nataliepo

I've Now Seen "Star Trek"

I'd never seen any of the Star Trek series before I saw this movie.  All I really knew about the series was that it took place in the future, people could be beamed up by Scotty, and some of them gave V-shaped high fives.  And I knew that Zachary Quinto had a major role in the movie, since I'm a member of his ZQ-mmunity.  I will admit, though, that I knew a little about Leonard Nimoy when I IMDB'd him as background for my Hobbitted post.  In terms of spacey movies, I've seen Star Wars (the original three) and Event Horizon, and truthfully, I have a fear of spaceships because of EH.  *shudders*

But I really liked this movie!  It's pretty rare that I emotionally get into a sci-fi movie because I have a hard time swallowing the absurdity of it all.  I think the light flashes every 4 seconds trained me like an animal to submit to the setting.  Here's what I remember as notable:
 

1. The Ship

When we meet Kirk, Sr's wife in the beginning of the movie, my wind wandered at the possibility for civilian life in outer space because, dude, that ship was amazing. I found myself wondering if their living quarters were bigger than my Brooklyn apartment? It probably has a nicer shower, fewer bugs.  But I've been on a Navy submarine before and can vouch for the laughable level of fantasy that this movie brings towards the future.  Subs are TINY.  Space in those vessels comes at a premium so much that hallways can only fit the width of two people who have to tilt "ut to ut" which are all of the permutations of "nut" or "butt" -- official Navy terminology, I think, since women haven't been allowed to serve on subs until the policy change this year.  But the Enterprise was the bomb.  Changed my mind about that whole 'to hell and back' fear from Event Horizon, which is a silly earthling fear if you really think about it.

2. SPACE

OMG.  How MIND BLOWING is it to watch space footage?!?  In the ridiculous scene where they decided to hide behind one of Saturn's rings, I found myself thinking "OMG. THAT'S SATURN!" and all of the existential talks that parents must have had with their kids after the movie to explain that we can't actually film movies in space. I'd be okay with a fake series similar to Planet Earth with all the other galaxies that the Star Trek crew has been.

I love how they made Iowa the centerpiece for Americana.  Of all the places in the universe that the starfleet people COULD train, they chose Iowa. 

3. Depiction of Military Personnel

I liked how they highlighted the presence of women and the unique personalities of service people in general.  It was better than the traditional whitewashing of men in uniform.  I also liked that they showed that they dated amongst themselves but still ran a tight ship.  It contradicts the dumb military rule that women ruin everything in the workplace.  The fast-talking doctor earned an A in my book for his New Yorker sense of urgency and humor.

What I didn't like, though, is that Captain Kirk is the hero who has obviously American "Maverick" traits. Whistling at every woman who walks by, stealing and wrecking a '66 Corvette in the opening scene, picking fights in bars -- this ain't no modern hero. 

4. Zachary Quinto's Eyebrows

I don't remember a word that he said.

So, now that I've seen it, is it worth seeing the old series?  Tracie said the effects are cheesy but the interpersonal relationships, especially the tension between Kirk and Spock, are still pretty good.

Make A ______ (Face, Memory, Polaroid, App, Meme)

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Like Motion sites, Make A Face is a community based site: when viewers join it, it shows up in the “Communities” list in the sidebar of the member's profile. (You can see it on mine here.) The photos posted to the site are also stored in a group, not in a blog.

Unlike Motion, Make A Face uses a Flash based photo uploader to take a picture from your computer's webcam. As you can only post photos, Make A Face can use the gridded view instead of the stream of posts view as on a regular blog or community blog. If you're interested in seeing more about Make A Face, it's on GitHub (and so is the Flash webcam widget).

Of all the sites we've made to reference our nifty TypePad APIs, Make-a-Face is, by far, my favorite. Where else can you find memorable, meaningful content as simple as a candid photo?  This is also why people love Polaroids so much: they provide the visual that surfaces your memory of a particular moment along with all the layers of where you were when the photo was taken, what time of day, who you were with, why you decided it would be a good idea to remember it, and so on. 

The thing that I REALLY like about Make-a-Face is the meta-trends that will crop up organically.  Remember that this site offers no post data beyond the photo, so it's a fun exercise to the user to find the commonality between photos, just like these:

See anyone you know?  More after the jump!

