Super Awesome Blog

I was doing a search for “HRC” on Google… and surprisingly got a little rainbow flag under the search box.  A little research and I found out that the gay-friendly people at Google apparently put a little pride bar under certain search terms, like Drag Queen, Stonewall, Gay, Gay Marriage, and HRC!    Thanks Google!!

Yep. We’re on Twitter. You can follow us at: http://twitter.com/superawesomeweb .

Enjoy!

Good question!   The answer is lame but true:  busy ! We lost a couple people at work a few months back and that means a LOT more work for everyone else.  No complaints though – I like money!

Here’s what to expect in the next few postings:

• Why Star Trek Online didn’t live up to the hype.  The picture on the right is only the tip of this rather disappointing iceberg…
• *New* GURPS compatible Hex Maps!
• Some new GURPS tools
• Jesus photoshops. Really.

That and whatever else I find on the internet that I think might be interesting to you, dear readers. Stay tuned!

An employee at insurance mega-corp Aviva in Iowa has apparently been embezzling millions of dollars over the last few years.  It’s the biggest case of its kind in Iowa history according to the Des Moines Register, but that wasn’t what caught my eye when I read the story. Phyllis Stevens, the employee involved, has a female spouse and claims to be head of Marriage Equality USA’s Iowa division.

F-ing fantastic.

The last thing the gay movement needs are its leaders embezzling money and looking untrustworthy.  I literally rolled my eyes when I read it… and I can only imagine what conservatives in the state, and possibly even national scene, will make of it. When you read the story’s comment section at the Register you’ll get a good preview of what biggots out there have to think about it:

"The person commenting that the moral fiber of our country is coming apart at the seams is totally right on! Who can spell ACORN? This is ALL the result of throwing (by means of the courts) Godly Virtues out of the window. Whether or not you believe in God is of no matter when it comes to following Natural Law and until enough people in this country realize that we are headed down a path of moral destruction, these types of stories will become everyday occurrences. Fifty years ago, who would have thought we would have had homosexual marriage? Progress, I think not, just more evidence of the decay inherent in us when we don’t consult God!"

–CaliRefugee at the DM Register

After all, straight married people don’t commit crimes…    Sigh.

There’s a Starbucks in my office building so I usually have something there everyday.  Yesterday the Barista told me I should try a sample of their new product, Starbucks Via.  The new creation is a packet with instant coffee in it… but not just normal instant coffee… magical instant coffee that tastes just like a cup of real Starbucks brewed coffee!  Does it live up to the hype?  In a word, no.

I found it to be pleasant at first, but on the finish you’re left with a chalky, acrid taste that doesn’t go away.  I made a few cups, stirring a LOT to make sure I didn’t leave any residue but each time I ended up with the same thing.  That said, it is better than I remember a lot of other instant coffee’s to be.  So if you happen to like instant coffee, maybe you should try this out.

In GURPS terms, you get an immediate and probably permanent -3 reaction from me (and most other gay people) if you use “Gay” as a pejorative.  For example:

“I just got fired.”

“That’s pretty gay.”

A Barista at Starbucks recently told me something similar was gay while he was making a drink, and I’ve pretty much written him off my list of people I care about – I give him the cold shoulder now.  Now, if the Barista was saying “Rufus Wainwright is pretty gay” (he is of course) in a positive sense, then I could see it.  But the kind of negative connotation implied by his usage basically says “being gay is a negative.”

Harsh? Maybe. But to me using the “Gay” negatively is like using the “N” word.  It’s unacceptable, always.

Star Trek fans have a bad reputation of living up to the word fan, derived from “fanatic.”   So Star Trek films get a bad reputation as being something for the “crazies,” films that are outside the mainstream, though (thankfully for Paramamount) there are enough crazies to make feature length Star Trek films worth making.  I consider myself one of this lot, although “Trekker” or “Trekkie” is a more polite term.

Over the last two decades I’ve watched Star Trek blossom into such amazing acheivements as The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, fade into Voyager and decay further into an ill conceived idea called “Enterprise.”  With “Star Trek: Nemesis” I was almost certain that it was all over for Star Trek – it seemed that all the creative juice had been sapped and the stories had become zombies of previous creative effort.

The folks at Paramount smelled death on a precious franchise. With only two options available, retire it forever or do a Galactica style reboot, the studio chose the easier option (after all, the last time Star Trek got cancelled a massive letter drive from die-hard fans resurrected the original series for a third and final season.

