Space Geek

Space, the final frontier… Sorry. I had to get that out of my system. I grew up with Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, and the syndication of Star Trek. This had sparked a great desire in me to adventure across space. I didn’t have to be Captain Kirk. I would have been happy enough with living and working in space or on another planet. 

My dreams were dashed in April of 1981, when the first space shuttle was launched. It was then I discovered there were no plans for deep space exploration or even a moonbase. However, books and movies about space kept my interest and imagination adventuring across space.

 Today there is an argument that space exploration should not be a priority considering all the problems we have on our planet. The poverty and violence alone are reasons enough we should not make space exploration a priority.

Here is a sad truth. At every single point of time on Earth there has always been war and poverty. It has never gone away. Whether we explore space or not there will probably be poverty and war.

There is however the possibility that Star Trek got it right and

space exploration could end war and poverty. Here’s is an interesting historical fact. The U.S. was tearing itself apart during the 60s because of the war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, when we put a man on the moon the U.S. came together. The people rallied around a common ground.

Another historical fact of that time the space program and Star Trek both had an impact on the kids. A lot of those kids grew up to become engineers and scientists. Those engineers and scientists have brought us a lot of innovations such as computers, communications, and continued improvement of energy sources. 

Today I do not think one country or government can do the exploration of space all on their own. It is going to take a joint effort of several countries together. I also believe that it will take the efforts of businesses to forward any kind of exploration that is done. If different countries work together just maybe they will put aside their differences and put down their weapons. If corporations started working on space exploration that could lead to new innovations, which will create jobs. That would go a long way to fight poverty.

It seems to me that we have lost our wonderment and need to explore anything, not just space. I hope for a future where my kids and their kids will look to the skies with a new sense wonder. I hope they will then dare to explore those places that we only dream of now.

 

Thanks To:

Enterprise ~Jay Prower

Space Shuttle/Launch Pod ~ SuperLautir

The 60s ~xasterix

Future Flight 1 ~ wayfarer95

Space ~ cberg

Model Geek

When I was a kid I built dozens of models. All were spaceship models, except for one. It was a model of Superman busting through a wall. When I left home I didn’t have space or time to continue building models. 

Now I have some more time in my life and I have slowly started getting back into model building. I bought a model of the Millennium Falcon. It’s huge and I decided that I wanted to do it right with air brushing the paint on. Unfortunately, the air brush system I have uses cans of air and I cannot find the cans of air for the system anymore. I suppose I could just brush the paint on, but I’m not very good. There is a model of a Battlestar Galactica Viper hidden in my closet that has a very embarrassing paint job done by me. 

So thinking that my model building skills are not that very good, I decided I should just stick with the Lego models. That was until I came across a statue of the Space Battleship Yamato on Amazon. It was a beautiful statue, except for the $261.00 price tag. Undeterred, I look further at the Yamatos and found a model of one for a reasonable of $31.00. I decided it was time to try my hand at model building one more time.

Now the model came from Japan and I was pleasantly surprised by the company Toy Shop Japan HobbyOne. They were quick and friendly. They included a letter in English thanking me for my purchase. 

The model was a pleasant surprise as well. This was my first time building a model from Japan, so I don’t know if all Japanese models are like this. The model is mostly pre-painted. It would look fine without the few dabs of paint here and there. Most of the pieces fit so well together, they don’t require glue. What has me scared while building this model of the Yamato is the tiny size of some of the pieces. There are pieces that are just nubs of plastic. The tiny guns on the side of the ship have to be put together. The barrels are microscopic. 

I have unfortunately had one of the barrels pop off and go flying when I cut it from the frame. I don’t know why I tried, but I did spend a good half an hour looking for that microscopic barrel on my carpeted floor. Hopefully the missing barrel will not be too obvious.

I am proud of the work I have done on this model of the Space Battleship Yamato. Maybe I will take on the challenge of the Millennium Falcon after this. I might also look for some more models from Japan.

Something I have learned from doing this model is not necessarily the finished product. It’s the enjoyment I got from building this model. Don’t get me wrong, having a nicely finished product has all its own pride. However I have enjoyed the challenge of putting together these tiny pieces. It has been great fun watching the model take shape.

Old Geek

Let me start out with a very ugly statement; “Peter Pan is dead.” Now let me explain. In my 20s and even into my 30s I never worried about time marching on. I looked at myself as the same never changing person. Then I was no longer able to ignore the changes that were going on. When my hair disappeared en mass I knew the fabled Peter Pan no longer lived within me.

Now 40 something, I look back on a full life of Geekery. One of my earliest memories is when Star Wars was showing in the movie theatres. Back then you could buy one ticket and stay in the theatre all day long watching the show over and over again. I must have seen the first Star Wars over 50 times in the theatres. 

