The Padawan Pause

What’s wrong with us?

2011-11-06T22:34:00.003-06:00

Since I got my first AARP card in the mail this week, I figure I’ve finally taken the first steps to becoming elderly. I’m excited about this, because one of the chief virtues people assign to the elderly is their wisdom. Older people know things. It must be because of all the miles they have logged, but the older a person gets, the more he or she understands life — even if the conclusion is that life cannot easily be understood.

I’m also excited to tell you that this older person = sage thing obviously worked. Because, less than a day after the card arrived, I woke up this morning understanding what is causing most of the problems in the world. It’s them.

You know who them is. In the realm of U.S. politics, for example, if you are a Democrat, it’s a Republican. Conversely, if you’re a Republican, it’s the Democrats. All of the world’s problems would disappear and the earth would be a garden if we could just lock up all the Democrats, or all the Republicans. Simple as that.

While we’re at it, we have to get rid of the conservatives and the liberals. A lot of Republicans use Liberal as another label for Democrat, so we can probably kill two birds with one stone there, and conversely, Republican must equal Conservative, so that’s another two-for-one special out of the way.

So that’s my solution: If we just figure out who they are and take them out of the equation (non-violently, of course), surely whoever’s left will be free to enact their plans on how to fix America, and we’ll finally get that paradise we’re all wanting.

The only problem is people have tried that before: politically parties have taken over legislatures, or indeed, whole governments, when they saw other groups causing all the problems. For example, in 1930s Germany, they went by the name of Social Democrats. Once the opposition was eliminated, then Germany was free to usher in the “paradise” that was the Third Reich. And since so many men and women of my parent’s generation suffered and died to rid the world of that “paradise,” I think we can rule out mass bans of the opposition as a way of settling debate.

Our founding fathers were much wiser men than we seem to be. They built into our government a system of checks and balances, so a man like Adolph Hitler wouldn’t turn the country into a dictatorship — or, to be fair to their perspective, a monarchy. There are sophisticated controls to allow one branch, when pushed, to push back. The problem is, I don’t think they foresaw just how much of a role money and power would come to play in our governments. And I don’t think they knew to what extent pushing would become the rule, not the exception.

Washington today has become a joke. Were he to go to Washington today, Mr. Smith wouldn’t last five minutes before he was swallowed up by special interests and partisan politics. That’s simply the coin of the realm these days. Quite apart from their individual selfish interests, the various and sundry Republicans and Democrats have dropped any pretense of seeing the other side as “the loyal opposition,” and instead, have become the political equivalent of that old married couple down the street — the only way they can communicate is to argue. They belittle, they ridicule, they accuse, they demean, and the seek only the other side’s destruction. When a man goes to Washington these days, he’s often much more interested in hurting them and doing good for his own side than in doing what’s best for the people that sent him there. I know — that’s a generalization. But it is far too often true.

So in retrospect, I guess age does not automatically equate to wisdom. Mostly because I really have no clue how to fix what’s wrong in Washington, but also because so many of the people who are causing the problems in Washington could and perhaps do belong to AARP.

Be that as it may, I remain convinced that the United States has thrown aside the greatness of an us in favor of a lot of shrieking, divisive thems.

When I was a young man, and even more idealistic than I am now, I watched the presidential election night results at a friend’s house. I won’t say which election, and I won’t say which party to which he and his mother belonged. But as the night fell irrevocably to them, one of them said to the other, with a wrathful relish I’ll not soon forget, “Now we’ll show them!”

I’ve thought of that every election night since then. At first, I thought that tone was simply the province of that particular party — proof that they were, themselves a them to be opposed. But now, I realize that both parties come to power, or return to it, with that battle cry on their lips. As a result, I have long since dismissed politics as an insolvable mess. As them against them. Oh, I voted every year — my duty as a citizen. But I tried to stay aloof; to not get involved. I had no desire to wade into somebody else’s fight. And besides, I really didn’t have any answers either, so why muddy the waters with my own amateurish and unschooled opinions.

Now, the “wisdom” of my years have made me realize that this was a mistake. I’ve sat on the sidelines for far too long. And, all kidding aside, I don’t know how many years I have left. I think perhaps the time has come for me to make some sort of difference with the time I have remaining.

The battle is out there. But it is also inside of us. The thems aren’t conservatives, liberals, Republicans, Democrats, or any of the various and traditional opposing forces. The thems are ignorance, poverty, greed, corruption, scorn, contempt, pride, arrogance, abuse of a dozen different kinds, prejudice, bigotry, waste, and hundreds of other sins of commission and omission. They are all around us. They are non-partisan. And they will never be stopped until the Lord returns. But they must always, always, be fought.

I am a small man, of small means, and there is little that I can do of myself. But starting today, and in my own small way, I mean to try.

Requiem

2011-10-05T20:09:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs, former CEO of my favorite technology company, died today. There are going to be a lot of people eulogizing Mr. Jobs, or Steve, as we Apple fanboys frequently called him.

Virtually any of these people are going to be far better qualified than I am to wax poetic about what he was like, or how his life mattered in ways we still don’t fully know the scope of.

I never knew Steve; never wrote to him, never even saw him from afar. I suspect that had I known him as a person, there’s a chance I might not have liked him. None of that matters right now, anyway.

