Here are some photos from the Star Trek movie double feature yesterday at the State Theatre. It was dark and the camera was set to low-resolution, so these are not the best photos.
During the time before the movies started, they had a Star Trek logo on the screen: Andy Rooney last night talked about his comment that there were no theatre organs anymore. Well, there was one with a live organist playing before the movies:
The title to the movie, which was accompanied by the lush James Horner soundtrack music:
Khan himself, about to pull an alien earwig out of the tank: One of the infamous alien earwigs about to enter Chekov's ear: The famous scene when Kirk yells KHAAAN! The audience all cheered when he did this. You can visit the web site http://www.khaaan.com/ to see the scene:
There is a new commercial on TV I really like. It is a Visa commercial that features music from one of the best albums of all time, "Days of Future Past" by the Moody Blues. The song is "Tuesday Afternoon". I did this post on the poem in the album a couple of years ago. The poem begins "Breathe, deep, the gathering gloom". Many of you probably know it. Still more probably know the song right before the poem, "Nights in White Satin". The commercial also features aquariums. I like going to aquariums when I travel, and so does Ananda girl. She has blogged about them recently.
The movies are Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (3:30) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (5:30). And they are free.
Thursday is Vampire Night. I like Twilight and was thinking of seeing it, but I am not in the "Twihard" category. But it looks like that this free movie is "sold out" thanks to all the dratted Twihards. The 2nd vampire movie is Let the Right One In. It is supposed to be good. Has anyone seen this one?
The remains of the winter.... This is what is left of the snow, as seen on the floor of a dense forest. The medical hospital is in the background. The snow is a hard crust a few inches deep.
And here the local asylum can be seen, in particular the section that has been abandoned for 30 or 40 years. This all will be a lot whiter tomorrow after the snowstorm rolls in tonight, but that should all melt off pretty soon after.
Welcome to another post in the "Friday Fish Postcard Fry" series. The postcard below is from 30+ years ago. The printing on the back says: "On U.S. 41 in Venice, Florida. Overlooking beautiful Venice Bay. Specializing in fresh Florida seafoods -- steaks -- and chicken. Enjoy your favorite cocktail in air conditioned comfort. Dock space and complete Marina Service available."
I've been to Venice, Florida, but I've not been to this restaurant. Venice, Florida is nothing like Venice, Italy. Fisherman's Wharf still exists: click here to see a more recent photo.
Up the Gulf coast of Florida around Bradenton is Fast Eddie's. Their slogan is "Warm Beer, Lousy Food". Yes, really. I ate there once. I have no idea how the beer was, but the food is definitely not lousy. I think I had seafood. I have very few matchbooks, but this is one I somehow ended up with.
The name of "Fisherman's Wharf" inspires an obvious visual pun, seen below. After posting about Mr. Spock yesterday, I can do no less:
Actually, it is Leonard Nimoy's birthday, and he once reminded us that he is not Spock. Still, Spock that is what he is most famous for.
The postcard below is of the Park Place Dome in Traverse City, Michigan. At one time, Leonard Nimoy performed in a play here. I was not in town at the time, so I did not get to see him. But I did get one of the playbills for the play he was in. I think I still have it somewhere.
The New York Times happens to have an article about Nimoy's play at the Cherry County Playhouse:
Scratch a network news guy, find a thespian. When John Hockenberry was a senior in high school in Grand Rapids, Mich., he got the acting bug. Working as an intern at the Cherry County Playhouse in Traverse City, Mich. he ended up with the part of a grocery boy in a production of "6 Rms Riv Vu," with Leonard Nimoy. Of his path-crossing with Mr. Nimoy, Mr. Hockenberry said, "Before he came, they warned us: 'None of you are to ask anything about Spock!' "
Little did Mr. Hockenberry, a former National Public Radio correspondent, know that he, like Mr. Nimoy, would become a recognizable television face; he is a reporter on NBC's "Dateline."
