Trek to the cinemas ....Fantastic...

Today I boldly went to where no-one has gone before. Well, at least from my family.
Yep, today I entered the world of the Trekkie - however briefly- and went to see J.J. Abrams take on the Star Trek franchise.

Now let it be clear that I am a fan of sci-fi, however I’ve always been more of a Star Wars/ Doctor Who guy. Although I quite liked the first trailer I saw, I had my doubts, after all we all know how well remakes stand up to the classics…..not very. And as I said, I’m not really into ST….

….BUT THIS MOVIE WAS ACTUALLY REALLY GREAT!

With a solid storyline, heart-pumping action and spectacular effects, this film that chronicles the formation of the U.S.S Enterprise, is a breath of fresh air to what some people consider to be a franchise that doesn’t know when to just lay down and die. (Of course, some people believe the same is true for TMNT, but I disagree.) In short, though roughly enjoyable.

So for those not in the know, it follows the story of soon-to-be-legendary James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) and his early days in the Starfleet Academy. (Look it up) He is joined by everybody’s favourite Vulcan- Spock (Zachery Quinto), Doctor Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) and the rest of the gang. Despite initial conflict, they all band together to stop the dastardly Romulan Nero (An almost indistinguishable Eric Bana) from destroying Earth with stolen Vulcan technology.

The movie has some spectacular fight scenes, one of my favourites is the high altitude sword-fight between a Romulan and Pilot Hiraku Sulu (John Cho). There are quite a few laughs, mainly provided by Simon Pegg as Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Ensign Checkov. Mainly because of their outrageous accents. There are also nods to the original series – I’ll let you figure them out- including what was probably the first of untimely red-shirt demises, you know, the cannon fodder.

Another high point is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy (looking a little like Exidor to me) , also reprising his role of Spock, combining the old with the new. I’m kinda glad Shatner didn’t do the same thing, that may have had some serious physiological trauma on young Kirk. (Kidding of course- no offense man.)

Star Trek is defiantly a must see this year, I would give and easy 10/10. It’s a fantastic way to introduce the characters and who knows, maybe I’ll even track down and watch some episodes. Or if they make a spin off TV series, I’d probably watch that.

Well that’s about it for me….

-Professor Bear
Live long and Prosper

(PS. I really must figure out how to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch!)

First Rave!!!

Time for a rave.
This has been bugging me for quite some time now, trivial as it may seem.

I believe I was in grade three (or was it grade 5?) when the substitute teacher was handing out permission slips for an excursion some days later. The destination escapes me, but I remember we departed at 9:00 am and arrived back at school around midday. Seeing the time listed as 12:00pm, I put up my hand to reveal my discovery of this blunder.
“Shouldn’t it be 12:00 am?” I asked.
After all, I was no fool and knew something about time. AM being from the early hours of the morning until noon and PM the afternoon and following night-time. I was feeling rather chuffed about the fact that I had spotted a mistake, made by the all-seeing, all-knowing beings called teachers. Until the sub brought me down like an leak brings down a zeppelin.
“Not unless you want to come back at midnight” she replied, accompanied by the sniggers of my classmates. As I later found out, that at 12 o’clock we shift from AM to PM, and vice versa at night.

To which I must say: WHAT THE HECK?

Seriously, who’s bright idea was that? I mean technically that means that we go 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 and so on! It defies everything taught in pre-school mathematics! Did we learn how to start counting by going to the biggest number first, skipping to straight to the bottom and work our way up? I doubt it. Does this mean that when folks over at NASA do their countdowns, they should go
“One…ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…Lift Off?” Surely it would make sense to start AM at 1:00 and finish at 12:00 instead of finishing the cycle off early and sticking the last hour onto the next one. Frankly, I think it’s just plain dumb, because it’s like starting a new day when the other one hasn’t finished yet.

Now before you start rattling off an email saying that I am the dumb one, let me expand.

Time is a funny thing. Technically, like actual counting, the new cycle of either AM or PM starts at 00:00, and works it’s way up. Fine, I get that. But why call it 12:00 AM. Who decided that 12 would be the new zero?
It’s like in 1984, with the whole ‘2+2=5’ shtick. It messes with my brain.
Kinda like daylight savings. But that’s an issue for another blog.

In conclusion, I reckon the military and relative parties are the only ones with their heads screwed on the right way. Start at 00:00 hours and work your way up to 23:59 hours before starting again the next day at 00:00.

But hey….maybe it’s just me.

-Professor Bear.

LLLLLLLAAADIES and Gentleman: Presenting Professor Bear!

Greetings, fellow being, my appellation is Professor T. Bear. I am a debonair 5’9’’ soprano and have several degrees in a range of social studies. I am currently endowed with the title of national fencing champion and own a Rolls Royce.

I have an overactive imagination and have told you some porkpies. I’m not the least bit suave and am more of a bass than a soprano. I do NOT hold any qualifications other than completing high school. Just. I have never fenced in my life, let alone held any titles. I did have a bicycle once, but that has long since disappeared.

Soooo, as you may have already guessed, I am not a real Professor or a real Bear. You’ll have to excuse my feeble attempt at humour, but now you have a little taste the strange and wondrously warped inner realms of my mind. If you have decided to subscribe, or at least read or even skim over this and following blogs, you will find various ravings, quirky observations, reviews - and yes, the occasional joke.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Journey begins.

- Professor Bear.