My first anime, which at the time no one knew it was an anime, was Star Blazers. That one doesn’t stand the test of time very well. You should read my take on Star Blazers. The next anime, which again no one knew was an anime, was Robotech. This one could stand the test of time a lot better. It always blew me away how there was action, but a great story that involved just the characters.

My first real introduction to anime came from the original Bubble Gum Crisis. Back then we didn’t even have English subtitles. We had written out translations and you hoped to all that is Holy they got the translations right.

I did not get into Manga until much later, because I was too used to the colors of comic book heroes. I still have my collection of about 5,000 comic books. My fave comics were all the X-Men titles. My first Manga that I picked up was the big volumes of Akira. Just like the movie it blew me away.

Growing up all I had for movie superheroes was the Christopher Reeves’ Superman. Hollywood did not dare cross into the superhero genre at the time without looking incredibly stupid.

Being a Geek has certainly changed a lot. With Facebook, Twitter, and several other social media it is incredibly easy to connect with other Geeks with similar interests. I grew up without these online connections. It made it a lot tougher being a Geek without a community.

I go to the bookstores and video stores looking for new anime and manga and I see kids in my spot on the floor checking out the new arrivals. I try to be nonchalant about looking through the selections, trying not to feel out of place.

But, I really don’t care that I’m some old guy still collecting anime, manga, and toys. These are things that make me happy. That’s what is really important to any Geek. Finding what makes you happy and embracing it.

So, I offer two pieces of advice. First, do not ever let go of your Geekery. Love it and cherish it for the rest of your life. Second, be nice to the older Geeks. They were the ones that pioneered the way for you.

Thanks to:

Hurt Peter Pan -- huggiebird @ deviantart.com

Yamato Star Blazers -- ColinTheP6M @ deviantart.com

Comic Book Nerd -- saramondo @ deviantart.com

Comic Book Guy -- wagnerf @ deviantart.com  

Geek Cleaning

We have all had to endure the chores of cleaning and we have all cleaned at different levels. There’s wiping everything down with a wet rag, dawning the hazmat suit to use industrial strength chemicals, tossing in a match and starting over. I have used the hazmat suits, when I was in the military. I have never gotten so far to just torch everything, but I have considered it.

At my house I am responsible for all the cleaning and that’s alright. It fits for our family. My wife is very relaxed when it comes to cleaning. On the other hand, I tend to be OCD about cleaning. I have my routines for cleaning the house that make it relatively easy.

However, there is one place I lack when it comes to cleaning and that’s my Geek cave. I have come to the conclusion that cleaning a Geek’s area is a lot different from regular cleaning and wwwaaaayyyy more time consuming. One inherent thing about

being a Geek is we all collect stuff. Lots of stuff. There are books, posters, board games, video game consoles, video games, costumes, action figures, models, and much more. When we collect all of this stuff we tend to cram it all into one small area. All that cramming makes it very difficult to clean.

I have lots of Star Wars Legos and several of them hang from the ceiling. Like everything else they collect dust, but those little Lego bumps make it impossible to clean the ships off. Then there are my action figures. I have to move all of them, clean, and then stand them all up again. Don’t get me started on my desk with its piles of papers, books, and little figures. What would normally take five minutes to wipe down, can be an all-day project. I’m not exaggerating about the all-day project, especially if I start playing with my stuff. 




There is one shelf that is the worst. It is the top shelf of my bookcase. Every square inch is covered in Lego Star Wars mini-figures. In between those mini-figures is a lot of dust. I dread cleaning this shelf because it takes so long to set them all back up. The last time I cleaned this shelf, which was sometime during this past winter, I simply took the duster and swiped all the mini-figures to one side. They laid there in a pile for over month before I took the time to set them all back up.

I should not complain. I have heard of a lot worse areas. All you have to do is turn on Hoarders. I guess I should be thankful for the small area I have for a Geek Cave and how little it is cluttered. I still do not want to clean that Lego mini-figure shelf!


Thanks to Spring Cleaning XD by RedKid11 @deviantart.com

Standing The Test Of Time

Nostalgia can be an amazing trap. I look back on my youth and the things I loved. One of the first things to pop through the haze of my memory is of course Star Wars and Star Trek. These two franchises have stood the test of time. Occasionally I will run past a movie or episode on TV or the Web and will have to stop and watch. As I watch feelings of summers past rush over me. Time spent with friends pretending to be our favorite heroes. Hours of playing with action figures and spaceships. After watching my favorite shows over again, I like to wander into my geek cave and pick up some of those old toys and fly them around the room. 

