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Technology Bytes was in multiple missing geek formation for this show. Pete was out sick, Barrett was traipsing across Europe and Jay was on assignment in Seattle. Fortunately we were joined by ZDNet blogger James Kendrick to help fill in the geekly gaps.
DEFCON EDITION!
Photo by Kymberlie R. McGuire
All right. Unless you’ve been living under a mountain, you’re probably familiar with the major movie milestone manifesting itself this week. Although the story was initially aimed at a younger generation, many adults have developed a soft spot in their heart for this work as well.
I mean, what’s not to like? A boy, living a life of perceived obscurity in a cookie-cutter collection of homes, finds out that he has special abilities that set him apart from other humans, and, at the end of the story arc, it’s up to him to save everyone he’s ever known or loved. Of course, the movie I’m talking about is The Last Starfighter, starring Robert Preston of Music Man fame and Lance Guest, who plays the protagonist, Alex Rogan.
Released 27 years ago today, the movie tracks the adventures of Alex and his high score on the video game (slash interplanetary recruitment tool) Star Fighter, which earns him a spot as a gunner in an actual Star Fighter in outter space.
This movie was released on the heels of the wildly successful Star Wars trilogy, so it’s not surprising that the Alex Rogan character has some similarities with the young Luke Skywalker of A New Hope. People may also draw some parallels between this story and that of Harry Potter, but, uh, I just don’t see it.
Something you *can* see in the original movie is a very young Wil Wheaton running around wearing a red jersey. As he wasn’t officially part of an away team at the time, he was able to proceed to play the role of young Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which
is referred to as TNG by Star Trek aficionados. Another actor in the movie, Marc Alaimo, went on to play Gul Ducat, the very first Cardassian in the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine. And that’s not all! Several other Starfighter cast members went on to work in one Star
Trek franchise or another.
Dan Mason, who played Lord Kril in the movie, went on to play Accolan in Star Trek: TNG.
Barbara Bosson, who played Alex’s mom, Jane Rogan, went on to play Roana on Deep Space Nine, aka DS9 for those in the know.
Norman Snow -> who was Xur in StarFighter -> went on to play Torin on TNG
And Geoffrey Blake -> who played the small role of Gary in StarFighter -> went on to play Arjin on DS9.
But… The most uber of all the Trekkie tie-ins is that of Meg Wyllie, who played the role of Granny Gordon in The Last StarFigher. Any guesses as to her significance?
She played the role of The Keeper in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, which was called The Cage. Though the pilot was completed in 1965, it wasn’t broadcast in it’s entirety until 1988 due to the fact that NBC rejected Gene Roddenberry’s original submission. A two-part episode was substituted for the network premier of the series. Titled The Menagerie, this new pilot contained much of the footage originally shot for The Cage. It also contained a entirely different enterprise crew than the original pilot. Only one
crew member is common across both pilots. Anyone want to take a guess as to which?
The answer is Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, who got the very first line in all of Star Trek, “Check the circuit!”
So… As far as trivia questions go, that first one was a toughie. No worries that no-one got it.
I’m sure if I had asked someone to name the five houses of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they’d certainly be able to. Anyone want to take a try? Dwight? Sorry, but in the words of Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap!” I think Ackbar would have made a cool Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher…
And in other happenings, the Movie which Shall not be Named is hitting theaters tomorrow night. Really, whether or not I see the movie this weekend depends entirely upon when Apple’s new OS, Lion, hits, but that’s another story, which we’ll loop back to in a second.
If you don’t have a clue as to who Harry, Hagrid or Hermione are or what the House of Hufflepuff is, you may want to head over to the Houston Area Apple Users Group Semi-Annual Swap Meet to shop for some amazingly “new to you” computer deals. If you missed the release of the first film in 2001, then you probably also missed the release Apple’s OS 10.0 (code name Cheetah), earlier that same year, meaning that most of the stuff you’ll come across at the Swap Meet will be so technologically advanced, it may even appear to be magical.
