Salon.com > Star Trek http://www.salon.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:04:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Hollywood sexism is somehow getting worse http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/hollywood_misogyny_is_somehow_getting_worse_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/hollywood_misogyny_is_somehow_getting_worse_partner/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:05:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13319697 The Tyee

Every time I look at the film listings lately my heart sinks. It's hard out here for a woman. If you're packing a pair of ovaries, might as well pack it in mama. There's very little here for you.

Let's take a look at the films currently playing at the Scotiabank Theatre -- Fast and Furious 6, Star Trek, Iron Man 3D and Oblivion. All of these films star men, were made by men, and are principally about men. Not only that, but when they're released in the theatre, they're critiqued mainly by even more men (91 per cent of critics writing for major entertainment magazines and/or websites are of the male persuasion). These critiques are then published in magazines and aired on TV and media outlets that are also owned by almost entirely by men (women make up more than 50 per cent of the population but they hold less than seven percent of all TV and radio station licenses in the U.S.).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/hollywood_misogyny_is_somehow_getting_worse_partner/feed/ 22 IRS official apologizes for lavish spending http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/irs_official_apologizes_for_lavish_spending_ap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/irs_official_apologizes_for_lavish_spending_ap/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13319665 WASHINGTON (AP) — An Internal Revenue Service official whose division staged a lavish $4.1 million training conference and who starred as Mr. Spock in a "Star Trek" parody shown at the 2010 gathering conceded to Congress on Thursday that taxpayer dollars were wasted in the episode.

"We're now in a very different environment" with new IRS spending curbs, Faris Fink, a top deputy in the agency's small business division at the time, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Fink, who now heads that 24,000-employee division, said he believes many of the expenditures "should have been more closely scrutinized or not incurred at all and were not the best use of taxpayer dollars."

The mea culpa was echoed by new acting IRS chief Danny Werfel as the embattled agency struggled to contain public and congressional ire over its targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status and its spending of $49 million on 225 employee conferences over the past three years.

Werfel called the 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., "an unfortunate vestige from a prior era" and said IRS spending on travel and training has fallen 80 percent since then.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/irs_official_apologizes_for_lavish_spending_ap/feed/ 2 IRS: “Star Trek” parody video is “embarrassing” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/#comments Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:35:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13318883 As the American people continue to lose faith in an increasingly and disturbingly Orwellian government, proceedings are underway for perhaps the only humorous scandal in the mix: the IRS's controversial conference spending, which produced a "Star Trek" parody tape, among other wonders.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. asked IRS commissioner Faris Fink, better known to taxpayers as Spock, "What were you thinking?" regarding the creation of a nearly $50,000 "Star Trek" parody training video played at an IRS training conference in 2010. Fink said it was "an attempt, in a well-intentioned way, to use humor to open the conference.”

“The fact of the matter is that they’re embarrassing … they’re embarrassing and I regret the fact that they were made," he said.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/feed/ 5 California judge cites “Star Trek,” stuns copyright trolls http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/judge_slams_copyright_trollers_with_sanctions_order_star_trek_quotes_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/judge_slams_copyright_trollers_with_sanctions_order_star_trek_quotes_partner/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 12:42:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307416 Jacobin
As someone who made a certain amount of my reputation by using the Star Trek universe to illustrate the dangers of strong intellectual property law, I feel obligated to comment on the recent court decision against the entity commonly referred to as Prenda Law. The case combines copyright battles, Star Trek, and pornography — if I can slip in a picture of a cute animal, I may be able to construct the Platonic ideal of a popular Internet post.

The case, decided in the District Court for the Central District of California, concerns a group of lawyers engaged in a particularly egregious form of copyright trolling. Their strategy was to file a large number of lawsuits accusing individuals of illegally downloading a single porn video, the copyright for which was apparently assigned to one of the lawyers’ groundskeeper on the basis of a forged signature. The basis for these lawsuits was quite flimsy, but the firm had no real intention of winning the lawsuits in court. Instead, they would offer to settle — and as the court decision notes, the offer was “for a sum calculated to be just below the cost of a bare-bones defense.” This, combined with the embarrassment of being publicly linked with downloading porn, was apparently enough to extort money from a significant number of people.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/judge_slams_copyright_trollers_with_sanctions_order_star_trek_quotes_partner/feed/ 5 Damon Lindelof admits barely-clothed scene in “Star Trek” was “gratuitous” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/damon_lindelof_admits_barely_clothed_scene_in_star_trek_was_gratuitous/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/damon_lindelof_admits_barely_clothed_scene_in_star_trek_was_gratuitous/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 13:09:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304403 Even if you have not yet seen "Star Trek Into Darkness," you may have seen the trailer, in which Starfleet science officer Doctor Carol Marcus, played by Alice Eve, strips down to her underwear before putting on a special torpedo-disarming outfit. The scene has puzzled some fans, prompting criticism that it objectifies one of only two major female cast members.

In a recent interview, MTV asked producer Damon Lindelof about the scene:

OK, down to the nitty gritty. I feel like I have to start with the biggest mystery/conversation that's surrounded the film from the get go. Why is Alice Eve in her underwear at one point? Oh and also, let's discuss your villain.

Lindelof's response:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/damon_lindelof_admits_barely_clothed_scene_in_star_trek_was_gratuitous/feed/ 30 Benedict Cumberbatch: I would marry Spock http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/benedict_cumberbatch_i_would_marry_spock/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/benedict_cumberbatch_i_would_marry_spock/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301456 On a red carpet event for last night's "Star Trek Into Darkness" debut, VH1 asked stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Zachary Quinto to play "Fuck/Marry/Kill," a "game" that involves asking people who, out of their peer group, they'd hypothetically like to ... well ... have sex with, marry or kill. It's typically played by "cool" middle school kids in the back of a school bus, but it's way more fun to play with celebrities.

"Wow, is this VH1?" asked Cumberbatch. "Wow, OK. Wow, OK," said a flustered Cumberbatch. "I can't believe this. I can't believe this." Reluctantly, the "Star Trek" villain admitted that out of his crew, he would marry Spock, because he'd be good at doing tax returns and math, and kill Chris Pine:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/benedict_cumberbatch_i_would_marry_spock/feed/ 6 “Star Trek Into Darkness”: Who made J.J. Abrams the sci-fi god? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/star_trek_into_darkness_who_made_j_j_abrams_the_sci_fi_god/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/star_trek_into_darkness_who_made_j_j_abrams_the_sci_fi_god/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 18:31:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13298750 Apparently I missed the papal conclave. Not the one with Pope Francis and the Argentine torture scandals; I heard about that. I’m talking about the high-level secret meeting in the super-secret sub-orbital space fortress where J.J. Abrams was elected sole curator, conservator and monarch of three generations’ worth of nerdy pop culture history. Seriously, people, how does one guy end up in charge of both the “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” reboots? Give me a break! Isn’t that kind of nuts and megalomaniacal and wrong and just too much of the same flavor of peppermint hazelnut chip ice cream from that one summer in Connecticut, when “Alligator Woman” was on the radio every single day? (We can discuss this another time, but if I could create a world in which Joss Whedon had taken on “Star Trek,” and given Abrams the freakin’ “Avengers,” I’d do it in a heartbeat.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/star_trek_into_darkness_who_made_j_j_abrams_the_sci_fi_god/feed/ 142 J.J. Abrams and Jon Stewart debate “Star Trek” versus “Star Wars” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/j_j_abrams_and_jon_stewart_debate_star_trek_versus_star_wars/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/j_j_abrams_and_jon_stewart_debate_star_trek_versus_star_wars/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 12:49:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13298069 In a two-part interview on "The Daily Show," science fiction director J.J. Abrams and Jon Stewart debate the societal impact of "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." Abrams, who by directing both "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" movies has realized every nerd's dream, says "They are fundamentally different," calling "Star Wars" a "samurai movie western." But "I couldn't get into it," Abrams says as of "Star Trek." "The goal was to make a movie for movie-goers, not just for 'Star Trek' fans."

"The interesting thing to me was I stopped listening to when said you didn't like 'Star Trek.' I know you what happened cause your mouth was moving after that. So I'm assuming you apologized," joked Stewart.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/j_j_abrams_and_jon_stewart_debate_star_trek_versus_star_wars/feed/ 0 Bad day to be a porn lawyer http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/porn_copyright_trolling_lawyers_get_busted/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/porn_copyright_trolling_lawyers_get_busted/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13291786 In his "Order Issuing Sanctions" on a half-dozen sleazy lawyers who specialized in pornography copyright litigation, California District Judge Otis D. Wright II writes like a man expecting the entire Internet to go gaga over his every word.

The opening two paragraphs deserve reprinting in full:

Plaintiffs have outmaneuvered the legal system. They’ve discovered the nexus of antiquated copyright laws, paralyzing social stigma, and unaffordable defense costs. And they exploit this anomaly by accusing individuals of illegally downloading a single pornographic video. Then they offer to settle -- for a sum calculated to be just below the cost of a bare-bones defense. For these individuals, resistance is futile; most reluctantly pay rather than have their names associated with illegally downloading porn. So now, copyright laws originally designed to compensate starving artists allow starving attorneys in this electronic-media era to plunder the citizenry.

