Some Facebook stuff.

This one’s just for you Lisa:

And this one’s for fans of old cars like me:

The Sci-Fi Post

Surprisingly, I’m in charge of what I call the Tech Squad at the school.  Basically I have two students as my T.A. during my prep period.  We produce videos and photos to for the counselors and other school things.  We’ve (I should say, mostly they), made videos on honor, dress code and bullying.  We just finished a promo video for the elective classes that the counselors will take when they talk to the 6^th graders about registration for next year.  Next week we start on the promo video for our current 7^th and 8^th graders.

So we took yesterday off and took a series of pictures that MRT digitally blended (and messed with) to get this: (A long, long time ago, in a Junior High School far, far away…)

And then I decided to add this one in, because it also blends sci-fi with down-to-earth reality.

Laughed out loud.

.... One of the things I love about CSI (the original) is how they weave humor into a TV show about murder, rape and other crimes.  Today I was watching a newly downloaded episode (A Space Oddity) and it made me laugh out loud.  Literally.

.... The first few minutes of CSI they introduce the story, Grissom was famous for pulling off a cute little pun right before cutting to the credits.  In this episode two of the minor characters meet at a Star Trek convention, although they call it Astro Quest and they make no direct reference to the Star Trek characters.

.... The murder takes place on the bridge of the imaginary spaceship, a set brought along for the convention.  The two minor characters immediately identify themselves as CSI, secure the scene and call the regular Police Detective, guy named Jim Brass.  Hodges, the CSI calling Brass simply tells him that there is a situation at the convention.  When Brass asks him what it's all about, Hodges relplies:

He's dead, Jim!

Being both a CSI and Star Trek fan probably helped. 

It's about time.

I finally got around to seeing the new Star Trek movie.  Yeah, I had planned on seeing it as soon as it came out, but since that coincided with the closing of my school, I got sorta sidetracked.  Which proves that although I am a Trekkie, I'm not a fanatic.

So the foods teacher finally coaxed me into going, she even got the tickets free from one of our ex-students who works at the theater.  It was great.  Everything the Gearheads said it would be (The Gearheads).  So, I won't waste your time saying the same things in my own review, suffice it to say that I'll be buying it as soon as it comes out on DVD.

Modern technology destroys mystique....

Ricardo Montalban died a couple of days ago, so over at a friends house last night, a friend that happens to own the entire original Star Trek series, we watched "Space Seed", the episode where he first played Kahn, that power-hungry genetically engineered warrior. We watched it on the big screen TV, one of those that is 4 or 5 feet wide. Huge screen, we could see the pimples on Lt. MacGyver's face (no relation to Richard Dean Anderson). The fight scene down in Engineering was as exciting as ever, but also a little bit eye-opening.

Now, consider that this episode originally aired on February 16, 1967 - which happens to be the male half of The Gearhead's 1st birthday. But also consider that back then the biggest screen it was expected to be viewed on was probably about 19" - diagonally. Small compared to today's preferred viewing screens. So, they must have figured that the star's stunt doubles could be anyone with about the same gender and hair color dressed in the same outfit. Worked in 1967, but in 2009 on a 5 foot screen it was painfully obvious that Rick and Bill didn't do their own stunts. Hell, they didn't even do their own play fighting.

Went and saw the new James Bond movie today.

Scene: Long straight dirt road, the ultimate classic red Corvette screams a right turn through an intersection, dirt flying everywhere and a huge dust trail flowing behind it.  The driver (unseen) guns it and the car races down the perfectly straight road towards the horizon.  You just notice that there are sirens in the background.  From above you see the car, the dust trail, and the lone motorcycle cop in hot pursuit.  30 more seconds of scenes from the bumper, above, the side and as if you're about to get run over by the car.  The siren is almost as loud as the roar of the Corvette's engine, you see the chase from above and as it pans down you see the road heading for a cliff.  Foot on the clutch, hand downshifting, engine revving even more, the steering wheel is yanked to the left and the driver's door is thrown open.  All at once, you see the driver leap from the car, sideways it slips over the edge, almost dragging the driver with it, and you hear the motorcycle come to a halt.  Hands gripping the edge of the cliff as they pull the driver up onto the road again.  He looks like he's about 12 years old, with bleached hair.  He looks up and you see his view.  A motorcycle hovering above the road with no wheels, Robocopish guy standing in front of it.  In a metallic voice, Robocop asks "What is your name?"  The boy responds, with pride, "My name is James Tiberius Kirk."
.

If you don't get the meaning of that last line, then you might as well skip the rest of this post.  And even if you do realize who that is, you still may want to skip it.  All depends on whether or not you are a Star Trek fan.
.

I went and saw the new James Bond movie.  She had two free tickets, I had two free entrees at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  Cheap night out.  Before you all get your panties in a bunch, there's nothing romantic going on.  She is the teacher going through the Master's program with me and we went as friends.  The food was great, the movie started out too fast, was too slow in the midde, but the last half was great, captivating. 
.

But that's not what this post is about.  It's about the trailer I saw before the movie.  The new Star Trek movie trailer.  It is obviously not written to resemble anything written by Gene Rodenberry.  It reminded me of the difference between the Lost In Space series and the recent movie with the same name.  A must see, well, for me at least.  May 8th, 2009.  Don't ask me if I'm free that day.
.

If you want to see the trailer, go to http://www.startrekmovie.com/ and navigate your way to the videos.  You want to see Trailer 2.  Let me know if you're interested in joining me on May 8th.