So, just when I said I don't care about celebrities, one of my favorites goes and dies. This is how the Universe works for me: I am resolute about something and then something happens to make me learn something about myself in an ironic twist on whatever it was I was so resolute about.

It was a few years after my dad died that I could watch Star Trek. Shortly after I was born my father introduced me to Star Trek via reruns on a local channel on late Saturday afternoons. Saturdays were my dad's day to spend time with us kids. The weekly trip to the library, a stop at the hardware store, ice cream cones and then home for whatever project (school or hobby) needed parental guidance. And often there was some indulgent Saturday afternoon television: Godzilla or B-movies or Star Trek.

My brother and I are big sci-fi fans. This is a classic nature/nurture situation. We either inherited our love of sci-fi from our dad, or we learned to love it because my dad loved it. Either way, my brother and I owe our interest in the galaxy to my dad. My brother was (and still is) a closet bona fide Trekkie. My dad was a huge fan and I was just a fan. (My sister never liked, understood or cared about Star Trek. In many ways that sums up my relationship with my sister.) By the time I came along, my dad and brother already knew all the episodes by heart. I had a lot of catching up to do. My dad coached me through the Enterprise's travels and the intricacies of the plots. I used to pretend my Barbie airplane was the Enterprise and took my dolls on adventures to made up planets. By the time I started kindergarten I knew the planets and a few facts about each, and could give the Vulcan salute with both hands. (I know, it's as if my dad wanted me to be a social outcast and end up a spinster...)

As I grew older I went through all the usual phases kids go through regarding their parents. But through all the ups and downs there were a few constants. One of them was no matter where or when, if one of us found Star Trek on television, we both got sucked in and spent an hour watching it together.

Shortly before my dad retired, we were both going to be in New York about the same time for business trips. He extended his trip, and I left a few days early for mine. We walked the Met, and went back to the hotel to give our feet a break and get ready for our dinner reservations at a swanky restaurant the concierge recommended to my dad. My dad flipped on the television and found: You guessed it, Star Trek. It was a mini-marathon. We ended up canceling the dinner reservation and ordered room service and raided the mini-bar instead and watched four hours of Star Trek. We had a blast and it's one of the fondest adult memories I have of my dad.

When the business part of my trip began, one of my colleagues asked me what my dad and I did on our day together in New York.

I said, "We wandered around the Met and watched Star Trek for four hours."

She said, "Yeah, my dad and I have a strained relationship, too."

I tried to assure her that my dad and I did had a great relationship, we had a lot of fun, it was a perfect day for both of us, but she didn't seem to buy it. I don't think she could could understand the depth of joy that (admittedly somewhat silly) show had for my dad and me.

So, after my dad died when I flipped through the channels and saw Star Trek, I choked up and couldn't flip past it fast enough.

And then one Sunday evening a couple years after my dad died, I was flipping through the channels and saw Spock. I started to choke up, but I decided it was time to confront my grief. I forced myself to watch Star Trek. It was difficult at first, but by the end of the show I felt better. I turned a corner in the grief process. I went from getting choked up at the memories and missing my dad to feeling good about the fond memories of watching Star Trek with my dad. Breakthroughs like this in grief signifying healing. The memories turn from painful reminders of the deceased's absence, to comforting nostalgia of the deceased.

And now Nemoy is dead and there's a part of me that hurts again. If my dad were here we'd find a channel showing Trek and kick back and celebrate the wonderfully silly, brilliantly overacted beauty that is Star Trek and toast Nemoy/Spock. I could do that by myself, or with friends, but it's kind of hollow without my dad.

I'm kind of digging the small but significant progress in taking down E! and their inane "coverage" of the Academy Awards.

First, Patricia Arquette had the same idea as I did about responding to idiotic questions and requests made while women make their way down the red carpet to the award show. She called the mani-cam silly (it is) and responded to a request to enter the mani-cam by talking about her charity. Pretty much exactly like I suggested a few weeks ago. It was not combative. It was calm. It was intelligent. It was aimed directly at Ryan Seacrest. And it was glorious. Patricia Arquette, I've never really given a lot of thought to you or your work, but you, ma'am, have just earned my lifelong respect.

See Patricia Arquette call the mani-cam silly

And then when she won her Oscar, she used her allotted time to remind the world about the salary inequality women the world over endure. I'm usually not a fan of celebrities using award stages to make personal political or charity statements. With notable rare exceptions, acceptance "speeches" in general bug me. I'm all for the short and succinct, "Thank you, mom and dad, thank you [writer], thank you, Academy for acknowledging my work." But, the pay inequality for women in the film industry (in all capacities, at all levels) is notorious. This was an appropriate forum to bring attention to the topic. Thank you, Patricia Arquette. I hope you earn more than your male co-actors in your next film.

Next on the E! take down: One of the E! fashion commentators took aim at dreadlocks worn by a young woman named Zendaya. Zendaya wore long dreadlocks to the Oscars. An E! commentator made comments that Zendaya must smell like patchouli or weed. I openly admit I had no idea who Zendaya is until someone sent me a link to her Instagram rebuttal to an E! commentator's remarks. But her level-headed response to the comments about how she might smell, and the insinuation that she smokes pot, show a maturity most 18 year old women do not possess. Maybe her publicist wrote the rebuttal, but even that shows a wisdom beyond the capacity of most teenagers. Zendaya did not start a Twitter war. She used (or had her publicist use) more than 140 characters to stand up to E! and their "jokes" that aren't funny. Of course the E! commentator is going for catty jokes. That's their thing. They make fun of peoples' clothes and hair. Which is my primary reason for hating E! so much. And now, here's an 18 year old woman taking them down. Some people are saying true class would be to not dignify the "joke" with a response. Normally I would agree. But a line was crossed. The "joke" was that dreadlocks = weed. If the E! commentator said, "Ugh, dreadlocks, c'mon, it's the Oscars, not Coachella" it would have been a catty not-very-funny joke. Ha ha. And silence would be the appropriate response. But, by taking it to the "she looks like she smells like weed" level is defamation of character and that warrants a rebuttal. The upside to all this is that the vapid, silly E! commentator just catapulted Zendaya to fame, and, Zendaya kept it classy with her response. So those of us who had no idea who she was a few days ago are now thinking, "I don't know who she is but yay her for slating E! for their inane and defamatory comments."

Maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of the pendulum swinging away from celebrity worship. Maybe the church of E! will have a few less members after these smart women use class and brains to outwit E!. Hey, a girl with a triple digit IQ can dream...

I know, I know. It's a stupid award show in Hollywood. It's insignificant. I have a love/apathy relationship with these things. I love movies. Even bad movies. But for the most part I am utterly apathetic about celebrities. I am baffled and bothered about why the E! network even exists, let alone thrives in the ratings. But. I love movies. So I'm guilty of indulging Hollywood. Not as guilty as people who regularly watch E!, or their inane fashion commentary, but guilty of bothering to watch the Academy awards. Guilty enough to have favorite actors, and harbor hope for them to win an Oscar (Micheal Keaton was robbed), but not guilty enough to care what they wear to the occasion.

There are real problems and real issues in the world and Hollywood is just a distraction, or a break from the harsh reality of life and the world. We need distractions now and again. However, we do not need to elevate celebrities and the "Hollywood lifestyle" to such a level that we lose sight of common decency and the fact that designer clothes, hair and superficial accoutrement like expensive jewelry that celebrities adorn themselves with (and are often paid to do so) are just that  - accoutrement - and not worthy of an entire network devoted to them. If this is the beginning of the end of E!, then I'm on board.