Fun for Geeks

I had fun over at the website Geekblips where those of us geeks who love science fiction had an interesting question posed to us:

If you could have the ability/gadgetry of your favorite science fiction TV or Movie character and join them - in their world - on one of their adventures, who would it be and why?

My answer was the following:

If I could have the ability of one of my favorite sci-fi characters and join them in their world on one of their adventures, I would choose DAX from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." I would love to be joined with a symbiont of several hundred years of life experiences like Jadzia Dax who has a symbiont with over 300 years worth of life experience in science, music, as a pilot, and even knowing the mind of a murderer, and yet have the body of a sexy 28 year old, what a deal! With that level of experience and wisdom in so many different aspects of life, I imagine the conversation I could have with Dax would be interesting, very deep, never dull, and then we could hit the Holosuite for some Klingon martial arts action! Now that would be my idea of a fun adventure.

You can read the rest of the responses HERE.

Enjoy!

Are You Ready to Meet an Alien?

I have mused many times about how human beings here on Earth would receive aliens if they were to visit us and this was even the topic of the most recent movie District 9. Many movies over the decades have questioned our ability to peacefully accept and learn from an alien culture or single alien itself, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and The Alien franchise(in which the "company" wanted to capture an alien for the bio-weapons division), just to name a few of the many movies. The reason I am discussing this at all is because over at the website Space.com they had a poll asking how ready Earth is to meet an Alien Civilization. Very much to my surprise 37% said yes, then 38% said maybe, and 25% say no. I do need to take into account that those people who read Space.com are probably of a higher intelligence and more well rounded than the average person, but still, I feel Earth is not ready due to all the wars between countries, discrimination, and injustice that exists in the world. In fact, I was just reading a post on the blog of Dr. Castro about that very subject of hate.
I think we as humans have a lot more evolving to do in terms of acceptance and regard for genetic differences between our own species before we can accept an alien culture.
Here is a link to the POLL.

Movie Commentaries

Image via Wikipedia

I read in Trek Today that Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) and Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker) teamed up to do the commentary on the new DVD release of the movie Star Trek: Insurrection. I found it interesting that Sirtis mentioned that her favorite of the TNG movies was First Contact and I have to agree, I loved the history of Star Trek in the movie, the action, and most of all the humor, but I digress. I have listened to directors and actors comment on episodes and movies in the past and I think I prefer to hear the comments from the actors. It feels like it is a critique of their work and gives me a unique perspective of how they prepared for a scene, if they rehearsed or not before shooting a scene, how the costumes felt, how it was to work with fellow actors, etc. It reminds me of when I was in University and had to critique my own writing or art work and then listen to others comment and give criticism or praise. It is a fun process and you learn what things need to change and how to improve yourself for future projects.
The only thing I don't like is when they re-release the movie with that special feature so I will buy it again. Since I already have the DVD I doubt very much I will buy a duplicate just to hear the commentary. Oh well. However, it is a bonus feature I do enjoy and hope the actors will continue to comment on their work more often in the future.
Here is a link to the article,
Enjoy your Day!

Halloween Film Fest

Cover of Carrie (Special Edition)

Halloween is so much fun: the costumes, the decorations, all the parties and fun houses, and most of all, the MOVIES!!! I have so much fun lighting the candles and turning off all the lights, making popcorn, and sitting on the couch to watch as many scary movies as I can into the wee hours of the night(morning). The movies I will watch this year will be :
Saw(2004)
Jeepers Creepers(2001)
Halloween(1978)
Friday the 13th(1980)
The Exorcist (1973)
Carrie (1976)
Christine (1983)
Ghost Busters (1984)
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
I prefer the original versions of all these movies and while I have fun with the sequels, I think the original story is hard to beat. I am also going to watch a movie I just discovered entitled The Uninvited (2009). The movie had some parts that were predictable but overall I was on the edge of my seat really enjoying the movie!
Have a safe and Happy Halloween and here is a clip from the Uninvited.

Time to Change to Standard Time!

Image by LA Wad via Flickr

We changed time this weekend back to Standard Time and there is an awesome WEBSITE
I like to visit to see what time it is in various parts of the world. I am so glad we changed time because I am an early riser and lately it was just too dark in the mornings. I like to go out on my bike rides or do chores around the house so I have more time in the day to get it all done if you know what I mean. The odd thing living on the border with California is they change time a week later so when I look from my balcony over to San Diego, I can see that we are sharing the same sunlight but they are one hour ahead of the time I am experiencing. I often muse on this idea that on the Earth we are really existing together at the same time but experiencing different shades of light and time. Can you imagine when we finally have contact with other worlds with sentient life how we are going to tell time and what there measure of time will be like? I like for example, that Bajor on Star Trek:DS9 has a 26 hour day, however, time on the star ships is kept in terms of stardates. Well, getting back to reality, what is odd to me, though, is to be literally a few meters from another country and have different time zones. We will synchronize in one week, but for that one week it is crazy because so many people cross the border daily and they expect me to be in my office at a certain time. During the summer we have a month in which we share an hour difference but most of us have grown used to the difference.
Well, I am glad we are on Standard Time here in Mexico and I believe Europe and Russia also switched this past weekend as well!

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Star Trek Bloopers

I love to watch bloopers from my favorite shows and especially Star Trek because it reminds me how difficult it must be to act with costumes, special effects that will be added in later, or sometimes acting alone when you are supposed to be looking at some hideous alien or something. It is also a hoot to see how much fun the actors have doing a scene especially when it is serious.
This YouTube video I found is put together in a clever manner including interesting music.
Enjoy the video and your weekend!

Vampires are good for the economy!

Image via Wikipedia

All the Vampire books, movies, and television shows are so popular that there is an article that describes how the craze seems to be branching out into other areas such as clothing styles:

Vampires have even inspired a return to Gothic chic on the New York and Paris fashion runways.

Certain music groups or individuals can get a boost from the Vampire crowd:

Musician Anya Marina isn't a big fan of vampires, but her association with them has helped her burgeoning career.The former San Diego singer was picked to be on the soundtrack for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” along with artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

Even drinks are getting in on the action:

The craze isn't just for women, though. HBO's online store sells four-packs of Tru Blood, a blood-orange-flavored soda based on the beverage vampires drink on the TV show “True Blood.nd a fruit-punch energy drink called Blood Energy Potion will be available in January. It has the consistency of real blood and comes in a transfusion-style bag.

People are into Vampires and why:

“A vampire is free to do whatever he wants and be as sexual as he wants to be,” said Andrew Rempt, an English professor at Southwestern College. “They're always popular, especially with young people, for their rebellion. I'm not surprised that people are getting back into them.”

There are so many Vampire movies and shows these days you can most certainly get you fix!

You can read the entire article HERE.

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