July 2007 Archives

First of all I'd like to thank all the people who have sponsored me in support of Amnesty International. Here are the results of the blogging efforts for the day.

From the Crater - 6 pledges for $111.13 to go to Amnesty International
Starbase Karma - 11 pledges for $246.00 to go to PLAN USA

Total Efforts of Blogathon 2007 - 360 blogs with pledges totaling $118,113.86.

I'd also like to thank the admins and volunteers over at Blogathon 2007. It takes quite a bit of effort to get something like this accomplished.

I think we made a difference. And hopefully we'll be back next year to do it again.

I've really enjoyed participating in Blogathon 2007 even if I'm much too tired to blog about it at the moment. My final post will be the wrap up.

Now that I'm settled into my new physical location, I'd like to get back to my screen capping project. It has been on hold for almost a year, due to some unforeseen issues. As soon as I get the last few differences worked out on the Mac I'll be ready to pick up with the TNG Season 5 episode Unification. To break things up, I tend to interweave the TNG stuff with McFadden's and Stewart's other projects.

Music videos are a whole different issue. I've held off picking up Adobe Premiere until I find a program that will let me rip the video clips. Honestly, I've only had this machine for a couple of weeks and just haven't had the time. I can't make more vids though if I can't get the clips.

Back in 30 minutes with the wrap up :)

As Blogathon 2007 approaches its end, I realize that there were a few things I could have/should have done better. First on the list would have been to plan the topics more carefully. As the hours rolled on, my brain has lost focus and my body just keeps wanting to go climb into the comfy bed and sleep.

Here are a few photos of Patrick Stewart mingling with political leaders. I'm too tired at this point to comment on them.

Kelsey Grammer appeared in the TNG episode Cause and Effect. He also played the Beast in X-Men 3. But did you know Patrick Stewart guest starred on an episode of Frasier? He played Alistair Burke in the episode "The Doctor is Out".

Patrick Stewart had a non-speaking role in the BBC mini-series Smiley's People (the trivia question from the last post). Based on John le Carre's novel. It was an interesting mini-series, but I'm sure it would have made more sense if I had either seen or read the prequel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Patrick Stewart is also listed only in the final episode of that mini-series, so I'm guessing another non-speaking role. If anyone knows for sure I'd appreciate any info.

The name of the Star Trek episode from the last post, is Time's Arrow.

Patrick had a non-speaking part in a mini-series based on a famous spy novel. Can you name the movie?

Here's an image from it, if it helps :D

Can you tell me which Star Trek: The Next Generation episode this is from? Answer will be in the next post.

Good thing for pictures! These are more candid pictures I've found around the web. I love one in the wet suit :)

Here's an unusual Patrick Stewart movie. Jeffrey. A little uneven at times, but with Patrick Stewart and Nathan Lane in supporting roles, it is definitely worth seeing.

Did you know Patrick Stewart is the Chancellor of Huddersfield University?

He's done a series of commercials, print ads, and whatever else Chancellors do, including attending commencement ceremonies.

He was also the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University last spring.

A few pictures of Patrick as scholar:

There's only 5 hours left to Blogathon 2007 but there's still time to pledge. To support Amnesty International, pledge here. To support one of the other charities represented in the blogathon, check out the list of blogs.

I'm sure it is because of the hour. At this point I'm waiting for the last jolt of caffeine to kick in for the final stretch.

Here are some of the goofier Patrick Stewart pictures I've found...

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Okay, I hate snakes but I'm game to give this a go for another donation. Keeping in the spirit of it's all for a good cause.

Here's Patrick Stewart posing with a very large snake (no idea why but guessing it was for some animal related charity).

Now one animal charity he supports is the Elephant Sanctuary.

