Leonard Nimoy-Heart Throb

My birthday is right around the corner.

and while I might not love everything about growing older, I do enjoy birthdays.  
One particularly thing I've always liked about my birthday is that I share it with one of the people I most admire, Leonard Nimoy.

I loved Leonard not just for his Mr. Spock role

but for his public profile that was always so kind and generous.  He was patient and appreciative of fans, and I really think used his celebrity status for good.  I really enjoyed reading his autobiography I Am  Spock and learning about his career and life.  It remains one of my favorite books, and certainly my favorite autobiography.   



Despite his ubiquitous link to his Vulcan alter ego,  Leonard had an interesting and varied career that spanned that later half of the 20th century.  One aspect of that career did surprise me somewhat, his 1960s and 70s status as a heart throb.

While it makes perfect sense that Nimoy's nerdy outside character Spock would appeal to angst ridden 1960's teens (see below this touching letter Nimoy wrote to a young fan struggling with her bi-racial heritage, Spock of course was also bi-racial being half Vulcan and half human)

his popularity with female fans comes as something as a surprise, because well,  lets be honest Leonard Nimoy was not exactly handsome. 

Still, from the minute Star Trek appeared on the airwaves in 1966 it was Leonard Nimoy as Spock, rather then the more traditionally handsome William Shatner playing the womanizing Captain Kirk

who got the majority of female fans attention.  Something that Shatner has admitted irked him a bit at the time.

 So surprising was Nimoy's popularity with female fans that none other then famed science fiction author and Star Trek screen writer Issac Assimov wrote an article about the phenomenon.  You can read it here.   It is a great vintage article and dream reading for any vintage loving pop culture geek like myself.  In the article, Assimov explains that his teen daughter finds Mr. Spock "dreamy" and speculates that this is because smart is sexy.  Personally, I think Shatner might have been more on the nose when he said that Spock's appeal lay in his inaccesability and the general human desire to want what we can't have.  Both are probably correct.

Personally, I love both Kirk and Spock, and possibly Kirk a teensy bit more.  I think the character get's less attention then Spock in general and I've always had a thing for the underdog.  Regardless, smart and nerdy is always best in my book.

Spot's New Collar and Third Cross Stitch

Little Spot

Is not so little anymore.  In fact he grew to big for his collar.   I kept finding his grey break away collar around the house and when I went to put it back on him I realized it was a bit tight on his neck, so he was rubbing against thing's to get it off.  (Of course we only use break away collars on our cat's for safety.)  All our cat's are strictly indoor only, but Spot is the only one of the four to show any curiosity about the outside world.   He has gone out the door a few times and of course we always bring him back immediately, but I still feel he must wear a collar in case he escapes.  

15 years ago our now 16 year old cat Baby opened a screen in our Brooklyn basement apartment and was missing a week.  We papered Bay Ridge in fliers and miraculously found her but the experience has made me a maniac about preventing cat escapes.  (Interestingly it has also made Baby terrified of the outside world and she never even goes near the door.)   I never open windows, even with screen's, and I'm very careful about the door.  If a delivery person is coming the cat's get locked in a room.   I'm constantly checking on the cats, particularly, Spot, to make sure they are inside.  So the second I realized Spot's collar wasn't working I knew he needed another one.

Luckily I found a cute larger collar in the adorable etsy shop Furocious Kitty  and bonus!  It's a Star Trek collar, Spot is named after Commander Data's cat on Star Trek The Next Generation:

so this collar is perfect.   Spot and I both love this collar.  He has been wearing it three week's and hasn't tried to get it off yet.  

I love how the retro Star Trek fabric look's against his white fur and the live long and prosper tag is too cute.

I really recommend Furocious Kitty if you are in the market for a cat collar.  They have ton's of collar's with adorable charms in lot's of different themes Holidays, animals, food, etc.  I can already see myself purchasing some Holiday collars.  It's also nice that the shop caters exclusively to cats.  I think that's partly why the collar fits so well.   The collars are very reasonably prices, between $10 and $12, Spot's collar was $10 and the seller was very nice about answering my questions.  

