Random Rants and Ravings

I stumbled upon this venture a few years ago, during one of my online searches. The Site: http:www.startreknewvoyages.com , chronicles the production of fan-produced web episodes (or webisodes) of Star Trek (The Original Series) by a group of Trek devotees in upstate New York. There were a few other such groups in operation, but this group had the singular blessings of the Powers That Be to produce their webisodes, as long as no profit was made on the efforts. James Cawley, head of Cow Creek Productions, portrays Captain James T. Kirk. Cawley, an actor in his own right, was already making a name for himself as an Elvis impersonator. In an old church near Ticonderoga, his volunteer crew has built strikingly authentic sets, props and costumes and, by the time I discovered the site, had produced two episodes - Come What May, the pilot, and In Harm’s Way, a sequel to a memorable Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine”. The latter had the distinction of having two veteran Trek guest stars, William Windom and Barbara Luna.
Their latest releases, “To Serve All My Days” and “World Enough and Time” have added Walter Koenig, Mary Linda Rapelye, George Takei and Grace Lee Whitney, respectively, to the list of alumni. Episodes will also feature the distinctive voice of Majel Barret Roddenberry as the voice of the ship’s computer. The Roddenberry family has graciosly provided physical, moral and financial support for the productions. Other Trek Alumni are scheduled to appear in future webisodes. Denise Crosby, who portrayed Tasha Yar in the “Next Generation” series, will portray another member of the Yar family in a two-part webisode now in production. The pilot and the first two webisodes are available for downloading on several mirror sites and the third webisode, “World Enough and Time” is available as a bit-torrent download. Future productions will, most likely be available through bit-torrent for DVD quality file downoads.
The series won TV Guide’s 2007 Online Video Award as Best Online Sci-Fi Webisode.

It just takes a whole lot longer.

I began my first novel, “DreamWeaver: Fly On A Wall”, more than ten years ago. Then, it was known as “File 13”. It was science-fiction, dealing with the exploits of a government agency that spent most of their time covering up results of their investigations into UFO’s, Kryptozoology and the paranormal. Years of research, writing and massive changes to the book ground to halt when a TV series with a strangely similar plot line surfaced. It doesn’t take a Fox Mulder to guess which one.

So, I changed course…went into re-write. Now the story focused on a single member of the organization. A man with a special talent. Not a unique talent… but one that gives him an edge as a member of the US intelligence network. I gave him a life outside of the network… a love interest and access to secrets that stretched back in history and extended to the far reaches of the cosmos. I also gave him a very special mission that, with his abilities and technology, would help prepare our world to take its place in that cosmos.

Book 1 is in rewrite, while I complete some research and get some materials ready for an agent. Book two has been started. The working title is “DreamWeaver: Persons of Interest”

Would somebody please explain to me what the attraction is in having a thumping throbbing permeating wave of amplified bass sound energy pounding through your entire body (not to mention everything within earshot) for hours at a time? Every year, as soon as the weather becomes kinder, our neighborhood in Peoria’s East Bluffs is assaulted with several barrages of this mind-numbing thrummm-thrummm-thrummm. Whenever the weather is fair, you can feel it, shaking the skeletal structures of not only the houses, but their occupants.

I love music, but I fail to see how this distortion of the electromagnetic spectrum even remotely qualifies as music. The laws governing the public exhibition of such atrocities set a range of 75 feet, beyond which legal actions can be taken. But, what about the unfortunate ones who reside within that 75 foot limit? I’d be willing to bet that prolonged exposure to sounds at these levels can cause cumulative damage to the auditory nerve, or perhaps even the cerebral cortex.

It does no good to call the police. The perps are somehow alerted before the police arrive. They also employ moving vehicles that troll the neighborhood with their woofers pumping (aka Drive-Bys) and parked cars with remote controlled stereos (stealth-bombers).

I know the police have better things to do than conduct ’sting’ operations on subwoofer abusers, but there has to be a way. This is, after all a quality of life issue and if this noise continues, the quality of life for those of us who value their sleep and sanity will be severely strained.