The Open Consortium

Time to get over one’s self.

May 11th, 2009

Subtitle: Why the new Star Trek movie is incredible.

WARNING: SPOILERS INCLUDED AHEAD!

I should first step back to when I first heard about the new Star Trek movie. It was a time after Nemesis had been released and the only thing “Trek” in the world was Enterprise. Dark, dark days. I could never get into that show at all and never really clicked with any single character.

It was bleak.

After hearing about the movie, Star Trek XI, I was EXTREMELY skeptical. The idea of going back and redoing Star Trek seemed to be the worst idea ever. I could not wipe the stench of the Star Wars Prequels from my mind and Nemesis had been a shallow copy of The Wrath of Khan.

Word for the wise: when the best movie of a franchise was created in the 80s and you are still making movies, it is time to really looks yourselves in the mirror and figure out what is going wrong (see: Star Wars and Batman). When a major portion of your fan base looks to a TV series made in 1966 (after already having four other series) as the pinnacle of the franchise … things are not looking good.

So, I was skeptical and I swore not to watch the movie in the theater at all because I didn’t want anything/one to sully The Original Series. Shatner was Kirk, Nimoy was Spock and Kelley was McCoy. Anything else was not going to do no matter what they tried.

Shoot ahead to May 2009. I had been reading a little bit here and there about the movie, but not really keeping up with things. I had religiously read about every Star Trek movie I could have possibly found prior to Star Trek XI, but this time I just let it go on its own way. I had been beaten into submission by my love of The Original Series and the failings of Insurrection and Nemesis.

However, on May 6, 2009 I just felt I had to see it. I was a Star Trek fan and even when The Phantom Menace killed Star Wars for me, I still came back for the other two prequels. I had to show my first science fiction obsession at least that much. So I set up a movie viewing with my normal cast of movie-goers. Two uncles, two brothers and myself. Kevin, the next-oldest, was not able to make it because he had another engagement.

It was the late showing on May 8, so we were all pretty tired. During the subsequent wait for the movie to begin I think each of us started to nod off a little bit. It was not looking good … not a good start in the least.

Just as it seemed we were all ready to take a closer look at our eyelids, we were thrust into to movie.

I say thrust because that is what happened. I needed to not be shown a movie, but pushed into it, dragged into it kicking and screaming. I wanted to hate this movie.

Let me repeat that for you: I WANTED TO HATE THIS MOVIE.

I wanted, with every fiber of my fan-self to get done with the movie, yawn a little bit and then say “that was terrible, Kelley is rolling over in his grave right now.” I wanted to get nit-picky and hate the actors and what they did with “my characters.” I wanted to shout about how superior TWOK and TUC (The Undiscovered Country) were to this debacle. I wanted to finally pull The Final Frontier out of the bottom spot on my list of Star Trek movies.

However, I can’t.

I couldn’t.

All I could do was sit and listen and watch the credits roll while my eyes were wide open and my mouth slightly agape.

I kept going over things I should hate and be upset about. Little things, things I tore apart other Trek movies for because I could. However, I couldn’t keep my focus.

It had been good.

Really good.

No … it had been great.

Fantastic actually.

Sitting there, I was thinking about how this movie might replace The Wrath of Khan at the top spot. I had betrayed my past and The Original Series even by thinking such a thing. The whole movie was so well done, so spectacular, so massive, so … Trek … that I had been completely immersed for the entire thing. At no point did I check my watch. At no point did I think “can they move on already.” No, I was kept wanting more and more and more.

That’s that. That’s it. That’s what happened. This movie so completely caught me by surprise that I was left speechless for a time. Granted, that usually doesn’t last long (no laughing), and then the discussion started and it was completely and utterly positive and glowing. We couldn’t believe what we had seen. My uncles had The Original Series on VHS (that’s where I originally watched it). They had watched The Wrath of Khan in the theaters along with the other nine movies. They were as “classic” as they come and yet they had the same reaction to this new movie.

Over the past couple of days worth of discussion a few things have constantly come up. I’ll tackle them now.

The Cast
Each one of us was floored by the cast and their acting. At no point did we ever say “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?” about any of the casting decisions. Every person seemed to be tailor-made for their character and it all came off as almost a perfect blend of paying homage to The Original Series cast and crew and adding in a new dimension. Nothing came off as copy-catting, something I was very scared of, and yet each character felt like Kirk, or Spock, or McCoy, or Sulu, or Scotty, or … you get the picture.

I can’t wait to see this crew again soon.

The Beginning
The start of the movie was the perfect introduction. The destruction of the Kelvin and the subsequent birth of James T. Kirk was the perfect start to just HOW different things were going to be. The pacing was wonderful, the cast during that scene hit their roles almost perfectly, and Eric Bana as Nero was a lot more believable than Shinzon (still one of the least-believable villains ever … IMHO). Just a strong beginning to the movie.

