2012 and silly pleasures

I finally saw 2012. Have to agree totally with Roger Ebert, who said:

"The bottom line is: The movie gives you your money's worth. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it one of the year's best? No. Does Emmerich hammer it together with his elbows from parts obtained from the Used Disaster Movie Store? Yes. But is it about as good as a movie in this genre can be? Yes."

I see this movie like chili over rice. Not the most healthful thing, but gosh, it's good.

One of my weird things is when I see stuff on TV or in the movies is watching for familiar actors/actresses and recognizing them from crossover roles, especially in the Star Trek and Buffy/Angel universe.

2012 was cool because it had two: There was a scientist in 2012 that played the exact same role, same look, just a different name, in an Angel ep, "Unleashed".

Also, there's a captain of a ship guy in 2012 that is one of my favorite guys, Stephen McHattie. I first knew him as Jake Pasquinnel, the character Pasquinnel's (Robert Conrad) son. But my favorite role, albeit a small one, was in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ep, "In the Pale Moonlight" where he plays a Romulan, Vreenak, who gives us the unforgettable line "It's a faaaaake!"

All in all, 2012 was a pretty good diversion.

Lazy Summer Nights

Many times this summer, my mind wandered to those lazy summer nights at my house in Bossier City.

I remember fondly the times when I was "all growed up" as they say, and can appreciate the wonderful times I spent with my mother and father on those summer nights. Mother would make the most wonderful meals. Simple, but I don't think I'd trade one of them for Ruth's Chris. A good example of what she would make would be: round steak, boiled potatoes, green beans, salad with cucumber, sliced tomatoes and cantaloupe. The cucumber, tomatoes and cucumber were from my father's garden. I'd bet my last dollar that there wasn't any tastier vegetables and fruit anywhere. After supper, I'd wash the dishes, then join my father on the back patio in lawn chairs. We'd drink diet coke or iced tea and listen to the Astros. Lokai the cat had back yard privileges when someone was out to watch her, so she busied herself stalking bugs or just flopping on the cement patio. As the game went on, night fell and the cicadas started their buzz. Finally, it would get too dark, or the mosquitos would get too active, and father, son and cat would go inside. Most of the time the game wouldn't be over, so we'd listen in the den, or watch ESPN baseball. I treasure those memories. Now that my father has been gone for many years, I am so glad of the time I spent with him, on the patio with the cat on those lazy summer nights.

Firefly

For someone who likes television and televison shows, I am way behind the curve so many times. By that I mean the show has been on for several years, or had its run and passed, then I figure out this was a great show and I should watch it. This is the cast picture of this latest, and greatest behind-the-curve incident, Joss Whedon's Firefly. Firefly only ran for 14 episodes, plus a movie, Serenity, then it was gone. In that short run, Firefly has entered to the pantheon of shows that I hold revered above all else. Folks apparently agree with me, because Firefly regularly appears in, if not at the top of, lists of shows that should have never been canceled.

Ok, so much with the yapping. What makes it great? To call it a western set in space is like saying a Bruce Springsteen show is some guy playing the guitar and singing. What sets Firefly apart, from the very beginning, is that we care about these characters. Deeply. When I realized the show had come to an end, I immediately started thinking of more stories, more plots and wished for hours and hours of time to write more stories about this grand crew and noble ship. Perhaps, as some other commentator opined, it is best that Firefly ended when it did, otherwise it would suffer the fate of mediocre seasons, and perhaps a downward spiral into indifference that marks the last few years of so many shows. We'll never know. Firefly does live on, and thanks to the almighty DVD, other folks can discover what they missed, just as I had.

Facebook ex Machina

Don't know if that is the correct use, but it looks cool. I've been registered on Facebook for a couple of years, but not very active. It started for us Buffyverse folks to have a place to exchange stuff and keep up. Then my cousin Laurie found me plus one of my dearest Army buddies. However, earlier this summer, one of my high school friends that I keep in touch with mentioned that he's on Facebook. I looked him up and discovered that tons of folks I went to high school with are on. So, in this case, Facebook does exactly what it is supposed to . . . allows old friends to find each other and keep up. Good for you, facebook!

