An Effect in Search of a Purpose

I shot this photo of my parents' rooftop a few years ago, and wrote the text tonight. I had no particular purpose in mind, just the notion that the sky in the background seemed empty, wanting for prose. And so I supplied some. I'm certain a real artist could put this effect to good use.

Star Trek Into Darkness Review

WARNING: This review is loaded with SPOILERS. If you have not seen Star Trek Into Darkness, see the film before reading!

Like many modern Hollywood movies, Star Trek Into Darkness is almost impossible to judge on its own merits. It is the product of a society obsessed with fear of the other in a time when popular culture is folding back in upon itself. This combination of circumstances results in a film nearly crippled by its thematic contradictions. As originally conceived, Star Trek (the television series) was meant to show that human beings had reason to be optimistic about their future. But despite this film's attempts to claim otherwise, Star Trek's original utopian vision has been subverted by a culture that no longer believes in the show's core message. In other words, Captain sir, we're all doomed...

Star Trek Into Darkness opens strongly, with the Enterprise on a mission of mercy. Captain Kirk breaks some rules to save the indigenous peoples of the planet Nibiru, only to have Spock tattle on him and get him in trouble with their mutual mentor, Admiral Pike, former Captain of the Enterprise and now a Starfleet bigwig. Kirk is busted down a step in rank, relieved of command of the Enterprise, and Spock is transferred to another ship (the USS Bradbury, in a nice nod to one of SF's greatest writers). And while Kirk is clearly deeply wounded by the demotion, he knows that he made the moral choice.

The early part of the film does a good job of answering some of the open questions of Star Trek (2009). Kirk's rapid promotion from cadet to captain is seen by some as perhaps not a good thing, a realistic reaction to the events of the first film. Kirk is shown as something of a womanizer, a reputation somewhat undeserved in William Shatner's iteration of the character, but one that's taken literally here. However, given this new Kirk's tragic upbringing, it's understandable that Chris Pine's version of the iconic hero would find comfort in the arms of (several) women. This Kirk is still brash and arrogant, not at all the cool professional fans remember from the 1960s. 

It's clear that in this film Kirk will be put through the crucible to find some maturity. But because this is 2013, Kirk's journey will occur through the lens of global terrorism. A suicide attack on future London, followed by an assault that kills one of Kirk's loved ones, sets the scene for Kirk's character arc. Will he be consumed by the need for vengeance, or will he grow into the captain that we remember?

At first it seems as though Kirk will indeed succumb to the need for revenge. He makes a personal request to a top-ranking admiral to get his command back so that he can go after the terrorist, revealed to be John Harrison, a Starfleet agent gone rogue. Surprisingly, the admiral agrees.

I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of plot points here. A society-altering piece of technology invented by Scotty in the first film turns up again, much to the surprise of jaded viewers who are used to such plot devices being used once and forgotten. And the admiral gives Kirk a blatantly illegal order - essentially telling Kirk to perform a drone strike against their target, who's holed up in a neutral location. Not only would this violate another planet's sovereignty, it could start a war - and besides, as Spock and other Enterprise crew members point out, assassinating a suspect goes completely against Federation principles. Scotty even resigns his commission in protest.

Here is where the film comes closest to capturing the spirit of the original show. As in the original series, the writers have placed a science-fiction gloss over modern issues to highlight the importance of making morally correct choices, even when it would be easier and more satisfying to give in to our darker impulses. The moment Kirk decides to disobey orders and arrest Harrison instead of simply killing him from afar shows vividly that Kirk is starting to become a true hero.

Once Harrison is in custody, however, the film begins to fall apart, degenerating into a never-ending series of action set pieces and unnecessary callbacks to earlier Trek lore. As in Star Trek (2009), the creators get so caught up in keeping the pace fast and furious that they make elementary mistakes in story logic and basic science, inconsistencies that take viewers right out of the picture. One of the film's multiple false climaxes is a reverse homage of an earlier (better) film, an incomprehensible choice on the part of the filmmakers because the scene isn't powerful enough to stand on its own, and its presence can only remind viewers of the superior film. There is also a cringe-inducing moment that rivals Darth Vader's infamous "NOOOO" in Revenge of the Sith.

