Tuesday, 7 July 2009

Old Friends, Old Times, Old Men?

Life isn't always plain sailing. Sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes they just get tougher than usual and stress levels sky rocket. When we feel a little snowed under, we can revert to nostalgia. Things were better in the good ol' days. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But in our minds, there have always been better times in the past. I suppose it is important for us to feel this way - I can't imagine what it would be like to feel miserable and to know that life has always been this way or worse. 

To recover some of the old glory, I've spent the past few days listening to nothing but Prince. It's been a while since I've done this, but oh, how I've missed him.

***

I've lived in various different places - countries, cities, hemispheres - over the years. I have met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, and lost almost as many. But every now and then, you meet up with an old friend or you hear from someone you lost contact with an impossibly long time ago. Not only is it great to make contact again, but it is nice to know that you aren't the only one who remembers. I often think back fondly on many people I never managed to keep in touch with, and wonder how they are; but I also wonder if they ever think of me, or if they even remember me at all. This week I had a long lost friend contact me, and a friend who I rarely keep in contact with drop me a line. So big smiles all round here. 

***

Many of you will have seen my pic of myself and Leonard Nimoy. Now, if you did not already know that it was Leonard - who would you think it was? I had a colleague at work ask me whether it was Leonard Nimoy or Anthony Daniels (C-3PO)! Now, both are old, sci fi relics who we all love, but one is pure sex, and the other... Well, I won't say anything bad of Anthony, because I am very fond of him. But, he is no Leonard...

Sunday, 7 June 2009

Collectormania: Milton Keynes June '09

Yes, it's convention time again. I always have so much fun at conventions, I can't really understand some people's negativity towards them. You call us losers, freaks, weirdos? Well, I call us cool, perhaps nerdy/geeky cool, but definitely cool in our own way. 

They changed the venue from the last Milton Keynes convention, and it was not a good move. Instead of being cramped up in a shopping centre, we were spread out in a freezing cold football stadium. It was semi-outdoors which meant that my hair started getting fly aways and going all frizzy - these are things women like to avoid when they are going to have their picture taken! As soon as we got to the venue, we lined up for our photo session tickets. And somehow, I'm not quite sure how this happened - but Helen and I managed to get the very last photo session tickets for Leonard Nimoy for Saturday. This over-excitement came to a crashing halt when we found out that they had cancelled the talks because of the weather (Why did they move the venue if there was no contingency plan for rain - this is England for crying out loud!)

On to the booths... What's this? Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy)?! He wasn't listed on the website. It was a great surprise, especially after several years of obsessing (when I was younger, I promise), stalking his website, and trying to develop a love in fishing... He was lovely and very friendly. He chatted like any ordinary bloke my age, and it was a refreshing change for these sorts of things to be able to talk so easily with one of the guests. Although it did send a thrill through me when he talked about Oxford - "Yeah, Emma lives there" - you can't just talk about Emma Watson with such a casual throw away attitude... it's EMMA WATSON!


Then it was time for our photos sessions. First was Ben Browder, for Helen. Followed by Leonard, then Nathan Fillion. While waiting in line for Leonard, I felt completely numb - nervous, excited, and most importantly, absolutely terrified. I could see that people didn't even have time to say anything to him, but I was still shit scared. There is no easy way to meet an idol. I am so strangely attached to Mr Spock and Leonard that I did not want to screw it up, I didn't want my image of him ruined, but I needed to meet him, if only for a few seconds. I can't really remember the moment now, I was so stressed. He was perfect though - I remember looking at his lovely face, when he said "Hello" - I thought that this must be heaven. Ok, you may think that reaction strange, but I think he has the sexiest voice in the whole world. It is relaxing and orgasmic at the same time, and as soon as he spoke to me, I lost all sense of reality. 

Nathan was perfect. Often stars disappoint when you meet them face to face. Without the make up and the air brushing they look positively normal (terrestrial, one of us, blemished, "in one's league", so to speak). But Nathan was very different. He appeared in person just as he does on screen. He had a cheeky grin, and a strong presence. The leather jacket added to his roguish charm, and every woman there wanted to go home with him. I have nick named him the Han Solo - he is a rogue, a scoundrel, but underneath the rough (and sexy) exterior, lies a very good man.


Among the star-dazzling, headlining acts were also the lesser known, but equally as great. Take John De Lancie, "Q" to those in the know. He looked so much older, but then again, Next Generation started in the 80's - before I was born. He was struggling in the cold and wrapped himself up in blankets. We were lining up to meet Avery Brooks - another Trek veteran of Deep Space Nine Commander Sisko fame (and American History X) - when a familiar back-of-the-head walked into my frame of vision. Who should it be - but Leonard Nimoy, wishing them both well, and asking Avery (also now 60 years of age) to look after the 61 year old John. Strange, coming from a 78 year old - spry as a spring chicken that one. I was very excited by this, and admit to taking a photo of his back - he was only a foot away from me after all (not as bad and stalker like as when I snapped a shot of him leaving the toilet - we were waiting in line, he walked past with his three bodyguards, I knew he would have to come out sooner or later). We also wandered past a few others from the Harry Potter world, including Seamus (who is quite an attractive young man these days - he was chatting up some ladies on the fans' side of his table) and Harry Potter's dad (he wandered around the venue a few times and we had the opportunity to point and yell "It's Harry Potter's Dad!"). 