Because of the unique nature of Star Trek as a franchise it’s not really fair to give it only one review: the film is going to be something different to the action film loving movie-goer, which I consider myself,  than its’ going to be to the core of Star Trek fans, of which I’m also a member.  Thus I present you with my two reviews for Star Trek (2009):

WARNING: Contains Spoilers.

Star Trek (Everyone Besides Fans)

Rotten Tomatoes gives Star Trek 96%. That’s a fantastic rating, and it’s deserved.  Star Trek is everything you might want Summer Blockbuster to be: exciting, quick moving, interesting with good acting and a good story. If you want a fun movie to see this summer, this is it.  Star Trek has something for everybody, and the acting is excellent.

The techno-babble is at a minimum this time around, and plot devices are merely that: plot devices. No need to explain that the time distortion is a quantum fillament tear transiting subspace, etc. Probably the best Star Trek film for the masses ever made.  Seriously.

Star Trek (Fans)

Something feels wrong. It starts when the young James T. Kirk is driving in his car and you hear a very anachronistic sound: a Nokia phone ring.  The one that goes “do do do do do do do do do do do do doooooo.”   Kirk looks down at the digital display in the car, and sees a Nokia logo.  Later someone orders a Budweiser product at a bar.

The stickler would point out that after World War III (which happens in the Star Trek continuum) Nokia and Budweiser probably wouldn’t exist anymore, let alone currency of any kind (humans give it up in the future.) I don’t have a problem with a phone ring or a beer, I have a big problem with Nokia and Budweiser, and all the other horribly blatant advertisements starting out the movie. It put me in a bad frame of mind for the rest of the entire film. It does get better from there though.

The plot has a great number of issues in the form of plot holes, which I won’t go into. Simply put if you vested any feeling in what Star Trek was, you’re probably going to have some problems with this movie.

The Final Analysis

Star Trek 2009 isn’t old Star Trek, it’s new Star Trek. It’s a good movie, but it’s different. If you’re willing to let the past be the past you’ll like this movie even if you’re a Star Trek fan, everyone else should probable just like it from the start.  The “look” is also garish and jarring at times. I couldn’t count the number of Lens Flares, and the bridge of the Enterprise looks like an Apple Store, and the equipment like iTech.

In the final analysis however, it was either this or a tombstone.  Star Trek needs some fresh blood, and this is it.  I couldn’t help thinking that this isn’t the kind of Star Trek that Gene Roddenberry would like.  “But Super Awesome Blog Guy, Majel Barret Roddenberry liked it! She even did the computer voice!”

She also liked “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda.” Shudder.

Also, the new Kirk (Chris Pine) is really hot, and you get to see him in his underwear. How could I complain that much? Go see Star Trek and enjoy the movie, and let’s hope the movies only get better from here!

CNN reports that “Miss California,” or Carrie Prejean by her mortal name, will star in an upcoming National Organization for Marriage (NOM) ad against gay marriage.  If you didn’t hear, Prejean said the following in response to a question from Perez Hilton regarding wether every state should legalize gay marrage:

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman.”

Perez later roasted her on her own site, and you can imagine why.  Her statement falsely assumes that people choose to be gay or not, and the phrase “opposite marriage” is refreshing in its stupidity.  Aren’t Miss America contestants supposed to be inspiring little kids everywhere? Can’t she say something about land mines or the poor or the starving children in wherever… and not drag herself and the pagent into a worn out and tired battle against civil rights for gay people?

MSNBC reports that a recent (4/30/09) poll shows that 49% of Americans support marriage than oppose it (46%), soaring from 32 % in 2004.  Even more surprisingly 53% of those polled think their state should recognize gay marriages from other states!

Sorry “Miss California”… but you and the rest of the social conservatives are on the way out. Enjoy that crown while it lasts (especially with news that Prejean’s breasts may have been ill gotten… funded by the paegent itself!)

365Gay reported today that the New Hampshire Senate has voted to allow same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.   It sounds like New York might be next!  It’s an exciting time to be gay… although I look forward to the day when it’s not even an issue.

Fore more information, Wikipedia (as usual) has a helpful list of nations and states that have same-sex marriage.

365Gay reported today that Amazon has started listing a lot of gay content as “adult” and removing rankings for existing gay content.   The move doesn’t just include actual adult content, but works like Brokeback Mountain and the Celluloid Closet (of which an excellent documentary of the same name was based.)

The move will take many gay books off their best sellers lists and search results.   AfterElton.com has pushed for a comment, still no word.  Amazon: We’re waiting.