By film's end hundreds of people have died and Starfleet's reputation must lie in ruins. And yet the movie ends with an optimistic coda that tries - and, unfortunately, fails - to reaffirm the original show's utopian vision. Yes, Kirk and company are boldly going on a five year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations, but those words ring hollow when the film's subtext reinforces our modern era, one seemingly utterly devoid of the hope Star Trek is supposed to offer. Just as our leaders and media try to tell us that we live under constant threat from malevolent outsides, this film's version of Starfleet is identically paranoid. Not without cause, of course; the filmmakers have built a world in which the threats are real and the paranoia justified, which says something about how they view the real world here and now.

There's much to like in this film. The performances are outstanding, with a great deal of character-driven humour. Production design and visual effects show great imagination and audacity. Small nods to the larger Star Trek universe, including references to Enterprise (the show) and Deep Space Nine are very welcome. The first half of the movie sets up an interesting problem and treats the audience with respect.

Unfortunately, the film crumbles under the weight of its chosen theme and that theme's dissonance with Star Trek's core values. This movie wears Star Trek's face, and it even makes a fair attempt at emulating its structure and philosophy. But it doesn't believe in Star Trek, and it shows. Perhaps the world really has moved into darkness, and dreams of a better tomorrow are behind us.

Barrelling Along

Yesterday I took my camera out for a walk. I shot some birds and plants and rocks, and then I started trying to replicate an old trick I learned in junior high school: tracking a moving object while holding the shutter open in the hopes of producing an image featuring a sharp moving object against a blurred background. Well, I almost succeeded; the taxi here is certainly sharper than the background, but it's not exactly pin-sharp. Still, the effect remains interesting.

Universiade Tickets, 1983

Back in 1983, Edmonton hosted the Universiade, an international competition of university athletes. I was only 14 at the time we scored these tickets and not much interested in sports, but I was happy to see some of the spectacle. I remember nothing of the volleyball (the fact that the stub isn't missing seems to indicate that perhaps I didn't use the ticket), but I do recall the cycling vividly, perhaps because there was a mid-race crash that involved most of the riders.

What amuses me most is the price of the tickets. Even in 1983, paying six or eight dollars to see world-class athletes seems a bargain.

USS Bonaventure Patch

Since Star Trek Into Darkness gets its wide release today, this seems like an opportune time to mention my brief membership in the Edmonton Star Trek Society. In October 1987, a month into my first year at the University of Alberta, I stumbled across a meeting of the Society in one of the large lecture theatres in the Humanities building. Just as I arrived a young man sitting at the very top of the lecture hall carelessly tossed a soda can down to the first row, where it bounced painfully off the innocent skull of a Star Trek fan and model builder I'd later come to know as Barry Yoner. This seemed like my kind of place, so I joined the club and a couple of years later later became the second or third President of the spinoff University of Alberta Star Trek Club.

Before that happened, though, there were some fun times on the Bonaventure, the Society's imaginary starship. We once constructed a bridge and shot a short film based on the then-new Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ron Briscoe played Captain Picard by wearing a flesh-toned bowl on his head, and I think Tony Longworth played Commander Riker. I played myself, Ensign Woods, at the navigation station, drinking Coke while on duty as an in-joke reference to...oh boy, here's where it gets complicated. Let's just say that Star Trek fandom and a nascent Internet sometimes combined in very absurd ways.

I don't remember who designed this very handsome USS Bonaventure patch, but I think the design and execution still hold up very nicely. 

Anonymous Love Note, circa 1989

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, when I had all my hair and I was still fit, my friends used to tease me about my many girlfriends. Of course I had no girlfriends at all, but that didn't stop the teasing, including this anonymous note, slipped under my door at 139 Kelsey Hall sometime early in my third year of university. I'm pretty sure my friend Susan Shyluk (nee Neumann) was responsible for this light mocking. I was rather befuddled the morning I woke up and found the note. (I kept it all these years because I'm a sentimentalist.)

