On the Road: Thanksgiving 2025

We spent Thanksgiving in Worcester, Massachusetts at the home of the English Prof, as is our usual tradition.  New this year, my nephew and niece joined us.  Both are suddenly living in the Northeast after growing up in California.  For you, a few photo highlights:

Dinner

The bird

My fully-loaded plate

Next day's leftovers lunch

Inspired by English Prof's copy of Uneasy Elixirs: 50 Curious Cocktails Inspired by the Works of Edward Gorey by Virginia Miller, a couple new cocktails...

Hamish's Pride

I made a few adaptions to one of Miller's recipes: The Deadly Blotter.  It's essentially a Manhattan with bubbles so I adjusted to match my own Manhattan recipe.  So I will call this The Squid's Blotter.

The 20-somethings learn to play backgammon:

A couple sights from the city:

Rogers - Kennedy Memorial

American Antiquarian Society

Star Trek: The Swarm

Episode: "The Swarm"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 4

Original Air Date: September 25, 1996

via Memory Alpha

The Doctor is losing his memory.  Most alarming, he's forgetting his medical programming but he's also forgetting his more personal experiences on Voyager.  Fortunately, there's a diagnostic program for the EMH on the holodeck, including a holographic Lewis Zimmerman, the man who created the Doctor in his own image.  Meanwhile, Captain Janeway and her crew must find their way through the territory of beings who don't take kindly to the intrusion.

"The Swarm" is pretty solid, the second Voyager writing credit for Michael Sussman who penned the excellent "Meld" for Season 2.  Obviously, it's a meaningful vehicle for the Doctor.  We learn he's developed a love for opera, performing La Boheme on the holodeck.  We get to know his creator better.  We are reminded of his considerable growth since the beginning of the series.  It is also a great story for Kes, the ultimate hero of the tale.  She cares for her holographic friend deeply and she's a strong advocate for his rights and well-being throughout.  The episode was written as an Alzheimer's allegory and Kes was excellent in the caretaker role.

I'm likely to get a bit wistful regarding Kes throughout Season 3...

The ethical dilemma of whether or not to travel though another society's air space is meaningful.  As Tuvok points out, doing so is a violation of Starfleet directives.  Neither for the first time nor the last, Janeway plays the "we're a long way from Starfleet right now" card, prioritizing the long-term well-being of her ship and crew.  The dilemma presents a genuinely interesting long-term question regarding Voyager's entire premise.  Does the crew's situation exempt them from Starfleet regulations?  A purist would say no.  But goodness knows, Star Trek would be a lot less fun if the captain(s) never bent or broke the rules, right?  That's kinda the point of it all.  Weigh all of the strong arguments, then make the call.  The Starfleet brass always seem to forgive them in the end.

A note for Mulgrew: a few times in the episode, we see a slanted smile.  It happens enough that one imagines it was a conscious choice.  Unfortunately, whatever the intent, it lands as patronizing and even aloof, particularly in a tense situation.  Hopefully, the directors/producers told her it wasn't working.  I'll keep an eye out for it in future episodes. 

Acting Notes

via Scrubs Wiki

Carole Davis played the role of Giusseppina Pentangelli, a fictitious 22nd century soprano, Mimì to the Doctor's Rodolfo in the holographic opera.  Davis doesn't get much screen time - a shame because she's a lot of fun, really playing the "diva" energy to the hilt.  I can't find any indication one way or the other as to whether they used her actual singing voice in the episode.  (They did use Picardo's.) Davis is a singer, even had a dance hit with "Serious Money" in the '80s.  However, I don't know if she has classical training.  It would seem a shame not to cast the real deal for such a small part but we've all seen stranger.

Davis was born in London, February 17, 1958.  After a successful modeling career, she hit the big screen in 1982 with Piranha II: The Spawning.  She also made appearances in The Flamingo Kid and Mannequin.  Other television credits include The A-Team, Sex and the City and Angel.  

Davis was pals with Prince and even has co-writing credit on one of his songs: "Slow Love."  She's an accomplished writer as well, boasting articles for The Jewish Journal, American Dog Magazine and Newsvine.

Star Trek: Basics, Part II

Episode: "Basics, Part II"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 1

Original Air Date: September 4, 1996

via Memory Alpha

The story begun with Season 2's finale continues.  While most of the Voyager crew is in survival mode on their new home planet, the Doctor, unexpectedly escaped detainee Lon Suder and Tom Paris team up to regain the ship from Kazon control.  

Initially, there was talk of extending the story of the crew's new life away from the ship over several episodes.  I'm glad the idea was scrapped.  While complications are to be expected - and necessary to fulfill the needs of episodic television - the overall trajectory of our heroes' journey should always be incremental progress back to the Alpha Quadrant.  

This is a strong start to the season.  The survival story is satisfying, especially as our friends find a way to gain the trust of the native inhabitants.  Even though the exile only lasts one episode, the first glimpse of Voyager coming back to rescue them is genuinely moving.

