Random Thoughts: October Edition

—Nothing makes me more nostalgic than autumn. Despite making great friends up here, the Gang is missed.

—I'm going to Raleigh in mid-January and I am pumped! I haven't been that way in a while and it'll be great to see old, familiar faces.

—Wikileaks released an unprecedented amount of information about the Iraq war. But none of its content is getting legitimate coverage from the US media. That sucks.

—For the last seven years, if not longer, we the people were lied to. Hundreds of thousands of people, whether American, Iraqi, Afghani, have died. Who knows how many more were tortured. No one will be held accountable, and that is unacceptable.

—You know who else won't be held accountable? The white-collar criminals and their cronies who brought the economy to its knees. But you and me will get 10+ years for possessing an ounce of pot or more.

—Christopher Nolan has given us the title of his third Batman movie: The Dark Knight Rises. I like the implication in the title; in The Dark Knight, Batman became the Dark Knight. This may not be a persona he wants, but it's one he'll carry. Chris Nolan also revealed no Riddler, which I like. It opens the door to a lot of other great villains the movies and mainstream public haven't seen.

—I'm super-pumped for the Rally to Restore Sanity and for all my friends going. It ought to be a blast. And seriously, get Jon Stewart or someone to give me a call.

—Back to the Future's 25th anniversary has come and gone: on October 26th, 1985, Marty McFly went back in time to November 5th, 1955. Putting serious thought into it, this is probably my favorite trilogy of all time.

—Congrats to the Texas Rangers on their first World Series appearance. I may be a Yankees fan, but it'd be a lie to say anything other than Texas outplayed them.

—For the uninformed, I finally got a job. Forty hours a week, salary, benefits...An adult job.

—Did you hear Mitch McConnell of South Carolina say the Republicans' number one priority is keeping Barack Obama from getting a second term? It's great to know we have elected officials looking out for us and not their party. This is how I know the two-party system is broken, and why we need viable third-, fourth-, and fifth-parties.

—This upcoming election is crucial. Read this and tell your friends, parents, etc. Misinformation is everywhere and it's disturbing. There's no slant, no bias to facts. Use them.

—Speaking of this election, VOTE. Tell your friends, parents, enemies, frenemies, acquaintances, whoever! I don't care who you vote for, just that you are voting. If you're in California, might I suggest voting for Prop. 19 and against Prop. 23. The former legalizes possession of pot. The latter will cost billions of dollars in clean energy and jobs.

—The rumormill is a-churning: George Lucas is planning a new STAR WARS trilogy, well after the events of Return of the Jedi and with no connection to the Skywalker Saga. I can and will be OK with this if Lucas isn't writing or directing, and he surrounds himself by greater talents who will challenge his decisions.

—Once again, I <3 Rachel Maddow.

—Something to keep in mind when discussing/reading about politics, faith, discrimination, etc.: Be a skeptic. Just because it confirms your bias does NOT make it true. If it elicits a strong emotional response, take a step back and re-evaluate it. People are manipulators, regardless of political party, religion, etc. Keep you head up and eyes open.

Making Changes

Nobody's perfect. And no one knows that more than each one of us. Whether or not we're found attractive has little to do with it. We all have things that bother us about our bodies. Maybe it's the shape. (I, for example, am a pear.) Maybe it's the weight. Maybe it's a lack of muscle, or definition, or tone. Maybe when we try to grow our hair long it acts like a spoiled child and will do nothing you ask of it. (Maybe I need a haircut.) It's also possible I'm just projecting onto you, my loving and adoring audience. Either way, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of not being at the weight I want. I'm tired of shirts fitting just a bit too tight around my stomach/waist. I'm tired of the accentuation of my ass in a pair of jeans. Most of all, though, I'm tired of saying I'm tired of it. Tired of my usual excuses and cop-outs.

There's a good deal of reason I've put on 50+ lbs. since 2004/2005. My junior year, I wrestled at 154 lbs. Nothing about that was healthy. Salads and water composed my diet. Every day. I could shed 4 lbs. from the start of practice to the end. But then I got into a car accident and unceremoniously quit wrestling. To say my metabolism went crazy would be an understatement. By senior year, I'd put on 25+ lbs. By my freshman year of college, I was 190 lbs. It's climbed, with brief moments of respite, until I peaked at 218 lbs. a month or so ago. Now it fluctuates between 213 and 216. That's too much for me. I'm not happy about the way my body wears the weight.

