Monday Madness!

I am full of squee! Not only will I be on a two week holiday starting Sunday, but OOOO!!!! The EVIL Crew. This artist even graced us with a pattern that I will definitely be trying. Her creations are definitely very, very adorable. *whispers* I like evil!Spock's look better than his regular look, but don't tell him that I said that ;)

If you say so, Mr. Spock, sugah...

All I have to say is ROTFLMAO!

I do wish it was clearer so that I could have seen Leonard's expression afterward.

Happy Birthday LN

I had wanted to find something interesting to celebrate Mr. Nimoy's 78th birthday a few days ago, but came up with nothing. This morning, I stumbled across this from UGO. And how fitting, 78 things we love about Leonard on his 78th birthday :)

***

The entire United Federation of Nerds celebrates the birthing date anniversary of one of its finest.  Indeed, if we were to elect an Ambassador to the rest of society, who would it be other than Leonard Nimoy?  We love Leonard Nimoy with every illogical fiber of our carbon-based being. 

As he is turning 78 (March 26!) we thought we’d declare 78 instances of love for the man.  (TrekMovie did something similar with Shatner last year, but a good idea bears repeating.)

And, yes, we are aware that we do an awful lot of confusing him for the character he plays – sue us.

With that, let us commence:  78 Things We Love About Leonard Nimoy!

78 –


Saying “Ah, yes, one of your EARTH emotions” in his first scene with Shatner in Where No Man Has Gone Before.

77 –


Allowing the quote “Pure Energy” from the episode Errand of Mercy to appear on the Information Society song “What’s On Your Mind?”

76 –


Reaching Adam and Dr. Sevrin by being “Not Herbert.”

75 –


Blinding himself (albeit temporarily) by exposing himself to ultraviolet light to destroy the Denevan neural parasites.

74 –


Telling Leila Kalomi that Mr. Spock does have another name, but she couldn’t pronounce it.

73 –


Mind-melding with Kirok.

72 –


Yelling THE WOMEN!! in The Cage.

71 -


Responding thusly to the concept of one Universe hosting two Lazaruses: “Annihilation, Jim.  Total, complete, absolute annihilation.”

70 –


Jamming out on his Vulcan Lute as Uhura sings, “Oh, On The Starship Enterprise” and “Oh, Charlie’s Our New Darling.”

69 –


Bashing the computer telescreen in his quarters into mush whilst entering Pon Faar.

68 -


Bequeathing a whole boatload of money to the New York art cinema The Thalia, hence giving birth to the Leonard Nimoy Thalia, and keeping that sucker in business.

67 –


Maintaining a complete level of even-headedness and scientific fascination when existing solely as a disembodied brain powering an underground female colony.  (Season Three, Episode One.)

66 –


For not only eating animal flesh but enjoying it in All Our Yesterdays.

65 -


Explaining that his last name is pronounced “niMOY” in the DVD bonus features of Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

64 -


Pain!  Pain! (translated from the Horta-ese)

63 –


Braving the death of his Sehlat I-Chaya during his Kahs-Wan.  (TAS canon in effect, boyeeee!)

62 –


Calmly presenting himself for Court Martial in The Menagerie.

61 –


Short circuiting Landru….with Logic!

60 –


Acting as a Space Bob Costas during Arena.

59 -


Doing a series doe-si-doe with Martin Landau (Star Trek/Mission: Impossible/Space: 1999)

58 -


Setting up Shatner with the easiest, lamest joke in the world in The Final Frontier:  “I do not think you realize the gravity of your situation.”

57 –


Writing I Am Not Spock.

56 –


Clearing that up years later by writing I Am Spock.

55 –


Resisting Kor’s Klingon Mindsifter on Organia.

54 –


Assuming the identity of Spocko on gangsteriffic Sigma Iota II.

53 –


Overseeing Saavik’s Kobayashi Maru.

52 –


Serving Mayor Quimby a solid diss when it was clear Quimby didn’t know who he was.

51 –


Abstaining from giving Kirk a backrub on the bridge, but exchanging glances after Kirk says, “Push.  Push harder.  Take it in there, Mr. Spo—“

50 –


Wearing a shower curtain whilst beaming down to Psi 2000.

49 –


Wearing a “#1 Vulcan” T-Shirt at the Las Vegas Convention in August 2007

48 –


And then Giving Zachary Quinto the “#1 Vulcan” at Creation’s Grand Slam XVI in March of 2008.

47 –


Telling Kirk, deep within the Genesis Cave on Regula, that he is doing things “by the book.”

46 –


Appearing opposite Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir’s husband in A Woman Called Golda.

45 –


Mind-melding with V’Ger.

44 –


Getting blasted in the face by Happy Spores in This Side of Paradise

43 –


Wearing a goatee in the Mirror Universe and inspiring Flexo, nice Cartman and a prog rock supergroup.

42 –


Figuring out that the floaty swirl of gas that framed Scotty for murder is really Jack the Ripper.  Or something.

41 –


Telling McCoy to shut up and let Vaal rule on Gamma Trianguli VI.

40 –


Appearing thusly to one in “interspace.” (See below)

39 –


Clearly displaying emotion upon discovering Dr. McCoy’s ruse in Amok Time.

38 –


Getting rave reviews on Broadway for Equus.

37 –


Photographing sexy religious women in “The Shekhina Prokect”

36 –


Being one of the first guests on “Shatner’s Raw Nerve.”

35 –


Wearing his Tholian Web space suit.

34 -


Being so frickin’ scary in Invasion of the Body Snatchers

33 –


Telling Kirk that “only Nixon could go to China.”

32 –


Doing “Spock vs. Q” and “Spock vs. Q: The Sequel” with John DeLanice.

31 –


Breaking with canon and telling Droxine about Pon Faar in The Cloud Minders.  Because when a woman is as hot as Droxine you break canon, dammit!

30 –


Overcoming alcoholism.

29 –


Mind-melding with Gracie, the whale.

28 –


Singing “Where Is Love?”

27 –


Singing “Proud Mary”

26 –


Learning to swear in 20th Century San Francisco.

25 –


Appearing as the Chauffeur in the Bangles video for “Going Down to Liverpool.”

24 –


Being in Futurama TWICE!

23 –


Doing a transitive property mind-meld with Sarek via Picard.

22 –


“I burn, T’pau.  My eyes are flame.  My heart is flame.”

21 –


Appearing with Shatner in a Priceline ad.

20 –


Voicing Galvatron.

19 –


Turning Jadzia Dax on in Trials and Tribble-ations.

18 –


Letting his voice get all echo-y and loud when his body is borrowed by Henoch.

17 –


Faking a “Vulcan Death Grip” in The Enterprise Incident.

16 –


Recording Alien Voices’ audio book of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, which made a car ride from NYC to Providence quite awesome for me once.

15 –


Staying underground on Romulus in Unification II

14 –


Bilbo Baggins.

13 –


Allowing BBW lovers a chance to feel arty with his “Full Body Project.”

12 –


Recognizing that while achieving Kohlinar may the greatest achievement for most Vulcans, but it may not be right for him.

11 –


Making the world’s greatest Super Bowl ad – the Aleve “Vulcan Salute” spot.

10 –


Pronouncing sensors as “Sen-sores.”

09 –


Voicing six nightmare-inducing years of In Search Of.

08 –


Appearing in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek

07 –


Fighting Kirk for the love of T’Pring.

06 –


Adapting the “Kohanic blessing” into the Vulcan salute.

05 –


Creating the Vulcan Nerve Pinch. (Nimoy really did this!)

04 –


For actually being good pals with Shatner in real life, even when the cameras aren’t rolling.

03-


One word: Fascinating.

02 –


“He knows, Doctor.  He knows.”

01-


“I have been and always shall be your friend.”

Mr. Spock is *dreamy* eh???

I was rather delighted to read this article written by Asimov. How cute it is? And, of course, very true :)

*********


Mr. Spock is Dreamy!
The not-quite-human thinking machines may be starting a new trend in sex appeal.
An Essay by Isaac Asimov
(This piece first appeared in "TV Guide," April 29, 1967)


A revolution of incalculable importance may be sweeping America, thanks to television. And thanks particularly STAR TREK, which, in its noble and successful effort to present good science fiction to the American public, has also presented everyone with an astonishing revelation.

