Tea time
Ugh. I caught a bug a few days ago and it hit me hard last night. My throat’s sore, my body aches, and I feel sluggish. I’m trying to take the positives out of this illness, though, and I can think of two things:
1. I love hot tea with honey and lemon; being sick lets me drink this all day long.
2. I should be somewhat better by tomorrow, so I can live-tweet from Star Wars Day at the Cultural Center in Victoria Gardens.
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.
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?
Chewie, we’re home.
When I woke up this morning, I had something that I wanted to blog about. I don’t remember what that something was, because this happened:
Wow. This second teaser is even better than the first one. J.J. Abrams certainly knows how to tug on the collective Star Wars fanbase’s heart strings: Luke’s narration, Vader’s mask, Leia’s hand, Artoo, then BANG! Han and Chewie!
I believe the Internet’s reaction went something like this:
ZOMG!!!
All of us fanboys/girls were blubbering idiots today.
Tonight I showed it to my parents, who took me to the see the original so many moons ago. Their reactions as we watched:
[Vader’s mask] Mom: Uh oh, not that guy.
[R2-D2] Mom: Yay, R2-D2! He’s my favorite.
[Han and Chewie] Mom: Harrison Ford looks old.
Pop: Chewbacca looks the same.
Mom: Let’s go see it this Christmas!
Pop: Better get in line now.
Is it December 18th yet?
Hulk smash!
We stopped in the local comic book store tonight to do a little browsing. I’m not a regular, but I feel at home here. The staff is great and there’s so much to look at and it stirs up all of my childhood memories and emotions. The comic book industry has changed immensely since I frequented stores 30+ years ago. Comics are a bigger part of popular culture now and gaming is a huge part of the scene as well.
The biggest change, though, is the amount of cool stuff that’s out there now. Tonight I could’ve walked out with an R2-D2 backpack, a Spiderman Jell-O mold, and a Walking Dead purse (for my wife, obviously). These were things we didn’t even dream of owning back in the day.
The store is participating in Free Comic Book Day. I haven’t been to one in years and planned on going to this one when I realized May 2, 2015, is going to be a HUGE day: Free Comic Book Day, the Kentucky Derby, and the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.
I’m excited and already getting tired just thinking about it. And I can’t wait.
Reading and Listening to Star Wars
For lunch today I read The Last Command, the final book in the Thrawn Trilogy, and listened to a Star Wars playlist on Spotify. I struggled to get into this book when I first started it; I felt that I’d waited too long after reading the first two. I even thought that it might join the list of books that I start but don’t finish.
Thankfully, things picked up around the 100-page mark and I can see why this trilogy by Timothy Zahn is so well-regarded by Star Wars fans. He captured a lot of the spirit from the original trilogy while introducing new and exciting characters; so much so that sometimes the original characters (Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, Chewie, Threepio, and Artoo) seem stale in comparison. Thrawn, in particular, is a stellar bad guy in the Star Wars universe. I’m nearly done with the book and I’m curious to see how it all ends.
One thing that’s been consistently good throughout the Star Wars series? John Williams. I listened to the music from the films (yes, even the prequels) as I read each book in this trilogy. Reading and listening to Star Wars might not be as mind-blowing as the films, but it’s the best we can do for now … at least until December.
Star Wars: The Last Command by Timothy Zahn
So far, so good. I’ve stayed true to my Quest to Blog Every Day in 2015, this being my 40th post in the first 40 days of the year. I’m currently on pace to meet my goal.
Quick updates on my other goals this year:
It’s been a good 40-day stretch of blogging. As they say, I’m still finding my voice, but I have a few surprises planned for future entries. Here’s to the next 40 days of blogging. Cheers!
Read and the Force is with you
Is it really the 21st day of the year already? I’m in catch-up mode with a few of my goals for 2015. Today I finished the first of 26 books I’m trying to read in the next 12 months. Last year, I had the same goal and far exceeded it, reading 48 total. It’s the most I’d read since my college days and you can see the results of my 2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge here.
The last book I read was the terrific How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor. It’s a Star Wars fan’s dream, a well-researched look at how Star Wars became an international phenomenon. For this year’s challenge, I decided to start with another Star Wars title. I began the final entry in The Thrawn Trilogy, but after a few chapters it sat on my shelf for two weeks; I just haven’t been in the mood, so I’ll pick it up again someday. In the meantime, I stopped by my local library and borrowed the graphic novel Star Wars: Rebel Heist. I didn’t really care for Rebel Heist (read my review here), but I’m glad I’ve got the first of 26 books read.
Greatest. Movie. Ever.
Over the next 365 days, in addition to blogging every day, I’m going to watch every movie on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Greatest American Films. I’ll write about each film I finish, sometimes a review or some trivia, but hopefully something more personal and interesting.
Why watch these 100 films? Well, I’m a cinegeek and my love of movies goes back to my childhood, when a little film called Star Wars changed my life. I remember standing in line with my parents at The Academy in Pasadena, California, years before the theater was chopped up into a multiplex. The Academy then was a magnificent palace for the cinema, with plush balconies and a ceiling so far away that it seemed to touch the sky.
I remember standing outside in line with my folks, eagerly awaiting my first true movie-going experience. Once the film began, I was mesmerized, joining the crowd to boo Darth Vader’s first appearance on screen and cheering two hours later when the Death Star was blown to smithereens.
Mostly, I remember how I jumped at any chance to Star Wars again; 22 times over the next few years, long before my family had a VHS or DVD player. Repeated viewings on Spike TV were light years away, so my elementary-school self ended up going with every friend and cousin I knew to watch George Lucas’ masterpiece.
Now here I am, a lifetime later, eagerly awaiting December 18th for the release of Episode VII. Instead of gorging myself on all things Star Wars in anticipation of The Force Awakens, I’m going to watch the other 99 non-Star-Wars films on the AFI list. It’s actually something I’ve wanted to do for years, but never committed to doing so. I have a handful of these movies on DVD and Blu-ray and I’ll use Netflix, Amazon Prime, and my local library to complete my quest. I’m hoping, though, to see more than a few of these classics at special screenings done occasionally at the old-time movie houses in L.A.
By my count, I’ve seen 45 of the films on this list and I’ve caught bits and pieces of another 20, but like my elementary-school self, I’m just as excited to watch a movie for the first time as I am for the 22nd time.
Notes:
1. The movie poster image above was taken from here.
2. There’s a small bit on the history of The Academy in Pasadena, CA, here.
