A big disclaimer at the top here that I am going to be discussing familial death.

Hello to everyone reading this. Not sure why I am greeting you, the reader. Last week my maternal grandfather passed away. He was in hospice care with bone cancer and overall poor health. The lead up to being admitted into hospice was a sudden and unexpected turn. During my grandfather’s final days, my family set up a computer at the foot of his bed so we could watch shows with him. Regardless if he was awake or not I took time by his side and watched Enterprise. As an important side note, I have always lived with my grandparents (I’m Filipino; this is a cultural thing).

In the week since my grandfather’s passing, I have been rewatching Enterprise. When the show first broadcast in 2001, I was 10-years-old. I grew up watching TNG, seeing First Contact and Insurrection in theaters and going on The Klingon Encounter attraction at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. For me, my grandfather was the Star Trek fan who I looked up to. I watched it because he did. So when Enterprise premiered, it was the first series I was old enough to watch in completion during its first run broadcast. I remember my grandfather being excited for “Broken Bow”. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays (and later Fridays if I recall correctly, when the timeslot changed) to watch with him.

Getting to watch Enterprise at the age of 10 to 13 (“These Are the Voyages…” aired four days before my 14th birthday) had a big impact on me. I didn’t realize till later as an adult when I finally took the time to watch all of Classic Trek and then all of New Trek (circa November 2023) how much Star Trek meant to me. You’d be hard pressed to not find me wearing a badge on a daily basis. As a Southern California resident, I drove out to Beverly Hills to attend the advanced screening of the Discovery finale in May. Then in August I finally attended my first convention: STLV.

I am writing this as my way of being reflective. Watching Enterprise with my grandfather is one of the happiest memories from my childhood. I miss my grandfather so much. Each time I watch an Enterprise episode, I feel like a kid all over. This brings me joy during a time of grief. I intimately associate Enterprise with my grandfather.

Someday in the future I want to get a tattoo of the mission patch in honor of my grandfather.

The way The Doctor is able to change appearance so quickly, jump through glass panes and that hallway wall running, scream Matrix to me.

Biggest take away: Wang was cast in Picard season 3, promoted to admiral, and over time cut out before production.

Hi there. I just wanted to discuss something positive and uplifting. As we surely all know, Star Trek has a very big fandom that is super inclusive and positive (for the most part). Had a thought that for many fans, their passion is life-long. Maybe it would be nice to share a positive memory (maybe a few) you associate with Trek; whatever you are comfortable sharing. I kick it off (my list is chronological).

1. Getting to go on The Klingon Encounter at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a family trip, I was seven (I recently found out I was off by year) in 1998. My grandfather was working at the time for a Chinese apparel brand. He took us to an industry convention he was attending for work. So my mom took me to the Hilton. There was walls of Borg statues, actors dressed as Klingons walking the casino. Only got to go on The Klingon Encounter, a Star Tours style ride. The premise is an entertainment experience with live actors which you are mysteriously transported to the future where you switch places with Picard. Klingons are behind it. They believe your group has an ancestor among you. You head to a transporter to escape to a shuttlecraft, and flee the Klingons. The chase eventually leads you over The Las Vegas Strip. The ride also included pre-recorded video from TNG cast as part of the story.

2. Watching ENT when it first broadcast. I was ten years old. As an aside, I’ve always lived with my maternal grandparents. Anyways, my grandfather was excited for it. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays to watch with him. It was the first series (pretty much the only from start to end) I watched first broadcast. Watched every episode with him.

3. Finally going to my first convention, STLV (formerly Star Trek Las Vegas) this year. Such an incredible four days that I can never forget. Getting to see the community up close changes how important this means. Everyone was such wonderful people. The one public event I’ve attended in my life where I felt truly accepted and safe.

Did writers forget about “Barge of the Dead” in season 7? During “Imperfection”, Seven ask B’Elanna if she believes in afterlife. Her response is ‘I hope so.’

She literally went to hell and back. How does that not make her believe in it?

The Voyager episode “Bliss” has always been a wonderful story in my opinion. Naomi Wildman and Seven of Nine, two individuals who joined the ship’s crew after the events of “Caretaker”, find solidarity in their respective distance to life on Earth. They also in a time of crisis bring comfort and assist each other.