I was put onto the matter by my blonde, blue-eyed, and beautiful daughter, who is just turning twelve and who, in all the practical matters that count, is more clear-sighted than I.

It happened one evening when we were watching STAR TREK together and holding our breath while Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock faced a menace of overwhelming proportions.

Captain Kirk (for those, if any, who are not STAR TREK fans) is a capable hero and a full-blooded human. Mr. Spock is half-alien and is a creature of pure reason and no emotion. Naturally Captain Kirk responded to every danger with an appropriate twist of his handsome and expressive face. Spock, however, kept his long, serene face unmoved. Not for an instant did he allow emotion to dim the thoughtful gleam of his eye; not for a split second did he allow that long face to grow shorter.

And my daughter said, “I think Mr. Spock is dreamy!”

I started! If my daughter said Mr. Spock was dreamy, then he was dreamy to the entire feminine population of the world, for my daughter is plugged into that vague something called “femininity” and her responses are infallible.

But how could that be? Mr. Spock dreamy? He had a strong face, of course, but it was so solemn and serious, so cool; his eyebrows were drawn so outward and upward, and his large ears came to such a long, sharp upper point.

How could he compare with full-blooded Earthlings with normal ears and eyebrows, who were suave, sophisticated, and devilishly handsome to boot? Like me, for instance, just to pick an example at random.

“Why is he dreamy?” I asked my daughter.

“Because,” she said, “ he’s so smart!”

There’s no doubt about it. I have asked other girls and they agree. Through the agency of Mr. Spock, STAR TREK has been capitalizing upon a fact not generally known among the male half of the population.

Women think being smart is sexy!

Do you know what this means to me? Can you imagine what a load of guilt it has taken off my back? Can you imagine what a much greater load of vain regret it has put on my back?

But, heaven help me, it wasn’t my fault. I was misled. When I was young I read books about children; books for which Tom Sawyer was the prototype. Anyone else old enough to remember those books?

Remember the kid hero? Wasn’t he a delightful little chap? Wasn’t he manly? He played hooky all the time and went swimming at the old swimming hole. Remember? He never knew his lessons; he swiped apples; he used bad grammar and threw rocks at cats. You remember.

And do you remember that little sneaky kid we all hated so? He was an unbearable wretch who wore clean clothes, and did his lessons, and got high marks, and spoke like a dude. All the kids hated him, and so did all the readers. Rotten little smart kid!

As I read such stories, I realized that because I had known no better I had unwittingly been committing the terrible sin of doing well at school. Oh, I did my best to change and follow the paths of rectitude and virtue, and dip girls’ pigtails in inkwells and draw nasty pictures of the teacher on my slate, and steal a pumpkin—but girls didn’t have pigtails and I didn’t have a slate and nobody I knew across the length and breadth of Brooklyn’s slums had any idea of what a pumpkin was.

And when the teacher would ask a question, I would, quite automatically and without thinking, give the right answer—and there I would be. Sunk in vice again! Talk about a monkey on your back!

There was no way out. By the time I was in high school I realized I was rotten clean through and all I could do was hope the FBI never saw my report card.

Then, somewhere late in high school, I became aware of an even more serious difficulty!

I had been noticing for a while that girls didn’t look quite as awful as I had earlier thought. I was even speculating that there might be some purpose in wasting some time in speaking to one or two of them, if I could figure out how one went about it.

I decided the place to learn was the movies, since these often concerned themselves with this very problem.

Remember those movie heroes? Strong, solemn, and with a vocabulary of ten easy words and fifteen grunts? And remember the key sentence in every one of those pictures?

You don’t? Well, I’ll tell you. Some girl is interested in the movie hero. She sees something in him she does not see in any other character in the film, and I was keenly intent on finding what that something might be.

To be sure, the hero was taller and stronger and handsomer and better dressed than any other male in the picture, but surely this was purely superficial. No female would be in the least attracted to such mere surface characteristics. There had to be something deep and hidden, and I recognized what this might be in that key sentence I mentioned.

The woman says to her girl friend, “I love that big lug!” Or sometimes she says to the hero himself, “I love you, you big lug!”

That was it! Hollywood was of the definite opinion that for a man to be attractive to women he had to be a big lug. I ran to Webster’s (second edition) to look up the word and found no less than eight definitions. Definition number eight was: “A heavy or clumsy lout; a blockhead.”

