Life Status

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I realize that I haven’t blogged much lately, at least in this forum, about me.  How am *I* doing?

Well, frankly, I am OK, but I’ve been better.  I can be better.  I procrastinate doing anything constructive that will make me feel better.  Why, you ask?  I probably couldn’t tell you.  At least I am going to a sleep clinic next week to try and get my sleep habits in order.  I probably will end up having to use a machine to help me breathe properly while I sleep.  I need to get my weight under control.  I’m going to end up putting myself under if I don’t do anything about it.  If anything else, I need to do it for the sake of the man who loves me.

Why is my apathy at an all time high?  Am I too afraid to fail?  Am I too afraid of judgmental pricks?   I know what you’re thinking, fuck them!  And you would be right.  But I need to find the drive to do better.  I found it once a while back, and then it went away.  Maybe I just misplaced it somewhere.  I will keep looking for it, and when I find it, I won’t let it go easily.

Stay tuned…

EDIT: Just minutes after I published this post, Greg had a migraine so bad that I had to take him to the ER.  We were in an out of there in less than three hours.  His health is important to my health.  At least he’s OK.

Trek Review: “Court Martial”

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Oh me, oh my, where do I begin with this episode?  As you can tell by the tone of that introductory statement, “Court Martial” has never been one of my favorite episodes.  It’s not that the concept of the story was bad, but the execution was very, very lacking.

I’m sure you know the story, Kirk’s old friend dies under his watch… the computer has been altered to make the evidence damning against him, etc.  Herein lies a problem:  how that evidence was damning.  Observe this screenshot from the playback of the visual log:

As suggested in the story, Captain Kirk pressed the jettison button himself.  Why in all creation would he have that button conveniently on his panel?  And for that matter, the Yellow Alert and Red Alert?  And just how can a visual log be that detailed anyway?  A lot of plot contrivance in my opinion.

Also, at the end of the episode, they use a “white sound device” to try and isolate Finney’s heartbeat and establish that he isn’t actually dead.  Dr. McCoy has to go through the process of eliminating everyone else’s heartbeats.  It has been established in previous episodes that the Enterprise can scan and find people on planets, but why in the world can’t they scan their own ship and find a nefarious crewman that has gone rogue?  Very confusing.

There is a good story in there, but I don’t think it was presented to its fullest potential.  Not one of the better episodes of the first season.  I can see why the powers that be wanted to hold it back for telecast at the end of the season.

Next week: Landru!

Trek Review: “Tomorrow is Yesterday”

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If you will recall, at the end of “The Naked Time,” the Enterprise traveled back in time 71 hours escaping the situation that they were in.  That was not the original way that episode was supposed to end, however.  As has been documented in countless books and documentaries, the original ending was for our heroes to end up in 1969 instead.  Well, that part two didn’t happen there, but the idea of it didn’t go away.  It was made later in the season and became Star Trek’s first foray into the past, which is almost the present, in the all-time classic “Tomorrow is Yesterday.”

Roger Perry plays Captain Christopher, an Air Force pilot who ends up on the Enterprise, which has been placed in 1969 by way of an accident after trying to escape the pull of a black hole.

All of the drama and a little hilarity that ensues is top notch Trek.  I always loved the scenes on Earth in the Air Force base.  Especially, the “What was that?”, “What was what?” (which was coyly brought up again in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home during a similar situation.)

One minor thing however, is during all of the attempt at the end of the episode to get back to their present time is that if you’re not paying attention, you probably will get lost.  There are a lot of moving parts and pieces to what’s going on, what with having to go back in time, then forward in time involving the magnetic pull of the sun.  It’s actually interesting to me, and I wonder if the theory would actually be true, or is it truly science fiction?  I probably won’t be alive if we ever achieve any level of star flight to be able to test that theory, but still, I wonder…

This episode has always been one of my top 10 favorites. That will never change.

If only it was that Part Two… if only….

Next week, Kirk is in trouble, and there is a few plot holes here and there to boot…

Nick’s Mix Review of “The Founder”

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I have nothing but good things to say about “The Founder,”  the biopic about Ray Kroc, the man who made the McDonald’s restaurants a household name in the 1950s and 1960s.  Michael Keaton continues to astound me with his great acting ability playing the multi-faceted and ruthless Kroc, who met the McDonald brothers and not only franchised their idea, but outmaneuvered them and took the rights to their own name.  Keaton takes great care to give Kroc the proper interpretation, down to mannerisms, accent, and just a general sense of just how hungry he is to succeed and be rich and famous.

You probably know the story, it’s really no different here.

The script by Robert Siegel and the direction by John Lee Hancock were both very impressive.  I’ve always felt that when you do a period piece, especially a biopic, I have to be totally immersed and convinced that I care about the story.  It helps that was already familiar with the backstory of what happened here going in.  I tend to be when it comes to what biopics interest me.  This one was no exception.

It’s interesting to note that most of this film was shot in Georgia.  As several readers of this probably know, the state has been a boon for media production over the last few years.  Isn’t it a coincidence that Atlanta is probably going to be my next move career-wise?  Hmm.

I highly recommend watching this film.  It’s an interesting story and a great period piece.  It’s a win-win flick!

Day Two

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I feel better today than I did yesterday.  Why, you ask?  Put simply, we’re all going to be OK.

People are peacefully protesting all over the country and the world.  PEACEFULLY!  Not what those nitwits who lit cars on fire yesterday did, but peacefully demonstrating that the majority of people do not agree with how things turned out.

I don’t want this blog to become overtly a hotbed of hot takes over the direction our country is going in, but I will say this.  As a gay man who is married to someone he loves very much, everyone’s rights to make their own choices in their lives is very, very, very important.  Even if I don’t agree with what choice they make, they have the right to choose what they do.  I have no say in the matter, and the government surely should not either.

