Day 3: Three Wise Men

With the down-turn in the economy, this year I could only afford two wise men, Doug Zeitlin and Jim Caswell, the prime movers behind TWERPs (Time Well Electronic Productions) who, for the third year in a row have contributed a specially dedicated podcast for the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas. This year they have taken the bit between the teeth and tackled one of the thorniest questions in Star Trek fandom: Why, in a programme that prides itself on its intellectual content, is there so little said about religion and politics?

Download this year's Trekcast from the TWERPs website, http://www.twerponline.net/twerpcast

Day 2: Citizen Journalism

Fan production is about roleplaying! Some fans fantasise that they are film-makers or actors, artists or writers. Others want to be involved but have different talents, such as sound editing, managing a website or carpentry which are all very useful to a production group. Citizen journalism is halfway between. It is creative yet practical by reporting on what the fan productions are doing or commenting on it on forums, websites, Blogs, fanzines and podcasts.

This was the news and the way it was reported by the fans, for the fans, in 2009.

Day 1: Klin Zha!

Klingons are often depicted as being mindlessly aggressive barbarians without culture, art or sport. Nothing could be further from the truth and to prove it, this year, I have put together a simple to make portable game board and playing pieces for Klin Zha, Klingon chess! This game, steeped in the spirit of combat and valor is uniquely Klingon: you do not capture pieces, you kill them! Play boldly and with honor and along the way learn something of the final reflection, the great game of life.

The Twelve Trek Days of... 2009!

Wouldn't it be nice if it were Christmas all year long?

Christmas is a Christian festival that has become popular all over the world and in just about every culture. It has transcended its beginnings as a church holiday and is accepted as a part of Western culture. It is gazetted as a public holiday and government has legislated retail trading laws that regulate the hours that shops can stay open. It is in effect now a state holiday, at least it is in Australia where I live!

Whilst the religious aspects of the holiday are still observed in Christian communities, not everyone celebrates it as they do. The Christmas message holds two aspects however that can be respected by every person on the globe whether they be Christian, Humanist, Buddhist or Moslem:

Peace on Earth
and
Goodwill to all men

For the third year in a row, The House of L'Stok is sponsoring The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas. Twelve presents, which (in theory) will be given out on this website over the traditional twelve days between Christmas and Twelfth Night.

It is my hope that by showing how fan production groups can give away presents for free not just over Christmas but all through the year, it might encourage us all to remember the spirit of brotherhood that pervades the Christmas season, all year round.