The Starship Martin

It's not often I get to embrace the geeky chic of my blog's title. In fact, I think it's good for the sake of humanity that I don't, at least not all the time. But I am about to unleash my inner-geek, the one that has spent hours on eBay looking at iMac G4's and fantasized as a child about owning a gyrocopter. Yes, I'm trying to decide, when I get money (Lord know when that will be), which Sideshow Weta toy to get: something from Star Wars, or from the Lord of the Rings.

Good. You're still reading.

I think many geeks have struggled with the Star Wars vs. LOTR question. I personally have resigned myself to feeling lucky to have both rich universes in which to play, and I've never been asked to choose in anything other than a theoretical, hypothetical "you're on a deserted island and you can only take one trilogy" kind of question. Now, however, a choice must be made. These things are obscenely expensive (hundreds of damn dollars) and carry a kind of geek chakra that can scarcely be ignored, but I can only afford one. Star Wars or LOTR. Darth Maul or Gandalf. Yoda vs. Dooku or Aragorn at the Black Gates. It's a hellish question I've been avoiding by doing ample research at work, using slow moments to research the figures in 360-degree animations. It's an agonizing choice.

Now, for those of you who think it is folly to spend more than $12 on anything related to a movie franchise, let me give you this example. Two years ago, I found out about Sideshow Weta from the LOTR website. I did a search on eBay and found an incredible Ringwraith statue. We're talking something ungodly cool - I fantasized about it on my fake fireplace, its red, sinister eyes and blood-soaked legs keeping watch over the living room. In 2005, the horse went for $300. eBay it now, however, and it goes for $800. For a statue of a fictional horse.

So the danger is two-fold: It appeals to my geek, and it appeals to my inner collector. Maybe having money will not be such a good thing after all. I was enjoying getting rid of excess stuff, and now I will be spending all my time picking up things like Star Trek: TNG on DVD and Master Replicas of lightsabers. Things could get very crowded very quickly. It could be a nightmare of geekish proportions. And now that I have an office, the allure of the things only grows stronger. "This would look great on my desk!" I'm already plotting to take my giant Yoda poster in. I took the lamp in to warm them up, but no one knows the truly dastardly dorky things I have planned for my little corner. They should be glad I lost my lightsaber-wielding Obi-Wan piggy bank that made noises whenever you put in a quarter.

Anyways, I thought it would be fun to post about something other than work, because obviously it's all I've been thinking about. My project manager told me today that I was doing a very good job! He even used an exclamation point. This man was in the navy, rides a motorcycle on the insane streets of DC, and came to work on Halloween dressed as a member of KISS, so for him to use that kind of punctuation really meant something to me. It was confirmation that I've been going about this the right way. What can I say - if I have to be there anyways, I'd rather be busy.

(also, if someone could please check the Martin for an invasion of the body-snatchers, that would be great. thanks.)

Martin