In other news I finished my third geeky cross stitch.  This one is Fry and Leela from Futurama and I'm really happy with how it came out.   

I'm working on Twin Peak's themed cross stitch next.  

Weasley's Crush on Wesley Crusher from Pug Notes

Just in time for Valentine's Day Weasley is breaking out one of his Christmas gifts.  A Star Trek The Next Generation Wesley Crusher inspired sweater by pug notes.

Now all he needs is a Valentine to send to Wesley:

 

Reader I Met Him-The Cherry Hill Star Trek Convention

A more accurate title for this post would be "Reader I glimpsed him for 1 second and Took an Akward Picture" but I couldn't resist using using a play on the Charlotte Bronte quote.

Last Sunday I attended the Creation Entertainment  Star Trek convention in Cherry Hill, NJ.  It was my second convention and the first time I went alone, which I was nervous about at first, but I had a great time.  I wore favorite vintage sci-fi outfit.  My rocket skirt from Girl in  A Whirl

 and I used the Star Trek lunch box a friend game me as a purse.

A few of the convention attendees asked me in a confused way if I was dressed as a character from the show, many people where, and I had to explain I always dress like this.  One women told me I was very brave which I found interesting since I don't think of myself that way at all.   I'm shy!  

The main reason I went to the convention was to hear William Shatner.  He gave a talk that I really enjoyed even if I could barely see.  I bought a ticket to have my picture taken with him and along with tons of other people I lined up for a picture.  You only get one second, he looks at you, says thank you and snap, picture taken.  I think a little akward in the picture, and Shatner may look like a card board cut out, but I'm still happy I did it and the picture is now hanging prominently on my living room wall.

I had fun walking around the convention too.  Trekkies are usually very friendly people so I had nice conversations with several people.  I bought a Star Trek wobbler cat toy:

Its a Klingon warrior and I love the little beard.  I already have a few Star Trek dog toys but this was the first Star Trek cat toy I've ever seen.

I also bought a Gorn ornmanent.  

The Gorn episode is one of my favorites:

I saw a lot of the same vendors from last year:

There was also a model of the Nomad probe from the famous The Changeling episode.

In one of the rooms you can talk to some of the actors, and I got the autograph of Max Grodenchick who played Rom on Deep Space Nine, my favorite character on the show.   

The Cherry Hill convention was just the beginning of the my adventures for Star Trek's 50th anniversary.  Yesterday, I got my fifth tattoo.   

It's the Enterprise from the Original Series and its on my right arm so I can wear my geekdom on my sleeve.  I'm not gonna lie it hurt a bit.  My last tattoo, a  dog on my left wrist didn't hurt at all, which made me think this wouldn't hurt.  I was wrong!  I really like it though.

On Sunday, I'm going to the Star Trek Mission New York convention.  Live Long and Prosper!





 

Riff Trax

Decades ago my late dad used to spend his Saturday afternoons watching a fun show with a truly unique premise.  A man and his robot palls are stuck in space and forced to watch bad movies

Teenage me watched the show and laughed and I saw the movie, with my dad, in the theatre, twice (he was a nerd, like me).

 I was a fan, but not a huge fan.  

Then about six years ago I rediscovered the show on netflix and became a massive fan, a MSTie. 

 I watched episodes repeatedly, bought boxed sets, and quoted lines back and forth with my husband.  After Star Trek, it is my favorite show.  

There is so much to love about MST3K.  The kitschy old films

the hosts

the robots

the mad scientists

Especially Frank

the songs

the Star Trek references

the educational shorts

the home made low tech sets

its all perfect.  There are plenty of articles about MST3Ks influence on pop culture, but  the bottom line is that its just a great show!  Which is why it is so sad that it was canceled and so great that its coming back.

