I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day this year.  Here is a little video that I made a couple years back showing one of the most famous Irish folks in Trek lore as he gives Kirk some trouble.  One of my favorite episodes from Trek ever, and just a lot of fun too.  Maybe if we are lucky, we may even get to see Finnigan at some point in the next Trek movie due out in June of 2012.  Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.

Several Trek guests will be appearing soon on William Shatner’s talk show, “Raw Nerve.” Some of those stars include, Scott Bakula, LeVar Burton, and Walter Koenig.  This show has always been interesting and Shatner is a good interviewer.  I’m looking forward to seeing him converse with other Trek folks from various different series.  Should be very interesting to see.  The Scott Bakula interview is on Monday, Feb. 28th on the Bio channel.  You can see video clips and learn more about this HERE.

A new site is now up where you can order all kinds of cool wall art featuring various “Star Trek” scenes, ships, characters, and more.  You can order many different sizes and types of images and certainly can find something to suit your home or apartment or wherever.  I especially like the planet scapes and ship images.  So check them out and order some cool “Trek” artwork HERE right away.  Make it so!

A new piece of Free software is out that will let you explore the Enterprise and fly a shuttlecraft.  Gambit Realm is the name of the company and they have put out a playable demo for this cool “Star Trek” simulation game.  See various area of the ship and also get a chance to pilot various craft.  It’s a pretty neat simulation and you can learn more about it and download the whole thing right HERE.  And see a video of it in action below:

Saw this awesome play down in Chicago last night (12-18-2010).  It’s basically the Dicken’s classic tale, but done in Klingon.  The cast speaks Klingon during the entire show and there are subtitles for us humans.  The troupe has done this show for the past four years and is now taking it to other cities.  If you ever get a chance to see this performed you really need to go.  They put in lots of little “Trek” inside jokes and things and the audience really loved it too.  I had a great time with my buddy Rick Peete and he even has a full review and interview with the director HERE.  So keep an eye out for this show in your area during the holidays.  You can learn more about this acting group right HERE too.

There are going to be a lot of “Star Trek” conventions in 2011 to help celebrate the 45th Anniversary of this beloved franchise.  Creation Entertainment is the big Trek con holder these days and they have at least nine cons set right now, with perhaps more to come.  If you are a Trek fan and have never been to a con, you really owe it to yourself to check one out next year.  There’s nothing quite like it and they are a great deal of fun.  Below is the current con listing with some cities getting cons that don’t usually have them.  Keep an eye on Creation’s website for more details and updates as we move into the 45th Anniversary of Trek in 2011!  Live long and prosper!

Here is the line up, starting with this past weekend:

• December 4-5, 2010: Honolulu, HI

• March 11-13, 2011: San Francisco, CA

• April 9-10, 2011: Phoenix, AZ

• June 10-12, 2011: Vancouver, Canada

• June 24-25, 2011: Parsippany, NJ

• July 15-17: Boston, MA

• July 29,31, 2011: Nashville, TN

• August 11-14: Las Vegas, NV (the big one)

• September 30-October 2, 2011: Chicago IL

Well, the Academy doesn’t really exist (yet), but you can now shop for shirts, mugs and other things a cadet needs to attend the fictional school.  Just go to:  www.StarfleetAcademyStore.com to shop and browse for a lot of cool Trek merchandise.  This type of cool stuff has been around at cons for a long time, but now it’s just click of the mouse button away for all of you.  They really have some nice stuff and I think a lot of it would make some great gifts for the Trekkie in your life this holiday season.  Enjoy shopping!

The awesome comedy series, “The Big Bang Theory” continues to show it’s love for all things “Star Trek.”  In the most recent episode, Sheldon has a dream where a Gorn appears sitting on his couch and later on in the same episode he seeks advice from Penny.  This conversation leads to a discussion of Kirk cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test (which Penny admits she knows).  This episode again shows how this series knows it’s Trek and geek references very well.  And next week, Wil Wheaton returns as Sheldon’s nemesis.  Enjoy the clips below and watch this series every Thursday nights (at least in the States that’s the night it airs).

Gorn dream clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fa4kWdsO0g

Penny & Sheldon talk about the Kobayashi Maru

Next week’s episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lamBxQsjpuU