I've been passing up opportunity after opportunity since I started to put on weight my senior year. Why? Because I'm lazy. I have problems with motivation. I'm not sure when this set it, but I think it was right around my sophomore year of high school. It's carried itself into college and failing classes I wasn't interested in. It's kept me from running regularly. Although I'd argue I've always hated running, even when I was in shape and running track. Sometimes I'll use my knees as an excuse. A lot of time that's valid, but a lot of times it isn't. Right now I'm fed up with myself and that mentality. This general laziness has gone too far. A friend of mine, Bobby S. we'll call him, lost 40 lbs. in 7 months. That's astonishing. For years, I've been telling myself I could lose that kind of weight. My diet didn't change, and either did my exercise really, so I was never surprised that the weight didn't come off. But here's a friend, someone my own age, who's done the damn thing. I called him and we talked for nearly an hour, with a good chunk of that dedicated to what he did for those 7 months. Not a bit of it sounds impossible. It sounds hard, definitely. But I bitch out far too often when difficulty's involved. Maybe you do, too. No better time than right now to start making changes.

I'm going to do it. My motivation? Remember months ago when I congratulated my buddies Matt and Kathryn on their engagement? Matt asked me to be in the wedding party. Their wedding is 7 months away, at the end of May. For the most part, I haven't seen Matt, Jim, Bobby (I think I have more friends named Bobby than most people), Kathryn, their families, etc. since I moved to Wilmington. I'd love to get back there and be thinner and healthier. But it's going to be tough. It's going to take a structure and discipline I haven't exhibited in years. It's going to take time to figure out what works for my body. But if I don't start taking care of myself now, when will I?

I'm going to try to dedicate a post a week about all of this. I'm not going to keep track of weight loss. I won't be setting a weight loss goal. That mentality won't help. It'll add stress to meet the marks and I'm not doing this to add stress. Not with a new job starting in early November. So here's where I turn to you, my loving and adoring audience. What are your favorite healthy meals? What are your healthy snacks, besides fruit? Suggestions will be embraced and I will try anything (I hated pickles at the start of the year, and now I'm all about them. Who knows what other foods that happened to).

Next week or the week after is the start date. I need to do some analyzing of some behaviors and patterns before jumping into this thing. And I'd love for you to help me along with it. Ask me how the diet's going every now and then. I hate that I need it, but those little reminders every once in a while will make a huge difference. In turn, I hope we see a huge difference in the upcoming months.

Editor's Note: I reserve the right to change things, like watching my weight, as I please/as I get advice from people who know things.

Characters and Actors

I just finished reading an article, published on Roger Ebert's journal (click here to read it and pay attention to that second comment...), about writer Krishna Shenoi's experience with Superman, Superman: The Movie, and Christopher Reeve. It's a fun trip down memory lane for those of us spellbound as children by a man—super though he may be—flying. Everyone who's ever seen a movie has that one moment when the magic struck them. For me, it's in Jurassic Park. Imagine, if you will, that you're me, sixteen years ago (I first saw JP at the Walkertown drive-in a year after it came out, the year we moved to NC). I loved dinosaurs. Still do. So when we get the full-body shot of the Brachiosaurus, my heart exploded. It still does, every single time I watch the movie. As Alan says later in the film, "It's the most beautiful thing I ever saw!" My point? I get emotional attachment to film, to characters, to scenes, scores, moments, and so on. What Krishna wrote was an emotional appeal, and one I've thought about plenty in the last several years. I just happen to disagree with him on a couple points.

