Even in eighth grade, when I first met my friend Z. at a Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler-heavy Upper West Side party, I knew she was chock full of the good kind of 'tude.  Rocking electric blue 14-hole Doc Martens and a checkered motorcycle jacket, she marched up to me and demanded to know where I got my coat (a navy blue Calvin Klein relic of my father's, which she rightfully recognized as a gem).

At first, I thought she was nutty.  Then I realized instead that she was cool.  And, after we got acquainted, I saw that she had that inevitable combination of qualities that creative, quirky, wacky, adorable people have: she's nutty and cool.  Turns out that along with having impossibly perfect skin, she was a born stylist (the first girl on the block with bamboo earrings–a good thing in our hip hop obsessed Manhattan enclave), pop culture sponge, movie nut, fellow foodie and (wait!) a TREKKIE ???

Yup, on top of being style-obsessed and crazy social, Z. was what seemed like an unlikely Star Wars and Star Trek obsessive.  Okay, she didn't dress up in crazy costumes and attend conventions (at least not to my knowledge), but she did know the names of every character (even little creatures called things like "blargness" and "mopsyfist" you didn't realize had names) and she watched tirelessly.

Well, as ushe, Z. was ahead of the curve.  And now, as the new Star Trek movie gets ready to open on May 8 (oddly, always a landmark day for me and Z.), Trekkies have risen again.  And this time, they're (gasp!) cool.  Cool–ER, I should say, I guess, since Z. would argue she always had a finger on the button (the spaceship eject button?).

First of all, Cobrasnake Trekkie parties (DJed by peeps like DJ AM–yup) are going down all over the globe this month.  LA, NYC and Paris already went off, but Berlin (4/12), London (4/17) and Tokyo (4/24) are still to come.  And, at all these other Trekkie crazy events where they show off Star Trek photo booths and different pop artists' take on "The Enterprise" (that's the ship if you're as clueless as moi), they're giving out these limited edition tees designed by a super diverse group of artists.

I'm one of the lucky ones (recipients, not artists), as I'm obviously sporting one of said tees above. Cute, no?  (I know I have red-eye in the picture, but I thought it was kind of apropos like I'm some radar vision-having alien character on Star Trek.  Too bad I'm making gang signs instead of Trekkie signs.  Actually, in Klingon that hand motion means, "I'm a crip.")  Anyway, my tee is designed by LA artist Megan Whitmarsh, whose work is generally inspired by her comic drawing, Mork & Mindy watching and Blondie and Bob Dylan listening childhood.

Um, sound familiar?  Cause it sounds eerily familiar to me.  Has she been watching me?  Or maybe I'm having a Star Trek outer space Time Life moment.  Wait–is that a thing?  I think the static Klingons have corrupted my brain.  (BTW–You can learn their language at the above link).  Some people think Spanish and French and maybe even Mandarin are the most important languages to learn, but, in this post-Trekkie cool kid culture, I think Klingon is KEY.  Especially if you want to be Paris's BFF.  Just saying.

Anyway, other artist's Trekkie tees below:

 

(Tees By Olka Osadzinska from Warsaw, Poland)

 

(Tee By Painter and Illustrator Mark Todd)

 

(Tees By Euro DJ Zuper Blahg)

 

(Tee By Mark Hunter of Cobrasnake)

(Um, This Is Not A T-Shirt.  It's A Poster, If You Can't Tell, By Jessie Philips)

Anyway, the events (and thus the awesome tees) are on the lowdown, so keep your eyes and ears open for murmurs about the underground parties.  And maybe, if you're lucky like me, they'll beam you up.  Right, Scotty?

Okay, you knew it was just a matter of time until I made that joke.  Sorry, that's just how Spock and I do.

xo – N.