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Bald Captains Not Allowed

Dare I risk venturing into one of those boring Viewings posts no one likes?

We just finished season one of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s gonna be a full rewatch, although I saw at least half of them on the Horror Channel (RIP) about eight years ago. Anyhow, a troubled season one—it only gets better after this. To be fair, it does build towards a pretty strong final few episodes.

So do I like TNG as much as TOS? Probably not. How much of that is sentiment for the show I watched lots as a kid? Hard to say… but definitely a factor.

A short documentary on the final season one disc gave me a chuckle. Gene Roddenberry recalled Patrick Stewart first being suggested as the new Enterprise Captain, and he had his doubts. He wasn’t sure he could cast a bald man in the role!!

I see exactly what you mean, Gene.

Desilu Memo 1968
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Lotsa Weather

Now, look: it’s the middle of May and it’s the middle of the afternoon. You take the dog for a walk. What do you expect? Well, a la Brighton, what you get is you and the dog repeatedly being almost blown off your feet. Literally.

If this was an isolated incident, fine. Hm, okay, today is particularly bad, and you normally get this of a night. But still. I didn’t get anything like this in the depths of Winter in London (or Brum, very often).
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Sommat to Chew On

Oh, more computer equipment out of commission: my scanner. This time it was the dog chewing clean through the mains adaptor wire that did it. This is why he’s on restricted access…

(It’s been ten years since I last went through fun stuff like this. I’d honestly forgotten the true extent of the joy it makes me feel.)
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Weekend Roundup

So, should I officially make this a ‘one entry per weekend’ blog or what? Nah. Then I’d feel like writing stuff all the time and wouldn’t be able to stick to Der Rulez. Um, right.

I’ve been organising a bit. It’s amazing how you can live somewhere for nine months and still have a room that’s a stinking pit of disorder and clutter. That needed to change. I still have to get a couple of cheap, small bookcases and lots of stuff to fill the walls (I’m working on it), but generally things are much nicer now. The dog would now doubt attempt to sabotage my good work if he wasn’t on restricted access. 🙂

I’ve also tried to improve my career prospects a bit. I’m not willing to talk about that in detail until something firm develops—but progress on the journalism front could be on the horizon.
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In the Mood

Shades April 11 2004Another warm, though not excessively bright, day. The hot stuff is coming! As you can see, I’m making a token effort to get in the mood for the weather… alas, less clothing only tends to prove I need to lose a few pounds. *sigh*

I’ve been thinking about money a lot again recently. I’m not stressing over it, though. I still want to be able to earn some cash from writing at some point—the recent writing I’ve done has been heaps better than any of my earlier work—but it’s going to be a slow road ahead unless I get lucky. (BTW: I’m talking about journalism, not creative/fiction stuff, which is a lost cause to all but the stubbornly dedicated and hugely prodigious.)

So the rat race beckons a little again. I’m resisting. At this exact moment in time, life is fairly comfortable, so I’m not letting the pressure bring me down. In some ways, though, I think the routine of a regular job would benefit me: it would break my horrendous sleeping patterns, for instance. I keep fairly busy—I do most of our shopping these days, as mom’s health is not great and she wants to hold down her part-time job for as long as she can. So I don’t feel useless. But an income can boost a person’s self-esteem and routine isn’t always a bad thing. Hmmm.
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Stuck in the House

Terrible, rainy weather today. I’m not really stuck in the house, but I had a couple of non-urgent errands that this wretched downpour has dissuaded me from doing today. (Okay, I’m a wuss. Sue me.)

I had plans for last Wednesday. Saruman himself, Christopher Lee, was signing his autobiography, Lord of Misrule, in London at Forbidden Planet on Saturday and Borders on Wednesday. I thought I’d go for Wednesday. Alas, irrevocable transport problems put the kibosh on my plans… I did finally make it into Brum, but too late to get an affordable train that would’ve been on time. My only choice was a Virgin train for £30. I was forced to admit defeat.

Lord Of Misrule 2003
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Damned Weather

So the heatwave’s back this week. We’ve been flirting with temperatures around 98 degrees, which is just lovely. Not. Today is the worst yet, and call me a wuss, but I’m having immense difficulty functioning in it.
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Eh Bien, Mon Ami

Video purchase this week: the ABC Murders episode of Poirot, with David Suchet. This one was made in 1992 and, as far as I can remember, was particularly good. (They’re all good, though. Suchet is wonderful.) Anyway, we’ll be watching it later tonight.

This gives me a reason for mentioning the recent news story about the forthcoming Poirot episodes… four to be filmed this year, the first commencing later this month (Five Little Pigs). Rumour has it that Gwyneth Paltrow will appear in Death on the Nile. Suchet still hopes to film all of the original stories! (total so far: 49.)
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