I guess if I had been in the crew for this play, I just can't imagine getting away with not asking Leonard Nimoy about Spock. By 1974, I was a full-blown Trekkie. I know one of my readers has met William Shatner, but I do not remember if she met Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy's play was during the summer of 1974. You can see the listing of the plays and who was in them in this link. While I did not see Nimoy in 1974, I did see Troy McClure in 1976, in "A Thousand Clowns". Oh wait, that was Doug McClure. I get the two confused now, and probably Troy McClure is more famous than Doug by this time.
"I am not Spock", said Leonard Nimoy. "And it is highly illogical of humans to assume so."
"Star Trek" has been kind of moribund lately, since the cancellation of the TV series "Star Trek: Enterprise". "Battlestar Galactica" stepped in to steal its thunder for a while, but that series has just ended. And now it looks like it is time for "Star Trek" again.
First, the State Theatre in Traverse City, Michigan is having a schedule of free movies during Spring Break. Yes, free movies. The free movies start this Friday, March 27, and end on April 3. They have four days of "The Lord of the Rings" They have themes for certain nights, including vampires, "Terminator", and chick flicks. And yes, there is a "Star Trek" night. On Sunday, March 29, they will have a double-feature of Star Trek II and Star Trek VI: "The Wrath of Khan" and "The Undiscovered Country". I'm glad they chose even-numbered "Star Trek" movies. I might go to see this. After all, how long has it been since any of us has seen "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" on the big screen?
I want to be there for the premiere of this one, and hobnob with the fans and all that. I think I've gone to the first night of most or all of the previous "Star Trek" movies. But now I'm not sure whether or not to go to the midnight movie at 12:01 AM of May 8, or the one that evening around 7:00, which is movie "prime time"? Which will be the best one to go to?
I hope the Klingons turn out again. The last time I saw them at a "Star Trek" premiere, the Klingons were out for blood. As in, they were recruiting for a blood drive.
Finally, click here for a link to an article about someone's effort to make a new "Star Trek" TV series. According to the article, "I told my agent and told the people of J.J. Abrams' team I want to create another 'Star Trek' series and have an idea that I’m kicking around," acclaimed TV writer Bryan Fuller said in an IF Magazine story posted March 2. "I would love to return to the spirit of the old series with the colors and attitude. I loved 'Voyager' and 'Deep Space Nine,' but they seem to have lost the ‘60s fun and I would love to take it back to its origin.". I looked up Fuller, and found that he has written many episodes for "Heroes", "Dead Like Me", "Star Trek: Voyager", and other shows.
Today I went to get a photograph of an old ruin in town: a mink farm. This abandoned mink farm had been mouldering away for decades, just west of what I had called "the former Yugo dealership" off of Garfield in Traverse City, Michigan; south of the end of Arbutus Court, in a grove of trees.
I figured I would photograph the ruin while it was still there, and it would be a good time to do this, because the snow is melted away and the brush and trees had not leafed out.
However, I went there and was surprised to find that the mink farm was gone, along with the grove and brush. All has been cleared. I think it must be to expand the parking lot for the auto dealer or something.
I'd thought to get a picture of this for the past few years, but now I am too late. The lesson being, if you want to get a picture of something that might vanish, don't put it off.
The title to this post is inspired by John Keats' "Ode to a Grecian Urn". I considered writing or adapting some sort of poetry concerning a vanished mink farm, but I am not much of a poet. But so you won't be too disappointed, here is part of the actual poem:
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? what maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
I have seen poet John Keats' home in Rome. I also know him because his poetry was the inspiration for the series of novels called "Hyperion Cantos" by Dan Simmonds. This is one of the two best science-fiction series I have ever read.
The two images of this post are of mink-related postcards. The first one is from Paw Paw, Michigan, and the caption reads "The first mink in 4 years". Is this a mink hunter? The second one shows a woman in a mink coat. Both of the cards are about 100 years old.
Ron Jolly and Kimber Bilby reported on the radio that it is ChakaKhan's birthday. She was born on March 23 in Illinois. Below is a tribute video set to the song "I Feel for You". The song was actually written by Prince, but was made famous by Chaka Khan and her band. The repetition of Chaka Khan's name was actually a sequencing mistake made during the production of the song, and they ended up keeping it.
The tribute video is actually a tribute to Chaka and Khan, not Chaka Khan...
