I attended a preview of Star Trek: The Exhibition that opens Friday October 23 at the Tech Museum. I am a Star Trek fan but not a Trekker. I have seen all of the television series with Next Generation being my favorite. I have seen all of the films except the most recent.

So, let us take a tour …

When you enter the exhibit, you are greeted with a pillared entry. Do not go racing past them, take the time to notice they have text on them, from the “where no one has gone before” dialogue to a list of episodes.

Pass the pillars and you will be in a large area that includes uniforms and artifacts. There is a display featuring all of the Enterprises beginning with the Enterprise aircraft carrier, followed by the space shuttle, and then the starships. The centerpiece in this room is an immense model of the 1701-A Enterprise.

We exit this area to the right and enter the bridge of the original series. This for me was a disappointment. It is a scaled down bridge with no interactive features; unless sitting in the Captain’s chair or at the helm is being interactive. The consoles have plastic non-push lit up buttons. A few of these could be setup to activate display screens, sound effects, and communications chatter. Having the forward view screen animated would liven up the bridge. Note: no photography allowed throughout the exhibit. A photo of you in the Captain’s chair is available for a fee.

We exit the bridge through the turbolift and proceed down a walkway passing displays of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock’s uniforms.

Proceeding along the walkway, we enter a corridor of the 1701-D Enterprise (Next Gen), this portion of the exhibit being my favorite. First up along the corridor is Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s ready room. This closed-off area includes the Captain’s uniform, various props, and a bottle of Chateau Picard wine. Continue down the corridor to a full-scale Transporter. You can stand on the Transporter and wish photography were allowed. Look up at the monitor to see yourself; will you beam down? Next to the Transporter room is a full-scale model of the Guardian of Forever, the time portal from “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Another lost opportunity for a photo of you going through the portal. These two rooms include Captain chairs, a shooting model of the Borg ship, along with more artifacts and uniforms. Before leaving the corridor, take a close look at the displays on the walls of the corridor.

Leaving the corridor, we enter “The History of The Future.” The History of The Future is a timeline, which goes chronologically from right to left. Not only is it a bit strange that the timeline is right to left, you enter the room to the left of the timeline. This room includes shooting models of the Enterprise and other ships. There are more uniforms on display here including those from the recent Star Trek film.

That’s it. End of the exhibit; however, turn the corner and there are two motion simulators,

The two rides have an extra fee each.

There is an eight-seat ride that I found to be rather tame. There were six aboard, I was in the last row and had an obstructed view of the display screen. You are fighting the Borg as Worf (Michael Dorn) narrates. The ride rocks back and forth enough for you to slide back and forth on the bench seat. You may want to skip this one.

The other simulator is a two-seater. This one is fun. You get strapped in as you will be rolling and looping. The display is right in front of you and again you are fighting the Borg. There is a warning that the ride may be too intense for some; you will be upside-down a few times. If you are going to ride both simulators, do this ride second.

I recommend Star Trek: The Exhibition even though the admission is a bit pricy.

Check the Tech Museum’s Star Trek: The Exhibition website for ticket pricing, hours, costume guidelines, and more.

Star Trek Exhibit Photos…

You are relaxing on your sofa, it is late night and you are watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on KOFY-TV. It seems you have seen this episode a zillion times before, you know it by heart. That does not matter, you have seen all five Star Trek television series and eleven Star Trek feature films. If only you could sit in the Captain’s chair on the Starship Enterprise.

Guess what kids! Not only can you sit in the Captain’s chair on an authentic replica of the Enterprise bridge, you will see original costumes, genuine props and authentic recreations of sets from the television series and feature films at Star Trek: The Exhibition coming to the Tech Museum.

You will also be able to ride through a Star Trek adventure in your choice of two full-motion flight simulators (extra fee).

Photography of any kind is not allowed inside Star Trek: The Exhibition; however, photos on the Bridge will be taken by a professional vendor.

Star Trek: The Exhibition begins October 23 and will run at least through the Christmas holidays.

Check the Tech Museum’s Star Trek: The Exhibition website for ticket pricing, hours, costume guidelines, and more.

The Tech Museum of Innovation
201 South Market Street, San Jose

Tickets (includes admission to the museum): $25.00, adults; $19.00, ages 3-17; $22.00, seniors and college students. Other pricing options are available. Tech members get up to 40 percent off.

Fees for the simulator rides: $5.00 for the two-seat ride (the more aggressive of the two); $6.00 for the eight-seat ride; $8.00 to ride them both.

Live long and prosper!

