Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Wrath of the Vulcan

Started out another cloudy, humid, warm morning with breakfast as I finished Spooks Run Wild. I swept the porch after breakfast. It wasn't as bad as it was over the weekend, but it was supposed to rain later in the day. I actually wanted the porch to be able to dry. (I suspect the rain collecting under debris under the porch may have contributed somewhat to the sagging.)

Ran some seasonal Max & Ruby as I got ready for work. In "Max's Halloween," Ruby is going trick-or-treating as Cinderella. She's determined that Max should be her prince. Max has something scarier in mind - a vampire! "Ruby's Leaf Collection" is just about finished. Now she just has to keep Max from burying it in his leaf pile! Max wants Ruby to read "The Blue Tarantula" to him before bedtime...but this scary story may end up keeping both bunnies awake!

It started to sprinkle as I rode to work, but it mostly just remained cloudy and humid. Work was quiet for most of the day, a bit surprising given how busy it's been. I guess the weather scared everyone off. It's the middle of the month and the middle of the week as well. It did start to pick up around rush hour. My relief was a little late, but nothing too horrible. I got out as quickly as I could.

Several of my customers mentioned that it had poured earlier. The wet streets bore this out when I finished work. Thankfully, it was just damp when I headed home. It remained so as I made cookies for my best friend Lauren's birthday on Monday and finally got to Star Trek Into Darkness.

This time, Wrath of Khan gets the reboot treatment. After a mission goes wrong, Kirk (Christopher Pine) is removed from the captain's seat of the Enterprise, thanks to Spock's (Zachary Quinto) truthful but not flattering account of events. Kirk desperately wants back on that ship. He gets his chance when the Starfleet Academy is blown to bits by a terrorist (Benedict Cumbersnach) with his own agenda. Kirk and his crew are sent to capture this terrorist without upsetting the touchy Klingons, with whom Starfleet has almost been at war with for years. When they do get the terrorist, he reveals whom he is, and Kirk begins to question just who is telling the truth, and how they'll get home when the warp drive on the Enterprise is damaged. When Kirk takes it on himself to fix the warp drive, Spock goes after the terrorist himself...and proves you don't need logic to figure out the ways of friendship and loyalty.

I did like this one a little better than the first. The characterizations are appropriately deeper, and the plot is more interesting and easier to follow. It's still pretty complicated for non-Trekkies and those who aren't sci-fi fans. If you love science fiction and are willing to try something different in your Treks, this is overlong but otherwise worth a watch.

It started pouring about half-way through the movie, as I was making leftover bean and vegetable soup for dinner. It's rained cats and dogs off and on for the rest of the night, including at press time. Thankfully, it's supposed to subside by early morning, well before I start off on all I want to get done tomorrow.

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