I only want to tell one story about Steve, and its not really about him. It’s about me.

When I was a young man in the mid-eighties, I loved music above practically all else. It consumed me. I wanted to spend the rest of my life making it, listening to it, and sharing it with other people. I was going to be the next Geddy Lee, or John Lennon, or any one of a handful of the talented men I idolized in my early twenties. Music was, in a word, sacred to me.

Flash forward roughly twenty years. By this time I have failed at becoming a musician, in more ways than one. I had burned out on studying trumpet (a very long story), which left a music education degree unfinished. I had subsequently left that to become a bass player with my best friend. That, too, came to naught, and eventually, the part of me that used to love music was a empty, dead place. Poke it a little with a memory, or somesuch thing, and the pain of my failure would come roaring back. So mostly, I avoided music for years at a time.

What changed that feeling for me was an iPod photo, which my wife, in her infinite wisdom, encouraged me to buy when she saw how much I wanted one. And make no mistake, it was enormously expensive compared to other devices — $500, at a time when portable CD players were $100. But it gave me the ability to carry around my music collection with me wherever I went. It let me sit, still and quiet in a chair, getting lost in pieces of music I hadn’t listened to for years. The ability to access whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, was a complete game-changer for me. And before much time had passed, I was able to fall in love with music again.

Oh, not to the same level I had before; I was young, then, and full of the passions of youth. Music will never be like that for me again. But thanks to that iPod, and the ones that came after it, I was able to become excited about music again, which for me is by no means a small thing.

The company that made that iPod is named Apple. The man who oversaw the many, many people in that company who designed and built that iPod is named Steve Jobs. He died today.

A lot of people are going to remember Steve for what he built. I’m going to remember him for what he, indirectly, gave back to me. As it turns out, the iPod was just the tip of the iceberg for me — there were Macs and iPhones and iPads in my future. But I still, still feel a soft spot in my heart for the simple genius of that first iPod. And it is altogether fitting that, when I heard the news of Steve’s death, I was tinkering with the playlists on my iPhone — still enjoying the world of digital music that he helped make happen.

Rest in peace, Steve. And, from the bottom of my heart, my deepest thanks.

Down, not out

2011-09-09T17:49:00.001-05:00

This is a bit of a first. My Internet is down at home, so I'm resorting to my newly acquired Blogger app on my phone to post this. Typing on a 3.5-inch piece of glass is tricky — even trickier when you consider it's in portrait mode. But with patience and the right tools, anything is possible.

I have little to say this outing; only that I am in the end game of a long-overdue week off. Life is good right now. I hope to have more content in the future. For now, I think I'll use the absence of the World Wide Web as a chance to unplug for the rest of the weekend — at least from the Internet.

See you soon.

Imperfect present tense

2011-08-21T21:17:00.001-05:00

I had a Facebook “conversation” not too long ago where I confessed to getting old. A friend of mine responded with “it beats being dead,” to which I replied, without thinking, that it did, for a fact.

Another friend immediately (and accurately) pointed out that we actually didn’t know that for a fact. The instant I read his post, I felt a bit like Peter when the rooster crowed for the third time. And I was instantly ashamed.

I was ashamed because I am a Christian. And as such, I’m supposed to know better.

Of course, everyone knows that Christians believe in an afterlife. We believe that what is waiting for us after death is so much better than what we have here that we can’t even imagine it.

Often, this idea gets over-simplified (or more accurately, derided) by some as “pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die” — an unspecified and intangible reward you get in return for a lifetime of denial, sacrifice and doing what you’re told. And I’m sorry to say that it is the sum total of what some people think Christianity means.

I think it’s more accurate to say that Christians believe that death is the moment that we cease looking at the world through a dirty mirror, as Paul the Apostle famously wrote to the Church at Corinth, and get a look at the way things really are. It’s not just life after death — it’s life as it really is.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Cor. 13:12, NRSV).

Heaven, put simply, is when all of our questions have answers, and when we are reunited with the God we have been, whether we know it or not, yearning for all of our lives.

Before I go any further, I should say that I believe that as an important a concept as heaven for Christians, it is secondary to the much more important question of how we act towards our fellow men and women here and now; we are called to make earth as heaven-like as possible right now, with our work, our love, and our compassion. Simply sitting back, twiddling our thumbs, and waiting for heaven to come to us isn’t an option.

But I digress: I think the reason I gave my casual, off-the-cuff answer to my friend is twofold. First, I am, like most people, seeped in a lifetime of secular thinking, where death is seen as crushingly final. From where we stand now, when death comes, all of your choices end. From the earthbound perspective, the story is over.

Of course, Christians believe the exact opposite — that death is the moment when the story actually begins. My pastor has a wonderful habit of saying someone who has died has “joined the Church Triumphant.” Apparently, it’s an idea hasn’t fully gotten into my bones yet.

There is a second possibility — that the off-the-cuff, without-thinking answer is much closer to what a person really believes than the reasoned, deliberate one. In other words, with my answer, I revealed that I really don’t believe what I actually profess to believe.