J.J. Abrams is a freakin' genius

I am a big Star Trek fan.  Ever since I first saw the series, in syndication, when I was eleven or twelve, I was hooked.  My friend Mitch Markow and I would make starship intercoms out of colored paper and tape them up around my house.  My Aunt Noppie almost had me in tears when, during a visit to her in west Texas, she told me that William Shatner was old and fat and doing commercials selling margarine.  

Undaunted, I watched the original series time and time again until I literally had most of the scripts memorized.  When Star Trek - The Next Generation first came out, I was uncertain, but gave it a try.  Yep.  They nailed it again.  I haven't seen all of Deep Space Nine, but I'm working my way through the series (as soon as I finish Angel, though).  I've heard mixed reviews from my serious trekkie friends about Voyager and Enterprise, but I'm sure I'll give them a try as well.

With the new Star Trek movie, taking place prior to the events in TOS, I was looking forward to it.  It didn't hurt that they cast Sylar (Zachary Quinto), Eomer (Karl Urban), and Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead.  

So, being the total geek/nerd/dork, I went with my fellow sci-fi dorks to see the film.  In Klingon uniform?  You betcha. That's me on the left.

(SPOILERS FOLLOW SPOILERS FOLLOW)

As the film drew to a close, I came to the shocking conclusion that the Star Trek as I knew it had been altered forever!  Vulcan, the planet, and 99% of its people, were gone.  Spock's mother was dead.  This means that the TOS ep "Journey to Babel" never existed . . . Spock never went back to Vulcan during "Amok Time".  

Wait, I thought.  This isn't the end of Star Trek as I knew it . . . rather, it is the beginning of new journeys, unencumbered by the events of the original series.  See, if the Star Trek movie hadn't changed the timeline, then subsequent movies (of which I am sure there will be at least a few) would have to honor the events of the original series.  This would have meant that every scene, every shot of the subsequent films would fall under the intense scrutiny of trekkies who make me look like a lightweight.  Now, J.J. Abrams doesn't have to worry at all about who originally beamed down to Cestus 3 in "Arena", or who the tribunal was in "The Menagerie", for fear of getting something wrong which, no doubt, would have been pointed out by the aforementioned trekkies.  

J.J. Abrams is a freakin' genius.  He made a spectacular film, and at the same time, secured his ability to make future films without having to make sure everything is one hundred percent in sync with the original series.  

An Adventure for the Ages

Today, St. Patrick's Day, marks the anniversary of an adventure for the ages. A quest, as it were, not for gold or treasure or to secure the defeat of an evil despot, but rather for new friends, beer and fun.

While I was in law school, I met and hung out with a girl from Cleveland, named Abby. She was somewhat of a sponge, knowing that I was a guy who found her attractive, and in exchange for letting me hang out with her, I ferried her around, helped her move, etc. My mindset was, well, it was possible for her to be my girlfriend, if only she would come around. Well, it never happened. Some of my friends thought she was playing me for a fool, which I probably was, but, still, she was fun to hang out with and she was pretty.

I digress. As I said, she was from Cleveland and loved it. That city doesn't conjure up pleasant images for most folks, what with the "mistake by the Lake" and whatnot. Having spent time in two midwestern cities, Indianapolis and Chicago, and loved them, I really didn't have an opinion one way or another.

She spoke with reverence about the St. Patrick's day celebration in her hometown, mostly of the 87th? street pub crawl. At that time I was in my last semester of law school. I had zero chance of graduating in the top ten percent, had busted my ass for two and one-half years, and figured, I'd do something impulsive and adventurous. So, I mentioned the idea of us driving up to Cleveland for St. Patrick's day. Abby was one hundred percent for it.

We left on Friday, March 12 from New Orleans (where she lived). I had taken the ethics portion of the bar exam earlier that day, and due to excitement, plus information that this was an easy test, caused me to fail it miserably. I retook it that summer and passed.

