Bits & Bobs

by Wilfred Bereswill

I intended to write an insightful blog today, but then life intervened and this is what I got done. A stream of consciousness on Sunday night. So, what happened to get in the way? Well, all my daughters are back home for one. My College daughter finisher her second year and came home Friday. My oldest daughter’s new boyfriend came up to St. Louis for the weekend (more on him later.) I coached my youngest daughter on parallel parking and driving for her driver’s license test. We had a get-together with our friends on Saturday night and I just finished grilling a fabulous dinner for the extended family.

First of all, last week one of the fine authors over at First Offenders, Lori Armstrong, raved about J. J. Abrams. Of course J.J. is the director of Lost as well as a number of other great series. Last weekend I saw the much anticipate (by me) Star Trek Movie. Taking an interesting approach, the movie centered on The Beginnings, with a young Kirk, Spock and crew. Knowing JJ Abrams interesting approach to things and the mystery of Lost, I wondered what he would do with it.

Of course it’s subjective, but Abrams hit a home run. A Barry Bonds bash out of the yard. And he didn’t need steroids to do it. Somehow he held true to the entire theme that is Star Trek. Witty. Funny. Groundbreaking. Let’s not forget, some of us witnessed the first interracial kiss on TV between Kirk and Uhura in "Plato's Stepchildren", which first aired on November 22, 1968.
I don’t want to give away anything, but, go see this one. If you know the slightest bit about the old series, you will find yourself on the edge of your seat waiting for the next young version of a crew member to be introduced.

These young actors must have spent countless hours watching the old series to get the mannerisms down pat. BUT, with all that, I have a bit of a special connection with the movie. Almost, anyway. Last year I went to Los Angeles on business with Anheuser-Busch. I spent a week at the brewery in Van Nuys and when I was talking to the Safety Manager there, a great guy by the name of Guy Stancil, he showed me a binder with the Star Trek font. As it turns out, many of the shots of the interior of the ship were filmed at the brewery. The shiny stainless steel fermentation tanks became the engine room. And a scene where young Scotty is beamed into a coolant line was filmed in the utilities building with the orange painted ammonia refrigerant lines. One scene I’m not entirely sure of was a scene when old Spock and Young Kirk enter a Star Base on an ice planet. They enter a double door walk through a long tiled hallway. I had a strange feeling of déjà vu. I think the scene was shot in the abandoned Bosari Cellars. It was the original fermentation area that featured open-top fermentation tubs.

And in a stroke of genius, they hit the "reset" button on the series by setting up an alternate reality which make it different and unique from the original series. You just have to see the movie to understand.

Anyway, see the movie. I give it two thumbs up.

This weekend I noticed some people have rhythm and some don’t. I was playing Rock Band with some of the guys I golf with and it was quite obvious that we are not all created equal in the rhythm department. I remember the scene at the start of Steve Martin’s, The Jerk.



Some people have it and others… Well, not so much.

On to the boyfriend. My oldest daughter, Kelly, the Speech Language Pathologist just started seeing a new guy. He made his second visit up from Carbondale, IL where he is in a doctorate program for behavioral therapy. My wife and other daughters say he’s cute. I noticed he’s incredibly talented. He plays both the guitar and the piano, and does so very well. He also sings very good. So far I can say he seems like a great guy.

On a side note, I also got back into the work in progress, A Reason For Terror. It’s been de-railed a bit for the new job and all the other things that have been going on. This weekend’s word count, 2,000. It’s a start and I’m up to 86,000 words overall. I’m giving myself 3 weeks to finish it and with the season finales almost done, I should be able to accomplish it.

So, what did this weekend hold for you? Anything fun?