While I concede the possibility, I don’t think this is what’s going on at all. I’ve had ample opportunities during my lifetime to cultivate my innate deist tendencies (I never felt the call of true agnosticism within me, much less atheism). Instead, quite the opposite has happened; as I have gotten older, I have grown in my belief, and my faith.

In the interest of clarity, that belief is best summed up by the concise words of the Apostle’s Creed;

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

the third day he rose from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Instead, I think there is a third, and much more likely, possibility; that I am simply guilty of having imperfect faith. To quote our friend Paul again, faith “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). I have not seen heaven — not in this life, at least — but I really do I believe it exists, for the simple reason that people that I trust — Jesus, Paul, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others — have told me that it does.

I do not have the faith of any of these men; least of all Jesus, who Paul calls “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Fortunately, faith is a not a quality that one is born with; it is a quantity that is developed, like strength or knowledge. If I am physically weak now, I can exercise, and become stronger. If I am ignorant on a given subject, I can study, and learn. And if my faith is imperfect (a foregone conclusion), prayer, study and fellowship can only increase it.

If so, maybe next time, simple Facebook conversations won’t trip me up, and I won’t have to use almost 1,000 words to correct what I should have said in 30 or less.

We can always hope.

*We Protestants read this as “universal,” but my Catholic friends can feel free to substitute the uppercase C.

Saga Creed I: On the E.U.

2011-06-05T13:10:00.004-05:00

This will be a ~~short declaration~~ fairly long screed on my Official Position on the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Ahem, and here goes:

I pretty much hate it.

Okay, obviously I won't be able to leave it at that. For those of you who don't know, the Expanded Universe, or E.U., are any stories or characters outside of the realm of the six Star Wars films. These six are called canon, which is a riff on the concept of canon scripture — i.e., something considered to be authoritative.

And I both love them and hate them. Mostly hate.

Mind you, I've been reading Star Wars novels for as long as there have been Star Wars novels, starting with the much-maligned and personally beloved Splinter of the Mind's Eye. It seems incredible in the age of instant information and communication in which we live, but in the days and months after Star Wars was first released in the late 70s, there was a big blob of nothing out there waiting if you wanted to get more of the Star Wars universe — especially if you lived in rural Tennessee, as I did.

You could:

Read Starlog — This godsend of a magazine debuted right around the time of Star Wars' release, as I recall, and contained articles about all things geek. My favorite memory was Starlog nailing the Blue Harvest ruse by Lucasfilm. It was the closest thing we had to regular news about the things we loved, and it was a lifeline back in the day.

Build models — Back before video games and DVDs, plastic model kits were both a way to get into the minutia of the Star Wars/Star Trek universe, and to fly your freak flag to any unsuspecting friends who happened to come over. My wife still talks about the shrine to Capt. Kirk I had built over my bed in college, including a picture of the man himself in the TOS-era captain's chair, framed by a collection of bugles and swords, and set off by a model of the TMP version of the Enterprise that I still regard as the high water mark of my model-making skills.

Talk to friends — This is still the heart of fandom, to me; listening and talking with someone who loves the things you love as much as you do, or maybe even more. Pretty much every friend I made in high school and college — notably my future wife and my two closest male friends — shared one or more of my great passions. Still, this had its drawbacks. For starters, the ratio of geeks to normal people in the 70s was still pretty low, and communications being what it was back then, it was pretty tough to find them. And I still remember my failed attempt to start my own Star Trek fan club while living in Ohio; it folded unceremoniously after the first meeting after the loud guffaws, giggles and constant interruptions from a boy who's name I can't recall cause me to give up 10 minutes in.

Write your own adventures — I have never been terribly productive at writing fiction. My first attempt was in my tweens, and I made another attempt a few years later. Both tries were seriously hampered by the fact that the word processor hadn't been invented yet, and I seem to be dependent on the much more malleable nature of digitized writing. But writing has always been a very popular way to dwell in the world of your choice; it is only since the birth of the internet that it has taken on the name Fan Fiction.

Read books —At last we come to it; the reason for the E.U.s of Star Trek, Star Wars and a few dozen other fandoms. The two big franchises are essentially story-telling mediums, albeit ones using very different narrative techniques. So if you really want to live in the galaxy far, far away (or the final frontier), and you don't have more canon to look forward to, what better way that through novels, comics and role-playing games that expand on that universe?

I wish that that were so. At its best, the E.U. novels do just that; they allow us to live in that world a little longer, visit with our favorite characters more, and have more adventures with them, and learn about how the world works. It gives you that little bit of extra time in a place where the Force works, space travel is how you get to work, and life is a little more black and white. They are, in a word, fun.

At their worst, they take beloved characters and turn them into something unrecognizable in the name of dramatic license; they carve off whole sections of a character's backstory to make what they're doing seem more important, and they create new characters that usually make the core characters look life buffoons. As I have observed elsewhere, Timothy Zahn did most of these in his widely-beloved Thrawn trilogy, which is widely credited/blamed with starting the whole E.U. business in the first place.

I should mention at this point that all of my knowledge comes from reading the E.U. in the mid-to-late 1990s, prior to the release of Phantom. From what I can infer on this rather good take on what the E.U. has become on fangirlblog.com, what I was reading then was actually the golden age of the Expanded Universe. Since then, there have been several multi-book sagas, one of which committed the cardinal sin of killing off Chewbacca, and none of which sound like very much fun.

