(I'll try to place spoilers below the cut, but there will be plenty of them about the rebooted Star Trek franchise.)

This has nothing to do with politics save the tendency of marketers to copy what works. I saw Star Trek (XI), and agree with most critics that it's a lively, fast, fun movie with nothing else on its mind but entertainment. (That's its problem, but I'll get to that in a bit.) What its larger marketing phenomenon has reminded me of is a certain space of days in 2008, between the end of the primaries and the DNC, when blog posts flew fast and furious in an attempt to discredit anyone who did not support Obama. This was when the irregularities in seating and counting were still quite fresh, when caucus legitimacy had not yet been overshadowed by disinfo birth certificate disputes.

Saturday silliness: The Final Frontier has been conquered! To his credit, Roddenberry always wanted this to be part of the original universe, but of course, the media censors wouldn't let it happen until now:

"Star Trek" fans are known for their obsessive devotion to the show, and the innumerable gay Trekkies are equally loyal to the object of their affection.

Despite the huge gay following, "Star Trek" has always lacked a definitive LGBT character. This omission has proven a hot topic for fans who like nothing better than to spend days in chat rooms discussing subtexts, "Star Trek" conventions, allegories, analogies and possible queer symbolism.

Now, a fansite called "Star Trek: New Voyages" that produces homespun but highly slick short movies is making a queer Web episode whose genesis is celebrated in "Star Trek" fandom as "Blood and Fire."

This story will center around Capt. James T. Kirk's nephew, Ensign Peter Kirk (played by Bobby Rice) and his boyfriend, Lt. Alex Freeman (Evan Fowler). It is scheduled to shoot in June.

It's depressing to talk about serious, clusterfuckapocalyptic news all the time, and people seem to be riffing off a silly theme in this future award-winning post about the 24th century technology voting machines, so let's have some fun. We're all geeks here.

Out of all the iterations of Star Trek, my favorite is Deep Space Nine. I recently lent my collection to a friend of mine who's also a new mother, so she could entertain herself while watching the baby. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best story arcs TV has ever seen, and few producers today can compare with the old DS9 crew (but you know I'll always love you, Joss). DS9 had it all: feminism, complex issues relating to religious belief and matters of faith, political intrigue, romance, adventure, and good old fashioned progressive values.

I love women's bodies, in particular the hard ones that are tall, lean and tough. But I'm one of those purists who was really disappointed in the ideological turn ST:V seemed to take when Big Tit Borg Girl came on the show. Sis and I used to joke that it had become ST: SoN after she came on, and I'll stick by the analysis. For me, it was the beginning of the end of the franchise, and ST:E only proves my point...I guess we all saw which "logic" got "buried," eh B&B?

Anyway, as those who killed that golden goose are now rotting in 'you'll never work in this town again' hell, take a look at Skippy's latest, and revel in the way in which popular culture continues to evolve, devolve, and fascinate. It is because of stuff like this the execs are so afraid of a free internet, that and things like "The Phantom Edit."