Friday, May 08, 2009

I am, and always will be, your friend.


I can’t stop thinking about Zachary Quinto.

Watching him play Spock last night (yes, I went to the opening night, and I am apparently not afraid to admit it) was like watching Nimoy on TV when I was kid.

Watching Nimoy play Spock in the movies doesn’t do the same thing to me. He’s still great at it, but Spock as a senior citizen has too much gravitas, too much surety, too much warmth for me. Give me Spock as the awkward colt, all angles and undiscovered grace. Give him to me hiding his pain under a thousand layers of reason. Give him to me as the eager know-it-all who will never, ever, ever understand how deeply unattractive it all is.

And yeah, that was me, of course. Of course that was me.

Extra points for those who have figured out that if I was a skinny young Spock, face in a book, hiding from the bullies whose scorn I did not understand, then who was my sister? My sister, running, hitting balls, driving cars fast, taking chances I would never have taken? Who could she have been?

That’s right. Isn’t it funny that we both grew up admiring one half of that famous duo, and then, in a way, grew up to be those same people?

There are more similarities in the relationship than propriety will allow me to express. We both went through a period in our youth when we could barely tolerate each other, when we each believed ourselves to be so profoundly right, that we could not stand to see the other act differently than us, and yet feel the same. We still could hardly be more different considering that we grew up alongside one another. And it's not as if we could fall back upon a familial resemblance, I mean, it used to be a family joke that strangers would look at us and not believe that we were related, much less sisters.

Suffice it to say that now, we are like war buddies. We travel well together. She asks me what I think about things when I can tell she is gathering information for a decision. She values what I think. She is too much her own person to be truly swayed by anyone, but she gives it weight, I can tell.

And she pushes me to do things I would not otherwise choose to do. She pushes me forward, and forces me to step through the invisible web of caution and reason that I weave around me. Within the comfort of our familiarity, I find that I can do extraordinary things. Surprising things. I need that. Man, I will always need that.

And I’m glad I saw that movie last night, because without all the embarrassing bloat of age and bad rugs and fallen faces, the Star Trek world became nimble again, became possible again, in a way. Look, I’m not the first one who has compared our president to the world’s most famous Vulcan, and it’s not surprising that Obama himself is a fan; a fan who gave Nimoy, when he met him face-to-face, the Vulcan salute.

I just want to believe that we can save ourselves and this world we inhabit. I just want us to think, uh, logically about things, and stop letting our revulsion at something that’s different from us stop us from doing what’s right for all us. After all, the needs of the many…they outweigh the needs of the few, right?

It’s encouraging that young people are becoming less religious. I think it’s a good sign. Not that they’re less spiritual, or even less truly religious, but that they’re giving up the church. The church has overstayed its welcome and abused its privileges. Time for the church to go, and for reason to take the day. I hope it’s not too late.

Live long and prosper, readers.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Leave it to you to take Star Trek, something that interests me not one whit, and turn it into a wonderful post.

I'm thinking back to my childhood t.v. obsessions, and you're definitely on to something there. National Geographic, Mutual of Omaha, and American Sportsman were my favorites. As far as I'm concerned, Curt Gowdy had the life, man, getting paid to take people fly fishing and skeet shooting.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I too am glad they made it without many of the original actors. It's time for a new generation, pun intended, to take the reins and run with Star Trek.

spamchang said...

I love your paragraph on Spock. That was exactly what I liked about Spock.

I think you mean less gravitas instead of too much gravitas though...listening to Nimoy deliver the lines was like listening to Nimoy talk to Quinto rather than old Spock talking to young Spock.

SJ said...

This movie rocked so hard. So glad you thought so, too, sistah.

Dad E said...

Spock could never write what you write. Neither could Kirk.

bubbles said...

I agree, Dad E!

I so appreciate you sharing about your relationship with your sister, Vikki. I have two daughters that look exactly like, but that is where the similarity ends. I creates a great deal of conflict. I also know the deep love they have for each other - that is buried under all the conflict.

I hope that some day they will be like you and kristi. I think they will.

Cheer34 said...

Great Post.....I wish my sister was in my life...it's lonely with out her.

dguzman said...

Cool cool review. After reading GKL's and now yours, how can I not see the movie?

Red said...

