Tag Archives: star wars

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

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It’s been a week since I’ve seen the biggest film in the world. So, I figured it was finally time to review it.

Have no fear, it’s spoiler free.

In the past week, I’ve seen a bunch of reactions and criticisms of the film. Some of the worst seem to be from people who were somehow expecting it to have the same impact on them that seeing the original Star Wars for the first time had. Inevitably, that didn’t happen and they’re apparently upset and taking it out on this movie.

Bad news, people: You can’t recapture that feeling. Mainly because you’re not a kid any more. Partly because, well, there is nothing like that first time. That’s kind of what makes it so special.

Remember this: For a ton of people–especially a ton of kids, many of whom are the children of people who’s lives were changed by the original–this is their first time. And The Force Awakens is an infinitely better “first time” film than The Phantom Menace (or any of the other prequels) was.

Is it perfect? Nope. But neither was the original.

Is it full of surprises? Nope, not for people who’ve been soaking in movies and scifi for their entire lives. But neither was the original. In fact, the most surprising thing about the original was that it was a success at all. (And the big surprises in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? Those were surprises to George Lucas, too… at least the George Lucas who created the first film.)

This movie has broken all sorts of records and it deserves all the accolades it gets. Most of the criticism I’ve heard so far, though, seems based on ridiculous expectations and the nostalgia-inflated “betterness” of the original trilogy.

So… that’s all the negative stuff right there. Go watch today’s vlog to listen to me talk about why this movie is different from the original and good in its own right.

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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More of Everything from the Past Few Days

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This entry is part 81 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Yep. Up too late again, trying to catch up on non-day-job work that I didn’t get to last week (or the week before) because I was so wiped out by the day job work.

Much needed fun over the weekend, but my sleep schedule is still recovering.

Yeah, that’s the excuse I can use for at least one more day.

(We all know that the reality of it is that I’m naturally nocturnal and, left to my own devices, would rarely be up before noon and usually be going to bed around sunrise.)

Ah, well… so much stuff in the feed from the past few days. You’d best just take a scroll through it to see for yourself. (Since this is all going to be quick and haphazard as I should be asleep now… except I crashed out on the couch earlier in the night… which does exactly nothing to “fix” my schedule.)

Here’s the feed…

Bunches of Comic Con Things, Big Discussions on Israel and the Gaza Strip, Some Levity to Balance that Out, and Musing on the Culture of Fear

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This entry is part 69 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

There are no shortage of fear-inducing, attention-grabbing headlines out there. Most of them turn out to be utter hype, but you don’t discover that until after you’ve clicked through. And if you don’t click through, well, the damage to your peace of mind is already done.

For a long time now I’ve been interested in fear and how it gets used–both by us and on us. Part of that is due to growing up on a steady diet of classic horror films. Another part is from growing up through the tail end of the Cold War and a few not-so-cold-wars.

I’ve seen a growing problem over the years. One that’s not going away and only seems to be getting worse.

The problem is the overall culture of fear and paranoia we’re all soaking in… and have been for our entire lives. That’s the reason we (in general) are even suspicious when anonymous gifts show up.

We assume malicious intent.

That’s… not healthy.

And it’s most certainly not conducive to sensibility.

And, perhaps worst, it leaves us open to all sorts of manipulation. The kind that’s been used again and again and again over the past two decades to make us give up more and more of our freedoms in the name of security. Security from threats that, even when they do exist, are far from immediate, imminent, or actually damaging to the vast majority of the population.

This is the kind of fear that, at worst, expresses itself in events like those riots in France the other day. Or in people getting shot just because they look different from the person holding the gun. Or in war.

So, yeah, there are, indeed, things out there to be afraid of, but there are far more things that strike us as creepy or fear-inducing. We have to be fully aware of *why* it strikes us as such and how problematic that actually is.

That all said, here’s the feed starting from Friday (including the article about dolls that spurred most of the above musing)…

Star Wars Stuff, Perspective on Numerous Levels, Cool Looking Hobbies, and (of course) Politics

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This entry is part 51 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’ve spent far too long reading stuff and watching YouTube videos. Between that and hitting a meeting down in Silver Spring proper after work tonight, my “free time” has all but vanished, leaving me, once again, at the “Oh, crap, I should probably be going to sleep now-ish” point.

My “normal” sleep schedule really doesn’t fit well with the “normal” world. There’s really nothing close to normal about it. It rotates oddly if I’m left to my own devices. And, while I’ve found plenty of documented cases of variously odd natural sleep schedules. documentation doesn’t really help solve the problem of it not at all matching with a typical work schedule. (Let alone when anything else is going on.)

This has been the case for pretty much as long as I can remember.

And it really shows no signs of changing for the better. No matter how much I try to tweak it.

So, here’s the feed from today and the weekend. Enjoy it. I did. 🙂

Bad Business, Intergalactic Bad Guys, Some Good Evil, Celebrity How To, and Other Stuff That Makes Me Feel Old

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This entry is part 22 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

There was a semi-lengthy back-and-forth in a comment stream today about how celebrities interact with their fans.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of different methods of interaction. Some of them much more personable than others. I’ve seen celebs content to sit behind their tables, offering nothing more than a well-acted smile and nod as their assistant takes the fans’ money and they sign a picture. I’ve seen others end up late to panels or other appointments because they stopped to have an actual conversation/shake hands/pose with a random fan (or five) who crossed their path. There are genuinely introverted people (like Johnny Depp) that fight to overcome their own preferences because they know how important their fans are and there are people (like Jack Nicholson) who are really known for being right bastards (and yet, on their raw talent alone, still manage to maintain some sort of fan base).

The ones who happily and willingly interact with their fans–something that modern technology has made a lot easier to do–seem to have not just a more loyal and active fan base, but one which is willing to follow the star to any new project and (perhaps more importantly) toss money at projects and causes that the celeb is part of or supports. (Alyssa Milano, a few years back, pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars for a clean water charity simply by asking her fans, via Twitter, to donate for her birthday.)

If you are (or become) a celebrity and you don’t like dealing with your fans face to face… do whatever you can to avoid having to do so. Don’t let your management or promoters force your fans to pay good money for a half-assed experience that you’re going to hate (and they may walk away from liking you less). More importantly, perhaps, tell your fans honestly why you don’t do photo ops or meet and greets. Fans–real fans–will understand and appreciate the insight into you… and, as an extra added bonus, you may just make a real difference in their life by making them feel less alone in their own quirks and anxieties.