly and heartbreakingly, I'll never see another interrogation as brilliant.
6) Star Trek: The Next Generation - Best of Both Worlds
I believe I already discussed my reasons for enjoying this in my post about Star Trek: The Next Generation. Repition would only make geeky swooning lamer.
While they are several other great Angel episodes, this one takes the cake for encapsulating the series: an odd mystical plot (ghost ballerinas), humor (jokes about vampire dancers), poignant moments (a dancer explains the horror of being forced to repeat the same dance over and over), and relationships (Wesleay's dispair over Gunn and Fred's budding romance).
4) Battlestar Galactica - The Miniseries
The miniseries both setup the rest of the great show and set a high bar for quality for what would follow. Acting, direction, writing: all top notch.
Heartbreaking at its best, Sisko would never be the same after. Like a the best of plays, this episode rises above standard Star trek and joins the realms of great drama with Shakespeare, Spielberg, and Hemingway.
An unexpected find, The West Wing has quickly risen to being one of my favorite shows ever. If only I had watched it before posting my Top Nine shows. Two Cathedrals takes the use of flashbacks, now overdone in the Lost era, and builds to the most powerful climax of a season ever. Martin Sheen's should have won the Best Actor Emmy, dammit!
While The Visitor completely removed itself from Star Trek and moved on to greatness, this season opener took everything I loved about DS9 and made it all work. From big character scenes to small character scenes, little pieces of action to humongous battle sequences, political machinations to the small manuverings of a crew out on the edge of space; The Way of the Warrior has it all.
While Phoebe is off to have her brother's baby, the rest of the cast come together in the spirit of competition. What makes it great are the interactions between the cast. Friends has always had a large number of guest characters that are used for both their humor and as catalysts to the plot. This episode shines because of its focus on the core cast and some extremely well written jokes.
I believe I already discussed my reasons for enjoying this in my post about Star Trek: The Next Generation. Repition would only make geeky swooning lamer.
4) Battlestar Galactica - The Miniseries
The miniseries both setup the rest of the great show and set a high bar for quality for what would follow. Acting, direction, writing: all top notch.
Heartbreaking at its best, Sisko would never be the same after. Like a the best of plays, this episode rises above standard Star trek and joins the realms of great drama with Shakespeare, Spielberg, and Hemingway.
While The Visitor completely removed itself from Star Trek and moved on to greatness, this season opener took everything I loved about DS9 and made it all work. From big character scenes to small character scenes, little pieces of action to humongous battle sequences, political machinations to the small manuverings of a crew out on the edge of space; The Way of the Warrior has it all.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Bored blogging...
In order to be fair, I realize that I should also post some good things about Minnesota. Now to find out if I can think of nine...
Top Nine Good Things About Minnesota:
9) Fargo, no matter how ludicrously stereotypical the portrayals were, was set in Minnesota, not North Dakota as the title would suggest.
8) A mockery of the shape of our state would be poor at best.
7) The Mississippi River begins here and Leslie Nielson's career ended here (the critically panned sequel 'in spirit' to both Airplane and his generally funny trio of Naked Gun films was Wrongfully Accused, a gag-centric and entirely-bad story of mistrust and mystery in Minnesota).
6) The ultimate symbol of America is here: Mall of America.
5) This state is the origin of both American heroes Hubert Humphrey and Josh Hartnett.
4) The name of our state is ‘water’ in Dakotan, while Dakota is ‘boring’ in Minnesotan.
3) Even though we had a wrestler for governor, we made up for it with a comedian for senator.
2) The women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.
1) It was actually warm outside today.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Star Trek: The Penultimate Frontier
One of the problems of Star Trek is that nothing can be definite in the universe; every surprising twist or grave choice is backed up by the vague, but likely, option of making the point moot. Examples of this concept range from seeing Spock's coffin on the Genesis Planet to the end of nearly every episode of Star Trek Voyager. The stories require this plot concession because, in fear of making other possible ideas untenable, there are always plans for more Star Trek. A franchise can't be shoved into a corner because of the natural plot of a single episode. This very fact extends Star Trek's legacy while also stifling its creative urge to continue.
What is even worse about prequels is that the ruse of story advancement in the universe is lessens the chance of exciting entertainment from the creators. All that occurs in the story must both be sequel friendly and also not have any surprise advancement that wasn't set up in the shows before.
Now the big wigs and new producers are thinking seriously about Star Trek's next sequel, even though the new film has a month left to premiere. Planning of the next plot is currently going on, while this films director is pondering in public about whether he will direct in Star Trek again. Even the actors are lined up for the next one, a provision for sequels in their original contract.
Sadly for me, I have read a few spoilers for this new film, and it seems the producers of the new Star Trek have set it up for an easy second act. They did this by seriously subverting the Star Trek universe their film was set in. With an ingenious use of time travel (the ingenious part being that audiences won't expect time travel in Star Trek to have consequences), the film creates a logical stage for further advancement while opening up the universe to completely new story-lines.
