Remi's Ramblings 2 - An Ordinary Journal

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

2007-03-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

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Remastering a Classic – Is it Necessary?

by First Officer R. P.
Paramount is digitally remastering the Original Star Trek series. Adding new special effects, new backgrounds, “sprucing up” the spaceships.” I am against this. Why? Because I like Star Trek just the way it is. Having seen Trek in it’s original run from summer 1966 to spring 1970. I cut my science fiction teeth on it. I watched it in black and white, as we did not have a color television. I never owned a color tv until 1980. And yes, the color did much to increase my enjoyment of it, but to be tampering with the essence of the film goes against the grain.

I recently bought the DVD sets of the entire Original Series. Today I watched “The Doomsday Machine.” This episode, one of Trek’s finest, shows just what Star Trek is about.

The Enterprise has received a distress signal from another Constitution class starship, The Constellation, commanded by Commodore Matt Decker. Upon rendezvousing with her, Kirk and company find a smashed and deserted ship. Although she has sustained much damage, life support is functioning throughout most of the ship. Com. Decker is found in a state of shock in a briefing room. He explains what happened to his crew. He had all 400 of them beamed to a planet below, but then the “planet killer” that had attacked the Constellation returned and demolished the planet, killing all 400 of his crew. Kirk, Scott and a damage control party remain aboard the Constellation, while Dr. McCoy returns to the Enterprise with the Commodore.

As they beam over, the Planet Killer returns and Com. Decker assumes command of the Enterprise. Spock objects and after Kirk gets communications working again, orders Spock to relieve Decker of command. Decker hijacks a shuttlecraft and commits suicide by steering the shuttlecraft directly into the Planet Killer. The energy output of the Planet Killer, which is an old abandoned “Doomsday Weapon” of an alien race, has diminished slightly, giving Kirk the idea of setting the damaged Constellation on a self destruct mode and steering it into the Planet Killer, effectively stopping it. This episode was first aired on October 20, 1967, and it is still fresh and exciting, 39 and a half years later. The horror and grief shown by actor William Windom as Com. Decker as he tells Kirk about the death of his crew, the professionalism shown by the crew of the Enterprise, the exciting buildup and climax of the story, why would anyone want to tamper with it? I found the sequence of Kirk killing the Planet Killer very intense. There are 5 scenes: The Constellation and the Planet Killer, Kirk on the Constellation waiting to be beamed over to the Enterprise, Transporter Chief Kyle in the transporter room, Scotty in the Jeffries Tube trying to repair the transporter circuits, Spock on the bridge, everyone working together to get the Captain back to the Enterprise in 20 seconds before the Constellation explodes. Intercutting between these 4 men, were scenes of the Constellation getting closer and closer to the Planet Killer. And in the background – exciting action music.

This is a classic. It is Star Trek at its best. It is superior in it’s storytelling, the acting is superb, even by the guest actors. Elizabeth Rogers as relief Communications Officer Lt. Palmer, John Winston as Transporter Chief Lt. Kyle, and the series regulars, George Takei, who doesn’t have many lines, but his emotions show on his face and body language.

The shot of the exterior of the damaged Constellation, a sister ship of the Enterprise is heartbreaking. Yet the powers that be feel that it was not enough. They had to stick their mitts in it. Here are 2 pictures, the original and the remastered.

What is wrong with this? First, the angle of the ship has changed, and the damage is shown reaching up to the NCC of her serial number. The saucer section is seen now with much more damage. With this extensive damage, how could all 400 of the Constellation crew have survived? Yet Decker says he beamed 400 of them to the third planet. Spock also reports that “life support is operable throughout most of the ship.” With this much damage, how could it? Making a prettier picture here has compromised the content of the story. I don’t like it.

Here is a remastered shot of the Constellation going into the Planet Killer. The original had the interior power plant as a white hot generator inside. This is now shown as orange. Again, this is not just “sprucing up” of the Planet Killer, this is totally changing it’s appearance. Why? Well, others may disagree with me, but as I said, I like my Star Trek just the way it is. Leave it alone.

