Inn of the Last Home

Top 10 Things I Took Away from Social Slam 2013

2013-04-06T00:49:00.002-04:00

I figured I'd better open up The Inn again, since apparently it's fashionable again to blog--(oops, that's #7)

Anyway, in the spirit of one of things the things I learned at Social Slam 2013, held this afternoon in Knoxville, TN, here is my top 10 list of the most important, the most relevant, the most memorable (are those enough keywords?) things I learned today.

10) There is still a growing "factionalization" of Social Media sites (I think I just coined a word). No matter how much we hear the mantra of cross-channel and multi-channel content creation, some Social sites still have their major supporters and major detractors. I personally still rarely use, nor see much value with Pinterest but it still has a large and vocal following. Google + remains a mystery in it usefulness to me, as it does a lot of the crowd but some still swear by it. I enjoy the rich business connection potential and useful Groups and other professional connectivity of LinkedIn, but some declare it little more than useless. Some still decry Facebook and even Twitter, and there are still some hardy Instagram users out there. Some fierce possessiveness still exists, and middle ground on some platforms seems difficult to achieve.

9) Vine is still basically a novelty. Since half of the smart phones out there still can't run Vine (it's not available as of yet on Android devices), only the Apple contingent has access to it. And of that group, it seems few consider it more than a souped up Animated GIF creator. It may have its uses, and its greatest popularity may be yet to come, but not yet.

8) The most powerful force on the internet is not content, it's not community and it's not Mark Schaefer. It's snark.

7) Blogging keeps circling back and forth and back and forth as being the most important Social Media tool. It seems to come and go in cycles, and now it's back again. I think there's a reason for this, and I explain it in #1.

6) Nobody still has anything good to say about Klout :( C'mon folks, if it's all you got, it's all you got. Throw me a bone, here...

5) For all its good intentions as to putting the Social in Social Media, for me Social Slam remains a decidedly online-only event. I rarely manage to bring another person from my work team with me to the event, and most of the local people I know that come to the event or are in the Social Media Knoxville group either organize the event, work the event, are speakers, or come in large groups of their own from PR houses or local media. As such, I only spoke to a very small handful of people in person - the vast majority of my interaction during the day was through Twitter and using #soslam. I realize I'm speaking totally for myself here, as someone who is a big introvert in large live social activities where I don't really know anyone. I'm not making an actual complaint or offering up some kind of solution or suggestion, just that people like me exist and it would be nice if I could find a way to interact with more people I don't know at the event.

Caveat: This time of year I'm almost always working on a show, so my evenings are filled up with rehearsals and I wasn't able to make either the "night before" or "night of" parties. Again, Your Mileage May Vary, but the actual social events weren't available for me.

4) If your presentation is lacking, the audience will turn on you. There were a couple of presenters today who seemed to either wander far afield from their stated topic, or whose comments on stage began to border on insulting and unkind. The attending community recognized this and reacted in kind online. A living example of a community in action, both live and online.

3) Content is still, always has been, and always will be, king. And I love the fact that this one nugget of truth is still held tightly by all who profess to see the value in Social Media and websites in general. With all the talk of platforms and factions and tools and channels, good (great!) and interesting content is always the goal.

2) Raw, emotional, personal first-hand eyewitness accounts of 9/11 can still hold an audience enraptured and close to tears. And it reinforced the idea that authenticity in content will attract and hold readership. But most importantly, damn, I hate that day.

1) There's nothing new under the sun. As a long-time online healthcare marketing professional, I've attended several annual sessions of Greystone.net's Healthcare Internet Conference over the years. As such, I've seen the most popular and most emphasized topics range from simple website design to blogging to podcasts to multimedia to social to mobile and beyond. I've also recognized points in time where the online world was catching its breath and really waiting for "the next big thing" to hit. I think Social Media is at that point now, and Social Slam is caught up in the waiting game as well. None of the main speakers or breakout sessions (that I attended) addressed to any great extent anything really cutting edge or new in either technology, innovation or cultural change. Facebook and Twitter subjects still dominated the tool discussions, and other new online cultural changes were hard to find in the presentations. Some years I go to these conferences and can scarcely contain myself from jumping right into all the new things and apps I wanted to try out. Other than several good, new things from Google I hadn't heard of that my friend @shanerhyne spoke of, I would be hard pressed to really name any particular new items of interest to follow up on.

Mind you, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's really not a bad thing at all. It means that we can take a break from discussing the latest uber-popular platforms and concentrate on the core topics - the big "C's": content, culture, and clarity. I came away with a lot of confidence and excitement of the possibilities of how I can improve my content creation - both at my job as Website Coordinator for a large local healthcare company, and for my personal online projects.

So, congratulations, Social Slam - I think 2013 was another successful year for this event. I think it struggled more to find timely "content" for its presentations than it has in previous years but in a way that was ok. It left the door open to talk about the subjects that really mattered - finding ways to bring genuine, authentic content that you or your organization are passionate about, to those out there who share the same interest, and using those connections and intersections to form, maintain and grow communities. And that - not Plussing, Liking, Following, Pinning or snarking - that's exactly what it's really all about.

Billions and Billions

2013-02-06T23:36:00.001-05:00

This story is, to coin a phrase, fascinating:

An Alien Earth May Be in Our Cosmic Back Yard

"Looking at thousands of red dwarf stars in the Kepler field, the lead investigator (Courtney Dressing from the Center for Astrophysics) found several dozen stars with candidate planets (probable companions that have not yet been confirmed). Out of those, she found three that were about the size of Earth, as well as being in their stars’ habitable zones, the right distance from their stars to have liquid water. Accounting for planets with orbits that don’t let them transit from our view, what she found is that 6 percent of red dwarf stars have Earth-sized planets at the right distance from the star to be potentially habitable.

That’s 1 out of 16. Out of 75 billion stars. That’s a lot of Earths. In fact, using that number and applying some statistics, Dressing and her team calculate that on average, in this part of the galaxy, Earth-like planets are only 13 light-years apart. That’s a long way to walk, but in galactic terms, that’s incredibly close. Only about three-dozen stars are known that are within 13 light-years of Earth. Could one of them bear a planet like home?"

It boggles the mind that, finally, soon, astronomers in the next 1-2 generations may actually be able to confidently say whether life might exist on other planets throughout the cosmos.

If we can determine the likelihood of life-bearing worlds, we can determine the likelihood of life.

Planets have to fall under certain criteria to have the potential to bear life as we know it. They have to be in a certain habitable "zone" around the sun - within a certain range of radii, to get that "not too hot, not too cold" effect, so liquid water can exist. Likelihood of greenhouse effect, density, etc - all these traits of worlds should eventually come into focus as better and better detection techniques are developed. Eventually, hopefully, astronomers will be able to point to some planet orbiting some star under some particular conditions and say, "Yes, it as a statistical probability that life exits on that world."

