Majel Barrett Roddenberry, widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, died today of leukemia at the age of 76. Majel was best known to fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the other new-gen series as the voice of the ships' central computers, the occasional guest appearance as Lwaxana Troi, and she even had a small role on Babylon-5 as Lady Morella.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, sapient lifeforms of all ages: welcome to the holiday season. I just wish that it didn't involve so much road rage in the DC metroplex, let alone being greeted with an upraised middle finger rather than a wave of good cheer. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but wasn't this traditionally the time of year to be good to one another (if no other time) and practice random acts of senseless kindness, especially during a season that seems to be blowing through like a nor'easter this time 'round. I think I've had a chance to blink …
I'll spare everyone my usual apology for not posting anything lately and jump right into a catch-up post as a warmup for a longer, hopefully more interesting entry later today.
First of all, earlier this week a cultural icon passed - Bettie Page, queen of the pin-up, died of pneumonia at the age of 85 following a heart attack suffered earlier this month. Page was well known for her line of 'naughty girl' photographs, which featured nudity, lingerie, implied lesbian trysts, and even light bondage (the latter two scandalous for their time). Page stopped modelling in 1957 and all but disappeared …
Like many people today, I have a GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation system mounted semipermanantly in my car to help me get around when I'm out and about. Every once in a while, however, I find myself being asked a rather curious question to which I haven't really put together a rehearsed answer. That question is this: "If you're so consciencious about your privacy, why do you have a GPS unit in your car? Aren't you worried that you'll be tracked wherever you go by your GPS?"
The short and simple answer to that question is, "No, I'm not concerned …
Always make friends with the one busybody in your apartment building who pokes their nose into everyone's business. They're good for keeping you abreast of things that could bite you in the ass at the worst possible time.
As you may or may not know, I'm a fan of The Dresden Dolls as well as Amanda Palmer's side project. That said, I'll cut to the chase and say what kicked my puppy. Their record label, Roadrunner Records (no link to them because I don't like bumping up the Google rankings of buttheads) is giving her a hard time over her new single Leeds United and especially the video for same because.. get this...
Her midriff is bare in the music video, and Roadrunner Records says that she's too fat.
Thanksgiving Day at Laurelinde's was a fairly low-key affair because we were guests. Once you get the turkey into the oven, it's pretty much smooth sailing until the last ninety minutes of roasting time or so because that's usually when you need to start working on all of the other dishes for dinner if you're going to have them all together. The day before, Lyssa had made meatballs stroganoff, so we had them for lunch with kluski noodles a couple of hours before dinner to get us through. There isn't a whole lot to say about the actual preparation process …
Now that it's Thanksgiving Day and there's nothing to do until the turkey has finished roasting in the oven, I've got a chance to write about everything that's happened in the past couple of days.
Aside from adding a thirteenth bookcase to the apartment (which actually contains the bulk of our DVD collection) last Saturday brought with it an afternoon with the Mad Scientist Coffee Klatsch while Lyssa stayed home to relax. I spent the afternoon with Hasufin, Mika, and Jason trading doomsday scenarios that ran the gamut of elegance, subtlty, and destructive potential, an activity which I'm surprised didn't …