The wife and I attended a Midnight showing of the new "Star Trek" movie last night. As a lifelong Trekker, I'd been doing some serious geeking out, in these last few weeks, anticipating the rebirth of my love. But for diehard Treknerds like myself, it all comes down to this quote, from director JJ Abrams: ""I was never really a fan of 'Star Trek,' ". And that says everything. In some interviews, it is revealed that the cast and crew are seemingly somewhat contemptuous of their Trek ...
A month or so ago, The Wife and I stopped for ice cream at Stars and Stripes, a local walk-up ice cream joint just out the road. While there, I ran into Cody, a girl I used to work with, and spent a couple minutes catching up with her. She was with her fiance and his father, and they sat quietly as we chatted about work and such. At length, the older man asked where we lived, if we were residents of Hanover Township. We replied that yes, we were. We live in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. He a...
I was ready to laugh out loud. As soon as I heard the familiar music over the darkened screen, I thought "Man, I wonder what this’ll be like". When I first heard about this project a few months ago, I thought it would be a joke. I thought it WAS a joke. I guess was wrong. I saw the trailer for "Rocky Balboa" when The Wife and I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" yesterday, and I have to admit that I’m interested, and maybe even a little impressed. As the outline of the story ...
When I was a kid, back in the 70s, I used to really like Johnny Cash. His style, his voice; he was cool. Not sure why, but I kind of got away from him as I entered my teens. The 80s Pop thing had me, and my old favorites kind of faded into the background. In their place came Men at Work, AC/DC, etc. In my later years, however, I'm happy to say that my attitudes have aged somewhat; I've rediscovered my old favorite, and my appreciation has matured as well. I got a little life experience u...
I have two main hobbies……I collect toys, mainly action figures, and those mostly dealing with "Star Trek". These are getting harder and harder to come by. I also collect thimbles. Yes, thimbles. That’s my "gay hobby", and I have quite a few. But, I don’t collect just any old thimbles; I only collect souvenir thimbles. To be worthy, they must bear the name and/or image of a city, state or tourist attraction. I like collecting thimbles. They’re fairly inexpensive, they’re small, and they las...
Steven Cojocaru is the "guy" (doll?) who does the "style" segment on "The Insider" (see link---it's a nice picture of him; the lipstick brings out his eyes). You know, "The Insider"; one of those vacuous, mind-numbing celebrity-worshipping shows where everything is in headache-inducing sound bites and ten-second clips. The "set pieces" are maybe a minute or two long. Just long enough to get interested, and it's over; time to move on. My wife loves those shows. Anyway, Cojcaru, or "Cojo" a...
I heard on the news the other day that The National Alliance of Gays and Lesbians Against Defamation has brought a lawsuit against "Today Show" movie critic Gene Shalit. It seems he gave "Brokeback Mountain" a poor review. Tsk-tsk. Now he's in for it. This of course incurred the wrath of the gays and lesbians, who, I'm quite sure, are more than ecstatic that they've finally shattered the glass ceiling of the multiplex with the story of two gay sheepherders. Baaaaaa--aaad news for Gene. A...
The radio station we listen to at work had a story the other day about a recent interview with Little Richard, whom they quoted as saying that it "irritated him" to hear Elvis Presley called "The King of Rock n' Roll". He correctly pointed out that Chuck Berry, who many consider to be the "original" Rock n' Roller, and he, himself, were there before Elvis, making very popular music in this new style. He also mentioned Bill Haley. He considered that they, rather than Elvis, should rightfully b...
I recently went to a flea market in St. Clairsville, OH, and came home with quite a find, at least for me. I've been a collector of Star Trek items and memorabilia for some time, and I found three of the old Power Records Book & Record sets; 2 45s and one 33 with two stories, each dated 1975. Only paid 12 bucks for all three, after a little haggling, and all are in great shape; hardly any scratches on the records. The books are spotless, if a little creased here and there with age, of course. ...
If I had to pick a few favorite Rock albums (or CDs....I still call them albums) to take to a desert island with me,I'd pick: Sentimental favorite: Elvis Presley--"Elvis Presley" Personal favorite: AC/DC--"Back in Black" Weird favorite: Slade---"Keep your hands off my power supply" Classic favorite: The Beatles---"Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" Soundtrack favorite: (tie)----"The Star Wars Saga" and "The Godfather"
In the time that I was offline, I was saddened by the news of the passing of James Doohan, "Scotty" of "Star Trek" fame. He was 85, and is the second of the "Original Series" crew to pass away. The first was DeForest Kelley, Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy, in 1999. Scotty was always my favorite Trek character, for many reasons, but mainly because he always seemed so "real" to me. Unlike the more noble and perhaps more sophisticated "big three" characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, Scotty was ...
I recently found a really great buy; in the bargain DVD bin at Wal-mart, there, amid the detritis of B-movies and such, I found one of my favorite films from the 80s: "Johnny Dangerously". For $5.50! I loved this movie from the first time I saw it. For those of you who've never seen it, if you don't like movies that are "supposed" to be silly and stupid (al la "Airplane I and II", "Naked Gun", "Hot Shots", etc.), you won't like this one. My wife hated it. The movie stars Michael Keaton as...
Hermes, a famcy, high-end boutique in Paris, was closed for business when Oprah Winfrey and her entourage came knocking. They were turned away, however, because the place was closed for the day and for a "public-relations event". The store has apologized to Ms. Winfrey for the inconvenience. Damn Straight! How DARE they treat a celebrity the staure of OPRAH WINFREY like just anyone else, and make her adhere to the same rules as the rest if us. I guess closed is closed, unless you happen to ...
Can anyone tell me a current market value price on a harcover collection from 1990 called "Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told---Expanded Edition". It's a purple book with a picture of The Joker with a silhouette of Batman behind him in a window. I can't seem to locate it on the pricing sites I've visited. I'm curious to know, as I may have to be unloading some of my stuff on eBay in a bit, if I don't get back to work soon. Thanks for any help.
I won't go into the reasons for it, but blame my wife....I do like to watch American Idol. Leave it at that. That said, I have to say that Mikalah Gordon has got to go. I'm tired of her Fran-Drescher-esqe whine and the whole Long Island Princess act. She even looks a little like Fran Drescher, actually. Oh yeah,she can sing when she tries, and she's definitely a hottie....a body like a shit brickhouse and a cute smile and face to step on puppies for (yeah yeah...she's only 17...so what? ...