How can you diss something that lets you say "Careful, you almost walked into Spider man!" Trust me, you wouldn't want to do that... But it is better than accidentally walking into Darth Vader.


Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Star Trek: The Follow Up

To follow up my post about Star Trek (which has left me feeling like either myself or the entire human race has gone insane - it was not a good film!), I thought I would share some amusing links.

Firstly, yes, perhaps it was a truly terrible remake... but not of what you thought it was. Star Trek or Star Wars?

and...

A very serious poll.


Sunday, 17 May 2009

Star Trek: The review

I am a huge Star Trek fan. I grew up watching all incarnations of the show with my parents (all except Enterprise, of course). Among my most treasured 18th birthday presents was an alluring yellow plastic box set, which came to have pride of place upon my desk next to its blue and red counterparts (seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Star Trek: The Original Series, for those of you too cool to know what I mean). This began my true obsession and appreciation of Mr. Spock.

Mr. Spock is my ideal man. Thoughtful, serious, attractive (yes, attractive!), and the ultimate when it comes to playing hard-to-get. How long was Christine Chapel making goo-goo eyes at him, bringing him Vulcan Soup’s and checking on his well-being? More years than was good for her – and the only time he showed any recognition of her infatuation was under some form of strange emotional turbulence or distress (watch “The Naked Time” and “Amok Time”). This pedestal image of a fictional character, one that I have cherished for many years now, has now been irrevocably shattered.

***

Please do not think it reflects poorly on me to have waited almost two weeks after its release for me to see Star Trek. On the contrary, I did not want it ruined by having too many people in the cinema (I generally avoid cinema’s when something is first released). I was very excited about seeing the new film, despite my early reservations. Everyone I knew, who was a Trek fan, who had seen the film, had given me a positive response (including Wil Wheaton, and what he says is usually gospel). Not to mention a top 250 rating on imdb (the all powerful, all knowing, all brilliant website). I headed into the cinema with an open mind and a big smile.

 

It opened well, an exciting, action packed beginning for both Kirk and the film. But the theme was all wrong. Young Kirk, wrong. Sarek, wrong. Then on to the film’s present – and it was wrong! Chris pine looked like Bill Shatner in the Original Series film, rather than the suave, sexy young James T. Kirk (and why were there no cheesy shirt rippings in the middle of fights?). Wait, suddenly there was hope – a strong first impression from McCoy. I could feel Deforest in the room with him. I was worried, but maybe everything would work out in the end.

Kirk grew on me. I liked Uhura, she was sexy and sassy, but there was nothing to suggest she was from Africa (I wanted Swahili!). And yes, there was even a green woman shagging Kirk. No Orion slave girl, but still exciting. But the bomb was about to drop, the shit about to hit the fan, the wind was about to be ripped from my lungs.

It was not long before I realised how wrong Spock was. Zachary Quinto is not Spock. I understand that they were trying to portray a Spock who was still conflicted about who he was, human, Vulcan, emotional, logical – but there was far too much emotion. Too much smiling, too many flaws, too angry. There was no Christine Chapel after him, but Uhura – and she got him, too easily. In that relationship, there was far too much passion. Were they trying to get us too relate more to Spock? Why was there any need for that? Spock is one of the most beloved characters of all time, and they killed him. (Please don’t worry, that was no spoiler, just a metaphorical explanation of the heartache and disappointment I felt after seeing the film.)

The film seemed to get worse as it went along. The ship was far too shiny (Joss Whedon was brilliant to point out that space ships are lived in – they are necessarily DIRTY!), and, J.J. Abrams, what was with all the lens flare and glare? The narrative had too many plot holes to count, none of the science was explained (despite it being integral to the plot), and since when has a transporter beam been full of horizontal swirling lines?! Spock was not caught simply kissing – it was making out – hormonal, passionate, intense (well, too much for Spock anyway). I couldn’t take it, I was on the edge, my head was about to explode…

A mysterious figure, we have seen the back of his head only, he has taken a few steps, no voice as yet – but I already knew that it was Leonard Nimoy. I suddenly felt right again, and my emotions got the better of me. In the middle of the cinema, I burst into tears. Spock Prime was perfect, old Spock, the right Spock. He made it that much more obvious that the film was terrible. No one was able to hold their own with him, and I knew I could never look at my Spock the same way. He had been tarnished, as Star Trek has been (although Enterprise did enough of that already).

I just wanted it to all be over, to take back the last few hours and forget that I had ever seen it. But it was too late. Simon Pegg as Scotty provided some relief – he was perfect (at least the casting director was awake for this one), but it was not enough. It had run away with a bad premise, poor character portrayal, and absolutely appalling writing – but hey, its an alternate universe, we can do whatever the f*ck we like, right? Well, I say, if you wanted to change everything about the characters themselves, their history, and their possible futures (therefore invalidating ALL of Original Series), why not create new characters within the Star Trek universe.