It was school all over again. I could manage being clumsy but I could never keep up that blockhead business long. I’d be doing fine for a while, glazing my eyes, and remembering to say “Duh” when spoken to. But, sooner or later, at some unguarded moment, I would say something rational, and bitter shame would overcome me. It was no use; I could never attain that glorious lughood that would have put me at ease with women.

I got married at last, somehow. My theory is that the young lady who married me must have seen that under my suave man-of-the-world exterior, there was a lout and a blockhead striving for expression. So she married me for inner beauty.

Then came television. Remember the husbands in the situation comedies? Stupid, right? Have you ever seen one who could tie his shoes without help? Have you ever seen one smart enough to put anything over on his wife? Or on his five-year-old niece for that matter?

That was one thing all situation comedies had in common—the stupidity of the husband. The other things were the smartness of the wife and the depth of her love for her husband.

These points can’t be unconnected, can they? Anyone can see that the only deduction to draw from this is that wives, being smart, love their husbands because they are stupid.

All I can say is that for years and years I have done my best to be a stupid husband. My wife, loyal creature that she is, has assured me over and over again that I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams and that I am the stupidest husband who ever lived. She seems so sincere when she says it, and yet I have always had to ask: Is it merely her kind heart speaking? Can she be just flattering me?

And then, then, came this blinding revelation. Here I had been watching STAR TREK since its inception because I like it, because it is well done, because it is exciting, because it says things (subtly and neatly) that are difficult to say in “straight” drama, and because science fiction, properly presented, is the type of literature most appropriate to our generation.

But it hadn’t occurred to me that Mr. Spock was sexy. I had never realized that such a thing was possible; that girls palpitate over the way one eyebrow goes up a fraction; that they squeal with passion when a little smile quirks his lip. And all because he’s smart!

If I had only known! If I had only known!

But I am spreading the word now. It may be far too late for me (well, almost), but there is a new generation to consider!

Men! Men everywhere! Don’t list to the lies! I have learned the secret at last. It is sexy to be smart!

Do you hear me, men? Relax and be your natural selves! Stop aiming at lughood. It’s sexy to be smart!

Just one thing bothers me. Can it be Mr. Spock’s ears? Webster’s (second edition) gives that blockhead definition as its eighth. Its definition number two for the same word is "ear."

Could it be that when a girl says, "I love you, you big lug," she means the man’s ears are as big as Mr. Spock’s?

Well, just in case, while I’m being smart, I’ll also let my ears grow.


Excerpted from
"Mr. Spock Is Dreamy!" ©1967 Isaac Asimov.
STAR TREK, "Where No One Has Gone Before": A History in Pictures ©1994 Paramount Pictures



*****

Star Trek conventions

Hm, I'm kind of tempted to attend the Las Vegas convention this year. I've never been to a convention before and I don't know if I'd be interested enough to want to meet the celebs and smooze with other fans. I like TOS and I think Spock is hot, but am I willing enough to go so far as to spend money to inch underneath Leonard's elbow, snuggle up to him and have my picture taken? Hmm... that sounds yummy though. I heard that he's very gracious and also smells good. What more could a girl ask for? *chuckles*

But, if I go, I would have to costume up! Can't just show up as a commoner! :)

I want this:



I think I have the abs for it :D


And because I really like this picture as it brings lovely thoughts of Nyota spending long intimate nights learning the lyre with Spock, I'll post it :)




I like that they both hold it differently. He holds it so that it curves behind his head and she holds it so that the top curves away from her. Cute!

The evolution of Spock's umm.... brows

I'd been thinking about this for a bit. I don't remember seeing the first two (or one, depending on how you see it) episodes; The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before as a little kid. So the only Spock that I was used to was this one:





Quite elegant, if I must say so myself.


Then, a few months back, I saw him like this:





... and subsequently burst out laughing with disbelief! Holeee cow, lookit those eyebrows!! Right... so I didn't mean to laugh, but it looked so absurd in comparison to what I was used to. The Spock that I had become accustomed to seeing was cool and cultured and looked like he took care of his appearance. The earlier one looked like he was in need of a good tweezing, and really didn't give a damn about it. And look at that ragged fringe! Good night! Someone take care of that boy.