A Fresh Start
One of the most refreshing things about this movie, and why I can accept the whole time travel aspect, is that for once time travel messed things up and then … *GASP* … didn’t fix things. The timeline didn’t magically fix itself and so we’re now able to do whatever, whenever, wherever without having to worry about following canon directly. It was a brilliant move, and a much better way to end things thant “oh, we traveled back in time and fixed things!”

Back to the Characters
There are some fans of Star Trek who will bemoan the fact that this movie did not overtly try and chastise us for not saving whales, trying to clone things, trying to create our own habitable planet, for not setting aside old biases … you get the idea. I guess they feel that they were not preached at enough by the movie. There wasn’t a naked agenda for everyone to see and behold and endlessly talk about … well, maybe not endlessly.

Most of the discussions I have about Star Trek movies focus on only one aspect: the characters. What makes Star Trek II, III, IV, VI and VIII so great? Is it the preaching? Is it the agenda? Is it the wonderful utopia they display?

It is no on all accounts. The single theme running through all of them is strong, central, unabashed character development and interaction. They’re good movies, but they hinge on the characters. Star Trek 2009 gets back to that central core of character development and reboots the series while doing it.

These are interesting characters. We have Kirk, Spock and McCoy back in our midst along with the excellent dialog and situations brought about just by their presence. It is the strength of these characters (and the actors who portrayed them and the other crew members) on which Star Trek either succeeds or fails.

Succeeded it did.

Conclusion
Fantastic movie and highly recommend for both Star Trek fans and Star Trek non-fans. Go out and see it … now.

Posted in Movies/Music, Opinion/Editorial | 2 Comments »

The past month.

May 10th, 2009

Well, more than a month has gone by since my last post. Sadly, that’s probably not going to change for a while, but I do have two posts I want to get out there just so that people don’t think I’ve completely fallen off of the map.

So, the past month (this is the first post).

Birth of Jamis
I think it is pretty simple to mark out the single most important event over the past month. On April 6, 2009 Laura and I were blessed with the birth of our first child, a little boy. His name is Jamis and he’s now over one month old and the best thing to happen to the two of us. It is amazing how your perspective on life changes after the birth of a child, and it is just incredible.

Not much more to really say here except that Laura was incredible during the whole thing, and we could not be happier. Praise God for the blessings he has showered on us.

Moving Day(s) 2009
The end of my college career is quickly approaching, and with that came the need to move into different accomodations. To make a long story short, we found new renters for our apartment while we were still planning on moving to Wisconsin (a while ago). So, with their occupancy arriving, we were able to find a house to rent for the time being.

It is a little white house, and the past two weekends have been filled with packing, moving and now unpacking. It is hard enough moving across a town, I can’t imagine what it will be like when we one day move into a different town/state. A good portion of my family was able to help (including, at one point, three trucks, a van and two cars at the apartment) and that made everything go very smoothly.

We’re not settling in and feeling pretty good. The extra space is nice and we’ll fill it all up very quickly. We will miss our old apartment, but this is another small step forward for our family.

The End of College (for now)
Six days until graduation.

It has been a journey, and I would not change anything but I am also excited to move forward from here.

Cell Phone Saga
Currently I’m running Android 1.1, but I am planning on updating to 1.5 very soon. I needed to get my office set up and a lot of other things done before then, but with the extra time while not attending classes and (because of that) not working the evening shift at work, I’ll be able to get that done relatively soon.

The phone has been excellent, and more than once has saved me a headache or two by allowing me to look up things easily or get important messages easily. It was used extensively during labor to keep everyone updated on things and also send some early pictures of the little guy.

One solid phone and one solid purchase.

Jobs
This is, at the moment, still TBD. I’ll let everyone know more once I know more.

Closing
To close everything out, it has been an exciting last month. I’m hoping to comment more here at Bobnation.org, but I’ll need to try and find some time between taking care of a family, house, career and writing. Bah … I’ll find a way.

Posted in Journal | No Comments »

Android me this.

April 4th, 2009

I know I haven’t been posting much here on Bobnation.org, but I have a few good reasons. I’ll get into those reasons in the future, but right now I’m going to get started with some of my initial impressions of my Android phone.

First off, I have to admit that I come from a long line of crappy, cheap, no-cost phones that the cell phone carriers are more than willing to just toss at people to appease them. I’ve owned three Motorola phones and one Nokia phone with two being candybars and the others flip. Needless to say, I’ve been sorely disappointed by every phone (save the Nokia candybar which survived multiple times in a lake).

