rural remix

Remixes of a rural Ontario pic taken in September 2004 (click on images for fullsize).

Image via Tumblr

Image via Tumblr

Image via Tumblr

Image via Tumblr

Image via Tumblr

In Ontario we generally don’t paint our fences white as in parts of the USA. To me, that looks sort of hokey. But I guess it’s all a matter of what you’re used to.

Star Trek Memories – Thanks Spock!

Vulcan (Star Trek) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Born in 1962, I was almost too young to really appreciate Star Trek by the time it had run its course from 1966-69. Seven years old, and Star Trek had been cancelled.

My first memories of watching Star Trek are in the basement on Saturdays. It might have been a black and white or maybe a fairly primitive color TV. I can’t remember. What I do remember, though, is that the picture was pretty snowy. So it could have been a Buffalo NY channel. Or possibly a Hamilton ON channel. A snowy picture wasn’t uncommon back in the 60s and early 70s—if a household didn’t have cable, that is.

Even though the picture was fuzzy, I was captivated by Trek‘s faraway ambiance. It was low tech, for sure. But very high on the imagination. And that’s what really counts in storytelling, sci-fi or otherwise.

A few years later, the show came back as daily reruns. My friends and I would watch Trek, almost like an after school congregation. Sometimes we’d watch two episodes a day. The reruns were that popular.

Star Trek – “City on the Edge of Forever” – via Wikipedia

One of my favorite childhood episodes took place on a planet similar to Nazi Germany. Another great episode saw Kirk being accused of witchcraft on a planet similar to Earth’s European Middle Ages. And then there was Trelane, that Renaissance spoilsport who played the harpsichord, mostly concerned with his own pleasure.

There are several other outstanding episodes. Some explore the notion of parallel universes. Others, the merging of fantasy and reality. And others, the pitfalls of gangland violence or hippie idealism. But my all-time favorite, “City on the Edge of Forever,” won a Hugo award.

In this episode, Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy (Bones) travel back in time through a doughnut shaped portal to America’s Dirty Thirties. Kirk falls in love with the beautiful and insightful Edith Keeler. Unfortunately, she dies at the end of the episode. So Kirk must return to the Enterprise, to his own time, and suppress his feelings in order to command the starship.

It was a brilliant episode about time travel. One of the first to blend metaphysics and human emotion.

Jolene Blalock in Cairo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As for Leonard Nimoy, he was forever clever, funny and played the role of Spock perfectly. Jolene Blalock, who expertly portrayed the Vulcan T’Pol in Enterprise, once said that Nimoy was a hard act to follow.

Spock was groundbreaking because he was, perhaps, the first ET on TV with a full personality. As a self-proclaimed Vulcan, he was also half-human, a being who’d been taught as a boy to bury his emotions. That’s what Vulcans did. But the inner conflict was always lurking, just waiting to rise to the surface.

Despite his apparent rationalism, Spock would fall in love. He’d be reckless. He’d exhibit great valor. And when teased by Bones and Kirk, Spock would coolly rationalize his underlying emotionalism, in true Vulcan style.

Nimoy certainly was the man for the job. He played the innovative, complex character of Spock to a T. So Mr. Nimoy, thanks for the memories. And to you in the next life:

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!  :)

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Are you irrational, abnormal and mentally disordered?

Originally posted on Earthpages.org:

Statue of Sir John A Macdonald, Ontario Provincial Parliament, Queens Park, Toronto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Michael Clark (Transcribed with edits from a voice recording)

Recently I linked to a news story about Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The headline goes like this:

Kathleen Wynne sees homophobia amid sex-ed protests.

In a nutshell, there was a protest on the front lawn of Queen’s Park, the site of the Ontario Legislature in Toronto.

The protesters didn’t like the new sex education curriculum. And, according to CBC news, the Premier says “she has no doubt homophobia motivated some of the hundreds of people who protested Ontario’s new sex education curriculum this week.”

The whole story got me thinking about something – actually I’ve already been thinking about it, but didn’t really know how to put it into words.

Basically, what concerns me is the use of the word homophobia. If someone…

View original 610 more words

3 seconds of me

Image via Tumblr

One of the coldest days of the year. Nevertheless, the sun came out so I opened the curtains, rolled up the bind and let some air in. Although stylized, the light around me is sunlight, reflected in a full-size mirror. Looks a bit better at tumblr with blue background…

the mad machines

the mad machines – via Tumblr (click for fullsize)

continuing on with the “mad machines” theme… this was taken today in a very chilly toronto… construction of a light rail transport that has congested traffic – the orb at top right is the sun… additional orbs appeared with help from google chrome’s polarr app… simple but effective..

time for an L.A. tan!

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Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto today. Snowy… but warmer than the last few days. So ironically it almost felt like spring. And yes, I did hear a few birds chirping. Tough, Canadian birds…

what happened here?

Here’s a post-apocalyptic themed track. The woman’s voice is from https://www.freesound.org/people/Corsica_S/sounds/99480/ . I think she’s got an amazing voice. If interested, check out other samples her boyfriend has uploaded (she’s usually described as “my girlfriend”).

And here’s a list of all other sounds:

Freesound.org (lighter background) and freeSFX.co.uk (darker background)