Don't worry I'm not out of topics (or images), but my body is screaming at me to get up, walk around and get some caffeine. I'll leave you with a few images of Patrick Stewart attending various awards shows/premieres. He's yummy with or without the beard :)

So finally I get to my favorite episode, Attached. Well it's my favorite excluding the last 10 minutes. Picard and Beverly through a mind link, finally face their feeling for each other and do nothing. It's not that I was merely disappointed that they did not let the character's relationship evolve, but rather the way it was handled. Yes, they'd established Beverly had a sarcastic streak that she'd learned to keep to herself so as not to hurt others, but the way she shot down Picard, wasn't even sarcastic, it was cruel. After returning to the ship and having the implants removed, she teased him, basically pushed him into making a move and then shot him down with the ever hated, "Mabye we should be afraid..." Um, good going Doc. You'd think she'd have been able to articulate let's take it slowly, a little better than that.

Interesting notes: The final script was much different from the script submitted by Nick Sagan, (Carl Sagan's son). In the original draft, the reason Beverly wanted to hold off on their relationship was because she likened the implants to an addictive drug. She wanted to give them time for the effects of the implants to wear off.

Also, after Picard's experiences with the Borg, one that left him pretty emotionally and psychologically scarred, you would think he would not have enjoyed being linked at all. Here again is the argument that Crusher and Picard are soul mates if you will. He doesn't mind sharing his most intimate thoughts with HER.

A few Picard/Crusher images ...

From "Remember Me"

From "Allegiance"

All Good Things was the 2 hour series finale of The Next Generation. Unfortunately most of the cast/crew were also preparing for the filming of the Generations movie. As such, I think some compromises had to be made due to time, scheduling and probably budget. Overall it was a good episode. Picard timeshifts between past, present and future timelines. And the writers had a few last tweaks with the Picard/Crusher fans. At one point we meet Beverly Picard in the future, but as it turns out, they're divorced. What after 30 years they're just going to give up? It seemed a little cheap/contrived. Then there was that kiss in the ready room ...

The two part episode Chain of Command is one I often find difficult to watch. The torture of Picard by his Cardassian captor is not so much visually graphic (like many scenes favored by horror movies today) but as such just seems that much more realistic and disturbing. It's like Hitchcock's version of Psycho. Sometimes a scene is much scarier/more disturbing when they don't show everything. So why is it on my top 10 list of TNG episodes? Quite frankly, Patrick Stewart's acting was superb and deserved an Emmy (which he never one for acting in TNG). The Beverly Crusher character had a dilemma of her own, when she had to order Worf to leave Picard behind. It was also interesting that the one thing that was about to break Picard, was the thought that Beverly was about to receive the same treatment he'd received.

On a humorous note: Troi finally ditches the horrible leotard outfit for a regular uniform.

First the answer to the trivia question, in which movie did Patrick Stewart play a ghost?

Answer: The Canterville Ghost also starring Neve Campbell.

Time for the final stretch (last 8 hours of Blogathon 2007).

Strangely, I'm not feeling exceptionally tired. I don't have as much energy and I just finished a four hour stint where I was posting here and over at the starbase karma blogathon effort. I'm back here for the duration and next up I'll be picking back up with a few more discussions about TNG.

Patrick Stewart was haunted by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future in A Christmas Carol, but do you know in which movie he played a ghost?

Hint: The actress in this picture co-starred with him in the movie. (Answer next post).

Well it's 11:30 pm and I still have quite a few hours to go. My brain is needing a little bit of a mental break, so I'm just going to post a few pictures of a shirtless Patrick. Enjoy!

I keep missing the reruns and it hasn't been released on DVD (to my knowledge) yet, but Patrick guest hosted on an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1994. The transcripts can be found here.

I believe these photos were taken for use as part of the opening credits.

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For those of you that are also members of Livejournal there are a few Patrick Stewart related items I'd like to point out.

First, there's a community I co-maintain called stewart_daily. Mostly we post Patrick pictures, but also videos from youtube as well as links to interviews/articles etc. Once a month or so we have an icon or some sort of art contest (all Patrick related of course). The community is open to all, so if you're a livejournal member, please be sure to check it out.

