Star Trek 2009
May 09The new Star Trek flick is not only a great movie. It’s not only a damn fun night at the theater. It’s not only THE summer movie to beat for balls-out action and laughs.
It’s also damn good Star Trek.
That’s what we’ve all been holding our breath about, isn’t it? The geeks, the nerds, the dweebs, the weirdos; the Trekkies and the Trekkers and the Klingon cosplayers; the desperate fanman in his two-sizes-too-small Deep Space Nine tee and the button-down corporate lawyer who slapped silly putty on his ears when he was eight to play Spock for Halloween.
All the previews looked good; all the rumors and spoilers sounded right. It always looked like a well-crafted product of the Hollywood blockbuster machine. But would it be good Trek? Not in a slavish devotion to obscure details, but in spirit, in mindset, in tone?
They did it. They absolutely fucking did it. Star Trek is easily the best time I have had in a movie theater in years; I grinned from start to end and clapped like a fool when it was over. And the afterglow is because on top of everything they got exactly right, they managed to do what seemed impossible for so very long: They reminded us that Star Trek can be great, not by kissing up to an ever-dwindling diehard fanbase or dismissing all that has come before in favor of some “hip,” “edgy” reinterpretation, but by just MAKING GREAT STAR TREK. It’s that simple. They made great Star Trek. It’s great.
(POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHOY)
Stuff We Like This Week: May 8 Edition
May 08
In an effort to combat our occasional…okay, okay, near-constant negativity, we give you a regular feature full of nothing but love — Stuff We Like This Week. Appearing every Friday, SWLTW will recap the things that have set our little nerdly hearts aflame within the past seven days.
Free Comic Book Day 2009 – This Year, Theft-Free!
May 05There are several things that we’re less-than-proud of here in the lushly-decorated Alert Nerd Central Office – my multivolume Raker Qarrigat/Arkillo fanfiction, Sarah’s homemade Gambit doll, and the thing that Chris keeps on his mantle and calls Slimer, but Oh God, what is it really?
However, none of those hold a candle to the way we celebrated FCBD last year – the year when Matt broke into his local comic shop, shot five guys and stole all of the free comics. That’s the way it happened, right?
This year, we were much better behaved, and here’s an infotaining after-action report to prove it…
Stuff We Like This Week: May 1 Edition
May 01In an effort to combat our occasional…okay, okay, near-constant negativity, we give you a regular feature full of nothing but love — Stuff We Like This Week. Appearing every Friday, SWLTW will recap the things that have set our little nerdly hearts aflame within the past seven days.
The Unbearable Suckiness of Being Gambit
Apr 30
A lot of folks are still skeptical about Twitter. I mean, there’s the recent Oprahcization, and then suddenly there are all these megacompanies and entire cities trying to “follow” you, and oh, yeah, the glut of “social media and branding experts” spammin’ it up, and I suppose I can see how, to a non-Twitterer, it might all seem like some sort of minutiae overload, wherein everyone can’t stop talking about their stupid boss and the snack they just got from the vending machine. #bbqruffles
But, look. Without Twitter, I would not have engaged in one of the most IMMENSELY SATISFYING nerd arguments I’ve had in forever.
