Geekery

Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.

Enterprise: Unexpected

by

Benefits to actually having a TV — while the reception is pretty cruddy, it does allow me to watch the single TV show I’ve got any real interest in, Enterprise. Last night’s episode was “Unexpected”:

When Tucker is dispatched to assist an alien ship with its power source problems, he is delighted to have a friendly encounter with one of the ship’s female engineers. But after discovering that their special moment has resulted in his becoming pregnant, he realizes he’s had an unwitting experience with alien sex. Now it’s up to the Archer and the crew to return the rapidly growing alien baby to its mother.

Definite mixed feelings about this episode, for me. It was enjoyable enough, and certainly fun to watch, but it definitely had a few moments that concern me a bit.

Things I liked: Trip’s attitude throughout the show — I really liked the understated, very dry approach he took. Archer’s reactions were hilarious, the number of times he had to work to stifle a smirk were hilarious. I do have to admit, too, to a thrill when the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser appeared on the Enterprise’s viewscreen. I’ve always liked that ship (and Klingon design in general — though they were finally upstaged by the Next Generation-era Romulan Warbird…but I digress), and seeing it in action again was quite nice. On the other hand…

Things I didn’t like: We’re four episodes in, and they’ve already succumbed to the temptation to get some sort of Holodeck on the show. Okay, so the Enterprise didn’t end up with it, but still — is it that difficult to come up with original ideas? And would the Klingons really be appeased/tempted by the possibility of being given holographic technology? Seems to me that they’d be more interested in the cloaking technology that the alien ship was using. Besides, they seemed far to easily dissuaded — it’s hard for me to believe that given the level of tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire during Kirk’s time, that any Klingon 100 years earlier, with far less contact with Humans to draw from, would put up with Archer’s down-home “Aw, shucks, Paw,” attitude for any longer than the time it would take to send a torpedo up the Enterprise’s tailpipe.

Anyway, taken as a whole, it was an okay episode, with some fairly amusing moments — but for someone who’s been watching Star Trek practically since birth, I really wonder how this show’s going to integrate its story arc with the known back story of the Trek universe. So far, they seem to be doing a fairly shaky job of that, which worries me. Ah, well — we’re also only four episodes in, and none of the Trek series have really hit their stride until somewhere between their second and fourth year, so I supposed it’s a little early to write “Enterprise” off just yet.

Still….

Thirteen Days

by

I rented Thirteen Days (about the Cuban Missile Crisis) the other night, as I hadn’t seen it, and I was curious both about the film itself and about New Line‘s Infinifilm brand.

The movie was certainly quite decent (though Kevin Costner seemed to do his usual trick of being an inattentive babysitter for his accent, rather than actually adopting it), but what really struck me about it was the similarities to the current air of tension, fear, and paranoia sweeping the nation. While the setups for the two conflicts are different, the attitudes and feelings of many of the characters in the film were very familiar. In one of the (fascinating) historical background pieces, there were some ‘man on the street’ interviews with people at the time this all was going on — and just about anything that they said could easily have been said at any point within the past month. Average people worrying about their safety, whether or not it’s right to go to war, whether a conflict is justified — very eerie to hear sentiments I’ve heard, read, and spoken since September 11th coming from the mouths of people forty years back.

It also made me very curious about just what’s going on in the conference rooms of the White House these days. Considering the wide range of emotions and suggested courses of action during the Cuban Missile Crisis that only recently came to light (such as Kennedy’s secret tapes of the meetings, as discussed in the extra materials on the disc), it really makes me wonder how much is being debated — and how much is known — behind the scenes, that we’re not likely to find out for years, and possibly decades. I’m not one to try to raise paranoia or fears…the film just made me think a lot more than it probably would have had the events of September 11th not taken place. Until now (I’m 28, by the way, born in ’73), I hadn’t really had anything that could make me sympathise with the events portrayed — I could empathise to a certain extent, but I hadn’t had any experiences that really came that close to what was happening in 1962. Desert Shield/Storm affected me to a certain extent, but not like this — it was too distant…a war on TV. Now, for better or for worse, it’s all too easy for me to understand just what was going through peoples minds then — because it’s going through mine, now.

Neat, neat stuff. Not necessarily comfortable. But very worthwhile.

A sunny Saturday afternoon

by

Just thought I’d drop in and toss a bit up here. I’m sitting at Aurafice, a coffee/internet joint just 2 blocks away from my apartment — nice little place, and while I’m not sure what the music that’s playing right now is, it works quite nicely for me.