The episode also marks the end for several storylines, namely Suder's, Seska and the Kazon.  I think moving on from the last two was essential.  As noted above, the overall trajectory should be homeward and sticking to the same region of space for too long is a hindrance.  Suder's demise, however, seems a shame.  I suppose if you can't see where to move forward on a certain narrative path, it makes sense to move on.  But character death - most of the time, anyway - means you can never revisit the idea at all.  

Losing some ideas means making room for others.  Let's hope they're good ones.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Scott Haven played the part of a Kazon engineer.  The episode is one of five Trek appearances, including the film First Contact.  Haven was born January 8, 1964.  Haven had recurring roles on both Beverly Hills, 90210 and JAG.  Films include The Babe, Watch It and Lansky.

Star Trek: Resolutions

Episode: "Resolutions"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 25

Original Air Date: May 13, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Janeway and Chakotay have been infected with a terrible disease when insects bite them during an away mission.  The Doctor fails to find a cure.  On the bright side, as long as the two stay on the planet, the effects of the disease are kept in check.  On the down side, that means they must be abandoned as Voyager carries on without them.  

From this point, two separate but equally interesting narratives play out.  On the planet, the castaways build a new life.  Well, Chakotay, at least, is determined to do everything possible to make the situation comfortable but Janeway is equally determined to find a cure for the disease so they can leave.  Inevitably, they also need to sort out the realities of their quickly evolving relationship under new circumstances.

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Tuvok is left in charge.  Making a deal with the dreaded Vidiians for a possible cure seems a logical move, at least to most of the crew.  Tuvok, however, loyally follows Janeway's parting orders to stay away from the Vidiians and continue the journey homeward.  Tensions mount.  Kim openly challenges the acting captain on the bridge.  Later, he appeals to him in his quarters.  Tuvok doesn't budge.  Finally, Kes convinces Tuvok that while he may be unwilling to let emotions cloud his own judgment, he still has a responsibility to the emotional well-being of his crew. 

Go, Kes!

Long term, the episode is probably best remembered for the will-they-won't-they question posed regarding Janeway and Chakotay.  It was 1996, deep in the age of Ross and Rachel.  Will-they-won't-they was seemingly all anyone wanted out of television.  NextGen deftly avoided it for the most part but there's plenty of it in both DS9 and Voyager.  With "Resolutions," the writers left it to the viewers to decide what happened between the two while stranded on the planet.  I think Kate Mulgrew was right to fight against the over-sexualization of her character and this story respects that.

Plus, the brief return of Danara, the doctor's former sweetheart, is a welcome treat.  She clearly still loves him.  He's predictably officious.

Acting Notes

via Criminal Minds Wiki

Bahni Turpin played the role of Ensign Swinn.  "Resolutions" was the second of two appearances in the part.  Turpin was born June 4, 1962 in Pontiac, Michigan.  Films include Daughters of the Dust, Rain Without Thunder and Malcolm X.  Other television guest appearances include Seinfeld, ER and Criminal Minds.

A lot of actors do audiobook narrations as a side gig.  Bahni Turpin, on the other hand, is one of the best in the business and she has the accolades to prove it.  Her industry awards include 9 Aubie Awards, 14 Earphone Awards, 2 Odyssey Awards and induction into Audible's Narrator Hall of Fame.  Her narrations include The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.  

On the Coffee Table: Rawand Issa

Title: Inside the Giant Fish

Writer and Artist: Rawand Issa

In this graphic memoir, creator Rawand Issa describes her childhood in El Jiyeh, a seaside town in Lebanon.  She and her family were effectively shut off from her fondest, earliest memories when private resorts cut off access to what was once a public beach.

There's no shortage of stories about how much Lebanon has changed in recent decades.  Civil wars and military occupations by both Syria and Israel have devastated a once beautiful country.  Issa's tale is unusual for the fact that it mostly ignores the violence, focusing instead on how privatization and politics combined to separate the town's local population from an ocean that defined its culture for generations.

The book is neither long nor densely worded.  I read it in a single sitting - maybe half an hour.  The artwork is rather boxy, though boldly colored.  Inside the Giant Fish (Jonah's whale is the metaphor here) makes a simple point quite elegantly.  Solid work.

Off My Duff: Readjusting to the School Year

For the most part, I love middle age.  Life is simpler in many ways.  Put simply, I just don't give a crap about quite a lot of things that used to preoccupy me.  All of the self-consciousness of youth is long gone.  Ambitions remain but they're more personal than professional.  In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande writes of how our worlds get smaller as we age.  While I am still well short of elderly, I'm already feeling a need to draw those I love most closer and make the most of our time together, however long it lasts.  Truly, mine is a precious age.

But of course, there are trade offs.  My body doesn't function as well as it used to.  Most noticeably, my once 20/13 eyesight - "You could fly fighter jets," a doctor once told me - is fading fast.  I also can't keep the weight off the way I could in my youth.  Last October, one of the numbers on my blood labs was higher than it should be.  Historically, I have shrugged off these sort of concerns.  This time, the message was different: change your life or you'll be forced into changes you won't like at all.  I had three months to bring the number down for the next blood test and I took the goal seriously.

One of the big changes I made was getting more regular exercise.  I was an athletic child - not a good athlete, mind you, but a genuinely active one.  I played soccer, basketball, baseball, ran track and cross-country.  Adulthood has been different.  Team sports were a meaningful motivator for years but those are harder to pursue as an adult.  

On the bright side, just about the most efficient exercise I can get is going for a walk in my own, beautiful neighborhood.  You scoff.  I can assure you, a walk in my neighborhood is not like it is for most people reading this.  We live in the woods on a dirt road off of another dirt road.  Just to get to our mailbox, we have to go up an 8.5% grade hill.  Do you remember the old FitBits that measured how many flights of stairs you climbed each day?  It's 18 flights just up to the mailbox.  And that's only the first big hill of several on my walk route.  No kidding, it's a meaningful workout.  As long as I'm diligent, knocking out FitBit goals is pretty straightforward.

The big question is what to do in winter.  On the weekends, it's not bad.  I can still strap on the Yaktrax and feel reasonably safe even on icy days.  The problem during the week is the fact that it gets dark so early.  The nearest streetlight is literally miles away.  But we've found you can make a fitness tracker happy by jogging in place.  Cheating?  Maybe.  But I figure it's better for you than vegging on the couch.

Anyway, it all worked.  The number came down.  When I went to the doctor this summer, both my weight and my blood pressure were down, too.  He was thrilled.  

Summer's a relatively easy time to establish healthy routines.  Now that the school year has started up again, I'm finding it harder to meet my goals.  I can still knock out my step count without a problem.  Teaching keeps you on your feet.  But my active minutes are down.  I'm so tired when I get home that I just want to relax.  On the bright side, I'm sleeping better and that's important, too.  But I still want to keep those other numbers down and I know more vigorous exercise is essential.

I got a new fitness tracker several months ago: an AmazFit Band 7.  It's a third the cost of the FitBit I'd been using and, just as importantly, doesn't have the weird battery drainage issues I was experiencing.  The three main categories it emphasizes are steps, exertion and sleep.  It's a real taskmaster on the sleep - senses when I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, for instance.

Among other things, AmazFit tracks Personal Activity Intelligence or PAI.  PAI uses your heart rate data to assess your physical activity over a given week.  The initial goal is 30 PAI, then 50, ultimately reaching the optimum level of 100.  By the end of the summer, I was comfortably above 50.  Just two weeks later, I'm at 24.  I definitely need to make some changes.  

I think the first thing I'll do is raise my step goal.  Since reaching that has been relatively easy, it makes sense to push myself.  But I also need to be intentional about getting additional, more vigorous exercise in the evenings.

And maybe even blogging about it can help.  One thing The Armchair Squid has been very good for over the years is keeping me going with my hobbies.  Writing is a meaningful motivator for me.  Perhaps it can help here, too.

On the Coffee Table: Moomin

Title: Moomin Adventures 1

Writers and Artists: Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson

The Moomins were invented by Tove Jansson, a Finnish writer and artist who found success in a number of media.  She first introduced the Moomins and their world in a 1945 novel, The Moomins and the Great Flood, initially in Swedish, her own first language.  She started the comic strip in 1947.  The charming hippo-like trolls have since found their way into television, film, theatre, video games and even theme parks, including one in Japan.  Moomin Adventures 1 collects seven of the comic strip serials.  While Tove produced all of the stories for many years, eventually her brother Lars took over the comics.

Moomintroll (often referred to simply as "Moomin") and his family live a simple life in Moominvalley.  Every once in a while on a whim, they'll set off on an adventure.  This book includes trips to the Riviera and a desert island.  Sometimes, the adventures find them such as when gold prospectors or artists come to the valley.  The atmosphere is light but there is plenty of playful satire along the way - occasional nuggets of wisdom, too.  

Tove Jansson's story is one of many real-life bios featured in Be Gay, Do Comics.  Jansson was with her partner Tuulikki Pietilä for the last 45 years of her life.  Unfortunately, they were not able to be open about their relationship for decades.  Eventually, they became important symbolic figures in Finland as one of the first same-sex couples to attend prominent public events together.

Squiddies 2025

The Armchair Squid turns sixteen years old today.  It's time to hand out some hardware.  The Squiddy goes to...

Biggest Surprise: Casablanca

Morocco wasn't even the point of our late-February/early-March trip.  Royal Air Maroc had the best airfares for getting to Andalusia.  Why not extend what was already a long layover in Casablanca?  We could add another country - indeed, another continent - to our life lists.  Is Casablanca even that exciting a city?  According to the guidebooks and the websites, not really.  But if we're going to go at all, let's not spend half the time trying to get somewhere else.  Let's make the most of where the plane lands.

Well, wouldn't you know it.  Casablanca knocked our socks off.  No, it's not a tourist trap and that was perfectly fine after our more conventional adventures in Spain.  It's just a city where people go about their daily lives - people who let us walk in their midst for a while, mostly ignoring us, to be honest.  My friends, it was grand.  That's what real traveling is - not gawking but simply being.  Fly on the wall rather than sightseer.  No long lines.  No tour guides.  Just life.

I'd live there for years given the chance.  It's been a long time since I've felt that way about a place.

Biggest Disappointment: Trump's Second Term

Is disappointment even the right word?  Donald Trump's narcissistic lust for tyranny is not exactly a secret.  And yet, my country voted him back into the Presidency.  I guess that is my disappointment.  I'm still amazed and deeply discouraged that so many people aren't horrified by him.  They want this.  All of the bigotry, misogyny, contempt, incompetence, recklessness, dishonesty, crassness, arrogance, pettiness, the near-daily betrayals - they aren't dealbreakers.  Folks, that says a lot more about us than it does about him.  

And the feeble response of the Democrats in Congress has been appalling.

I fear for the present and the future.  Even if we can turn this around, the mess to clean up will be huge.  Plenty of the damage can never be entirely undone.

And that is what they want.

Best Read: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

We're living in interesting times.  It can be difficult to know what to say to people.  The Right is so... programmed.  They all watch the same news shows, visit the same websites, watch the same TikTok videos, stick to the same talking points as if they are gospel.  Even imagine they are gospel.  Even when they're in clear defiance of gospel.  

I'm veering off point.

If you're looking to make solid progressive arguments, Reni Eddo-Lodge's book is a great reference.  More importantly, it's an essential read for white people to better understand the racially-framed experiences of people of color.  Systemic racism is real whether you believe in it or not.  So is privilege.  The question is what you do with truth once it's presented to you.  

Thanks to my ex-pat time in Japan, I still have several British friends.  A few of them believe racial injustice is an American problem and not a British one.  I really want them to read this book.

You should, too.

Best Comics Find: Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez

via Wikipedia

I've been aggressively exploring the comic book medium for over a decade now and practically the instant my curiosity took me beyond Marvel and DC, I started hearing about Love and Rockets.  First launched in the early '80s, L&R is considered by many to be the most important and influential indy comic in the American industry.  I'd never read it until this summer.  Now I'm hooked.

Why is L&R so good?  The characters are so real you can practically smell them.  You experience their love, their pain, their shame, their thrills, their lusts, their losses because you are sitting next to them on the couch, feeling awkward as Maggie and Hopey start making out right in front of you, forgetting you're there.  It's the same reason Scorcese films are amazing.  These aren't strangers.  They're the young squatters in the house next door with sketchy friends stopping by all the time.  They occasionally ask you to buy beer for them because they're not old enough yet.  They're the rowdy group of young men talking too loudly in the street late at night outside your front door.  Or it's even closer.  You're in the street with them, annoyed by the stuffy old geezer who keeps telling you to shut up and go home.  

This intimacy is achieved so elegantly you don't notice until after you've been absorbed.  Every storytelling experience should be like this, yet it rarely is.  Without question, L&R is a masterpiece.

Athlete of the Year: Ichiro Suzuki

via Wikipedia

The Armchair Squid began life as a sports blog but I rarely return to the subject anymore.  Of the athletes I did mention over the past twelve months, no one had a better year than Ichiro Suzuki.

In late July, Ichiro became the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  Ichiro was simultaneously the greatest contact hitter, the greatest leadoff man, the greatest outfield arm and the most internationally beloved player of his generation.  Just one unbelievable stat of many: for ten consecutive seasons, Ichiro had at least 206 hits.  Ty Cobb can't claim that, nor Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew nor any of the other great contact hitters.  In fact, no one else has even come close.  Pete Rose also had ten seasons with 200+ but never more than three in a row.  Sports fans are forever talking about "records that will never be broken," then Alex Ovechkin surpasses Gretzky's once-unassailable career goals total.  I feel 100% safe saying that Ichiro's ten consecutive years with 206 hits or more is untouchable. 

During his career, there was discussion of whether Ichiro could truly be considered one of the all-time greats, having spent so much of his early career in Japan.  In the end, the Major League numbers alone were plenty: 3,089 hits, .311 lifetime batting average, 509 stolen bases, 10 All-Star Games, 10 Gold Gloves.  The years in Japan only pad the already sterling resume.  Without a doubt, he was one of the greatest athletes in American sports for nearly two decades.

Best Family Adventure: The Alhambra

The Alhambra in Granada, Spain was the main target for our aforementioned February/March trip.  The Alhambra, a UNESCO heritage site considered by many to be the most beautiful man-made structure in the world, has been at or near the top of my travel wish list for as long as I have known it existed, over 30 years.  With such high expectations, a let down is practically inevitable.  Even while we were there, I worried I wasn't doing enough to appreciate what I was seeing.

I needn't have worried.  The Alhambra is an experience that invades your soul.  Now, just a few months later, it feels like a dream.  Were we really there?  I remember our last day in Granada, already wistful over the fact that we had to leave.  Already thinking of how to make the most of the next visit, knowing full well it might never happen because life is like that.  

So, yeah.  I read all of that and it sure looks like I had a great year.

Apart from Trump.

Fuck Trump!

Squid Mixes: Southside Cocktail

A Southside Cocktail combines lemons, sugar, mint and gin.  The recipe I found in Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology calls for four lemon wedges muddled with the other ingredients before shaking.  In muddling full wedges, you get a lot of peel which certainly enhanced the sharp tartness of the resulting beverage.  I enjoyed the drink quite a lot.  It's certainly sour - and pulpy - but the sugar and mint bring enough to take the edge off.

Worth noting, other recipes I've seen use limes instead of lemons.  

The drink's origins are unclear.  Is it the South Side of Chicago or the South Side Sportsmen's Club in Great River, New York?  The most colorful theory supports the former, suggesting it may have been a favorite of gangster Al Capone's.

Squid Cooks: Pan-Cooked Pork Burgers

Pan-cooked because it's too damn hot to turn on the oven.  Pork because I couldn't find the ground beef in the freezer.  Once again, necessity is the mother of invention.

I've covered Mark Bittman's pan-cooked burger recipe before, including here.  I went with longer cooking times than I normally would with either beef or lamb.  I fear trichinosis.  I realize it's a relatively low risk with pork these days but it's not a zero risk

I was pleased with the result - very tasty and, following Bittman's instructions, one gets a nice sear around the outside.  That's harder to get in the oven because of temperature management - worth remembering.  

On the Road: A Long Overdue Statement on the Garbage State of the World

Hello America by Vincent Valdez

Our long weekend travels took us through our usual Western/Central Massachusetts stops: North Adams, Northampton and Worcester.  Our adventures helped me focus some of my thoughts about the state of the world, a subject I've been reluctant to address here - not because I'm not upset.  Indeed, I'm furious.  But I've been struggling to find the right words.  For months.  So, here goes...

"Why were we taught to fear the witches and not the people who burned them alive?"

That quote popped up on my Facebook feed a while back and it has stayed with me.  The Salem Witch Trials weren't really about religion.  That was just the excuse.  They were about power and social control.  That social control lives on in our mythology.  Mythology is social control on a trans-generational scale.  

Enter Professor James B. Haile III, Ph.D...  

In North Adams, we went to a reading by Dr. Haile at Research & Development, one of the retail stores at MASS MoCA (The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).  He presented his new book, The Dark Delight of Being Strange, a genre-bending work combining both fiction and nonfiction elements.  Haile's philosophical charge for himself and for the reader is to challenge and reform our mythology, especially regarding people of color.  

If you control the mythology, you control everything. 

The political rhetoric coming out of Washington right now reinforces a mythology we've all been fed our whole lives.  For the MAGA crowd, the history of the United States - of "America" - is a story of white triumph.  People of color were to be conquered, subjugated and exploited.  The fact that any of them would with to be treated as human - never mind as equals - is intolerable.

The current immigration policies aren't about the law or economics as the policies are disastrous regarding both.  They're about race.  

You don't think so?  Fuck you.  

I'm not joking.  I'm tired of being nice about any of this.  If you're offended by what I'm saying, fuck off.  If you can't draw a line on this unacceptable shit, fuck off.  

If it were about the law, there would be due process.  People would not be snatched off the streets and out of their homes on suspicion alone.  Those arrested would not be hidden away in remote prisons in Florida or abroad in countries with appalling human rights records, even worse than Florida's.  

If it were about economics, there would be acknowledgement of how much even illegal immigrants contribute to our economy, never mind our society.  There would be acknowledgement of the fact that mass incarceration costs more than just leaving people the fuck alone.  But there isn't.  

It's about getting rid of brown people.

What is it MAGA fuckheads say to people they don't like?  "Go back where you came from!" or "Learn English!"  They just want people of color and their cultures to disappear.  Because if they have to see them, hear them, interact with them, share the community with them, then they have to accommodate them.  And I don't mean in the bullshit "Nanny State" sense.  The United States is only a nanny state for billionaires.  I mean they have to incorporate them into their reality, their normal.  They have to acknowledge their right to exist and that is intolerable.  

They have to incorporate them into the mythology.  As equal contributors.

There is a culture war, folks, and the good guys are taking a beating these days.  Why are people fighting so hard over what is visible in schools, libraries, sports, public spaces?  Because if you control the mythology, you control everything.  If LGBTQIA+ is presented as normal, they lose.  If the Ten Commandments are displayed in reverence, they win.  Because the mythology matters.

There's more but I need time to think it all through.  For now, I'll grant the last words to SNACKTIME, a funk/hip-hop/punk/thrash metal band we thoroughly enjoyed on Saturday night.  

They closed their show with the following message:

Fuck ICE!

Fuck Trump!

Free Palestine!

On the Coffee Table: The Sculptor

Title: The Sculptor

Writer and Artist: Scott McCloud

via Amazon

Struggling professional sculptor David Smith makes a deal with Death.  Over the next 200 days, his hands will create - as if by magic - anything his creative mind can conjure.  However, at the end of 200 days, he will die.  To complicate matters further, soon after, he falls in love.

I first became aware of Scott McCloud through his extraordinary non-fiction work.  His books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics offer a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of the sequential arts medium.  They were an essential part of my own orientation to the comic book world.  The books themselves also reveal a great deal about their creator.  McCloud is as fascinated by the artistic process as he is by the product.  

The Sculptor reflects this, too, though rather than focusing on the technical aspects - especially since with his new "powers," David instantly creates whatever he wants by simply touching the material - the story follows the artist's emotional journey.  The narrative itself, particularly the love story, is engrossing.  But the deeper explorations of inspiration, motivation and the relationships between creator, consumer and critic are the more interesting drivers.  

A few years ago, I had a memorable conversation with an art teacher colleague about the role of "the audience" in creating art.  I asserted, naïvely as it turns out, that one should always consider the perspective of the consumer in the creation of a piece.  She furrowed her brow at me and responded, "No.  Some of the most important work you'll ever do as an artist is what you create for yourself - only for yourself."

I can say from decades of experience that musicians, like me, hardly ever see things that way.  Our training is built entirely around what we project to the listener.  Yes, we should internalize the work as much as we can so we embody it.  But still, that is for the sake of the performance.  Until that conversation, I took for granted that everyone in the arts felt the same way.  

While The Sculptor doesn't explore this matter explicitly, much of David's journey revolves around reconciling what is meaningful to him with what is meaningful to the consumer.  He is, after all, trying to make a living so finding buyers is important.  But as the literal deadline approaches, the financial motivations fall away.  It's the legacy that matters.  How will he be remembered?  Eventually, even that becomes less important than the honesty of his work.  

My own visual art talents don't extend very far past stick figures.  I envy anyone who can convert a mental vision into a concrete reality.  McCloud's talents are considerable.  He's a master of black-and-white, bringing rich depth and texture to his drawings.  The Sculptor was published in 2015 and I haven't seen anything new from him since.  His work is so detailed that I'm not surprised he doesn't crank out books more quickly.  Still, I hope we see more from him before too long.

Star Trek: Bar Association

Episode: "Bar Association"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 16

Original Air Date: February 19, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Quark's bar is suffering through the month-long Bajoran Time of Cleansing.  With profits down, the proprietor cuts wages by a third.  Rom and his colleagues have finally had enough and they go on strike, an egregious violation of Ferengi law.  Brunt returns as an agent of the Ferengi Commerce Authority (FCA) with orders to quash the labor action by any means necessary.  In the B plot, Worf's struggles in adjusting to life on the station continue.

Full disclosure, I'm a labor man - deeply involved with my local union.  As such, much of the material in this episode speaks to me on a personal level.  Labor relations are also a major driver in the entertainment industry.  The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) are still among the most powerful unions in the country.  Armin Shimerman (Quark) himself has served on SAG's executive board.  It's surprising stories like these don't pop up so much on screen.  There aren't many TV shows in which the good guys quote The Communist Manifesto.

The two plots intersect when Worf crosses the picket line and the pro-labor O'Brien takes offense.  The two engage in an off-camera bar brawl with Bashir caught in the middle.  That storyline ends with Sisko berating the trio in the bridge, the scene an homage to the John Ford 1948 film, Fort Apache.  I'm not a huge fan of this side-narrative - it feels like they did it for the sake of the homage rather than adding anything meaningful to the story.  Filler.

For the long-term, "Bar Association" offers the first suggestion that there might be romance potential for Rom and dabo girl, Leeta.

Acting Notes

via Transformers: Robots in Disguise Wiki

It's time to give Jeffrey Combs (Brunt) his proper due.  In 2025, Combs is a social media favorite for playing several different recurring Star Trek characters across multiple series - over 20 appearances in all.  As Brunt alone, "Bar Association" is his second of seven appearances.

Jeffrey Combs was born in Oxnard, California, September 9, 1954.  He trained at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and the University of Washington.  On the big screen, horror films have been his wheelhouse, especially the work of director Stuart Gordon.  He has appeared in the Re-Animator trilogy, From Beyond and The Pit and the Pendulum.  Beyond Trek, his TV credits include Babylon 5, The 4400 and Masters of Horror.

Star Trek: Crossfire

Episode: "Crossfire"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 13

Original Air Date: January 29, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Odo, as previously discussed, is in love with Kira.  Unfortunately, the Major is falling for her former comrade in arms, Shakaar, now First Minister on Bajor.  Further complicating the situation for the constable, he is in charge of Shakaar's security during his visit to the station meaning he needs to spend far too much time in the vicinity of the budding love affair.

"Crossfire" is all about Odo.  After the "Homefront/Paradise Lost" story, this one feels lighter on the surface, though anyone who has experienced unrequited love knows it's no laughing matter.  Even beyond the Kira situation, the episode involves meaningful development in Odo's relationships with others, particularly Quark and Worf.  This exchange between the two security officers is especially satisfying...

Suddenly and unexpectedly, I have mixed feelings about the Odo/Kira story.  I understand that it's meaningful self-actualization for Odo but honestly, Star Trek should be above the typical "will they? won't they?" schlock that was ubiquitous on mid-90s television.  Admittedly, with an actor of Rene Auberjonois's ilk in the role, the trope plays better than it would for most.  I have the benefit of knowing where this is going and fortunately, the writers don't leave the question dangling for as long as they could have.  Overall, I love the Odo story.  I wonder what it could have been without this element.

Acting Notes

via Battlestar Wiki

Bruce Wright played the role of Sarish Rez, Shakaar's right-hand man.  He guest-starred on the original Battlestar Galactica series as well as Cheers and The X-Files.  Films include Speed, Apollo 13 and The Negotiator.

Star Trek: Threshold

Episode: "Threshold"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 15

Original Air Date: January 29, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Tom Paris breaks Warp 10, the Trek-canon-imposed absolute speed limit.  Boy are the folks back home going to be impressed.  If Voyager ever makes it.  Surely, this solves all of our heroes' problems and they can get back to the Alpha Quadrant lickety-split.  Except, of course, there's a hitch.  For unclear reasons, the phenomenon causes Paris to de-evolve into a lizard-like creature.  By means even more unclear, he causes Janeway to undergo the same.  The two mate and reproduce with shocking speed.  Of course, the Doctor comes up with a miracle cure and all is made right.  But the idea of using Warp 10 magic to get home is scrapped.

"Threshold" is Voyager's most notorious episode, a popular choice as the series's worst.  I'm more of the opinion it's so bad it's good.  I'd say just in Season 2 so far, "Twisted" is worse.  Don't get me wrong, "Threshold" is a mess.  But the de-evolution contrivance is so absurd that it makes for unmissable comedy.  Lower Decks poked fun, of course, and the result is hilarious.

In their book Star Trek 101, Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block created the Spock's Brain Award to give to the worst episode of each Star Trek series to that point.  I suppose it's a good time to see how their choices compare with mine.

The original series -

Theirs: "Spock's Brain"

Mine: "The Way to Eden"

The Animated Series -

Theirs: "The Lorelei Signal"

Mine: "The Practical Joker"

The Next Generation -

Theirs: "Genesis"

Mine: "Code of Honor"

Deep Space Nine -

Theirs: "Profit and Lace"

Mine: Haven't gotten to the end yet in this watch-through - haven't even gotten to Season 6's "Profit and Lace."  But I'd say the worst to this point (mid-Season 4) is "Storyteller."

Voyager - 

Theirs: "Threshold"

Mine: Also haven't gotten to the end but "Threshold" won't be my choice.  So far, "Twisted" gets my vote for worst.

A few observations...

Erdmann and Block do not like de-evolution.  Both TNG's "Genesis" and Voyager's "Threshold" embrace that idea.  

For both TAS and DS9, even the worst episodes have their selling points.  In TAS's "The Practical Joker," the ship computer plays pranks on the crew, including creating a shirt for the Captain that reads "Kirk is a jerk" on the back.  I want that shirt!  "The Lorelei Signal" is nothing to write home about but it does feature Scotty singing a Welsh ballad from the Captain's chair.  I'll listen to that anytime.  I do not mean to imply that TAS is a great series.  It's not.  But it's fairly even in terms of quality.  I appreciate that.

DS9's "Storyteller" is more hokey than bad.  And it marks the beginning of the Julien/Miles bromance, a meaningful thread overall.  For Deep Space Nine, it definitely is a sign of quality.  Even the worst are still pretty good.  The best are awesome.

Amazingly, for as notoriously terrible as "Threshold" is, the episode won an Emmy for Outstanding Makeup, beating out DS9's otherwise far superior "The Visitor."

Acting Notes

via Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki

Mirron E. Willis played the role of Rettik, the traitor Michael Jonas's Kazon contact.  Willis was born June 12, 1965.  "Threshold" is his last of three Trek appearances.  His films include Universal Soldier, Independence Day and Fracture.  Beyond Trek, he has made recurring appearances on Tarzan: The Epic Adventures and ER plus guest appearances on Cheers, Seinfeld and Monk.  

Star Trek: Paradise Lost

Episode: "Paradise Lost"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 12

Original Air Date: January 8, 1996

via Memory Alpha

"Paradise Lost" is the second installment in a two-episode story begun the previous week with "Homefront."  Whereas Part 1 devoted significant material to the Benjamin/Joseph Sisko relationship, Part 2 goes all in on the Changeling invasion scare.  Benjamin and Odo piece together the truth: Admiral Leyton has engineered the crisis himself with the intention of carrying out a military coup.  Fortunately, our friends save the day before he does too much permanent damage.

Overall, the story plays like a classic, counter-espionage thriller.  There are crosses and double-crosses.  Sisko is arrested, then rescued.  Doubts rise and are then assuaged.  Rock solid storytelling.

Of course, the Changelings are already on Earth.  One of them reveals himself to Sisko, part of how our captain was able to piece the puzzle together.  But the plan is more long-term and insidious than the crisis Leyton has invented.  

Allusions

The names Sisko reads off as former crew members from the USS Okinawa - Daneeka, McWatt, Snowden, Orr and Moodus - are all characters from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

Captain Benteen is named for Frederick Benteen, a US Cavalry Commander who survived the Battle of Little Bighorn.  Meaningfully, the real Benteen and his battalion survived because he failed to follow orders.

Worf's line "Bartlett and Ramsey are dead, sir" is likely a reference to two characters in The Great Escape.

Acting Notes

via Transformers Movie Wiki

Robert Foxworth (Leyton) was born in Houston, November 1, 1941.  He graduated with a BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon.  As with many screen actors, he got his start on stage, primarily at the Arena Stage in Washington.  He was offered the role of JR Ewing on Dallas, the one that eventually fell to Larry Hagman.  Amazingly, Foxworth turned it down.  Probably a mistake.

Mind you, he's done alright anyway.  On television, he had principal roles on both Falcon Crest and The Storefront Lawyers.  He has a long list of guest appearances, including West Wing, Law & Order and Columbo.  His tangential Star Trek association goes way back as he was the star of Gene Roddenberry's 1974 film The Questor Tapes.

Foxworth's second wife, Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha of Bewitched), was more famous than he is.  In total, he's been married three times.  He has two children.

Squid Flicks: 12th Fail

Title: 12th Fail

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Original Release: October 27, 2023

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Original book cover via Amazon

Manoj Kumar Sharma (Vikrant Massey) wants to be a police officer.  In order to get the job he wants - Indian Police Service (IPS) officer - he has to pass the civil service exam.  In fact, that's just the first hurdle.  The deck is stacked against him.  He grew up in poverty, then failed his Class 12 exams when his entire batch (class) was caught cheating with their teachers' assistance.  Based on a true story - and Anurag Pathak's book of the same title - the film follows all of his adventures and misadventures in pursuing his dream.  

12th Fail was a surprise commercial and critical success, earning more than triple its budget at the box office and winning five categories at the Filmfare Awards, the Hindi-language Oscars, including Best Film.  It's easy to root for Manoj.  Beyond the obvious underdog appeal, he strives to follow the example of his own father and also DSP Singh, two men determined to call out the prevalent corruption in Indian society.  Plus, he falls in love with Shraddha, a fellow civil service candidate.  So we get a romance to root for, too.  Massey's disarming smile doesn't hurt either.

The story is undeniably predictable - an inspiring civil service exam movie - but also undeniably charming.  From my under-informed outsider perspective, the social commentary is poignant if a bit heavy-handed.  Indian critics praised the film as a glimpse of reality for the hardships civil service candidates must endure.  I found it to be solid all-around.  Acting, writing and visuals were all strong.  Good pacing, too - a 2 1/2-hour film didn't seem it.

Star Trek: Little Green Men

Episode: "Little Green Men"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 8

Original Air Date: November 15, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Nog is off to Starfleet Academy and through the "generosity" of a grateful cousin, Quark has a ship to get him there.  En route, the ship malfunctions and Quark, Rom and Nog crash in Roswell, New Mexico.  Even more complicating: it's the year 1947.

"Little Green Men" is Trek's homage to the sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s and '60s.  Predictably, the human perspective is deep curiosity combined with Cold War paranoia.  You've got the military officers who are prepared to kill for the sake of national security and the merciful scientists eager to learn more.  

Of course, the real fun - and the only reason such a story is worth doing for 1990s Trek - is experiencing these well-known tropes from the perspective of the aliens, and Ferengi we know well at that.  Quark sees the naïve earthlings as easy marks for capitalist exploitation.  Unfortunately, fear for their lives becomes paramount and the need to escape takes precedent.  On the bright side, an old friend turns up to help.

"Little Green Men" gets all sorts of confetti from the critics, frequently making best-ever lists not just for DS9 but for all of Star Trek.  My time travel pet peeves prevent me from jumping on that bandwagon.  But there's no denying it's a fun romp.  It's a great development story for Rom, in particular.

Acting Notes

via The Mentalist Wiki

The original casting description for Nurse Garland, one of our heroes' allies among the humans, included a call for a "Megan Gallagher type."  Gallagher's agent saw it and told the producers she might be available.  The episode was Gallagher's second of three Trek appearances.

Megan Gallagher was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1960.  She graduated from Julliard before hitting Broadway.  She debuted the role of LCDR JoAnne Galloway in Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men.  She won both a Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance.  On television, she has had principal roles on The Slap Maxwell Story, The Larry Sanders Show and Millenium as well as recurring roles on Hill Street Blues and China Beach.  Films include Van Wilder, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Get a Job.