So then, I became curious about his eyebrow evolution. I get the part about wanting him to look alien and of course abnormal eyebrows would do it (along with the ears). Why then change the eyebrows? The character looks quite different already. I wonder if Fred Phillips thought it was too much and toned it down. I do remember reading somewhere that the network suits thought that Spock looked too demonic and that he would scare kids and make the rural folks uneasy. Geez, aren't you glad we're not living in that social time anymore? So was that the reason why the eyebrows went from being so severely slanted as in: OMG what's that over there in the corner!!! to only slightly slanted as in: Hmmm... faaaaaaacinating. *chuckles* We know that Spock's personality certainly took that route, so I guess, why not his brows. ;)




(I LOVE behind the scenes stuff! Isn't he adorable there? It looks like he's getting made up for Amok Time. I can see the executioner in the background. )


Here's a really neat article on the make-up artist, Fred Phillips that I *just* stumbled upon not five minutes ago.

Fred Phillips

Frederick Beauregard Phillips was the right man for the right job at the right time. It was a Monday morning on a summer day in 1966 at Desilu Studios in Hollywood. Fred Phillips, makeup artist for the new Star Trek series, sat in his one-room makeup department, sipping coffee. As was his usual procedure, he began his day by looking over several new story outlines for future episodes, which had been placed in his mail tray sometime over the weekend.

Fred smiled and murmured to himself, “Solow, Coon, Roddenberry, and Justman are working over time again.” Suddenly, Fred lowered his coffee cup and reread a few lines from two of the outlines. He quickly grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil and wrote down several words: “Klingon—Romulan—alien races—conceptualize them—design them—make them.” And knowing the Star Trek production world, he added: “fast”.

But for the man who in 1927, with a flour and water paste, applied eyelashes one by one to the stars of Cecil B. DeMille’s film King of Kings; for the man who in 1931 made up Frederic March for the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; for the man who in 1967 turned actors into primates for The Plantes of the Apes; and for the man who made up the stars of over one hundred films, it was just another day at the office.
The Vulcan Way

Fred Phillips had designed Spock’s famous pointed ears for the original pilot episode, “The Cage”. Fourteen years later, during the production of The Motion Picture, Phillips cast his 2000th Spock ear.

According to Star Trek Associate Producer Bob Justman, “Fred Phillips had taken a cast of Leonard’s ears from which he had molds made that incorporated the kind of pointed tips that Roddenberry wanted. The theory was that, once the molds were made, duplicate ears could be cranked out when needed and glued onto Leonard’s ears. Easier said than done. Once a pair of them had been painstakingly attached and colored to match the rest of Spock’s yellowish complexion, that was it for that pair. And when they were removed (a painful and time consuming process for Leonard, since they were attached with spirit glue and could be removed only with the use of strong solvent), they couldn’t be saved for use the next time. New day, new ears. And the rubber being used wasn’t dependable. The makeup lab had to cast pair after pair of ears until a good set was made. Later, when the series was filmed, Charles Schramm of the MGM makeup department would use an improved latex formula and crank out ears on an assembly-line basis.”

The next stage was the creation of Spock’s characteristic Vulcan eyebrows. This required Phillips to shave the outside halves of Nimoy’s actual eyebrows during each makeup session. Phillips filled in the shape of the new eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil, then painted over those lines with spirit gum. The spirit gum was used to attach short lengths of yak belly hair, which Phillips cut from long stands, blending the small tufts into what remained of Nimoy’s own eyebrows. The final stage of the process involved applying base makeup and adding shading to ensure that shadow contours would be seen even under the bright lights of the shooting stage.

As the series began production, the use of Spock’s pointed ears was actually cause of great controversy between the Star Trek production team and the television network. “In 1965, the NBC Sales Department was concerned,” recalls Herb Solow, Desilu Executive in chrage of Star Trek at the time. “It was as if they believed that, after Satan had been cast out the the Garden of Eden, he was reincarnated as actor Leonard Nimoy and cast into Star Trek as Science Officer Spock, a pointed-eared, arched-eyebrowed “satanic” Vulcan alien. Though it was well before the rise of 1970s Christian fundamentalism, NBC feared its advertisers and local stations would be targets of a religious backlash protesting this “devil incarnate.”