Superman: The Movie deserves credit for creating the super-hero genre. (I don't think anyone would count 1966's Batman as a legitimate contribution to anything but camp.) Since Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve awed the world, DC and Marvel have made their most popular properties into movies. Sometimes it's great (Superman, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, Iron Man) and sometimes it's terrible (Daredevil, Superman III, Batman & Robin, Spider-Man 3). Krishna is right that Superman: The Movie started it off. But I disagree with this: "Without it, there would be no "The Dark Knight," no "Batman," no "X-Men," no "Iron Man."" Hollywood, at least the Hollywood we've seen in the last decade, is not entirely adventurous. I'm not saying there aren't creative people out there or creators willing to take a chance. I'm saying the studios don't want to take a risk with original properties that may or may not sink at theaters. Sequels, prequels, remakes, and adaptations dominate the box office. What Krishna boldly said is that without one particular movie, an entire genre wouldn't exist. I think Hollywood's dependence on proven commodities, and thus a bit of financial security, would have brought the super-hero genre to the same or similar place it is today. I don't want to get into the whole "what if" game that my argument can lead to, because any number of scenarios are possible. But comics had already broken into the mainstream: Superman was on TV in the '50s and so was Batman. Studios were aware of them. If it wasn't Superman: The Movie, it would've been Batman: The Movie, or Spider-Man: The Movie. Now, if the argument was if Superman: The Movie hadn't done well, there'd have been serious repercussions for the super-hero genre, I'd be in complete agreement.

Most of us are suckers for nostalgia. Ask anyone from my generation about Nickelodeon. For hours we can talk about Rocko, Arnold, Doug, Pete, Pete, Clarissa, and hundreds of other characters we grew to love. We'll probably have something snide to say about the current crop of Nick cartoons, too. You may even get to a version of "the good old days" speech we hear guys like Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck go on about (except we're talking about cartoons, not...whatever they're hoping for. I honestly don't know. Segregation? Tricky Dick? The gas crisis?). I do it with Jurassic Park. And I think Krishna's doing it with Christopher Reeve's Superman. Superman's also in the unique position of having been played on the big screen by only two men: Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh. I agree with Krishna when he says Routh wasn't Superman. He was playing Christopher Reeve playing Superman, because director Bryan Singer made a tribute to Reeve and Donner's original two films (the idea behind Superman Returns was that it was a sequel to Superman II). Routh was immediately barred in by what had come before. Val Kilmer and George Clooney weren't when they put on the Bat-Suit. Either was Michael Keaton or Christian Bale. Or Kevin Conroy. We saw unique, occasionally awkward/bad, takes on Batman. But with the Man of Steel, it's really just been Christopher Reeve. And he did an incredible job for two movies. But just because we haven't seen a new take on this character does not mean Reeve is the end all, be all. Because I heard the argument Krishna's making before. We all did, when Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker. Nicholson fans came out of the woodwork, praising his performance like never before. People claimed no one else could be the Joker. But ya know what? Mark Hamill was the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. Luke Skywalker put his stamp on that classic villain. Then Heath Ledger did, and now people say no one else should ever touch the role. The thing is, Heath, Mark, Jack...They were all the Joker. But the Joker wasn't them. Same with Bond and Batman. And as much as Krishna would disagree, same with Superman. He's the father of modern super-heroes. He was created before Christopher Reeve, and tragically, has survived him. Batman has done the same thing. Wolverine will too, once Marvel gets their hands back on the rights. These characters have histories that movies and actors can only scratch at. They've gone through golden ages and silver ages, experienced bankruptcy and bad writing, good movies and disappointing movies. And yet, super-heroes are still revered. That's because they're bigger than their medium, whichever one it is. At this point, they're mythological. They're gods.

Sorry if this was nit-picky. I've just heard his argument before, from me, too. I've been in Krishna's shoes. I came around. A lot of it is acknowledging the way we taint films, cartoons, etc., from our childhood. We skew it beyond what it was/is. Actually, it's one of those things that goes beyond childhood. Anything we find some sort of emotional attachment to, we're defensive of: a car, significant other, memory, toys, pets. Sometimes we want things to be better, or bigger, more important. So we say that no movie will ever surpass Jurassic Park, or that George Lucas raped Star Wars AND Indiana Jones (the man just can't leave well enough alone), or that no one but Christopher Reeve will ever be Superman. It's understandable. This thinking, though, closes us off. I mean, what happens if Jon Hamm lands the role of Clark Kent, and we get one of the best performances of the year? We all need to be open to change, to something different and new, especially when it evokes a strong emotional response.

