aaron schwab

again, it’s been a few days; apologies to my audience.

a couple days ago, i went to the movies with Cagney, Anuj and Shanna to see the new Star Trek movie, the likes of which Anuj and Shanna had seen previously. the fact that they were willing to go see it a second time in theatres hinted to me that it must be good, although i walked out of the theatre at the end dismissing my initial understatement; this movie is absolutely fantastic. i actually thought it to be better than The Dark Knight, which i thought — and still think — is close to a perfect movie.

i’ve had little, if any, exposure to the original Star Trek TV series from the 1960s, and only marginal childhood exposure to The Next Generation, and i haven’t seen any of the older movies whatsoever. with the new movie, however, no prior knowledge of the franchise is necessary to understand the characters or plotline, as everything is explained from scratch without any presumptions. knowledge of prior events, such as actors who played certain roles in earlier incarnations of the franchise, is helpful on the basis of novelty.

as is the case with most science fiction movies, my suspension of disbelief was turned up to maximum capacity, but even so, i had to marvel at how the surfaces of several different planets, as well as the space in the upper atmosphere of one of them, were conveniently supportive of human (or Vulcan) life. i suppose that could easily be answered by saying the planets featured in the film are likely among the few in the reachable universe that have been deemed capable of supporting life in a similar capacity as earth, but it still got a bit of a raised eyebrow from me.

yesterday was a bit of a low-key band practice for Anuj and i only, as Kyle is away on tour with Broadcast Zero, from which he’ll be returning in July. even so, we managed to write a couple new riffs together, which surprised me, since i generally benefit largely from the presence of a drummer. before leaving the hall, we jammed through one of our completed songs, for which i played drums (and by “drums,” i mean “the one snare and floor tom that Kyle left behind.” needless to say there was a lot of tapping on the rim of either drum to substitute for a ride.) then last night, since Cagney and i seem to enjoy Anuj and Shanna’s company for movies so much, we had them over for two thirds of a Back To The Future trilogy marathon. unlike 24 hours ago, i can now say i’ve seen the original Back To The Future, and i can also say i understand several one-liners i’ve heard used in casual conversation that previously flew over my head (“great Scott!” comes to mind.) Cagney and i had to be up early this morning for this year’s JDRF walk, but we’ll fit the third movie into our schedules sometime soon, hopefully. also, props to the homemade cookies that Shanna brought over.

as for right now, Cagney’s out for lunch with an old highschool friend, and i need to pay our rent adn go pick up some beer for Andrew’s barbecue tonight. plus it’s too nice out to sit inside; maybe i’ll go find a bench to read on.