Beam Me Up Scottie!

At last we went to the movies this weekend! Finally got to see "Star Trek" and I wasn't disappointed.:) Having seen all of the old Star Treks on TV from the beginning, I've been a Star Trek geek since the series began.:) I used to love how they simulated the spaceship being attacked and everyone being pushed all over the bridge on the show. The lights would go off and on and the people would move from one side to the other. Yet it worked on TV.:) I've seen all the other Star Trek movies and loved them all. But all this time I was wondering where was Spock! Where could he be? Last time we saw him he was floating in space and trying to regenerate the Earth. This film gives us the answer, but I won't tell you, because some of you may not have seen it yet and I don't want to give spoilers. Let's just say I was very surprised. Of course, as always, my whole family knew the surprise!

I always wonder why I'm the only one in this family who still enjoys surprises. My husband actually reads the end of a book before he is finished reading the rest of it. My younger daughter is so jaded that I don't think anything can surprise her. She always seems to know the part of something that will be just a little magical if you don't know it. Then you stumble upon it as you watch the movie or TV show and say, "Wow, that was great!" I guess I never got out of that childish stage of wonder.:) Maybe that's what makes me a writer and they are unable to see that part of life. I'm stuck in the world of childhood for my whole life and everything new gives me a great feeling. I love surprises and never want to know the ending of a book or a movie. I find there's a real excitement when you don't know the ending and it makes you a more accepting person. You don't make a judgement before things happen. So you can't have an opinion on something you haven't seen.

But really getting back to the movie, it was sensational. The special effects are outstanding even down to Spock's ears. They were so lifelike it looked like the actor who played him had grown them for the movie.:) The space parts were also so lifelike that I believed they could be expelled out of a small shuttle with retractable parachutes and fly through space into Earth's atmosphere. The spaceship, Enterprise looked so real. Even the letters seemed freshly painted. But the best was the relationship between the young Kirk and the rest of the crew with the exception of the girl who played Uhuru. She had a very small part and it was not at all in the spirit of the original person who played her. Unless they wanted to show a side of the character that has hitherto not been seen.:) The scenes inside the ship, especially the Romulun ship, were not the usual dull, dark, dreary things that have happened in the past. The director managed to keep my and my daughter's interest in those battle scenes with believable fights and heart-stopping moments that I'm sure they filmed with a green screen, but which looked very real.

The reason I think this movie has gotten the ratings it has is my younger daughter's reaction to it. She was not going to see it, though we practically begged her to see it. She told us she was going to see another movie, but when my husband handed her the ticket she came into the theater with us. She had her arms folded the whole first part of the movie, but when we asked her afterward if she liked it, she said yes, she had. Part of it was when the adorable guy who plays Checkov came on the screen she definitely perked up a bit. Then she started to pay attention.

This is a two post review, so more in my next post. Let me know if any of you have seen this and how you feel about it. Until the next time, hope you had a great weekend. It was gorgeous here both days and loved the sunshine. Hope to see some comments. Also should have a guest author here this week. Will tell you who next post.:) Welcome to my new readers and as always thankful for the readers who have been with me. I love the nice comments. If you're here from Blog Catalog, please leave a comment here too. I read and respond to all of them.:)

Photo credits:

Left photo: Left to right: Chekov (Anton Yelchin), James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Uhura (Zoë Saldana) in 'Star Trek.' Photo Credit: Industrial Light & Magic. Copyright © 2009 by PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Right photo: Chris Pine (left) stars as James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto (right) stars as Spock in 'Star Trek.' Photo Credit: Industrial Light and Magic. Copyright (c) 2009 by PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION. All Rights Reserved.

Facebook and Twitter: Could They Be Destroying Your Brain Slowly?

From Cpaphil Vintage Postcards

From Cpaphil Vintage Postcards

From Cpaphil Vintage Postcards

In the last couple of days my decision to post about Twitter and how Facebook affects us seems to have increased. I have still not signed up to Twitter and seriously I don't see myself doing it. I don't even update my Facebook that much. So why would I want to Twitter? Yet it seems that the country is going gaga over Twitter. Even politicians are Twittering and actually some of them were being rude on Tuesday night when President Obama was speaking. I mean here is the first speech the new president is giving to a joint house of Congress with the Supreme Court present and what are these Republicans doing? They're Twittering and one even had his staff member send out a tweet to apologize for the first one. What could possibly be so important you have to tell people during a "Not State of the Union Address" as Rachel Maddow and John Stewart referred to it? Shouldn't they be watching the address too?

