That's right, everyone. George Takei, who so famously, importantly, and awesomely played Mr. Sulu will be speaking at Drexel, for free, tonight. Drop everything and go. Seriously. If you need reasons on why you should go, we think that's silly, but here they are anyway:
Today's featured Twitter user is @FreeLibrary, who keeps the Twitterverse connected to Philadelphia's recently-endangered Free Library system. State budget crises have put the libraries in the cross-hairs of cost-cutting efforts, potentially cutting off those most in need of their services. We're grateful to them for all they do and if you have a story about how they have affected your life, email them at stories@freelibrary.org.
I mentioned Jeff Burk's parody novel Shatnerquake in a Whiz of the Web column a few weeks back. I thought the concept (not to mention the cover) was pretty brilliant, so I jumped at the chance to read and review the book when it was offered to me. The novel is set in the near future, when both technology and fandom have advanced to rather extreme degrees. There now exists a sect of rabid fans of Bruce Campbell, known as Campbellians, who cut off their right hands in remembrance of one of Campbell's more famous characters. Also, something called the Network Wars led to the development of a weapon called a Fiction Bomb which can erase a piece of entertainment from reality, so no one remembers it ever existed. The Campbellians do not like William Shatner, so when the first ever ShatnerCon is organized, and includes screenings of all of Shatner's movie and television appearances, they see their chance to strike. They plant a Fiction Bomb in the theater and wait for Shatner to be erased from history. But the bomb goes haywire, and instead of Shatner's fictional characters being destroyed utterly, they're somehow given life—pushed out of fiction and into reality. Trapped now in a world where they know they don't belong, and where they're all merely copies of someone else, they become filled with rage and, in a desire for vengeance, decide to hunt down their originator—William Shatner himself—and destroy him.
Just to get this out of the way up front: I'm a long-time, dyed-in-the-wool Star Trek fan. I watched the entire original series, every episode of the animated series and Next Generation, put in some time with Voyager and Enterprise, and I stuck with Deep Space Nine far past the point when it was any good. And of course I've seen all the movies. But even I have to admit the last couple films were pretty poor. The plots were nonsensical, the writing lazy and repetitive. How many times would they blow up the Enterprise and how many characters would nobly sacrifice themselves for the greater good and how many non-humans would yearn to be human? The series was getting tired. So when they brought in J.J. Abrams to rejuvenate the whole thing, I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. The guy said in interviews he didn't even like Star Trek. I was all right with him shaking things up a bit, but I didn't want him to turn it into a big dumb action movie and lose the soul of the thing.
A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.
A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.
A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.
A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.
A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.
The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.
The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you.
Across the Ist-a-Verse
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