Secondly, if you're looking for a Picard/Crusher livejournal mood theme, I've created one to share. The instructions are at this post. I've also posted miscellaneous icons and wallpapers (they can be found via links in the sidebar). You're free to use any/all but all I ask is that you credit me if you use them (my livejournal username is craterdweller) and that you download them (don't link them from here).

Patrick Stewart is perhaps equally well known for another SciFi role, that of Professor Xavier, leader of the X-Men. Now as many of you probably know, the first two X-Men movies were directed by Bryan Singer and the last one, aptly called The Last Stand, was directed by Brett Rattner. I never read the comics, so for me, I thought they were all good movies. I think overall sequels tend to be a little less well received. One thing I can say about all 3 movies was that I didn't find myself looking at my watch. Something that has become all too common for me these days.

There are quite a few pictures of Patrick and the rest of the X-Men Last Stand cast at the Cannes Film Festival. These are a few of my favorites of Patrick with Ian McKellan, Halle Berry and Rebecca Romijn.

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Hooray for the halfway mark for Blogathon 2007. There is still time to pledge if you haven't already. There's lots more Patrick Stewart posts coming in the next 12 hours. I'm going to give the Star Trek posts a little break, so as not to bore any non Trek readers, but I promise I'll finish posting some extra tidbits about my top ten favorite episodes.

Patrick Stewart supports many causes and Amnesty International is just one. Did you know he also appeared on a literacy poster? Wish I had a larger/clearer image and the poster itself is pretty hard to find these days. You can't even order it from the American Library Association anymore.

He also supports Doctors without Borders and frequently donates signed items for charity auctions. Like this baseball cap from The Elephant Sanctuary.

In the episode The Inner Light, Picard comes in contact with an enemy probe, which links him to a faraway place and time. To Picard, it as if he as lived a lifetime. To his crewmates back on the Enterprise, he is unconscious on the bridge and attempts to revive him prove futile.

Besides the story and the acting of the episode, I really love the music. There are two versions available from iTunes, the standard version and the orchestral version. I prefer the latter, but they are both worth a listen (even if only the sample).

Orchestral Suite from the Inner Light from the album "The Best of Star Trek: 30th Anniversary Special!" by Jay Chattaway

By the way, the prop of the ressikan flute Picard played in this episode was one of the highest bid items in the recent Christy's auction.

The title refers to the TNG season 4 episode. It is not meant as an illustration of my addled brain (true as that may be).

Remember Me is often another favorite among Picard/Crusher (and yes that is Beverly Crusher not Wesley) fans. Beverly gets herself caught in a warp bubble and disappears. In her reality, everyone else is disappearing. This is a very Beverly centric episode but it has some real nice moments between she and Picard. The episode writers cleverly return back to Beverly's line from Season 3's The High Ground, but once again she is stopped before she can complete her, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you ..." line. But perhaps my favorite moment in the episode is when Beverly is retrieved from the warp bubble. In a touching moment, Beverly hugs Picard, who rather than pull away or act embarassed, returns the hug.

One of the things I enjoy doing is screen capping the Picard/Crusher moments from the DVDs. Although TrekCore is an excellent source for screen caps, their focus is on the episode in general. My galleries focus almost exclusively on Picard, Crusher, or some combination of the two. Here's a screen cap that is not at Trek Core:

If you're a Picard/Crusher fan, Patrick Stewart or Gates McFadden fan and would like access to my image galleries, please register (it is free) and then send an email to craterdweller AT craterdweller DOT com, with a brief note explaining you would like access to the image galleries. Both parts need to be completed before you can see all the galleries.

While taking a quick email break, I spotted this article running in the Observer today. It's called My Week: Patrick Stewart. My favorite line: "Surely present-day technology could come up with some actor's aid. A microchip, say, that could be inserted in the base of the skull and thereby provide instant dialogue recall." Maybe Patrick is channeling Locutus after all.

