Posted in Art

Art: International Watercolor Month

Posted on by sokorra

July is International Watercolor month, so I decided to feature it this month.  One of my hobbies, other then writing, reading, and watching Star Trek is art, of various methods and mediums.  Watercolor is not usually one I do often, though I do have the tools for it.  Usually when I do painting its acrylic.

Watercolor is often the first paint children use, as it is easy to clean up and usually* less likely to have toxic ingredients.  That is not always the case, so please make sure you check what paint you give your children and follow all warnings.

NOPE

Watercolor is probably not the first paint you think of when you think of fine art.  Oil and Acrylic paint tend to get all the glory in that regard, but Watercolor should not be ignored.  It has a long history, and is often the first paint someone has experience with as many children’s art kits come with watercolor paints.

Painting is not a medium I use often, and I tend to use acrylic but I have done watercolor. It’s a completely different medium then acrylic.  Its usually on paper, and the colors tend to be muted.  It also doesn’t have the texture that acrylic and oil paints can make in a painting. That being said, it can create awesome paintings, particularly landscapes and atmospheric paintings.

Watercolor lends itself to landscapes, invoking emotion and memory.  While looking for some paintings to show, I saw many that could easily inspire a fantasy novel.

Some famous people who have been known to exhibit watercolor paintings include Prince Charles of the UK who has several watercolors out on exhibit (and apparently Ebay).  His father was also a painter, but it seems Prince Phillip was more of an oil painter.   There is also John Singer Sargent, who did both oil and watercolor. Georgia O’Keeffe also produced watercolors earlier in her career, painting abstract images.

If you want to learn more about watercolor artists, you can find a good list here.

If you want to start watercoloring yourself, here are some good youtube videos to help you on your journey.

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor
Easy Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners

Watercolor can be fun and enjoyable, and just as expressive as other forms of painting. I don’t have many watercolors up on my online gallery so I won’t be sharing any of mine, but maybe one day I will make some more and be able to share them with you.

Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 214: The Nagus

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Episode: 1:11 The Nagus (0215/1993)
Rating: 3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/1

Notable Guest Stars:
Max Grodenchik (Rom) – Grodenchik has played several Ferengi characters over the years, but his most lasting and most known role is that of Rom, Quark’s brother.

Aron Eisenberg (Nog) – Aron Eisenberg makes his first appearance as Rom’s son Nog in this episode.  Nog has one of the best storylines in the series, so pay attention to this character (and actor)

Wallace Shawn (Grand Nagus Zek) – Wallace Shawn of “Never fight with a Sicilian When Death is on the line!” fame has been one of my favorite guest actors.  I love him as Zek, and I also loved his roles in the aforementioned Princess Bride,  as well as Clueless and Crossing Jordan where he plays the titular character’s therapist for a few seasons.

Lee Arenberg (Gral) – Lee Arenberg more recently might recongised as Grumpy, from Once Upon a Time and as a member of Black Pearl’s crew in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Lou Wagner (Krax) – Lou Wagner has already graced our screen as Daimon Solok.

Barry Gordon (Nava)- Gordon was a actor, Talk show host, and SAG president from 1988-1995 (which would mean as this episode was made and aired).  He also did voice acting, and therefore part of my first fandom obsession:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  He did the voice of Donatello.  He has been acting since he was three years old and continues to be active in the field.

Tiny Ron Taylor (Maihar’du) – Taylor will also appear on Star Trek Voyager.  He tends to be typecast due to his very tall height of 7 feet.  He was also a professional basketball player, even playing on the rarely known Pittsburgh Condors.  Well, that may be because they only lasted about five years.  Unfortunately, he died in 2019.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 214: The Nagus” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 213: Move Along Home

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Episode: 1:10 Move Along Home (0215/1993)
Rating: 3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/1

Notable Guest Stars:
Joel Brooks (Farew) – Brooks is a long-time character actor. He has appeared in many series over the years in quite a variety of characters. Some shows that I have watched with him in it include Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, and M*A*S*H. He now splits his time acting with teaching acting classes.
Clara Bryant (Chandra) – Bryant was a child actress who at 24 decided to retire from acting and became a Lawyer. She did make a series of appearances on Buffy The Vampire Slayer from 2002-03. He last film was the Syfy film Bone Eater with Bruce Boxleitner as the lead.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 213: Move Along Home” →
Posted in Awareness

Sokorra Recommends

Posted on by sokorra

Originally, I planned a history post for today, but given recent events felt that in solidarity I am not going to post it due the inherent sexism and racism that surround the Declaration. Instead later this month I will celebrate the ADA and Disability Awareness month. I have moved this post up to fill in while I research and write that post.