I've mentioned fun twice, because at the end of the day, that is what Star Wars and Star Trek ultimately need to be for me; fun. Fun is my yardstick when it comes to Star Wars; I need to feel a sense of enjoyment. I don't go to those universes to get caught up in an angst-ridden soap opera with lightsabers. Drama is fine, but Star Wars is, first and foremost, an adventure story. It is, to use a crude analogy, Jules Verne, not Shakespeare.

That aside, I will tolerate not fun as long as George Lucas is the one dishing it out (witness Revenge of the Sith — grand and sweeping? Certainly. Riveting? Of course. Among the best of the saga? Possibly, depending on your point of view. Fun? Not so much). George is The Authority in his universe. But lately, because the content of the E.U. is so much larger than the core films themselves, it has, in the minds of many, become the main event; this multi-headed hydra, composed by a hundred different authors, all with different takes on the Star Wars characters and story, is, because of its sheer bulk, what is important, while the films themselves are, occasionally, made to conform to the product of the week to legitimize it. The tail is attempting to wag the dog.

A recent, and to me, rather infuriating example: One of my favorite vessels in A New Hope has always been the Tantive IV, also known as the Rebel Blockade Runner. Adopted from an early Ralph McQuarrie design concept for the Millennium Falcon, it is the first starship we see in the saga, as well as the site of the first battle. She never appeared again, and if anyone ever went anywhere near her history, I never saw it. I always wanted to know more about her, and when the ship made a glistening new appearance in Sith, I was thrilled to see the old girl again. It was, for me, an important link between Episode III and Episode IV.

I have only recently learned that in order to bring the ship into line with established E.U. continuity — a vulgar practice apparently known as retconning — that ship has been stripped of its status as the Tantive IV, and is, instead, a similar ship from the Star Wars: Empire at War video game called the Sundered Heart. Apparently, this is the ship that Captain Antilles commanded when he wasn't aboard the Tantive IV. So when Obi-Wan lands on Bail Organa's ship, it's actually something from a video game I've never even heard of (and published a year after RotS) that's clawed its way into the films. It is not, as I've long believed, a beautiful bit of continuity and revealed backstory of one of the most iconic ships of the Star Wars story; it is some game designer's creation being forced into the main story. This was actually confirmed last year by Leland Chee, who has the unenviable task of making all of the myriad story lines in the Star Wars universe from the past 34 years seem like a continuous epic.

One point made often by the crew of The ForceCast is that the Star Wars story is ultimately what George says it is. It belongs to him, both as an artist, and in a very real, and legally binding sense. He is the master storyteller; he created the characters; he is, to use a fan nickname for him, The Maker. If he told us all tomorrow that Han Solo was actually Palpatine's half-brother, I wouldn't like it (as I didn't like the revelation that Luke and Leia were brother and sister back in the day), but I would have to live with it. And while I have nothing against Leland, his five-years-after-the-fact declaration isn't enough to change my mind. The fact is, there were toys from the time of the movie labeling the ship as the Tantive IV, which pretty much ends the debate for me.

I've gone far afield here, and probably muddied up the place with my griping about the E.U., when all I wanted this post to do was state my official position — my creed as a Star Wars fan when it comes to canon. And that, simply said, is this.

1. I believe that the six Star Wars films are the only truly canonical sources.
2. I believe that the Star Wars novels written from Splinter of the Mind's Eye onward should be regarded as professionally created fan fiction; fun, and occasionally edifying and instructive, but not authoritative.
3. I believe even more strongly that all of the Star Wars video games and comics should be taken with several grains, or perhaps an entire shaker, of salt.
4. I believe if you personally wish to adopt any or all of the novels, games, comics, cartoons, holiday specials or other fare, into your understanding of the Star Wars universe, you are free to do so. You are not free to tell me what pieces of the novels, games, comics, cartoons, holiday specials or other fare that I am allowed to adopt for my understanding of the Star Wars universe, and vice-versa, even if you work for a company George owns.

George Lucas said that for him, the end of the Star Wars story came with the final scene of Return of the Jedi. I quote from the Official Site:

"But there's no story past Episode VI, there's just no story. It's a certain story about Anakin Skywalker and once Anakin Skywalker dies, that's kind of the end of the story. There is no story about Luke Skywalker, I mean apart from the books. But there's three worlds: There's my world that I made up, there's the licensing world that's the books, the comics, all that kind of stuff, the games, which is their world, and then there's the fans' world, which is also very rich in imagination, but they don't always mesh. All I'm in charge of is my world. I can't be in charge of those other people's world, because I can't keep up with it."

I find this comment to be liberating. I don't have to like the E.U. (or the licensing world, as George calls it). I can accept it on an item-by-item basis, or not accept it at all — it is a different creature entirely. If I want to read a Star Wars novel, or play a game, I can enjoy it, but I don't have to find some way to rationalize something as being canonical if I personally don't want to. Star Wars, for George, and for me, is the films.

Exactly which version of the films is a can of worms I will crack open at another time.

