Menu

Ask Luke’s Mother-in-Law: Haters Gonna Hate


acad.jpg

Martha Boyd is not just Luke’s mother-in-law – she’s also an ex-cop, a landlord, a self-described crazy cat lady, a major Star Trek geek and the widow of a green beret. So go ahead: ask her anything. And we mean anything.

But get on her bad side, and she’s gonna let you know…

Hello, hello. I have several things to rant about this week, and as I did not get alot of questions, I have lots of room to vent. I have both good and bad to comment on. Let’s get the bad right out of the way…

I like the challenge to modify the TR saying by removing self-loathing. Frankly, in today’s world we need more people who believe in themselves, love themselves and others. Self-loathing is so negative and non-productive. However, in some of the comments there were some personal attacks which had nothing to do with the contest. Let me respond.

To start with, no one forces anyone to read TR or my article. It was pitched to TR as something fun, different and maybe informative. Stop and think: how many of you have submitted quality work for consideration to this site or any site? Sites including this one are generally looking for content and use freelance writers. I pitched an idea and have followed through on a weekly basis. This column takes a lot of time and I write it after I do my appraisal work for the day. I take no payment for the work as I don’t feel that would be fair. This week, I have a cold and really don’t feel like writing, but I made a promise to do the work.

I am thankful that most of the TR readers seem to like the work and have sent many great comments – that warms my heart. Trust me: there are some things on TR that I don’t care for, but I just move on to the next story. I share the things I like, and the things I don’t like I just don’t share. But I don’t go for the writer – after all, even if I don’t like your story, you at least made the effort and it got published. Good job on that. Okay, I’m done on this issue.

Next, I mentioned last week that I was going on another adventure and would tell you about it this week. Well, I ventured to Los Angeles. It is about a three-hour drive from my house and I don’t care a lot for the drive. I went as I had an invite to see “The Pretty Funny Ladies of Comedy” at Flappers in Hollywood. Mrs. LYT was one of the comics. It was the first time that I have seen her doing her full stand up. It was a fun night and from this gig she has gotten an even bigger booking at a really famous comedy club on the Sunset Strip for next month (Sept. 24th at the Comedy Store).

The next day, we went to see The 100 Foot Journey. Now, this is not something that TR would cover in its movie review section. There are no explosions, minimal CGI, no language issues etc. It does have a story and the plot moves at a good pace. Helen Mirren is excellent as always as the restaurant owner who is well-established in a small French town. Om Puri, who plays Papa the India restaurant owner who moves across the street from Madame Mallory’s establishment, gives a strong performance. The highlight of the movie was Manish Dayal who plays the young up-and-coming Indian Chef. I would give this a rating of “I would love to see again”; great popcorn movie I recommend as an enjoyable evening out. The movie is rated PG.

Now, let’s see what you have for me this week.

chaoslex:
I asked you about the paranormal last time, and you mentioned you were a regular listener of Coast to Coast AM. Are you a night owl or do you listen to replays on YouTube the next day?

Also, do you prefer George Noory to Art Bell or vice versa? I know a lot of long time listeners seem to have a beef with Noory for some reason, but I like them both equally. Perhaps Noory doesn’t talk quite as much about the paranormal as Bell, but he still does a heck of a job.

I listen to “Coast to Coast” every night on the radio. At my place it comes on about 8 p.m. and then replays again about 1 a.m. I generally fall asleep around 10 p.m., but wake up quite often during the night so I hear it in bits and pieces. I love Art Bell, and on the weekends it is great to hear Art Bell’s “Somewhere in Time” show. Blast from the past. I also think George Noory is equally as good as Mr. Bell. He does have a bit of a different style and content, but I find it equally interesting. When I meet Mr. Noory at Contact in the Desert, I found that he was very nice and very generous with his time with the fans.

dnjscott:
Nice view. I just realized I started the Contact writeup and then got kidnapped to do something else. I have to go back and read it.

Question – When is the best time to visit Joshua Tree? I went there once to hike and liked it but I went back at the same time the next year and it was over a hundred degrees and I didn’t want to end up on the news as ‘stupid tourist airlifted out of 110 degree heat’.

Hope you made it back to the Contact in the Desert story. I had a great time at the event and hope to cover something else for TR again. The best time to visit Joshua Tree is not when it is 120 degrees. No – really spring and fall are best, as we have warm, but milder temps then the summer. Winter is also pretty good, but even though we are in the desert, we do get freezing temps and yes, even snow. Joshua Tree is great for hikers and rock climbers with the National Park right in our yard. Also great sunsets and sunrises for photographers. The night skies are generally so clear it is also great just to sit out and watch the stars at night, with no city lights blocking the viewing.

latigid:
Question. In Star Trek what happened inbetween TOS and TNG to turn the prime directive from a lets interact with species not as developed as us and try our best not to mess things up in TOS to the TNG do they have warp because if not were not even going near them even if they are going to be wiped out by some cataclysm its better to let them die rather than interfere

I get the story telling reason in that just having a rule saying no cuts off any debate which is harder to write than a story where we have to debate how were affecting their society for good and bad and we see the consequences of those choices rather than a simple “there all gonna die forget star fleet were helping them damn-it”
To me this makes star fleet callous and goes against the meeting new people and exploring new worlds
I was wondering is there a in universe explanation for this or is it just bad writing from people who just want simple situations where only we can save them and forget the rules

Well, as you know I am a big fan of TOS. Great stories, good writing and I like the prime directive. I am not so much a fan of the other evolutions of Star Trek. I think the writing and story lines faltered when they tried to add more whiz bangs to the show. I guess they also felt that as the other series were set in different times that the Federation would also change and evolve so it was okay to get away from the original concept.

scarfdemon:
Have you ever seen an Orca eat a Penguin? They leave behind this creepy Penguin wrapper it’s awesome.

Never seen in person. I have seen Orca eat fish at Sea World and on documentaries, but never seen them eat a Penguin. Do they suck out the insides and just leave the skin like a wrapper? That would be creepy – totally agree.

pocketdoom:
A common misperception is that polar bears and penguins live in the same place. Being that polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins live in the Antarctic, how many bears are eating penguins?

I guess none. Maybe I was thinking seals, sea lions etc

Anyone00:
O.K. I should likely go back and ready the previous articles to make sure I didn’t miss anything but:
Have you ever met Dr. Franklin Ruehl in person and if so what do you think of the gentleman?

No, I have never meet him, but who knows, maybe someday. I know he lives in the L.A. area. He would have fit in at Contact – there were people there that were stranger than he is. I have seen a few of his shows

As Emmys are on Monday night, I am sending a pic taken at the Academy of TV. After we saw the movie, we went to the office is just across the street and played tourist. The main feature of the courtyard is a hugh statue of Emmy and then bronze busts and statues of hall of fame winners over the years. That is all for this week. Not really doing anything interesting this week except for working and cleaning the pool. So as always be good to each other and take care. Huggs.

As always, keep your questions coming, be they foolish or philosophical! Any questions submitted in comments below will be included in future columns.

And seriously, don’t disrespect the wife of a green beret.