2007-02-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

K's Let it Out, part 2

2007-02-15T00:17:00.001-08:00

I finally did hear back from Let it out. They said the following:
Unfortunately, your recent upload is not suitable for the Let it Out(tm) site. Why?
1) Inappropriate use of language.
2) Your image or video contains content that could be considered copyright infringement.
3) Inappropriate to our community.
WOW! Talk about sticking their heads in the sand!
Right now, their server is down. I haven't been able to get to the site for over 24 hours. When I do, I will copy and paste what I wrote. There was no offensive language. I merely said that my husband was falsely accused of child abuse. I then gave the url address to Remi's Ramblings, my more thorough blog. There is no copyright violation, as all I did was give a web address. So I guess it falls under it being inappropriate to their community., Yep, REAL issues faced by people are NOT welcome there!

K's Let it Out

2007-02-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

I saw the commercial for K's new site: Let it Out where you supposedly can post what is on your mind. Well, in the companion blog to this journal, Remi's Ramblings 1, A Journal of a False Accusation of Child Abuse, I have chronicled the entire saga of what happened to my husband and me in 2003 and the ongoing battle we are going through to clear his name. It is a long story, and Let it Out gives you space for only one paragraph, (how much can you let out in one measly paragraph?) so I tried to be concise, and gave the url address to this blog. They say it will post within 24 hours, IF the material is not offensive. They also say that if they deem your post as unsuitable, they will send you an email telling you why. They haven't even done me that courtesy.

So my post of a few days ago is STILL pending. Yes, Child Molestation IS offensive, but I am NOT advocating that, I am trying to get my husband's name cleared of a false accusation of child abuse. He is going thru hell. I am going thru hell. "Let it out?" Let it out only if it doesnt' offend the sole editor of the site.

I posted it again this evening. We'll see if the editor thinks it is suitable.

No, my journal is not of a pretty thing. It is a horrible thing. It is a true tale of a child being put into harm's way BY HER OWN MOTHER. Further, it is a true tale of the mother chosing her boyfriend over her own flesh and blood. Further, it is a true tale of the mother putting the blame on an innocent person, a person who, along with his wife, were her best friends!

Since May of 2003, I cried many tears, and gone thru many tissues to mop up those tears and blow my nose. Well guess what? They weren't K. brand: they were Tops Markets brand.
And if K.com don't have the damn guts to post a little paragraph steering people to my blog, which is of a sensitive, but a very pertinant and important matter, well, then, to hell with them. I don't buy their product anyway. I get a comparable product at a cheaper price.

To the sole editor of that blog: go stick your head deeper in the sand. If you can't face the tough issues that some people encounter and need to "let it out" on your so-called "help" site, then I suggest you rethink your advertising. "Let it out" ONLY if you have a so-so problem.

Eulogies to my cousin Mohamed - May 1, 1943 - Feb 1, 2007

2007-02-02T04:19:00.000-08:00

Cheryl, Mohamed, Abdo and Ruth

Eulogies to my cousin Mohamed - May 1, 1943 - Feb 1, 2007

Bismillah, Al-Raham, Al-Raheem. (In the name of God, the Beneficiant, the Merciful)

On February 1, 2007, at 7:10am, my late ex-husband's cousin, Mohamed Anam died in the Surgical Intestive Care Unit of the hospital I work at, of complications from open heart surgery. I checked in on him during the night and was told he was not doing too good. He was still intubated following his surgery from a couple of days before. At 6:45am, I checked in him again and the nurses told me they were getting ready to code him. After clocking out, I returned to the SICU, and they told me to wait in the waiting room. At 7:30am, Millie came and told me that he had passed. His cousin Ali (my former brother-in-law) arrived at about 7:45, and we both went in to say goodbye to Mohamed.

Mohamed was native of Yemen Arab Republic and was a small man, just over 5 feet tall and probably weighed 120 pounds, soaking wet. He drank a lot, usually beer, and the only bad thing you could say about him was sometimes he had a big mouth. (one of the first sentances I put together in Arabic when I was learning the language was to tell Mohamed "Shut up little man with big mouth").