“It took several weeks for us to learn the extent to which NBC Sales had gone to disguise Spock’s “satanic” pointed ears,” says Solow. “NBC had sent a very attractive Star Trek sales brochure to its station affiliates and advertisers. Close scrutiny showed, however, that an artist working for the NBC Sales Department had airbrushed Spock’s pointy ears round in all the photographs.”

In order to placate the network, which was strongly advocating the use of regular ears and eyebrows on the Spock character—a move that would have seriously undermined the concept that an alien was serving onboard the Enterprise; the Star Trek production team decided to “tell NBC what they wanted to hear” in agreeing to greatly reduce Spock’s visibility in the show for the first thirteen weeks, while actually proceeding without limitations on the use of the Vulcan first officer.

“The first four episodes to air featured Mister Spock in varying degrees,” according to Solow. “But by the time the fifth show was ready to air, “Spockmania” had erupted, and NBC’s anti-Spock campaign came to a grinding halt. Desilu’s mailroom was bulging with huge sacks of fan mail, most of which was addressed to Mister Spock.”
The Motion Picture

In addition to Vulcans, Phillips also designed a large cast of aliens for Star Trek’s first screen outing. Perhaps his most memorable creation for the episode was the “green girl” played by Susan Oliver. We present the following anecdote as related by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry in The Making of Star Trek about how this creation came to be.

For the first six months, Roddenberry was called “Crazy Gene.” People used to call each other on the phone and say, “Have you heard what Crazy Gene wants to do now?”

[Roddenberry] Well, it was all so new and strange to them. Like you call some unsuspecting production man on the phone, and he says, “Hello,” and you say, “What does it cost to paint a girl green?” You get a long silence!

The “green woman” (a character Gene wanted to use in the pilot) alone created a number of recurring problems.

Knowing that the green-skinned alien woman was coming up in the pilot, he decided to shoot some test footage to get the right shade of green on film. He brought in an actress, had Fred Phillips, the newly hired makeup artist, apply green makeup to her face, and then shot some test footage. Now, Fred Phillips is an exceptionally fine makeup artist, and recognized as a top pro in the business. He did a thorough job with the makeup and was quite satisfied with the results.

Imagine everyone’s surprise, upon viewing the developed film the next day, to find the actress’s face just as normally pink-skinned as ever! There was no trace of green.

Gene’s orders to Fred Phillips: “Paint her greener!” The following day the test film again showed her as pink-skinned as ever. Even Fred was dumbfounded. Recalling the incident, he says, “We did this three days in a row. We had her so green you couldn’t believe it, and she kept coming back pink! Finally we figured out what was happening. The technician over at the film lab would receive the film every day and run it through the development solution. As the image formed on the film, he kept saying to himself, “My God, this woman is green!” And so he kept correcting the film developing process in order to turn her back to normal skin color again!”

The accomplished actress Susan Oliver later played the part of the alien woman in the pilot and was almost totally covered with green body makeup. During filming she became very tired, and a doctor was called in to give her a vitamin B shot. The doctor arrived, but no one bothered to tell him what his patient looked like. He went over to Susan’s dressing room, knocked, the door swung wide, and suddenly he was confronted with an all-green woman! He was so flustered that it took him almost five minutes just to find a spot to administer the shot.

Phillips had not yet finished with Star Trek following the cancellation of the series. He would leave the freelance world behind and return to Star Trek to be in charge of the makeup on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was asked to repeat his makeup role for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Due to his failing eyesight and his problems with depth perception, Phillips was forced to turn down the offer. It was the major disappointment of his life. Shortly thereafter, Fred Phillips retired from active participation in the film and television industries. On August 20, 1983, he received the lifetime achievement award for makeup from the Society of Operating Cameramen. He died on March 21, 1993.



N. Ottens
30 July 2005
Last updated: 2 November 2008

Sources for this article include:
• Solow, H.F. and R.H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996)
• Solow, H.F. and Y. Fern, The Star Trek Sketchbook (1997)
• Whitfield, S.E., with G. Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek (1968)

Nyota is just the woman Spock's looking for

Back from a last minute trip to Switzerland. I'm glad to be home again, honestly, though I did have fun. This time was only a week, but a month or so ago, I was there for 3 weeks and coming home was quite strange.