Yesterday after work I swung by home just long enough to check (snail) mail and change clothes, then headed back downtown. The movie 2001 has been cleaned up, restored, and is hitting theaters again, and yesterday was the opening night of its run here in Seattle — at the Cinerama, no less. There was no way I was going to miss out on seeing this, and being able to see it in a theater like that on opening night — no ifs, ands, or buts, I was there. Took a bus downtown and made it there 40 minutes before the show started just to make sure I could get in and get a good seat.

What a show it was, too. I’d not yet been to the Cinerama here — though I’d heard it was a theater more than worth going to, I’d not yet seen something playing there that was going to drag me down. I’m very glad I did this time, though. The auditorium is incredible — 800-some seats, and a 30 foot by 90 foot curved screen! Just a huge picture (though, in all honesty, I believe the number one auditorium at Fireweed Theaters is larger), a new near-pristine 70mm print of 2001…very, very, very cool. Definitely the way to see it.

After I walked home from that, I found a call on my voicemail from Alex — apparently his plans changed, and he is in town for one last weekend before heading back up to Alaska. I met up with him, Casey, and Chad at the Bad JuJu Lounge (right next door to The Vogue), and hung out with them for a bit. Went home fairly early, though — this whole 6am wakeup time during the week kinda puts a damper on too much late-night revelry on Friday nights.

Not much has happened so far today, though who knows what the evening might bring. I did put together another new mix…hopefully it won’t be too much longer before I’ll be able to post the .mp3 files. Until then, though….

To boldly go…

by

…where three television series and nine movies have gone before.

Or something like that, right?

But hey — they’re doing it with style. Gotta admit, I thought last nights premiere of Enterprise, “Broken Bow,”, was pretty darn cool. Finally, it really does look like we’ve got a new entry to the Star Trek universe that just might be able to carry on the torch and keep viewers interested. It’s about time.

Things I liked:

The ship — especially the interiors. It really does look something like a cross between a starship and a submarine. Very cramped interiors, walkways going around the various parts of engineering…very nice look. Besides, I’ve always liked the design of the Star Trek universe.

The technology — they seem do be doing a credible job of placing the technology somewhere between what we have today and what was thought the future could look like in the original series, from the sliders on the transporter to T’Pol’s viewer on the science station. With nobody really trusting the transporters yet, it’ll be nice to have extra-vehicular missions using shuttlecraft the majority of the time (one of my favorite TOS episodes was The Galileo Seven, a premise which wouldn’t have worked without a shuttlecraft — sometimes the transporters made things a bit too convenient, I think). The use of an actual grappling hook device rather than a tractor beam was a very nice touch.

The cast — I have to say, I think they just may have done a good job here. I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard that Scott Bakula was going to be the new captain, but I ended up really liking Cpt. Scott Archer. The rest of the regulars came off well too — about my only reservations are with Ensign Hoshi Sato (while the constant nervousness about whether the ship is about to explode around her ears is amusing, the writers will have to tread carefully not to make it just flat-out annoying) and Dr. Phlox (reminds me a bit too much of characters like Neelix [VOY] and the early Ferengi [TNG/DS9] — good ideas that didn’t hold up well over the long run), but as this is solely based on a 2-hour first episode, these characters could become much more than they seem in a season or two. I was also pleasantly surprised with Sub-Commander T’Pol. Considering the jumpsuit they’ve put her in just screams out, “Look at me! I’m the resident token sex object!” she actually ended up with a character much more thought out than I at first expected. She also has that wonderful trick of managing to smile without actually doing it — I think it’s something in the eyes, but it’s something I haven’t really seen an actor pull off with a Vulcan character since Spock and Sarek.

The fact that the show is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen. Very cool — now if only I had a high-def TV and receiver to watch the thing on!

Things i’m iffy on:

Okay, what was the point to the decontamination scene? Or, rather, was there a point beyond titillation? Admittedly, it wasn’t bad as far as prime-time titillation goes, and I have to give them props — not only did they have T’Pol strip down to her skivvies, but they also had Commander Charles Tucker in there (either for the women or the gay men in the audience, or both) — but it seemed out of place, and clumsily done. Either the two of them were just helping each other with the decontamination gel, or they were flirting, but the scene played like a clumsy mix of both. Ah, well — at least it was good eye candy, right?

