After being taken to the hospital complaining of chest pains a few days ago, actor Leonard Nimoy has passed away at age 83. He’d been suffering from COPD in recent years.
Nimoy portrayed Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series and became the first mass media nerd icon, a symbol of SF via his pointed ears, Vulcan salute and Vulcan Nerve Pinch. Images of Spock were shorthand for early nerd culture, and Nimoy’s sensitive portrayal of the emotion-repressing half-human Vulcan was one of the best things about any and all Treks he appeared in.
Nimoy the man was generally loved, and held a gentle philosophy that carried him well through life. He wrote a book of poems called “I Am Not Spock” published in the 70s as a protest against his best known role, but later on fully embraced his part in pop culture history. He retired from conventions in 2011 although he appeared in Fringe and Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Although he and William Shatner had a sometimes testy relationship, in their twilight years, they became good friends, and NImoy was best man at Shatner’s most recent wedding. The two reunited for a car commercial last year.
Nimoy also made an album, and even among bad album aficionados, this was one of the worst. I won’t speak ill of the dead, but google Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
Twitter is pouring out it’s remembrances now.
Wonka Opera. Hard to say. Harder still to see since the darn thing keeps closing. NPR recently had a great story on the opera Golden Ticket, and the various trials it underwent in a bid to be seen by the masses. The world premier is now going on at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. One of my best friends is the great up and coming contralto Meredith Arwady. I’ll need to find a way to finagle her into that show. Thanks to Marci for the link!
A couple weeks ago we started getting some strange requests in the Children’s Center. Young men in their 20s and 30s were coming in asking for Michael Morpugo’s War Horse. We only have a single circulating copy in the system, while the reference copy sits securely in our stacks. After much blood, sweat, and tears that reference copy was located… only to disappear again a bit later. But why did all these people want to see it? Turns out, Steven Spielberg’s to blame. As The Independent reports, Europe’s finest join up for ‘War Horse’. A casting call went out in NYC as well, hence the hoards of folks looking for the book. It’s out of print, but fear not librarians of the world. By September it looks as if it will be reissued once more. Or so sayeth Baker & Taylor.
- When it comes to children’s literary illustration, no gallery does it like the R. Michelson Galleries. Of course, this being the art world and all, Richard Michelson also exhibits other kinds of art. At the moment he’s gearing up for an exhibit of Leonard Nimoy’s photography. Rich sent me two links about the show (here and here) and then asked me, “Can you recognize the 7 children’s book writers/illustrators that participated in this photoshoot?” Hoo boy. I got one out of seven. Should have gotten two too. You’ll do better in this game if you have an inkling of what authors and illustrators reside in the Northampton, MA area of the world. I wonder how many of you out there will beat my score.
- Big N.D. Wilson news out this week. According to Variety: “Mpower Pictures (‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’) and Beloved Pictures are teaming to co-produce C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel ‘The Great Divorce.’ Veteran producer and Mpower CEO Steve McEveety will lead the production team. Childrens’ book author N.D. Wilson (‘Leepike Ridge,’ ‘100 Cupboards’) is attached to write…” And SPEAKING of 100 Cupboards: “Three-year-old Beloved Pictures is developing ‘100 Cupboards,’ having acquired feature rights to the N.D. Wilson young-adult fantasy trilogy.” Well played, Nate. Well played indeed. Thanks to Heather for the link.
- You know, blogs are always doing these cute little book giveaway things which is fine. But reporting on them? Dull
Mmmm, the first homemade soup of the season. A nice minestrone, with garlic, stew beef, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, spinach, Italian parsley, zucchini, bell peppers, peas, garbanzo beans, white beans, pasta, water, oregano, and salt and pepper.
The aroma while its cooking is lovely, and its yummy yummy yummy.
All it needs is a good hunk of hearty bread, a glass of red wine, and maybe a nice grating of Parmesan on top.
But not this stuff:
Remember this? Please tell me no one eats this anymore. Please.
We had a can of this in the cupboard when I was a kid, which came out on spaghetti night. I'll bet its still there, petrified. Remind me to check next time I'm at Mom's.
Remembering this little green can got me thinking about all the other weird or icky things we ate when I was a kid. Some were supposed to be "healthier" than the real deal, some were just more convenient than making things from scratch, and some were things we ate because we just didn't know any better. And some just grossed me out. Feel free to play along~
Let's see: Cool Whip, margarine (gag me), Sanka, Coffeemate, Saccharin, packaged cake mix, individually wrapped American cheese slices, bologna, white Wonder bread, Regina red wine vinegar (who'd heard of Balsamic?), Planter's peanut oil (olive oil, what's that?), iceberg lettuce, countless tubs of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Fresca, Egg Beaters, Imo (fake sour cream), Shake-n-Bake ("an' I halped!", and thank you Rebecca Thornburgh for reminding me of that recently!),...I know there's more, I'll think of them when I'm trying to fall asleep tonight.
To be fair to my parents, we ate decent food too, and had nice holiday dinners and all. We weren't hillbillies. But the nice food isn't as fun to remember, is it?
“I Am Not Spock is Leonard Nimoy’s first autobiography. […] the book was criticized by some fans because of the perception that Nimoy was rejecting the character Spock. He maintained he was only clarifying the difference between himself and Spock, whom he always enjoyed playing.”
He’s dead, Jim…
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy — a true sci-fi legend. Naturally, he’ll forever be etched in our brains as the iconic Mr. Spock. Perhaps, younger audiences got to know him in his last significant role, William Bell on “Fringe”.
This being a comics blog, I suppose we’d be remiss to not mention his, however minor, contribution to comics. Anyone remember the, short-lived, Tekno Comix from the mid-90s? They published several titles by Neil Gaiman as well as properties created by notable sci-fi and fantasy writers including Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov, and Micky Spillane. Mr. Nimoy’s creation, and lone contribution, was PRIMORTALS, which, I believe, was one of the more successful books in the line.
It should also be noted that he did several audio drama adaptations of classic science fiction all bowls with his short-lived company Alien Voices with John DeLancie. I think you can find the digital downloads on CDBaby. Worth checking out.
Lance Roger Axt
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