Shiner Bock now available in Indiana

"Schlitz didn't pay a penny for this endorsement - and probably won't. R.E.H."

Earlier in the year I had been searching around for stores carrying Shiner Bock, a beer brewed in Shiner, Texas. It's sort of an "unofficial" favorite beverage of Robert E. Howard fans.

So I was surprised when this weekend, at the grocery store, I happened to look in the beer aisle and saw Shiner's Bohemian Black Lager and Hefeweizen on the shelf. Today I confirmed that Shiner started selling in Indiana about two months ago.

But if you plan to imbibe while you're at Howard Days in Cross Plains, deep in the heart of Texas, remember that Callahan County is a dry county.

New Bond and Star Trek 2009 Trailer

Mrs. Kaiju and I saw the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace on Saturday night. It was excellent, as expected. We didn't have a chance to watch Casino Royale again before seeing QoS like we wanted. The new film picks up immediately after it, so even though it works on its own, QoS is very much like the second half of CR.

Half of the reason I wanted to see QoS this weekend is because we're big Bond fans (and Mrs. Kaiju is quite a Daniel Craig fan). The other half is that the new Star Trek trailer is being shown with most prints of QoS, and I wanted to see it the right way -- on the silver screen -- before watching it repeatedly on the web.

Wow. That completely rocked. The snippets of scenes that we see look fantastic, and it's just a well-made preview in the way that it's structured. Trek is coming back in a big way. I am even more excited about the movie than I had been before. A high-def video of the trailer hits the official site tomorrow and Entertainment Tonight should be running it on Monday's show. Check it out... I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

Update: The so-called "TV spot" trailer was on ET tonight. The scenes were mixed around, and none of the Corvette chase was shown. Overall, I think it was a pretty effective 50 second spot. I'm disappointed that it's the sort of piece that we hardly ever see on ET anymore. It's become less of an entertainment news and preview program and more celebrity gossip.

Radar Clones from the Moon

Something I had been thinking about since seeing Revenge of the Sith -- there's a character who is one of the leaders of the clone army named Commander Cody. Knowing George Lucas, this is obviously a nod to the hero of the serial Radar Men from the Moon.

There is a guest post on Wired's GeekDad blog that references this, and also the band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.

Check that page for links to information, plus YouTube videos of Radar Men from the Moon and appearances by the band.

"It’s a new ship, but she’s got the right name."

Big Trek news this week -- the first trailer for the new movie with real movie footage premieres in front of Quantum of Solace this weekend.

Also, the first photo of the new Enterprise was released on Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog, and it immediately set off heated discussion in the on-line fan community. This follows the usual pattern of 1) some people say they like it, 2) more people say they hate it, 3) the first group accuses the haters of not following the Trek philosophy of diversity and change, and 4) the haters say the new movie producers have ruined their childhood and "invalidated" 42 years of TV series and movies... as if all those books and DVDs will somehow spontaneously combust. *sigh*

As for me, I just don't think there's enough there in one still frame to form any kind of opinion. Part of it looks like fish-eye-lens distortion. There are a few seconds of the Enterprise in motion visible in the trailer, which will help. I'm also thinking that since alternate timelines are an important part of the storyline, I'm not sure if this is the One True Enterprise, or one of several we'll see.

History

Just in time for Lincoln's bicentennial, shortly after Inauguration Day.