Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Home Movies

are so bloody boring. Which is why I decided that none of the videos of our June trip would be more than ten minutes long. So grab a glass of schnapps, strap yourself in, and enjoy our week in Germany and Austria in under six minutes.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My father is in the Smithsonian

Just stumbled across this. I guess Mom must have given them his papers. They also have an audio interview with him from 1971. No idea who interviewed him. (They also have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the Smithsonian, so I guess there's a little piece of me in there as well.)

His original Cleveland gallery, of which I have virtually no memory:

Saturday, July 18, 2009

So DeForest Kelley walks into D.C. Fontana's office...

...during the filming of the Season Two opening episode of Star Trek, "Amok Time." And with a mischievous grin he tells her a line that's been going around the soundstage:

You have to pay T'Pau
to prong
T'Pring.

Unfortunately, I shut off Audry's little Flip Mino camcorder an instant before Dorothy herself told this anecdote, but I did manage to capture most of the highlights of this historic occasion, the first time Dorothy had met the woman who played T'Pring, Spock's betrothed in the episode.

It all started when Audry introduced Wendy Pini to Arlene Martell, who had a table next to our publishing company's booth at an SF convention. "Amok Time" is one of Wendy's favorite Trek episodes, and when she learned that Arlene has never met Dorothy, she decided to throw a party so the two ladies could meet. By the way, Dorothy was my first story editor, commissioning the animated Star Trek script I wrote with Russell Bates; and Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote "Amok Time," was one of my writing teachers a the Clarion Workshop. (As was Harlan Ellison, who wrote an Outer Limits episode Arlene apeared in, "Demon With a Glass Hand.")

Also in attendance: Marv Wolfman, voice actor Crispin Freeman, and Richard Pini of course. Grab some punch and enjoy.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Best ad of 2008

"Please, this is my chance to be kicked to death in a movie!" Now with Emmy-nominated extra goodness.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Yowzah!

From Steve (I wish he was a monkey) Cuden comes this astounding little clip. You may have already seen it, but it's worth a repeat.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Kaboom.

The June 12th eruption of the Sarychev Volcano off the coast of Japan, as seen from the International Space Station:

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The last breakfast of our trip…

was a block down Sixth, at Joe Jr’s, one of those authentic NYC diners (run by Greeks, of course) that serves nothing but great food. Even the fruit cocktail is awesome, as you shall see.

Now I’m back – with a stomach virus, or shellfish poisoning, or something. Blurg.