Star Trek: Into Darkness movie review

Actually, if I was blogging chronologically, I really ought to blog my review of Pacific Rim or Monster University first, but I wanted to get this one out-of-the-way ASAP so I can watch and/or read other reviews with my own unadulterated thoughts put down already. Once seen, such things cannot be unseen. That's your deep thought for moment. I really can't wait to see what Mr. Plinkett says about Star Trek 2. His movie reviews are outstanding, although I do not know if Plinkett is one man, many, a fictional person, a pseudonym(s), or what.

Anyway, NON SPOILER SECTION

I enjoyed all three movies, although my order of the three I mention would be: Pacific Rim, Monster University, Star Trek

I haven't been to many movies this year, or any year lately. All by itself, the fact I made the effort to see it in the theater was a compliment. I did not go to see the previous Star Trek, and it took me awhile (and a change in my thinking) to finally watch it.

The newest Star Trek movies basically got the Lost in Space movie treatment. Or Starsky and Hutch. Or the Beverly Hillbillies. They are not sequels to the original, or even remakes strictly speaking, but nostolgia-driven pop-culture-appealing gimmick-prone inspired-by entertainment-experiences.

To say that a movie with Kirk-Spock-McCoy and phasers and Klingons is good ol' Star Trek again is like saying my original Nintendo Star Trek 30th Anniversary game was right on par with the series in entertainment-genetics. Hey, the game was fun, with Harry Mudd, Saurian brandy, and Romulan birds-of-prey shooting at you (or threatening to). True to the classic series, I even learned to take along a few redshirts whenever bad guys were around.

SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER-FILLED SECTION - DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT CONSENT

I enjoyed the movie, but on terms of a fun sci-fi movie. It certainly was not bad. And I have seen some bad sci-fi movies, recently and in the past, so I am grateful for that.

So, in no partcular order, my gripes.
Khan crying, Spock crying, Kirk crying
Khan's defeat was not because of his 20th Century 2-Dimensional thinking, but rather a rather silly mistake (owing to a underestimation of Spock).
Khan was not Indian (tan-skinned), but this is understandable in light of tan-skinned terrorists in movies being a delicate proposition
Scotty not being replaced with an experienced Starfleet engineer (while docked at Earth for goodness sake! This was the most stupid part of the whole movie, except maybe the crying)

My compliments:
Carol Marcus showing up for perhaps more than one movie.
The idea that Khan and Carol Marcus are in this universe suggest boundless gimmick possibilities (wouldn't it be fun if Dax, Harry Mudd, and Gary Seven show up?).
The cameo of Leonard Nimoy's Spock
The unexpectedness of the Kirk-radiation plot twist
The reappearance of the peerless Captain Pike

I expect I will think of more, but let me get this posted.

Tartessos-Tarshish-Scheria-Atlantis/ Peacocks

I have been reading Willy Ley's new book, Lands Beyond. Actually, it's a book from the 1950s era co-authored with de Camp, but I prefer to hear Ley's voice in my head, and it's a new book to me. And for the publication date stills has a very "recent news" feel, which is impressive.

Anyway, it says more about the Bibical Tarshish and the historical Tartessos than I was aware of.
I had thought that perhaps the book would deteriorate into self-indulgent fantasy when speaking about mysteries like Atlantis, and I am releived it doesn't.

One of the large ideas put forth is that the Bibical Tarshish and historical Tartessos, long thought one and the same, might also be the city of Scheria from the Odessey and (the inspiration for?) the Atlantis of Plato. This four-way misidentification sounds worth looking into!

http://www.mysteria3000.de/magazin/the-archaeological-search-for-tartessos-tarshish-atlantis/

Sadly, Tarshish doesn't seem to have a wide consensus on identification, only a slim majority of scholarly opinion. Scheria and Atlantis would be much further remove from scholarly confidence.

While I think the hypotheses of the Indian coast and Britian are rather silly, I am prepared to consider Minoan Crete and Tarsus (of Bibical Paul's birthplace in modern Turkey) and Carthage as good candidates.

http://www.varchive.org/nldag/tarshish.htm
http://www.britam.org/Questions/QuesTarshish.html

Today I also looked up some bits of evidence that come from the Bible's description of Tarshish, or rather it's exports.
http://bbhchurchconnection.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/2-chronicles-921-is-it-peacocks-or-baboons/
I had not known of the green peacock (or jungle peafowl) before (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Peafowl), although I did know of the Congo peacock (which is not closely related). I also did not know that the peacock is a central symbol in Japan, Babylon, and Persia, all places it is not native (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peafowl). I also did not know the peacock was widely eaten in ancient times, nor did I know the peacock is kosher food (http://oukosher.org/blog/industrial-kosher/a-peafowl-by-any-other-name/).