Once a month I am going to try to have a “Sokorra Recommends” to share some of my favorite creators, be it books, youtubers, or podcasts. This will usually take place towards the end of the month, but as I said before, this month’s edition is coming a little early due to protesting recent Supreme Court Decisions. Ironically (and not purposefully) my recommendations this month revolve around Women’s issues (both trans and cis) and women creators.

This month I recommend:

Vulgar History by Ann Foster- Podcast

This podcast focuses on the women of history from all eras. I have been listening to this for the past two weeks and I’m finding myself enjoying her take on history and the women in it. There tends to be a European bent to the podcast, as that appears to be her focus in learning, but as she is still creating content there are many avenues she will eventually explore.

Opera Trash by Krista Golden and Analee Harriman – Podcast

This is an easy way to get into Opera. Krista and Analee take you along with them as they watch and review Opera in a delightfully irreverent yet loving way. They just celebrated 2 ongoing years with this podcast.

Rachel Maksy – Youtuber: Creative

Originally I came across Rachel’s YouTube channel through other costume/dress history youtubers, but Rachel does more then just vintage clothing recreations. She also has episodes on painting, home remodeling and other creative endeavors. She also makes amazing Cosplay outfits.

Dr. Danielle Jones (Mama Doctor Jones) – Youtuber: Medical commentary/Education

I started watching MDJ’s episodes about a year ago when I came across her monthly take on episodes of TLC’s I didn’t know I was pregnant, which turned out to be hilarious and educational. I continued to watch other content where I learned more about basic genecology, history of birth control and sex education and many other topics related to people who have vaginas. Given recent events its become all more apparent that better education is needed in regards to reproductive health.

Persuasion – Jane Austen

This happens to be one of my favorite books, and one of my favorite of Austen. The story revolves around Anne Elliot, who gave up the love of her life for her family. She has regretted it all this time, and has slowly realized that her family might not be worth the sacrifice. Frederick Wentworth, aforementioned love of her life, reenters the picture still a bit bitter about how things went down. The two of them have to learn to deal with aftereffects of their decisions and slowly make their way back to one another better people.

Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 212: Birthright (1 & 2)

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: TNG
Episode: 6.16 Birthright (03/07/1993) & 6:17 Birthright Part II (3/14/1993)
Rating: 3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/3/38

Notable Guest Stars:
Siddig El Fadil/Alexander Siddig (Julian Bashir) – This episode crosses over with DS9 slightly and brings Julian on to show the interconnection of the two shows existing together. At this point in time he was still being credited with his actual name of Siddig El Fadil.

James Cromwell (Jaglom Shrek)- James Cromwell is one of my favorite actors. He’s well known in Star Trek, having appeared several times over the years in various franchise roles. His most reoccuring role is that of Zephram Cochran, which he would play in a few years. He is under heavy make-up for this episode though, but that distinctive voice carries through.

Cristine Rose (Gi’ral) – Cristine Rose is most known for her role on series Heroes, where she played Angela Petrelli. She has also appeared on Friends, NCIS, Chicago Hope, Crossing Jordan, and Gilmore Girls.

Jennifer Gatti (Ba’el)- She is known for her work in soap operas, including Guiding Light and Young and The Restless. She has appeared on several shows as a guest actor, including Voyager, ER and Cheers. In 2019 she appeared on the newer medical drama The Resident.

Richard Herd (L’Kor)- He might sound familiar because he will appear several times on Star Trek Voyager as Admiral Owen Paris – father of Lt. Tom Paris. He also appeared in Seinfeld, Quantum Leap, and JAG among many others. He has been inducted into the National Broadcast Hall of Fame for his radio work. Unfortunately, he died of cancer in 2020.

Alan Scarfe (Tokath) – Alan Scarfe has appeared on TNG before, but he has also appeared on my favorite Scifi series Stargate Atlantis, and another good series called Andromeda. He has won several awards for both film work and stage work.


Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 212: Birthright (1 & 2)” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 211: Passenger

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Episode:  1.09 Passenger (02/22/1993)
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/1 (There are some dubious stunning’s but I like to think everyone lived)

Notable Guest Stars:
Caitlin Brown (Ty Kajada)- She appeared in Babylon Five, which is often compared to DS9. She also appeared in TNG, starred the horror film All about Evil.

James Lashly (Lt. George Primmin)- Lashly appears in so many of the shows I watched growing up yet I really never noticed him which I now need to fix.  He appeared on Gilmore Girls, Bones, Charmed, Judging Amy, Wild Wild West, ER, Pretender, and also TNG (3 years prior).

Christopher Colins (Durg) – Colins has a long voice acting filmography, including being the Cobra Commander on GI Joe, and the original Mr. Burns (exxxxelllant).  Unfortunately, he died from a hemorrhage in 1994, a little over a year after this episode aired.

James Harper (The Original Rao Vantika)- He was in the 1998 hit film Armageddon and has been known for being the voice of Arcturus Mengsk on StarCraft video games.  He also did a spin on General Hospital in the late 2000s.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 211: Passenger” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 210: Tapestry

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: TNG
Episode: 6.15 Tapestry (2/15/1993)
Rating: 3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/3/38 

Notable Guest Stars:
Ned Vaughn (Cortin Zweller) – Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that Apollo 13 has been my favorite movie since it came out in 1994.  Ned Vaughn appears in the movie as CapCom 2.

J.C Brandy (Marta Batanides)- J.C. Brandy has appeared in various tv series over the years, including a couple soap operas.  She also made an appearance in the Halloween film franchise.  She was 17 years old when she filmed this episode.

Clive Church (Maurice Picard) – This appears to be his first -and only – known credit.  Which was notable enough for me to include him in this section.

Rae Norman (Penny Muroc)- Rae Norman was appearing on Guiding Light around the same time she was on Star Trek.

Review:

I have to admit this is not one of my favorite episodes of TNG.  Every show has their “It’s a Wonderful Life” episode, it seems, and this was TNG’s.  Picard, having received a near-fatal wound, finds himself in a space with Q.  Q uses his powers to show Picard what might have happened if he hadn’t been stabbed by the Nausiccaans, a story mentioned earlier in the show.

My problem was most IAWL like episodes show the effect someone has on other people, not just their own life. And Picard had a deep impact on the other characters.  For example, there is a scene where Altered Picard talks with Will Riker.  Will is still the executive officer even though its been pretty much implied that the main reason he hasn’t taken a ship of his own is because he wanted ot learn more from Picard. I find it hard to believe that Will would still be on Enterprise and not on his own ship.  And, what does this mean for Jack Crusher? 

Of course, this could all be explained away as being part of Q’s made-up world.

There is also the weirdness of the Marta romance.  For one, they never really made Picard out to have been a lothario till this episode.  And the actress for Marta was 17 years old. While neither actor seemed to find anything amiss, the fact that the crew thought she needed to be aged up by make-up makes me wonder why they didn’t hire an older actress.

This episode did launch a thousand memes of Picard waking up to Q in his bed. 

This episode is usually critically accepted as good, and while I may not particularly feel driven to watch it, I don’t think it’s the worst episode ever. (You have seen me skip episodes so you know that). 

Interesting Notes:

  • Written by Ronald D. Moore
  • Directed by Les Landau
  • This episode was inspired by “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.
  • The brainstorming team liked this episode as a comparison to Picard’s wild child youth and studious adulthood while Kirk was a studious young man and only earned his reputation as a risk taker as an adult (and as a Captain).
  • First appearance of the Nausicaans

Pros

  • I wonder if they realize that they made Q appear pansexual at this point. I mean it would make sense for an energy being such as the Q continuum not to limit their interests by gender.

Cons:

  • I feel the story seems a little farfetched as far as it not effecting other people that where Jean-Luc was in life was different.  Our lives are ripples, not stagnant dots no matter what Q believes.

Screencap via CygnusX1.net

Posted in Uncategorized

NanoWrimo, July and Content!

Posted on by sokorra

Happy Summer everyone!

This month I’m back to attempting a regular posting schedule.  I typed it up even!  Part of it is an attempt to actually write during a Nano Camp, and part of it is to help me create structure (schedule at least) in my life.  So here are a few things you have to look forward to this month:

I will be writing a variety of posts so there is a little for everyone.  The majority of the posts will be Rewatch posts as I continue the 2020 project to rewatch/watch new the entirety of the Star Trek franchise.  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays will be the theme posts.  Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday will be the Rewatch posts.