However, its never really left, because we have Riff Trax.

Starring three MST3K alumns, Riff Trax offers hilarious streaming commentary on mainstream films like the Twilight Saga

b movie riffs

"educational shorts"

and live shows

The live shows are my favorite.   They are streamed from Nashville to theaters all over the US and are always fun. Usually John and I go to a theatre in NJ and its empty, but once we went in Manhattan and it was packed.  I prefer the empty theatre.  This Thursday they are riffing Time Chasers a hilariously bad 1994 film.  

I already have my tickets and can't wait.  If  you like MST3K, kitsch, or cheesy movies you owe it to yourself to check out Riff Trax.

A Friday Photo Shoot, Sci-Fi Saturday Style, -Canine Star Trek Costumes

Mom wrote her review of the wonderful Star Trek Costumes-Fifty Years of Fashion From the Final Frontier in this post, but we also did a fun photo shoot with the book and our own Star Trek Costumes courtesy of our friend Deb from pug possessed and Melissa from pug notes.  

Bob as Captain James T. Kirk

Mr. Tuvok, Phillip J. Fry, Ping, and Weasley as Star Trek: The Next Generation crew members.

Phillip J. Fry as acting Ensign Wesley Crusher

Weasley, Ping and Mr. Tuvok as Star Trek: The Original series crew members Lt. Uhura, Captain James T. Kirk, and Commander Spock.

  

The Most Bizarre, Kitschiest Holiday Movie Ever-Santa Clause and The Ice Cream Bunny

With Thanksgiving behind us we are firmly in the midst of Christmas mania, and if your like mike you like your Christmas with a hefty dose of sparkly kitsch.

If you are like me you also have a viewing list of films you watch each Holliday.  I don't tend to watch the traditional classics though, unless you consider the 1999 Xmas Story Futurama episode a classic.  Instead I tend to watch oddball things that make me laugh, and if your into kitschy, funny, and just plain weird, there is noting to beat the 1972 film Santa and The Ice Cream Bunny.

Strictly speaking I'm not even sure you can call this thing a film, most kindergarteners with cell phone cameras could make something much better, and more coherent.  Santa and The Ice Cream Bunny is more of a monument to the utterly bizarre, and full warning I am a connoisseur of bad movies and this is perhaps the worst I've seen.  Its also the so bad its good type, in that its side splittingly funny.

Filmed in 1972 it primarily functions as an advertisement for the long gone amusement park Pirates World.  

Pirates World closed in 1975 with the advent of Disney World, and perhaps it was already struggling in 1972, because the glimpses of it seen in the film are hardly impressive.  

The thread bare plot of the film, is that a badly costumed Santa's sled gets stuck in the Florida mud

and an  ever more bizarre parade children, costumed adults and animals try to pull the sleigh free.

For some inexplicable reason, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are also there.

Stuck in the mud Santa starts to tell the children a bizarre third hand story about Thumbelina.   



Its third hand because Santa is telling the story, as it is viewed and imagined by a girl who is spending the day at Pirates World.  This version of Thumbelina features lots of moles, bad paper mache birds, flower children, and production values that have to seen to be believed.

After the story is over the titular Ice Cream bunny finally makes his appearance riding a fire truck, and extracts Santa's sleigh.

The film was so terrible it achieved a sort of underground cult status among connoisseurs of terrible films.  

 Its also been the subject of a RiffTrax commentary.  Rifftrax is a movie parody company that releases comedy audio commentaries of films .  It  you have ever seen the 1990s TV show Mystery Science Theatre Three Thousand

you'll recognize the format and the commentators.   The Rifftrax version is available on Amazon instant video and my husband and I both agree its one of the funnies things we have ever seen.

Even better though, a new Riff Trax live version,  is being released in select theaters this Thursday.   

Im very excited to be going.  The perfect kick of to the Kitschmas season.