Why I Love Star Trek

I love Star Trek for a lot of reasons. But I think one of the biggest ones is the vision of the future it presents- where mankind has made peace with itself, moved past such primal, ignorant (yet long-held) beliefs such as racism, sexism, bigotry, prejudice....quite frankly, things like that just piss me off. There's nothing worse than a human being who dismisses or negates the validity of another person's life. To quote Rand: "Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage . . . . Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged not by his own character and actions, but by characteristics and actions of a collective of ancestors."

Quite frankly, I couldn't put it better. I have friends of all races, genders, orientations, and creeds, and if anyone ever attempts to use that against them, I don't care who it is or what the situation, I am instantly at arms.

So, watching Star Trek makes me happy- a future where such ignorant views are long past humanity. One of the best series to show this (besides the original series, of course) is Deep Space Nine. The black Captain alone is a significant difference, yet it's the stories that really make the main difference. One of the greatest episodes is "Far Beyond The Stars" (Season 6) it features Captain Sisko as a 1950's writer, whose wonderful and forward-thinking stories are rejected because the main character is black. Many of the characters in the episode declare how blacks will never be seen as equal, how there's no hope for any of it. One of the characters is killed because he was "breaking into a car." When Benny (the main character) attempts to challenge the detectives who killed him, the two detectives beat Benny to within an inch of his life. When he returns to work (the day his story is supposed to be printed) he comes in to find that the magazine owner "pulped" the entire month's issue rather than let a story about a black man be printed.



At this point, Benny breaks down. “You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea!!” He screams. “I am a human being! You can deny me all you want...but you cannot destroy what's in my head!” As he is carted away, his world transforms into Deep Space Nine, and his father says: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith."


Needless to say, this episode brings me to tears. That such hatred existed (and even still does exist) hurts my own worth as a human, and makes me hope and wish more than anything that such a world as Star Trek presents will exist- and keeps me watching, eager to escape for at least forty-three minutes into a perfect world.

My hope is that some day, this will become reality. Until then, I make it my goal to try and create such an enviornment as I desire with the people around me.

I have fought the good fight...I have kept the faith. I hope you can say the same.

You are the dreamer, and the dream...

How You Know You're From New York #38

When everyone is hopping a fence, you're up and over in two seconds or less, no rips in clothing or cuts, and everyone else takes at least four minutes and tears something.


....just sayin'.

My Big Long Love-Letter to New York

As my last week in New York (I don't care if we "live" in Connecticut, I'm a New Yorker) I've packed just about everything I can into this week. I went to my old haunting grounds in Brooklyn, wandered around the city, went places and did things that I always meant to. And I'm so glad I did- it gave me a chance to say goodbye. I love New York, I always feel like my heartbeat is normal and regular when it's in sync with the city. I took tons of photos, here are some of my favorites.

This is our old subway stop in Brooklyn. And this is right above it- I love big statue-things. It's right across the entrance to Prospect Park.
This is the entrance to the park- the figures on top are eagles.
This is the Brooklyn Public Library- SO many of my childhood memories are set here! It's ginormous and awesome and I missed it so much.

This is where my mom used to take our mountains of laundry each week to wash it. (Especially fun in 6' of snow.)
This is our building- 225 Sterling :)
Our apartment was the fifth floor (in a six-level building)
Grand Central Station. It's Grand....and it's Central!!
I've never been to the U.N. before this "trip," even though I would list it high on my "favorite places" list- because of what it stands for.
I walked directly by the Australian flag on my way past :)

This is the Chrystler building from the ground- you can't really tell, but it is, I swear!
A different evening I went down to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across and take some photos. It was right at sunset, so the light was absolutely beautiful.
The Bridge & The Moon
I thought this one would be wonderful in a black and white or sepia.
That little white dot is the (almost) full moon.
The Empire State Building and Crystler building from the bridge- the red light is absolutely gorgeous
This is my favorite!!! I took this, turned around, turned back around, and the light was gone. So glad I got it!
I had to do a 12x zoom to get this one- I'm amazed that it's clear at all!
I kinda want to steal this sign, but I'm sure a lot of people would have a problem with that.
This is my favorite building in Manhattan- it's gorgeous, and I swear it could have been designed by Howard Roark. Therefore, it's awesome.
I went to Phantom with one of my best friends Jess- tickets for $26.50- hollaaaaaa- and I was CRAZY excited.





