We tell Seattle Geekly podcast: The 47s are here!

My friends Shannon and Matt have their latest Seattle Geekly podcast up, and guess what my topic was for their Episode 47?

Here's a hint: Did you catch the U.S. State Department's toll-free number for Haiti information?















Speaking of Haiti, Rod Roddenberry's Facebook auction of cool Gene and Majel stuff that benefits 100% plus his matching amount all ends TONIGHT at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Oh, and I just realized the other day, re-watching The Day The Earth Stood Still (the REAL one):

RADIO ANNOUNCER: "The strange spaceraft landed on the Mall at 3:47 p.m. ..."

There you are! No matter where you go.

Throw in your own 47s below...

History for Haiti: Rod Roddenberry's online "garage sale," through Friday 1/29

Here's another example of how the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Even if it's a Kaferian apple.

Rod Roddenberry is having a virtual "garage sale" online at his Facebook page to clean out Gene and Majel's longtime Bel-Aire house ...

And everything goes to Haitian relief, via HaitianHero.com.

Knowing so many might like a memento from their favorite Star Trek creator, he's got a photo gallery of items and a simple online auction going.

But hurry, the auction ends this Friday, Jan. 29, at 11:59 PM. Rod has a long background of the project on that Facebook page, and roddenberry.com has it up as well.

But on the side, Rod told me a little more about it: a great win-win-win that started when he sold the house—the end of an era in itself—and had to have it totally emptied of "stuff" by the end of this month. And thee was a lot:

Rod says: "How else to get rid of things that I felt were of some value, but not something I wanted to keep? Give it away! And to who else but ... the fans." He started on Twitter last weekend, but the 140-character limit was too much—and then came the Facebook idea, a perfect auction forum.

"I had been wanting to so something for Haiti and figured I'd just donate personally (which I'm still doing)," Rod says. "But then with the help of a friend, it dawned on me that I could 'auction' the family items and send all proceeds to the Haiti relief. This way everyone would win: I'd see that these items got a good home and were not trashed; fans would get some cool Roddenberry family stuff; and most importantly, the people of Haiti would get at some help. Everyone should feel good about what they've done in the end."

The first 24 hours raised $3,000, and he's hoping to hit $20,000 by Saturday.

Now, Rod does promise a big estate sale of major items (like Gene's desk) in July in Las Vegas. But for everything made from the Facebook auction, Rod has pledged to match 1:1 for HaitianHero.com.

Rod calls this part of his legacy "The Roddenberry Effect." He already has the Roddenberry Dive Team so fan divers can explore that final frontier, and protect it.
to work
So, like I said: like father, like son. Rod's putting another great aspect of his family's "effect" on millions of people, and giving them a chance in turn to spread the caring.

Boldy bid!

Just a few more days...

...and we'll be back on the blogwagon big-time.

Real-world stuff is just about wrapped up; I can't keep Trekland at bay forever, even if I wanted to!

And this time, we'll really let the world know...

Happy birthday, De!

Karl Urban was a great find to play the recast "Subprime" Bones, among a brilliant casting job of capturing the essence of all the original crew.

But for a lot of us there's only one face and one name that will always be the Real McCoy. Or Western badasses like "Wexler" from John Sturges' The Law and Jake Wade, in 1958, here with Richard Widmark and Robert Taylor.

Happy birthday, DeForest Kelley. Hardly looks 90, does he?

Dr. Selar's Vulcan ears! More Suzie eBay coolness

I swear, Dr. Selar may be the biggest cult Vulcan in all Star Trek.

I know she was way too cool for the rest of TNG's still-wobbly second season. She was so underused in "The Schizoid Man," and then never seen again—a terrible waste of a svelte, sexily cool, typically detached Vulcan, but female! I was so impressed when she first graced the screen—Whoa! Finally using Vulcans! What a well-done, TOS vibe!

The rest of the writers knew it, too; Ron Moore and the rest typically had Dr. Selar mentioned or paged a half-dozen more times; she was in a line cut from "All Good Things..." at the very end, and even got written into the New Frontier novels as a regular. Well, at least the amazing Suzie Plakson, under those ears, got to return with Klingon headbumps as K'Ehleyr and... oh wait. We know how that ended, too.

Well, now look what's come out of the closet: those eartips are on eBay through Sunday evening the 17th, the third item from Suzie's Trek years she's put out for fans. Again, with the Selar ears comes a signed letter from Suzie about her feelings about Selar, on-set and now. And what's more iconic from Star Trek than Vulcan ears?

Maybe you can't ever hope to bid for a pair of Leonard's Spock ears—from any timeline. Or even some of Tim's, or Jolene's, if they are even out there to be had. But what better Vulcan to grab a piece of than Suzie's Selar? You can believe these ears.

And no—no kickbacks are headed my way, thank you.