If this was not a Star Trek Original Series Film (Supposedly), it could have been a decent film. Action packed, fast paced, and slick. But this was Star Trek Original Series, and they let this fan down. I have never been more disappointed (this is worse than the disappointment that accompanies the Star Wars Prequels). I do not recommend this film to any Original Series fan, especially if you even remotely like Spock.  

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Page Numbers

I had a bad day today. Things were going wrong. I had to clean up a lot of mess. I was stressed, I was annoyed, I was tetchy (Yes Kryten, I said "Tetchy!"). I then received a note from an author which possibly sent me over the edge. To understand this, you may need to understand indexes. Sometimes authors make their own indexes, sometimes we have freelancers do them. This particular author was doing his own, but he had already created the list of indexing terms, all he really has to do is search (ctrl f) the pdf document, check the page number (of the manuscript itself not the pdf document), and write it down...

Author: "Can you please send me a new pdf with the prelims removed, so that I don't have to subtract that number every time I find an indexing term?"

What I want to say: "No. Stop looking at the pdf page number and look at the numbers embedded in the actual pages!!!! IDIOT!!!"

What I actually say and do: "Of course. Here is the new document." (After opening the document, going to "document" - "delete pages", deleting the appropriate pages, then "save as". That was hard, wasn't it?!)

Isn't life grand?

Sometimes life gives us lemons... you grow immune to the bitterness.

Sunday, 3 May 2009

Leonard Nimoy!

Leonard Nimoy will be at the Milton Keynes Collectormania in June (and he better not cancel)! This is my favourite man of all time. Yes, beats Craig Charles and James Masters and Hugh Jackman and Michael J Fox and James Spader and and and and and... I could go on but I won't. I think you get the idea. Be there or be square people! 

In other news... I moved house, then went on holiday to Australia for a month, before having to wait two weeks for internet to be installed. However, I am now up and running with the internet, television, microwave, and a whole number of things to make this life feel like a real life and a real home. Now I just have to make some local friends, but I'm trying.

Also, if you love books, like to support budding new writers, or maybe just like to express your opinion about what other people do... head over to authonomy. It is a place where new writers post their work for comments, encouragement, and agents scouting for fresh blood. My friend's boyfriend's composition "Hair" is up on there too, so search fo "Ash Walker" and read his book! Support is necessary when doing anything creative, so please check it out!

Tuesday, 3 March 2009

The Genius, His Purple Majesty, The Kid... Prince

My hometown, Perth, has thankfully continued to this day, to be free of Starbucks (although we do have Gloria Jeans, which is basically the same thing, just rebranded with more coffee-inspired colours). So when I visited my friends in Texas in 2005, it was a surprise for me to see an exclusive Alanis Morrisette album for sale in the local Starbucks. I admit I bought it without hesitation, an acoustic version of her epic Jagged Little Pill album had to be worth a listen. It isn't by no means brilliant, but when you do feel like a mellow Alanis, and not the quite so crazy Alanis we all loved back in the day, it provides a gentle background ambiance. 

After my first exposure to this strange phenomenon of exclusive music releases, I noticed it began to happen more and more. Exclusive iTunes music, exclusive to Windows, exclusive to starbucks, exclusive to Wal-Mart, and the list kept growing. I would buy my chai tea latte at the top of Park St in Bristol, on my way down the epic hill for some afternoon studying, and there was an exclusive Paul McCartney release, then other exclusives. But why? Surely this limits the possible audience - I wouldn't have known about these albums if I had not gone into those stores, or been trawling the internet while bored in my lunch hour. And what if this exclusive release agreement precludes international fans from accessing the release easily, or even legally? 

Today's lunch break had me cruising through the BBC News webpage (as usual), and I came across an article which made me smile, gasp, cheer, exclaim loudly, and fidget excitedly. Yes, all these wondrous reactions from one small article. Small, but not insignificant. Prince has a new 3-disc release coming out on Mach 29th! Ok, so it is really only Prince for the first two discs, before he moves aside for his latest protege (But havent you missed them? The Time, Apollonia, Vanity 6, Tamar...), but more Prince is always a good sign. I was getting tired of my CD collection anyway, its time for something fresh.

My only problem now is - how do I get a hold of a copy? It is part of this new exclusive release fad that is going round, and let's face it - Prince probably started the trend (He was born a trendsetter), by coming up with new ways of distributing his music to fans long before anyone else (I have no facts to back up this last statement, just my pure love of and belief in his greatness). The album is only being released in Target stores across America. But I like in the UK now - and they don't have Target (It's a crime I know, even Australia has Target). I have friends in the States, they could buy me a copy and sent it over... but that is a lot of effort. Or someone from home could do the same if it is released in the Targets at home. Or maybe ebay is the way to go? 

I'm not convinced that exclusivity is the way to go - it might make this uber obsessed Prince geek have to work especially hard to acquire the latest work of genius by her idol. However, I may be over reacting - they might think of this too, and sort out something nice for me, so that on March 29th I can sit back and relax on the couch, listening to my favourite man.