LA here I come! (I would make an excellent failed script-writer/waitress)

I've heard they haven't even finished the script for the next instalment of the re-boot franchise, so here are some ideas for Abrams and his team:


Lost in Translation -> Lost in Klingon translation


The alternate universe where Kirk is, uh, a forest ranger!



The crew goes back in time and accidentally cause the extinction of dinosaurs, possibly involving dilithium. Thereby, obviously, saving mankind cause, you know, if the dinosarus were still around THEY WOULD HAVE EATEN US ALL.

Here I got confused with the Stargate universe. I was all, like, dude, we accidentally flew through New York and people saw us and now we have to reveal the - oh, right. People know. They probably don't fly this close to ground though. I'm sure there's some spin on the Hudson river incident possible here.

You're welcome, J.J. Just get Quinto back onto the big screen, 'kay?

Hypothesis: disproven

So I love my class, I really do (love my life also, incidentally, of which my class is a big part). Full of awesome, sweet, funny, interesting people. Even most of the people who keep to themselves are turning out to be lovely people. Some are crazy (love them too). I get out-geeked constanstly in the tech and programming arena, however.

And this is big.

None of them are sci-fi geeks. If premise 1 is programmer/tech geek and premise 2 is love of sci-fi, than this is a Venn diagram without an intersection. It's just so bizarre. I thought they didn't let you into programming courses without basic knowledge of some kind of space drama? I have to explain to people the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.

Wrong. So wrong.

Also, t'is a bit sad. I still have no IRL people to squeal over sci-fi with. What will it take??

Warning!! Detailed discussions of themes that may be considered emo

So, last Friday one of the dreams I've had for oh about four months or so finally, FINALLY came true - Tokio Hotel live. My biggest hope for the concert was that Bill, who according to the CDs have a range with Mariah Carey-esque aspirations, would not suck too badly IRL. I've learned the hard way not to expect the same vocal prowess live as from recorded mediums (OK, I never saw Backstreet Boys live but they sang live on Söndagsöppet when I was about 11 or so and gosh was I horrified - I can still remember the disappointment like it was yesterday).
My second hope was that recent pictures of Bill were mainly PR-smokescreens for his fabulous new hairstyle which would look nothing like anything he's been sporting recently.

Was proved wrong Big Time on both accounts. Horrible, horrible oversized back-slick. I mean, I suppose I could accept it if he wanted to move away from the manga/porcupine/mohawk look I fell in love with as he's had it for quite some time. But this was NOT hot.
On the other hand, it turns out he can actually sing. Like, live. Very well. He hardly wrote down any songs, only one or two songs with incredibly high notes, both of which were not suited for standing still and singing, but required jumping around. Completely understandable. I was impressed.

Another cool thing about the concert was the fact that their set was like a tribute to the Star Trek movie First Contact, with a giant round Borg cube being the focal point. I actually read in one review that the 30m high steel construction should actually resemble the Death Star - but as Bill was dressed up as the Borg queen (...) I refute that statement. This has nothing to do with my aversion to Star Wars, obviously, but is rather the logical conclusion (live long and prosper). The projection in the background featured futuristic cityscapes which could have been borrowed straight from the SGA CGI library. Yes yes so their latest CD is on the futuristic theme but I didn't know that when I got hooked on Monsoon last October so it all pleased my little sci-fi heart to no end.

A fairly big disappointment for which I was prepared was the fact that the manager/band/tour planner was obviously not aware that as German is a very common second language-choice in school here, many Swedish fans prefer the songs in their original language. I base this not only on my own views but on the girl behind me who even though she was substantially younger than me (or shall I say, in the demographic group of 13-18yr olds that 99,5% of the audience belonged to) and may not even have had time to take any German in school exclaimed to her mother that she wouldn't know the lyrics in English. This meant that the high-pitched screaming was by far louder than the sing-along bits, which may be a curse for all bands who publish bilingually (with a target audience who squeals).
Anyway, this may have been a blessing to my dignity as I couldn't always sing along... But it was dark, and I don't know anyone in Gothenburg anyway and oh it would have been so much better in German! An additional minus with the English is the fact that Bill is not a competent English-speaker = practically non-existent between-song-chatter. I mean, this didn't bother me much but that's like the only direct communication line you'll ever have with the star as a fan, so it's a shame it was stilted.