This one's kinda blurry, sorry :(
Jess and I- in the last row, of course xD


I love this photo!

Then I saw 'How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" with Mum on Thursday.
It was awesome! But of course, the second Daniel Radcliffe came on stage my mom leans over and says "You're a wizard Harry!!" .........awkward.



I <3 NY

On An Added Note

This week was going to be my last week of watching Alphas if it didn't get 'mad better' and so I was rather resigned as I sat down to watch it.

With that said....

IT WAS AWESOME! Or at least, far better than it has been. What really pushed me over the edge was the subtle, non-obvious (unless you watch it) Warehouse 13 reference.


One of the characters was in the episode, and seemed to suggest a future cross-bleeding of shows. Huzzah!!! Totally will keep watching this show now.

Mondays just got a whole lot better.

Warehouse 13

Huzzah! Warehouse 13 is back and awesome. Glad that HG is back, even though she's still crazy. I'm also disappointed that Pete and Myka don't seem to be headed anywhere towards anything other than a good friendship :( But shippers gon' SHIP! And they'd be so great together.

The writing this week (3..2..1) seemed a little weak, even compared to later episodes. I'm hoping it's just a temporary blip- because the writing for this show has always been so great!

Monday nights always make me so happy.


I've checked out Alphas, too- it seems okay, not great. I've heard Brent Spiner(Data, Next Gen) is guest starring, so I'll watch at least til he's on, then I may or may not continue. It's kinda like Heroes, which I LOVED (until the writing crashed and buuuuuuuurned, like burned HARD), which was kinda like X-Men- I dig the humans-evolve-into-super-cool-powers thing.




...true. Cyclops is kinda pointless. Even if it is James Marsden.

This.....exists?

So as a "theatre rat", I of course love all things Broadway, and as a self-proclaimed 'weirdo', I seriously dig The Phantom of the Opera. In summer, particularly- I saw it just before we moved to Tuckahoe, and listened to it all summer. Now I'm moving again, (and am really trying to see it before I go!) and as I was googling Phantom, the music, pictures, etc...I found this.

At first, I was thrilled. I LOVE PHANTOM! Then I was like....wait. Seriously? A sequel, to Phantom? Is that....possible? That cannot be a good story. And it's set in...Coney Island?! Dude, that place is nasty! I mean I guess Parisian catacombs aren't too glamorous either, but....I have a personal vendetta against sand. It's so....unsexy. And Erik is....so sexy. Okay, horribly disfigured, but.....here. (For those of you who can't speak Randian, what she's saying is that love is an attraction to the mind, and the mind's accomplishments, not merely the physical.) And if you count out the 'disfigurement' --


Yeah. Go on, stare at that a while. Also, his voice makes me die a little every time I hear it. And not like Rebecca Black die, but like...die and go to Stovokor die. My new favorite tenor!! (And yes, Theatre rats have those.)

I listened to the whole soundtrack today- it's okay (what I'd expect from a sequel) but there are a few standouts that are just as beautiful as the originals. "Til I Hear You Sing" (LOVE. IT.) "Beneath a Moonless Sky" (had me cheering, Erik and Christine finally got it on!!! Haha) "Beautiful", "The Beauty Underneath" (which I wasn't too sure about the electric guitar, but warmed up to) "Devil Take The Hindmost", and "The Coney Island Waltz" (which I would LOVE to choreograph something too).

The ending made me mostly happy (can you NEVER cut him a break, Andrew Lloyd Webber?!?) and I enjoyed it all the same. I've heard that they have a movie in the works. Who knows?

Seriously. Go ahead. Stare.

....I will. :p


Also, I love love love love love this video- (My best friend pointed out that he seems like a total creeper, and yeah, but....so saaaaaaaaaaad.)