Almost the Last Post of The Year

Wow, haven't updated anything here in a while.

Obviously, there has been plenty of preoccupation with the Hurricane Sandy. What can I possibly add to that that has not already been covered by the media? Irene seemed like such an unexpected blow last year, and Sandy has completely, well, blown that out of the water with its unbelievable size (truly, a superstorm) and all the incredible damage it wrought in New York and New Jersey. As one of our neighbors noted, it was good karma for the flooding we got last year that we did not get as much damage this time, not even close as much as the coastal areas did. Mostly wind-related losses - tons of trees and downed electrical wires. The subsequent situation with the state transportation, lack of electricity and shortage of gas were very unpleasant and unsettling but the situation has improved considerably over the past two months. Of course, it will likely take years for the coast to recover.

What else? Well, the end of the world hoopla is certainly ridiculous. For those who were nervous about the end of the Mayan calendar (goodness, I literaly have to force myself not to facepalm at this), it is, as of this writing, already 12.21.12 over the Pacific, in Australia and the entire Eurasia. The world is still here, release your breath, and a happy start of the 14 b'ak'tun to you!

Went to another TNG Theatrical Event dedicated to the 2nd Season Blu-Ray release in November. Another great experience! I hope they keep arranging this for the rest of the seasons, and then do the same for other series (I am sure all of them will get remastered at some point).

 

Any holiday plans? As of tomorrow, I am on a small vacation, took off a week from work between the holidays. Mostly planning family time, a few trips to New York City (the previously mentioned Harry Potter Exhibition, possibly an AMNH visit), and the traditional secret Santa gift exchange with the family members. As for the next year, I am making another attempt to take a class at NYU (the Fall semester fell through, they could not get enough students for the section that worked for me), and going to see Eddie Izzard in one show from a Work In Progress series he is performing at the Culture Project. This is a preparatory mini-tour (New York and San Francisco) in anticipation of an actual USA tour of his new show "Force Majeure". Got the tickets, cannot wait! Oh, and, of course, there is the next Rutgers Geology Museum Open House to attend!

Mess

Here is the link to a frequently updated CNN blog about the hurricane. What a mess!!!

Deja Vu

So for the anniversary of the unexpectedly devastating Halloween snowstorm last year we get a deadly, sprawling, high-wind monster.

Hurricane Sandy seems to have come out of nowhere. If I remember correctly, Irene was tracked and watched for over a week last year. This time, just boom!

Everyone is on the edge - the entire Eastern Seaboard is paralysed. All mass tansit and other means of getting around (trains, buses, airports, tunnels and bridges) are suspended or closed, schools and offices closed. New York and Washington are reported to be practically ghost towns. The hurricane is expected to make landfall somewhere in the Southern Jersey. The way it is going right now, it has a potential to bring unprecedented damage, far more devastating than Irene, apparently. The forecast for our area specifically notes sustained winds of 30-50mph with gusts up 60mph. It would appear to pass just south of us.

However you look at it, the situation is pretty grim. Coastal locations are already suffering from storm surges and flooding. The wind speed is picking up drastically. Someone posted a picture of Battery Park benches already standing a few inches of water. Damn, just damn.

Looking outside my window - nasty, nasty weather that is going to get even worse by nightfall.

 

Out of things planned for the fall that I mentioned earlier - Comic Con and Chiller Theatre were rather great. I'm glad I only planned for Fridays in each case. It was still pretty exhausting. Comic Con was predictably huge and crowdy but I got my Christopher Lloyd autograph (he looks wonderfull, incidentally, and just like Dr. Emmet Brown at this point) and had a chance to explore an enourmous Artists Alley, so I'm very happy with the experience. Chiller is not a particular favorite of mine. Simply because there are somewhat less things there that interest me. But it is a wonderful opportunity to get some great autographs pretty inexpensively. So I got one from Joan Collins, who for her age looks astounding (whatever work she had done nonetheless). The line was huge - almost two hours. I can only imagine the line when she was signing on Saturday. One thing I do regret - Robert Duncan McNeill was there as well. But since I had his autograph and photo op earlier in Las Vegas, I did not bother to go looking for him. And I really should have. I saw a few pictures people posted with him on Facebook, he looks great and so much more, well, adorable than he did in Vegas. What are you going to do. I'll try and catch him next time.

