Stop Frame

The iPad is gone. After a year, I never grew comfortable with it. It always seemed a fight. I’m willing to take some of the blame. My biggest issue was how it never really blended into my PC environment. It was always a wrestling match. The problem was driven entirely by the software, both the operating system and the apps. Especially the apps. For example, while Pages sorta reads/writes Microsoft Word files, it tended to do so while mangling the formatting. And my document formatting it pretty plain Jane. The text editing apps didn’t like to play nice with syncing back and forth. IAWriter is lovely, but syncs best to iCloud, and iCloud syncing works best with the desktop version of IAWriter...which is Mac-only. Etc. In any event, it’s off at a new home. They’re happy, I’m happy. Now it’s the Surface RT’s turn to see if it can be a lightweight, tablet-like laptop substitute. So far, so good. First, and no surprise, it ties in perfectly with my PC. Everything syncs via SkyDrive, thou...

(First, a warning: There’s no way to really discuss this film without spoilers. I’ll start without them, but I’ll give a final warning. And now, off to the races we go...) I’ve been a Trekkie since we snobbishly referred to ourselves as Trekkers. I actually watched the premier episode waaay back in 1966. I’m the father that J.J. Abrams, producer and director of the new films, refers to when he says, “This isn’t your father’s Star Trek.” Despite that, I was able to enjoy his 2009 reboot of Star Trek . It wasn’t Star Trek, mind you, but rather a clever rendition of Abrams’ preferred series, Star Wars. As a Star Wars film called Star Trek, it was all right; a standard, by-the-numbers space action film. Dumb as a bowl of mice, but at least the mice were entertaining. Star Trek Into Darkness ( STID ) isn’t that good. The mice have left the bowl. It’s grossly unfair to call it a terrible film, but it’s definitely a bad film. STID takes place roughly one year after the events of the l...