With a night off from SyFy Radio, and recovering from a ruptured ear drum, I thought it might be fun to watch the A&E live special of “Mindfreak” with Criss Angel, especially since it was happening about a half our or so from SyFy Portal world headquarters in Clearwater Beach. There Angel — a popular Las Vegas illusionist — was planning on making a daring escape from the roof of a hotel that was just minutes from being imploded. He would have to pick his way through a series of locks, get up a few flight of stairs, pick some more locks, and catch an escape helicopter in time to get away from the nine-story building as it’s reduced to rubble. The trick by itself as presented was hardly an illusion. Picking locks fast is not what an illusionist makes, so you knew there would have to be some …

Let’s face it. The cast of the original “Star Trek” series was far from cheesecake. With the exception of Nichelle Nichols, pretty much everybody else in the cast was average, or at best, mildly pleasant-looking. Kirk looked like my father with a smaller nose. Spock looked like my husband with a bigger nose. Dr. McCoy looked like a marmoset. If the original series was cast today, would the same cast have been chosen? If you put J.J. Abrams in charge, chances are they would all be a bit prettier. Yet in spite of the cast being made up of relatively average-looking people, “Star Trek” became a huge pop culture phenomenon that continues to influence people from all walks of life. By today’s standards, though, a television series seems to need a Six or Seven-of-Nine to rate a ten. Would …