The route was to take us I-59 north to Chattanooga, then I-75 north to Cincinnati, then I-71 to Cleveland. We left early Friday afternoon.

Sometime before we left Mississippi for Alabama, it began to snow. Hard. I had driven through many snows in Germany and thought if I just took it slow, it would be okay. As the snow piled up, I realized this was a snow for the ages in the South. It got colder and colder, and somewhere around the Brookwood exit just after Tuscaloosa, my Nissan Sentra slid off the road. We were stuck. It was snowing hard and cold. This was the days before cell phones, mind you, so we were SOL. The Brookwood exit was less than a mile ahead, and we decided that Abby would stay with the car while I went to the exit to get help. Before I set out, I pulled the boner of the trip. A couple of guys passed by in a 4-wheel-drive pickup. The driver yelled to me "need us to pull you out?" and I said "yes". He then said, we'll do it for $20. A voice I did not recognize, and if I did recognize it today, I would surely gut it like a deer someone shot, said "That's okay." The driver shrugged and moved on. Yay for me. The world is not without balance, however. In a stroke of genius, I threw my heavy duty, insulated, waterproof U.S. Army issue combat boots in the trunk. Had I not, my feet might have seriously been frostbitten. Instead, my feet stayed warm and dry.

I made it to the Shell station a the Brookwood exit, and after small talk, called a tow truck, which, by some miracle, was still running. Back at the car, I discovered that Abby was missing. Whether she struck out on her own, or was kidnapped, or dead, I didn't know. The truck came, and took my car back to a motel in Tuscaloosa. The people there were kind enough to give me a place to lay down, while I made phone calls to Abby's parents to see if she checked in. She did, and I found out she was at a rest stop down the interstate. Oh, and I locked my keys inside my car. Not thinking about locksmiths, I broke the window to get the keys. Well, we couldn't make the rest of the trip in a car with a broken window, so a quick side trip to the airport to rent a car was in order. I rented the largest car they had, a Buick Regal, and parked my car there. There remained one final problem. The police closed the interstate. I couldn't get to Abby. Looking at the map, I figured the police couldn't be present at every on ramp, and a quick check verified that. All that remained was for me to move the barracades, and I was on my way to Cleveland. I picked up Abby and we slowly made our way north.

It snowed hard the rest of the way. Other than fighting sleep, we made the rest of the trip without incident. We arrived at Abby's parent's house Sunday morning. We both slept until Monday morning.

I met Abby's friends, William Bell (not related) and his little brother (whose name I cannot remember) and Matt, her friend who she had a tremendous crush on. They must have found me somewhat cool, because we hung out every night that week. We went downtown to The Flats, they took me to a private rave-type party, and some club later in the week to see a band. There was, of course, the reason for the trip - the pub crawl on Wednesday (St. Patrick's) night. I don't remember much, but the snippits I remember were fun. One other amusing thing was that Abby wasn't pleased with me, because Matt hung out with me most of the time, and told me in pretty clear language that he likes Abby as a friend, but doesn't want to be a couple. He was also a big Doors and Jim Morrisson fan.

These were really nice guys, and for having only met them that week, I owe them one. The night we went to see the band, I was pretty drunk. So drunk, in fact, that I needed to lie down, and it appeared the only place for that was the back seat of the Regal. Here they are, three people I just met, and got me settled in - one of them found a blanket and covered me with it. Oh, did I mention it was about zero degrees? Well, I got back to Abby's parents house and slept it off.

Of course, during this week that I was gone from Baton Rouge, we had classes at law school. Like I said, this was my last semester, and I really didn't care. I did call my professors and claimed car trouble when I went out of town the last weekend. Car in the garage and all that. I had no misconceptions. This pretty much shot any chance I had of making good grades. I just wanted to pass. To my credit, I did bring my books and outlines and most every afternoon that week, I went to the library and studied.