Multi-Purpose Display Module

Technology Benefiting Humanity is The Tech’s new permanent exhibition linking social responsibility with technology, intended to encourage a deeper understanding of the technologies that are improving the human condition. The new gallery showcases inventions from past Tech Awards Laureates, which will be routinely updated.

The Tech Awards is one of the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world, recognizing technical solutions that address the most critical issues facing our planet and its people. The program honors 15 global innovators (Laureates) who are applying technology to benefit humanity in five universal categories: environment, economic development, education, equality and health. The Laureates include individuals, non-profit organizations, and for-profit organizations/companies.

The five categories are represented in the new gallery. The exhibits are basically lit up multi-purpose display modules that you stand there and read. Some have sound and video along with a few simplistic hands-on activities. Actually, you can find this information and a great deal more on The Tech Awards website.

The Tech Museum of Innovation
201 South Market Street, 95113

Tickets and Hours

So who knew San Jose had its own Roller Derby teams?

We knew, but we forgot. So when I met Ana Z from the Silicon Valley Roller Girls I could not wait to attend a bout.

I took my 17 year old daughter and three of her friends to the June 13th bout with San Jose’s Dot.Kamikazes against the Santa Cruz All-Stars. These two teams seem to have quite a rivalry, and both the derby girls and the audience were looking forward to the match up. We arrived 30 minutes early to San Jose Skate and found the parking lot full! There was still plenty of parking over at the business park next door though. Being new to the whole Roller Derby scene there was quite a lot to take in when we first entered the doors. Everyone was wearing black and green (team colors), there were green hair and wigs, tattoos, and some of the most amazing and interesting people you could imagine.

On the floor of the rink were folding chairs lined up around a taped off skating circle, so our group took seats about four rows back. Premium ticket holders got to sit in comfy couches, but the folding chairs had just as good of a view. While we could see just fine, next time we plan to get there earlier so we can be in the front row. This row does carry a warning in the program though: “Front row is SUICIDE SEATING due to crashing rollergirls. Sit at your own risk please!” While waiting for the bout to begin there were raffle tickets to buy, Roller Derby goodies to purchase, and lots of pizza and nachos and snacks to eat.

The bout began with a helmet and pad check of the girls, then an explanation of rules and demonstration of roller derby. This was really helpful to us newbies, and allowed us to enjoy our experience fully. The basic rule you need to know is the “Jammer” (girl with a star on her helmet) from each team scores points by breaking ahead of the pack to pass the other players. One point for every player passed, including anyone in the “naughty box”. As for the rest of the players, no “unladylike behavior” is allowed. It’s not the knock-down drag-out fight you see in the movies – but don’t think it’s without excitement! Although fighting, and blocking by hands, elbows and head are not allowed, plenty of other pushing IS allowed and the crowd cheered loudest whenever anyone fell (or was pushed) down.

This particular bout was very exciting. The teams were super psyched to face off with each other and you could tell by the play. However, it was the SV Roller Girls, our home team, who took the early lead and never let it go! Final score was 131-100 and it was exciting to the very end.

Multiple raffle prizes were called throughout the bout, everything from skateboards to tattoos. Pizza, nachos, and soda were enjoyed along with all the excitement, and we even had Tasty Hoops hula hoopers for halftime entertainment. All the Derby Girls are awesome, and had great derby names. Everything from Booty Vicious to Juicy K. Tore to Smashleigh to The Undie Taker, the girls go by pseudonames and they don’t ever depart from them. Mistits was a fan favorite, but my personal fave player and Jammer was Smashleigh. I definitely recommend that you find a way to get to a bout and enjoy all the juicy Derby goodness these girls have to offer.

Missed the bout? The next official home bout won’t be until August 8th, but NO WORRIES!! Because today is a FREE Roller Derby Exhibition bout at Roosevelt Hockey Rink, 901 E Santa Clara Street, San Jose. Action starts at 5pm! I recommend you get there early, and then make plans for the August 8th bout as soon as you get home!

Silicon Valley Roller Girls
Calendar and maps
Nocklebeast’s derby photos

Special thank you to Nocklebeast (from the Santa Cruz side!) for the use of his derby photos – you need a very fast shutter speed to catch these girls in motion!  Click on the link to see lots more excitement!

I visited the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum last weekend so I could see two independent films that were playing Saturday night: Around the Bay, by Bay Area filmmaker Alejandro Adams, and Passion Flower, a short film by Tennessean (soon to be Bay Arean) Jarrod Whaley.