I guess you could call it a new hope. I won't though, due to my dislike of Star Wars. Lets just say it's a re-imagining.
DS9 vs. BSG Part II
Now to get back to somethign that has been on my mind for a while.
I've been mulling over at to why I like DS9 more than BSG. BSG has the better effects, some better acting, and the critical support; so why I am so much more smitten with the earlier show? I think the key to my better enjoyment of Deep Space Nine lies in the comparison of the philosophies of both shows.
Battlestar Galactica was highly conscious of its relevance, constantly adding texture to the show with symbolism both deep and meaningful. Sometimes the metaphor would be too hard on the nose, but usually the allusions were smooth and well weaved into the drama.
Deep Space Nine was far less aware of its significance at the time. It wasn't critically praised or well recognized by even the main producers of Star Trek.
What the show was able to do was communicate with me on a more subconscious level. The obvious qualities of the show were qualities I personally like, but what really made the show were the unintentional aspects, like Jake's off-screen but ever present relationship with his father. The perfect example is the final shot of the series that shows Jake mourning his father's absence (much as the fans would mourn the shows ending). This shot mirrored another shot from the heartbreaking The Visitor episode. That impetus of the scene in The Visitor indicated Jake's natural inability to cope with the world without his father. In the natural plot structure of that episode, the story sets up the fact that Sisko would be able to be around for Jake in the future to help his son. The ending of the finale though set up the fact that Jake still wouldn't be able to cope. This does not detract from The Visitor though, instead implying that a father's influence over his son never ends, adding to the reality of this world instead of tying up plots.
Star Trek DS9 had hidden depth that eventually meant more to me than BSG's, no matter how hard they tried.
---
This might not be a complete thought, so I will probably rethink it later.
I've been mulling over at to why I like DS9 more than BSG. BSG has the better effects, some better acting, and the critical support; so why I am so much more smitten with the earlier show? I think the key to my better enjoyment of Deep Space Nine lies in the comparison of the philosophies of both shows.
Battlestar Galactica was highly conscious of its relevance, constantly adding texture to the show with symbolism both deep and meaningful. Sometimes the metaphor would be too hard on the nose, but usually the allusions were smooth and well weaved into the drama.
Deep Space Nine was far less aware of its significance at the time. It wasn't critically praised or well recognized by even the main producers of Star Trek.
What the show was able to do was communicate with me on a more subconscious level. The obvious qualities of the show were qualities I personally like, but what really made the show were the unintentional aspects, like Jake's off-screen but ever present relationship with his father. The perfect example is the final shot of the series that shows Jake mourning his father's absence (much as the fans would mourn the shows ending). This shot mirrored another shot from the heartbreaking The Visitor episode. That impetus of the scene in The Visitor indicated Jake's natural inability to cope with the world without his father. In the natural plot structure of that episode, the story sets up the fact that Sisko would be able to be around for Jake in the future to help his son. The ending of the finale though set up the fact that Jake still wouldn't be able to cope. This does not detract from The Visitor though, instead implying that a father's influence over his son never ends, adding to the reality of this world instead of tying up plots.
Star Trek DS9 had hidden depth that eventually meant more to me than BSG's, no matter how hard they tried.
---
This might not be a complete thought, so I will probably rethink it later.
Another Memory...
On the fateful date of my 8th birthday, many fateful things occurred.
Well actually, I just got stung by some wasps.
---
Ona birthday trip to the barn, our tractor rode along.
I was excited, for no sane reason other than being easily excitable at such a young age.
Once in the barn, our small minded dog began digging around in the corner. I became worried because there was a tractor moving about, even though it was on the other side of a large barn and it wouldn't fit into the corner anyway.
Little did I know, danger was afoot, or maybe a yard, away.
Yes, my microbrain dog was digging up a hornets nest, not as a political allegory but as a literal digging up exercise in futility.
Exclaiming in a far too girly voice, "Oh No!" I ran up to save my dog from the stinging menace.
Yeah, it was pretty dumb, much like most of my Midwest Memories.
Well actually, I just got stung by some wasps.
---
Ona birthday trip to the barn, our tractor rode along.
I was excited, for no sane reason other than being easily excitable at such a young age.
Once in the barn, our small minded dog began digging around in the corner. I became worried because there was a tractor moving about, even though it was on the other side of a large barn and it wouldn't fit into the corner anyway.
Little did I know, danger was afoot, or maybe a yard, away.
Yes, my microbrain dog was digging up a hornets nest, not as a political allegory but as a literal digging up exercise in futility.
Exclaiming in a far too girly voice, "Oh No!" I ran up to save my dog from the stinging menace.
Yeah, it was pretty dumb, much like most of my Midwest Memories.
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