A little earlier - sometime in second year - I discovered that someone had slipped a girl's bracelet into the pocket of my jacket. Completely lacking in self-confidence and desperate for female companionship, my heart leaped - a girl liked me! Why else would she do such a thing? What a wonderfully cryptic and yet romantic gesture.

My hopes were dashed about an hour later, when my friend Kim (who, it can now be confessed, I was somewhat enamored with) knocked on my door and asked for her bracelet back. She'd stuffed it into my pocket because I'd left my jacket on the floor in the proximity of the volleyball court where she was playing, and my pockets provided a convenient place to stash her stuff.

I meekly handed over the bracelet. If I couldn't have True Love, the trust of a good friend was equally precious.

The Projects That Got Away

I've had a significant increase in freelance work over the past couple of weeks, so today I spent a couple of hours dealing with my accumulated office clutter. I can tolerate a certain amount of chaos in my workspace - in fact, I'm somewhat comforted by it - but there's a point at which the piles of stuff begin to interfere with your workflow.

As a result, I stumbled upon some of my old work for one of my former employers: outlines for two non-fiction books. I can't share the work here, since it was created while I was on the clock and not on my own time, but I can say the outlines are interesting reading - so interesting that I'm sorry we never got around to producing the books.

I've had a few work experiences like that over the years. The CBC pilot I co-hosted as a teenager could have gone to series, and I think we could have done some solid work. The non-profit I served in the 90s filled what I thought was an important niche, only to be swallowed up by a larger organization. And of course we could have done so much more at the Official Opposition had we sufficient resources.

Of course we live in an imperfect world, and so must make do with the capabilities at hand. Even with the various restrictions and realities I've experienced in my working life, I remain quite proud of 99 percent of the work I was involved with over the years - and even prouder of the people I worked with.

Besides, who says good ideas have to die? Maybe someday I'll write those books, if my old colleagues are amenable.

Seat of the Century

Mom and Dad are quite handy, particularly when it comes to renovating their yard and garden. When Sean and I visited Leduc for Mother's Day yesterday, we were surprised to see this new feature: an original horse-drawn mower seat, rescued from the Etsell farm many years ago by our Aunt Jean. Manufactured sometime in the 1920s, the seat and its supporting armature were quite dirty and rusted when Aunt Jean delivered it, but Mom and Dad painted it with John Deere colours and used lag bolts to mount it on a railroad tie. It's sturdy, comfy, and a colourful piece of family history.

Gaming & Guinness VIII: After All the Dies Are Cast

I'll conclude my summary of G&G VIII highlights with a few of the more amusing group photos. On to Ottawa for G&G IX in 2014!

Gaming & Guinness VIII: Chariots of Fire

Saturday began with Fortune & Glory, a game that casts players in the roles of 1930s Republic serial heroes, cooperating to stop either the Mob or the Nazis from casting the world into darkness.

With a full complement of eight players our game took forever, though unfamiliarity with the rules was partly to blame. In the end we halved the game goals for both sides (Nazis and fortune hunters) just so we could finish the game without cutting into Circvs Maximvs time.

 Circvs Maximvs is, of course, the epic game of Roman chariot racing, and the closing marquee game of G&G. For the first time this year we had nine racers, thanks to the sudden arrival of Scott's older brother Dustin (left).

Jeff had already won the coveted Caesar's Cup twice in a row, only to have Pete steal his laurel wreath last year. Jeff  was champing at the bit to reclaim his crown, while Pete was eager to match Jeff's back-to-back victories. But what of the other hungry gladiators on the field? Every racer hungered for victory.

My team, on black bases, began the race next to Mike Totman's yellow-based team. I enjoyed an excellent start, whipping my horses into a frenzy to overcome inertia flawlessly. But my opening luck was not to last.

Yes, for one brief, shining moment, I held the lead. The crowd roared!