Apparently to the reviewers the pyrotechnics were basic but they must be rather blasé I guess - I don't go to a lot of concerts so I thought it was pretty awesome. Two soundguys got to step into big seats of tech hoisted to the ceiling with wires - that was also awesome (made me briefly rethink career, was very Matrix-inspired).

To summarize, I'm thinking of removing myself from the FB group worshipping Bill's hair, but I'm actually a bigger fan of Bill as a person and as a singer than ever. So there. In indulging in one of my other big interests folk music I hang out with the age demographic 55+ so shouldn't this emo-activity put me somewhere in the middle, close to something normal?

Yeah, maybe not.

Let's talk strategy

Happy New Year! Despite being not-so-happy about being back at work already I have a good feeling about this year. For instance, I have a new dating strategy. I am going to wear this t-shirt to the gym:

Sorry. I only date Trekkies. by slave2moonlight
See more Trekkies T-Shirts

Failproof.

Seriously, someone needs to get a life

Today is a struggle. Pondering, pondering, pondering. Life seems to lack purpose and direction. If anyone has any tips on how to stop thinking about these things, I welcome them (not organized forms of religions or anything illegal though).

I blame the subject of a recent post. One thing I have found which separates fantasy from sci-fi is that sci-fi tends to be dystopian to an alarmingly high degree. I don't nesseccarily mean that they all have unhappy endings, but they're certainly not Hollywood happy-endings. Someone gets revenge, or the girl, or the order of things is restored/justice is upheld (even though this may involve death of whole species, or main characters, or fairly depressing conclusions on mankind (and other kinds)). But certainly society is usually dystopian: corporations rule, police are usually the bad guys, there is in general no respect between human beings, the world is polluted and/or in ruins, etc etc. So when you leave a sci-fi novel, modern day life seems - not so bad. Police can usually be trusted, corporations can still successfully be sued on occasion when behaving badly, some people do have respect for other beings, only a few species are extinct etc etc. Your life is your own to spend as you like, huzzah!

Fantasy, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like. Happy endings. Justice means justice for individuals, not just, the world. The evil get what is coming to them. Everything is possible not by means of technology (to which there is always some limit), but by magic (which is also independant of monetary values). Climate - not an issue. Colours are brighter. Everyone has a purpose. The poor but of noble hearts get their reward, if not in money, then in happiness and contentment with this purpose (although quite often it is glory and wealth as well).

So returning to the real world is suddenly not so fun. Why would you want to live in a world without magic if you have to? Seriously, I have renewed understanding for teenagers who spend 18h a day in WoW or people who spend their weekends with roleplay events. Why would you read the news about terrorism and plague and war and work, work, work to sustaince this existance when you can hide in a world of magic? As long as you have something in 'reality' which is of intrinsic value, like family, or a purpose, love of any kind, etc, then returning is obvious. But if you don't? I can see why you would want to stay and hide.

Ehm, so. Maybe I should just turn this into a sci-fi blog? But I don't really like restricting myself that way.

On another important note, it is once again time for that incredibly important bi-yearly decision: is it time to leave the tinted moisturizer behind for foundation, or am I still not pale enough?
I tested yesterday and decided to give it another week or so (the same goes for the important 'Is it time to wear boots yet?' Q).

Trek-SPOILER ALERT

So. Bloody marvellous. Not much of a plot, but bloody marvellous!! Lots of character development, skin-prickling and hair-raising sweeps over ships and explosions, and dude...

Spock and Uhura, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, wohoo!!

I don't recall that from the show though, no idea what's gonna happen to it... Spock was amazing, from the woolly shirts at the beginning (I mean, I don't even *get it* but it was adorable) to the emotional explosions and the infallible logic and boy, did sparks fly between him and the Lt.
The "Pretty-boy goes after Pretty-girl who chooses The Dork scenario" - always a hit with your nerd crowd. Even though in these Hollywood productions the geek is usually equally good-looking to the obvious pretty-boy - a fact the production team sometimes tries to conceal with a pair of glasses, with hilarious, and hot (but never successful) results.

Anyway, I think I may have to see it again. The plot was, as one friend claimed, quite recycled from Trek-dom and not much to hang in the Christmas tree, so to speak, but I just want to gawk some more at the pretty glossy ships and people. Oh, so pretty!!

