The Ministry of Truth.

Now this is quite clever - I'm impressed as both a graphic designer and a reader.

- Sid

(If it's not obvious right away, just click on the image to enlarge it.)

But then, isn’t everything?

My lovely wife needed to venture out into the cold this morning to buy a book for her sister's birthday, and invited me to join her on her shopping trip.  I'm always happy to visit a bookstore, so I accepted her invitation, and after breakfast we headed off to our neighbourhood Indigo.

After finding the requested gift book, we wandered around the store a bit, and stopped for a minute at a display of books that had been adapted to television or film, which included Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel.  I'd already read the original text in digital format shortly after watching the miniseries on Prime, and unexpectedly found that I preferred the visual adaptation to the novel.  Nonetheless, I was willing to support the author by buying a paper copy of the book, so I casually picked up the display copy.  To my amazement, it was priced at $50 CAD.

I've complained in the past about the high price of books, but  hardcover or not, that's just a ridiculous number - and I can't help but feel that somehow, ultimately, this is Donald Trump's fault.

- Sid

"My God, Bones... what have I done?"

Torg: My lord, the ship appears to be deserted.

Kruge: How can that be? They're hiding!
Torg: Yes, sir. The ship appears to be run by computer. It is the only thing that is speaking.
Kruge: Speaking? Let me hear it.
Enterprise computer:  9-8-7-6-5...
Kruge: Get out! Get out of there! Get out!
Enterprise computer: 2-1...

The Search for Spock

When I saw the footage of the debris from the SpaceX Starship explosion this week, I was immediately reminded of the scene from 1984's Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, where the remnants of the U.S.S. Enterprise destructively re-enter the atmosphere of the Genesis planet that was created during the climax of The Wrath of Khan.

 

The various photos and videos of the SpaceX iteration actually look more impressive than the Star Trek version - lots of scatter, brighter flare from the re-entry burn, and more details in the debris - but then, Elon Musk is estimated to have spent at least $100M USD on creating this one shot, which is a lot more than Industrial Light & Magic had in their budget for the entire movie back in 1984.

- Sid

 

 

P.S. Hey, trivia fans - until researching this posting, I had no idea that a young John Larroquette played the role of Maltz, a member of the Klingon Bird of Prey's bridge crew:

    Kirk: You! Help us or die!
    Maltz: I do not deserve to live!
    Kirk: Fine, I'll kill you later!

    [Later, once safely in warp]
    Kirk: Take care of the prisoner.
    Maltz: Wait! You said you would kill me!
    Kirk: I lied!