Postscript: I want to give ample credit to an excellent discussion on E.U. and canon between Fangirl and the TheForce.net crew in the May 27 edition of The Weekly ForceCast, for inspiring and informing this post.

Of Norse gods and flannel Jedis

2011-05-24T11:04:00.000-05:00

Friday night, the wife and I went on a long-overdue date to the local movie house. We live in a somewhat rural part of West Tennessee; yet I am happy to say that the local theater now runs 3-D movies. And while I still think the whole 3-D movie thing is a bit overblown, and in no small degree a gimmick by Hollywood to keep traffic flowing to the theaters, I think this is a good thing, in the main — mostly because I no longer have to drive to Nashville to see a film in 3-D, which was the case as recently as two years ago.

On the downside, the local theater isn’t large enough to offer 2-D offerings of the same film for those who don’t like the new format (a non-existent complaint for me — if I care enough to go to the theater at all, it will likely only be for a ‘big’ picture, which I would probably want to see in 3-D in the first place).

A greater concern is that two tickets to the Friday night 3-D showing of Thor nearly obliterated a $20 bill, leaving only a whimpering portrait of George Washington in its place — which explains nicely why I only rarely go to the movies these days.

So the wife and I have now seen the first of the big summer movies — Thor. I am no one’s comic book geek, as a general rule, but as a fan of stories with at least some element of the fantastical (Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, ect.), I find myself following them rather regularly, and consequently, have a passing familiarity with the comic, and the Norse mythos it was based upon. Also, I’ve always been a fan of Kenneth Branagh’s work, so there’s that.

It was, in a word, fun, from start to finish. Chris Hemsworth, whom we last saw as James T. Kirk’s father, is more than up to the task of bringing the son of Odin to life; he is, in equal parts, strong and vulnerable, infuriating and likable, and heroic and flawed. Natalie Portman’s performance was a surprise; she is, for the first time, cute. Thor’s brother, whose name I will not repeat in a nod to superstition, was deftly played by an actor whose name I cannot recall, and am, at the moment, too lazy to look up. In all, it was well worth sacrificing Mr. Hamilton, and I recommend it to anyone interested in an evening’s fun.

Earlier that morning, I had a happy accident when I accidently opened the Disney Parks Blog , which happened to be running a live stream of the opening ceremonies for Star Tours 3-D. I came in just in time to see Bob Iger and George Lucas making a few remarks in front of the attraction. When I went back later (when I wasn’t working), I found a picture of Iger and George standing next to Darth Vader, holding lightsabers.

I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen George with a lightsaber, and I have to say, it doesn’t really suit him. To be sure, no one has earned the right to actually carry a saber more than George, but on him, it looked a bit out of place. I think what threw me off was what he was wearing; jeans and a long-sleeved button-up flannel shirt. Now I know that George has developed a rep for rocking the flannel shirt as his default daily dress, but I’m sorry — lightsabers demand to be paired with a certain look, and “I’m heading down to IKEA to pick up some bookshelves” isn’t it.

Of course, when George gave himself a Hitchcock moment and appeared in Revenge of the Sith, he didn’t appear in Jedi regalia, but instead dressed as a barely-recognizable blue-skinned alien. So I suppose if he didn’t do it when he had the full might of the Lucasfilm costuming and makeup departments behind him, he can hardly be expected to rise to the occasion for a theme park opening.

But I’ve got to say, I expect more from a member of the 501^st — even an honorary one.

You say it's your birthday

2011-05-14T08:29:00.005-05:00

I was just strolling through TheForce.net, and found this cool fan commemoration of George Lucas' birthday by a fan artist named Steven Hayford. Apparently, he's known for things like this, and I intend to find out more about his work. In any case, Happy Birthday to The Maker. You can find the original story, as well as a link to the full-size image, here.

The circle is now complete

2011-05-13T22:22:00.001-05:00

I thought that I would dash off a hasty note to acknowledge that the thing has been accomplished: After six years of talking about it, I have succeeded in watching all six Star Wars films in chronological order, in a fairly rapid period of time — six films in slightly over six days. I started Phantom last Friday, but was called away early on (before the Jedi had even landed on Naboo), and carried on with the bulk of it the next day. I finished Return of the Jedi yesterday (Thursday) afternoon around 5:45 p.m. Watching with we was my wife and daughter. So what was started with The Phantom Menace as a solitary act became, by the end of the project, a family affair.

I was surprised by how engrossing I found some films (my top three were Empire, Sith and Clones, in that order). I was equally surprised how detached I was for others; particularly the original Star Wars, which has always nipped at the heels of Empire as my all-time favorite. There's always another day, however, and I expect the next time I see Phantom, A New Hope and Jedi, I'll get more out of them.

One thing that was reassuring was how very much I enjoyed the experience overall. If you are a Star Wars fan, and you have not watched the Saga as a cohesive whole, then you owe it to yourself to do so. There are things in the prequels that seemed like mere imitations of elements from the Classic Trilogy when the prequels were first released. When placed in the context of the whole saga, they take on the feel of recurring themes and elements.