Getting back to my top 10 Star Trek Next Generation episodes. The Season 3 cliffhanger turned into the Season 4 premiere. This is probably one of TNG's most well known episodes and in my opinion certainly one of the best. It was helped along by rumors that Patrick Stewart was tiring of being tied down to Star Trek. It had the Borg, action, suspense oh and did I mention the Borg? As Locutus would say, "Resistance is futile."

There are a wealth of interviews with Patrick Stewart available on the web. Some show his sense of humor, some show a bit of the frustration of always being associated with Star Trek, but I think as a group they show a man who is passionate about his craft and respectful of others, especially his fans. I'm going to point you to a list of some of these that the PSN has done an outstanding job of compiling.

Every now and then I'm going to throw a few picture posts your way. (My brain needs a break from writing posts).

These are convention photos of Patrick and Gates. And I can't remember where I found them (google image search more than likely).

I've decided to try and allow my music videos to be downloaded directly from this site again. (Links along the sidebar should once again work as should clicking them from within posts). I'll monitor my bandwith but if the vids get used again as background music for myspace and xanga pages, I'll have to revert to blocking. I don't mind people sharing/watching my vids, but please just don't use them as background music sources that get reloaded frequently.

Speaking of music vids, one of the last ones I made was of miscellaneous Patrick Stewart projects. It's set to Eric Clapton's Change the World. If the embedded video doesn't work just give it a few minutes and try again (you tube said it might take a few minutes to process).

Allegiance, or as I sometimes call it, The Tease, gave the Picard/Crusher fans a few things to smile about, even if the Picard in the episode was an imposter :) I tap this episode pretty frequently for my Picard/Crusher music videos. In fact, without rewatching them all, I'd hazard a guess that there are clips from Allegiance in at least 85% of my music videos. It may even appear in all of them. Might be interesting to count the most frequently occuring video clips.

This was the second music video I ever made. It's a Picard/Crusher vid set to Rob Thomas' Lonely No More. I need to look into making these available again. For awhile I was being hotlinked like mad from myspace and xanga and it was killing my bandwith. Either that or I'll just put them all up on youtube like this one. Anyway, the clips with Picard in a purple shirt are from Allegiance.

If you're a fan of the relationship between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Doctor Beverly Crusher than you are probably familiar with the Season 3 episode, The High Ground. Beverly Crusher is abducted by terrorists who try to use her as leverage in their negotiations. There are a few things that stand out for most fans of the Captain Picard/Beverly Crusher relationship. The first is that Beverly is one of the few, if not the only person, who can stand up to Picard and make him back down. Early in the episode, Picard commands Beverly to return to the ship immediately. Beverly, preoccupied with treating a badly injured man, tells Picard, over the open channel, "not right now". Cut to a very miffed Picard and an obviously bemused Commander Riker. Picard bites back a response and aquiesces. Something he soon regrets, as Beverly is at that point taken hostage.

The second item that stands out for Picard/Crusher fans is what Beverly almost tells him when they are both in danger. She starts off with, "Jean-Luc there's something I've been meaning to tell you ...." and it cut off before she can finish. It's a line that will get revisted later in the series.

Besides loving Trek and Science Fiction, I also love a good mystery. The first season episode, The Big Goodbye, is a 20th century mystery story with 24th century characters. Captain Picard loves reading the fictional adventures of one Dixon Hill. Luckily for him, some 24th century Starfleet vessels, like the Enterprise, are equipped with a Holodec (think Virtual Reality Cave without the need for special goggles/glasses). Picard invites Beverly Crusher, Data and the ship's historian to share the holodec adventure set in 1940's San Francisco. Well as you can imagine, not everything goes according to the script. It also allowed viewers a tiny peak at Picard and Crusher when they weren't in uniform. You could feel the tension when Picard firsts spots Beverly Crusher, dressed in 1940s garb. It was well acted, if a bit more understated that the scenes in The Naked Now.