Of course, until we are able to visit such a planet (or, miraculously, contact it's inhabitants) we can't know anything for absolute sure. Heck, we live right next door to Mars and as of early 2013 we're still not sure if life ever existed there at all. But we know exponentially more about the possibility of Martian life now than we did even 15 years ago. I would predict if life on Mars exists, or ever did exist, we'll likely know for sure within the next 20 years. We're that close. So based on this article we're also very close, statistically speaking, to making a good, firm prediction about the probability of life on planets outside our solar system.

After years and years of fictional speculation about people loving on other planets around the galaxy - after imagining the lives of people living on Vulcan, Tatooine, Gallifrey, Arakis, Centauri Prime, Caprica, Tangaroa, Krypton, Hala, Aiur and many others - to imagine that the basic building blocks of such a larger universe, habitable planets, may actually exist and that we may confirm it in our lifetime is staggering.

Authority

2013-01-03T15:48:00.001-05:00

It seems to be that the nicer person you are, the less authority you project or command - no matter what your position is. It's something I deal with a lot. And not very well, I might add.

I deal with conflict very tentatively - I'm either too nice (I want people to like each other, and to like me) or, since I'm unfamiliar with the more negative aspect of command, I overstep and become a jerk.

It's a very tight balance I walk, and as such end up not getting anything done when I really need it to be.

If I'm in a position of authority in some project, and those working for me are not getting the job done or making unreasonable requests, I'm more apt to let it slide. Or do it myself. Or compromise, compromise, compromise - rather than take a chance on someone not liking me.

But the first moment I stand up, I do it in such a way that feels - to me - like I'm supposed to do: laying down the rules, requesting all to follow them, and expecting they agree and understand our roles. But what happens is I'm seen as "brash" or "talking down". I don't know how to do it - I don't know how other people do it.

Well, I do, in a way. It's called charisma, and confidence. You can't have confidence without success, and you can't have success without the charisma to command. I have no real charisma, except that which is bound up in my "niceness". And that has no real ability to command respect - even when my position requires it. So it's a deadly circle that I see no hope of ever escaping.

Well, there would be one way - abandon the niceness, and worrying about whether people like me. But that would mean completely throwing away who am I and becoming a jerk full time. Which totally defeats the purpose.

So I'm stuck. The cycle continues.

It's a Wonderful Life

2012-11-30T12:28:00.002-05:00

Tonight is opening night for "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Children's Theatre of Knoxville. I have had a blast working with this great group of young actors - their talent, professionalism and enthusiasm has been a blessing. This weekend's shows are tonight at 7pm, Saturday at 1pm and 5pm and Sunday at 3pm, then continues for two more weekends after that.

Please make time to come see this adaptation of the holiday classic with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. There is something special and meaningful about being reminded, especially this time of year - especially this time of the Age, that each of us MATTER. We all affect everyone around us, we all have the potential to do great things, and there has never been anyone born that would've been better off not being on the Earth. What we do with our lives is up to us, and we shouldn't be convinced everything's out of our hands.

Remember, even in a small way, you can do something important. No one is truly alone. And no man is a failure if he has friends.

http://www.childrenstheatreknoxville.com

Sounds of Knoxville Theatre

2012-09-13T07:51:00.003-04:00

The latest episode of my Knoxville theatre podcast, The Sounds of Knoxville Theatre, is online.

I'd like to extend a special invitation to those of you who haven't heard my podcast - if you have any interest in theatre in the Knoxville and surrounding counties, take a listen to the podcast. Every week (or so) I outline what's coming up in the theatre productions and auditions around the area, and usually have an interview with someone involved with Knoxville theatre. Enjoy!

Scenes From a Hat

2012-09-13T01:44:00.001-04:00

Yes. This. More.

The Silent Clock

2012-09-12T00:01:00.002-04:00

Flipping randomly through my Netflix Streaming Queue, I came upon 24. The early-to-mid-2000's series about Jack Bauer and the fictional Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) figured heavily on my weekly must-see shows of that time period. In fact, I already own several seasons on DVD.

I remember when 24 first premiered, it was only a few weeks after 9/11. The premiere episode included an airplane bombing - naturally, that the producers considered cutting the sequence or postponing the episode. Eventually it aired, uncut, and the series went on for another 7 seasons.

24 associated, fairly or not, with the Bush era of heightened awareness of our state of security, and the steps we as a country would take to secure our own safety, both home and abroad. The producers of the show swung to both ends of the spectrum throughout its run, and the character of Bauer went with it. Torture, terrorism, two (!) separate nuclear explosions and numerous other attacks from both foreign and domestic ne'er-do-wells served as an intentional/unintentional commentary on our country's own feelings toward its own increased security.

While it can mostly be chalked up to coincidence that the show wrapped up its production only a year or so into President Obama's term (8 seasons is enough for almost any show, especially one that thrives on running constantly in high gear) I wonder what it would have been like during the rest of Obama's term. With the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the general relaxation of the constant fear of a repeat massive terrorist attack on American soil (not to mention the effects of the Arab Spring), the tenor of the country has changed a bit in that regard.*

Getting back to the original point - in the 30 minutes or so I was on Netflix, I flipped around from episode to episode, season to season, watching bits and pieces and memorable scenes. I re-watched the assassination of President Palmer, retired spies Tony and Michelle, tragic tech Edward, and others. But, at least at this point, I have no plans to go back and re-watch entire seasons. This is coming from a guy who went back and re-watched the entire 7 season run of The West Wing (with my son), all 5 seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show and looks forward to a few years down the road of re-watching all 5 seasons of LOST in their entirety. I also plan at some point to go back and re-live The X-Files, Picket Fences, Crime Story and probably several others. Why such an aversion to 24?

I practically lived and breathed the show when it was on - almost as much as LOST. I can rank my favorite seasons in order off the top of my head (5, 1, 2, 7, 8, 4, 3, 6). I know what "Is Teri died?" means, and was there when the phrase first took off.

I think it relates, in a way, to my ongoing aversion to our annual national Rip Off The Scab Day (also knows as September 11th). Ever year on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we voluntarily re-immerse ourselves in the glamorous mourning of the events of that day. Jason Bailey of Slate writes:

These programs and others are a part of our continuing attempt to grapple with 9/11, and they raise a simple but difficult question: Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? We watch that horrible morning play itself out again, year after year, one inevitable event after another, helplessly gasping, crying, or screaming at our televisions, knowing that nothing we think or do or say will change a thing. The second plane will crash into the second tower, which will collapse 56 minutes later, and then the first tower will collapse 29 minutes after that. Watching those buildings crumble and take the lives of thousands of Americans is something akin to watching a snuff film. Reliving it all—our last moments of cheery obliviousness, the confusion of those first reports, the utter despair of watching those buildings crumble—is borderline masochistic. Isn’t it?

