Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong

Andrew Sullivan Is Trying to Give Me Nightmares...

Andrew Sullivan is posting YouTube clips from "Aliens":

I prefer the kinder, gentler Sigourney Weaver of "Galaxy Quest":

Answers to Never Asked Questions

(1) Yes, it is possible to watch old "Star Trek" episodes on the video iPod while waiting for the BART, and enjoy them (as much as one can enjoy Star Trek TOS episodes, that is: YMMV).

(2) Yes, Mark Lenard is a remarkably good actor to be able to do the things he does with the incredibly cheesy role of the Romulan Starship Commander in "Balance of Terror."

(3) Yes, if I had seen "The Enemy Below" before seeing "Balance of Terror," I would have found "Balance of Terror" to be an awkward and pathetic cheesy knockoff of a pretty good WWII submarine movie.

(4) Yes, because I saw "Balance of Terror" first, I still enjoy it: my brain paths are too-deeply engraved.

(5) Yes, I do want my HUDs from A Deepness in the Sky, as soon as possible please.

Your One-Stop Source for Star-Trek-Canon Blogging

Dymaxion World enters the Star Trek canon discussion:

Dymaxion World: Nerd moment: For my money, Star Trek VI is by far the best movie the series has produced, ever. Aside from being by far the superior script and directing of all the movies, I'm not sure how you can possibly top the multi-layered Cold War references. Most especially Christopher Plummer as a Klingon channeling Adlai Stevenson yelling to Kirk, "Don't wait for the translation, answer me now!"You could put that movie on every Sunday on Space, and I'd watch it every Sunday.

Honorable mention: Chekov in Star Trek IV, asking in faux-Russian accent "where are the nuclear wessels" to passersby in Reagan-drenched America. Yes...

I prefer this exchange from Star Trek VI: "We believe in alienable human rights!" "Inalienable.* I wish you could hear yourselves. Human rights. The Federation is a homo sapiens only club..."

I must disagree, however, with his claim that Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the best. There are two better Star Trek movies:

• Forbidden Planet

• Galaxy Quest

He Is Not of the Body!

A correspondent points me to Jonah Goldberg's unsuccessful and pathetic attempt to pass himself off as a Star Trek geek:

Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online: I referred to the Gamesters of Triskellion, a famous episode where a bunch of day-glow super-brains-under-glass capture aliens from across the galaxy (the sector, really) and pit them against one another in gladiatorial bouts (I thought it'd be cool if presidential candidates did the same thing). The brains (send more brains...), or rather the "Gamesters," bet vast sums on who will win and how, etc. But for the life of me, I couldn't remember what the name of their currency was. I could remember what it sounded like, but I couldn't be sure. So, I wrote "I wager ten thousand credits that..."

Literally, within five minutes of posting the column, five people e-mailed me saying, "It's not credits, you bonehead! It's "quatlooms"! So, I made my Webmaster put down his copy of Juggs and change it to "quatlooms." At this time I would like to point out that many of these readers -- of whom I am quite proud -- could probably use a tan. Anyway, we changed it, and over the course of the next twenty four hours I got probably two dozen e-mails from people saying, "No, no, no! It's kwatloos." Or, "Good lord, man, don't you know anything? It's Quatloos." You see the subtle distinctions?

He is not of the body! Somebody call Landru!