The opening theme. Y’know, assuming I ever get in a situation where I can watch this show on a weekly basis, I think that song is going to grate on me more and more every time. The visuals during the credit sequence are nice, I like the exploration theme — but did they have to go to some horrid, cheezy, adult-contemporary soft-rock ballad? Ugh. That can go, as far as I’m concerned — and it can go as far away as possible.

Overall

A good, solid B+, I think. I’ll catch more episodes when I can — whenever that may be — we just might finally have another worthy contender to the Star Trek universe here.

Enterprise

by

Ooers, yeah — one more thing. Tonight’s the premiere episode of Enterprise, the new Star Trek series. I’m hoping to be able to catch it, Damon has said I can hang out over at his place tonight to see the show. Hopefully it’ll be worthwhile — I’ve gotta admit, I’m intrigued by what I’ve read so far. Tonight’s episode is Broken Bow, where we get to launch not only the series, but also the first warp capable Enterprise, and Klingon/Human relations. Should be interesting!

Just a quick word or two

by

Just tossing a quick entry in before I send out the e-mail update to those few people who get it. It’s Monday morning and I’m at work, so don’t want to spend too long here, but I thought it would be good to get a little bit in here so I’m not completely out of date.

Spent most of the weekend just kicking back and relaxing at home. Saturday I was thinking about wandering around the First Hill district, and had actually made it out the door when I stopped to chat with Damon (my next-door neighbor). While he and I were talking, who should walk up the hill but Holly and Ryan — they knew I lived around that area somewhere, but were just randomly wandering through while apartment hunting for Holly when they saw me standing there talking. I ended up spending the rest of the day wandering around with the two of them, apartment hunting for Holly, some mixing with Ryan in the evening, then a stop by the Baltic Room that night for some drinks and 60’s funk/soul before we all headed home.

Sunday was entirely a day of rest — sat at home, played with my mixing equipment, read Sandman comic books, and did laundry. Whew — tough stuff! :)

And that’s the basics for the weekend. Fun fun fun….

Too cool for words

by

Ooers…this is the kind of thing that convinces me that there is still some good stuff going on out there.

I just found a listing on the Corona Coming Attractions movie news/rumor site detailing a film that I will have my skinny lil’ butt planted in the seat for come opening day — HardWired. Alex Proyas (director of The Crow and Dark City) directing a sci-fi murder mystery where the suspects are Artificial Intelligences and/or robots, and it’s going to be the first in a series of films based upon the ideas and concepts from Isaac Asimov‘s I, Robot stories?!?

I am so there.

No more virus alerts

by

I got this e-mailed to me at work today:

Warning regarding new virus:
DO NOT OPEN “NEW PICTURES OF FAMILY”

Hi – This looks like a bad one that’s coming.
Forward this to others.
Please read and forward to everyone you know……

DO NOT OPEN “NEW PICTURES OF FAMILY” It is a virus that will erase your whole “C” drive. It will come to you in the form of an E-Mail from a familiar person. I repeat a friend sent it to me, but called & warned me before I opened it. He was not so lucky and now he can’t even start his computer!

Forward this to everyone in your address book. I would rather receive this 25 times than not at all.

Also: Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus was discovered recently. If you receive an email called “FAMILY PICTURES,” do not open it. Delete it right away! This virus removes all dynamic link libraries (.dll files) from your computer. Your computer will not be able to boot up.

Okay, let’s take a look at this, shall we?

Please read and forward to everyone you know…I would rather receive this 25 times than not at all.

Please do not blindly forward every ‘alert’, ‘warning’, or whatever else to “everyone you know.” I don’t know about you, but I would much rather not receive anything twenty-five times. There’s quite a few good reasons not to do this, most of which really shouldn’t need to be spelled out, but people persist in doing these things anyway. If everyone actually did pass something on to everyone they knew, then each of those people did the same, everyone would instantly be getting multiple copies of every alert out there in their e-mail box. Oh, wait…we already do get multiple copies of this junk, don’t we? Hmmm….

Check to see if the information is accurate. No, I don’t mean open a suspected virus to see if it crashes your system. This ‘alert’ describes a virus that comes as an e-mail with a certain subject line, and when opened, erases your entire C:/ drive. A second virus (with a very similar distribution method and subject line) is also detailed, only this one erases all .dll files on your hard drive.