To say that the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1, Android Developer Phone 1, etc.) is a step up is a complete understatement. Before, I hated to even plunk out a text message because text messaging is a complete and total nightmare on most traditional cellphones.

As you can probably guess, most of my initial impressions are quite good. Actually, this is the best phone I have ever owned and probably the best, overall, I have ever used. I’ve had the priviledge of using both the iPhone and various Blackberry phones in the past, but so far I still have this phone on the top of my list.

I guess I should actually specify what I mean by the “phone.” The HTC Dream is really two separate entities: the HTC Dream hardware and the Android operating system. You need to keep the two separate at times because it can otherwise color your opinion in various ways. Of course, it is still the best phone I have owned or used, but your mileage may vary.

I’ll talk first about the phone hardware. While it is a nice phone, there are some problems. Two things pop out and are the two main deficiencies: battery life and size/weight.

The battery life, as I use the phone, can probably get my through at least a day and a half without the need of a charge. That is with some background processes, period checking of email/Twitter/etc., and more than a few calls due to my wife’s pregnancy. Not as bad as some were saying, but I also use my phone differently as well.

The size/weight could be seen as a problem. It is a ticker phone and also heavier than many current phones as well. Some might find that as a problem.

The size/weight is a trade off, though, for the slide-out keyboard, which I really enjoy. The keys are bigger than on a Blackberry, and it is physical, unlike the iPhone. Texts are no longer a major problem, and typing emails are a breeze. So, there is a reason.

Oh, there is also the problem with the absence of a 3.5mm jack. You have to use an adapter, or the supplied headphones/handless headset. That sucks.

However, the positives FAR outweigh the negatives. The phone works well as a phone! The calls are clear, the slider works well, the screen is GORGEOUS, and the provided buttons are useful and tactile. Along with being pretty, the screen is also very responsive and tough.

The operating system, while young, is well on its way to being quite the mobile powerhouse. Everyone is talking about the Palm Pre and the Pre vs. iPhone and Scala vs. Ruby … wait, not everyone is talking about the last one yet, that is for later. Needless to say, Android has kind of been left in the dust.

However, don’t be fooled. Cupcake (Android 2.0) is around the corner, and even Android 1.1 is a nice step up. I think that people are forgetting about Android and that ultimately, Android will become a significant player in the mobile area. That might just be a hopeful wish from me, but I see too much potential.

I will have a later post about the operating system, but so far I am quite pleased with my phone purchase.

Posted in Computers/Tech, Linux | No Comments »

Time to step into some kind of future.

March 18th, 2009

Alright, after more than two weeks of wrestling with my ridiculous Motorola RAZR, I’m letting her go. She’s served me .. well? Not really, the thing hasn’t been able to take a decent picture since I had it and for as long as I can remember I’ve had problems with calls while other people do not. Needless to say, I’m happy to be ridding myself of this thing.

htcdream

So that is what I am replacing it with. By the end of the week (hopefully) I should have the T-Mobile G1 in my hands and ready to go. It is a HUGE step up in functionality, and I’m looking forward to using it. I’m also hoping to start developing some apps in the future.

I will, of course, post more after it comes.

Posted in Computers/Tech, Linux | 3 Comments »

Three weekends … one project.

March 15th, 2009

Kitchen Project Photos

The above link will take you to my Flickr set for the kitchen project that we have been undertaking over the past three weekends. I didn’t get any photos from the first week when we cleaned out the entire house of all of the junk that was in there from the last tenants, but needless to say … it started out A LOT worse than the first pictures show. If you think the difference is huge with the photos I am able to show, just know that it was worse and that it is only going to continue to get better.

The second weekend consisted of painting the walls of the kitchen, and you’ll see pictures of that. My dad and brother were there to help with that. Laura and I did the taping and cleaning of the walls the night before so that things would go smoothly. One coat of paint and things were much better.

This weekend we undertook the largest part of the project, the laying of a new floor. We picked up the cheapest flooring from Ikea and then went to work. The floor actually goes down really easy once we figured out the best way to take care of it. I’ll write up a later post about exactly how laying the Ikea flooring goes.

I do have to hand out some thank yous to some people. My family has been great this entire time. Each weekend my mom, dad and brothers (mainly Kevin) have been out and helping with what they can. My Uncle Lee as well has been out and helping with things too, and I’ll be making sure to help him this summer as well. I also want to thank Grandma La for her help with the cleaning today and also both my Grandpa Gene and Grandma La for all of their support.

Most of all, I have to thank Laura for putting up with me. I can get into a “mode” where all I want to do is work on the house, and that doesn’t make things any easier for her. She’s been a help in so many ways with things, so thank you for all of your help … I couldn’t do this without you.

