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Perhaps the most significant work of Nichelle Nichols can be measured in how kids of my generation never knew to question her place onboard the Enterprise as Communications Officer Nyota Uhura. She was there, and it made sense, so who were we to examine it? When I saw Lieutenant Uhura and Captain Kirk make out in the episode Plato’s Stepchildren, I thought it was just another dramatic scene in an excellent narrative arc. I didn’t learn until much later – when I was in college – that that was the first interracial kiss in the history of television in the United States. Because of Nichelle Nichols, I never even thought it was a big deal that she – a black woman – was an officer in Star Fleet.
It just made sense.
Though, of course, her portrayal of Uhura was a massive cultural shift in our benighted land.
By casting Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura, Gene Roddenberry – and Nichols herself – helped establish the template of the better, more just world they were contemplating through the creation of Star Fleet. For my peers in Generation X, they slipped the mightily subversive concept of race and gender equality into our thinking before anyone else could fill our brains with the pervasive and contrary garbage of the five preceding centuries.
It didn’t fix everything, of course, and didn’t impact everyone the same way. Still, as with all butterfly effects, if you remove Nichelle Nichols from the Desilu Production facilities in 1966-1969 – and therefore from the deck of the USS Enterprise from 2266-2269 – then there’s a mighty strong argument that our world in 2022 is an even less enlightened place than it has become.
So, beautiful queen, as you pass from this world and onward to the Final Frontier, I’d like to say thank you and promise that, at least with Gen-X science-fiction geeks like me, the mission most certainly continues.
Scotty, one most righteous sister and guide to beam up.
Today, we lost a giant.
As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher—both as a player and as a person.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Bill knew what it took to win and what it took to lead. On the court, he was the greatest champion in basketball history. Off of it, he was a civil rights trailblazer—marching with Dr. King and standing with Muhammad Ali.
For decades, Bill endured insults and vandalism, but never let it stop him from speaking up for what’s right. I learned so much from the way he played, the way he coached, and the way he lived his life. ~~ President Barack Obama
Anne Heche – RIP
The US actor Anne Heche has died, a week after she was critically injured in a car crash.
Heche, an actor of sharp intelligence, rose to prominence in the early 1990s, playing twins on the soap Another World, and with film roles, including the part of Laura in Nicole Holofcener’s debut feature, Walking and Talking.Her first major role was as Johnny Depp’s girlfriend in gangster drama Donnie Brasco (1997). In the same year she was cast in other enduring titles: political satire Wag the Dog, disaster movie Volcano and slasher classic I Know What You Did Last Summer.
She also starred opposite Harrison Ford in Six Days, Seven Nights.Sadly the Queen of England passed away on Thurs 8 Sept 2022
The UK is in mourning.
Sun 21 April 1926 – Thurs 8 Sept 2022 Aged 96 years RIP x
Thank you your Majesty for your outstanding service.We now have a new King … King Charles III
On the day of her funeral….May she rest in peace.
Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason, showing the Queen his 1962 Ferrari.
Beloved ‘Harry Potter’ Star Robbie Coltrane Dies After Lengthy Illness
Robbie Coltrane, the Scottish actor best known for his role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter franchise, has died at age 72, his agent confirmed on Friday.
Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright confirmed to The Daily Beast that the actor died in a hospital near his home in Larbert, Scotland.
She added to the BBC that Coltrane had been ill for the last two years, but she did not disclose what the illness was.Born Anthony Robert McMillian in 1950, Coltrane’s breakout role was in Jimmy McGovern’s Cracker series, in which he played Dr. Edward “Fits” Fitzgerald until 2006. He won several British Academy Television Awards for his role as the criminal psychologist who solved crimes.
Coltrane also starred in two James Bond films but he shot to international fame playing Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant-half-wizard Hogwarts gamekeeper in the eight-movie Harry Potter franchise.
Jerry Lee Lewis, the rock’n’roll pioneer who became one of the most infamous figures in popular music, has died aged 87, his publicist has said.
He died of natural causes at his home in DeSoto County, Mississippi.
“Judith, his seventh wife, was by his side when he passed away at his home in Desoto County, Mississippi, south of Memphis,” a statement said. “He told her, in his final days, that he welcomed the hereafter, and that he was not afraid.” Jerry Lee Lewis – Great Balls Of Fire! (1957)
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