Lame bits: Winona Ryder's old-woman-makeup - just use an actor with the appropriate age for heaven's sakes!! That worked just fine with the old male Vulcans!! Blah (nothing against Winona, just the principle). Also, though I know it fit with the plot, the whole Captain-sacrifices-life-for-ship/crew while his beautiful wife gives birth and just has time to name their baby - eeeh. Just a tad corny (and by tad I mean quite a lot). Oh, and I don't think it was believable for Spock to abandon Kirk to die. So unless we're supposed to assume he didn't (somehow, premonition, who knows) I didn't think that was very good.
Also, Eric Bana's not-at-all-scary arch enemy look (and the fact that he did it to avenge his dead wife............). So much love all around!! Very fuzzy indeed. But nice!

Yey.

So, Friday!! A is coming into town tonight, spending the whole day tomorrow with J and then meeting up with P and H for Indian food followed by - Schlager!! I made some lchf-friendly desserts yesterday for the big night - nut clusters made with dark chocolate and white chocolate swirls. I need to work on my skills though, the white swirls really just look like - globs. Not terribly attractive actually. But they taste nice! And then going to Öland on Tuesday so oh, busy days!

Trek-alert

A woman obsessed!! That's how you could descibe me these days. I'm doing something as radical as going to the cinema in the middle of the week, on my own, because I just can't wait any longer!! I didn't have time this weekend and the next three weekends are fully booked as well, so mid-week it is!
I've also been spending a lot of time futilely looking for a place to buy this in Europe - shipping time is two to sex weeks from this US site!! There are a few other ones I could imagine getting but not all of them are available in Sweden and a lot of the ones found in the UK are sold out. They didn't anticipate the Trek-mania!!

As with all fans of a non-mass market media product, I'm a little bit suspicious because of how well the movie's doing. Does this mean that the movie is not very Trek or that the rest of the world has seen sense?

I suspect the former. OR, it could be that most movie reviewers who have made it as far as actually getting a job reviewing movies for the masses tend to fall into the nerdish category. That doesn't explain ticket sales though, anti-Trekkiness runs quite deep with some people. It might be a little bit of everything. It probably helps that the young crew is quite hot (see earlier craze about author's willingness to spend mucho dolares to plaster Spock's cheekbones all over my walls, despite social repercussions). Apparently it's fast-paced but with not so much plot. Oh well.
I can't think of any reviews that would make me *not* see it.

Watch this space.

Third time's a charm?? (and Major Geek Alert)

If the flu shot doesn't help this year either I'm not bothering with it again. Last year my arm swelled up immensely for almost a week and was quite painful - still got the flu. The year before I got the flue *twice* (I know that somehow this isn't supposed to be possible, but it was in two countries quite far apart so I maintain (with my standard level IB Biology skills) that there were variations in the strain).

I've been very geeky/antisocial lately (not by choice, though one could argue I could have done more to avoid it), so this entry is really a review of items watched. I ordered a batch from Amazon and hunkered down with BSG season 4 last week. Fantastic!! The president is one of my favourite characters so I'm glad there was lots of focus on her (consider this a SPOILER WARNING though I doubt anyone reading this will care). I don't really approve of what they did to her character's personality, but that's a different matter. I'm not quite sure what the cliffhanger is supposed to be though with regards to season 5?

Because they finally find earth. And sure, it's a bit messy and I know they use a geiger measurer so maybe that was suppose to indicate it's still radioactive, but then why are they all wandering around without protective gear? Doesn't seem like that part should be such a big deal. And they go there with the Cylons so the war isn't really an issue. Maybe they are counting on all the other loose ends, mostly of philosophical and personal matter, to make sure the viewers come back for the final, fifth season. Worked on me!! Sci-Fi fans are notoriously loyal, of course, so no surprise. I'm glad we were rewarded, actually, both with finding earth and the General and the President finally proclaiming their undying love for each other in face of certain death (god, I could write a good essay on this! (flash-back to sci-fi classes at ECU) they did both defy death although in different ways; she slowly dying of cancer and he by remaining behind, waiting for her when she was surely lost. In space... lol).

There is, of course, one big question: how will cylon and human work together? Will they accept each other as of equal value, surely symbolized by Kara getting together with Anders? (personally I think she belongs with Lee and would not welcome that particular solution to the quandrum) I can't wait for the final season yet I shall have to, I think it's still in production, and then it has to be aired in the US/UK, and then released on DVD there... :(