We left on Saturday for Baton Rouge, The return trip was without incident. My car was still at Tuscaloosa. We turned in the rental, patched up the broken window, and I dropped Abby of at New Orleans. It was Sunday morning, and I went back to Baton Rouge and slept.

I don't know if I will ever have a spur-of-the-moment adventure like that ever again, but I'm glad I did it. I did pass, with pretty much straight Cs across the board. It was worth it, and although I haven't heard from Abby in a while, I do thank her for a good time and a good road trip friend.

Tough Guys

A lot of the more recent films lack something that the older films made twenty years ago or more have: tough guys. A tough guy is someone who isn't physically imposing (that's why Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme aren't tough guys) and who isn't afraid to get in a fight and get bloodied. My favorite tough guy is George Kennedy. Some of my other favorite tough guys are Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Sean Connery and Robert Mitchum. I should include John Wayne as a tough guy, but he, at six feet four, may be too physically imposing to be a tough guy. Nah, he's the Duke. He's included. One actor that is frequently mentioned as a tough guy that I don't know should be included is Humphrey Bogart. He talked tough in his films, and may have been in a scrap or two, but I don't know if he got in a down and dirty fight, would he be believable as the winner? Something about him says he's a good actor, but not a tough guy.

This leads me to the inevitable questions. Are there tough guys today? You betcha. There may not be as many and they may take some roles that aren't "tough guy" roles, but I feel they could definitely hold their own with the tough guys from yesteryear. Some of the tough guys of today are Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Samuel L. Jackson, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, and Matthew McConaghey (see Reign of Fire).

Coffee Nerd

My new toy. A coffee roaster. My brother turned me on to roasting your own coffee beans. The roaster is a basic model, well under a hundred dollars. The green coffee beans keep forever in the freezer and cost about the same as regular ground coffee. Why do it? The smell of fresh roasted beans, the sound of the grinder and it just seems cool.

Spanish Town parade

I had a chance to ride on a float for the Baton Rouge Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade. This is probably the biggest parade in Baton Rouge. I was riding with the local sci-fi crew, BabelCon. I figured this was a good time to represent the Klingon Empire, so I went in Klingon uniform. Here I am:



Yep, I am a total geek.
Friday night, the riders met at the float to load up our throws.  The float was to leave where it was parked (at the Celtic Society building) at 6:00 a.m.
Saturday for the Parade.  

The temperature was just above freezing. The ride over there was most fun.

One problem was that unless you were very careful with your throws, the beads tangled worse than a hyperactive 6-year-old trying to roll up a dozen strings of barbed wire.  I spent a good deal of my time untangling throws.

The crowd had to have been around a hundred thousand!  Wow!  Lots of them yelled out "Klingon!" or "Qa'Pla!"  They got the best throws.  We finished in about an hour and the float took us back to our cars.

Second verse . . .

Today at work we had a "rush" project. The insurance code was re-numbered by our esteemed legislature. Our project was to proofread to see that the "new" numbers for the statute matched the "old" numbered referenced in the bill. Also, we had to check other statute references for accuracy. Never mind the fact that we did THE SAME EXACT JOB about six weeks ago. Oh, well, I can think of worse ways to waste a day at work.

Saw the trailer for the new ST film . . . young kid, reckless, add a vintage Corvette, it all adds up to James Tiberius Kirk.

The local Wal-Mart installed a coinstar machine that counts your change. I thought those were a ripoff, because they took almost ten percent as a fee - but then discovered that if you get an Amazon gift card, you get 100%. Of course, I'm always getting stuff there, so that is a good deal. So, I take my big-ass jug to Wal-Mart and find out that machine doesn't offer Amazon . . . only cash voucher with the ten percent penalty. So, I guess I'm going to go back to the usual Albertsons, unless they quit offering the gift card. In that case, I may just bite the bullet to get rid of my change.

Got a new all in one printer. It is an Epson 600. So far I love it! Did my taxes last weekend and printed out the return and stuff.

High expectations for LSU baseball. Ranked 1st preseason in one poll. 2nd in two others. Keeping fingers crossed for national signing day.