The third television series (out of four) in the "Battlestar Galactica" franchise ended Friday night. I've been thinking of working up a post concerning it, but for the time being, I'll give this link to a review of it I just read at "Time" magazine: click here. It covers everything, I think, mentioning things I wondered about and bringing up some points raised in the two or three posts by other bloggers I read, along with much more... many other points, many of which I agree with.
The picture on the right is a joke picture that is floating around: an "old-school" Cylon complaining of being replaced by the sharp-and-deadly-looking CGI Cylons of the new "Battlestar Galactica" revision. He would be pleased to know that in the "Battlestar Galactica" finale, old-school Cylons like him appear... rendered in CGI.
Coming soon is the next series in the franchise, called "Caprica". There was an intruguing ad for "Caprica" aired during the finale for "Battlestar Galactica". It features a big city with subway trains in it (do they have graffiti?), and men in fedoras who say "Frak". "Caprica" won't be the first TV series taking place in a world a lot like, but not just like, our own. It looks like the new show "Kings" has already beaten it to the punch. I can't think of other shows like this. I'm not counting shows like "Sliders" and "Fantastic Voyage", because those took place in a sort of meta-verse that included many different worlds similar to ours... a situation different from a show like "Kings" or "Caprica" that is rooted in one such a place and develops it beyond the confines of a single episode. Maybe some of my other readers can remember shows like this.
Today is the release date for the DVD of "Twilight". Usually, DVD's are released on Tuesdays but they chose to release this one on Saturday.
Below is a postcard of the harbor in La Push, Washington, setting for some of "Twilight". There is one person in the postcard. Since La Push is in a Indian reservation, it might be a Quileute Indian. The postcard was published in the mid-20th century by the "Milwaukee Road "railroad. This railroad ran from Chicago to the Seattle area, and a map can be found here.
The caption on the back reads:
"Rugged and impressive is the natural beauty of the Olympic Peninsula, across Puget Sound from Seattle and Tacoma. Primitive and unspoiled, it has fine highways and excellent resorts. It is the outdoorsman's paradise."
I have other postcards of the Milwaukee Road railroad in the Mississippi River valley. These include "Hiawatha" postcards. The "Hiawatha" trains of the Milwaukee Road had the logo seen to the right (image from Wikipedia). In the Milwaukee Road, "there were actually four routes carrying the Hiawatha name, Chicago-Minneapolis; Chicago-Omaha; Chicago-Wausau-Minocqua; and Chicago-Minneapolis-Seattle." A modern-day Amtrak route still bears the Hiawatha name.
The Hiawatha logo would appear to be a cross between a rendition of the Roman god Mercury and a Native American with a streamlined-back version of a Plains-style feather headdress (see this image of a Pontiac car Indian-head hood ornament for an example of something similar)
My "Lenten" series of posts that contain Fish and Fishing-related Postcards continues with this entry on Cleveland, Ohio. The first shows sport fisherman and their catch. The card is likely from the 1960s or 1970s. Fairport Harbor is on Lake Erie a little ways east of Cleveland.
The second one is from Captain Frank's Dock. According to the Cleveland Memory website, "Captain Frank's Sea Food House May be reached by land, sea, or air. On Cleveland's E. 9th Pier, adjacent to the Downtown Airport, and only 300 ft. from ballgames at Cleveland Stadium. While waiting for the finest, most delightful dinner on Lake Erie's Shores, Cap'n Frank invites you for a ride on his yacht. Varied menu features fresh fish, caught from Cap'n Frank's boats. Ample parking. For reservations, call PR1-4900. " If you go to the website, there are three other postcards, each showing mouth-watering seafood dishes. Unfortunately, it appears that Cap'n Frank's is nothing but a Cleveland memory now. I can find nothing else about it in a Google search.
Readers have wondered my impressions of Cleveland, Ohio. Someone told me before I went that all they knew about the city was "Drew Carey and the River of Fire". So here is the most famous of the several intros for the "Drew Carey Show", "Cleveland Rocks":
Here are my impressions, along with a couple of the many photos I took when I was there.
