200th Post Special: A geek's day out and his books

In keeping with my milestone blog posts, I am lifting the curtains slightly (I would say Scottish kilt but it kinda gives the wrong impression) to allow a peek into what makes me tick and do art the way I do, if you could call it art, or even write the way I do. So for my 200th post, I am sharing some old photos I found during a virtual spring cleaning of my hard drive that showcases a geeky day out as well as snapshots of my book collection taken after a spring cleaning (non-virtual kind) of my room. 

Handsome devil isn't he ... Kirk too ;)

Honestly, I sometimes wonder where all the Star Trek fans in this country are. With all the brouhaha surrounding the more popular space soap opera that is Star Wars (I am a fan too but I love Star Trek way much more), I think us Trekkies - in Malaysia at least - are a sadly neglected bunch. So when I heard that a Star Trek exhibition was in town (this was nearly two years ago) ... the only one ever in living memory ... I was super psyched up as you could well imagine. That the exhibition turned out to be a bit of a dud was beside the point as I still had fun seeing all those Star Trek props on show.  

Something writers can appreciate ... the screenplay of an STNG episode called The Measure of a Man

Costumes of various starship captains in the Star Trek Universe

Samsung Galaxy? Apple iPhone? Nah ... I wish I had one of these babies

Why do I love Star Trek so much? For starters, it was the first time in which an Asian (George Takei as Hikaru Sulu) as well as other minorities had starring roles in a 1960's US television series. That in itself was mind blowing. I also loved the futuristic concept whereby sex, race and religion had no bearing on one's station in life. There are enough narrow minded hate mongering bigots in the real world as it is, so this was a unique and not widely accepted viewpoint which I took inspiration from.  

Can a shuttle look anymore duller?

Now this is an awesome design for a space craft ... optimal and efficient as a Borg would say

Below are a couple more photos of the missus and me geeking out on Star Trek props. We weren't actually allowed to take any photos but that's like asking a Tribble not to multiply ... duh! 

Missus wasn't too impressed that my camera focused on Picard's dress uniform and not her

Oopsy ... just fired a photon torpedo at Risa ... noooooooooo!

What goes on in my head when I write (and to a lesser extent influences what I like to paint) is hugely affected by the material I read. Most books in my collection revolve around two genres namely Science Fiction and Fantasy although on occasion I'm not adverse to enjoying books from other genres such as Autobiographies/Biographies among others. Having gotten a few IKEA Billy bookcases that were on sale recently meant I could finally bring a semblance of order to my room.  

Terry Pratchett is the only author that can make me laugh out loud while reading ... pure genius

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite books

Just some of the Star Trek books in my collection

Only war in the future? Well wasn't there only war in the past too?

Fantasy and SciFi, two main genres in my collection; sadly I haven't gotten around to reading Hamilton's books yet

Having accumulated this collection over a period of thirty years, it stands to reason that there are bound to be many books that I have yet to read. A conservative estimate would place at least one fourth of the books I have as being unread. Because I usually buy books when they are on sale or at a discount, sometimes books don't get read straightaway, are stored and later forgotten about.  

A closet Otaku I am

Haruki Murakami, an author that I like for his dysfunctional and troubled characters

So there you have it, a peek into my world. Normal service resumes in the next post as I put up the latest progress photos of one of my ongoing miniature projects. Until then, stay well and be happy.