History

For those of you here for my history posts, they will be back.  I have an article on the declaration in honor of July 4th (which will not have a post the day of), as well as two posts for the Women of History Series.  The first post will be on Marie de Bourgogne, Duchess of Burgundy and mother of the Hapsburg Dynasty.  Later in the month we will look at Julius Caesar’s sisters – Both named Julia.  The month of July was named after their brother, but they had connections to much of the Empire’s future.

Book It Reviews:

I’m attempting to catch up in doing reviews on books I’ve already read this year, so expect 2-3 book it posts this month.  All three planned are romance novels but coming in the future months I’ll have some mystery and non-fiction to add to the pot.

Writing:

July is the second Camp Nano, and this year I will be making three posts (including this one) giving you updates on my attempts to write 10,000 words (which will be adjusted as I meet said goal) and what I’m working on.  This year I am going to be using my essays on History as well as work on some fiction (both original and fandom related).  My goal is to have at least 500 words a day, because I’m starting off slow and working myself up to what I used to be able to write in a day. 500 words is almost a page typed (this post is almost 500 words itself!  I will limit mentions to those three posts, but if you want to talk about it with me elsewhere, I am available on Twitter.

New Theme: Art!

One of my hobbies is being an artist, so this month I’m going to add art to this blog.  This month is International Watercolor Month, so I plan on taking a post to talk about Watercolor, and some of my favorite artists who use it.  Maybe even try some watercolor myself.

Check my twitter account for my daily doodles this month as I try to rework those tired art muscles I let go to waste.

Posted in Uncategorized

General Update

Posted on by sokorra

I want to apologize for those of you who regularly read my blog for the lack of posts. The last year or so (hell, lets just go with the 2020s) have been very stressful for me and I’ve been dealing with mental health issues (Work stress, world events, and the death of two grandparents and a step-aunt) which have caused me to give up alot of things I enjoyed doing, including this blog. Depression comes in many forms.

I plan on continuing with this blog in the future. I’m giving myself the month of June to start preparing and getting new posts ready so that in July you’ll receive regular posts from me. At least 2 a week, with the hope to eventually go back to the 3 a week. Topics will include my history series, The Rewatch series, book reviews, and maybe some writing exercises since those seemed to go over well.

If there is a topic you would like to see me write about, I’m open to suggestions. You can comment to this post or tweet me (@sokorra).

Thanks for your patience. Hope you all are having a good year so far that things are looking up for us all.

Posted in book reviews, bookit

Bookit 22.3 : On the Honey Side by Staci Hart

Posted on by sokorra

Title: On The Honey Side
Author: Staci Hart
Published: February 24, 2022 (My copy was issued as an ARC)
Final grade: 4/5

Honestly, I meant for this to come out back in February, but things got in the way of that. I received this novel as an ARC back in mid February but the book itself was released for public availability on February 24th.

This book was an enjoyable read. It was the second book in the series, but I had not read the first book when I read this novel, so that may affect my review. The main character in this book is Daisy (as this series is the Blum Sisters), but you get chapters in both her and Keaton’s POV. Both characters have backstories that build up to them being together. One aspect that surprised me (in a good way) was that the characters are shown as having previous loves and those loves not being shown in a bad light. Too many romances lately have to show the ex as being a horrible person to show that the main couple in the story are right and each other’s “true” love. In this novel, its different. Both Daisy and Keaton had love before, and neither of the past relationships are shown to be horrible relationships.

Another interesting aspect of this story (and perhaps the series) is that it covers an interesting side plot of a town dealing with an homeless population. There is a sense that to get the full backstory of all the events of town, its best to read the previous book, but there is enough information that this novel can be read on its own. Its not an usual side plot.

I have read Staci Hart before (Bet the Farm) and I like her style of writing. The banter between her characters is always fun, and she veers away from too many tropes and clichés. Genre fiction in general is full of them, but its always nice to see when its twisted in a different way, or there is a balance. Hart’s books have a good balance.

The only issue I found with On the Honey Side was the background of the villain of the piece. This is however the second book in the series of three, so perhaps to understand more I need to read the first book (Which I plan on doing shortly). The third book comes out later this year.