 

So, what is there to look forward to at this point (besides a hopefully calm finale to the brewing catastrophy)? The Antique Show kind of fell through - we prepared for the hurricane instead. So, perhaps, I'll catch one of the New York winter ones this year. The Harry Potter exhibition is reopening at Times Square, as I have already reported. The Enterprise will have to be visited in the new year, it's getting too cold. Just went to a wonderful birthday party and another one is looming up ahead. And then the holiday season shall commence (most of the stores are certainly not wasting their time - Halloween hasn't passed yet and they've got Christmas decorations out already).

 

Fall is Here

It seemed like the summer just kept on going and going, and then, all of a sudden, typical autumnal weather descended, many leaves turned all shades yellow and red, and it got pretty wet and cold. Strange. We seem to have missed the crispness the accompanies the beginning of both spring and fall this year.

In any case, the fall is here, another month or so and it will start feeling like holidays. I must admit I have already started on my Christmas shopping. Adding on to the holiday spirit will be the fact that Discovery Times Square is going to re-open the Harry Potter Exhibition in November (revised and updated to include all eight movies). Really looking forward to that.

The fossil trip I mentioned in the prior entry fell through - I came to the conclusion that I was not up to that kind of adventure. I love collecting fossils, and fully realize that most of the time good collecting spots are not near civilization. But I also prefer to know the details of where and how. The directions for the trip were so incomplete in my view that I decided not to risk it driving alone for over four hours in rainy weather to a poorly defined spot in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Pity. Next time, perhaps.

Things To See #5

My, my, August is nearly gone!

It seems like the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention just blinked in and out of existence - and there was so much preparation and growing anticipation for it for a whole year! This was the best convention I have been to so far, hands down! Awesome line-up, fascinating panels! I had a chance to see several actors I have been dying to meet for ages, got some wonderful photo ops and autographs! As my sister says: "Rinse and repeat next year!". We are, unfortunately, past the "golden age", the mid/late 90's, when multiple shows were on the air and everything crackled with Star Trek but we have reached an era of significant anniversaries - 45th of TOS last year, 25th of TNG this year, 20th of DS9 next year and 20th of VOY in 2014. I am glad to see that the fandom is very much alive and kicking, though the franchise has been pronouced dead far more than once. Star Trek Lives!

 

Tomorrow is my trip to the Big Brook location with the AMNH! I have yet to visit the the Enterprise Pavilion on the Intrepid and the new Spiders Alive! at the AMNH, so these two are still on the "to see" list. Among the other events of interest:

 

September 7th - 13th - the first Indiana Jones movie in High Definition will have a limited release nationally. They say the quality is so good, Spielberg himself's jaw dropped, and that's saying something. (Update: It was "nice, nice, not thrilling but nice" - like visiting an old friend, good old-style adventure. Less of an incredible "cleaned-up" visual than I expected but it was still great fun to watch this movie on the big screen. Also the preview of The Hobbit was absolutely tantalizing!)
September 20th - limited theatrical release of an old Queen documentary from the 80's - Live in Budapest. The most convenient location is in one of the Chelsea's theaters. Another fun night in NYC. (An outstanding concert!!! The DVD is going straight on my Christmas wishlist.)
September 29th - if I manage to register, a trip to the Red Hill, PA Early Tetrapod location with the New York Paleontological Society. Devonian terrestrial fossils!!!

October 12th - 14th - New York Comic Con. I figured I will attend only on Friday. Saturday is predictably going to be very intense, and I think I have had enough of intense convention Saturdays for this year. The most I am looking for is to get Christopher Lloyd's autograph!

October 16th - JK Rowling will be in New York City for a signing event relating to her new book. And incidentally, the new HP Wizard Experience Movie Boxset is coming out in the beginning of September - it looks fabulous but I'm not exactly tempted to rush out and buy it. The mix and match of different formats, not much of any extra material (i.e. extended editions are done only for the first two movies). The box itself is amazing, true, with all those replicas. But it's all flash only. And of course, the revised and expanded HP Film Wizardry will be out some time soon as well.
October 26th - 28th - the fall Chiller Theatre. Again, I am opting for a limited Friday only experience, with a projected autograph from Joan Collins.
October 27th - 28th - the Morristown Armory Antiques Show. Love these! I have acquired a few antique maps and art prints over the year from these shows. Not the point though, it is a lot of fun even just to look at what is being offered by the vendors.