The great surprise for me was how easily I was able to accept James Earl Jones/Dave Prowse's Darth Vader and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader as the same person. While I was watching the prequels as they were released, I saw flashes of Vader in Christensen's performace, but when I would watch the Classic Trilogy, and I saw Vader, I saw what I had always seen — the shell. The black breath mask, the helmet, the cape. All of the accoutrements I've come to love, but no trace of the living being beneath.

This time, with the Prequels under my belt, I was able to imagine, in glimpses, the man trapped inside the armor. I would see Anakin in a gesture, or hear him with a line. I could almost literally see the younger Anakin's face. It was, for me, the essential piece of the puzzle I needed to meld the two trilogies together into one complete story. Before, I never quite believed that the Jedi Knight in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith was the Sith Lord from The Classic Trilogy. Now, I kind of do; or at least, I'm starting to.

Now if I could only convince myself that Jake Lloyd's Anakin could conceivably look anything like Hayden Christensen when he grows up...

We could be stuck here for a very long time

2011-05-09T21:55:00.001-05:00

Well, I’m fresh from listening to TheForce.net’s commentary on A New Hope, which, by the way, I recommend highly. It was nothing, more or less, than four devoted Star Wars fans watching the classic trilogy together, albeit in separate living rooms, and just talking about what they love about the Saga. There was no negativity, no overt bashing of anything — just lots and lots of enthusiasm. Once again, my perceptions of TheForce.net being entirely staffed by collectors has been challenged.

I’m writing so soon after this morning’s post (nearly all of which I wrote last night) because I inadvertently passed along some false information, in the form of a bit of harmless speculation about George’s 3D plans. And I’d be a lot less depressed if it wasn’t true.

I had assumed that, given the February 2012 date of the 3D release of The Phantom Menace, that George was going to follow the same release strategy he did for the Special Editions — i.e., about one a month. Sadly, according to my new contacts at TheForce.net tell me that it will be more like one a year.

Let’s say that again: One a year.

That means that Return of the Jedi will be released in 2018. My daughter will be in college, and I’ll be uncomfortably close to the legal retirement age. This is most certainly not soon enough for my tastes, and I’m fervently hoping that their information is incorrect.

If it is true, at least I’ll have gotten my full mileage out of the Blu-ray box set. And who knows? I may even have a 3D TV by then.

Hey — it could happen.

A final note before I retire. I have just, moments ago, finished Revenge of the Sith, and by extension, the Prequel Trilogy. The tiny candle flame of detached indifference I began Phantom Menace with has grown over the three films. By the time I finished Sith, I was absolutely riveted, and it was some moments after the credits stopped before I could bring myself to speak. As I said in my last post, I'm definitely back.

I’m working tomorrow night; after that, I intend to wade into the Original Trilogy (the Special Editions, in a concession to George — we’ll let him have it his way this time). If all goes well, I hope to reach Jedi by Sunday at the latest.

I’ll keep you posted.

Well, I’m back

2011-05-09T06:40:00.000-05:00

You’ve probably figured out by now, or soon will, that the part of me that’s a Star Wars fan has roared back into life in the past week. I have been eating, breathing and sleeping the Saga since Wednesday. That’s right, the same bit of vulgar fanbase manipulation that caused me to rip on Lucasfilm/Fox in my last post also reminded me of why I’m a fan in the first place. So, the old axiom that good can come from bad is once again proved true.

Since Tuesday, I have returned to a project I have long vowed to accomplish; a viewing of the complete saga, in order. I finished off The Phantom Menace yesterday afternoon, and finished Attack of the Clones just a few moments ago. After reacquainting myself with all six, I plan to go back and linger over each for a time — kicking the tires and so forth.

It’s been a long time since I watched the films, and my viewing of Phantom yesterday brought home just how long it had been. I have always liked Phantom, even as I was aware of its flaws. I was surprised to find I didn’t enjoy it as much as I have in the past; I had a sense of detachment that was a little disquieting, and I didn’t get caught up in the story the way I once did. In short, I was very aware I was watching a movie, and was unable to lose myself in the story. Clearly, I have fallen far from the faith. But I found Clones to be much more engrossing than I expected, so all is not lost.

I have also returned to watching The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. I have made the complaint in the past that the reason I don’t follow Star Wars more closely is because I don’t have new things to keep feeding the fire. Well, Clone Wars isn’t a full-blown live-action film, but it is at least something new. Thanks to the Official Site and the blessings of high-speed Internet, I can now get caught up on the second and third seasons, assuming this new interest in the saga doesn’t burn out too quickly.

I suspect that part of the reason for falling back in the habit, apart from the fact that it was simply just time, is that it is summer, or soon will be.

Most of my best memories of Star Wars take place during summer. Obviously, this is because Star Wars films get released in the summer. So when I weathered my first week away from home and family as a Boy’s State delegate, buttressed by a cassette version of The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack and the Brian Daley Han Solo novels, it was summer; when Entertainment Weekly published a cover story on the “new” Star Wars movies being made on the exact day of my daughter’s birth, it was still summer; when I drove to Virginia to see Phantom with my nephews (and fellow Jedi), it was summer again; and when I returned there six years later to attend the midnight screening of Sith in full Jedi regalia, it was, not too surprisingly, summer. In fact, for many movies — Phantom and Jedi in particular, I sort of lived in Star Wars leading up to summer, and well through it. It was, as they say, good times.

