Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So I'm just going to come out and say it: My favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "Conundrum." It's episode fourteen of season five, and I just deeply love it.
I don't know if it's because I literally just assumed Erich Anderson's Commander McDuff was a random Enterprise officer of the week (which we saw quite often during the show) when I watched it as a kid during the original run, so the twist actually worked on eleven year old me. I don't know if it's because I just like a good "everyone has amnesia" story. I don't even know if it's just because it's a good Ro Laren episode. I don't know if it's just because we learn that Starfleet doesn't give a crap about lasers.
I just like it. It's neat.
And I rewatched it last night, and feel that it holds up -- which is why I found it deeply weird that the folks who wrote the episode actually think it's not that good. My favorite episode of the entire seven season run of the show was a failure according to the folks who wrote it.
And maybe, as a writer and creator, I should remember that.
Like the hardest part of releasing creative works to the public is that often, after a while, I'll start to judge those things far more harshly than when I first made them. Or I'll compare it to the potential I thought an idea had in my head. And if I don't reach that potential, I'll think of it as "bad" -- when it might just be slightly different than that idea. I have one hundred percent published stories that I thought were just sort of okay and later had someone tell me how much it meant to them to read it.
*cough*I Hate November*cough*
So I should make sure I remember Conundrum. That one of my favorite things to rewatch is considered one of those failures by its creators. That the things I make might have value, just not in the way I originally thought they should.
It's just sort of how things work out.
Remember that on April 5th at 11AM Eastern/10AM Central you can join me for the Critical Thinking Witches' Collective's April Brew virtual event! Attendance is free, and you can register here!
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1. Yep
2. yep
3. I imagine the third word is nuns, if so, yep.
I really want to know what “the incident” with glitter was.
Like “The Noodle Incident” from Calvin & Hobbes, it’s probably funnier if we never find out the details.
This scenario sounds about right. The first time I assumed the role as dealer’s liaison for a convention, there was a case of theft in the vendor hall the one day I went off-site for lunch. I returned to find that security had been called and everything. Thankfully, the issue was resolved quickly and they ended up not needing to call me to rush back.
(To note, I had informed my staff I was going off-site for lunch and would be back in about an hour or so.)
…also, they’re electing her Con Chair…
Yup – everything happens at the meeting you miss.
Whee – a “How the hell does this con ever survive year after year??” illustration meeting, my favorite! (The answer of course is by sucking in a few competent people, and bitching your face off when they start shouting and beating you about the head and neck with a pipe until you agree to something workable.) Then that person gets tired of it, and a new challenger appears…