Sep 08
OK so I know this is like, extremely geeky, but today IS the 40th anniversary of Star Trek making its television debut. Love it or hate it, you cannot deny the influence upon pop culture that Star Trek has had, and it deserves some amount of respect on this day.
Oh, and those Monty Python fellows aren’t too bad either.
On a related note, I was at a birthday party for one of my son’s friends two nights ago, and there was a 5-year old running around by the name of Kahless (pronounced kay-less). I just had to ask his mother if she was aware she named him after the Klingon messiah. She confirmed my suspicion, to which I enthusiasticly divulged that my 10-month old is named Dax. Needless to say, we hit it off quite well…
September 10th, 2006 at 8:40 pm
I wanted to name my baby girl Nerys, a name I’ve always like that’s a subtle wink. It was a no-go. I hope Kahless grows up to be a 6-foot-5, 235-pound linebacker.
October 1st, 2006 at 4:11 am
“Remember, the cornerstone of sci-fi is aliens”
I disagree strongly. The cornerstone of “good” science fiction is how humans respond to aliens. It’s not about them; it’s about *us*.
In this, SF has a spiritual affinity with fantasy. Fantasy *can* be about elves and demons and magical artifcats, but at it’s best, it’s about
people and what how they respond to moral, emotional, and physical crises. The Hero’s Journey is not about Grendel or Exacalibur. It’s
about the adminrable qualities that make humans humans.