I feel the same way. While I'm all for memorials and the occasional tribute, the constant popular re-airing of the footage of that day serves as a voluntary immersion again in all the emotions of 9/11/01. Most were negative, some were positive, all were strong. And I think that's what keeps me from going back to 24 - I've lived that life, I've followed those characters, they've drawn me into their world. Other than the occasional foray to watch a favorite scene again, I have no desire to rip off those scabs once again. Let it heal. And move on.

At the end of various episodes in which a major character died, the producers silenced the traditional ticking clock in honor of the deceased. I think that's a good idea.

* - It would be an interesting comparison to examine the similarities between The West Wing and how it reflected the Clinton White House, moving into the Bush White House, and 24, moving from Bush to Obama. And how those two TV series reflected and were each shaped by the person occupying the (real) White House at the time. For 6.9 seasons of its 7 seasons, The West Wing had one duly elected and re-elected president (Jed Bartlett), and another just elected at the very end (Matt Santos). 24 had a succession of Presidents and Vice Presidents over its 8 year run - from the extremely virtuous, yet unre-electable David Palmer to the villainous Charles Logan, at least 3 others in between of different flavors. A better political sociologist can tackle that one :)

Freedom of Speech

2012-09-10T00:31:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the First Amendment allows unfortunate and unwanted speech:

Supremacist groups to meet in East Tennessee (Knoxnews.com, 9/8/12)

But when you think of the alternative, you sometimes just have to grit your teeth and bear it. I still find it amazing this kind of thing exists in the 21st century, and it's even more disheartening to read this:

“Tennessee is one of the states that has a strong presence of all of the major white supremacist groups active right now,” [Anti-Defamation League director of investigative research Mark] Pitcavage said....

Tennessee, where the KKK was formed in 1865, continues to play a key role in re-energizing the white supremacist movement. Pitcavage said a confluence of two factors — the election of Barack Obama and the economy — is driving the white supremacist resurgence, connected to a spike in violent incidents including a shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin that left six dead, including the shooter, Wade Page, a self-identified neo-Nazi.

But a foiled terrorist plot in Tennessee may have lit the first spark, he said.

In 2008, during Obama’s first presidential campaign, Bells, Tenn., resident Daniel Cowart, 20, and his friend Paul Schlesselman, 18, from Arkansas — both self-described white power skinheads — were caught before they could carry out an assassination attempt against Obama and 88 African-Americans at a school in West Tennessee.

I wonder sometimes what kind of sea change could possibly be hoped for, in that those citizens who actively promote white supremacy, or racial hatred of any kind can find an reason to see beyond color. What has to happen to change these peoples' hearts and minds?

Congratulations, Dollywood

2012-09-09T01:01:00.000-04:00

The Eagles are Wild, man.

Congrats to Dollywood for winning FIVE Golden Ticket Awards, the Theme Park Industry's annual celebration of the best in themed entertainment. The accolades won by our local amusement area were:

Friendliest Park
Best Christmas Event
Best Food
Best Shows
Best New Amusement Park Ride of 2012: Wild Eagle

Thunderhead also ranked 4th for Best Wooden Coaster.

The management and staff of Dollywood are top notch..Here's a couple of great podcast interviews From The Season Pass Podcast with Marketing Director Pete Owens:

Not to be outdone, here's my podcast review of Opening Day of Dollywood's 2012 Season, along with Rex and The Beast's commentary on Wild Eagle, at RexandtheBeast.com: Audio Journeys Podcast #1203

Back to Work

2012-09-08T02:24:00.001-04:00

I think it's about time to drag the old girl out of mothballs...

Who still follows me? Who still has an active blogroll or RSS feed? Comment below if you're seeing this.

My company has allowed access to Blogger, so I will be able to blog from work again. Since the web and social media are my job, and part of being a successful online advocate for your brand is to have a strong online presence, I don't feel it's out of line to say personal blogging can enhance some people's professional standing in the digital field.

Social influence is a key element in today's marketing strategies, and it's important for the people behind the brands that are in charge of publicizing their good and services to be trusted sources of information. Not just the company name, but the people behind the company name - they're the ones that will help sell the name. So the more online influence a marketer her - personal, public online influence - the more reliable, trusted and influential they'll appear to the outside world.

At least, that's my understanding.

So expect more posts from me, but perhaps fewer daily observations about my life, and more commentary on the professional and special interest topics that catch my eye. Obviously, healthcare will be a large part of that - particularly acute care services. But since I'm no doctor (and don't play one on TV) don't expect any medical advice or extensive cross-linking - more about how online, digital and social media can enhance the public's perception of healthcare and how it is received. I think that's a worthwhile goal.

Meanwhile, of course my interest in theatre will continue and I'm sure I will post about my latest exploits upon (and behind, and under) the boards. Although, you can find more on a regular basis on my podcast, "Sounds of Knoxville Theatre" (http://knoxvilletheatre.blogspot.com).

Also, I'm sure my great love and appreciate for theme parks will show through, especially Disney parks, so expect some comments on the latest developments in Orlando and Anaheim.

Lastly, my wonderful family will surely crop up from time to time, but for privacy's sake I will continue to refer to them anonymously. For those who have perhaps lost touch in the last few years I've been off the blog circuit, my son, "BrainyBoy" is no longer a boy - he's a young man. A junior in High School who just today took his first solo drive to school and back. In my car. And arrived unscathed there and back home later in the day. My daughter is "Tink" and is in the eighth grade. Her resemblance to the 1950's cartoon character has lessened not a bit. My wife remains my inspiration, my confidant, my partner in crime, and my biggest critic :) And that's not a bad thing! We anxiously await our 20th anniversary together, with a Carnival Cruise. I'm sure that will be mentioned as well.

Thank you for your indulgence - again, leave a comment for me, please, if you read this. Glad to see you.

The Inn is open.

Test

2011-08-12T14:55:00.000-04:00

Top Five things we learned from LOST

2010-05-24T14:47:00.002-04:00

5) Men of Science and Men of Faith can learn to understand each other

Jack was a doctor, a fixer, a man infused with a supernatural ability to heal that defied explanation and obsessed with finding the best way to solve problems. His inflated sense of purpose prevented him from seeing there are ways to look at issues that don’t require questions and answers – neatly solved riddles tied up with bows and editable on Wikipedia. The concept of accepting truths just because you believe them was alien to him. He was a Man of Science that thought the only way to deal with the world and with life was to analyze it, understand it, and fix it. If it couldn’t be analyzed and couldn’t be understood, it was impossible to fix.

Locke was healed by a miracle. He “looked into the eye of this Island, and what [he] saw...was beautiful.” A man of no particular allegiance to science, much less solving problems or answering questions, he was a man of broken faith. He had faith in his father, faith in his girlfriend, faith in his friends – all faiths that were tested and broken at various times in his life – but the greatest unknown and unanswered question came when he first wiggled his toes lying on the beach. The island healed him and he found a real faith in that not seen.