I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a smaller grungier city. Like Flint, Michigan. Cleveland listed a 2000 population of 478,403. In contrast, Detroit has a population of 916,952, about twice as much. Yet, Cleveland seems much bigger than Detroit, and closer to Chicago than to Detroit. We drove for miles through the heart of downtown and found what was a relatively-vibrant area, with most of the storefronts and businesses appearing to be occupied. And the street was good. In contrast, I can't think I've ever found an area like that in Detroit. In Detroit, I've been on streets that stretch for miles and most of the businesses are boarded up and the streets seem like WW1 trench warfare was fought on them.... with plates of battleship armor tossed loosely in places to cover gaping potholes. I'm sure that Cleveland has its very bad areas, but I did not see them. And its good areas seemed much much larger than anything Detroit has.
The schedule was tight, and I really ended up seeing nothing more than the Cleveland art museum (more on that in a later post) and the Cleveland Clinic. I barely glimpsed the Cuyahoga River when driving over it. I think the bridges are high enough so that if the river catches flame again, cars won't roast. I did not see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, nor did I get more than a glimpse of Lake Eric. I did not see Drew Carey's house, but I did get picture driving by the row-houses of the "Old Brooklyn" neighborhood where he used to grow up. Plenty more to see later.
So, now is the time to comment on all things Cleveland. To let forth a burning river of comments.
The question for the trivia contest "Northern Michigan Trivia" on the Ron Jolly program with Kimber Bilby was an audio clue this time. The clue was few seconds from Jimi Hendrix' cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower". The question? What was the name of an author of adventure novels who lived on Lee Point near Suttons Bay, Michigan
"The writing career of James B. Hendryx spanned five decades, ending with his death in 1963. Hendryx was born in 1880 in Sauk Center, Minnesota, the same town that reared his best friend’s younger brother, novelist Sinclair Lewis. The outdoors and the frontier drew Hendryx, and he lived and worked in the American West and Yukon cow punching, gold prospecting, among other activities. These experiences provided the inspiration for his stories of Canadian Mounties, gold prospectors, and frontier justice. "
I'd not heard of him before, and I have yet to read his books. Also, I have no idea if friends called him Jimmy, or if he could play guitar. As for James B. Hendryx and watchtowers, I am not aware of any lighthouses at Lee Point or in Suttons Bay. But there is the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, located a little ways north of Suttons Bay at the tip of Leelanau Peninsula. It is seen below in this 1910 postcard image from the National Archives:
The song "All Along the Watchtower" is most famous in its Jimi Hendrix version. Many even think it was originally by Hendrix. Neil Young has even recorded it. However, the song was originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan. The version that I think of the most, lately, however is the Bear McCready version which features prominently in the new "Battlestar Galactica". It is not just part of the soundtrack since the end of the previous season, it is also part of the plot now. The song itself is a sort of "earworm" in the show that calls to and plays in the heads of certain characters. The final two-part episode airs tomorrow evening on the Scifi channel, and I think that the situation with the song and Starbuck is the last major mystery to be revealed before the show airs. If they do reveal it.
A fan-made "Battlestar Galactica" Youtube video that features the eerie sitar-laden McCready cover of "All Along the Watchtower" is below.
Does anyone else have a song in their head lately, and is anyone else enjoying "Battlestar Galactica"?
Here is some spillover from the St. Patrick's Day topic.
Below is a card of Beaver Island. Beaver Island is located in Lake Michigan, and bills itself as the "Emerald Isle", and is quite Irish in ways. The card shows the King's Highway, which was named after the king. Yes, the island had a king.
Here is a row of three bars in Traverse City, Michigan. I took this picture last Sunday. They have all been there for a long time now. I am sure that they were featured in the annual "pub crawl" yesterday. Not being a drinker, I've not participated. The one on the left is Union Street Station. It has its own myspace page now. A lot of bands come there to play. At one point, I knew the guy who owned it a long time ago. I was in there once years ago to see a band a friend liked. It is the only one of these three I have been in. It used to be caled the Cabaret. To the right of it, in the middle, is "Bootlegger's". On the end, to the right, is "Dillinger's Pub". They have shamrocks in the window to get ready for St. Patrick's Day.
Further south on Union Street is Brady's Bar. It is also an Irish place. Note the neon shamrocks in the sign, always there whether or not it is St. Patrick's Day. I have been in this one to eat lunch on a Sunday. The chicken sandwich was good, but the place smelled very smokey even though no-one had likely smoked in it since closing time very early that morning.
South of Traverse City in Interlochen you have Clancy's Kitchen Family Restaurant. On St. Patrick's Day, they advertised corned beef and cabbage. You can just barely see a shamrock in their green scrolling light-sign to the right in the photo.
Here is my St Patrick's Day post. It is the third one today: don't miss the other ones below. Did you remember to wear green today? And if you did not, did you get pinched?
First I have a Youtube video from Mike Oldfieid's Irish/Celtic themed album "Voyager". The track is an instrumental called "Women of Ireland", and the video creator set the music to scenes from a "Final Fantasy" videogame:
I don't have many postcards of Ireland. Among the few that I have are three of the Waterford Crystal place which is shown on a map on the back of the postcards to be along the soutbern shore of Ireland. I've scanned this in at high resolution, so if you click on them you will get much larger pictures so you can see the crystal detail:
I'm not the leat bit Irish. Nor have I been to Ireland, nor do I have a great desire to (there are several other countries I'd probably visit first). Have any of my readers been there, or even live there now?
I read on Aintitcool.com last night that the Scifi channel has changed its name to Syfy. Syfy?? It makes no sense to me. But I've had the impression that the Scifi channel has been going down hill for a long time. They started out with a lot of convention features and actual science fiction news. But it seems like for years now they rely way too much on made-for-TV movies about villages being attacked by CGI monsters. Although, I do admit, I find the name of one of them, "Mansquito",to be amusing. Now, if only they made "Mant" into a real movie! Not only that, they also show a lot of wrestling. Yes, wrestling. Now, for science-fiction fans, wrestling can OK as long as it involves wrestlers in rubber monster suits who kick cardboard-dollhouse buildings as badly-dubbed Japanese actors run around, as in this movie. But on the Scifi channel wrestling shows, they don't even bother with that.
For a while, it seemed that the Stargate shows were the "flagship" of Scifi channel. Then "Battlestar Galatica" was. But that is ending this week. So, will Scifi be rudderless until the next Stargate or Galactica franchise shows start up?
- You accidentally leave your coat at church or some such place because it was cold enough to wear it when you got there but warm enough to go home without it at the end of the service.
- Your snow shovels and ice scrapers are busted and worn out.
- The roads that were smooth and paved with layers of snow and ice are now rough and nearly impassable again because they are down to the pavement level.
- As the ice melts off the lakes, your friends in the sheriff department tell you that this is the season when the bodies float up.
- The snowbanks have melted off enough so that the cat who came home without her tail in the middle of the winter is now able to find her tail and carry it home to you in her mouth (Yes, this happened to a friend)
- You don't have to worry so much about slipping and falling on ice, but instead worry about slipping and falling in mud
- Your friends and relatives in the green south have already started their gardens, but all you can do is tell them about the hard ground and nightly killer frost.
- Your neck gets sunburnt shoveling snow
- You feel the exhileration of speed now that your car can go faster than 15 mph without worrying about sliding on ice off into the ditch.
- You drive by thawing lakes and see forgotten ice-fishing shanties half sunk through
- You now see potholes large enough to swallow a Buick. Any other suggestions? Or signs of spring where it's not so cold?
An update on movies at Michael Moore's State Theatre in Traverse City, Michigan.
"Frost/Nixon" is now playing, Michigan. I'm not a big fan of Nixon movies. This one stars Frank Langella, perhaps best known for portraying Dracula in the late 1970s. Hard to imagine the man in the photo to the right as Nixon, isn't it? But good makeup, 30 years of aging, and what I have heard is good acting apparently has taken Langella most of the way to becoming Nixon in this movie.
The posters below the marquee list upcoming movies. The one on the left is "Frozen River",which involves the river crossing between Canada and New York on Mohawk Indian land. The river is the St. Lawrence River, seen in the 100-year-old postcard to the left (the Thousand Islands area). We already had "Frozen River" at the theatre this past summer.
