DAILY DOSE: "Dont Give Away the End-- the One Thing That Stays Mine"

Good afternoon, friends and a very hearty how-are-you, welcome to today’s episode of the DOSE.

Well, Trip’s dead. I knew it was going to happen. Hell, they even pulled a Steven King, and told us he was going to die at the end of the first Act. But I’ll tell you what, I wasn’t saddened by it. Some nerds have complained that his death didn’t resonate, and I’ll agree that T’Pol should’ve been there in sickbay as slipped away; however, I can’t deny that my heart didn’t feel heavy knowing that one of my favourite Trek characters had made the ultimate sacrifice.

That is, until, one of the finer pieces of writing I’ve seen in a long time came around. Without getting too deeply into a story very few of you care about, I’ll just explain that Cmdr. Riker of the Next Generation crew was watching a historical replay of the Enterprise crew’s last mission, in order to help him solve a personal dilemma, on the ship’s holographic-playground thing. So, after watching Trip die to save Capt. Archer, instead of treating us to the all-too-played out “he was my best friend” funeral montage, the writers pulled a great trick. They had Riker “hit re-wind” so-to-speak, and hang out and have a conversation with Trip, while posing as the ship’s chef. Okay, so it all sounds ridiculous, Trekkie, and convoluted, but trust me—it worked and made sense. In the course of the conversation, where Conner Trinneer acted his ass off, reminding me why I came to love Trip so much in the first place, Trip helped Riker make the tough decision he’d been mulling over. I’ll admit my bias- Riker and Trip are my two favourite non-Kirk characters. But it was a beautiful way to make the character resonate one last time for me, and was a more fitting tribute to him than any sappy, “I’ll miss him so much” diatribe could’ve ever served to be. It wasn’t the greatest episode ever, but it was a solid ending to a show I’ll miss dearly. As an added bonus, the show ended with Captains Picard, Kirk, and Archer each quoting a chunk of the “Space..the final frontier” prologue while their respective ships sailed through the stars. Cheers, Enterprise, for at least going out with some level of dignity.

Now that Trek is gone, the Worst Week in the History of Geekdom continues, as we prepare for the final chapter of Star Wars. I mean, seriously—what are the odds of Trek and Wars ending in the same week? I’m officially finally excited for Ep III, the fact that I tried to watch “The Phantom Menace” yesterday nothwithstanding. By GOD does that movie blow… even the lightsabre duel seems to have fallen down a peg for me at this point. I swear. I tried so hard to find that movie interesting yesterday, but I just. Couldn’t. do it. It’s truly that terrible. So who out there plans to see this guy this week? Anyone? I know you do, Staubbie..

Well, let me just warn you, friends, sometime Thursday you’ll have a (hopefully) spoiler-free edition of I AM THE LAW! detailing the pros and cons of the flick.

While I’m on the SciFi kick (I know, odd for around here, eh?) I’d like to point out that anyone who understands why the following passage is really humorous, can be my friend, no questions asked, for like, the next twenty years.

I strode over to Admiral Piett as he bent over the deflector control officer and inquired about the shuttle. They had transmitted an old code, but a valid one. The shuttle's arrival was no doubt according to the designs of my master, Darth Sidious the Emperor Palpatine.

"Seems normal enough to me," contributed the deflector control officer. "It's not like they're trying to keep their distance or anything."

And thus, I give you the FIRST EVER Link of the Day REPEAT! If you’ve not been to Darthside, the Darth Vader Blog yet, and need to get in the Ep III mood, really—do yourself a favour and go check this place out. Its hilarity, coupled with its insightfulness and amazing writing, is truly something to behold. If you don’t like Star Wars? …I don’t know… fly casual.

Hitting up some less-than-geeky subject matter, I give you Taylor and Mary: together at last. Yes, they hath set a date, for later this summer. Aug, 4, to be precise. It’s all sort of insanely last minute- due to Taylor’s imminent deployment. It’s actually a Thursday, which, though understandable, is insane. Marc, though- always the optimist (snicker), did point out, though, that “that gives us four days to drink…” Well played, Tae Bo, well played. I’m also proud to admit that I was drafted into the Groomsman Starting Rotation for the festivities, making me a three time, three time, three time groomsman in a little over a year. How many times is it that you can be a groomsman before never being a groom? Is there an old saying for that, too?

Overall, that was pretty much my weekend, Trip dies, Taylor sets a date. I didn’t go out or really do anything, other than fight off the urge to be introspective. Which, coincidentally leads us to Your Song of the Day, by Jimmy Eat World, called “23.” A little depressing, a little uplifting, and a whole lot of pretty, it headlines a recently burned compilation from My Pal Carolyn simply titled “You’re CD.” And yes, folks, the egregious grammar is deliberate. Good album chalk-full of good songs. Stay tuned for more.

Scarily, I’m dangerously close to starting to write again. I snuck out some poetry lines the other day, adding to a little diddy that had been floating around my head since last Wednesday. Dare I say it, has my muse returned? Time will tell.

..but really—hope it has, it’ll make the Kingdom a HELL of a lot more interesting.

Before I get back to my 2d to last day of work, a few items of housecleaning:

1) the Club Chalupa is as good as I remember. Probably better. Props to Aunt Paulette for buying.

2) suggestions for the Kingdom’s Anniversary (tentatively titled: Sesquicentennial: 150 Years of the Kingdom)?

3) I may have located prime living conditions for my post-graduate life. Updates to follow, I refuse to jinx this.

4) Vin Diesel had Parkinson’s Disease, but he shook it off. Also, Vin Diesel knew what Terry Schiavo wanted.

Be good to each other, and send some ideas of shit I should write about around, I’m really scrapin’ for ideas, here!
-apk