Jack and Locke were in conflict all through the second season over whether pushing the button in the Swan Hatch was necessary. Locke took it on faith from Desmond that pushing the button would control the power of the island. Jack, finding no real reasoning or explanation to it, resisted. Their inability to understand each other and work together to understanding why they were there split the group over and over again. Until finally, as he returned to the island under Locke’s insistence, Jack set aside his need to fix things himself and took on faith in the island.

All things in the world have explanations – and none of them do. All circumstances, experiences, concepts, phenomena are what we make of them. While it’s tempting to discover the anatomical and biological makeup of our neurological systems and be satisfied with the answer, it doesn’t explain how counting to five can save a life. While we can possibly know precisely what’s inside the Cave of Rainbows and Unicorns and learn how it got there, it doesn’t really help us understand what the light is inside us all. We have to use faith in that not seen to live in the world. We can never truly understand all facts and figures, so it requires faith to fill in the blanks and make it more than its own total.

At the same time, we live in a physical world that requires us to deal with life in physical ways. How we breathe, what we eat, where we find shelter, how we escape from dangerous situations, how we stitch wounds, repair bursa sacs, hunt boar, turn off radio jammers – they’re real world problems that have to be addressed by those resourceful, courageous and creative enough to solve them. What we do with those answers and how we live with them requires faith.

Men of Science and Men of Faith – we have to be both.

4) All the Best Cowboys Don’t Have to Have Daddy Issues (or Mommy Issues)

The relationship between parents and children is not an easy one, and the flaws of those raising children do not magically go away. We all have to deal with the mistakes of our pasts or the inadequacies and inexperience we have as humans – but when we decide to take on the responsibility of raising a child our entire beings must be turned over to caring for and nurturing them. This doesn’t mean we give up our lives, goals, interests, dreams and ambitions to focus 100% on them – we shouldn’t focus 100% on anything regardless of how attractive it is. But having a child means your entire life – your past, present and future are now inextricably reflected in the life of that child.

We saw the majority of the characters on LOST have difficulties coping with their own lives due to inadequate relationships with one or more of their parents (more frequently with fathers, it seems, but I’m not certain in the end that distinction is indicative of anything more significant than the fact that it’s easier for fathers to become separated from their children’s upbringing than mothers. Both parents bear equal responsibilities). Jack’s father, Christian was a drunk and a controlling perfectionist – both traits he visited on his son. Both Penny’s and Sun’s fathers were distant, controlling businessmen who cared more about their status and power than their daughters. Hurley’s dad left abruptly for 17 years, triggering his son’s obsession with food. Sawyer’s father killed his mother and then himself, rather than consider the vengeful effect it would have on his young son. Ben’s father blamed him for his wife’s death during childbirth and physically and emotionally abused him. And so on. All these parents chose their own selfish paths, that kept them from fulfilling their responsibilities to their children. These scars led to the tormented lives of the crash survivors.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Hopefully Claire (and Kate – talk about “My Two Mommies”) turned out to be a good mother to Aaron because of her experiences on the island. Had they lived, Sun and Jin would have been caring parents of Ji Yeon. Assuming Desmond made it back to Penny and little Charlie, their family should be tight knit and healthy as well. They will all deal with their own issues and memories in the years to come, but knowing the damage that can come from absent, uncaring, abusive or controlling parents should stop the cycle. It only ends once, everything else is just progress.

And we should learn from this, too. As a parent, I gladly take active roles in my kids’ lives and encourage their interests. I try to be firm, but understanding of their needs and opinions. I give them room to grow but a place to feel safe. I teach them to care for other people and care about themselves. It’s what we’re supposed to do – what we have to do. Jack felt taking care of the island was something he was “meant to do” – that sense of parental responsibility was just as strong and instinctual to him as it was in his relationship with his sideways son, David. It’s so important and so obvious.

3) You’re the only one who can give yourself a Tabula Rasa

All the characters on LOST were flawed in some way. A list could be made a mile long of each of the characters’ personal failings, guilts, losses, crimes, and weaknesses. Jacob chose the candidates precisely because they were flawed as he was – possibly these specific people because of issues with their parents, possibly for other reasons. They all had baggage they’ve carried with them for years that remains unresolved and unaddressed.

Sawyer was obsessed with finding the con man responsible for his parents’ deaths. So obsessed, in fact, he took on the con man’s name and persona himself to better understand what it was like to be a con man. And then became one himself. He fathered a daughter he didn’t care about (at the time) and wound up in jail. Eventually the trail of Anthony Cooper led to Australia where he murdered an innocent man in cold blood. His entire life he refused to think himself worthy enough to just be James Ford and find a reasonable, productive pursuit. Like many children, he unnecessarily bore the guilt himself for his parents’ flaws and wore it like a second skin. Only through a leadership role on the island, both with the survivors and in the Dharma Initiative, did he begin to understand that there were better things to do with his life.

Ana Lucia hunted down and killed the man who was responsible for killing her unborn child. This caused her to leave the police force and run away to Sydney, unwilling to bear the responsibility for her actions. Mr. Eko was a drug lord but blamed himself for his brother, Yemi’s death. He could not let go of what he felt was his violent nature. Neither could Sayid – for all the torture and murder he committed over his lifetime he was unable to reconcile his actions with his better nature, that of a good man. He couldn’t let go of his past and start again with a fresh clean slate.

We all have baggage and pasts. In truth, we could all make lists a mile long about ourselves and our failures and regrets in life. How we deal with these trials and challenges that come to us is how we grow as people. Acknowledging a weakness, taking responsibility for a failing, apologizing and making amends for an injury – this is how we put these events in the past and move on. That’s how we are able to really live.

But we can’t wait for people to do this for us. Ben Linus was a dangerous man who did many terrible things in his life but he couldn’t wait for other people to exonerate or forgive him. He couldn’t rely on Jacob considering him “special” – when he wasn’t – to give his life meaning. “What about me??” Ben demanded, and Jacob replied, “What about you?” Ben couldn’t understand then that he didn’t need Jacob’s blessing or attention to be special or to walk away from his demons – he had to do it himself.

We have to have the strength and courage to wipe our slate clean. We can put the past behind us – not to be forgotten, but to be learned from and to remember in times of crisis. We can forgive ourselves for things we’ve done before moving on. Everyone can be redeemed, everyone can start over.

2) There’s No Place Like Home – wherever you make it

You’d think having lived with The Wizard of Oz for oh these 70 years or so people would have learned. But LOST observed that there was still a need to understand just what “home” was all about.

From the moment Oceanic 815 crashed on the island, most everyone was obsessed – rightfully so – with going “home”. As the series progressed, we saw that few of these survivors really had anything at “home” worth returning for. Some, like Locke and Rose, had their injuries or illnesses healed by the island and actually resisted efforts (or at least expressed their reluctance) to returning home.