The other movie is Revolutionary Road, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as characters named Frank and April (instead of Jack and Rose). I hear this one is pretty good. Most will remember these two from "Titanic", of course. A 1912 postcard of the Titanic appears below.
Today's "Saturday Scavenger Hunt" word is "Treat".Churlita chose it this time. For the picture, I went and got one of Leone's Frosty Treat on 14th Street in Traverse City, Michigan (near Thirlby Field). It has been there at least since the end of the 1970s, I'm pretty sure. I've been there many times over the years. For a while, it was called Wares' Frosty Treat, but now it is Leone's again. Also, they have free wifi along with the usual cones and malts and sodas of many flavors.
But, I do wonder, who wants to go get a ice-cream treat when the temperature is in the 20s and there are snow mountains around the edge of the parking lot?
The postcard to the right advertises Royal Ice Cream, a treat from a hundred years ago.
The "treat" word also reminds me of an old school friend. His initials were KGB. He had a saying that I always found witty: "The KGB would like to remind you to next time you are in Siberia, stop by for a nice frozen treat!"
Fans of vintage rock can treat themselves to a listen of Carlos Santana's "Treat", recorded in 1970:
Finally, for your enjoyment below is an Amazon carousel of links to films starring actor Treat Williams:
Today's "Friday Fish Postcard Fry" postcard is from the Hot Fish Shop in Winona, Minnesota. This is one of many postcard and things I have from this place (including an ashtray, a menu and a book someone wrote about the place). I also have some double-tall postcards obtained from the restaurant closing auction/sale. Click here for someone else's blog post about the Hot Fish Shop. Blogger Tom McMahon said that it was probably restaurant in the world (probably) to have a big portrait of Pope John Paul II in the lobby, right as you come in. The people who founded it and ran it were very Catholic, and very Polish. It was located on the southeast corner of Winona, near Sugar Loaf, the hospital, and near the new Unity Park which hosts the annual Dakota Homecoming gathering of Sioux Indians in the summer (photo on the right is from the Dakota Homecoming Committee website)
I like this style of "linen" postcard with garish colors. Often in these cards, the cars are colored like gumdrops, as in this one.
The restaurant was open for many decades, and finally closed in 1999. The land is now currently occupied by a Dairy Queen. The tartar sauce, however, lives on. It is the best tartar sauce I've ever had. You can look into buying it by clicking on this link. Also, it is served in some restaurants, including Slippery's up the river in Wabasha.
The cuisine is described as "Mexican" at web sites. I am pretty sure that "Comida" means "Lunch" in Spanish, so the bottom part of the sign says something like "Spanish Lunch". Wouldn't they have been better off painting "Mexican Restaurant" on the sign instead of "Restaurant with Spanish Food"? This has to be the first time I've seen Mexican food called "Spanish". I can't imagine this is correct at all, and that the food of Spain has to be very different from Mexican food.
I noticed that they left the name of the restaurant off the sign. Also, I'm kind of leary of restaurants with garage-sale-style hand-painted signs, and the "Gas Man Use Side Door" and other instructions seem a step below graffiti. But I do like how the paint has flaked off the brown door (seen in the lower right). Doesn't it look like the outline of a guy form the waist up, wearing a black collar? Kind of elegant, like a tux. Too bad it wasn't an apparition of the Virgin Mary: that might improve business.
Andy Rooney last night talked about his comment that there were no theatre organs anymore. Well, there was one with a live organist playing before the movies:
The title to the movie, which was accompanied by the lush James Horner soundtrack music:
One of the infamous alien earwigs about to enter Chekov's ear:
The famous scene when Kirk yells KHAAAN! The audience all cheered when he did this. You can visit the web site http://www.khaaan.com/ to see the scene:
One of the infamous alien earwigs about to enter Chekov's ear:
. Still, Spock that is what he is most famous for. 
. The track is an instrumental called "Women of Ireland", and the video creator set the music to scenes from a "Final Fantasy" videogame:
I like this style of "linen" postcard with garish colors. Often in these cards, the cars are colored like gumdrops, as in this one. 