I am looking for suggestions on how to tackle a large reading list (currently at 556). A big part (maybe smaller than I think) is a collection of Ann Rule, Stephen King and Star Trek novels (currently just the Pocket TOS and movie novelizations). The way I go about things is to just read whatever I am in the mood for. Makes it hard for me to keep a consistent reading progression. I do read by publication date.

I want to hear how others pick what to read. My current idea is to take a chunk of one selection and alternate with others in between.

Hello. Every year I enjoy watching The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock on Halloween. So I decided to expand my watchlist and checkout movies I had never seen. So I am doing a 30 day marathon from October 1-30, watching only horror movies I have not seen. The only qualifier is that I haven’t seen them. My list may change for whatever reason. Since it is now October 11, I have seen ten movies. I’ll post them with my reviews (not all are intensive) and update two more times with 11-20 and 21-30. Hope you enjoy reading about my marathon.

30 for 31

1. Ring directed by Hideo Nakata (1998) ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ A straightforward supernatural story. The American remake in contrast is flashy in comparison, utilizing more graphic imagery than this adaption (it’s based on a novel)

2. Evil Dead directed by Fede Álvarez (2013) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ What if The Evil Dead was redone without Ash and all the continuity connecting it to the previous movies had to be explained by the director because textually none of it is in the movie?

3. Jennifer’s Body directed by Karyn Kusama (2009) ⭐️⭐️ I don’t think due to the dialogue that this movie wouldn’t get made today. Overall this is a product of its time. Couldn’t imagine such a movie being made without going hard on a satirical angle. Would teenagers want to watch this? The soundtrack itself even is from a decade of music that just gets seen as cringe.

4. Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper (1982) ⭐️½ I fell asleep. Less than amusing. Might as well have been a weird rendition of Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

5. Martyrs directed by Pascal Laugier (2008) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A deeply violent story with little in terms of a plot. However, the plot that is present does take time to reveal itself. The disjointed two halves make you unprepared. The first half is a rough tale of revenge that leads to a second half that is a polished approach to what the story is trying (or possibly succeeds) in accomplishing. A hard movie to recommend, but certainly a provocative one. Many people who can handle the gore might be unsettled by the philosophical horror. At times I kept wondering what the endgame was. The graphical display of violence is purposeful. It doesn’t try to upset you for the sake of scarring you. It goes deeper. But does it adequately achieve that goal? Maybe the audience is meant to question what it all was? Maybe we are meant to question existence as a whole? Maybe the violence itself was the only way to manifest that goal? What was the goal? Without spoiling it, you have to be prepared for something grounded in reality but very unexpected.

6. We're All Going to the World's Fair directed by Jane Schoenburn (2021) ⭐️⭐️ A atmospheric dud. Nothing innovative or truly substantive occurs. The plot feels like a mental body horror mixed with found footage/web cam story telling. By the end you feel like the tropes of genre have been done better before this. At some point I wondered if the actual horror part was not seeing anything really occur. Felt like over the course of the plot, I had to take for granted by on limited dialogue that something was progressing. The indie rock vibe eluded the climax of an actual narrative. Or maybe I did not understand the type of movie this was trying to be.

7. Event Horizon directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (1997) ⭐️⭐️½ A bland but visually decent space horror. The one big flaw is the graphic intensity of story never last long enough to sink in. From moment to moment you want the visuals to be on screen longer. Much of the acting fails to sound more than simple line reading. The only time I truly had a sense of scare, it was taken away almost as fast. The story has an unbalanced pace with a rush to meet an arbitrary plot deadline. It was like being told to expect the tone of Alien but given the speed of Apollo 11.

8. The Fog directed by John Carpenter (1980) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A campy ghost story mixed with collective fear. A wonderful movie.

9. Carnival of Souls directed by Herk Harvey (1962) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ A errie score with an atmosphere of an unknown force make for a spooky time.

10. Skinamarink directed by Kyle Edward Ball (2023) ⭐️⭐️½ A visual unorthodox movie that works better as an art piece than truly a horror movie. Unconventional angles, unconventional plot structure, unconventional use of actors (you rarely saw more than someone from the waist down) can be frightening to those unprepared for what I would considered very experimental. At times I wasn’t sure if the plot was advancing. Other times you have to trust what is on screen is from the prospective of the characters. Other times you just take in an abstract lack of visuals. If anything is truly horrifying, it would be not getting a clear understanding of what is being shown. Feels like someone trying to explain the plot of a movie they experienced within a dream and trying to explain that plot from the perspective of that dream, being very disjointed and twisted.