The Man in Black’s only motivation was to “go home”. In “Across the Sea” we learned he really had no true home, having arrived on the island before being born and having no memory or knowledge of other lands. To him, home was an abstraction It was a concept of someplace different from where he was at the time, to where he was being confined by Jacob. He had no home, nothing to look back to, nothing to find where he could be contented and safe. Home, for him, held no promise of a better life – only one where he could destroy and cause chaos. He was cursed to be forever lost.

Rose and Bernard set the best example. After being more or less abandoned by the rest of the survivors and having no real desire to return to the mainland they made a home where they were. Indeed, their home was each other. Around the one they felt most comfortable and loved, that’s where they built their home… They refused to get involved with Sawyer and Juliet’s attempt to stop Jack from detonating the nuke, and took a risk helping Desmond out of the well – almost at the cost of their own lives. But that was because it threatened the peace and sanctity of their “home” – each other.

Jack and many others finally learned, at the end, that what they were searching for was a home – a place where they could be comfortable, and safe, and free from the concerns of the world. Jack accepted protectorship of the island and made it his (brief) home, but the home he finally ended up with was with the other survivors.

We are constantly on the move, always looking for ways to improve our lives and where we are. In the process we isolate ourselves behind computers, sports, games, drugs, alcohol, sex, laziness, food, indifference, pride – all distractions from simply living our lives with each other the best we can. Reaching out to our families, appreciating our friends, understanding that the more we search for “home” the less likely we are to see it was under our noses all the time.

Which leads us to…

1) If you can’t learn to Live Together, you will Die Alone

There are many phrases and saying in our popular culture that refer to our need for community. One that comes quickly to mind is “No man is an island,” a phrase that has particular resonance with LOST. And island is the epitome of isolation, a small patch of land often surrounded by millions of gallons of water and thousands of miles from the next patch of land. A person alone on an island is completely isolated from the outside world. Even if he possesses complete electronic and satellite contact with civilization, he is still mostly alone.

Jack tells the survivors “If we can't live together, we're going to die alone.” Throughout the series, the survivors and those who came later banded together in mutual dependency. Back in the real world, this was something many of them could not do. They shied away from relationships or found ways to sabotage the ones they had. Locke lost Helen when he couldn’t stop obsessing over his father. Boone’s overprotectiveness and attraction to Shannon kept them from developing a true sibling relationship. Michael was unable to establish a relationship with Walt in his formative years, only truly getting to know his son in their brief time on the island. Even after leaving, Michael’s guilt over his murders of Ana Lucia and Libby and the betrayal of the rest of the survivors built a barrier between himself and Walt that he never repaired. Kate was constantly on the run and made no attempts to build relationships with anyone until the crash. Hurley was convinced his weight caused the deaths of two people in a deck collapse which forced him into a mental institution. Even after leaving and winning the lottery he was convinced his association with others and attempts to do good with the winnings cursed him. Sawyer’s desire for vengeance kept him from letting anyone get close.

Being in a situation where our very survival requires us relying on others is natural. While some of the crash survivors like Shannon were very reluctant to help out, assuming they would be rescued soon, eventually all had to chip in or be shunned. Hurley tricks Sawyer into thinking his selfish and conniving ways were going to get him banished, causing the former con man to do “good deeds” in order to help others and get back in their good graces.

But more than simple survival, LOST proved to us that we can’t go through life alone. We need other people to live. Our lives have no real meaning if we have no one to share them with, and having people around to trust and confide in helps us better understand ourselves and the world around us.

When we choose to isolate ourselves, we purposefully miss a vital understanding – that we don’t exist as a single person, really. We are not truly an island, we are the sum total of our own experiences and the experiences of those we come in contact with. We learn from our interactions with others. Our children, our parents, our friends and lovers. When we pull into our own shells because of guilt and pain we hurt them as much as we hurt ourselves. Refusing to forgive and acknowledge our own sins prevents us from allowing those who love us to forgive us as well. We are never able to find true rest and comforting sense of home until we allow ourselves to let go.

We take pride at times in believing we know everything that is important about ourselves, that only we know what’s best for us. We alone have the ability to fix what’s wrong with us, or fix the problems that come along. We don’t need help from anyone, we can take care of ourselves. Other times we become blinded by great lights, lights of looking too closely to the sun and attempting to find reflections of our own greatness. The resulting wounds can never truly heal without assistance and reassurance by those around us.

We learned many things from LOST, but I believe these are the five most important lessons. They all carefully interrelate, so understanding one can help to understand them all. It comes down to this – love yourself and love others as yourself. One of the greatest truths in life, and it only took 121-1/2 hours of television to bring the message home.

My Complaint of the Day

2009-12-12T00:44:00.001-05:00

I'm frail and bruise easily! And I cry.

Significant Objects entry - "Secret Sauce"

2009-11-03T23:02:00.005-05:00

Recently I entered a competition on Slate.com to write a 500-word short story based on an every-day object, in conjunction with this project:

Significant Objects

The creators of this project went out to various flea markets, etc and bought up dozens of odd knickknacks and curios, then asked various writers to make up short stories about what the possible history of each item might be. Then the items were to be sold, with the story, on eBay.

The object connected to the Slate.com contest was:

My entry didn't win, but I wanted to post it here for your enjoyment.

Note: Be warned - my taste in short stories tends to run to the macabre and Stephen King-esque...

Secret Sauce
By Barry Wallace

Humming to herself, Sarah prepared the restaurant for the day’s customers. When her father was alive he had boasted many times that his heart and soul were in every meal that was served here, and all the customers loved him. Every table, every window, every well-used pot in the kitchen was a part of him. He had been the king of barbecue for fifty-five years, and never was there a restaurant more infused with the soul of its creator.

People who had eaten here for years did know her, but they were more in love with her father. It was his charisma and culinary skills that attracted customers from miles around, not her light brown hair, sweet smile and attractive figure. But that was how it always had been.

She picked up a tray of washed BBQ Sauce jars, each with its own personal brush. Her father had trusted his patrons to lather on the sauce at their preferred amount - not too little and not too much. The ironic fact that he had always told her how much she should put on her own was not lost to her.

Walking the tray of jars to the kitchen, she proceeded to fill each with the secret mixture her father had always cherished. Each morning she had been expected to fill thirty jars, holding exactly the same amount of sauce. She would do the same this morning – with one small exception.

Once in a fit of creative experimentation while her father was on vacation, she had added a few ingredients. In her mind it needed a little “kick”. Some oregano, a little paprika, even some cilantro gave a well-needed update to the classic sauce. The customers, however, had not agreed and complained to her father when he got back. He docked her pay for a month.

It was time now for another new addition to the sauce.

She capped all the jars except one. Examining it, she was sure it was the one she wanted – still glossy from the original glazing, brush clean. Slightly bigger than the rest, this is the one she’d made herself that her father had copied – without credit – by commissioning a local potter to make the other twenty-nine. It was into this one her new special ingredient would be added.