Episode VI: The Return of the Blog

At last, we’ve come to Return of the Jedi (ROTJ). There is good here, and there is terrible. In fact, this 3-part blog started out about cheesiness in ROTJ and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now, I bring to you my Ewok rant in order to get the negative out of the way first:

They're about 3 feet tall. Cute and cuddly. I wouldn't mind having one as a little sidekick. But I wouldn't expect an Ewok to do much during a fight. Even if it had a bow & arrow, or a spear, or a slingshot at its side. Even if it had a numbers advantage. I'm just not threatened by something I can punt. And maybe I'm crazy, but I can't imagine an army being frightened of them either. This wasn't just any army. It wasn't a ragtag group in camo-ponchos, like the Rebels. No, this was the Imperial Army. These guys were armored from head to toe. They were armed with guns and giant, walking death machines. These are troops that, for over 20 years, kept the ENTIRE galaxy in line. And I'm supposed to accept that the waddling teddy bears win? I'm sorry, but we've been shown, in a total of 4 films, how badass and dangerous Clonetroopers/Stormtroopers can be. We've seen Stormtroopers deal with similarly sized creatures with deadly precision in ANH. Obi-Wan even takes the time to emphasize that he's only seen that level of lethal accuracy from Imperial Stormtroopers. In case you call shenanigans because you went to Wookieepedia and read that Jawas are passive, watch the Rebels run from Stormtroopers onboard the Tantive IV. Or on Hoth. Watch the Clonetroopers massacre Jedi. The PT shows that Order 66 (the order to wipe out the Jedi) was primarily carried out by Clonetroopers. So what changed? It all depends on who you ask. Some might say the Ewoks had a turf advantage. Certain Extended Universe stories have said they were fierce psychological warriors: at night, they would chant and beat their drums, getting in the heads of the Stormtroopers. Or they would ambush small patrol groups and viciously murder them. But this is my blog, and I don't buy any of that. I don't buy the Empire's defeat on the moon of Endor. Even though it happened. I can't reconcile what I saw with what I've seen, if that makes sense. Ewoks don't make sense. But you can't talk sense with Lucas, you have to talk cents.

See, the Ewoks exist for a precise reason: merchandise. Georgie, we recently learned (through this article), changed the story of ROTJ for the sake of merchandise. The issue I have with this decision has everything to do with the relationship of money and art. When big money is involved, you're very likely to see something basic and safe (swamping Hollywood, are sequels and remakes). So instead of Han Solo dying, or Leia becoming a queen, or Luke walking off into the sunset, we wound up with Ewoks and the Death Star, Part II. Not only is the Death Star a proven foe, but the Ewoks scream marketability. A win-win for those with dollar bills in their eyes. What little kid didn't want an Ewok teddy bear the Christmas of '83? Don't you remember The Ewok Adventure or Ewoks: The Battle for Endor? Terrible movies, but they didn't have to be good. They just needed to appeal to a small market: children. This was when Star Wars took a turn towards bad cheese. It eventually led to Jar Jar Binks, incompetent battle droids with high-pitched voices, and kid-Anakin Skywalker. But it began with Ewoks.

Now that the dastardly Ewoks are out of the way, time to get to the nitty-gritty. There are three major storylines driving this story, and they all spring from Han's rescue from Jabba's Palace. We've been hearing about this Jabba fellow since ANH, and if you've seen the movies as they were originally released, then when we get to ROTJ, we have no idea who or what Jabba is. As 3PO and R2 head off on their own to Jabba's, the intrigue and mystery surrounding this place mounts and mounts (as with most things, ruin this, the PT and 1997 re-releases do). Lando and Chewie, we hear from 3PO, have yet to return from this place. They get there, of course, and we meet giant-pig guards and dark, dank hallways. Bib Fortuna, our first Twi'lek, introduces the droids to Jabba the Hutt, who is literally a giant slug. He hangs out on a slab of concrete, eats creepy-crawlies, and has a court jester sit in his rolls (Salacious Crumb). He also has a taste for humanoid women, who he has dress in super-hot outfits. He also keeps them chained up, which is less respectable. A lot happens here: Leia, in disguise brings Chewie as her "bounty," she frees Han, they get caught, Leia is put in a super-hot outfit, Luke comes along, fights a rancor, gets caught, he and Han and Chewie are sentenced to death, they fight over a Sarlacc pit, Jabba dies, Boba Fett may or may not die, and they escape. Whew. Luke then goes to Dagobah, Yoda tells him he has to fight his dad, that there's another Skywalker, and dies. Luke chats with ghost-Ben (odd, it is, how often Obi-Wan is called Ben in the OT, but never in the PT), who tells him Leia, the chick he's kissed at least 3 times (with tongue, sometimes!), is his sister. Heavy stuff to process quickly, because next thing we know, everyone's chilling at the Alliance rendezvous, plotting to blow shit up.