I haven't read too many Star Trek Next Generation novels, but if you liked The Big Goodbye, I suggest reading,

"A Hard Rain (Star Trek The Next Generation)" (Dean Wesley Smith)

I just realized the title of this post will probably generate a lot of Google hits, LOL. But for those that have been following along I promised I follow up my top ten Star Trek: The Next Generation (going to abbreviate it as ST:TNG from now on) favorite episodes with some followups.

Now remember back in around my second post of this blogathon that I mentioned I mostly ignored ST:TNG when it first aired? You don't? That's ok :) Well "The Naked Now" was the episode that followed the pilot, so just imagine it as being in the very early stages. It also happened that it was meant to be a homage to the Star Trek Original Series (hereafter abbreviated TOS) "The Naked Time". Well the fact that it was meant to be a homage was unfortunately not disclosed and many, including myself, saw it as a show that was so desperate for an audience that it was already reaching back to TOS.

So you might ask, how then did this episode, The Naked Now, wind up on my top 10 list? Well, after seeing Patrick's live performance of A Christmas Carol, I decided to give ST:TNG another chance. Shortly after we moved to Maui, Amazon started selling the boxed DVD sets of ST:TNG. We ordered the first season and this time watched it with a more open mind. Yes, there were still a lot of rough edges during the early seasons, but there was also something else (well besides Patrick of course). There was an interesting relationship between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Doctor Beverly Crusher. With a lot of help from the fantastic chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden and a lot of unresolved sexual tension between the characters, I found my hook.

Time for a list of my favorite Star Trek the Next Generation episodes. I'll be following up on these in subsequent posts. (I can't be held responsible for the order I chose today- I am blogging every 30 minutes after all :D

1. Attached - Season 7
2. Chain of Command - Season 6
3. The Big Goodbye - Season 1
4. Best of Both Worlds - Season 3 and 4 (end of season cliff hanger)
5. Allegiance - Season 3
6. The Inner Light - Season 5
7. The Naked Now - Season 1
8. All Good Things - Season 7
9. The High Ground - Season 3
10. Remember Me - Season 4

Now for a bit of trivia: Did you know Patrick Stewart never won and Emmy for his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard? An episode he directed, "A Fistful of Datas", however, did receive an Emmy.

Rounding hour 6 of Blogathon 2007 and it's time for some more Amnesty International content.

One of the Amnesty International programs Patrick Stewart has been a big supporter of is the campaign to Stop Violence Against Women.

1 in 3 women have been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. - Amnesty International web site

Act now to stop the violence. Sponsor the bloggers:

• From the Crater (this blog)
• The Trainwreck Diaries
• Evilduck

Or visit the Amnesty International web site today.

And now for some more pictures of Patrick taken for the Stop the Violence campaign.

One of the things I admire about Patrick Stewart is his ability to laugh at himself. He shows his comic timing and sense of humor in his guest appearance on Extras during Season 1 (available on DVD and rerunning on HBO).

SPOILER WARNING!!! This clip includes spoilers.

Patrick Stewart provides the voice of recurring character Avery Bullock for the show American Dad. He may be Stan's boss, but he's not what you'd expect. To date, he's appeared in the following episodes (courtesy of the PSN):

Episode 1.4 - Francine's Flashback - Aired 5/15/05
Episode 1.5 - Rodger Codger - Aired 6/5/05
Episode 1.8 - Bullocks to Stan - Aired 9/11/05
Episode 1.10 - All About Steve - Aired 9/25/05
Episode 1.11 - Con Heir - Aired 10/2/05
Episode 1.12 - Stan of Arabia, Part 1 - Aired 11/6/05
Episode 1.16 - Not Particularly Desperate Housewives - Aired 12/18/05
Episode 1.17 - Rough Trade - Aired 1/8/06
Episode 2.1 - After School Special - Aired 9/17/06
Episode 2.3 - Failure is Not a Factory-installed Option - Aired 9/24/06
Episode 2.10 - Bush Comes to Dinner - Aired 1/7/07
Episode 2.11 - American Dream Factory - Aired 1/28/07
Episode 2.14 - Apocalypse to Remember - Aired 3/28/07
Episode 2.15 - Four Little Words - Aired 4/1/07

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is going to be released to DVD on Aug. 7th. Patrick provided the voice of Max Winters.

