Target Centermass

Category: Entertainment

  • A Bit of Advice, Fellow Bloggers

    Back up your work.

    I had hoped to write up something tonight on this piece about the growing Chinese threat. While gathering my anticipated links, including internal ones, I managed to jack up and delete an old post. Luckily, I was able to delve through my pre-upgrade backup and salvage it but, to understate the matter, restoring a single post from a backup of a previous version sucked the life out of my night.

    Luckily, as I don’t expect China to conquer Taiwan overnight, I can return to my anticipated blogging tomorrow. I just won’t be very timely. Then again, when am I very timely?

    Oh yeah, since I’ve given up on this wasted night, go read Ace’s poetic ode to Scotty.

    And thanks again, Mr. Doohan, for all I didn’t know about you.

  • Farewell, James Montgomery Doohan


    Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott
    3 March 1920 – 20 July 2005

    Mr. Doohan lived a long life, far longer than your typical Federation redshirt. I grew up watching him on Star Trek, but I did not realize until today the amazing story of the man. Canadian artillery officer, storming the beach on D-Day, wounded in action including four shots in the leg, a lost finger and a nearly fatal shot stopped by a cigarette case, air force pilot, and arguably the best damned engineer to ever serve on a starship.

    IMDB.com has some interesting tidbits in its bio.

    The only two episodes of “Star Trek” (1966) in which one can see that his middle finger is missing are “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “Cats Paw”. Also in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), when Scotty is handing McCoy the parts from the Trans-Warp Drive, as well as in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) when Scotty is holding a plastic bag dinner given to him by Uhura.

    According to the Director’s Edition DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the Klingon language first introduced in that movie and later featured in many later Trek movies and TV episodes was initially devised by Doohan. His original sounds were later expanded upon and refined by others, ultimately resulting in Shakespeare plays and The Bible being translated into Klingon years later. Ironically, his character, Scotty, complains of difficulty reading Klingon at the start of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).

    […]

    During his early stage work, he demonstrated a remarkable gift for foreign accents. He tried several During his audition for “Star Trek” (1966), and Gene Roddenberry was immediately taken by his Scottish brogue. Roddenberry cast him as the (previously-unnamed) ship’s engineer character, and they improvised the name Montgomery Scott (‘Scott’ for the accent, and ‘Montgomery’ for Doohan’s middle name).

    John has an excellent tribute to Mr. Doohan over at Argghhh!, including appropriate music.

    Meanwhile, Ace of Ace of Spades HQ fame waxes poetic in honor of Mr. Scott, as only Ace can.

  • A Brief Culture Break

    I’m heading out tonight for an evening at Shakepeare in the Park. Weather permitting, I’ll be picnicking on green chili cocktail shrimp, beef tenderloins, chicken salad on crackerbread, jalapeno-stuffed olives, roasted peppers, lemon pasta and fresh fruit a’plenty. The girlfriend and I will then settle onto a blanket to sip wine or lemonade and enjoy Richard III, as presented by Shakespeare Dallas.

    It’s such a rough life.

  • Working Under the Hood

    If anyone drops by and the site is jacked up, bear with me. Just a little maintenance.

    Great season premier of Battlestar Galactica, by the way. If you missed it and aren’t currently stuck in line for the new Harry Potter book, catch the rebroadcast in a few hours.

  • Just Another Plug

    Tomorrow night is the return of SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica for the start of its second season.

    Don’t miss the best show in television. One prediction: Adama will survive the attack that brought season one to a jolting end.

  • This is Gunner, I’m Going Geek

    Okay, since last weekend’s upgrade to WordPress 1.5.1.3, I’ve been toying with some things.

    I plan to change the look of Target Centermass in a major way soon. However, I also plan to give the the reader the ability to select from a list of appearances and the current look will, of course, be an option. I also plan to keep the targeted-T72 as part of a new three-column theme. Beyond that, expect some retro video gaming graphics, both home and arcade, to be options, along with anything else that springs to mind. Hell, I might even create a theme based on my editor days of the ol’ high school newspaper. What the hey, I’m talking geek.

    And while I’m talking geek, I want to make sure everyone is aware of the fact that this Friday is the start of the second season of the best show currently on television — SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica. Want to go even geekier? Spend some time over at the Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog.

  • Dear ’80s Music Fans

    I’m still trying to throw together another post or two tonight, oncall pager be damned. ‘Til then, please feel free to give a try at this quiz on lines from songs from the Eighties. No telling how old it is, but it’s certainly a challenge for my fuzzy memory banks.

  • A Music Meme

    I’ve been tagged with another meme, this time by Phil at Shades of Gray (Umbrae Canarum). Luckily, this one’s a snap.

