Day of tragedy: keep on keepin' on, fanfolks

UPDATE: Now the L.A. TImes has applied the chill of Aurora's monster attack on box office to the next pop-culture movie event, and wondered if it will impact final turnout for Monday's TNG 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray event nationwide.

Let's not let it happen.
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You don't have to be from another country, or speak another language with a different skin tone, to be a "terrorist."
We do think of Timothy McVeigh and his rental truck-bourne fertilizer bomb as the chief example of our domestic variety, but get back to the root of the word, according to the Nemecek Dictionary: "one who causes terror, chiefly with the intention of instilling fear and disruption of daily routine." No, we don't know everything yet about onetime medical student and careful plotter/boobytrapper James Eagan Holmes—but we do know that he apparently acted alone.

Yes, a crazed solo act, one that can carry just as much mass wallop as a full-bore death squad when it comes to "instilling terror"—intended or not.

Bottom line: Talk to your kids, reassure them... and by god don't be scared away from seeing The Dark Knight Rises ... or ANY movie of your choice this weekend.

What's more, watch out for the demagogues on this: Not those who argue the gun issue either way (sadly inevitable), but anyone who might happen to try to connect up the motive dots using anyone in costume, or even genre fans of all stripes—from Trek to any comic superhero, and beyond. One pundit on MSNBC already likened the shooter's state of mind or personality today to a "dark, Trekkie-like person." WTF? Just like the way innocent gamers, or any current hobby or craze that sweeps up the "impressionable young," gets blamed for "corrupting" some heinous perpetrator's mental health into a state of mass killing.

Nope, the vehicle—in this case, Batman and its dark core, or the chaos cover provided by a bevy of costumed, innocent superhero fans—is not the end-all, be-all "cause." Sick minds and broken psyches have always been with us, sadly, but what we do know is those determined to act out will find a channel for their actions, one way or another. It doesn't matter which one they latch onto from pop culture or any passing parade: anything out there in our rich culture can provide the wrong kind of imagery fodder—no matter how some may try to blame or sensationalize it in hindsight. You take away one, the irrational will just find another.

So this weekend—go see Batman. Or see ANY movie. Pack the theaters, and malls, and anywhere you like with all the bodies of friends and family you can. Go in costume if you like, proudly. And pack your costumes for Vegas Khaaan, or wherever it is you fly your harmless and healthy freak flag.

Just don't let the terrorist win.

BLTN: So THAT'S what Isis has been up to all these years

Just making sure you did NOT miss this, amid a crazy-busy last couple weeks:

Angela Dorian, 1968 Playboy Playmate of the Year, charged in attempted murder: report

A one-time Playboy Playmate may be forced to cover up -- with a prison uniform.

Angela Dorian, who in 1968 graced the pages of the men's magazine as Playmate of the Year, has been charged with attempted murder, according to TMZ. ...

And why is this tucked away here on TREKLAND? Check out Angela Dorian in one of her uncredited roles:

Yep!
Time was, we didn't even have good records on a lot of TOS non-speaking extras—a gap now slowly being filled in by many of us. That to-do list includes the name of just who it was that appeared as the very human form of "Isis" the cat, in the very last scenes of the would-be spinoff pilot "Assignment: Earth." So a h/t to Scott Dutton and his singular focus on that episode as a magnet—thanks to his little seed of online info, this startling news story about Angela Dorian ... or Victoria (Vetri) Rathgeb ... got way more play than it would have just a few years ago:

And what's the point really lost in all this?
Attempted murder or not—whoever knew a Playmate of the Year was EVER involved with Trek?

Zack the heist honcho

Looks like Zack Quinto just wanted some fresh material for his Vegas audience next week ...

Star Trek star's spoof stuns diners
By WENN.COM

Zachary Quinto stunned diners in Los Angeles when he toted a gun as part of a comedy sketch - and his act was so convincing, terrified onlookers called the police.

....

Krime and Klingons—NOT

OK, so the new Star Trek movie's marketing and licensing roll-out is something to behold—but I don't think cheap hold-ups for attention is part of it.

First thing I want to know about that guy caught on the security cams robbing a convenience store in Colorado Springs this week: was he really a Trekster, or was that mini-bat'tleh just the only thing he was able to jack from the local space-Goth metalsmith store? I mean, that video still did not exactly show off his "Klingon sword" as a to-scale model. From here, it doesn't even look like it's shaped correctly.

My point is, that guy could not have been a true fan—he never would have been caught dead in public, much less on camera, with a small-scaled prop. And that hoodie—what's he doing, doing cosplay as a Landru monk? The hems are all wrong, obviously. No drawstrings on Beta III.

Nope, he was clearly not a fan. So—sorry local media! I know you had a heyday with this guy and his "Klingon sword," as you kept putting it, but once again we have to cut through the "stereotypes" of the local press and get to the root of the truth. Just as most con-goers are not in costume, most petty hold-up clowns are not fans of Kahless.

UPDATE: A helpfully nerdy commenter at the Denver Post website proves me right: that blade looks to be a Klingon-like knockoff by a prop metalsmith, Kit Rae's "The Valdris" (and no, ever so cleverly, it's not Valkris.) How long til they promote it, "As used by punks in The Springs"?