Random Thought of the day

Random Thought of the day:

Star Trek: Picard Mid-Season Mini Review

I like it for the most part but I have a few nitpicks. First off is the violence: there is at least someone getting murdered EVERY episode. I know there is a YouTuber whom is keeping count and I believe it’s over 30 so far... 

Also this feels too dystopian for Star Trek. Too dark and gritty. I prefer my Trek (to quote Gene Roddenberry) to be “a positive vision of the future”. This show (and Disco) feels more a kin to ‘Blade Runner’ than it does Star Trek. 

And my last big nit pick is the profanity. Just because you can swear (on CBS All Access) does not mean you should. 

But other than that I’m enjoying seeing “JL” back in the saddle. 

Some of my Favourite Films

Challenge: name 9 movies with no supernatural, sci-fi, fantasy or impossible elements that you LOVE. No wizard schools, talking animals, time travel, galaxies far far away or faces melting off due to opening the Ark of the Covenant. Here are mine, what are yours? 

And some honourable mentions:

A little bit about Wormholes

Thank you again Pinterest, so much cool stuff on there. Wormholes and black holes have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. My introduction to black holes was in the Disney film ‘The Black Hole’ and wormholes was Star Trek: The Motion Picture & Deep Space Nine. 

And I’m expecting to see this guy near a black hole:

You might be Canadian if you remember these...

Let’s take a stroll down Canadian memory lane...

I loved this pop. It is still available where I live but the bottles are standard size now 

A requirement for school 

I still eat bottle caps. So goooood

Loved watching this cooking show on CBC. 

All our multi-coloured money

Best kids show on CBC. I always wanted to hang out with Mr Dressup 

I always loved the toy section at Zellers

Canadians love their beer. I like the stubbie bottle. Out of this lineup I enjoy Molson Export the most. 

You got one of these award patches if you placed 1-4 in sporting events in the annual ‘Canada Fitness Test’. The fitness test was track and field events. I know I had a bronze patch (the brown on pictured- 3rd place) for the long jump (I believe) from grade 3 or 4. 

It’s great to be Canadian!!

When ‘Star Trek’ became too violent...

I’ve been a life long fan of the Star Trek franchise, and for the most part I’ve been enjoying ‘Star Trek: Picard’. However the very violent opening torture scene for episode 5 has me concerned about the dark trajectory the franchise seems to be going under the leadership of Alex Kurtzman. In my humble opinion ‘Saw’ movie violence has no place in Star Trek; save that for horror movies/tv. 

Also the profanity is also very un-Trek. Profanity was used on rare occasions in Trek such as the original crew saying things like “Double dumb ass on you” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Or Data saying “Oh shit!” in Star Trek: Generations. But in Kurtzman Trek they have the head of Starfleet Command swearing at Picard...???

I realize Star Trek’s Discovery & Picard air on CBS All Access where violence and profanity are allowed but just because you can torture or swear on your show doesn’t mean you should, especially on STAR TREK!!!

To be fair there has been violence depicted on previous iterations of Trek as seen here:

However those were rare examples and every one of those scenes were not as violent or evil as that opening torture scene on episode 5 of Star Trek: Picard. 

Star Trek should be a positive vision of the future, not a depressing dystopia where torture and profanity are common. In all honesty I believe the violence and profanity in modern Trek are a byproduct of an even bigger problem: lazy writers. 

I will be discussing this in more detail on the next episode of The Pop Culture Pub Podcast, which should be released Tuesday March 3rd. 

Stay Tuned. 

On the next episode of 'The Pop Culture Pub Podcast'

On the next episode of 'The Pop Culture Pub Podcast'

 

Our planned recording date is March 2nd with a release date soon after.

 

 

ALSO

 

My daughter and I are planning on attending the Calgary Comic Expo this April. We will be there Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th. Looking forward to it!

Star Trek: Disaster season 3 promo pic

Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery is coming soon. From the look of things it seems like the creators of this series are ripping off another intellectual property: Andromeda. It was a Canadian made space sci-fi series in the early 2000’s which was created using a premise by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. If they wanted to adapt Andromeda to the Star Trek universe that would be ok but why do this in the 3rd season of an already established show. Obviously these guys had no plan from the start and are doing their “best” to make it up as they go. 

Remember when Star Trek was fun and had a positive message about the future...I sure do miss THAT Star Trek! 

—————

More Random Astronomy:

——————

Also our slightly new and improved logo for The Pop Culture Pub Podcast:

Again Random Astronomy and other stuff

More goodies courtesy of Pinterest 

——————————-

Not real astronauts but a cool concept courtesy of DC Comics: the human contingent of the Green Lantern Corps (with Sinestro and Abin Sur). Although technically Alan Scott (red shirt and purple cape) is NOT a member of the Corps. 

—————

A meme I’m itching to use on social media: 

This & That

A few items from this last weekend 

——————

The newest members of our family: 

The bigger girl is ‘Poppy’ and the little one is ‘Potato’ (or as I like to call her: Tators)

More Random Astronomy

I keep finding these gems on Pinterest 

To quote the great Mister Spock: 

“Fascinating”

Random Astronomy Lessons

A new feature I’m going to do for the blog is ‘Random Astronomy Lessons’. I’ve recently joined Pinterest and there are tons of awesome astronomy pics and facts on there. So when I see those nuggets of astronomy gold I’ll be sharing them here. Pinterest is a great app with a lot of amazing things on there.