So welcome to summer a month or so early! I don’t think we’re in for as deep a journey as I’ve had in the past, but for now, I’m content to saddle up this bantha and ride it as far as it will take me. Next time, I will try to have actual Star Wars content, for you, my patient readers, and a little less about yours truly.

Wish me luck.

Forgive and forget

2011-05-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

Well, the madness that was today has subsided, and, as predicted, my frustration has gone with it. Yes, the announcement was about the Blu-ray releases. Yes, it was both overblown, and poorly handled. And while what George has in mind isn't what I'd call a dream release, it looks like it will do nicely.

Does it have the original versions along with the Special Editions? Probably not. (And for the record, I'd like both, please — I think each has their place). Nor will it have From Star Wars to Jedi, which was a dandy little "making of" that was released back in the old VHS days, and to my knowledge, never made it to digital. There seems to be a fair amount of special features, but I won't speculate as to their quality yet. Some of the scenes are promised at Comic-Con in July; the 1976 Comic-Con was the first public promotion of Star Wars, and George is apparently still very grateful for that first public exposure. We'll just have to wait until then to see of what quality it is.

What surprises me is my reaction — despite my annoyance earlier today, I'm actually excited. I've been taking an extended sabbatical from Star Wars, and after nosing around the Official Site today, the old juices are starting to flow once more. In fact, I plan on popping at least one of the films in as soon as I get some time — it's simply been too long.

An offer you can't refuse

2011-05-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

Well, as promised, I have been to the official Star Wars site to see what the big news is, and came away more than a little furious.

The main page shows Leia and R2 during the Tantive IV battle in A New Hope, with the title card "On May 4th, all will be revealed. Click on that, and you're taken to a the "Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray" site, which includes a grid of bar graphs representing several countries around the world. Choose your country, and you're given a cascading slideshow of behind-the-scenes images, nearly all of which I'd already seen. The shows abruptly stops with a "Share to Reveal More" button, with the message to "come back throughout the day to see more images as they are revealed." Sure enough, I checked back after five minutes, after a similar button in the upper right had button had gone from "18 percent complete" to "25 percent complete," and I got five or six more images. To be fair, some of them were new to me.

The idea here seems to be that we, the Star Wars fan community, need to band together to show how much we stand behind this release before we can learn more about it. That we have to personally go out and take part in promoting this occasion to our friends and family — essentially becoming a tool of the marketing department in the process — before we can find out exactly what special features are coming on a collection of movies that we've all bought three times already.

I'm trying really hard not spew venom on you, the hapless reader, as I write this. I'm trying really hard not to bring everybody down with what will be, for me, a momentary annoyance until Fox, who seems to be behind this little debacle, gets the required number of free Facebook ads. By the time most people read this, it will all be over, we'll all know exactly what we have to look forward to, and even I will think back to this as merely a mild annoyance.

But brother, do these people have a lot to learn about manipulating a fan base.

As I've mentioned before, I am a big user of Apple products. Now there's a company that knows a thing or two about getting the most of their zealot-like user base. Ruminating on the capabilities and arrival dates of new Apple products is busy hobby for many (me included), and is actually a livelyhood for a chosen few. And Apple knows just how to spike interest in new products, with a very simple, and so far successful, formula.

First rule of Apple products is you do not talk about Apple products. You say nothing for long periods of time about what you're building, who will be building it, when it will be released, and why you'll want one. This means even if you've released an iPhone every year in June since you've been making iPhones, you don't confirm that you're doing it this year no matter how many people ask you.

Of course, this results in a lot of the professional rumor-mongers I just mentioned writing articles about whether or not Apple will stick to their schedule. This, in turn, generates exponentially more publicity for saidsame product than if just came out and said "We're building this, we'll tell you more about it later" — which is essentially what Fox did with this Bluray release.

Second, once you have something to show, you release a cryptic teaser about a special event you're holding. The teaser itself should reveal the nature of the event (i.e., computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads, etc.,) but not much more than that. This will cause the pundits I mentioned to go into informational overdrive, speculating even more rampantly about what we, the Apple faithful, will or will not see. Again, Fox did this — telling us when they were going to tell us more in very specific terms; at 6 a.m. PDT today, in this case.

The final, and most critical step, is when you have this special event — when you've reached the appointed day and time — you actually tell people something worth showing up for. Apple hasn't always come through in this regard; for example, it's hard to get worked up over a new version of iPhoto unless it does something really new and amazing (the last one didn't, IMHO). But generally, I find Apple special events well worth tuning into. I've watched them by livestreaming, downloading them after the fact, and once even followed one on a liveblog in my iPhone on my way to a Nashville doctor's appointment. The point is that once the event rolled around, Apple stopped jerking us around, and actually told us something.

Fox completely failed to do that today.

Instead, they jerked us around, and did the electronic equivalent of making us beg for what they'd already promised us. They made us go stand in the corner until they decided we'd been good enough for what they'd already told us we could have — some simple details on something we're going to give them money for. And since this is the company that is still trying to make money off its official website through the totally-not-worth-it Hyperspace pay site, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Well, I'm not going to pretend that I'm outraged enough about this that I'm going to boycott Fox/Lucasfilm for all time and eternity. Heck, I've checked the site twice since starting this little diatribe, and I'm still kind of excited to find out what's on the Blu-ray. To paraphrase a line from one of my favorite comedies, My Favorite Year, "With George, you forgive a lot, you know?"