That’s just how I feel.  I’m not a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Very Silly, or whatever, I’m Nick.  That’s who I am and that’s what I believe in.  No authoritarian nitwit can tell me any different.

How I Feel

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I want to take a second and tell you how I really feel on this day, January 20th, 2017.

Am I sad? A little.

Am I angry? You bet.

What am I going to do about it?  All I can do, keep my head up and keep pushing forward.  I’m not going to let anyone tell me to do anything different because I have every reason to be proud of who I am, regardless of who is in power.  I am happy, I am successful and I am comfortable with who I am.  I’m not going to let anyone or any entity tell me any different.

Bring it on. See you on November 6, 2018.

Trek Review: “Arena”

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This is undoubtedly one of the most well known episodes of not just Star Trek, but of any TV show.  Everyone out there at one time or another has seen the Gorn, even if they don’t know a Gorn by name.  Just mention that creepy lizard-like alien, and they’ll remember this episode.

This episode has always held a special place in my heart.  I just love its scope and its depth.  Most of all, I love the planet location, Vasquez Rocks.

I love this location so much, that me and Greg went there back in March 2008 on our second trip out to Los Angeles.

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When we were there that day, there were lots of high wind warnings around.  The sand was being blown all over the park, which made it impossible to really see anything.  If it wasn’t so windy, I would have climbed up to the top of the famous rock face and pretended I was Kirk rolling down that giant foam boulder. 😛

I am sure that everyone watching this episode back in 1967 were pleasantly thrilled for the entire hour.  I find it interesting that Kirk is taking such a stance of “the aliens must be destroyed” and Spock trying to change his mind.  It makes me wonder why McCoy wasn’t there to try to interject his opinions more.  That will always remain a mystery as to why Gene Coon didn’t write it that way.  It doesn’t make the episode any less enjoyable for me anyway.

Next week, we go back in time… to not quite the present:

Nick’s Mix: “Moonlight”

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It’s a very tough life growing up in an urban area with crime and bad influences surrounding you.  You are supposed to act, think, and do certain things to get by, even if you have any aspirations to actually do something else.  If you are different, especially if you are gay, you have to bury those feelings underneath a thick veneer to where nobody can see who you should be, who you really are.

The character of Chiron in “Moonlight” is a very quiet, troubled soul.  He knows he’s different, but as a young child, he doesn’t realize who he is yet.  He is growing up in urban Miami, where crime and drugs are rampant, and where he is picked on by school bullies and isn’t loved by his mother.  One day, he befriends a man, Juan, and later his girlfriend, Teresa, who tell him that he can be whomever he wants.  Chiron does have one acquaintance his age, Kevin.

The film examines three stages of his life, when Chrion is 9, then when is a teenager, and finally when he is a man.  Chiron has just about every life challenge you can imagine for a 9-year-old boy.  His mother is a drug addict buying the junk from Juan himself (much to Juan’s shock.)  In the second part, Kevin and Chiron have romantic encounter on a beach.  This was a very profound and powerful scene.  The love is short lived as the bullies at his school force Kevin to beat Chiron up as a rite of passage.  Chiron in turn lashes out at one of those bullies in class and is sent away.

Years later, Chiron gets a phone call late one night from Kevin.  He hasn’t heard from him in years.  Kevin has tried to get on the right road to having a decent life.  Chiron, not so much.  But, eventually, they meet back up and it’s left to the audience to wonder if they do, in fact, become lovers.

This is the kind of film I like to see. The writing and direction of Barry Jenkins is very, very well done.  You felt for all of these characters. It’s not very common with someone of Chrion’s background to be able to be gay and be accepted.  I can understand how he feels.  The hurt inside when you can’t find anyone to love and be yourself has to be devastating.  I know, I felt that as a teenager myself.  So for me, this aspect of his life hit very close to home.

I am quite proud that this movie has already won the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.  I hope that it will win a couple of Academy Awards come next month.  These kinds of personal tales are ones that are the core strength of cinema and need to be told, especially in this day and age.

Crazy Weather

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As of this post, it is currently 65º in Knoxville.  On January 14th.  It is predicted that we will be in this area of temperatures for at least a few days.  Where did winter go?  Did spring give fall and winter a miss and get here early?  Probably not.  Is it global warming?  I’m not opening that can of worms here.

But you will agree, it’s not supposed to be this damn warm in January!

However, it is nice. 🙂

Trek Review: “The Squire of Gothos”

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Greeting and felicitations!  With those words, Trek fans were introduced to one of the most interesting, dynamic characters of the Original Series.

Trelane, the lonely Squire of Gothos, who in reality is a very superior being.  Except for one thing, he’s a very young child, or at least what we would consider a child.

When I first saw this episode, I honestly did not have any idea until the reveal at the end of the episode that Trelane was, in fact, a child.  I thought he was just what was he was being presented to be up to that point, a very omnipotent being with no regard for what he was doing.  That’s exactly what they wanted us to think!  I have to give a clever tip of the cap to the production team, they had me fooled.

William Campbell’s portrayal of Trelane is very exquisite.  I still chuckle every time when, in the “hunt” with Kirk, he exclaims to him “YOU BROKE MY SWORD!”

What would the audience of 1967 have thought?  Probably the same as I did, that they would have been left guessing for the whole hour just who this Trelane fellow really was, and then the realization at the end hits, “Aha!”

Something of note that has always interested me about the character of Trelane:  there was a novel written by Peter David called “Q Squared” in which he suggests that Trelane is a member of the Q Continuum.  I could buy that, even though the novels are considered non-canonical.  It still is an interesting theory.

Next week, one of the most remembered alien encounters that is often quoted in pop culture…