The TNG Theatrical Event

Forgot to mention - I have attended the The Next Generation Theatrical Event a couple of weeks ago, which was tremendous! The event was organized to tie-in with the release of the First Season in Blu-Ray. The showings were organized throughout the country with pretty decent turn-out; the NYC one even got an unexpected guest!
What a gorgeous quality (how about that Chrystalline Entity, eh)! The atmosphere was wonderful - naturally, everyone in the audience has seen the two presented episodes before (many times, too) but somehow watching it with a group of fans made it even more special! I really hope they will hold similar events for the rest of the seasons!

Summer Continues

So the unpleasant heat continues. Bleh!

But the August events are upon us.

The Olympic Games are kicking! So many great performances! Of course, you can't compare London to Beijing but, I believe, these are one of the best Olympics in history. Unfortunately, NBC fails, again, to produce truly quality broadcast (5 minutes of actual sports, 15 minutes of "she was born in a small town")! Egh! What are you going to do...

The greatest party in the universe is next week!!! Can't really think about anything else at the moment.

And as far as the space-related things are concenrned, the Mars rover Curiosity is landing today!

Summer Heat

Yet another bout of summer suffering under a significant heat plume.

Just before dinner, I decided to try my hand at creating a nice cool summer drink. And I think I have succeeded. I can't seem to find the exact component combinations I used anywhere online; close - yes but not the same, so, perhaps, I have hit on something new. I shall call it the Summer Cool - Captain Morgan's Rum, Creme de Banana, Triple Sec, Cointreau, Lemon Juice, Ginger Ale. Poured over ice. M-m-m-m-m!

Things To See #4

Perhaps, I should make these little lists a regular feature. It certainly helps myself to keep track of things.

The two exhibitions I recently saw in New York were, overall, time well-spent. The Terracotta Warriors is wonderful! I wish it were somewhat bigger in terms of artifacts, like Pompeii and The Dead Scrolls were, but this is the first time that these statues are exhibited outside of China, and it was thrilling to see them. Bioluminescent Creatures, I must admit, were a bit disappointing. I honestly cannot put them on par with some of the previous special exhibitions put up by the AMNH, like Gold or Mythical Creatures, or The Largest Dinosaurs. There were a few very nice exhibits, models and presentations but, just my opinion, it lacked a certain oomph-factor. Nonetheless, I saw it and, overall, enjoyed it.

Coming up:

July 11th - the second Manhattanhenge of the year (cloudy, typical).

July 19th - The Enterprise Pavilion opens on the Intrepid. Scotty, beam me up!
July 27th - the London Olympics begin!!!

July 28th - New Alive! exhibition at the AMNH - Spiders Alive!. The Lizards and Snakes, as well as The Butterfly Conservatory, were extremely fascinating! I am looking forward to this.
July 28th & 29th - The Birchwood Manor Antiques Show brought by JMK Shows (had to miss it; my choice, I love JMK shows but between the Morristown Armory and The Birchwood Manor, I prefer Armory shows. Instead I got to watch the Dreier Collection auction live on the Internet presented by Profiles in History. Had my eye on a few items which shot beyond what I could afford faster than I could say Quidditch.)
August 7th-14th - Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, the greatest party in the universe!!!!!
August 14th - the coverage of the WSOP Main Event begins.
August 23rd - trip to Big Brook in Monmouth Couty with the AMNH (fossils!).

Plus a few movies are coming up. Specifically, I really want to see the Total Recall remake. Out of the most recent cinematic experiences, The Avengers was by far the most entertaining (Joss Whedon is certifiably a genius... but, oh boy, don't they just love to destroy New York, eh?!!). The Prometheus with its reputed connections to the Aliens franchise was, frankly, disappointing - the usage of HR Giger's art and concepts rates A+ but the screenplay and ending were a complete clunk.

P.S. Incidentally, apparently yesterday was a second longer than usual; a leap second has been inserted in order to compensate for the time drift which occurs due to the variability of Earth's rotation speed. Hmm, I blinked and I missed it! :D

Start of Summer

Well, the summer has officially begun. And so far, it has not been nice - we nearly hit 100F today plus the usual unpleasant humidity. Ugh! Certainly hoping for better temperatures tomorrow - a fun day in New York awaits: Terracotta Warriors and Bioluminescent Creatures!

