loonyblog.

Beer taps in tables in bars?

Then again, I wouldn’t mind one built into my desk at work…

Guitar Hero DS.

Awesome. But oh so silly.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90. There’s not much I need to say about that, other than the fact that he was the last of his kind and the world is a much less exciting place without him. He will be missed.

In other sad news, Anthony Minghella has passed away at the far-too-young age of 54. He won an Oscar for “The English Patient”, and probably deserved one for “The Talented Mr. Ripley” as well. He too, shall be missed.

Incidentally, the above headline refers to one of Arthur C. Clarke’s more famous quotations, and it’s also the name of one of the achievements in the Xbox 360 version of Civilization Revolution. No, I won’t tell you which one, but we’ll be revealing that soon enough.

For part two (here’s part one again, if you missed it) in my look back at the entire Star Trek franchise, I’m going to examine the original series.

The original series ran for three seasons, and 79 episodes (80, counting The Cage, although that pilot episode became the much superior two part episode The Managerie). Considering how groundbreaking the series was, and how little they had to work with at the time, the show really holds up very, very well. Had it lasted a few more seasons, there’s no doubt in my mind that it would top Deep Space Nine as my favorite series. But as it is, there just isn’t enough of the show. But what there is, is almost uniformly excellent.

What makes TOS so great is its combination of characters. Sure the secondary characters and guest stars tend to be pretty annoying (particularly in the early episodes, with people like Reily or Yeoman Rand), but the main characters are pretty much all great.

Kirk is my favorite captain because he has such a great combination of strength, good humor and charm. That combination was attempted with both Archer and Janeway, and neither one quite got it. But Kirk was always charming, even when he was being overly manly (as he was in some of the weaker episodes).

My favorite original series episode is definitely For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky. That’s for several reasons. For one, it’s a showcase episode for McCoy, my overall favorite Star Trek character (and unlike in Shore Leave, he actually gets to do something other than stand around and look dumbfounded). But also I love the general plot, which could easily have been ripped right out of Philip K. Dick (people living on the inside of the world, but nobody realizes this until one day someone actually reaches up and touches the ceiling). It’s just good ol’ fashioned 60’s sci-fi at its best, from the title to the conclusion.

Unlike every other series, I don’t really have a least favorite episode of TOS, just some episodes that are generally pretty weak. Arena comes to mind as a particularly silly one, as it offers little more than Kirk at his barrel chested manliest. Also A Piece of the Action is pretty ridiculous, with its premise of a world of 1920s Chicago.

But really, the quality level of TOS is remarkable. You get great episodes like Amok Time, Space Seed, and of course, the Harlan Ellison-penned City on the Edge of Forever. And for all his cartoonish glee, the two appearances by Harry Mudd are welcome as well.

Incidentally, when I rented it from Netflix, I watched the entire run of the series in their initial DVD release, but I’ve just been re-watching them in the new “remastered” format that was recently released on HD-DVD. The HD doesn’t do much here, but the new special effects shots, which I fully expected to hate, are actually kind of nice. They’re limited to just the exterior shots of the Enterprise and other ships, and they look good, and not nearly as out of place as you might think. It’s worth checking out, if you’re a fan.

Coming up in part three, I delve into the first full-length series (Next-Generation), and look back on the many-gendered loves of Riker, cringeworthy Barclay appearances and even men in skirts. Stay tuned.

WARNING: This post violates the rules

Ah, Spitzer. Your holier-than-thou attitude clearly was at odds with your love of $2600 a night hookers ($4300 with tip!).

Truth be told, I liked Spitzer. I voted for him, after all. I just hated the fact that he came after my industry/company repeatedly. That and his constant moralizing, which politicians just shouldn’t do, particularly with all the skeletons in their respective closets.

I’ll be much happier if and when someone manages to dig up dirt on Senator Joe.

Video Computer System by Golden Shower:

I watch that once a year or so, and it’s still super clever. Yeah, the Matrix reference is dated, but come on…the rest of it, from the chip tune music to the direction is so cool. It’s great stuff.

It always amazes me the things that come up via Google Ads depending on my posts on this blog…last night I posted about Star Trek, and wouldn’t you know it, I get this:

I expect there’s probably one for Halitosis in the rotation as well. And maybe one for mail order brides.

Way back in March of 2006, I decide to begin a project of simply monstrous proportions. Having recently (thanks to Netflix) watched the complete runs of Farscape, Angel, Buffy and The X-Files, I decided to turn my attention to Star Trek. I made a pact with myself to watch all of Star Trek. Not just a single episode, or series or movie, but the entire franchise, from start to finish.

Just over two years later, I have achieved that impossible goal. I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but I have watched the entire franchise. Every series, from the original through Enterprise, every movie from The Motion Picture through Nemesis. I skipped nothing. I made it through all of Enterprise, all of Voyager, and through the entire Animated Series, and somehow retained my sanity.

I’ll be posting various rundowns of the whole experience in multiple posts in the future, but first, here are some random stats and quick opinions:

• Total amount of time wasted spent: Approximately 576 hours
• Real world time: 1 year, 11 months, 20 days
• Favorite series: Deep Space Nine
• Least favorite series: Enterprise
• Favorite captain: James T. Kirk (Original Series)
• Favorite character (overall): Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Original Series)
• Best developed character: Odo (Deep Space Nine)
• Worst developed character: T’Pol (Enterprise)
• Most irritating character: Tom Paris (Voyager)
• Best part of an otherwise not-so-good series: The Doctor (Voyager)
• Best movie: Star Trek: First Contact
• Worst movie: Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Most welcome guest star (tie): James Cromwell (TNG, DS9, First Contact), Jeffrey Combs (DS9, Voyager, Enterprise)
• Least welcome guest star: Dwight Schultz (Reginald Barclay on TNG, Voyager)

Lots more to come. I didn’t kill a month of my life just to let this go in one post.

This year’s Oscars was indeed an interesting experience…they’re always entertaining, even if I didn’t have any particular stake this year. If you were one of the many, many people who decided to skip it, here’s a really well-done recap care of Mahalo Daily: