Captain, My Captain

Time to bring out a little geek. It's been a while and. There's no "and". This is my blog and I'll blog what I want! Today kids, is a sequel of sorts. You may recall I wrote an entry a while back about the Star Wars vs Star Trek feud, when I declared Babylon 5 the winner.

Today however, B5 doesn't win. So let's get to it. Who's the best Captain? So my Browncoats will hate this, but Mal is the first I'll knock down. He's a bad dude, but only a Captain in the technical sense as he's the employer and owns Serenity. That's it. Done deal. He's gone.

Next up. Star Wars. Sure there's some captain's. But none we truly know as a captain or really care about. We know them as jedi, princess, scoundrel, droids, sith, and wookies. So my Death Star just blew that universe away. Moving on.

Sadly B5 is next on the chopping block. This might be enough to drive Garibaldi back to the booze. We see some great captain's here. And we see a lot of them die. But the ones that live are career and fate driven to move up and out. They become ambassadors, presidents, etc. They just keep moving to other pastures. While it's great, we just couldn't hold on to our captain's out there. Even commanders were subject to the same fate.

Next up Trek. We have a ton of captain's here, and that's just on the Federation's side alone. Picard, Janeway, Sisko, eventually even Sulu made the seat. Admit it, you still giggle at the memory of Christian Slater getting yelled at. But the first captain, not the pilot Kirk, but Shatner is my Captain. He gave life to the breed of Captain we expect today. I say Shatner, not just Kirk, because no other Captain has given so much of himself to the seat.  Picard could give a run for his money, but Patrick Stewart himself has noted that one TNG was surprising in that it didn't fail, when he expected it to. And two, it was merely a great part in his career. Which makes sense after his various successes.

But Shatner, Kirk, has a life in the chair. So many great series, and worlds but he comes back. TJ Hooker, TekWar, Boston Legal, and so many memorable moments. But he was always in the chair. His addition in the world of books shows his love and devotion to the chair. Even when Kirk was promoted, he found his way back to the Captain's chair. His advise to Picard, "don't let them take that chair away". And to this day there is still interest in being part of one last journey on the big screen as Kirk.

Just as Kirk man handled the Kobayahi Maru, Shatner has defied the only being the Captain for a while. Instead he's turned the odds around and given us more than could be expected of a character, a writer, an actor, and himself. Shatner is the Captain.

So hopefully Ivanova doesn't whoop me too bad when she and the Captain are in town for the Albuquerque Comic Con next week.

Resolution for Life

Happy New Year! So it's day 1 and many of you have a resolution of some sort. Some are saying, "not me."

For most it's some vain, petty thing that won't last long. Examples include: lose weight, stop smoking, work less. Let's admit it. Most won't stick to a resolution past saying it.

Here's the "but". I have a recommendation for everyone's resolution. It's incredibly simple. And it's something everyone should be doing anyway.

"Be a better me"

Yup, that's it. We all have things we have trouble with, and struggle to overcome. In the USMC we say, "know yourself and seek self-improvement." It's a must.

Now, I'm not saying to become a fitness freak, or to put out that cigarette. I'm not saying to stop cursing, or to go to church. What this resolution calls for is baby steps. It's a day at a time. And you will have moments that will cause you to stumble and fall. That's ok. Just get back up. Smile. And start again. Do your best. And then tomorrow, you'll do even better. The best part of this is the fact that it's not just a new years resolution. It's that this can and should be a resolution for life.

Can you imagine how much better the world would be if everyone committed to this? Are you up to the challenge?