Muggles and Luddites alike are free to stop by the Bellaire Civic Center this Saturday, July 16th, between nine AM and noon to peruse the peripherals up for sale or trade. 7008 South Rice Avenue is where you want to be, and the site www.haaug.org will certainly help you get
there.
Well, That’s nearly it for your last night of sleepless Slytherin sensations and that’s that for BarretTime.
All right.
If you’ve ever known the joy of owning an Apple product, then you’re no doubt familiar with the sting of obsolescence that eventually follows every purchase. One reason Apple owners may have such a bad reputation for being flashy with their gear is that they have such a short window in which to feel superior. What contempt Steve Jobs giveth, he also taketh away in the form of a steady stream of new product announcements.
My own Precious is about to be lapped by the newest line of MacBook Airs sporting Intel’s Sandy Bridge. I feel a little betrayed, and even though I knew it would happen, I didn’t think it would happen so soon. That’s the bad part. The new gear doesn’t even have to be out yet to send you spiraling into the sickly space inhabited by owners of newly old Apple hardware.
If you don’t want to follow in my footsteps of despair, your best bet is to start with something that’s old already. The only place to get your hands on old Apple gear available for sale or trade this side of Cupertino may be at the Houston Area Apple Users Group Semi-Annual Swap Meet, happening Saturday, July 16th, at the Bellaire Civic Center. The Civic Center is located at 7008 South Rice Avenue in Bellaire, Texas. Things go from nine AM until noon, so chances are good you could be poring over an OS 8 manual by lunch, reveling in the fact that only Woz has control
over you now.
And when Lion hits, all you’ll have to do is pull up your Platinum Interface to catch the curiosity of any apple-head in your immediate vicinity.
And who knows… If you come across the correct hipster, you might be able to trade up to something with Sandy Bridge. Your magic word for this impromptu-swap meet will be Vintage. It also doesn’t hurt to say that music just sounds better on old (Correction: vintage) gear. Don’t go overboard and answer ‘yes’ when asked if it contains any vacuum tubes (and they will ask you) but promising to produce a vintage Apple v-neck t-shirt will definitely help you seal the deal.
For details about the group or next Saturday’s Swap Meet, surf to haaug.org. Or call the HAAUG Hotline at 832.305.5999 to find out the latest news on future HAAUG meetings or to report any blinking lights.
If you’ve had an opportunity to venture out to the Houston Hacker Space known as TxRx Labs, you would have surely noticed the spread of mechanical and electrical tools they have at their disposal. The group now intends to delve into the arts of computer science just as deeply with a series of regular discussions centered around any given area of computer science. The group is newly formed within the hackerspace, and certainly fills a bit of a void in Houston in the non-institutional comp-sci community.
So, if you’re at all interested in the amalgamation of black arts and best practices that make up the field of computer science, surf over to www.txrslabs.org and look for the CompSci @ TX/RX link.
A little more in our immediate future, the Houston Linux Users Group will be hosting their first of two monthly meetings covering topics of a Linuxy nature. Things run from two to four this Saturday afternoon at the HAL-PC Headquarters, located at 4543 Post Oak Place Drive, Suite 200. Some past presentations can be found at the site, video.houstonlinux.org. You can also surf there to pick up the live video stream of the presentation if you can’t make it in person. The group also inhabits an IRC channel, #hlug, on irc.freenode.net in case you can’t wait until
Saturday to get your Linux fix.
A cool ancillary trivia question: Does anyone know what city the monthly magazine, “Linux Journal” calls home? It’s published by Belltown Media of Houston, Texas. A little more Trivia for you: the first issue was published by Phil Hughes and Red Hat co-founder Bob Young in March of ’94, and included an interview with Linus Torvalds.
That’s it for Apple Obsolescence Avoidance 101 and that’s that for BarretTime.