The Philadelphia Comic Con was a tremendous success, though a rather exhausting one (some things could have been certainly planned better). And now that the historical first appearance of the Five Captains has occured, I can honestly feel much better about not being able to go to London. Aside for my love for the city itself, I was actually bugging me that such a first was completely unreachable. But no more! Kudos to the Wizard World! I keep hoping to create a separate page for all my Star Trek-related stuff, and as per usual, I can never find time to do so.

And speaking of my usual summer activities, this year I will be going to the Big Brook location again with the AMNH (must be my 8th or 9th visit); last year the trip coincided with the Las Vegas Convention, and the fossil teeth were soundly beaten by demand for the Star Trek activities, but I did miss it.

Additional Things to See - Revised

Revised events:

April 27-29 - Chiller Theater (that was a neat signing event, not sure if it can be called a convention in true sense of the word; managed to get a few autographs, enjoyed the interestingly dressed crowds - figure a Star Trek convention only with skulls and blood :D)
May 10-13 - 2012 New York City Metro Show, (had to miss it, other things were planned at home)

May 31st - June 3 - Philadelphia Comic Con ((screaming in delight) the Five Captains will be there, I am so going!!!)

October 11-14 - New York Comic Con (will see about this one)

October 19-21 - Star Trek London (the first con to announce all Five Captains; terribly tempting but unfortunately too expensive - 95% of the convention budget has already been spent)

 

Meanwhile, there is a new awesome exhibition at Discovery Times Square - Terracotta Warriors! A must!

Spring

Can't believe that we are already in the second half of May! Just had an absolutely glorious afternoon last weekend, which is now unfortunately followed by a week of warm rains.
What a mild spring this has been! Sunny and rainy in good proportion, and not too humid. Granted April had not a particularly pleasant weather, too many rapid temperature jumps and quite a bit of rain. March, on the other hand, was unusually bright, fresh and very uplifting. As a matter of fact, this was one of the warmest Marches on record. Still, I don't think we actually had any typical crystal-crisp spring days when the air is so piercingly clear you get light-headed.
I just re-read the above - as the song goes, "nature has no bad weater" but what an imperfect being a human is. Never quite satisfied. What we had had so far in this first third of the year certainly makes the memories of the last year's weather excesses seem like a horrible nightmare. Generally speaking, last year was something else weather-wise, and it was true the world over. I read an article online some time ago - there were twelve (!) over-billion-dollar natural disasters in the United States alone in 2011, three of which hit the East Coast. Some experience, eh?

One can argue forever if the climate is heading into some extraordinary shift with all these freak storms and droughts and earthquakes. The Earth is everchanging whether humanity likes / accepts / believes it or not, and its geological history may be interpreted as a litany of woes. There is only hope that the worst can be somehow avoided with better science, timely warnings and appropriate actions.

So the three big ones: the snowstorm series that hit North Eastern states in the beginning of 2011 (I have written about them when I started this blog; truly bad, bad weather, that Nor'Easter had practically buried the coast); then, of course, the hurricane Irene happened in August, promptly followed by a short but nasty Halloween snowstorm. Between all that, the East Coast also got hit with a pretty far ranging earthquake and was one part of the country suffering under an extensive heat plume.

Irene was truly terrifying. Let's face it, the Greater New York area is not used to excesses of this nature (pun not intended). The preparations were extensive, some said too extensive due a scandal relating to a complete mismanagement of the winter storms earlier in the year. My opinion, given how deadly this sort of system could potentially be, better be safe than sorry. Yes, over three million people were evacuated and a ton of public money spent but had the hurricane moved the way half of the models predicted, the losses would have been staggering. And you know, until probably midnight the day before the hurricane made landfall, I still didn't believe that anything would happen. And it was obvious from TV reports that most people in the area didn't either. There was a bit of a growing dread as the first drizzles and rains arrived and wind gusts appeared. The main concern in Morris county was the flooding (there are plenty of little and not so little lakes and rivers and streams) and, of course, the high winds causing trees and wires to fall. I remember I woke up at 5am to check things out - all seemed rather quiet and normal, so I went back to bed. An hour later the firefighters were knocking on our door - the entire area was getting flash-flooded, our driveway and garage were already ankle-deep in water. We had to spend half a day at a local Red Cross shelter, and then the next couple of weeks cleaning and drying out the basement and the garage, and waiting for the power to come back on. All in all, the eye of the hurricane passed within 30 miles of us, right over Manhattan which, along with other boroughs, thankfully did not suffer too many ill effects (it was an eery sight - the empty streets of the City; for the first time, the entire transit system was shut down). I suppose one can say that with all the scientists' predictions on the big and bad one, New York has dodged the bullet yet again.