@mulegirl, I'm not in favor of a conference of just samesies, either.

[Conference organizers and publishers], it is your personal prerogative to hold a conference or publish a book or magazine featuring whomever you choose. It is your professional duty to reach outside your existing circle of friends and colleagues, outside of your snug familiar comfort zone to find new voices and new perspectives.

Are you doing this to shape the industry and the culture, or do you just want to have a beer with your most famous friends and feel validated because you got sponsors for it? If you are only surrounding yourself with people you already know, you are doing yourself a disservice. Reach out, and reach out before someone calls you out. You will win, personally and professionally, if you do.

...Are we clear here? Great. Now let’s all be awesome out there.

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I'm with @mulegirl on this one. A wise man once told me that sometimes organizations give out awards just to make themselves look like the experts. This seems similar...

Goseling/Foreman Mixup

"Aren't Rachael MacAdams and Ryan Goseling an item?"

"No, that was when they were...younger."

"Isn't Goseling the one with all the kids?"

"No, that was George Foreman."

Baby Wolves and Tigers are NOT Modcult Material.

I've Now Seen "Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark"

You know how many movies I have not seen?  A lot of them. MOST of them, actually. 

Yesterday, I watched Indiana Jones for the first time.  And it was intense.  The action scenes never stopped, the leading lady was badassed, and Harrison Ford as the attractive, educated, pinnacle of American manhood gets two thumbs up from this gal. 

I knew that this was an adventure movie, and that Indiana Jones carried whips, and that there were sequels so he wouldn't die unexpectedly, but other than that, I didn't really know the premise.  That being said, I loved the opening scene the most.  Spiders? Booby traps? Rope swings? Shiny monkey thing? Yes, please. A sense of purpose or direction? Not necessary. Proceed with the awesome.

The ending was JUST PLAIN SILLY.  To avoid the wrath of gods of yore, you just have to close your eyes.

Could you guess which scene was my favorite? I had no idea there were so many women in higher education in the 30's...

Would I watch this again?  Yes. And Harrison Ford is invited to join me.

Best 404 Ever

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What's the ringtone on your phone? Why - and what does it say about you?

I'm pretty proud of the history of my phone's ringtones. Right now, it's the Fairy Fountain song from Zelda (SNES), which makes me feel uplifted and rejuvenated every time I hear it. Before that, it was Bad Romance -- obviously a classic. Gave me a little bit of anxiety when it rang, though, sort of like Kubrick monsters were calling me. And before that, it was En Vogue's "Never Gonna Get It.", because someone in the office thought that they had IP over Salt n Pepa's epic "Push It" tune. Still bitter about that obviously.

TypePad Conversations » Answer this question!

Commenting has been disabled -- "Oh, are they?"

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I love Rushmore and Sippey's mini blog. I don't know how I feel about reblogging his post just to leave a comment on it, but I'm giving it a try anyway.

PS, Sippey, have you been to The Breslin yet? It's like Wes Anderson heaven.

MDWIT '10 Conference Recap: Closer to Progress

My professional ecosystem is more or less centered in the web industry, and the more I hear about its goings-on so much from the blogoverse, the more I think that everything revolves around us. My first trip to the MDWIT (Multinational Development for Women in Technology) Conference this past Thursday reminded me that there's life outside Silicon Alley, and they're facing women in technology shortages in a different, direct way. 

MDWIT has worked with every agency high and low to come up with a solid plan to boost the number of ladies getting into tech.  It starts at the educational level by developing more scholarship programs for students interested in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, or Math), providing a regimented mentoring program, fostering more internships, and directly integrating IT more tightly into the K-12 curricula.  Sounds ambitious and expensive, but the sense of urgency held by the DC Metro area is compounded by government agencies' aging workforce and increase in IT-related jobs, so funding for these projects is clearly available and comes with the promise of a return on the investment. 

Not only will there be a ton of jobs available in that geographic area (especially with the upcoming base realignment plan in MD), the breadth of IT jobs available is huge.  The government sector covers Defense-related technologies (planes, submarines, helicopters, radar or communication systems -- you name it) as well as general agency IT needs (HR systems, payroll, custom CMS's, sheesh, it could be anything), and the majority of my employed UMBC college classmates work for Uncle Sam.