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This morning, I ran across a bit of the new Star Trek movie trailer on 109.com. (Edit: There's a better version here.) You don't have to be a geek to like it, but it doesn't hurt. One of the things that struck me about the trailer was that the scenes of Kirk and Spock as kids were refreshing to see. The series has been around long enough that the characters have become iconic. In fact, they may actually be better known internationally than most iconic superhero characters, with the exception of Batman. Everyone who has been exposed to American entertainment culture knows the Batman, and everyone wants to be him. ;-) If you search YouTube, you can find some knock-off versions of the original Star Trek made by other countries. Some of them are rather hilarious, but it's clear that even those who never saw the original show know the concept from their own bastardized versions.

Anyway, most iconic characters are pretty fleshed out, but J.J. Abrams seems to have found a few nooks and crannies for the characters to showcase in the trailer (if not the movie itself). It looks pretty exciting, but then I am a fan of the original Trek. And, no, I'm not old enough to have seen the original series when it aired, but I am old enough to have seen it in syndication before Star Trek: The Next Generation aired.

Times are tough, for sure, but most of us can still afford to play video games online (I recommend Guild Wars because it has no monthly fee, or Diablo II because it's the most awesome game ever), take a walk, make yummy homemade food from scratch, or see the occasional escapist movie. Life is still pretty cool even when things seem to be crashing down around us. Seeing that trailer and looking forward to the movie reminded me of that.