The earthquake certainly caught everyone by surprise. It has actually occurred in Virginia but was felt throughout most of the Eastern Seaboard. The geological crust composition here makes the earthquakes' epicenters very shallow, so their effects will propagate and spead much more widely than in the West. Very widely - quite a stretch from Atlant to Quebec City! On a personal note, the sensation of a rocking office building is highly unpleasant... Though thankfully no casualties were reported, this earthquake did cause quite a bit of damage. The Washington Monument is now closed indefinitely.
And then, of course, the Halloween storm. Talk about unexpected. After an already very wet August, topped with the water brought by Irene, the over-saturated ground could barely hold the hurricane-wind-abused trees. Plus it was only the end of October, and most of them still had leaves on. It was obvious that the enormous pressure brought by a significant snow dump will cause a lot of problems. You could literally hear creaking and groaning through both day and night. Thousands and thousands of trees fallen, snapped in half, limbs broken. Terrible sight!
I'll try to find some photos and maybe add some more details to all of the above.
Hmm, I only wanted to comment on the spring, and all of a sudden a whole essay came out.

Additional Things to See

Wow, we are already in April! 2012 is certainly racing ahead. A few more things peaked my attention recently:

April 27-29 - Chiller Theater (goodness, check out the guest list!!!)
May 10-13 - 2012 New York City Metro Show, first one, too. Have to miss it, unfortunately...

May 31st - June 3 - Philadelphia Comic Con (ditto!)

October 11-14 - New York Comic Con

October 19-21 - Star Trek London

Is this turning out to be a year of conventions?!

Incidentally, Happy First Contact Day!!!

Things to See in the Upcoming Months

Well, let see:

January 18th - The Secret Science Club presents Astrophysicist and Cosmologist David Hogg (didn't work out but I find the concept of a Science Club very intriguing; definitely something to check out further)

January 21st - the tickets go on sale for William Shatner's Broadway one-man show Shatner's World: We Just Live in It at The Music Box Theater (got a good seat for the opening night!!!)

January 20-22nd - Antiques Show at the Armory (Lexington Ave & 26th St; pity but due to a cold I couldn't make it)

January 21-22nd - Americana & Antiques at the Pier (Pier 92 NYC; similar to above, still feeling quite blah)

January 23rd - A Universe from Nothing with Lawrence Krauss at Hayden Planetarium (fantastic presentation!)

January 28th - RUGM Open House (got some very nice specimens!)
February 1st - A walkthrough trip to a LEED-certified DAS showroom on 6th Ave, arranged through SKYed

February 2nd - No Bones About It with Carl Mehling at AMNH (as usual, a great program)
February 14th - Shatner's World opening night (hysterical!!!)

February 25-26th - The Morristown Armory Antiques Show (found the animal print I've really wanted to purchase!!!)
February (end) - the third Propworx Star Trek Auction (well, this is not really a physical location but a great event nonetheless - Update: turned out to be a bit less than great, the props were somewhat less interesting and much less affordable than last time)

March 6th - Museum Inside-Out with Sidney Horenstein at AMNH (fascinating things about the museum building itself!)

March 31st - New special exhibition opens at AMNH - Creatures of Light. Subject matter is bioluminescence!

In addition, a whole host of fantastic new exhibitions are opening at the Metropolitan! Hopefully, I will eventually get to post further info on all of my trips.

Generally speaking, lots of plans as usual; the to-do list has grown to the size of a small notebook. Shoot, trying to get everything sorted and organized seems to be an exercise in futility half the time!

Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!! HERE'S HOPING TO A KINDER AND GENTLER YEAR!

P.S. Also hoping to publish some updates with photoes from last year. There is no denying - 2011 was a rough year but it also had plenty of moments worth to be remembered fondly. As Albert Einstein said: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."