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so i watched the new star trek movie last night... i was never much of a trekkie myself, i was always more into star wars (although that may have to change if they decide to keep going with chris pine and those gorgeous baby blues-- sorry, but there is no way hayden christensen can compare!). and then the little star trek i watched, it was already TNG and the picard era. so star trek was never really that huge an event for me.
still, by virtue that in the 90's cable TV shows only managed to find their way to this country like 10 years after the original release, i did manage to catch a few TOS episodes here and there, so i had a general idea about the plot and cast, as well as their mannerisms, and i had a ball whenever a reference to their catchphrases was made. every once in a while i had to pause the thing to go look things up in wikipedia, but not as much as i would've expected. it was really cool to see these reinvented versions of the characters... that's the coolest thing about sci-fi, and series like star trek, x-men or dr. who, at least in an author's perspective: just the idea of parallel universes and alternate timelines opens up all kinds of possibilities not only for plot, but also for character development. you can virtually recreate the characters from scratch and still be true to the essence of the original.
as far as the characters themselves go, oh, everybody was just fabulous. chris pine had the perfect amount of kirk without the annoying characteristics of shatner (sorry, sometimes i find it hard to reconcile the dashing captain with the silly shatner of today). zachary quinto, well, the heroes fangirl in me just rejoices in seeing him interpret a cult icon like spock-- him and nimoy actually do kind of look alike, don't they? and well, i still think he's a better sylar but he was definitely a very good spock. zoey saldaña as uhura... eh, i don't much care about her, and she didn't really do much in the movie anyway. the thing with spock kind of sprung up on me, though xD i liked john cho way better than takei as sulu (*gasp!* i know, sacrilege! i can't help it, though-- that's the dude from harold and kumar and american pie!) (wasn't he in an episode of house once, too? O_o). the guy who played mccoy, i thought he was pretty true to the original ("i'm not a physicist, i'm a doctor!" --> LOL! aaahhh, you have been missed, mccoy). the guy who played scotty was hilarious (i wish they could've used "beam me up, scotty!" at least once just for the lulz). and oh, baby!chekov was just the most ADORABLE thing EVER. ♥♥♥
the plot was very clever, and they even managed to bring in nimoy himself to reprise the role of spock, which i thought was just a stroke of genius. only thing i didn't like, though, is why there were different consequences to being swallowed by a black hole: nero & spock traveled back to the past, while the whole of vulcan just... disappears. while i guess black holes are enough of an scientific enigma that we really don't know if the gravitational pull may affect different objects in different conditions in a completely different way, i still would've liked to see that explained. hmmm. did they explain it? if they did, i missed it. eh, i need to watch this movie again, anyway.
and you know, for me the best thing about movies like these is the moment where i go "oh! i know that guy from (insert movie/tv show here)!" =3 and i had many of those in this movie. jennifer morrison played kirk's mom; wow, isn't that like the geek equivalent to being the mother of god? xD haha, now i'm REALLY eager for her and chase to have gorgeous babies on house md ;) also, the dude who played mccoy was éomer in lotr; he looked completely different! and as mentioned, there was john cho from harold & kumar.
i also had many moments where i went "i know that guy from somewhere... but from where?" like when spock's mom first appeared on-screen i found myself thinking "hey, she kinda looks like winona ryder!" and then half an hour later, as i was wikipedia-ing some OTHER star trek fact, i happened to notice that it was, in fact, winona ryder ^^;;; and i'm a bit reluctant to admit this, but i had a total 300 moment (remember when i watched 300 and did not put together that xerxes was actually played by rodrigo santoro-- of love actually and lost fame-- until like three days later?). turns out, nero (aka misgruntled villain) was played by eric bana! i didn't realize this until the movie was over and i skimmed over the cast on wikipedia. oh my god, he looked so odd, all scruffy and without hair O_o i never would've figured out it was him if i hadn't read it. wow.
all in all, great movie. i'll try to convince my cousins to go watch it with me on theaters next week. if it's still showing, that is =P
in other news, i happened to step by portkey today (i hadn't been there in a while), because i wanted to read some fics to see if i could find inspiration for chapter four of ARIP. and when i stepped by to check on my fics, guess what i find? all my WiPs had been labeled as "abandoned"! D: D: D: the horror! anyway, i set them all back to "in progress," but now out of pride, just to PROVE that i do NOT abandon ANY of my fics, EVER, i went ahead and finished the harry & hermione scene i'd been working on the last time. HAH. take that, portkey! ¬_¬ sooo, here's a snippet of it.