Next thing is to get the place cleaned up again and then continue to move stuff in as time permits.

Posted in Journal | 6 Comments »

A dying “friend.”

March 8th, 2009

My cell phone is dying. I don’t know how much time it has left with me, but it is coming short. Truth be told, it is more urgent now than ever to have a working cell phone because I don’t quite know when Laura is going to be calling about something rather important happening. So, I’m starting to seriously look for a new cell phone.

Because I need to pick up some flooring for our kitchen (at Ikea), I am hopefully going to stop at the T-Mobile store/kiosk at the Mall of America. We’ll see if I can land myself a G1.

Posted in Computers/Tech | No Comments »

A month to go.

March 1st, 2009

February was an interesting month, to say the least. Besides classes and work, February was the first month where I felt any sort of urgency to finally figure out a number of things. First, the general area where Laura and I are going to be staying after graduation. Second, where my place of employment is going to be after graduation (at least initially) and then lastly, where in the world we are going to live after graduation.

For the first part, it really came down to what the economy was going to do … and it tanked. Thus, the employment I thought I had lined up disappeared. As is often the case, stuff happens, so I was never upset about it, but it was nice to know that what I had planned was no longer a possibility so that I could pursue other avenues. Needless to say, New Ulm is going to continue to be our home for the short term (at least now). I’m still looking about to see what might be available, but right now New Ulm seems to be the place.

Second, I’m going to be continuing to work at Martin Luther College in, as far as I know, much the same capacity I am now. That is more than fine with me because I like both the people I work with and the work that I am doing. Mostly, I look forward to finishing classes to that I can continue to focus on strengthening my skills in other areas (I’m looking at you Ruby Programming Language).

Finally, our apartment is going ot be rented to new renters starting in June, so we needed to find a aplce to stay once we graduate. Luckily, there was an answer.

We are going to be renting a small house in town, which is great. The rent is more than reasonable, and the location is good. It actually has a deck attached to it along with a decently-sized yard. I like mowing lawn, so no problems there.

The house needs some work, but neither one of us is adverse to putting work into things. Yesterday we were able to get a lot of the junk out of the place and clean it up even a little bit. Now, this afternoon we are planning on shampooing the carpeting in the main living area and also wiping down the walls to prepare them for some painting.

The main area that needs work is the kitchen, and we are planning on replacing the floor with some cheap laminate flooring from Ikea. I will make sure to have pictures of me working so that it can be forever known that yes, Bob can be “handy” as well.

I will have a later post about the house, including some pictures as well so that you can see a little of what it is like. The main objective, as always, is to turn something into a “home” and I know that Laura will be able to do that.

The title, though, of the post focuses on the one-month mark until the birth of our son, Jamis Steven Martens. We are both very excited for his arrival, and are really looking forward to all of the time we’ll get with him.

It is amazing the charge in perspective you get when you have a baby on the way. I want to be able to provide a decent life for him, and I’m only hoping that somehow I can be able to do that.

That’s about it right now. Have a great week!

Posted in Journal | 4 Comments »

What is your desktop?

February 11th, 2009

No, this isn’t a question about what your background currently is, but looks at it from a more abstract level. What do you use your computer’s desktop for?

This came up tonight as I was doing some simple web editing and I found myself using the desktop as more of a blank … well … desktop. To put it simply, I used my desktop to store the work I was doing just at that moment. I didn’t keep launchers for certain applications or aliases to folders or files, but I used my FTP client to grab files, drop them on the desktop, and then I would use my text editor to just work on those files. I would add images there if I would be working on them, and everything I was working on was housed there.

After I was done, I would just use my FTP client to take everything from the desktop and shoot it over to its respective place on the client’s server.

So, how do you use your desktop?

Posted in Computers/Tech | 1 Comment »

Jibber v0.2.2 pushed out to the demo site.

January 31st, 2009

While working on v0.3.0 I ran into some things I just wanted to get out there quick, so I went back over to my “master” branch and pushed out some changes tonight. Most of it is “under the hood” stuff to clean up the code base and take care of some longer-standing problems that resulted from the removal of a feature.

You probably won’t notice anything different, but it is MUCH better in some areas than before.

http://jibber.bobmartens.net

Posted in Ruby and Rails | 1 Comment »

Settling on a testing framework for the moment.

January 30th, 2009

I’ve been debating testing frameworks for my Ruby programming again. I’ve finally decided on what I am going to use for Jibber, and I have settled on Shoulda, from the guys at thoughtbot. It extends the basic Test::Unit framework which ships with the Ruby language, but with a lot of extra stuff added on to make testing easier.

That’s it for the moment.

Posted in Ruby and Rails | 2 Comments »

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