One of our three storylines happens on the moon of Endor. It involves a poorly thought-out plan and Ewoks. Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids are the main players here. It's disappointing. The most important stuff happens above the moon: Lando leads the Alliance fleet against the Death Star and the Imperial Navy while Luke battles Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine onboard the Death Star. I'll start with the space battle, since the Luke story is what the entire OT, and saga, led to. This is arguably the best space fight in cinema history, and definitely in the Star Wars saga. Our favorite space pimp is back, and he's leading the charge. Calling the shots, though, is the legendary Admiral Ackbar, known for his wisdom and brevity ("It's a trap!"). But it may as well have been Lando, since he tells the pilots what to do, and even tells Ackbar what's what in a galaxy far, far away. Once Lando realized the Death Star's shield was up, and it's uber-destructive laser was operational and able to target Rebel ships, he called off the attack on the space station and had the Rebel capital ships go up against their Star Destroyer counterparts. This scheme bought Han and company enough time to get the shield down. The remaining fighters literally went into the Death Star and flew straight to the core. Lando called all fighters and either a few heard, or the Rebels got pummeled, because only six or seven Rebel fighters went in, including Lando. It makes me wonder how far ahead they were thinking or if they even considered things wouldn't go as planned. But things go as planned, and they blow the Death Star to smithereens, again. But didn't I say Luke was onboard? HolycrapwhathappenedtoLuke?!?

Over the course of these movies, Luke has received the worst of it: His aunt and uncle were murdered, he watched Ben "die," he found out his mortal enemy is his dad, lost his hand, found out the chick he's been making out with is his sister, and was told he's got to fight his dad. To Luke's credit, he knows how to handle it. When Darth Vader takes Luke to the Emperor, Luke doesn't flip out and try to kill everyone, even though he'd be justified. He stays cool and trades barbs with the Emperor himself. Luke telling Vader he can sense the good in his old man. But the Emperor, well, he goads Luke every step of the way, trying to push him towards the dark side. It's only when Luke's friends are directly threatened by the Emperor does Luke actually summon his lightsaber. Vader defends, and we get an immediately iconic shot of Luke and Vader's blades locked, with the Emperor cackling. This starts the emotional struggle between father and son, at least in the physical sense. Luke regains composure and tries to avoid fighting Vader, but the thing about a Sith with a lightsaber is, they'll kill you. So the fight continues. Until Luke hides, of course. Good thing he's been wearing black all movie, because he is doing some serious lurking in the shadows. Vader's hunting him and antagonizing him, and it's great to watch. But then the greatest moment of the trilogy comes: Vader threatens Leia, and Luke goes berserk. The choral swell in the music is beautiful, and the first time there's been a score to accompany a lightsaber duel. The music, the acting, the fight choreography, it all meshes. The emotional undercurrent is electric (pun intended). One of the things that makes this work is that we've never seen Vader on the defensive. He's never been in a situation where HIS life was in danger. And yet, when the fight is through, Vader is down, minus a hand. Holy crap. And when enticed by the Emperor to kill his dad? Luke tosses his lightsaber away. The Emperor doesn't take so kindly to that, and shoots lightning out of his hands into Luke. I'll wait a minute while you let that sink in. It's this action that finally wakes up old Anakin Skywalker, who chucks the Emperor down a conveniently located shaft.

The unmasking of Vader disappoints me. Just like with the Ewoks, I don't trust my eyes (deceive you, they can). I see this pasty old guy underneath the helmet and don't buy that was Anakin. But following that we get Luke burning the body, another beautiful moment between the two heroes of the saga. Both the original ending and the revised ending are letdowns to me, especially in light of what could've been. I should apologize here to the folks who accept what we were presented with. But I won't because I'm an angry nerd. Either way, this wraps up my look at the Star Wars Trilogy! Stay tuned, though, for a special edition of "Random Thoughts" to cover anything I missed. Thanks for reading!