New Treks

I watched the revamped classic STAR TREK episode "Balance of "Terror" this morning, done with new special effects... basically I can take it or leave it, but at least they were true to their word and very respectful in how they changed the effects. No scenes were added (so I wouldn't expect we'd see the fleets in "Errand of Mercy", for instance), just replaced. Some shots looked very nice, though only one shot of the Bird of Prey really jumped out at me as something great. Quite a few shots looked good, but several also had that flat, 2-D cgi look as well and just distracted from the show.

The remastering itself was great, at least watching it on a standard-def TV. Colors and contrasts were great, though that made some of the new CGI shots look even more flat by comparison.

It was fun to see, and I'll look forward to seeing more episodes, but certainly not something to make me want to upgrade my DVDs. (And not sure I'd choose the new versions over the old if I was buying the sets for the first time.) Will younger people really be happier with the new effects? I don't know, I guess I'm not really in a position to judge. But I'm content with the approach they took, at least!

Happy Birthday, B!

B.B. King turned 81 today, and though he's slowed down a bit he still spends more days touring than most performers a third his age! Buster and I will be going to see B.B. in concert in mid-November, it'll be his first (and very possibly only) chance to see this legend before B. retires!

A Sad "Passing"....

I was attending a (very dull) business meeting at my company's Canton, MA facility this afternoon, and found that Davenport Avenue in Canton has been destroyed and built over by a new, still under construction condo complex.

Davenport Ave is where we lived for 6-7 years back in the 80's, the days of our "wild youth". And our rented house on that old dirt road, #12, was definitely the center of our wildest moments. Dubbed the "Blues Mansion" (and also later the "Blues Mansion East" as we also had parties at Jake's place in western MA), it was the gathering point for a large group of friends... most of whom were part of what became our Star Trek fan group, the "USS Christa McAuliffe". We had New Years' and Independence Day parties that lasted a minimum of three days and as many as 5 days, depending on when the holiday fell. (5 days would be a mid-week holiday, stretching into the weekend!) It's where some of us met for the first time, and most of us are still close friends to this day. It's where our original Bluesmobile was housed much of the time throughout that decade.

You get the picture. I was very pleased when, just a few months after I moved out of that house at the end of the decade, I learned in a town newspaper that when they implemented a new E-911 phone system in Canton they had to change the house numbering... on that particular house. Our number had been retired! Now the old New England cape-style house is gone (probably has been for a while, though I know it was still there early this year), but the memories remain....

....well, some of the memories remain, at least! ;-)

Touch a Bluesmobile

NOTE: From this point forward I'm going to take to calling my son by his Blues traveling name, "Buster"... it's just easier to write and type than "C", surprisingly!

Buster and I had a great time Monday (Labor Day) at the "Touch a Truck Day" event in N. Attleboro. This was a fundraiser for "Mothers Without Borders", where they brought in emergency vehicles (and were supposed to also have some construction vehicles, though none made it) and let kids explore them, hands-on. So there was a police car, a paddy wagon, two fire engines, an ambulance, one sports car... and a Bluesmobile. It was very fun, as the adults liked the Blues Brothers connection (Buster & I were suited up), and the kids - who didn't all know the Blues Brothers - just thought we were a real police car that they could sit behind the wheel of. (As the genuine cruiser was understandably only letting kids in the rear seat.)

Got some photos put up here on the Flickr site, my favorites are the ones showing half a dozen kids at once crowding into the Bluesmobile, having a great time. Of course, it took me two days to find and set back every switch, knob, and setting the kids had managed to mess with while there, but neither I nor the Bluesmobile minded!

Buster also enjoyed it, and being in costume was a big center of attention himself. We'll certainly be open to doing more of this type of show in the future!

YouTube Test

I don't expect to be doing much video uploading, but I want to make sure I can... here's two videos from our Disney vacation last year (May '05) just to test the concept.

First, The Momma's favorite performers from Epcot, Japan's Matsuriza drummers:



Next, my faves, the Voices of Liberty from Epcot's American Adventure pavilion:



This has been a test.... stay tuned for future posts.

Catching Up....

I can't help but notice that I'm still getting 100 hits or so each month, so I suppose I ought to try and get back in the swing of posting more often. That probably won't really happen until later this fall (after we're recovered from our next Disney trip in October), but hey, I owe ya something!

It's been a busy summer, mostly nicely busy apart from another major car repair to the Saab (transmission-related this time), some substantial and expensive dental work, and The Momma being put on-call at her job more often than our budget can comfortably handle.

But there's been lots of fun too. C and I have gone to quite a few great town events, most notably the town's summer "Concerts on the Common" series where they have a free concert every Sunday night. (The last one of the season was rained out this past weekend, bummer!) It's a different music style every week so it's been a fun way to expose C to the different styles and just get out and be part of the town. We usually bring lawn chairs and a ball or Frisbee to pass the time. The music's sometimes good, sometimes so-so; occasionally great but never horrible. And as the Common is walking distance it's very convenient.

We've also gone to a few wildlife presentations at our town's state park, one on turtles, one on raptors (birds of prey), and one on snakes (The Momma took C to the latter as it was on a workday for me). All quite fun, with live animals to see.

Also earlier this month was my company's summer picnic, a very large affair that C & I attended. There were quite a few highlights, the best probably being C's chance to ride a camel... which he did four times! He also enjoyed the carnival rides and - of course - the video game arcade. I've got some photos of him on the camel that I'll post once I finally get around to downloading the camera.

This past weekend C & I spent Saturday at Fenway Park. While the Red Sox were on a west cast road trip they had a minor league double-header at the Fens, at minor league(-ish) prices. The (Single A league) Lowell Spinners played a game, followed an hour later by a PawSox game. Our seats were terrific, 6 rows behind the home team dugout... never something we could get at an MLB game! C lasted through the entire first game and (despite the one-hour wait between games) through the third inning of the second game... all in all we were there for about 6 hours. Yay!

Our next big gig is next week, on Labor Day, when C & I will be suiting up and taking the Bluesmobile to a charity car show for kids in North Attleboro, MA. Called "Touch a Truck Day", it's an opportunity for families to come and let their kids explore (hands-on) police cars, fire trucks, construction equipment, ambulances - and a Bluesmobile - with the proceeds going to charity. It should be a fun afternoon, if the local police parked next to me don't take exception to our car of course!

Con Photos Posted

Hopefully I'll find some more but I've got a bunch of photos from the Shore Leave con posted now to my Flickr site. Enjoy!