Reaching under the sink, she pulled out a sealed ceramic urn. She opened it carefully, lest any of the dust fly out into her eyes. Dipping a small spoon into the urn she pulled out a small spoonful of a grey, spongy material. Dumping the contents into the last sauce jar, she stirred it up carefully to disguise any lumps and capped it.

“There, daddy,” she thought. “You’re going to be part of your customers’ meals even after you’re gone.” Sealing the urn and replacing it under the sink, she picked up the tray and moved into the dining area to disperse the jars.

Flash Forward - Episode 1 ("No More Good Days")

2009-09-25T16:08:00.003-04:00

My review of the premiere episode of Flash Forward, entitled "No More Good Days", is online at The Disney Blog.

I'm going to be their in-house blog reviewer/commenter on ABC's new sci-fi show, so come by every week to read about it.

Last Night's Tweetup

2009-09-23T13:58:00.003-04:00

I attended last night's meeting of the Knoxville Social Media Association. It was a presentation by Rusty Coats, VP of EW Scripps on journalism and online culture.

It was a fascinating evening, and I always love dipping my toes back into that world of animated avatars we're more used to conversing with via keyboard online. Some people I've known offline from other walks of life but most I've known online across the computer screen.

It's wonderful to meet folks with similar interests to myself, especially those in wildly different professions. The wide reach of the online world is a common denominator that draws many diverse people together.

I still feel on the outside looking in, for the most part. As I said I was fortunate to know a few people there from other walks of life and previous Tweetups, but there were probably many I'd conversed with via Twitter, Facebook or here at the Inn that I just didn't recognize. As I just posted on Twitter, it would be nice to have a GPS locator app on my phone that identified everyone and their relative locations in the room :)

I did have a couple of observations about the evening itself. One was that the back of the crowd was a bit rowdy, which made it difficult to hear the speaker. Chalk that one up to lack of perfect acoustics, my own hearing and a little over-exuberance with the alcohol of the evening :)

The other point was more endemic to the very Twitter-culture we were there to recognize and celebrate. Many, many times during the course of Randy's presentation I glanced around the patio area and noticed more than one head bent down over their iPhone/Blackberry/Verizon, Twittering or texting away. Or reading the http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23knoxsocialmedia feed. Following the undercurrent of conversation that was going on at the same time as the speaker. There was some potent commentary, some snark, some retweets, some invites, and other conversation. It never evolved into a MST3K-like backtalk, but it was there nonetheless.

But I couldn't help but wonder at what Rusty might have been thinking, to look out in the crowd at any given moment and see half of them bent over their phones - ostensibly not listening. What, in any other cultural gathering, would be a pretty blatant display of rudeness. It's one thing to lean over and whisper a comment to your neighbor (My one comment of the evening to Mike Cohen - when Rusty mentioned something to the effect that we held the future of journalism in our hands, meaning our cell phones, I leaned over to Mike sitting next to me and said "Our glasses?") but its another to spend half the time splitting attention between our phones and the speaker.

I'm certain nobody meant anything disrespectful, and again this is the one sub-culture where such a thing is usually forgiven if not expected. But we should probably remember that some speakers may not be used to it, and respond better when they see eyeballs watching them and not the tops of heads.

Especially mine, with my pesky balding spot.

It's interesting when a new societal norm clashes with an old one.

Wow

2009-09-23T08:37:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time since I posted an entry....

Kinda dusty in here. Where's a good maid service when you need it?

*cough cough*

It All Started Thousands of Years Ago...

2009-06-24T10:05:00.002-04:00

I meant to post this earlier:

Cone of Silence Lifted Briefly

2009-06-22T09:55:00.002-04:00

Apparently the firewall blocking access to all blogs - all blogs from Blogspot, Wordress and others - has been lifted briefly at work. So I take this ideal opportune time to relate to you the following message:

I'm sleepy.

Thank you.

Put in a good word for the Atomic Horns

2009-05-30T21:27:00.003-04:00

Talented singer/songwriter Julia Nunes is playing at The Square Room on Market Square on June 9 - and she's selecting her own opening act!

Click on the video above to go to YouTube, and leave a shout-out for the Atomic Horns - I've entered two of our video performances for her consideration. We need some positive comments!

Meanwhile, don't forget we're playing the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge on June 19th - we'd love to see you there!

Destination Imagination Global Finals 2009 Opening Ceremony

2009-05-22T12:10:00.000-04:00

So What Do You Think of the Enterprise, Mr. Scott?

2009-05-10T00:56:00.006-04:00

Or should I say..."Tink"?

Star Trek: The Good, The Not-So-Good, and the Unforgivable

2009-05-09T00:37:00.012-04:00

OBVIOUS MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT

I saw the new Star Trek movie tonight in glorious Regal IMAX. Obviously not every movie is designed for IMAX, and I'm not sure this one was - though it may have had to do with the fact that I was forced to sit rather close. I'll give it a push on that one.

When the movie ended, I sat in my seat a long while watching the ending credits. I wasn't sure where my mind was and needed some time to wind down and think about what I'd just seen.

Star Trek, for me, has been a defining - perhaps the defining fictional and cultural entertainment icon of my life. I don't want to imply it's more important than it is - I fully understand, more than a number of fans, where fiction ends and real life begins. It's simply been my favorite story and fictional milieu since I sat in my dad's lap and watched syndicated reruns of "Shore Leave". Since I bought my first VCR specifically to tape the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since reading countless books, watching countless hours of episodes spanning six different series versions, ten movies...

Like a lot of fans, I feel a sense of ownership in the story. Not the "franchise" - that's a business term, something for money-crunchers to exploit. It's a story, first and foremost. In the beginning the story of one man and how he deals with the world. Over time it became more than that as more people became involved. It spread to a story of three men and their friendship, and how it was a microcosm for all of us. Then about more people, and more people - human and alien, machine and hologram - and how they each represented a piece of humanity. As I said, fans have put a lot of time and effort into enjoying this story and have certain personal expectations from a new chapter in that story.

Let me make one thing clear, however - we are not "owed" anything. The producers of the show, from Gene Roddenberry to Harve Bennett to Rick Berman and now to J.J. Abrams are in charge. Paramount Pictures owns the story, and has the right to not just pick who they want to decide how that next chapter goes, but to make it go any dang place or direction they want it to. We are not "owed" a story that pleases each fan's idea of what's next. I, for one am grateful the powers-that-be decided to make a new film. Like it or not, that's the next chapter and we as fans have to decide whether we like it or not...whether it fits our own personal idea of what the next chapter should be. So don't think that, as a result of my loyalty and appreciation over the years that I feel I'm "owed" a good chapter. I can form opinions and emotional reactions to it, but they're mine and mine alone, and shouldn't be misconstrued as saying it's "bad" or "good".

So, take my opinions as they are - my observations of how I felt after watching this latest installment of "Star Trek"....