Thundering hooves kicked up great clouds of fine Roman earth as we raced past the enormous edifice replicating the cup.

But even now the vile Brothers Friel were plotting against me, and against all their fleet-footed betters. Note Dustin's Machiavellian stroking of his Mirror Universe goatee.

Dustin (white team) and Scott (orange team) lashed out with their whips at rival horses and charioteers, their vile calumny raising bloodthirsty cheers from the stadium throngs. "Are you not entertained?" the Friels cried.

Their bloodlust even infected Mike Totman, who attempted to whip my charioteer in passing. But my man was too quick, and snatched Mike's whip away, disarming the rival racer.

With half the racers getting into whip fights, former champions Jeff (light blue) and Pete (fuschia) focussed merely on circling the track as quickly as possible. Here, Rob moves his charioteer into position (in Circvs Maximvs, you move your horses first, then follow with the chariot; this makes it easier to keep track of your moves).

At the halfway point, it was still anyone's race.

And then, vile villainy. Scott whipped Jeff's horses into a frenzy, causing his chariot to flip. I narrowly avoided the wreckage, while Scott simply, callously, drove atop it.

Jeff's racer was dragged by the reins through the dirt, his body taking incredible punishment as Island Mike's racer looked on in horror.

Fortunately Jeff was nimble enough to untangle himself from the reins and make a break for the safety of the stadium. He escaped, narrowly dodging Scott's attempt to trample his fleeing form.

In the final turn I made a fatal error, misjudging my speed and flipping my chariot. Now it was my turn to be dragged through the dust. But I refused to release the reins, reasoning that this close to the finish line I still had a chance of at least reaching the podium. Here I am, right on Pete's tail.

But from behind, the hand of fickle Fate (or, more accurately, fickle Friel) loomed, moving his pale white horses into position.

On a pale horse the reaper came...

"AAIIIEEE!" wailed my driver as Dustin's horses trampled him to death.

I wasn't the only casualty. Right after Dustin trampled me, Scott whipped Rob, causing Rob to flip. And then Scott casually trampled Rob to death just as his brother had killed my hapless racer. This gory finish almost eclipsed the greater accomplishments of the victor, Island Mike himself, new champion! Mike Totman and Stephen Fitzpatrick followed right on his heels, followed by Pete, Dustin and Scott. Only one question remained: how would Mike transport the fragile statue back to Vancouver Island..?

Gaming & Guinness VIII: Racing and Rock & Roll

Formula De is an appropriately fast-paced racing game. We've played Formula De at G&G before, but in keeping with our habit of upping the ante every year, this time around Stephen replaced the game's plastic cars with beautiful hand-painted miniatures in authentic racing sponsor colours. I wound up with a Kool cigarette-themed green and white racer, seen here just out of pole position at race opening.

In Formula De the trick is knowing which gear to use while negotiating the turns. Take a turn like this in fifth or sixth gear and you could spin out, or worse. Steve had the lead at this point in time, but the pack is close behind.

Steve's new miniatures really add to the game's aesthetic. Scott ran away with the race, rolling exactly what he needed three times in a row to get through the corners while barely slowing down.

My racer, Yuro Shiftygrippo, placed either a respectable fourth or a dreadful second-last, depending on your perspective. But at least he finished the race, unlike poor Jeff and Rob, who smashed their multimillion dollar cars into smithereens.

I remain astounded by Steve's new miniatures. The pictures above don't really show their small scale; each car is about the size of the last knuckle of my pinky finger. To see how Steve painted the new cars, see his blog here.

Most of the G&G crew require a little alcohol-fuelled loosening up before they feel confident enough to tackle Rock Band. Scott and I are natural hams, so we'll make fools of ourselves singing even without fortification.

Jeff generously purchased some new songs for the group, including Animotion's Obsession. I played guitar for our rendition of that little number, but I know the lyrics off by heart and so sang along. One of the great regrets of my life is my failure to learn an instrument; when I have the leisure and the money, I keep telling myself, I'll take some guitar lessons. Rock Band gave me the illusion of belting out one of my favourite 80s hits with my friends - a wonderful experience.

