Rules for the Road

Students now blog or tweet as part of their studies.  Many already do it on their off time, but why do it as part of their studies if they already know how to 'do it'.  Setting up a blog or a Twitter account is more than just a username, password, and may be CSS for a cool background.  The technology is great, but it never replaces the technology given to us between the ears, namely a little thought and common sense.

I do admit sending an e-mail, or posting on a message board, without proofing or missing an error.  People can sound grammatically correct and funny, but if they say mean things about another person or write about work in great detail it's only asking for trouble.  I admit to thoughtlessly writing about someone, a person not completely innocent either, in my earlier blogs.  I thought if I used the first letter of the person't name then it's perfectly fine.  I did notice something after I posted the entries.  I felt strangely depleted.  It's not the kind of emptying you get from really expressing yourself with its giddy overtone.  The depletion I felt made me feel hollow rather than powerful for saying a witty barb regarding the person. 

Yes, people get off on saying more than barbs on a person.  Some even set up careers blogging about people, mostly celebrities, in the most brutal terms possible in the name of honesty.  Some people get off by bullying a person.  Trolls are fascinating creatures on the internet.  I wonder what they are like as people once they shut off the laptop or monitor.  What kind of black energy does it take to fuel the vitriol?  How does it feel to bully someone so much online, the person takes their own life?  I saw the black energy coming a long time ago and made a choice.  I stopped writing about the person and usually reserve such discussion for my written journal.  Yeah, but your doing the same thing and nobody sees it, comes the wise response.  Nobody sees it but I do, and the whole point is ask myself what's up and why.  Do you see many bullies stop themselves to ask those questions?

Here's what you will get on this blog.  I am a geek.  I make no apologies for it.  My wall paper on my home laptop has Richard Armitage.  (Sometimes I quip about a 16 year old trapped in a 41 year old body.)  I like what I do as a Library Technician and have no ambition at the current time to get my MLIS.  I also what to write entries asking the whys and hows of something and sometimes I just want to 'geek out'. To all the students stopping by with a blog to write as part of an assignment, ask if someone wrote about you, would you use the same words?

Happy (writing) trails.

So Much Happened, So Little Words to Describe It

I attended my first Science Fiction/Fantasy convention.  The Central Canada Comic Con put on by C4 continues to grow on both their guest lists and their attendance.  This year the list includes Nana Vistor (Kira from Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine), Ethan Phillips (Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager) among many others.  I attended three panels:

1. Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh from BSG)
2. Jonathan Frakes (Yes, Riker himself)
3. William Shatner (Yes, THE starfleet captain himself)

Jonathan Frakes spoke quite a bit about directing series and felt grateful he learned the skills while on Next Generation.  If being 50 and a woman seems tough in the TV business, 50 and male without 'enhancement' proves equally difficult.  He spoke with wit and candor, especially answering a question regarding the box office disappointment of Star Trek: Nemesis.  Basically Paramount rushed out Trek after Trek until people felt sick of it.  Even I recall feeling sick of it during that period.  While the entertainment business is a business, greed is not good in creativity.  Mr. Frakes did praise JJ Abrams reboot of the franchise, singling out Karl Urban's performance as Dr. McCoy as a memorable part of the movie. 

Kate Vernon proved a laid-back sort of person and encouraged everyone to ask questions. She talked about about the craft of acting, including the stresses of being a guest star after having new pages delivered to her the day before shooting her scene.  One fact I missed, and I saw the movie several times, she was in Pretty in Pink as one of the snooty rich crowd with James Spader.

As for Captain Kirk himself, well he doesn't disappoint in his appearances.  The word retirement doesn't appear in his lexicon and my friend got his autograph.  I stuck up my hand for a question about why stage is still important for actors and writers.  I got more than I bargained for as he used seeing Kevin Sorbo on screen as one example than went to the corner closest to my spot and said "I love you" with his usual dramatic flair.  (When he used Kevin Sorbo as his man for the screen, I substituted Nathan Fillion in my head.) Somewhere someone has a video of the event.   Needless to say point proven about the immediacy of the stage.  He also said 'nice question' and I do aim for good questions. 

The whole thing seems like a dream right now.  The event was held near the end of October and here we are in November.  Would I attend again?  I heard Brent Spiner is due to attend next year.