The Good

The Cast - The cast, from top to bottom, was fantastic. I told a co-worker of mine this afternoon before I saw the show, that I anticipated the success of the movie, to me, would hinge on the performance of Chris Pine. Would he be able to portray the true spirit of a (young) Captain Kirk? Almost as important, would he be able to capture some of that young Shatner-esque "rogue-ness" that endeared Kirk to so many fans? I am one who believes in a number of ways the two aspects, the personality and the actor, are inseparable in defining who James Kirk is. And, in my opinion, Pine nailed it. Excellent work. I would've liked to have seen a little more of that half smile Shatner used when Kirk was, say, "laughing at the superior intellect" of Khan since the character would likely have had that mannerism since he was a young man but that was an acting choice and I respect it.

Similarly, the personalities and acting of Zachary Quinto/Spock and Karl Urban/McCoy brought forth exactly who those characters were, and channeled their respective original portrayers' interpretations well (Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley).

The secondary crew - Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty - had less screen time, and at times bordered on caricaturing their own characteristics, but nothing too distracting. When all seven began working together, as a crew, in their familiar positions, it was magical.

Fantastic casting choices, excellent work. Best part of the movie, and its saving grace - despite what I may have to say later... (cue ominous music)
Special Effects, Design - The Big E was gorgeous, and close enough to the original design for the differences to be unimportant. The money shot of her rising from the mist of Titan in front of Saturn screamed "WINDOWS BACKGROUND" and I intend to find a high-res shot somewhere ;)
Story Parts - I use "parts" here to highlight some of the incidental scenes and moments that stood out. The Kobayashi Maru test, and all that went with it. The bar fight. The Orion girl roommate. The fight on the firing platform. Kirk with big hands, nausea and numb tongue (!). Spock's refusal to join the Vulcan Science Academy. His final conversation with Sarek. The kiss in the elevator. Scotty in the tubes. Kirk and Spock's fistfight. The movie was positively littered with moments that just shone. Character bits both new and well-loved combine to make up for...ok, later..later... These scenes, scattered throughout the movie showcased the acting talents and character moments for all the players.
"Admiral" Archer and his Beagle - how many people caught that "Enterprise" series reference? Awesome ;)

The Not-So-Good

I really didn't see anything in the movie that was "bad", per se, with the exceptions later on, but there were a few things that don't go in the "good" category that stuck in my craw a bit. These, again, are things that pinged my Trek-loving sensors and may not have made any difference to anyone else...

Uniforms - While most Starfleet crew members wore variations of the familiar red/blue/green, the arrowhead emblems looked strangely..I don't know, empty. We're all used to seeing the star, circle and gear symbols inside the regular series emblems and here - nothing. Not even a solid color, just a black outline of a chevron. Weird. And at the end of the movie, in the commendation scene, I saw a Federation flag outside the window that had the familiar starburst command insignia. Did the uni's have anything in the final scene? Maybe they awarded them after that point. Just odd. Also the tunics didn't seem to fit all that well at times. I know, pick, pick, pick... But it was great to see them on the big screen in those combinations again.

The Starfleet Academy uniforms and the Admiralty - surprisingly drab. Maybe a holdover from the drab blue of the Archer Enterprise era?
Reimagined Technology and Design - The interior decks of the Enterprise, especially Engineering. Hand Phasers. I know you can't go back and use identical 60's sets and props, just because that's what was there. It worked on the small screen for DS9's "Trials and Tribbelations" and Enterprise's "In a Mirror, Darkly" but for a big screen treatment, updates were necessary. But did they have to be redone that differently? Phasers fire long beams, not short bursts like stormtrooper blasters. Engineering doesn't have giant radioactive-labeled tanks. The hangers aren't full of 500 shuttlecraft. Oh, screw it. Enough with the quibbling.
Scotty's little...friend - Played by everybody's favorite Oompa-Loompa, Deep Roy. What the hell was that all about, anyway? I'm still puzzled and a little bit scared who or what that thing was. It looked like he became the Enterprise's mascot at the end - something you might see Penny Robinson taking as a pet.
Hanging By a Thread - Three, count'em, three times Jim Kirk was hanging for dear life from a deadly precipice. That's two too many in one movie for one character, really. I've heard of cliff-hangers, but really. Just an odd plot choice.

The Unforgivable

Ok, if you loved the pants off this movie, you may not like the things I'm about to talk about. But bear with me, because, like I said above, I did like it. I liked it a lot. But these things...well, be patient and you'll see.

The Villain - Hands down, Nero was the absolute worst villain in Trek history. Certainly the worst of the movie versions, and that's saying something with the likes of the dry Ru'afo from Insurrection and the campy Shinzon from Nemesis. Nero had no character, no motivation, no personality, nothing at all to define him as an antagonist. Certainly not as the prime villain for the movie. Heck, V'ger had more character than he did, and the humpback whales from The Voyage Home had more personality.

Nero did nothing the whole movie except spit, yell, threaten, whine and moan about the "wrongs" done to him by Spock, the Federation, his mother, his third grade teacher on Romulus, and the girl that dumped him at the junior prom.

Part of this I blame the actor, Eric Bana. But in great fairness, I didn't see anything given to him - any dialogue, movement, action - from the script that gave him room for any character depth besides a blind, vague need for revenge. In fact, he and Shinzon, aside from the pointed ears, could have switched places fairly easily. And Shinzon had twice the depth Nero did. In fact, all the Romulans on the ship looked like Nero, and at times I had trouble telling which was him and which was a random crew member.

But the need for revenge - blind and vague it was. Whatever true motivation the character had for the deeds he did, was completely lost on me. Let me see if I got this straight... Old Spock, as Ambassador on Romulus, offered to help the government "defuse" the nova that threatened his homeworld. Spock took off in the super-cool swirly Vulcan ship with the "red matter" to try and create a singularity, that would counteract the blast effect of a supernova. But he was apparently too late, and the sun exploded before the red matter could be used, and destroyed Romulus.

That's it? That's the big motivation for the blinding hatred for Spock and all of Vulcan? Because the Federation "wasn't fast enough"? Seems to me Spock and The Federation were the only ones actually trying to do anything - I didn't see that many Romulans lifting a finger to help themselves.

It's not just that it isn't a logical conclusion to draw, to equate the UFP's inadequacy to contain the threat with a need for revenge on another planet full of sentient beings, but it isn't even an illogical conclusion. There's no rational or even irrational reason for Nero to blame Spock or the UFP for Romulus' destruction! Oh sure, he could be a bit pissed. And people who just saw their planets destroyed can't really be expected to act totally rationally, and to blame someone else - but Nero, by all accounts, is an intelligent person. He's the captain of the mining vessel, and not an unhinged genetic madman like Khan. Nor a man lured by the seductive call of the Nexus like Soran from "Generations". The lust for revenge that would cause any person to, a) destroy a Federation starship out of hand (the USS Kelvin), b) capture Spock and maroon him on an ice planet so he could watch Vulcan die, and c) actually destroy Vulcan and try to destroy Earth, simply doesn't match what was done to him, personally - fairly or unfairly perceived.

