Tag: scifi

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SciFi and Fantasy

Star Trek Discovery: Interesting In Its Own Right

Now six episodes in and coming away from pretty much every one of them in emotional turmoil, I think I get Star Trek: Discovery. This is not the Star Trek I had hoped for. This is not the Star Trek I’m used to. This is interesting in its own right.

 

I think that prequels are generally a bad idea, especially when what follows is very, very well known and beloved by fans. It make every little violation of the timeline stand out and hurt like a thorn in an open wound. It’s annoying to see warp capable shuttle craft, site to site transport, and holodecks in an era that is not supposed to have these things. And don’t get me started about the spore drive! But now I understand.

Star Trek: Discovery is yet another re-imagining of Star Trek, plain and simple. It is in the vein of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica more than anything else. It’s not the Prime universe of the Original Series, nor is it the J.J. Abrams universe, aka Kelvin Timeline of the new movies. Discovery is its own thing, and interesting in its own right. Discovery needs to own this and embrace it.

MIchael Burnham reminds me so much of my youngest daughter and my own struggles with emotion, logic, and my place in the world when I was younger. I cannot help but want to see how her story unfolds! And Lorca, I don’t really like him all that much but his story is starting to unfold as well. Discovery has a lot of space to explore and doesn’t care what gets rewritten a bit on its way. So show me, show me this new Star Trek. Show me what you’ve got!

Categories
General SciFi and Fantasy

Join Me Luke And Together We Will Fix This Computer As Father And Son!

With the proliferation of Darth Vader memes across the web, I think the Dark Lord of the Sith is becoming something of an icon of fatherhood. I mean really, who hasn’t thought of their dad as the evil Darth Vader at one point or another. And I say that now that such a role has come upon my shoulders from time to time as a parent myself. But Darth was not always evil of course, and the guy was a very smart and capable Jedi back in the day. Naturally this is usually forgotten, not at all helped by a series of not so great prequels.

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Darth Vader, Icon of Fatherhood

It’s not all bad though. Tonight I had the pleasure of displaying my prowess as Lord of the Sith by helping my son extract a stripped screw from his laptop. He was in the process of upgrading the memory and somehow stripped the head of the screw to the access panel. All hope seemed lost as I tried various tools to get the stubbornly tight screw to turn.

In the end I called upon the Dark Side of the Force, abandoning finesse for some well placed torsional mayhem. I found a sharp pointed Philips head screw driver tip that I was able to fit into my power screw driver. I then pressed the sharp tip into the damaged screw and let her rip! I hoped that the pressure and vibration would loosen the screw and turn it.

It took a couple of attempts, but in the end that screw was no match for the power of the Dark Side. Luke, I AM YOUR FATHER!

Categories
SciFi and Fantasy

Childhood’s End

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Childhood’s End was a great read on my Nexus 7!

I just finished reading the Science Fiction classic, Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke and right now I am overflowing with emotion. I’ve always been a Science Fiction fan and I suppose should have read this many years ago. But now, being older, and being a parent, this story has touched me on a far deeper and more primal level. Clarke maintains a growing sense of foreboding mixed with only the slightest wisps of hope throughout the story.

My own children have just started to leave home, so Clarke’s tale of human evolution and transformation resonates quite strongly with me. They are moving into a future I will be unable to enter. I’ve seen and read a lot of SF in my time and no one has told this kind of story better than Clarke. I’m sure I would not have appreciated its nuances as a teenager. With that in mind, I think it may be time to start rereading many of the books in my collection!

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Anime, Manga, Etc cosplay SciFi and Fantasy

Die Has Been Cast For Dragon*Con!

The die has been cast, I just registered for Dragon*Con 2012! I reserved a room a few weeks ago, so I figured it was time to pay for a badge before the cost goes up on the 15th.

I’ve wanted to go to Dragon*Con for some time and had originally planned to go this year. But I got laid off around this time last year and had to put those plans on hold. Fortunately, I’m working again, so it’s back on! Yay! I’m hoping to take my Uhura to the parade and will probably have one or two new cosplays by that time. Not sure what yet, but I always find yet another costume that must be made!

Categories
SciFi and Fantasy

Have Some Free SciFi For iPad or iPhone!

Rolled Up Dimensionality CoverEveryone likes free stuff! Yeah, don’t deny it, ya do. From now until the end of the year, you can get a free copy of Rolled Up Dimensionality: Short stories from a forgotten life from the Apple iBookstore readable on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch!

This eBook is also available on the Kindle and Nook, but I can’t set the price to free there unless enough readers tell Amazon and Barnes & Noble that the eBook is now free on the iPad. So if you want it free on Kindle and Nook, please let them know!

Enjoy!

Categories
cosplay Media and Entertainment SciFi and Fantasy

Beaming Down To The Official Star Trek Convention

Star Trek 45th LogoStar Trek is my home fandom, but it’s been many years since I attended my last Star Trek convention. When I started attending cons, they were all fan organized. This meant all kinds of fun and sometimes quirky panels and events in addition to guests appearances and dealers.

Somewhere along the way, a company called Creation started doing Star Trek conventions and while they got really great guests, they were somewhat lighter on the quirky stuff that probably tended to violate somebody’s licensing rights. After a break of a few years I heard about anime cons and started going to those where the for fans, by fans vibe is still very strong and vibrant.

That said, I had not initially planned to go to next weekend’s Official Star Trek Convention in Chicago, but actually Rosemont. We were hosting a potluck that weekend, and I didn’t want to be a jerk and duck out on it for a con. I didn’t even mention that there was a con.

My noble silence was rewarded when the potluck had to be pushed back, and so the mission has been approved! Right now I’m only planning to go on Saturday to show off my Uhura cosplay and hopefully see Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols. If I could show it to her, that would be totally awesome!

In any case, I was feeling happy today from some good news and decided to order an original series style tricorder, phaser, and communicator to round out my cosplay. Hopefully they’ll get here in time. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what may be Leonard Nimoy’s last con appearance!