Vikki, I like your blog a lot but I wish you weren't so down on religion. I know there are lots and lots of "the faithful" in this country who give faith a bad name. But there are lots of others for whom it's something positive.

I used to work at a grocery store in Apopka, FL and I was always taken aback when someone would invite me to their church or ask me if I was saved while I was carrying out their groceries. But people do plenty of good in the name of religion, too.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Remember when we used to "play" Star Trek too? You and bro would fight over who got to be Spock, but both of you'd always let me be Kirk. Thanks for the love sis - sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the few, or the many.

Dad E said...

I remember how much it would kill me to see you two fight because then, I got involved. Slowly , I admit, I was able to let you resolve things for yourself. And look what happened. The two of you have a very loving relationship than any parent hopes to see.

On religion--It occurs to me that I would have no problems with religion if religion would get out of the morality business. Just stop telling us how to live and give up the notion that there are two places to go after we die. People don't need religion to tell them how best to live. They don't.

If only, if only, if only religion would teach the benefits a belief in a supreme being adds to the human condition. Something like, "if you believe in a supreme being, then you can blame them on bad things that happen beyond your control."

vikkitikkitavi said...

Red: Then I guess you'll just have to forgive me. ;-)

You know, I wish religion didn't give me so much to be down about, but to me when people talk about how organized religion does good in the world -- wow, not nearly enough to justify its existence. To me, it's like saying that the Khmer Rouge is having a charity bake sale. The concrete good works that Christianity and the Muslim and Hebrew faiths do are a small, small fraction of what they do, the rest being various levels of evil and mischief. As far as the good it does for people mentally, if you ask me, everyone would be better off without it. Of course, you and plenty of my friends disagree with me. But that's okay. I have to listen to a lot of god talk in the course of my day, so I figure they can listen to the other point of view every once in a while.

I guess if it bothers you, you'll just have to know in your heart that I am wrong, and not think that you have to keep raising your hand and naming yourself as an exception to the offenses that I am talking about. Or you could keep raising your hand. I don't mind that you do. It's not going to stop me, but it's kind of why the comments are here, so that people can tell me I'm full of shit.

vikkitikkitavi said...

GKL: We let you be Kirk because you couldn't do a Russian or Scottish accent, you didn't understand McCoy's humor, you couldn't do Uhura with a straight face because she was "sexy," and when we made you be Sulu you would cry because you didn't have enough to do.

SJ said...

My older sisters and their friend made me be "Mike" from the Monkees because no one liked him. I had to sit there with a stocking cap on and not talk while they pretended to do zany Monkee things. I would have rather have been Sulu.

vikkitikkitavi said...

SJ: Well, considering what we know now, that he was the only one who was really writing songs and singing and playing all along, and that he is the only one who refuses to do reunion tours, I guess the joke is on them, huh?

SV said...

Spock or Kirk? My whole family went for Spock. Fascinating!

Spooney said...

SJ: Nesmith was by far the coolest Monkee...so you win.

Jess said...

I had a MAD crush on Checkov. But... given the choice between Kirk & Spock, I'd take Kirk any day. So smug. God, I love him. (Spock was smug, too, but not in such an overt way). I loved the new movie, too, but nothing will ever touch the charm of TOS.

Poplicola said...

I was always more of a Scotty guy. And yeah, it was mostly because of the accent. And he always kind of looked like he would smell like my grandpa, you know, pipe smoke and Budweiser. I even still liked him when I found out that he, like Nimoy and the Shat, was also Canadian. James Doohan I mean, not my grandpa. He was American. I may be rambling.

But he did instill in me my lifelong affection for all things Scottish and, later, interest in constituent ethnopolitical minorities in modern post-war polities. You know, like Croats. Or Walloons.

Anyway, long story short, that's why I like Craig Ferguson.

dguzman said...

Man, just as I was about to cite your generosity in always letting GKL be Kirk, you go and reveal your true motives.

AWESOME!

BTW, "To me, it's like saying that the Khmer Rouge is having a charity bake sale." best line EVAH.

vikkitikkitavi said...

Pops: Be careful with that Scottish obsession. For every Craig Ferguson, there are a thousand Robert the Bruces.

Tess said...

I was actually surprised at how pleased I was with Zachary Quinto as Spock. Spock is my favourite character so I expected to be displeased :-)