And when your villain has no believable motivation for the evil he does... he's just evil. And just evil is very, very, very boring.

Nero was a very, very, very boring villain.

I got the idea that if Spock sat down with Nero for a few minutes and explained, logically, the error of his ways and where to productively turn his feelings of loss and grief, all this unhappy business of bad villainry could have been avoided. But he's just a Vulcan, and not a miracle worker.

To have this much time to come up with a good villain, with true motivation and a real diabolical scheme and not deliver - unforgivable.
Changing the Past - And here's the second big thing. Star Trek, as we know it, is now radically different.

Irrevocably altered.

All that history? From "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" to Nemesis is now gone. Wiped out. Finished. Kaput. Nada. Wiped clean.

Old Spock said it himself, and the crew figured it out - alternate reality.

Things were humming along nicely until Nero emerged from the singularity. Ok, fine - time travel is a given in Star Trek and always handled carefully. Well, mostly carefully ("I grew a new kidney!! That man gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!!!").

I can accept the emergence of Nero's ship dramatically altering the life and death of George Kirk, and altering the circumstances of his birth. Unintended consequences happen when people travel through time (do you hear that Damon and Carlton??? Do you?? Do you??? Whatever happens, did not ALWAYS happen!!).

But Vulcan was destroyed. And Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother, was killed.

Let's just think about that. Vulcan, the second most important planet in the entire Star Trek milieu, is gone.

No more "Amok Time". No more Masters of Gol and the big Kolinahr statues. No more steps of Mount Seleya. No more ShiKahr, sehlats, le-matyas, lirpas, An-woon. Likely no more T'Pau (or was that her among the Vulcan survivors?), T'lar or T'Sai. No more Stonn or T'Pring. No more Sonak. Possibly no more Sybok (I know, big loss). No more Saavik! Or Tuvok! All the Vulcan characters and ancestors of said characters, if from 24th century - likely gone. 10,000 saved out of a planet of 6,000,000,000. Poof. An entire chunk of Trek history, lore and culture... erased from the story like a typo.

Heck, we almost saw as much of Alderaan, overall, as we now have of Vulcan.

Let me step back here a bit. In stories, bad things happen. Bad things happen to motivate the good characters to improve their goodness. Or overcome their badness. Without Darth Vader, there is no Luke Skywalker. As a character. Without the Joker, there is no Batman. Again, as a character. The villains and bad things in our lives, and especially in the lives of fictional characters, are there to show how they overcome them and grow. To risk mixing two franchises, losing Alderaan was a big motivator in Princess Leia's drive to defeat the Empire. If Vader and Tarkin hadn't destroyed it, she might not have been motivated and driven enough to fully fight back. So our adversities make us who we are.

But...but.. it's Vulcan....!!!

When you write a story, you have control of what happens to each and every character. In any real person's life, seemingly random events can happen to change the course of our lives. A car goes one way instead of another and rear-ends you. Five minutes earlier and the person who was about to offer you a great new job wouldn't have left. Grocery store is out of cookies, so you choose crackers. Two airliners shatter the peacefulness of a crisp autumn day in New York City to change the world. Things happen, random events occur all the time to affect our lives.

But when writing fiction, you have the power to control that.

If I write a story to send a Terminator back to the late 1700's, realistically (if such a thing exists) he would shoot the entire Continental Congress delegation, and likely the population of all Thirteen Colonies looking for John Conner. But I can write in that, luckily, John arrived just before the Terminator did and blows his metallic head off before the nasty robot dude can blow away John Adams. I did it, I made it up. It probably couldn't happen that way, but since I own the world in my head, and on the paper, I make the rules. If the plan only has a 0.00001% chance of success, then By Golly we're going for it! And it, against all odds, will likely work.

What chance, really, Force or not, did Luke and the X-Wing pilots have to fire that proton torpedo that destroyed the Death Star? None. Zero. There's no way they should've gotten close to the surface, much less down the trench. But George wanted him to be a hero, so he was.

But, the thing is here, you have to think of the repercussions to the story. In this case, the greater story.

Nero obviously had superior technology. What he did makes sense from the point of view that's given to us. In fact, he shouldn't have failed to destroy Earth, either. Spock's abduction of the future Vulcan ship, and subsequent escape, were ridiculously easy - that's ok, if the story rides on it. But it didn't have to. Kirk and Sulu were able to disable the drilling platform - but too late! The hole was down to the core, and all Nero had to do was drop the bomb. Poof! Bye Bye Ol' Sandy.

Vulcan, and Amanda Grayson didn't have to die to further the story. The Spock we all know and love, the one before this story happened, progressed just fine. Just like he should have.

The Spock we've now ended up with, is very different.

To lose your home planet, and six billion of your closest relatives - that's a big deal. It doesn't sit well with a person.

Ask Nero.

Ask Princess Leia.

And to lose your mother prematurely, when before she lived to a ripe old (human) age - that's just cold.

And on Mother's Day weekend, to boot.

It changes them. The person they were, or were going to be - the Old Spock we saw is that person - is now gone, and can never come back. The new Spock, the Zachary Quinto Spock, is what we have now.

If, by some strange chance, the crew one days reaches Sarpeidon again, will Spock fall for Zarabeth again, or will he let her be? Who knows - his entire worldview is now different. Not to mention his relationship with Sarek is now completely different. Old Spock's motivations for joining, and staying in Starfleet was based a great deal on the estrangement with his father. An estrangement that continued through the old series ("Journey to Babel") and wasn't really reconciled until the end of "The Voyage Home". And Sarek never fully addressed the feelings he had toward Spock and Amanda until the mindmeld incident with Picard 100 years later!

So many things are now different, and while they were exciting and suspenseful and sad and heartbreaking for what they were, in the context of the movie, did anyone think about what this will do for Spock's character as we know it?

You've effectively killed the Spock we really know. And unless you're Khan, that's unforgivable, too - because there's no Genesis Planet nearby to bail you out of this one.

Thanks for reading. Overall, I really liked the movie. The acting and characterization of the crew was wonderful. But the big problems I had with the villain and the story logic kept from making it a GREAT movie, and certainly not the best Trek movie. The record of "The Wrath of Khan" as best Trek movie ever, is safe for another year. Pop the corks, guys. You and the '72 Dolphins are in good company together.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Tribute to Sid and Marty Krofft

2009-04-27T21:07:00.003-04:00

These two men defined my childhood entertainment, as they did so many other people my age, like no other.

Mayberry's Got Talent

2009-04-24T16:25:00.000-04:00

You think Susan Boyle impressed the judges on Britain's Got Talent? Wait'll you see what they found when they went to Mayberry...