The easiest way to check the validity of the claims is to go to Symantec‘s website. Symantec is the maker of the most popular anti-virus programs for both Windows and Macintosh computers, so it stands to reason that they would have a pretty good handle on any new virii (incidentally, as one of the more popular anti-virus programs is Norton’s Antivirus, the web address www.norton.com also points to Symantec’s site). Their site does currently show a high security alert for a new virus — W32.Nimda.A@mm — however, the listed symptoms and affects do not match either of the virii described in this e-mail. The closest listed virus to either of those in the e-mail is Trojan.ZeroBoot, which writes zeros over the boot sector of a drive — this will prevent a computer from booting, and to a novice computer user, could look like the entire C:/ drive has been wiped.

Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus was discovered recently.

Think about what the e-mail is telling you. Why would Intel — a chip-maker, most known for the 80×86 line of processors (from the 286 up to and including the P4) — be releasing information about a virus? A quick check of Intel’s press releases shows nothing detailing anything about a virus. In general, virus alerts are released by either very few people (like Symantec) that you can trust, or by every bleedin’ moron with a keyboard at his fingertips (like anybody with ‘l33t’, ‘haX0r’, ‘d00d’, ’69’, or ‘420’ in their e-mail address), which you should take with a grain of salt.

Buy and use one of the many Anti-Virus/Firewall/Security products from Symantec, or any other reputable software company. This will save a lot of problems and headaches in the long run — you won’t get hit with virii, and I won’t have to wade through mass e-mails about the virii that are loose.

If you think you’ve been hit with a virus: Contact Symantec and/or any decently savvy computer geek (i.e., someone who knows how to do more than click away at the World Wide Web) to see if there is information or a patch for your particular virus. Then go out, buy, and install one of the Anti-Virus/Firewall/Security products I mentioned above.

One last little thing: If you do ignore all the rest of my little diatribe…one little thing about my computers. I’m a Mac fan for many reasons. Like, for instance — no .dll files. No C:/ drive. And — while we’re not virus free — there are far, far fewer virii out there for us to contend with. Sending me your alerts does nothing but fill up my mailbox, waste bandwidth on the ‘net, and give me a minor annoyance to deal with, which I then relieve by ranting and raving on my website for the world to see.

Let’s avoid that next time.

A good weekend for movies

by

In the midst of more and more news about the continuing aftermath of the WTC and Pentagon attacks, and in a world where it looks more and more like the U.S. may soon be declaring war, I decided it was a good time to take a bit of a vacation and head out to the movies. My reviews for the shows I checked out aren’t the best I’ve ever written, unfortunately — I’m kinda tired and have a light headache that I’m hoping won’t get any worse anytime soon — but I at least got something up.

Thursday night I saw The Crimson Rivers (good thriller), Friday I checked out O (a decent Shakepearean update), and today I watched The Ghosts of Mars (fun brainless sci-fi romp).

Other than that, things have been fairly uneventful for the most part. I’ve been keeping a pretty constant eye out on the news, and am working on collecting at least the first week’s worth of newspapers since Tuesday. So far, Saturday has been the only day I forgot to pick any up. Got together with Chad, Don, and a friend of theirs (whose name I’m spacing on) for breakfast at Jack’s Roadhouse Cafe on Saturday, then we all checked out the Capitol Hill Block Party up on Broadway. Other than that…not a whole lot of major import has gone on.

I’d post more, but I’m just feeling kind of lackadaisacal at the moment. Besides — Dez is behind me watching Braveheart on television, so it’s easy for me to get distracted. Until next time, then….

Nano-nano!

by

Just something that I find all sorts of nifty. According to an article in today’s Seattle P-I, Washington is going to house the hub of one of the centers for nanotechnology research. Nanotech has been one of the recent sci-fi concepts to really spark my imagination, especially after reading Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer.

Stephenson burst upon the sci-fi scene with his second book, Snow Crash, which I babbled about a couple weeks ago when I was re-reading it. In The Diamond Age, Stephenson does for nanotechnology what he did for the internet and virtual reality in Snow Crash — takes today’s best existing ideas and theories and extrapolates them forward into the future to explore where the technologies can take us. It’s a fascinating read, and with the current apparent stagnation of the space program and George Bush’s restrictions on genetic research, nanotech seems to be one of the few sci-fi concepts with near-future possibilities. Going to be a lot of fun to see where all this could lead in the next 10 to 20 years.