"TMNT (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]" (Kevin Munroe)

I couldn't tell from the Amazon page if there are any extras on the DVD, but Patrick frequently appears in "behind the scenes" or "making of ..." segments for many of the animated projects he's worked on.

Here's a few behind the scenes images of Patrick doing voice over work.

Part of my grand plan for Blogathon 2007 was that I was going to have a list of topics and that they'd be in some sort of order. Well for those of you that know me, that didn't happen, so I'm blogging by the seat of my pants. Sorry if the topics are all over the place, but hopefully they are at least entertaining.

Patrick has done tons of voice overs, from commercials to video games and of course animated shows/movies. Did you know he was in an episode of the Simpsons? It was the Season 6 episode "Homer the Great". It's a well done episode and Patrick is hilarious. Beware the next clip contains the catchy song from the episode (courtesy of youtube.com)

A few have asked how I go about making the music videos. Rather than focus on the technical aspects or a how-to-guide, I'd like to write a little bit about the creative process.

As a music lover, usually the song strikes me before the images/clips. When I'm choosing a song, I mostly look for mood/tempo and then the lyrics. In the case of the "I'm Too Sexy" video, I think both the lyrics and music contributed equally. This was the first video that I used both still images and video clips and the inspiration for that was the beat. Normally, I try to time the actions of the video with the backing track and I wasn't finding any video clips that fit for some of the faster segments. I decided to try dropping in still images, somewhat in time to the beat. Overall I was very happy with the way the vid turned out, even though there are still a few minor errors here and there.

As and added bonus, Patrick Stewart has a natural rhythm when moving/acting which makes it all the easier to time the clips with the music.

For those that have been reading along, the picture of Patrick eating the Twinkie was from the movie Safe House.

I first caught the last 10 minutes of the movie while my husband and I were vacationing in Washington, D.C. It was one of those times when you're just flipping through channels and get lucky. If you haven't seen it, I'll just say two words, shower scene :D

If you enjoy looking at Patrick Stewart, you may enjoy a few of my music videos. They can be found via the links in the sidebar or, and this may be easier on my bandwith, a few of them have been uploaded to youtube. (I think you can search on craterdweller - most of my videos have credits at the end. I think the youtube poster incorrectly gave me credit for a few that aren't mine).

Patrick Stewart fans should check out his official fan club, the Patrick Stewart Network (PSN). Send your friends postcards, find out all about his upcoming projects and even find a list of his extensive theater credits. You'll see more references to this site throughout the day.

It's almost lunchtime for me, so I probably have food on the brain so here are a few food related pics. The first picture is of Patrick at an awards dinner. He looks so good in a tux (pardon the drooling).

The next image is a screen cap from one of his movies. Can you name the movie? (the answer will be in a later post).

So far I'm on track, and keeping up with the post every 30 minutes. I've had a few speed bumps with software and such. For example, I didn't realize my blogging client would timestamp the entry at the start of my composition, rather than at post time. I think I have it worked out now :)

But for me, the whole point of the blogathon is to give something back. Blogathon.org is keeping a running total of the number of bloggers still going. As of this post the numbers are 544 bloggers blogging for over $91,000 in pledges.

Patrick Stewart is a long time supporter for Amnesty International. Here's the video he did for Amnesty International on the effect of domestic violence.

If you can, please give something back and make a small pledge.

