Which USS Enterprise Has The Best Bridge?

Ok- get ready everyone.  This blog entry is going to be just about as geeky as they come!  Within it I will attempt to answer the question, which USS Enterprise had the best bridge design!

A disclaimer-- I do not claim to own any of these images!  I got many of them from this great website and resource for Star Trek technology research- www.ex-astris-scientia.org.

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (TOS)

First, let's take a look at the original, shall we?  Matt Jefferies' design for the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise is very impressive!  Using colorful lights that contrast against the shiny black consoles and bold red accents, he made this an exciting and colorful look at the future!  In fact, this original design has been used by the US military to plan special situation rooms and control centers.  The commander has a raised center seat that swivels giving him/her an unobstructed view of all the surrounding monitors and work stations. At the front (not seen in this illustration) is the main viewer - like a big screen TV.  This was an improvement on the original concept that called for a large window in the front of the bridge.  This window idea would later be used in the JJ Abrams universe.   

Verdict: A- I love this bridge!  It was the inspiration for so much... but the design has been improved upon over the years.  

More after the jump...

My Disney Side @Home Celebration Kit Arrived!!

Our Disney Side @Home Celebration kit came today!!  I'm super excited and humbled by this amazing gift from the Walt Disney Company!   Now we are all set to plan an amazing house warming party where our friends and we can show our Disney Side in style!

Here it is!  I got so excited when I saw that label!

Getting Impatient!

I've been obsessed all week about My Disney Side @Home Disney Celebration kit which is supposed to arrive sometime before the end of the month!   Each kit is supposed to be a little unique, but that hasn't kept me from obsessing over what other people have posted online about their kits!  Check out what these other hosts have posted here, here, and here!  AMAZING, RIGHT?

Now that Tim and I have finally found our new apartment, our Disney Side celebration will be a house warming party.  A few of our friends have kids, but this will be mainly an adult party.  I haven't settled on a theme yet.  At this point I'm just brainstorming.  Here are a few random thoughts from my notebook:

• Decorating with printed out Vintage Disney Attraction Posters? 
• Encouraging our guests to wear fun geeky Disney related costumes or t-shirts. I know our friends have Star Wars,  Muppets, & Marvel shirts!  
• Giving out pins as party favors?  We have a bunch from our last pin trading experience!
• Giving out Disney hotel soaps and shampoos guest gifts.  
• Recreating some park food like Popcorn, churros, mickey bars, Lafew’s Brew, Dole Whip
• Have Disney music playlist running in the bathroom ipod dock
• Have Disney movie playing in living room? 
• Vintage Mickey cartoons from a youtube playlist playing on an iPad in the kitchen? 
• Everyone gets to wear an ear hat from our collection for a fun photo op! 
• Play Disney Apples to Apples

Ohhh the possibilities!  

Well, as soon as my kit arrives I'll make sure to post lots of pictures!  :) 

Geek Club!

I’ve been watching a lot of Big Bang Theory lately-- in fact I’ve marathoned the whole show and now I’m caught up to the current season.  It’s such a fun show-- and very relatable!  It also makes me a little jealous.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have a “gang” of geeky friends who always have a board game night, a video game night, a comic book store night… etc.   We could even make a podcast together like Fun with Flags!  Haha! 


Something else got me to thinking about forming a “gang”.  I was listening to “The Disney Hipster Podcast” the other day when I realized something.  It’s clearly just 4 close friends who get together, drink and eat and talk about a shared interest every week or so.  They happen to record it and publish it as a podcast.   It’s basically a little club!  

I’m a member of a Star Trek fan club-- but it’s a correspondence chapter meaning we don’t actually meet in person we just communicate via e-mail, Facebook and the web.  While it should be fun to connect with people who also love Star Trek, I’ve found it to be a pretty empty experience.  My fellow club members live all over the country and all have such busy schedules.  We occasionally e-mail but the conversations never get too deep or interesting.  I also have a weird schedule so when they plan a “watch party” (an event where we all watch the same movie or episode and gather in a chat room to discuss) it’s usually when I’m working so I can’t do it.   We theatre folk have such strange schedules!

Anyway, I find myself fantasizing about starting my own little Star Trek fan club.  It would be small. Just a few close friends with a shared interest of Trek.  We’d gather once a month maybe- often at one of our apartments.  We’d eat together, drink and watch some Star Trek.  It could be a bit of a book club-- or comic book club too. Sometimes it would be game night and we could play “Star Trek Scene It” or “Star Trek Settlers of Catan”.  Ooo.. or we could play Klingon Boggle like they do on Big Bang Theory!  Haha!  

We could also start a roleplaying campaign!  I have everything you need to play the Star Trek tabletop roleplaying game that was published a few years ago.  It’s a little different than D&D but we could get the hang of it.  We could set up a whole fictional ship and roles and titles for the purpose of the roleplay-- that would be fun!  


Of course when the new JJ Abrams movie comes out in 2016 we’d go on opening day-- maybe in costume!  And then there’s conventions and comic cons… lots of outings that we could make.  

So yeah.  This is all just in my imagination.  Me and my Geeky friends.  Sounds fun right? Interested?  

Starting to Plan My Disney Side @Home Celebration Party!!

A couple weeks ago I filled out a survey / contest entry form to host an @Home Celebration party themed around the Show Your Disney Side campaign.  Well guess what!   Along with hundreds of others-- I WON!   Basically I've agreed to

• Host a gathering and invite friends to attend.
• Share my experience online via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, your personal blog, and any other available social media channels
• Participate in a short online survey after hosting your party, and share links to your social media posts.

And for that I'll get a @Home Celebration kit, containing party favors, decorations, games, activities, recipe ideas and special host gifts!   I can't tell you how excited I am!  I think most of the other winners have children.  It was organized by a BSM Media which focuses on mothers.  It's nice to see that they didn't discriminate, however and selected some childless Disney fan bloggers to participate as well.  

About the party itself-- it has to be in the last two weeks of February which is perfect for us!  We'll be moving at the first of the month and that gives us a couple weeks to get settled in before hosting the event.  I think it will be a house warming party as well. :) 

I'm eagerly waiting for my kit-- but in the mean time I'm getting some great theme ideas at http://www.disneysidecelebrations.com.  :)

[Image Credit: http://sugarnspice-life.com]

Mercy Killers

 

 I'm happy to announce that I am the Production Stage Manager for the Working Theatre & the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company's production of Michael Milligan's Mercy Killers- a new one-man play, in which "Joe struggles with the uniquely American experience of losing your health in the land of plenty."

If you're in the NYC area January & February 2014, make sure to come check out this 60 minute one-man play!  It is life changing. :)