Plaintiffs do have a right to assert their intellectual-property rights, so long as they do it right. But Plaintiffs filing of cases using the same boilerplate complaint against dozens of defendants raised the Courts alert. It was when the Court realized Plaintiffs engaged their cloak of shell companies and fraud that the Court went to battlestations.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/porn_copyright_trolling_lawyers_get_busted/feed/ 43 App of the Week: Google Now http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/app_of_the_week_google_now/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/app_of_the_week_google_now/#comments Sun, 05 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13289331 Like any good geek, I want my own Star Trek computer. You know, like the one that spoke with Majel Barrett's voice and was able to answer any question Captain Kirk or Picard might pose, in depth, and then take action as directed. Apple's Siri might be a step on the way there, but Siri, so far, at least, has some severe limitations. Like, I'm not really sure she truly understands me.

So I was delighted to hear the news this week that Google's "Siri-killer," Google Now, had finally been released for the iOS platform. Google has made it absolutely clear that one of the company's prime directives is to create a working Star Trek computer. Google seems as likely as anyone to get there first.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/05/app_of_the_week_google_now/feed/ 3 “Star Trek’s” Wil Wheaton tells newborn girl why being a nerd “is awesome” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/star_treks_wil_wheaton_tells_newborn_girl_why_being_a_nerd_is_awesome/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/star_treks_wil_wheaton_tells_newborn_girl_why_being_a_nerd_is_awesome/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:24:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13285803 In a panel at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo on April 27, "Star Trek" and "Big Bang Theory" actor Wil Wheaton fielded a question from an audience member, who asked him to explain to her newborn daughter "why it's awesome to be a nerd." Wheaton launched into nearly four-minute speech on growing up feeling like "there was something wrong" and then realizing, as an adult, that being a nerd is something to be valued.

It's "not about what you love -- it's about how you love it" and "finding other people who love it the way you do" is the defining characteristic of "why being a nerd is awesome," said Wheaton.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/star_treks_wil_wheaton_tells_newborn_girl_why_being_a_nerd_is_awesome/feed/ 3 Anonymous gives Westboro Baptist a makeover http://www.salon.com/2013/04/18/anonymous_gives_westboro_baptist_a_makeover/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/18/anonymous_gives_westboro_baptist_a_makeover/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:45:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13274978 In what was first believed to be a hack but was later revealed to be a hoax, hacker collective Anonymous created a faux-official Facebook page for hate group Westboro Baptist Church.

In place of Westboro's standard issue rainbow-colored "God hates fags" signs, the Facebook page featured quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama, cute pictures of animals captioned in LOL speak and nerd culture ephemera, like a "Star Trek" meme that caught the attention of Hikaru Sulu himself.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/18/anonymous_gives_westboro_baptist_a_makeover/feed/ 3 The IRS spent nearly $60,000 in taxpayer funds on “Star Trek” parody video http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/the_irs_spent_nearly_60000_in_tax_payer_funds_on_star_trek_parody_video/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/the_irs_spent_nearly_60000_in_tax_payer_funds_on_star_trek_parody_video/#comments Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:54:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13251354 In 2010, the IRS boldly went "where no government employee has gone before" when it produced a six-minute "Star Trek" parody video, designed to train IRS employees about how to act in B-rated comedy  leadership.

It begins with the following monologue:

"Space: the final frontier
These are the voyagers of the Starship Enterprise Y
Its never-ending mission is to seek out new tax forms
To explore strange new regulations
To boldly go where no government employee has gone before."

The video, which features affectless government employees doubling as fist-bumping crew members headed toward planet Notax, is hilarious and jarring and so bad that it's good until you realize that the government agency paid for the video, along with another spoof of "Gilligan's Island," with $60,000 in taxpayer funds for production alone. And then, it's angering.

From CBS, who first obtained the video:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/the_irs_spent_nearly_60000_in_tax_payer_funds_on_star_trek_parody_video/feed/ 21 J.J. Abrams on “Star Wars” vs. “Star Trek”: “The worlds could not be more different” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/j_j_abrams_on_star_wars_vs_star_trek_the_worlds_could_not_be_more_different/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/j_j_abrams_on_star_wars_vs_star_trek_the_worlds_could_not_be_more_different/#comments Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:06:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13251217 Now that legendary sci-fi director J.J. Abrams, along with stars of the franchise's original cast, has joined Disney's continuation of the "Star Wars" franchise, fans are getting hints of the direction Episode 7 is headed in. And there's more to come as Abrams, whose "Star Trek Into Darkness" comes out this spring, is shifting focus to the Disney project.