    Okay, new meme: what are your top three songs to listen to whilst running? And if you have the server space, will you post one or all of them for the rest of us to download? (If running is not your preferred method of exercise — which more or less guarantees your intelligence — well, songs that you would listen to are just fine.)

    First, I’d like to point out that running is not my favorite form of exercise. I’d rather get my workout in some kind of sporting activity, be it lacrosse, tennis, racquetball or a handfull of others.

    As to my running songs, I’ll just list what’s on my mp3 player from when I was last running regularly:

    • (Warm-up) “Princes of the Universe” — Queen
    • “Bottom Line (Extended Mix)” — Big Audio Dynamite
    • “Me, Myself and I” — De La Soul
    • “It Wasn’t Me” — Shaggy
    • “American Soviets (Extended Mix)” — CCCP
    • “Big Pimpin” — Jay-Z
    • (Closing sprint) “In the End” — Linkin Park
    • (Cool-down) “Black Coffee in Bed” — Squeeze

    I think it’s an interesting mix.

    Now, which three bloggers to tag? Let’s go with two guys who have recently hit me with memes. Here you go, JohnL and Hammertime. For a third, I’ll pass it along to Eric as a means to celebrate his 30k hit.

  • Financing the Sith Empire?

    Wanted: Annakin Skywalker, a.k.a. Darth Vader, a.k.a. the Chosen One, a.k.a. Annoying Little Snot from Episode One.

    Crimes: Murder by the Force, Torture of Own Daughter, Crimes against Humanity (and other species), Assault with a Deadly Lightsaber, Driving a Podracer Without a License, Theft.

    It appears that life on the dark side is not so rosy
    after all.

    When Darth Vader made an appearance at a movie theater in Springfield, Ill., on May 21, he wasn’t there to recruit minions or to watch his doppelganger in the sixth and final Star Wars movie, “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.”

    Instead, he robbed the cash register.

    I hate Illinois Sith.

    According to Springfield Police Lieutenant Doug Williams, an unidentified man wearing a Darth Vader mask, black pants and a black shirt walked into the Showplace Eight Theatre at about 9:15 p.m. The man made his way behind the counter of the front cashier area, shoved the employee aside and grabbed an undisclosed amount of money.

    Minus major nerd points for poorly-executed costume.

    Williams said the suspect did not utter a word during the crime, nor could witnesses detect any heavy breathing coming from behind the mask. There was also no sign of the villain’s ubiquitous light saber.

    Minus more nerd points for being out of character (except for the criminal thing) and for the lack of geek bling.

    The suspect reportedly fled the theater and escaped into a nearby wooded area. Police have no lead in the case.

    The man is approximately six feet tall and 150 pounds. Williams said the suspect also wore a green money belt in addition to his all-black ensemble.

    Isn’t he a little short to be a Sith Lord?

    Foretelling the future: (insert hand gesture) But officer, these are not the theater receipts you’re looking for.

  • Caught in a Meme Crossfire

    I’ve been hit by another meme. Actually, I’ve been double-tapped by it, as both Phil at Shades of Gray (Umbrae Canarum) and JohnL at TexasBestGrok have tagged me with the same book meme.

    Total Number of Books I’ve Owned
    I have no idea how many I’ve owned through my life, but it would easily top a grand. I currently own 250-300, scattered throughout my apartment, my car, the office and my girlfriend’s house.

    Last Book I Bought
    Ghost Wars, after Chad at In the Bullpen emailed me with an enthusiastic recommendation.

    Last Book I Read
    The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, though it was actually a re-read. The last book I read for the first time was Band of Brothers.

    Five Books that Mean a Lot to Me
    The Lord of the Rings — I first read it in fourth grade. I first re-read it in fifth grade. I have no idea how many times I have turned back to it. This was the only sure thing on my list and, were one to travel back through the history of this meme, I would wager that Tolkien’s masterpiece would appear on more lists than any other book. Well, maybe a lot of people went with the Bible.

    1984 — I read it in 1983 at the height of the Cold War. It provided a chilling reason to believe in the need to fight against the Evil Empire.

    UNIX in a Nutshell — An incredible reference for my working world, one that I still turn to frequently after years in the biz.

    Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land — Okay, yeah, that’s two. Still, I cannot decide which of the two is my favorite sci-fi. Both are amazing in very different ways.

    The Pillars of the Earth — Never has a book that sounded so disinteresting gripped me in the manner as this one did. A historical epic about the building of a cathedral in 12th century England? No thanks. Man, was I ever wrong! As much as this would seem like a book that would have a relatively small target audience, I would heartily recommend it to anyone. Actually, I have recommended it to quite a variety of people, and all that have read it have been extremely engrossed by the story, the scope and the characters, so real that you root for them or despise them to a surprising degree.

    I’m now allowed to stick five others with this meme, but I think I’ll pass on this one. I think almost everybody on my blogroll that does memes has already had a shot at this one.