(just in case, i'm well aware that the whole "abandoned" thing is probably an automatic script that changes the status of the fic if it hasn't been updated in a long while. don't worry, i'm not really mad at the PK folks ;) heh. i ♥ them).
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Harry, however, had not missed that "we" in her reply, and was now trying to skillfully divert the conversation towards a topic that could hopefully make her forget about Hannah's announcement and keep away the possibility of him embarrasing himself on the Weasley's improvised dance floor. "You really haven't Ron since the surprise?" he asked, getting off from the fence as well. He was doubtful at her negative. "That's odd. Did you have a fight on the way here?"
She rolled her eyes in an all-too-familiar gesture, and pulled his plate right out of his hands as he took the last of the pumpkin juice to his lips. "No, we did not," she replied matter-of-factly. "And also, there is no 'way here.' Apparition is instantaneous." She playfully hit his arm when he muttered something about Professor Flitwick having grown taller and prettier since the last time they met ("Oi, it was a compliment, I swear!"). Then she proceeded to demonstrate her knowledge of charms that he had supposedly "complimented" her on by vanishing the plate and his glass towards the kitchen sink. "I don't see why everybody keeps asking that," she added, pensive. It seemed the status of her and Ron's relationship was the focus of every conversation that day.
"It is sort of your modus operandi," Harry quipped in response. Hermione shoved him playfully for his cheek. "No, seriously, though," he shrugged at her. "It is your birthday. If he disappears on you today of all days, well, you've got to admit it's strange." He frowned as he finished speaking. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Ron since the big surprise either... and lunch had already come and gone...
She shook her head firmly. "Honestly, the fact that he's my boyfriend doesn't mean we have to spend every waking minute together," she asserted, arching her eyebrows as if to emphasize her point. "The fact that he's not hanging off me does not mean we're on the outs." She turned towards the house again. "Besides, just like you said, I've been busy," she finished the thought with a bright smile, pointing towards the guests much like Harry himself had just a few minutes ago.
Well, he had to give her that. He was still wondering about Ron, though. "I guess so... but I haven't seen him around all afternoon, either. It isn't like him to avoid a party." He looked up at the upper floor of the house, where he knew Ron's bedroom was, and tried to discern the tall redhead's presence somewhere. However, he knew it was only Ginny's window that he could actually see through from this angle; Ron's room was on the opposite side of the house. Had this been the Burrow, he might have been able to catch something through the topmost window right under the attic, but not in this house.
He turned to Hermione, still frowning. The only time he could remember Ron ever missing a party this big was the one in the Gryffindor Common Room after Harry passing the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament back in their fourth year-- and that was because he was mad at Harry himself. "Are you sure nothing happened between you two that could've upset him?" he asked, genuinely baffled.
Hermione gave it some deep thought, but then shook her head again. "No, not from my side at least," she concluded after going through the day in her mind. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the fence, looking at her dark-haired best friend. "I'm sure he's alright, Harry. He'll be around here somewhere, having fun," she added with a shrug and a wave towards the top windows of the house that Harry had just been glimpsing at.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he admitted it was probably just Ron being moody. It wouldn't be the first time. But, him being the good best mate that he was... "Still, I think I'm going to go look for him," he said, starting to walk accross the yard so that he could walk around the house and go through the main entrance.
"Oh, no no no no," Hermione quickly moved to stop him, getting hold of the back of his shirt. "No you don't, Potter. If I'm going to be subjected to yet another frivolous pop beat, guess who's going to be my dance partner?" She gave him a pointed stare that could not be avoided.
Harry groaned. Crap, she'd figured out his ploy, he thought-- but of course she would. It's Hermione, figuring things out is what she does.
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okee, two more scenes to go: one R/LL (i'm still wondering what the heck that's going to be about, apart from the last 2 paragraphs or so), one general (shouldn't be too hard).
BTW, the world really needs more ron/luna fanfiction. anyone? *ponders @ f-list*