I first met Mohamed on June 27, 1975, a week after his cousin Abdo and I started dating. We were at his apartment, drinking beer and having a great time. Although Abdo and I were together for only one week at that point, we were already deeply in love, and it showed. So at one point, Mohamed picked up our hands and put them together. "Abdo, do you love this woman?" he asked. Abdo said yes. "Ruth, do you love this man?" I said yes. Mohamed then said, "You are husband and wife." We then raised our bottles of beer in a toast! Thus, Mohamed "married" Abdo and me.

In 1978, Mohamed was dating a Puerto Rican woman named Elba, who was originally from Chicago. In August 1978, me and Abdo, Mohamed and Elba, and Elba's nephew Rueben piled into our car we went off to Chicago. Rueben's parents and siblings were in Puerto Rico at the time, so we stayed in their apartment for a few days. Mohamed, Abdo and me went to the Field Museum to the see the King Tut exhibit. The lines for just the tickets were very long. We dropped Mohamed off to get in line while we parked the car. When we got back to the musuem, we couldn't find him in either of the two long lines that began at the ticket booths inside the museum foyer, out the doors, down the stairs, around the corner, and down the block. "Where did he go?" we wondered. Abdo decided to check in the foyer. There was Mohamed. The little guy had managed to cut in line and he and Abdo got our tickets for a viewing time for that afternoon, after only waiting 10 minutes.

Even after Mohamed broke up with Elba, he remained friends with many of the Puerto Ricans on the Lower West Side of Buffalo, and we had many good times in the Puerto Rican Social Clubs. I can't remember when he started dating Cheryl, but she moved in with him when she was only 17. She had just graduated from high school and wanted to go to nursing school. Mohamed not only encouraged her to get her education, he helped pay her college costs.

In 1985, Abdo and I broke up and the following year, my friendship with my friend John deepened to romantic love. Mohamed was very happy for us. John and I attended Cheryl's college graduation party and during the party, Mohamed's big mouth got him into a fight with one of our other friends, Ali Thabit. Pretty soon, Ali and Mohamed were throwing punches at each other, and at one point, Ali's wristwatch fell off and Mohamed grabbed it (or Mohamed yanked it off his arm). John broke up the fight and Mohamed was gleefully jumping up and down exclaiming, "I got his watch. I got his watch!"

I lost contact with Mohamed after that, even after Abdo came back to Buffalo in 1994. I know that he was still in Buffalo around 2001, because Abdo had been sharing an apartment with him for a couple of months. He moved out because he couldn't stand Mohamed's big mouth. "The guy never shuts up." Abdo complained to me.

At the time of Abdo's death in Yemen on August 19, 2003, I heard that Mohamed was in Germany. I only found out that Mohamed was in the hospital a couple of days before his death as I was searching the patient roster in the computer for the location of another patient.

Although I had not had contact with Mohamed for the past 20 years, I still feel that he was my cousin. And I loved him.

Although he drank too much at times, and could be obnoxious, he was such a loving man, you quickly forgave him.

At his bedside on the morning of his death, his cousin Ali made the phone calls to the Iman of the Lackawanna mosque and made the funeral arrangements. I said my goodbyes to Mohamed at that time. I held his face and kissed him.

Goodbye my cousin. I love you. Your big mouth was surpassed by your big heart.

Beautiful Roses

2007-01-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

Life and vacuum cleaners - they suck!

2007-01-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, I was emptying the dirt cup in my "bagless" vacuum cleaner when I noticed the filter assembly was packed with dirt that hadn't dropped into the dirt cup. I had to lay the vacuum on the floor and with a butter knife, scoop out all the packed dirt that was stuck up there. Then I had to go upstairs and get my other vacuum cleaner to use and vacuum out my main vacuum cleaner.

This really sucks. You have to have a second vacuum cleaner to clean out your vacuum cleaner to make sure it is sucking right.

