I am not a Trekkie, but...

...the new Star Trek movie was really freaking good. It was one of those movies that I had been anticipating for a really long time because of the trailer and I was not disappointed by its awesomeness. I kind of can't wait to go watch it again.

There were several reasons why I liked this movie, but I'm just going to mention the two that everyone seems to be talking about (with good reason) before moving on to why I, personally, loved this movie.

The awesome young crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

First, is the cast. J.J. Abrams picked a stellar cast that just meshed together so well. Chris Pine did a fantastic job playing the young badass Kirk and Zachary Quinto was a great Spock. I don't think I've seen greater facial control in an actor, ever.

Second, I was never bored. There was a fight scene right from the get go, and the pace never slowed up, so there was always something to think about in every single scene. I don't think my mind deviated from the story line at all because it couldn't. The amount of action never let it.
However, the real reason I loved this movie so much is not because of the cast or the writing. It was the effects. This movie reminded me why I want to be a special effects artist.

There's this one part, that can be seen in the trailer, where a planet consumes itself and it's probably the coolest effect in the whole movie. It's definitely the part where I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing as I took in visual effects marvel before me on the screen, then when it was done, the breathing started again with a whispered, "fucking cool".

See, told you it was really fucking cool.

Yesterday, I wasn't watching a movie. I was actually in space. On the USS Enterprise. Where there were laser gun fights, and black holes and a planet consumed itself before my very eyes. Forget the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing. Disbelief was crumpled into a ball, set on fire, then thrown out a window 40 stories up into the ocean where it sunk to the bottom where it will never be heard from ever again.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

Nicole, out.

adventure in baking

Today, I decided that I was bored enough to bake something and so I pulled up my favorite food blog, SmittenKitchen.com, and found the recipe for "World Peace" cookies, which I've been meaning to try out ever since I had fabulous results with the last cookie I made from a recipe from that site called the Margarita Cookie. YUM! About half-way through making the dough, I realized that this was bound to be an epic baking failure, and decided to document it, just in case it actually DID work out and then I could say that I'm an awesome baker-type person. However, the only thing I'm apparently talented at baking is my semi-famous tea biscuits and I've come to realize that the name of the cookies - "World Peace" Cookies - is a complete lie because I felt anything BUT peaceful while I was baking them today.
So, the dough, as seen in the photo above, doesn't look exactly like it should. For example, the dough shouldn't have looked like a clump of dirt in my hand.

Above, a slightly blurry photo of the dirt clods when I put them in the fridge to cool for three hours.
I used the timer function on my iPod to count down the three hours that I had to leave it in the fridge. At around this time, I opened the fridge to feel how packed the dirt logs were, and they felt like they may actually work and stick together like they should. However, when three hours passed and I opened up rolled packs to start slicing the logs into cookies, this is what happened:
Not fun. More dirt-like than before. However I managed to squeeze 11 into a semi-cookie shape much like the way coal gets pressured into becoming a diamond. I sat at the oven door for 12 minutes, watching them bake, making sure that nothing started smoking.
They turned out OK. Very chocolately and crumbly. As I was holding my cookie, trying to eat it, it kept falling apart in my hands. As seen below, I was trying to take a picture of it, and just managed to before it dropped onto the table.

Knowing what an epic failure these cookies were going to be, I also made garlic tea biscuits to make up for it, and to make myself feel better about my cooking skills. I ate 4 while they were cooling after coming out of the oven.



To attempt the World Peace Cookies on your own, swing by smittenkitchen.com for more details and awesome recipes, including the Margarita Cookie recipe.