I got to thinking how I’d go about making something slightly more complex than just the standard Starfleet logo provided in the pack, so I set my mind to building a cookie version of the communicator badge from The Next Generation:

TNG logo produced in cookie form

So, having rolled out the non-chocolate dough, I cut the base circle out of it using my stencil, then using the Starfleet logo cutter to cut out the space in the centre. I then cut out another Starfleet logo from the chocolate mixture, then lay it onto the pieces I’d cut out from the other. Seemed to work quite well.

The recipies for the mixtures can be found here: Chocolate and Biscuit.

Fun stuff.

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Don’t worry… no spoilers time…

The returning cast are a lot more settled into their roles, Pine, Quinto and Urban all return with strong performances, and Zoe Saldana continues to be excellent as Uhura. They’re making the characters their own, but with just enough nods to their counterparts to keep the faithful happy (Quinto as Spock is just spectacular, delivering humor, darkness and passion in his portrayal, all whilst maintaining a cool Vulcan exterior). Cumberbatch excels as the villain of the movie, his delivery is outstanding, and the menace in his eyes is terrifying when delivering some of the film’s more villainous monologues.

If I have one gripe, it would be Alice Eve’s character (Dr Carol Marcus). The character is under-used in the movie, and scene where she appears in her underwear (not a spoiler… it was in the bloody trailer) is just gratuitous and a little ham-fisted when the rest of the story is lean and well-developed.

There are nice, subtle nods to the “classic” Star Trek series thought the story, things that fans of the whole franchise will pick up on, but they also don’t get in the way of people only just getting into it.

I know some hardcore fans who don’t like the reboot, but to me it’s been a welcome addition to the franchise that had gone massively wrong with the most recent incarnation (Star Trek: Enterprise).

I’ve no doubt there’ll be a third.

In summary, go see it… it’s great.

Not quite sure what I was expecting to be honest, 30 feels much like 29. It seems the popular perception of people turning 30 is that they stress out about what they’re doing, their lives and how little they’ve achieved. I can’t say I experienced anything of the sort. It was just another Thursday.

What else? hmm…

• I’ve been to Amsterdam and San Francisco
• I’ve finally been to Legoland, on Star Wars Day no less…
• I now have every official Bond movie ever released (No, I won’t buy the spoof Casino Royale, or the unofficial re-make of Thunderball – Never Say Never Again)
• I bought a three-piece suit
• I paid off my Student Loan

(caffeine, incase you were wondering…)

Mostly, because of this:

The effects seem to be generally positive. I’m actually sleeping properly for a change, and I’m surprised to find myself still being pretty alert even after a long day of traveling. I’m also noticing that I’m a lot less anxious than I used to be, not to mention that my teeth seem to be hurting less (on account of not having Pepsi or Coke any more).

So yes, a de-caffeinated Bryn… how exciting.

B

Been a pretty hectic really… got to head out to The National Eisteddfod to record Yr Haclediad in front of a live audience, which was nice. Talked rather a lot about apps, technology and the usual stuff I blather on about (mostly seemed to be around how an event like the Eisteddfod should have a technological legacy).

The particular highlight of the trip for me (other than getting to spend time with Sioned, Aled, Iestyn, Rhodri, Carl and the Haciaith crew, and meeting Osian for the first time) was getting to visit the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. It’s a pretty fun mini Doctor Who adventure down in Tiger Bay, and involves the group “helping” The Doctor escape the Pandorica (again…). Afterwards, you get to tour about various exhibits (including the outfits of all the previous Doctors, as well as David Tennant’s TARDIS control room). I was quite pleased with myself for managing to resist buying a full-sized cardboard cutout of Karen Gillan…

Other than that, there was a trip to Oxford for Dan, Ruth & JTA’s summer party (which was jolly good fun), I missed out on the Great British Beer Festival (again) being tied up with work, and I’m still trying to write a best man speech for a wedding in 5 days…

Trips to Belgium, Alderney, possibly Germany and… er… Newcastle all in my future. FUN.

I can’t quite find the words to express how horrifying the whole thing is, and how something as innocuous as going to the cinema has turned into something truly terrifying.

It seems rather trite to say much more. I did go to see the film on Saturday and I enjoyed it. A good ending to the trilogy, and I hope Nolan has the good sense to leave it there.

It was pretty good fun, and the first time I’d been a guest on the British Tech Network. Those of you who’ve been complaining about me doing podcasts in Welsh now have something to listen to, you know… beyond the short-lived Freenode podcast I took part in back in 2009…

Follow the link to British Tech Network’s site below, or find it in your favourite podcast aggregator…

The Media Show #4 – Craig Radcliffe – 007: Licence to Potter

Y’er a Spy, ‘Arry…

It’s pretty cool…

B

Cosmic Encounter picture by sheeplass (Flickr Creative Commons)

You draw species cards at the start of the game, which gives you special abilities (the ability of the “anti-matter” species to flip it so that the losers win makes for quite a challenge for the attacker, where you have to remember to apply your re-enforcements to the enemy, instead of onto you… you know, so they win, and therefore lose…). The success or failure of any encounter (or battle) is determined by playing encounter cards, with the highest score winning (with ‘re-enforcement’ modifiers being taken into account). If you’re victorious, you get to claim the system, if you fail, the destroyed ships fall into the void (which you can start to recover at the beginning of your turn, or if you help successfully defend a system). As the game progresses, you have fewer and fewer ships to attack or defend systems with, which forces you to cooperate with your opponents to expand your territory.

I think I’d have liked to understand the modifiers a bit more before playing, but the game itself was quite good fun. It has a few back-stabbing elements to it, as well as cooperative and timed negotiation elements (if you fail to negotiate a settlement to the encounter within a time limit, both sides lose their ships) which makes it quite good fun to play.

Spotted this on Topless Robot (Star Wars,  staring Batman, Bender, Ren and Stimpy, Pinky, Bubbles, and more). During a panel session at the Emerald City Comic Con, a group of some of the most famous voice actors got together to read Star Wars as some of their most well known characters (for instance, have you ever wondered what Princess Leia would sound like if she was played by Bender?).

It features Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen and Kevin Conroy.

Pretty damned cool.

B

P.S. More videos from Emerald City Comic Con can be found on ECCC’s YouTube Page