2007-01-12T01:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided to start a regular blog-journal. And now that I have, I'm sitting here with a loss for words. Oh well, something will come up. I should be washing the dishes or working out or straightening up the living room, but instead, here I am in front of my computer! And I've got a newsletter to get out in 2 weeks! But I did find some great graphics at a website and I got some nice ones off a clip-art cd I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Later on, after I balance the checkbook and get the bills paid (yuck!) and get the errands done, I think I'll go to the park and commune with Mother Nature. There's a great place I go, Stiglemeire Park and it is just awsome. I can feel one with Nature. No matter what the weather, I'm happiest with trees, flowers, animals, a true Nature Girl. Always have been.

In the past, I've been labeled nuts for my love of cats. Hey, at least they don't stab you in the back like humans do. They give you unconditional love. And never betray you. And I had a great dog too! I miss her like crazy! My dad's dog, Skippy, a Jack-Russell terrier is the cutest damn thing!

I was going to get a puppy last month from one of my friends from work. But with the house renovations, I don't have time to house break a puppy. But I sure wanted one. A nice Boston Terrier! I had one named Benny when I was 10. And a collie named Sandy. When they went to puppy heaven they were replaced with a yapping Chichuaua. (wasn't my decision). I hate those mutts. Never shut up. I like the Taco Bell chichuaua, but then, he's on tv and not in my living room.

Let's see, growing up, we had also a Beagle named George, a cat named Top Cat, a parakeet (can't remember his name), countless fish and turtles. I think it was my stepbrother Johnny was the one who wanted the snake, but I'm not sure. I might be thinking of my cousin Norman. Haha, they had a German Shephard in the back yard, a f*ing mean son of a gun. I was always scared of him. In the 70s my dad had a German Shephard named Pepper. That dog was nuts. Bit everyone. Except the kids. And when he bit my dad in the butt when he was yelling at my stepsister, well that was it for Pepper! Off to the SPCA he went! Poor Pepper, he was only trying to protect Mariel.

As an adult, I got my first cat when my friend John's cat had kittens. At the age of 3 weeks, this one little guy stumbled over to me and wouldn't leave me. For the next couple of weeks, whenever I came over to visit, and he heard me voice, he would leave his mom and his littermates and come to me. Well, I had to bring him home. I named him Francoise. I was given another cat name Figi from an old lady who couldn't take care of her anymore, so I brought her home and changed her name to Gigi. Nice little French kitties. But Gigi was old too, and soon went to kitty heaven. I got another kitten from Francoise's mother, Scooter. What a little monster, kept bringing dead worms into the house.

When John and I moved into together, he still had his 3 cats, Renaissance, her daughter Morris, and her daughter Peewee. And Morris and PeeWee had just had litters! What a madhouse! John kept Morris's daughter Samantha and her daughter Muffy, but the rest had to go, and whoever was of childbearing age got fixed fast! And as to those a$$holes who thought I was the CatLady, umm, I only had Francoise and Scooter, the rest were John's. And the real Cat Lady was the other white lady up the street who had over 20 cats. We never had anywhere near that number.

See, that's what I mean about people. They start gossiping and they don't bother to get their facts straight! And they end up making fools out of themselves! If you are going to lie and gossip about someone, try getting your shit straight first.

And that's why I like animals. Dogs and cats don't lie about you. They don't turn on you. They give you love, and don't stab you in the back like my so-called friend did back in 2003. Dogs and cats don't stand in the middle of the street and call you a slut, all the while they are waving a liquor bottle around and showing the whole neighborhood what an a$$hole they are. The neighborhood is still talking about that one and what an idiot she made herself look like. Especially as she did it the night we buried my mother-in-law.

A couple of people on the street, who I had had past arguements with, came up and offered condolences to us. One even hugged me as I cried for my mother-in-law, and she told me to hold my head up and ignore Tyra and her lies. She told me the whole street knew it was a bunch of lies. This, from someone who once threw a lawn chair at me!

So, I'm not always down on people, hell, I work at a hospital taking care of the sick and dying, I'm just saying that people can and will stab you in the back, but dogs and cats never will.

Peace and love,

Remi