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Memorable moments?
Episode IV: the dogfight in the trench of the first Death Star.
Episode V: “Luke, I am your father”.
Episode VI: Ewoks kicking stormtroopers’ ass with Leia in interesting custom.
Episode I: Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Another one is probably the pod race. And maybe Padme Amidala (Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman!).
Episode II: Yoda! And Amidala.
Episode III: I bet it’s going to be Anakin vs. Obi-Wan.
In about ten days or so, the final installment of Star Wars will be “in theaters near you”. I was a Star Wars fanatic a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away. In fact, the galaxy is actually this galaxy. In read all the novels and the so-called technical book filled with pseudo-scientific details of Star Wars. I bought weird Star Wars stuff too and called it collector’s edition. Hence, I know the well-announced TIE-Fighter (TIE is twin ion engine if you are wondering) to the less-known but powerful TIE-Defender; from the exciting X-Wing to its obscure predecessor Z-95 Headhunter and the corporations that played important roles in development of the machines.
I only stopped being a fanatic after the official publisher of Star Wars novels was switched from Del Ray to Random House. Not that I hate Random House but the first Star Wars novels released under Random House was Vector Prime. By coincidence or by design, it has roughly the same storyline as The Truce at Bakura, a Star Wars novels published under the previous publisher. I have both novels in Malaysia; read Truce from leaf to leaf but read only the first few chapters of Vector Prime. I told myself, I’m not going to read this thing all over again. Hence, Vector Prime is practically the last Star Wars novels I have read. I have never touched any Star Wars novels since. Along with that, my fascination with Star Wars Galaxy diminished.
However, I remember someone said, once a Star Wars freak, always and a Star Wars freak. Not true entirely but perhaps, it is, to some extend. One proof is, I’m still excited about Episode III. It is where all the questions will be answered, where all the loose ends will be tied up.
The two other prequels have answered some of the questions. I must express however my disappointment with both Episode I and II. The hype around the two movies was extremely high but when I was inside the theater in 1999 and 2002, I found there is too much fat. Things don’t go smoothly with the dialogue. My taste of a good movie is a movie with witty and flowing dialogue, much like Casablanca.
To come to think of it, movies these days depend too much on motion, appealing to the eyes and rarely to the ears (minus the music but even if soundtrack is considered, many movies lack memorable compositions). In my opinion, all those black and white movies, such as Dr. Strangelove needs attention of the audience to be fully appreciated since the dialogue is complex. Casablanca’s dialogue in particular, is especially complex that I dare say, if one takes the classic from TV to radio, one will still be able to admire it. Not so with Star Wars and most others modern works.
In spite of that and the disappointment of earlier episodes, Episode III looks promising. Critics themselves are impressed by it, claiming there’s meat to it.
Of course, who cares what the critics are saying. If the critics are so good, they should be the ones that direct the movies, not the directors. Regardless what the critics say, hell, I’m still going to watch Star Wars.
Long live and- May the Force be with you, always.
I’m a person that always carries a camera with me; that one pocket filled. Then I bought an mp3 player and bring it to almost anywhere with me; another pocket filled. Usually, I put in my keys along with the mp3 player on the same side of my pant.
I wore a pant with three pockets yesterday. My wallet made the third pocket full.
And then I bought a cell phone. Never really wanted it nor needed it until I moved to an apartment 14 floors scaling up the charming blue May sky that was plagued with December cloud and wind just a few days earlier. The apartment has everything but a phone. So, I figured, I needed a phone. Well, my friend had some influence in that decision but that’s not the point.
When I received the phone from the sales representative, I found something odd was happening – I was out of pockets! It might be just a problem of the uglier sex; I don’t know about the fairer one. I don’t think girls have pockets at all, all the time; or at most maybe just two pockets, most of the time. No pocket. It must be sucked to be a girl-wearing-dress. Boy, it’s hard to not to digress.
Anyway, moments after that awkward moment, I realized that I had with me too many gadgets. I usually bring a couple electronics with me and in the future, I would probably carry more along – laptop, PDA, crab, crap – all the stuff that I plan to purchase soon. Hence, this crisis of the pockets hits hard on me.
Why this is a crisis?
Imagine this – increasing demand for pockets with a constant supply of it. This could only mean one thing – shortage of pockets! I should be paying for more pockets. Heck, I should kill for more pockets!
I’ve come to one conclusion – I need cargo pants and a small bag for future cool gadgets. Pant with three pockets is obsolete. Demanding to wear a three-pocket pant in the light of increasing number of fun stuff is bad. Actually, it’s not too bad stuffing all in that three pockets. It is uncomfortable nevertheless.
I need a pocket subsidy to finance my more-pocket plan. But of course, there is no such thing as a pocket subsidy, or is it? If there is, I should well damn take it. If those people back in Malaysia can have their oil subsidy, I want my pocket subsidy too!
Exactly a year ago, Paul Krugman wrote an article entitled The Oil Cunch. He started off with:
Before the start of the Iraq war his media empire did so much to promote, Rupert Murdoch explained the payoff: “The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil.” Crude oil prices in New York rose to almost $40 a barrel yesterday, a 13-year high.
Rose almost to $40 per barrel; about a year later, it is hovering more or less above the $50 per barrel benchmark. There was a time when lots of people thought $50 per barrel has too much fantasy in it. Now, nobody dare to question the $60 level too much.
The Economist latest edition has oil has its main focus. From one of its articles, it is clear than the team at The Economist doesn’t approve the plan to drill ANWR. The magazine bills such action as “This is mad”, or was it “This is madness”.
I agree so much that this is madness. Drilling the nature reserve in Alaska won’t alleviate the current crisis. The drilling return on investment won’t come immediately and by the time the extraction hit full speed, given the increasing global demand and little sign of slowing demand in the near future, oil from ANWR won’t be able to make a noticeable impact. It won’t make a lasting impact at all.
Believing the act of opening ANWR would relax the oil price is similar to believing one is Superman; able to stop a speeding bullet train by standing in the middle of the track, head to head.
The only solution is renewable energy. Or nuclear. We need to act now. Oil won’t last forever; renewable will.
p/s – I’ve come to a conclusion that The Economist is environmentally-friendly.
pp/s – can you feel it?
Because I do.
I found out last week that the Alumni Memorial Hall, which houses the University of Michigan Art Museum, is set to undergo a renovation in 2006. According to the project description, the renovation will increase the museum space to more than double.
My take – I sort of hate it but at the same time, the plan looks daring, much like the pyramid at the Louvre. The Art Museum has Roman feeling to it and the plan includes a modern design. There is a model of what the Art Museum would look like after completion in the building lobby.
Despite my possible reservation of what I’d call a clash of the temporal dimension, the plan would probably do lots of good to the area. From my understanding of the building style, passersby would be able to see what’s going on inside the Museum, or at least inside the proposed extension, from the outside. It would give a feeling of openness to the building.Anyway, somebody donated 5 million dollar to the Museum for renovation purpose.
Too much money – that’s all I could say when I first saw it. At least, it is for a good purpose.Lastly, in the Museum, there is this one huge painting – hung on a wall, needless to say – which nothing drawn on the canvas. Just a huge frame, colored with purple painted on it. I stood in front of the painting, trying to figure out what the “work of art” is all about for a moment or two. After that, I asked myself, “why am I staring at a blank framed purple-painted canvas?”
I appreciate art, but what I did is stupidity at its best.