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum

The museum is located on Niles Boulevard in Fremont and there is free parking on the street. As soon as I walked through the front doors the friendly museum docents asked if they could give me a tour. The theater was built in the 1920s and was the first movie theater in Fremont. Soon business was booming so nicely that a newer, bigger theater was built next door and Niles was closed down. During the next 80 years it spent time as a dance hall, photography studio, and sometimes just a storage room. The newer theater burned down in the 1950s but it wasn’t until 2004 that the Niles was bought by its current owners and in 2005 they opened up the theater.

Inside the theater, Museum in back

The theater holds about 80 wooden chairs with comfy leather cushions. There is a piano where live music is played for many of the silent films. It had never occurred to me that the old silent films had live music accompaniment – but duh. If they could record music, they would have sound, right? I found that an interesting silly fact that I should have already known. The actual museum part is in the back of the theater and there you can find several old style cameras and projectors along with many photographs and other film paraphernalia. The gift shop is in the lobby and there are many books, pictures and cards to look at.

Old projectors in the museum

Their schedule of silent films varies so you should check their website for specific days, or give them a call. The 12th Annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival is coming up on June 26-28 and it is recommended that you pre-order tickets. June is also Independent Filmmakers Month and the theater will be visited by John Korty, Les Blank, and the Scary Cow Short Films Show among others. You can also rent the museum and theater for lecture discussions, musical concerts or a movie showing for family and friends – they even have the original 1933 King Kong film!

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Open: Noon – 4PM Saturday and Sunday
Telephone (510)494-1411
37417 Niles Boulevard
Fremont, CA 94536

Rain Forecast
Evelyn Delgado

The downtown neighborhood of Naglee Park hosts its first artists’ open studios event on Sunday, June 7. Artists’ open studios are events where working artists in a specific area invite the public to visit their studios and see their work. Of course the artists will also sell their work. The Naglee Park Open Studios event is also meant to encourage a sense of community and promote the artist-friendly Naglee Park neighborhood, according to the event website.

More than a dozen artists in the Naglee Park neighborhood are participating. The artists work in media ranging from oil paints to felt, and there’s sure to be something interesting, no matter what your taste in art.

When: Sunday, June 7. 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Where: Various locations around Naglee Park. Pick up maps at House of Bagels or The Garage, both at 505 E San Carlos St., or download.

Cost: Free.

Dreaming
Alexandra Cunningham

Basket #1
Ted Fullwood

Shots in the 'Hood will be shown from March 18 to April 1. Photo: Liv Ames.

Local photographer Liv Ames’ photographs of life in the Northside will be shown at Joyce Ellington Branch Library in a show called “Shots in the ‘Hood”. The show will be opened with a coffee reception Wednesday night, March 18, from 6 to 8 pm, and runs for two weeks, ending April 1.

I’ve been running in to Ames around town as I go to the kind of events and gatherings that I’ve posted about here, so I expect the show to focus on neighborhood life, and I’m expecting to see some excellent photography.

Joyce Ellington Branch Library is at 491 East Empire Street, just north of downtown San Jose. The branch was established in 1977 as the Empire Branch Library, largely due to tireless work by neighborhood leader Joyce Ellington. The branch was renamed for Ellington in 2001, and fully renovated in 2008, making it one of the highlights of the Northside neighborhood.

Two events are worthy of note at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Library this weekend.

First, a new exhibit of photography by Amber Hsu will be opened in the 4th floor exhibit area. Hsu’s photos of Taiwan and Western China capture rural life “in the peripheries and borderlands of an increasingly globalized world.” The exhibit will be open from Sunday, March 1, through April 30, and viewable whenever the library is open. The exhibit will open with an artist’s reception on Sunday from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

Second, the Friends of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, Library will hold their monthly book sale on the south patio, behind their regular sale area. On Saturday from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm hardcovers will sell for $1 and paperbacks for $0.50; on Sunday from 1:00 pm until 5:00 pm $5 buys all the books you can fit in a shopping bag. These book sales held every month (usually on the last weekend of the month) are a great way to support the library and get something to read without worrying about return dates and overdue notices.

At the reception for Momentum

“Momentum” is the name of the group show that introduces the Silicon Valley Artists Collaborative. SVCA is a newly formed group of 20 artists dedicated to promoting art education and showing opportunities for artists in the Silicon Valley area.

Their premier show, Momentum, is located at Art Object Gallery in Japantown. The address is 592 N. 5th Street, and runs through February 28. The gallery is open from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.

Works shown in Momentum include paintings, photography, sculpture, and other media. With 20 artists showing, it’s not surprising that styles range widely. There are paintings of a devilish Dick Cheney-figure gobbling up everything around it, photographic portraits of men with exotic sod-based hairstyles, abstract images of ripples in water, textile works, furniture, and more.