Star Trek, Oh Yeah!
I finally saw Star Trek! It took long enough! I felt like I’d been punched in the gut within the first five minutes! This movie had it all, drama, humor, action, and wonderful nostalgic moments.
After J.J. Abrams completely altered the time-line, I had no trouble with this relaunch. Chris Pine nailed Kirk perfectly even if he did not really try to impersonate Shatner. This worked for me because from the moment of Kirk’s birth, the time-line was irrevocably altered.
I was even happy with Zachary Quinto which I didn’t think I would be. He looked too much like Sylar in the previews, and I was afraid it would be too distracting for me. He was most definitely in character enough for me to nto be bothered by how Sylar he appeared. The background of this time-line’s Spock was fascinating, moving, even surprising.
Another actor who just totally blew me away was Karl Urban who played Bones. He played the crotchety Dr. McCoy to perfection down to the insults he mutters under his breath about Spock.
In short, this movie was awesome. Those few fans still holding out because Chris Pine isn’t Shatner need to go suck it up and go watch this movie. This is the best thing to happen to the franchise.
Blog Abandonment [updated]
So I’ve basically abandoned this blog. I can offer several excuses, but they would be excuses. Mostly, there hasn’t been much to write about lately. I have travelled to Europe and back, so I figure I’ll start there.
My husband and I flew into Madrid two weeks ago. We found our way to our hostel thanks to a very helpful clerk at the Metro station. Checked in at the hostel and went back out on the town. We were struck right away with how clean the city is. There is an army of street sweepers emptying trash cans, picking up trash, and washing down parks and streets. There was very little trash on the ground or dog crap anywhere. There was plenty of graffiti and old buildings and scaffolding around but it was still clean. We walked until our feet hurt and then walked some more. We saw some beautiful buildings and fantasized about getting an apartment overlooking the Palacio Real.
The views and photo ops were great but mostly we just felt completely at ease there. We visited the Prado Museum, the Plaza de España, saw the outside of the Palacio Real, and another museum whose name escapes me at the moment. We saw original Dali paintings and gorgeous masterworks at the Prado.
I will be writing more about the rest of the trip later and posting some pictures.
Update: I failed to mention el Parque del Retiro and the quirky statues there. Something else I forgot, there was one moment that shows you just how different the vibe was from here in the States. We were sitting in the park in front of the Palacio Real just taking a break from the heat and giving our sore feet some time to recover. I looked up to see an older woman waving me over. I went over there confused as to what she wanted. She needed help with her grandchild’s stroller buckle. She couldn’t get it unfastened and wanted desperately to pick her up. I unbuckled it for her and went back to my husband. It was a bit disconcerting for me. I’m used to people not asking each other for help because they’re afraid of being mugged or worse. In retrospect
Below are some pictures from the Madrid portion of the trip:
