My Friends, as I post this it is half past midnight on July 5th, 2021. Although July 4th is now yesterday, I wanted to be sure you received my latest collage that I just got the idea for on yesterday — “We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident…”. My Star Trek salute to American Independence Day.
My fellow Americans, I hope you had a happy and safe July 4th, and that we always treasure and work to the beautiful promise and goal of our Declaration of Independence:
The beauty of these words became a reality in the Star Trek world. I can only hope we will strive to make it a reality in our time now. We still have a long way to go, but I have faith that we will achieve equality for all; not just Americans, but all around the world. All Humans – Young, Old, Rich Poor, Black, Brown, Yellow, Red, White, Political Party, Straight, Gay, Disabled, Ailing, Sane, Mentally Ill, Free and Incarcerated. It begins with Peace and Kindness.
Well, I’ve been working on this a while now–and I appreciate your patience! It’s the collage I was making to commemorate Leonard’s 90th Birthday — Maybe I should just call it a BirthYear Anniversary! Ah well, he would have been 90 all year!
When I started it in mid February, I didn’t think it would take too long — but no!
I had finished my Shatner 90th collage, and started making this one on my same ancient format (don’t laugh-much) Printmaster 16 from 2010! Well, suffice to say, that program, though easy to use, was getting overwhelmed by the 100+ photos I was using here and it kept crashing! It wouldn’t let me transfer the image to another file so i could finish it properly, so I decided I’d have to start ALL OVER AGAIN! (Time to ditch that program)
But it was worth it — Photoshop to the rescue. Not only am I learning better as I go but I’m also editing my overzealous use of too many photos! And yes, there are SO MANY wonderful pics of my subject matter, it’s a little hard to choose what to edit, but it’s worth it. Also, in the original, the various pics didn’t always work together, and I like to tell a little story in my collages. It’s gelling up nicely. 🙂 Here’s a little portion celebrating Leonard’s favorite plaid jacket!
Sooo, if you can all hang on a little longer, I hope to have this up soon!
Before the day ends, I wanted to wish all my American followers here a very happy Thanksgiving and I hope you had a lovely day! Stay Well and stay safe, and there will be many more lovely Thanksgivings to come!
Today, February 27th, has always been a special day for me because it was my mother Anna’s Birthday. This year is extra special because today is the 100th Anniversary of my darling Mom’s birth!
The circumstance of her birth was not too uncommon for families at the time. On this day in 1920, my Nana, Mary, went into labor in her home, and my Mom was delivered on her family’s kitchen table! From what I understand, it was a tricky delivery, but thankfully my Mom made it through, and had a quite incredible life for a a blessed 93 years. She passed on in 2013. Of course one never gets through the loss of their beloved Mom and Dad, but as time goes on, you do have the comfort of seeing them in yourself; like when I warm a child’s hands or greet someone new and ask “Where’re you from?” (That is SO Mom!). I have some audio and video of Mom that is also a blessing. So today I send up my loving wishes for a Happy Heavenly 100th Birthday to Mom, I know that Dad and all of our passed loved ones are dancing in the clouds! I love you Mommy.
This brings me to the other reason why this date has some significance. As many of you know, it was a sad 5 years ago today that Leonard Nimoy passed away. In the wake of it being the same day as my Mom’s Birth, I admit, it is not the first thing that popped into my head this morning, but I know it is important to my readers and his many fans around the world. It’s a sad coincidence for me.
Although I’d much prefer to honor and celebrate our late Star Trek family members on their birthdays, I would have felt guilty had I not at least post a picture of Leonard to mark the sad occasion. So going through my archives, I found this one, which always makes me smile.
Leonard meant many different things to so many people, and my Mom liked him too, but the word that one hears the most is “beloved”. And I think that is all that one really needs to be remembered; that they were loved and cherished. We can be loved and cherished through our actions and kindness for all those around us. I do wish you all such love in your life, and may memories of your loved ones bring you comfort and happiness all of your days.
Leonard Nimoy as Paris in Mission Impossible, and my Mom, Anna McKenzie at age 93 in 2013. Leonard passed away on what would have been Mom’s 95th birthday in 2015. Mom would have been 100 today, February 27th 2020! Mom got to see Leonard in Equus on Broadway and thought he was wonderful. Leonard was a hero of my youth, Mom, my darling angel. They were both magic. Lucky and Blessed. ❤ ❤
Star Trek could be awfully romantic at times. And although most of the love stories featured Kirk, there was an occasional nod to lesser character’s love life. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I present to you 14 relationships that warmed or chilled our hearts. Be sure to relate your faves in the comment section. Happy Valentines Day ❤
Eve Huron and Ben Childress: Not the best love match. Why Eve stays with grumpy Childress is beyond me. She’s tough and has independence in her blood. She deserves better than a man who admired her only on face value and bitched about her cooking. So let me get this straight–she knew and said outright that Ben was looking for a woman who was “selfish, vain, useless” yet since she ‘believed in herself’ she could look as beautiful on the outside without the Venus Drug? True love knows no ugliness. You’ll never convince me that in the whole universe there isn’t a better man for her than Childress! I’d like to think she ditched him after a year or so and started her own agricultural empire.Khan and Marla McGivers: Alas, Marla is so enamored of this ‘superman’ from the past, she cannot see that he’s a total megalomaniac. Their first meeting in sickbay should have been a huge red flag as he totally disregards her professionalism, grabs her by the arm and plays with her hair. Sure, he might be a passionate lover, but playing passive-aggressive mind games with her later and forcing her to kneel before him and demanding her loyalty would make for a hellish, toxic marriage. If she accepted her court martial instead of exile with him, she very likely would have lived longer. And happier.Spock, T’Pring, and Stonn: Marriage by decree and selective politics. Despite their great intelligence, Vulcans still would insist on antiquated arranged marriages for their progeny; giving no choice in their children’s lives as to who they might marry. It might be logical to help carry on the family line, but it is such an archaic and patrilineality system I doubt there would be any (secret) joy in it. I applaud T’Pring for listening to her heart, selfish as it was. I’m pretty sure Spock knew he didn’t want to marry T’Pring from the start, but came out of duty and the threat of death. As for T’Pring; Stonn wanted her, she wanted him. Logical. Flawlessly Logical. Kirok and Miramanee: Free of any Starfleet responsibilities, let alone his memories and actual name, Jim was free to have a truly loving and devoted marriage with Miramanee. Although she married him out of duty, you could see they were blissfully happy (despite Salish’s jealously). In the original script, Miramanee survived the stoning and gave birth. I wish the the original script had held; imagine Kirk being a Daddy/Captain and running the Enterprise as well.Zephram Cochran and The Companion: Zephram Cochran is initially appalled that the companion is a female and that he let her “…crawl around inside me, into my mind, my feelings? … It fed on me. It’s disgusting!” Yet once The Companion inhabits and revises the dying body of Nancy Hedford, suddenly he “knows that I love her”. As Spock states “The matter of gender could change the entire situation.” This brings to mind the idea of unconditional love. No doubt it is very romantic and satisfying that The Companion united with a lovely, yet lonely young woman who had ‘never had love’ and as both entities finds lasting love with Cochrane. I bet if Metamorphosis was written today, Hedford could have been a non-human or even a human male and I’d like to think the result would be the same. For as the Companion/Nancy said: To touch the hand of man; nothing is as important.“ ❤ Nona and Tyree: What Nona wants, Nona gets. This Kanutu Woman had power and passion. Did Nona love Tyree? Certainly she was aroused by him, as she did put him under a spell to make him want her, and uses certain herbs from “The night of madness” to ‘keep him’. However she wasn’t loyal, toying with Kirk right under Tyree’s nose. Did Tyree really love Nona? His anguished cry and passion for vengeance at her murder answer that question. Spock and Leila Kalomi: Darn fun while it lasted wasn’t it? A blast of pollen was worth it just to see Spock cavorting in the woods and swinging from a branch! Although all this lusty playfulness was brought out by the spores, you cannot deny that under all the stoicism, Spock’s human half is not only as playful and joyous as any child, but to his astonishment, devotedly in love. You can see that he truly loved her and was happy. I wonder what happened during the transfer of Sandoval’s people to Starbase 27? Did Leila and Spock have more conversations? Did they settle on a (perfectly logical) friends-with-benefits package? Did Nurse Chapel climb the walls? Which brings us to…Christine Chapel and Dr. Roger Corby: Christine tends to fall for men who love their work more than her. Roger is a brilliant