may the 4th be with you

Every Night Is Game Night: Loopin’ Chewie

IMG_20170504_182232

I’m playing a board game every day this month and blogging about it (I did a similar challenge last year). Feel free to join me during my Every Night Is Game Night: My Daily Play & Blog Challenge. And tweet me with what you’re playing these days!

I haven’t been able to game with my Thursday night gaming group lately so it was nice being back tonight. I got to play games with a few of my regular buddies as well as some of the newer regulars whom I’ve only met or played with once. From backgammon to Clank! Sunken Treasures, it was a fun evening of old and new games.

Of course, I had to bust out Loopin’ Chewie in honor of Star Wars Day. I scored two copies last year and found a guy on BGG that sold a 3D-printed extension that allows six budding Jedis (or Siths) to play at once. Just like every other time I’ve played this, it’s hard not to start cracking up as Chewie flies around in the Millennium Falcon trying to knock down your stormtroopers. It may be a silly kids game, but I’ve never heard one adult complain while playing it.

May the 4th be with you!

Day 125: Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars

(This is part of my ongoing series on my quest to watch all 100 of AFI’s Greatest American Films of All Time)

 

13. Star Wars

Yesterday I live-tweeted Star Wars, in honor of Star Wars Day. I had no idea how tough it would be to live-tweet a movie I’ve seen countless times. Even though I did a bit of pre-writing, it still wasn’t enough to prepare me for the task. It seemed like every time I tweeted something, there were two or three other things happening that I missed. I tried as best I could to include trivia and witty remarks, as well as references to all of the Star Wars parodies out there, but it was a Herculean task. Kudos to those who manage to do these type of things.

As for the film itself, we all know what it’s about, right? A long time ago … etc. Even though I consider myself a hardcore Star Wars fan, I don’t own a copy of the original film; I refuse to spend money on any special edition version of the film. Actually, that’s not true. I have the original trilogy on VHS somewhere in the garage, but no VCR to play it on.

For my Star Wars Day live-tweeting, I borrowed the original theatrical release DVD from the library. This is also the same version that’s included in the Blu-ray set, but neither has been remastered and I won’t buy it until it’s been remastered and unaltered. It’s a shame that George Lucas wouldn’t release the film without tinkering with it, but hopefully Disney will see the light (aka $$$) and give the fans what we’ve wanted for years.

As I live-tweeted the movie, two things stood out during my umpteenth viewing:

1. Sir Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford were miles above the rest of the cast in terms of acting skills. Luke is nearly unwatchable in certain scenes, Leia’s accent is all over the place, and some of the Empire cronies are awful (except for Christopher Lee and James Earl Jones, of course).

2. The lack of CGI special effects is a major plus. When J.J. Abrams announced that Episode VII would not rely on all of the over-the-top CGI of the prequels, I knew that Disney had hired the right director. Nearly 40 years later and the special effects in Star Wars still hold up, for the most part.

I’m sure I’ll notice other things the next time I watch this masterpiece. And I’m sure it will be before next May 4th.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Day 124: May The 4th Be With You

Light saber chopsticks

Light saber chopsticks

It’s great seeing how popular Star Wars Day (May 4th, as in “May the Force be with you”) has become over the years. Not that I need an excuse to wear a Star Wars shirt, discuss Star Wars, or use my light saber chopsticks to eat a meal. It’s the movie that defined my childhood, as it did millions of others, and I’ll never grow tired of it.

I made it a point to watch the original film today. I rented the DVD from the library, which is the non-special-edition version of Star Wars. It’s a shame that this (and the Blu-Ray version) is the only available version of the movie; no alterations were made, but no restoration was, either. Not until there’s a remastered high-definition copy with no special edition extras will I throw more money into the Disney coffers.

I used this inferior DVD for a live-tweeting session tonight. I kept my snarkiness to a minimum and learned a few things; mainly, live-tweeting a 38-year-old movie is tougher than it sounds. It was more fun than a farm boy shooting womp rats, though, so I’ll probably do it again for the sequel. Perhaps tomorrow, the Revenge of the 5th?