There is an article in the March issue of The Sun magazine, which has awesome articles. I thought they would have it online, but they have the February one now. You should definitely check this out. The article in the March issue is about how the internet is changing the way we think. It's called "Computing the Cost" by Arnie Cooper. It's an interview with Nicolas Carr who discusses how the internet has actually rewired our brains and we are thinking differently. You can get this magazine at any bookstore and after looking at a typical issue you might want to even subscribe to it. Or you can wait until they post this issue online, probably when they send the April one. My husband does and there's always something worthwhile to read in it.:)

A couple of posts ago I talked about how we might have a discussion about this subject. If you remember the article: "Why Facebook is for Old Fogies". On the heels of that article comes several more about the effects of Facebook and Twitter. Here is one : "Are Twitter, Facebook Health Hazards? and another "Twittering brains withering, expert warns" and one more in The Daily News, "Are Facebook, MySpace and Twitter eroding attention spans?" If you are interested and want to see more go here.

So armed with all this information I would like to know how you feel about it. Please leave your comments and I will try to answer as many as I can. A lot of people have been waiting for this post, so I hope that you will chime in with your opinion.:) Personally, I like Facebook, but it can get tedious. I love my friends and I love hearing from them, but sometimes answering all the requests and making sure you've saved the rain forest and the oceans is also time-consuming.:) I am personally addicted to Scramble.:) Also, I do love meeting all the people there and being able to network with all of you cool guys!! Looking forward to your responses.:)

Now for the blog I am highlighting today it is going to be: Cpaphil Vintage Postcards. I love to visit this unusual blog, because Marie, the author always has something different and exciting for us to see. She will link a vintage postcard to an event or an experience and it becomes very personal or she'll give us the history of it. One of her entries is about the French flag. Did you know that the original French flag had green instead of blue? That is only one of the fascinating things you can learn on her blog. The one after that was about a Napoleon question and Marie posted the answer she received from the historian David Markham so we could all learn about the history too. Marie has a large assortment of postcards and I am looking forward to viewing as many as I can when I have time. She offers some of them for sale, and she also encourages people to send her any that they have. It makes me want to dig into my souvenirs to see if I have any that I can send to her.:) Once you have visited this blog you will want to go back there every day. Just seeing those beautiful postcards and learning more about their history brightens my day!

The last thing I want to talk about is American Idol. It was the second week and there were twelve more hopefuls tonight. It's sad that when it comes to actually performing some of these people pick the songs that make them sound the worst. Don't they listen to themselves? Or are they doing them well in rehearsal and then messing up when they're in front of the audience? I admit that four judges is a bit much. Three was daunting, but imagine facing four of them? Also, they don't always agree and that creates tension. All I can say is no matter what the pundits say I loved Adam Lambert. He brings an energy and a voice that I sorely missed in most of the contestants tonight. Plus he is really good looking and that doesn't hurt.:) For the girls I am mixed, but I did like Allison Iraheta. For a sixteen year old she has some voice!! And even though he is doing the same shtick I liked Norman Gentle or Nick Mitchell (his real name). He is funny and every time I see him he makes me laugh. I've seen that quality in only a few people on the stage and most of them went on to do great things. When he was just starting out Gabriel Gottfried had that quality. I saw him at Catch a Rising Star in New York City and I thought I'd burst my stomach I laughed so hard. He did crazy things I'd never seen anyone else do. He got on TV and now is pretty much ensconced in comedy lore.

You have to applaud someone who wants to do anything for a laugh. Nick Mitchell is that kind of person. It is a bit schlocky, but it's his personality and he has great timing. He might have changed the song though. Simon was really getting disturbed about him. I don't care, but it would be fun to see what a comedian on the show might do to it. Might spice things up a bit.:) It's all up to the voting. We never vote until the last couple of shows. So we won't have any say in this. :) Here's a page where you can find out everything about American Idol.

But for sheer comedy I can't end this without talking about Gov. Jindal who has proved to be the most entertaining politician since Sarah Palin.:) There is no question that he reminded me immediately of Kenneth on "30 Rock". It was his delivery and his open eyed wonder that did it. He didn't look like a governor. Instead he seemed more like some IT guy who stopped by to see if he could fix your computer. He spouted lies and nonsense and did little for the Republicans but bring them more embarrassment. It's odd how much they can take!!

Until the next time. I hope you have a great rest of the week. One more thing I wanted to tell you. A friend of mine sent me a link to this great movie site. You can watch movies for free, like hulu.com. These are first run movies still in movie theaters like "Revolutionary Road" and "Australia". The name of the site is ParadoxCentral. You register and then you can watch all of these movies for FREE!!!!! I can't wait to take advantage of this soon. Enjoy!!!!