Unfortunately, there are shows I remember fondly that do not stand the test of my nostalgia. Lately I have been watching Star Blazers again, on the Web. The desire to watch it again is very much rooted in nostalgia. It aired in America in 1978. Yes, I’m that old and older. What I remember of this anime series is it had artwork unlike anything else on television at the time. At the time no one knew what anime was. It also had an actual story line and plot. You had to tune into every episode to follow the story. In the plot for Star Blazers there were several nail biters where you did not know if they were going to survive. As a matter of fact this was the first time I saw some of the good guys die. That was unheard of! 


What I see in the show now is technology that is sadly antiquated. In the show the consoles have levers, switches, and dials. Something I noticed this time around is every station has a flight stick, even communications. What does the communications officer need a flight stick for?!?

Then there is the dialogue. I know speech is going to change over the years and dialogue from almost forty years ago is going to be way different than nowadays. Still, when the fighters launching from the ship they should yell the command, “Launch!” Not saying calmly, “We’re taking off.” 

I know it is good drama to have tensions between different crew members. However, in Star Blazers there really is no chain of command except a captain and the crew. In each episode the crew tends to yell commands at each other and then yell back at one another.

Having said all this there is something refreshing about this old series. In television series today there are the main characters and they go somewhere and meet a group of people. There is conflict with the group of people and then a solution. The next week they do it all over again with a new group of people. With Star Blazers it was all about the mission to get across the galaxy to get a cure for the dying Earth and battle the bad guys all the way. I know some of you out there are going to say, “What about the new Battlestar Galactica? They were all about finding Earth.” You are right. That series is the exception to how it is done now on TV.
 

Yes, there have been plenty of moments of wincing while watching Star Blazers. The amazing series that I remember as a kid just does not stand the test of time. It is still a good story and plot. I hope the rumors I have heard that there is a reboot to modernize Star Blazers are true. I will be one of the first to watch it when the show hits America.

I'm Back

In my blog I like to write about all things Geek. I’ve talked about some favorite movies, anime, and manga. I’ve also talked about the Geek lifestyle and some of the positive things about being a Geek. From my point of view things have change a lot for Geeks. I believed it was much more acceptable to be a Geek. I felt things had changed since I was a kid. Back then it was bad news to be labeled a Geek. You were bullied and scorned for the things we liked and did. Now those comic books we read in secret are blockbuster movies. Those video games we played by ourselves in the dark are now a multi-billion dollar industry. Our dreams of being a superhero or our favorite Star Wars character are played out by hundreds of thousands loyal cosplayers at conventions around the world. The #1 show on TV is all about Geeks. Of course an old Geek like me would think things have gotten better.  

Lately I have seen things have not change as much as I thought. Personally a couple of months ago I got slammed on my blog. I got told I was spamming a site with all of my blog postings and no one wanted to hear what I had to say about being a Geek. I took that really hard and I stopped posting on my blog. 

 
While I have been on hiatus there were some other bad things I heard about. I have heard there is still a lot of bullying going on. Some of that bullying is being done by Geeks on other Geeks. I cannot even begin to comprehend that one. We are all Geeks. We all share the same love of all things Geeky. So what if one person’s Geek is different than your Geekness? We should be watching each other’s backs and sharing time together, after all there aren’t that many of us out there. 

 

Now I hear that girls at conventions are being harassed by the male Geeks….People!...We have spent our Geeky childhoods wishing and hoping for girls to be around us and like us for our Geekdoms. They are amongst us now! We should rejoice! We need to treat them with respect. If you are unsure how to act around a woman then take a class on manners.


 
Now let me talk to those Geeks out there that have been suffering. Do not get discouraged. I know, I did get discouraged when I got flamed on line for my blog and I gave up doing it. That was wrong of me. One unfortunate trademark of a Geek is being timid. We are easily frightened when we see aggression. The other trademark of a Geek is our quiet strength. No we are not in basements benching 300 lbs. We are the ones that no matter what we hold onto the things we love. That is our strength. Geeks seek out other Geeks and together we try to make the world better. Think of every technological advancement over the past 30 years. There was a group of geeks behind each and every one of those advancements. Think about all those blockbuster movies. Those are because a Geek said they wanted to see it on the big screen. Geeks are strong. Things will get better.   

Now to all of you out there let me quote Wil Wheaton, probably the most famous Geek of us all. He has one simple rule he lives by and he asks everyone else to live by. “Don’t be a dick!” Be good to each other. If everyone will be accepting of everyone else this world would be such an amazing place. 

Thanks To:
        Bullying by JazzySuika @ deviantart.com
        Zombie Bullying by FBende @ deviantart.com