So upon my return, I have a really adorable Uhura-manip:




(created by Gary at www.trekp.com)

Sugah, I love it. I love that when Nichelle said "hello, sugah," in one of the TOS outtakes, fan ficcers and manipers have run with that and it's almost become fannon/cannon.

And because I love youtube vids, as you probably know, here's another. I really like the song, but the space hippies in one of the clips just makes me growl. I haven't actually *seen* that episode (or rather remember seeing that episode) but it just look so dumb. With Spock bobbing his head to whatever music they're playing... I dunno. I think they were playing a little loose and fast with his character there. But, outside of that, I liked the vid and the song. Good thing about fanvids, is that I discover music that I wouldn't have come across any other way :)




Oh, another note on this vid; I LOVE Mirror!Spock. I mean, I think I like him more than regular Spock. *Gasps* I know! Unheard of. The snazzy neatly trimmed goatee and the agonizer, the knee high boots emphasizing those long, long legs, the potential for unprovoked violence and the mind raping of poor McCoy... what's not to love??? *laughs* The 6'' action figure of him is calling to me from Amazon. I will resist though.

On Being Black and a Woman

I LOVE THIS WOMAN. I love her. I just want to sit with her and put my arms around her and caress her cares away. She is speaking my heart in so many ways. Granted that my experiences vasty differ from hers, but yet we are still the same. We face the same things going through this life and her heartfelt expression definitely tugs at my gut.







I'm not a huge youtube watcher. I only search it when I'm looking for something specific and when I find it, I watch it and maybe some surrounding videos on the subject and that's it. But sometimes, something catches my eye. Apparently there's this whole world of Black women bashing on youtube. I guess if you give someone a forum and a camera, you can never be sure what will come out. Unfortunately what's come out is anger, hatred and contempt. I won't watch these videos, because nothing good will come from it. I don't need to listen to that kind of poison. But, I think it's a shame that this type of thing exists in such a vicious form. Will we as a human race ever rise above it? Honestly, I think we won't. Ever. And, it's a terrible shame.

Steampunk

I really love steampunk styled things. In the era where metal and steel and leather came together in a delightful art form. I came across these pictures while doing an idle search and was just thrilled! I'm not sure how to credit the artist... if this person even is the artist, but here's where I got the photos: www.myspace.com/kiramarteltaylor .









I think these are too cute. There might be a story in there lurking, methinks. But I'm already working on several already and don't have the time to start another! :)

In which the season doesn't start until Spock's made his move

I really didn't intend for this blog to turn into a YouTube love fest, but there are so many goodies on there, that I can't resist!




There are some clips that I haven't seen before, which are really cute, especially the ST behind the scenes. I found it most appealing when LN is standing talking to someone, notices the camera on him and then throws up the Vulcan gang sign! Westsssssiiiiiiiiiiidddddddeeee!

I would love to see more of those, actually... to watch them all clowning around. :)

I did get my hands on season 4 of Mission Impossible *yay*, but I haven't had the opportunity to watch it yet. If I can venture a guess as to how Paris is, just from watching the little bits and bobs of him in fanvids, I'd say that he's definitely trouble in a geeky/dangerous sort of way. I wonder if he gets beaten up a lot. *ponders* That would sweeten the pot for me ;D

I've also been going through re-watching Star Trek and taking notes on the scenes that I find most striking... in regards to Spock, of course. Taking notes of all things! I surprised myself when I grabbed for my little notebook and jotted down the first memorable scene. I think I'd like to keep track of it here as well. Ooo and screen grabs... well, maybe not, maybe just one to head the episode. I don't want to get carried away and then peter out when I get bored! It's bound to happen, so I'm running with it while I can.



From The Corbomite Maneuver


Exhibit A: The Enterprise and her crew are facing imminent destruction by the alien du jour. Kirk is out of options and his crew is tense and distraught. He turns to his first mate, in search of solace and answers. Spock has none and he's quite apparently contrite that he has nothing to contribute, to make things better. Spock's almost utterance of "I'm sorry" is bleedin' adorable, but he catches himself.

Kirk: there must be something to do, something I've over looked.

