Alert Condition: YELLOW

Lego's TOS bridge set includes some neat easter eggs, including your choice of alert condition lights for the top centre of the astrogation station, represented as a cheese wedge brick in translucent clear, yellow, or red. I've used the yellow brick here and added a light glow with Photoshop to indicate that Kirk has taken the ship to yellow alert for some reason. Poor Chekov and McCoy look alarmed, while Scotty seems concerned, too. Get down to engineering if you're that worried, Scotty! 
 

Amazon Prime

 

"CAPTAIN'S LOG, Stardate 2991.3. The Federation is working to open diplomatic relations with the world-spanning matriarchal society home to planet Amazon Prime. Therefore, the Enterprise has been ordered to transport a diplomatic team to that planet. By all accounts, these far-flung Amazons are fierce warriors and superb diplomats; Ambassador Kraker expects tough but fruitful talks. 

Which is good, because the Federation could use an ally in this sector--and Amazon Prime is a beautiful world. As beautiful as the women that rule it--almost." 

Captain James T. Kirk brought his log to a close with the click of a button on his command chair. Doctor McCoy, standing behind him, leaned over and murmured in the Captain's ear: 

"I take it you might be assembling a landing party to escort the diplomats to the venue? Need any volunteers?" 

Kirk almost smirked. "Oh, I don't know, Bones. It'll be a pretty dry affair. I think I can handle it, with some help from...let's see..." Kirk made a show of glancing around the bridge. "...Lieutenant Uhura, Mister Spock, and...Ensign Chekov." 

Chekov's grin lit up the room. "Aye, Keptin!" The young Russian practically leapt to his feet. 

McCoy rolled his eyes. "That kid isn't old enough for this kind of assignment," he muttered. 

Kirk patted the doctor on the shoulder as he darted to the turbolift, where Uhura, Spock, and Chekov were already waiting.  

"And you, my dear doctor, are too old." 

The turbolift doors snapped shut just in time to muffle the surgeon's irate reply. 

"Teasing is illogical, Captain." Spock said, deadpan as always. 

"Just looking out for the safety of my officers, Mister Spock." 

"Indeed." 

CUT TO FIRST AD BREAK

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The O Squad Masthead

Many years ago, DC Comics published a very amusing short comic story called "Attack of the O Squad!" Starro, the first antagonist of the Justice League of America, gathers other DC villains whose names end with "o" to take his revenge on the JLA. Alas, the whole plan falls apart when T.O. Morrow shows up, for his name ends not with "o," but "ow." 

"But it sounds the same!" 

Not good enough for the O Squad. 

I'm not sure what brought that story to mind tonight, but I began to wonder if the O Squad would ever get their own series. That prompted me to design a masthead for such a comic book. 

My graphic design skills are quite rusty from long disuse, but I think this works conceptually. It obviously needs considerable polishing to meet professional standards. I had fun designing it, though! 
 

Clothes Make the Han

Today I discovered Han Solo looks a bit dorky without his signature vest. 

Dark Energies

Superwoman

Ghost Cars

Let It Bee

Jupiter Sets

Sixteen Legs

The Event Progresses

The Event as Seen From Our Back Yard

Triangle Trap

Neon Doomsday

The Last Conversation

Bad Admiral Woods Photoshop

A very unconvincing attempt to paste my twentysomething head on Captain Picard's body. Many years old, thankfully. 

Earl 'o the Wisps

It was raining when Sean shot this photo of me at the site of the former 8 Churchill Place, our home in Leaf Rapids in the 1970s. Several raindrops landed on the lens and marred this photo, and now I've marred it further with my attempt to turn the water spots into wills-'o-the-wisp. 

The Accidental Panorama

When Sean and I visited Leaf Rapids in 2009, I shot three black and white photos of the hydro station, an old CO-OP building, and the abandoned Midi Mart. I don't remember if I was consciously trying to shoot something I could later stitch into a panorama, but I just noticed the other day that the photos match up pretty well, so I gave it a quick and dirty try. It's far, far from perfect, but not bad, I think, for images shot on film without the benefit of any kind of in-camera stitching aids. All I did in Photoshop was try to equalize the light levels of each image (as you can see, I failed, but it's better than it was) and use the clone tools to try and erase the edges of the photos (again, a failure).

All told, this took me about ten minutes to pull together. I'm sure with a bit more time and practice I could create a more convincing panorama. 

Earl in the Black Lodge

Written in Sand

Just a little playing with scale, filters, layers, and selection tools in an attempt to create a scene using an Eaglemoss K-7 space station and a 3D-printed Federation tug I painted and decalled myself. Might also serve as inspiration for next year's A Call to Arms: Starfleet scenario at Gaming & Guinness...