Hrm.... And a Day At The Zoo

...So everyone's been waxing poetic about the new Star Trek movie. Not impressed, not gonna go. Now, before all you other geeks out there start lambasting me for not going and before you all tell me what a marvelous movie I'm missing....
(ahem)
I grew up with Star Trek. I started watching Star Trek as an infant. One of my earliest memories is watching ST at my gramma's house where I would hide behind the big maroon velvet chair and read Shakespeare and peek around the edge of the chair to watch the tube. My age? 3. The episode I distinctly remember being on while reading Taming of the Shrew? "The Devil in the Dark" - The Horta and Spock shrieking 'PAAAAAIN' and tunneling through the rock and it's made of SILICONE, not carbon....
I've read the books, I've seen the movies. I've watched the series (except Enterprise. That's a bastard child that should have been drowned at birth).
The new movie? Harumph.
The new movie fucks with MY STAR TREK UNIVERSE, the one I've grown with for 39 years. I will not be going to the new movie. And yes, I know 'it's a parallel universe'.... It's actually a false universe and one that is (probably) causing Gene to spin like a top in his grave.

But there is merchandising and part of the merchandising is that CheezIts (Oh.My.God.Couldn't they find a better tie in????) is offering a "Captain's Tunic" which caused Sic-un and I to hit the 'net for costume information and what exactly is this type shirt, what series, what stardate....

We hit Memory Alpha, which is one of the most incredible time-wasters on the 'net, actually (and a place that scares me for how much time I can spend there), and yes, they have full info on the costumes.

But they had another picture of something else that just... gobsmacked me...
Here. Let me show you it.

It's from The Trouble With Tribbles. Kirk is dressing down the crew after the bar fight with the Klingons. But wait! Who is that next to Chekov? And who is that next to the guy next to Chekov???

They were Star Trek before they were Star Trek. And that does my dirty heart good. Thought I'd share.

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A Day At the Zoo

Sic-un and I hit the Knox zoo Saturday afternoon. Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my!)... Here. Pictures. You provide your own narrative. It's a zoo. There's animals. And people, although I avoided them in my pictures. Loud, obnoxious, redneck families with more than 3 children should come with warning labels. Especially if they're dragging 2 strollers, an ice chest and other assorted garbage.
































































Now, for some notes:
*I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. My batteries were wonky. Yes, they have batteries there, no, we didn't get more batteries there. We had 2 1/2 hours to go through the whole thing (closing early for fundraising function) and didn't want to stop, really.
*The white tiger is Kali and I had to lay down on the ground to get that shot. People wondered why I was 'looking at concrete'.
*The elephant has the best freakin' job and I think it knows it. This is from one of the many shows they give using the elephants. The elephant is actually playing an harmonica, although it's almost impossible to see. The rest of the animals pace back and forth in boredom with nothing to do at all except listen to the shrieks of children 'LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME'....
[[[To illustrate: One ... pod? I guess? Of kids. Gang? What are a group of kids called? Hrm. Anyway, in the reptile house, there was some alligators hanging out being still like alligators do (I got pictures, but they are Teh Suck). There was a gaggle of children saying (and I'll try and get it as close as I can) "Hey, we should get a zookeeper to go in and make them move." Children should be avoided.]]]
*The brown thing with its head down is a llama.
*The flutterby garden here in Knox is lame. The Butterfly Pavilion at the zoo in Albuquerque rocks.
*I've never seen purple holly before. It's all over the place at the zoo.
*Zebra rock.
*The rhinos were eating.
*The penguins were actually all asleep in this picture. At least, all their eyes were closed. I'm impressed I got the shot with no reflection through the glass.
*That's a Tennessee Brown Bear, kids. Refused to show its face. Paced back and forth, turned away from the camera.