scientist, but one has to wonder if he really loved Christine so much, WHY didn’t he make an android that looked like HER instead of Andrea??? You could understand Chapel’s jealousy of the scantily-clad, submissive Andrea. Would the real Roger have expected Christine to be the same? Turns our Roger was an android replica too, so you dodged the bullet on that one, Christine! Christine Chapel and Spock: Pity the heart of unrequited love. Roger Who? Well, once she got over her late fiancé she couldn’t help but notice that tall glass of Plomeek Tea that was Spock. McCoy chided her “You never give up hoping do you?” (Shame!) but I have no doubt her love for him was real. When forced to kiss him by the Platonians, she protested, but you know darn well she was delighted. She slobbers all over his hands in The Naked Time declaring her love, to which Spock sincerely replies “I’m sorry, I am sorry!” for even if he consented to loving Christine his heart may be elsewhere. Carolyn Palamas and Apollo: Honestly, if you had the choice between and Engineer married to his work or a Gorgeous Greek God, well Carolyn initially is very cool toward Apollo, but he charms her into his arms. She is dazzled by his glory and falls for him, and they are one. hot. couple. But does he really love her? I’m on the fence, on one hand he truly seems devastated when his power is taken away, yet he is still another power-hungry dictator who actually rapes Carolyn (in the original script, Carolyn becomes pregnant). Carolyn, stick with Scotty. Spock and Zarabeth: Another case of Spock forgetting who he was, and Zarabeth was all the luckier for it! True, Zarabeth set her cap for the handsome Vulcan within moments of seeing him, and she was a tad manipulative (stressing ‘alone’). Again, Spock is astonished that he feels attraction to this woman, and together they indulge in bliss. Saddest part is he couldn’t take Zarabeth with him, but he couldn’t deny he had regressive passion for her. I wonder how it could have evolved if Spock and McCoy stayed stranded? Would Spock have killed McCoy? How many children would have been born between the three of them?Amanda and Sarek: Opposites attract! Well, you know darn well that Sarek’s beloved human wife Amanda was not chosen for him by his parents! Despite knowing that he’d most likely outlive her, Sarek followed his heart and married the loving, no-nonsense Amanda. She knew it wouldn’t be easy married into the Vulcan culture, but her heart ruled too for this most elegant and remarkable Vulcan. The were in for the long haul. And Sarek loved Amanda so, his next wife was also a human. (I deny that Star Trek V and Sybok ever existed—it was just a fever dream of Kirk’s!)Jim Kirk and Edith Keeler: I have no doubt that Edith and Miramanee were Jim Kirk’s dearest loves. Plenty of flirtations of course, but these two each took his heart. But his romance with Edith would be disastrous even if she lived. Since she died, time was restored to it’s proper place, but had she lived, Kirk, McCoy and likely Spock, would cease to exist in the first place. Could Kirk take her with him to the future? That would likely open a whole new can of Space/Time/Continuum worms. So Kirk was fated to only have Edith in his memories and dreams. But he’d never forget her.
Kirk and Spock: Okay, I know. Diehards would say that Kirk and Spock were the best of friends, like brothers. A true Bromance. (And I agree) But considering how the original fanzines of the 1970s pretty much invented “Slash” and “Spirk” this ‘relationship’ has been a fan-fic trope ever since. Check out any of the Star Trek fan art on DeviantArt.com and you’ll find half of it devoted to these ‘space husbands’. And you must admit there are times in TOS one can see Kirk gazingatSpock in pureawe, if not affection! A while back, Shatner was asked by a fan who was Kirk’s greatest romantic conquest? “SPOCK!” Shatner joked. Now, the theory goes that Kirk is Bisexual while Spock is Gay (i.e. Spock: “Jim, when I feel affection for you, I’m ashamed!”) I say that I have no doubt that Kirk and Spock are loving brothers. But I say that while since Jim with his rampant hormones could possibly be Bi, Spock is merely Logical. Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! ❤
Hi Everyone, Sorry I’ve been away a while, but I’ll be posting more soon! In the meantime, here’s a fantastic preview for the new CBS All Access series Star Trek Picard! Coming in January 2020!!! This got me a little emotional, in a good way! Enjoy!
Another great candid I bought of Leonard on eBay; this time backstage at Oliver (1972), signing autographs for fans. I would have loved to see him as Fagin in that show! Sometimes when I watch the 1968 Oscar winning movie of the musical, I can imagine how Nimoy might have sung and acted it, But Ron Moody’s performance in the movie is unforgettable!
On another note, sorry I haven’t posted too much lately. We just had a whopper of a snowstorm here! (a bit over a foot). Hope you’re all comfy and well where you are! I’ll post again later this week! Thanks!
“There’s ya problem right there!” Spock gets horizontal with the Enterprise’s guts. A rare publicity still, although odd that those markers are on the rug in front of him! I think they were markers for where the actors to stand?