Here's a dramatic angle of Pete on drums.

A talented vocalist, Island Mike is also an accomplished Rock Band guitarist.

"Freeeee bird..."

Here we are performing "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult. History shows again and again how karaoke is the folly of man!

Gaming & Guinness VIII: A Call to Arms

As told in previous episodes of The Earliad, we've been playing A Call to Arms: Starfleet for about a year in small skirmishes of two to four ships. Thursday's marquee G&G event has always been Warhammer: 40K, but the guys started to get tired of lugging around thousands of models - and it was time for a change. A Call to Arms: Starfleet requires each player to purchase, paint and control only one ship, a much smaller investment of time, money and effort than Warhammer. Plus, it's space galleons!

We began with a simple playtest: four Constitution-class Federation starships (captained by Pete, Scott, Rob and me) versus four formidable Klingon D7 cruisers (commanded by Steve, Jeff, Mike and Mike).

I usually play fairly conservatively, in keeping with the style of a Starfleet captain unwilling to place his crew at unnecessary risk. But for this play test I dove in with both nacelles, swooping in to take on two Klingon ships on my own.

Yes, this was totally my plan and not just ineptitude. Cough. Good thing I closed the blast doors to withstand the awesome battery of close-range enemy fire coming my way. Despite foolishly putting myself into this position, I managed to cripple one of the D7s, and I got away relatively clean.

The test encounter ended inconclusively due to time constraints, but our general consensus leaned toward a narrow Federation victory. We took a short break for lunch, and to fine-tune Steve's "Shell Game" scenario, in which the Klingons were tasked with escorting four freighters from one side of the map to the other. The Federation task was to scan each freighter, knowing that one contained weapons, one Federation hostages, and two were decoys. If the Federation could destroy the weapons and rescue the hostages, the victory would be ours. If the Klingons got away with their smuggling operation, victory would be theirs.

Each ship on the board is worth a set number of points. Blow up a ship, earn points for your team. More points were awarded for destroying (or smuggling) the weapons, and rescuing (or fleeing with) the hostages.

Our Federation fleet quickly discovered that time was on the side of the Klingons. At the speed the freighters were moving, it would only take a few turns for them to cross the board and escape. We had to dive in for our scans while withstanding heavy enemy fire, and there simply wasn't time to scan all four ships - we had to make our best guess.

Scott and I discovered and destroyed the freighter carrying the Klingon weapons, seen here just before the Excalibur opened fire (represented by me rolling that rain of dice). But Pete and Rob were taking heavy damage. Indeed their ships were destroyed, along with the Klingon cruisers controlled by Mike and Mike. The death toll was in the hundreds.

Here's how the playing field looked as the episode opened. These neat formations wouldn't last.

In the end, with two ships destroyed per side, the weapons shipment blown up and the hostage ship just about to get away, Scott and I were left with only one option: if we could destroy one more ship, we could win on points. Jeff's cruiser was crippled, but my Excalibur was in excellent shape, while's Scott's cruiser was still battle-worthy. We swooped in for the kill, but Jeff put all emergency power to warp and jumped to lightspeed in the instant before we would have opened fire. Slamming our fists into the much-abused armrests of our funky captain's chairs, we wheeled about in an effort to bring down Steve's ship - but alas, he too escaped. We lost the hostages - and with them, the encounter. Only ten points separated the victors from the vanquished.

During our lunch break, Scott and I unveiled this year's swag. Scott created gorgeous, comfortable golf shirts and these custom dice bags, colour-matched to the colour of Guinness beer and its foam.

For the two teetotallers in our group and for mixers for the others, I arranged for the delivery of three twelve-packs of custom G&G Jones soda.

I also used the Pulp-O-Mizer website to design and print a collectible notebook, suitable for keeping score in all variety of games.The first full day of G&G VIII was off to a rousing start.

For a more detailed account of "Shell Game," visit Steve's blog.