Zelda LEGOs!

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/32525

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/29280

NPR talks LEGOs

NPR talks LEGOs
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/305/510071/197653391/WAMU_197653391.mp3?_kip_ipx=1809027714-1372778755

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-07-01/david-robertson-brick-brick-how-lego-rewrote-rules-innovation-and-conquered-global-

ReplyDelete

AnonymousJuly 2, 2013 at 8:31 AM
http://lego.cuusoo.com/

ReplyDelete

AnonymousJuly 2, 2013 at 8:35 AM
http://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/150580845?extension=pdf&from=embed&source=embed

LeVar Burton speaks frankly about police in America

http://now.msn.com/levar-burton-explains-his-police-safety-ritual

"The Empty Birdcage"

I heard a story in church last Sunday that I wanted to share (as I remember it). I'm not sure if it's accreddited to any writer, but it's more than an anecdote.

A older man was walking down a dusty road in a small town. He was a preacher. Along from the other direction came a young boy of maybe 7 or 8. He boy was carrying something. As the boy came closer, the precher could tell it was an old rusty birdcage, and soon he could even see a few brown unhappy-loooking birds inside.

"What ya got there?" said the man.

"I just caught me some birds out in the feilds here." the boy said proudly. "I trapped 'em. Set bait and all. They wasn't too smart."

"What you catching birds for?"

"Oh, I'm gonna take 'em home and have a real good time. I'm gonna pull out their feathers, and dunk 'em in water to see if they swim, and poke them with my pocket-knife." He brandished his sharp toy in the sun.

"What are you gonna do with them after that?"

"Oh, kill 'em. I got cats around the house that will have some fun, too."

The preacher looked thoughtful. He said, "Well, son, I hate to spoil your fun, but I was wondering if I could buy those birds from you. The whole cage, actually."

The little boy stood wide eyed. "You'd buy these mangy birds? They ain't even pretty. Just feild birds. Good for nothin'. Why'd anybody spend good money on birds like this?"

"Well, I do. How much would you want"

The boy looked rather confused. Scrunched up his nose. Then, he got a crafty look in his eye.

"Twenty bucks, mister" It was pretty clear the boy had picked out a sum he thought was astronomical.

"Okay," said the preacher, and pulled out his wallet. Handing the money to the youngster, he smiled at the boy. The boy set down the cage a bit roughly and hurried off without another word. Maybe he wanted to get home with his bounty before anything happened.

The preacher picked up the cage of frightened and disoriented birds huddled in the bottom. He walked around, and found an alley with a pleasant sunny grassy spot at the end. There was a meduim-sized tree there. The man set the cage down, opened it, and backed away a bit. He had thought about tapping the cage to encourage the birds to leave, and although he decided that wouldn't be wrong, it was still unnecessary to further excite the creatures. The birds were shy at first, but soon one of them tested the open door, perched at the edge, half-in and half-out. After a moment of hesitation, it darted up into the branches. This seemed to give confidence to the other birds, who soon followed.

The preacher smiled quietly, and walked back over to pick up the cage. While he had waited for the birds to realize they were free, he had thought about what to do with it. He had at first thought it was merely junk to be thrown away, but on further reflection decided it might be useful after all. Next Sunday, he'd bring it with him to the pulpit. It'd make a pretty good conversation starter, he thought. And that's the way he thought about his sermons: as conversations. True, the sermons by nature were pretty one-way, but instead of a lecture he tried to make it feel like it was one friend telling a story to another. The best story ever told, he thought to himself.

We can imagine a conversation between God and Satan much like that between the preacher and the boy. There was a trap, and those who were trapped, and also a price.

Acer laptop black/blinking screen -- urgh

I'm gonna try to fix it myself, but not sure if the problem is simple enough for that.
I've already tried what I they call a power drain (removing battery and trying to start up without power)

Next up: RAM stick removal.

There are definately a few things I think I can do BEFORE I give up at take it to a repair person at the flea market.

A lot of these videos suggest trying an external monitor as a test, and using a USB external drive to bring over files downloaded from the Acer website. I don't have fancy stuff like that.

(Come to think of it, maybe I should look on Acer's website before YouTube)

This was a pretty good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chaoqoebcTo
And this show the same things, but more angles from a different guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiDBqx_wsdM