Spock: Chess, when one is outmatched the game is over. Checkmate.

Kirk: Is that your best recommendation?

Spock: I'm s-- I regret that I can find no other logical alternative"

He drops his head and his shoulders at this moment, seeming to want to scuff his toe. Look how disappointed Kirk is. As the series went on, and I can only guess that there was an ongoing process of tweaking Spock's character (he was projecting awfully loudly in this episode!) we saw less and less of his "human side" slipping out. Although it was there on those rare pleasurable occasions, most times, it was not. But, Spock wouldn't be Spock if he let his emotions rule him and that's why I like him. :D

From Spock to Paris where Paris is buuuuuurrrrrrnnniiiinnngggg

Growing up I used to watch the television show, Mission Impossible. I don't remember Nimoy being in it! I know that he'd only been in seasons four and five, but I really only remember watching the first few seasons with the original cast. Maybe I'd found other interests by the time he replaced Landau and wasn't watching anymore. Funny bit of trivia though, Landau had been offered the role of "Spock" in TOS, but turned it down (thankfully) only to be picked up by Leonard who also picked up the ball in MI when Landau left. Sloppy seconds? No, Landau might have primed the pump, but Leonard definitely opened the spigot to let it gush.

Anyway, Leonard is Paris and Paris is burning. The unruly sable hair! The wicked smile! The dodgy accents! The long-limbered come to me and let me seduce you essence! I'm glad that, now as an adult (sort-of) I'm watching him, because I know, as a kid, I wouldn't have appreciated his sheer beauty and talent. Lovely, just lovely. YouTube never fails to supply interesting fanvids and I've got two that I'd found particularly interesting. Hm, I wonder if there is a way to beam Paris aboard the Enterprise. Uhura might be looking for a Spock-doll to play with if the other is dutifully occupied. Or ooo! *two* Spock-dolls. She'll be one busy woman ;)




Strangely, I like the blue tee shirt with the red and black sleeve band at 0.42 secs. It just looks fun!

and




At least the vidder here admitted a Paris bias. Not that I would have complained.

I spent nearly 2 weeks coughsdownloadingcoughs the entire three seasons of TOS. I wonder if I'll get lucky finding MI S3&4. I'd hate to buy something only to watch it once.

I adore Zoe Saldana. Not only is she going to be in the new Star Trek movie, but she's also going to be in, what I hope, a very scary movie. I love horror movies. Although, the rational side of my knows that this movie won't be as scary as I want, and will possibly be rather silly, I'll still hold out hope and reserve judgment until later.

Trailer:








But as much as I like her, no one can be Uhura except:





So, then hmmm... I will dub Zoe Uhura-lite. hee hee.


Looks like it will be a lovely warm Saturday and because of that, here's gratuitous Leonard. He looks on the verge of a mischievous smile, and it's a rather well composed yet very simple photo. It looks posed, in my opinion, not candid, but that doesn't detract from it's beauty. Enjoy!

Photo Friday

How cute are they? And they say Mr. Spock doesn't like to be touched *chuckles*

The Trial against Mr. Spock

There's always the introductory post that one makes when starting something new. I'll circumvent that and just jump in. I'm mainly using this blog to catalog passing fancies. So let's start with the ultra-cool Science Officer Mr. Spock:


and





I thought these two videos were very well done and their "Trial against..." theme was rather creative and well executed.

As for the new 2009 movie, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't know if I can accept the "new" TOS cast. And as much as Zachary Quinto looks like the foxy fine Leonard Nimoy... it might not be enough. But, at least there's, him:



Tell me that's not one bad-ass villain. I am very certain that Eric Bana will pull that one off. If you've seen his film "Chopper" you know what I mean :)


I want to add this video. While I'm not a K/S shipper (yet) I am inclined to agree that they were probably finding solace within each other's arms on those long boring and sometimes harrowing missions. I mean, why not. Wouldn't you? ;)





I've seen a lot of fan vids but this one takes the cake. The atmosphere, the music, the sepia tone and the erotic story it's telling is brilliant! What's scarier and hotter than a stern, angry, dominant Vulcan, taking his submissive, gentle Iowa farm-boy in hand and giving him a firm lesson?

Nothing! Watch it and you'll know what I mean.