Did you know that Patrick has appeared on a few audio CDs? Even though Tim Burton decided to not use Patrick as the narrator for The Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman who scored the movie, liked Patrick's version better and so it's included on the Original Soundtrack.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" (Danny Elfman)

But did you know he also did recordings of:

Peter and the Wolf, The Four Seasons, and Return to the Center of the Earth?

But one of my all-time favorites, is his guest appearance on Brent Spiner's Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back. The CD is out of print and normally when it's available on EBay, quite expensive, but if you right-click (control-click on the Mac) It's a Sin to Tell a Lie, you can download the mp3 for a short time.

Hopefully my blogging software and iPhoto will work this time. This is my first Mac and I seem to have a few speed bumps to smooth out.

Here's the photo that I meant to include with the previous post. It's from the Times and is of Patrick as Macbeth.

And a picture of Patrick from the Twelfth Night rehearsals.

Act One: "If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On" & "The Funerals" & "Enough, No More" (Orsino In Twelfth Night I.1) from the album "Celebrating Shakespeare: This World's Globe" by The Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Company, London

Recently Patrick Stewart has returned to England and is performing on stage, including the sold out performances of Macbeth and the recently opened Twelfth Night.

There was a good interview in the Telegraph in which Patrick talks about how much fun he's having on stage and his current love affair with England.

**Note hopefully I can get pictures to post again with the next post**

How I got hooked on Patrick Stewart

The Next Generation first aired when I was in college. As a long time fan of The Original Series (TOS), I was primed out of some sort of misplaced loyalty, not to like the new series. So for most of its original run, I mostly ignored it. Then one day in 1994, my friend Shari, a die-hard Next Generation fan, asked if I'd go with her to see Patrick Stewart performing his one man version of A Christmas Carol at the La Jolla Playhouse. I'd watched enough episodes of the Next Generation to at least know that Patrick Stewart had played Captain Picard and Shari dutifully filled me in on his extensive theater background, so I thought, why not?

His performance blew me away. On stage was not Captain Picard, but Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Fezziwig, the Ghosts and most of the characters from the Dickens story. It was just an actor, a chair, and very few props but it kept me mesmerized for the entire show.

Hi all and welcome to Blogathon 2007, where bloggers will post every 30 minutes over the next 24 hours in support of their favorite charity. I'll be blogging on one of my favorite topics, Patrick Stewart, in support of Amnesty International. Patrick is a big supporter of Amnesty International and I'll be blogging more about his involvement with them throughout the day. I'll also periodically repost the links where you can donate to them during this blogathon.

Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy.

And now, to borrow a line from one of Patrick's more famous characters, "Engage!".

Main Title / Locutus from the album "Star Trek: First Contact" by Jerry Goldsmith

I've got a new Mac and I'd like to make sure I can post pictures for tomorrow's blogathon.

Opening from the album "The Nightmare Before Christmas" by Patrick Stewart

Okay here are the links to sponsor me during blogathon2007.

To sponsor my efforts in support of Amnesty International: Pledge HERE

To sponsor the starbase_karma team efforts in support of PLAN USA: Pledge HERE

I'll be posting Patrick Stewart related items every 30 minutes. Maybe some thoughts on various TNG episodes, movies, whatever. I'll probably have a list of topics near my Mac in case I need ideas in the wee hours.

Now off to make some playlists for Saturday. Hope to see some of you reading/commenting.

Crying from the album "Live by Request" by k.d. lang

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I've signed up for blogathon 2007, where I'll be blogging every 30 minutes for 24 hours. This is a charity event and I've chosen Amnesty International. I'll also be part of a blogging team, starbase karma, that will be blogging for PLAN USA. These are both worthy organizations with no minimum donations. Please help if you can.

I'll be posting the direct links to sponsor the blogs I'll be working on as soon as I get them.

NOTE: You'll have to register at blogathon.org in order to sponsor but your donation can be kept anonymous (if you choose) from the blogs you are sponsoring.

Technorati Tags: blogathon