He recently told Empire that his expectations for the project are high:

"There are infinitely more questions than answers right now, but to me, they’re [the two films] not that dissimilar. Though I came at these both from very different places, where they both meet is a place of ‘Ooh, that’s really exciting.’ And even though I was never a 'Star Trek' fan, I felt like there was a version of it that would make me excited, that I would think ‘that’s cool, that feels right, I actually would want to see that."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/j_j_abrams_on_star_wars_vs_star_trek_the_worlds_could_not_be_more_different/feed/ 4 Benedict Cumberbatch looks very evil in new “Star Trek” trailer http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/benedict_cumberbatch_looks_very_evil_in_new_star_trek_trailer/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/benedict_cumberbatch_looks_very_evil_in_new_star_trek_trailer/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13248275 The new "Star Trek Into Darkness" trailer has been released, and this one is less "Inception"-y, giving a better idea of just how evil Benedict Cumberbatch's villain will be in the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie. (Hint: pretty evil).

Eagle-eyed observers will note that the trailer has an easter egg that links to this movie poster:

Watch the trailer (and look for the link) below:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/benedict_cumberbatch_looks_very_evil_in_new_star_trek_trailer/feed/ 8 Despite “Jedi” flap, Obama still has nerd cred http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_obama_u_nerd_ed_states_president/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_obama_u_nerd_ed_states_president/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:11:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13216270 In a press conference Friday, President Obama outraged nerds everywhere when he mixed up his "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" references and referred to a "Jedi mind meld." The comment quickly took hold of the Internet (and spawned the hashtag #ObamaSciFiQuotes). Even the White House riffed on the mix-up with a tweet that (probably) intentionally confused the two franchises again:

[embedtweet id="307584535976112128"]

Despite this, Obama has pretty strong nerd cred. Here's a look back at the best of those moments:

[slide_show id=13216194]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_obama_u_nerd_ed_states_president/feed/ 13 Slideshow: Nerd Obama http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_nerd_obama/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_nerd_obama/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:02:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13216194 http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/slideshow_nerd_obama/feed/ 1 Obama’s “Jedi mind meld” mixes up “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/obamas_jedi_mind_meld_mixes_up_star_trek_and_star_wars/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/obamas_jedi_mind_meld_mixes_up_star_trek_and_star_wars/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13215955 In his press conference today, President Obama said he was unable to perform a "Jedi mind meld" with Republicans in Congress in order to convince them that they ought to trim spending and avert the sequester. However, the president -- with much else on his mind -- has conflated two sci-fi franchises.

In the "Star Wars" films, a "Jedi mind trick" is a way of using hypnosis -- perhaps accompanied by a subtle hand gesture -- in order to convince someone of something contrary to fact. Most famously, Obi-Wan Kenobi convinces Darth Vader's stormtroopers, about to steal C-3PO and R2D2, that the two fleeing robots "aren't the droids you're looking for."

A "mind meld," in "Star Trek," is performed by Vulcans in order to convey history, thoughts and information, as well as to learn about the subject's motivations. In "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," Spock mind-melds with two humpback whales in order to tell them that the passengers of the "Enterprise" wanted to help them save Earth.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/01/obamas_jedi_mind_meld_mixes_up_star_trek_and_star_wars/feed/ 14 Captain Kirk takes on the Reddit trolls http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/william_shatner_takes_on_the_reddit_trolls/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/william_shatner_takes_on_the_reddit_trolls/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:38:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13198575 People of the Internet, your nerd lord is displeased. James T. Kirk himself, the man who, at 81, is still in the game enough to have a vibrant Twitter presence and his own app, would like you to know he's pretty grossed out by what goes down on Reddit.

In January, William Shatner joined Reddit, and soon after posted a fairly innocuous question about turning off private messaging, the better to filter out those "I can choose to ignore." What followed has been a lively and often contentious conversation about the nature of Reddit itself, and the line between freedom of expression and being a plain old jackass.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/william_shatner_takes_on_the_reddit_trolls/feed/ 22 J.J. Abrams to direct next “Star Wars” movie http://www.salon.com/2013/01/24/j_j_abrams_to_direct_next_star_wars_movie/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/24/j_j_abrams_to_direct_next_star_wars_movie/#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:50:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13181230 The search for the next "Star Wars" director is over. TheWrap reports that sci-fi director J.J. Abrams will take on Disney's highly publicized, highly controversial project, "Star Wars: Episode VII." And an insider has confirmed the news with Deadline as well, saying, "It's a done deal with J.J."

The news comes as a surprise, especially since Abrams was one of the first directors to announce he would pass on the role -- and because he already has an allegiance to rival nerd franchise, "Star Trek." He told Empire Magazine:

“There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to ‘Star Trek’, and also just being a [‘Star Wars’] fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things.”

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