I know.

Star Wars? What's That?

2011-05-01T10:59:00.003-05:00

Welcome back! Hail and well met, all. I have returned after a long absence to throw out a few crumbs of Star Wars news, and maybe — just maybe — get out in front of a Star Wars related story. This post should be good deal shorter than my usual musings, but, I hope that it will be the first in a renewed effort at regular posts. I realize that my past performance of roughly two posts in a year probably doesn't bode well for my future efforts, but what are we if we don't try?

First, I must confess that I am fresh from watching the Royal Wedding this weekend. This was somewhat hypocritical on my part, since, like a lot of folks, I scoffed at the incessant media coverage leading up to the event. But when my wife, a veteran of the 3 a.m. brigade for Charles and Diana's wedding, expressed disappointment that she hadn't been able to watch, we found a repeat of the coverage of BBC America Friday, and gleefully made a night of it. As it happens, I enjoyed myself immensely, from a historic, Anglophilic and (gasp) fashionista standpoint, not to mention the always very great joy of being able to share an experience with my wife. Oddly enough, I still find myself trolling the internet for little informational nuggets on the occasion, and will likely continue to do so for the next week or so. In any case, the whole affair was great fun, and I shall probably look back on it fondly for some time.

All this goes to show what I have long suspected; that my opinion on any given subject cannot be trusted, since I am such an innate snob, and my tastes are so very malleable. Indeed, I have a long history of reversing myself on a number of what I had thought were strongly-held opinions, ranging from my distaste of large churches as a young man (I am currently a member of what just happens to be the largest church of its denomination in my county, which encompasses a building roughly one side of a city block long) to my musical tastes (I initially rejected several bands on first hearing which later became staples of record collection, including Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd). In short, I'm still rather a fool, but am still trying to at least become an open-minded fool.

But I promised short and sweet, didn't I? Very well; to the point. I noticed this morning that on Feb. 10, 2012, George Lucas will be releasing Star Wars: Episode 1 in the theaters — in 3-D, no less. No doubt, this will be followed by Episodes II in March and Episode III in April, leading up to the inevitable release of A New Hope on Friday, May 25 — 35 years to the day after it was originally released in theaters. If this is, in fact, George's planned schedule, then I think we can expect Episodes V-VI in June and July, respectively, which would give us arguably the three best films during the summer blockbuster season.

As a further point of conjecture, I think we can then look forward to a 3D blu-ray release of all six films in time for Christmas. If true, this will annoy me just a teensy bit since George has made rather a habit of milking re-releases of the films in new mediums; witness the multiple VHS versions (at least four different releases of the classic trilogy); two different DVD versions, Laserdisc set, and now, the upcoming Blu-ray release in September.

Before you ask, yes, I am planning on buying the full Blu-ray set when it comes out. Herein lies my problem. I am a "bonus features" junkie, and George has been very sparse with his behind-the-scenes content since hitting it out of the park with the Phantom Menace DVD. In fact, the follow up to Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, re-set the bar to an all-time low by using a collection of video press releases featuring the main actors being interviewed about the story as the core of its behind-the-scenes content. Revenge of the Sith got better marks for imagination, showing the roles of the different departments in producing one shot of the film. But the fly-on-the-wall stuff I love so much was nowhere to be seen.

When you add to this the paltry one disc of special features for the entire classic trilogy, I must admit my hopes for George to finally crack open the vaults for some top-notch bonus features are rather high. We will see if he delivers on Wednesday, May 4 (a date yielding the atrocious pun "May the fourth be with you"), when Lucasfilm promises some big news on the subject. That is the story that I have tried to get out in front of, and I will try my best to post some kind of reaction, no matter how short, on the day.

So far so good; on to my teensy problem. There is always going to need to be more stuff to for George to release, simply from a revenue standpoint. So knowing in advance that there will be a 3D version of the films, and knowing that there will inevitably be a demand from the 12 people who own 3D televisions for a home game version, will George follow the lead of films like Tron: Legacy and re-release a Blu-ray box of the 3D films? Likely. Will it have additional content to make compulsives like me need to buy it again? Ah, there's the rub — all indications (i.e. George's previous track record) say yes. Will it make me grumpy if he does? Absolutely.

Be that as it may, we will cross that bridge when we come to it; life is troublesome enough without borrowing more, and there is enough negativity in modern society without me throwing more on the fire — especially about something I purport to love. So, let me end you with the following daily affirmations: I am looking forward to the news on Wednesday, whatever it is, and I am excited about the possibility of being able to finally take my daughter to see all six Star Wars films in the theater.

That's all for this week campers. I doubt that life will allow me the time to make similarly lengthy posts in the future. But at the least, let's all meet back here Thursday — or more realistically, a week from today — and we'll sift through next week's announcement.

Time Out, Part II

2010-10-23T13:29:00.003-05:00

"I'm going to do a lot of nothing this weekend," I told my coworkers on the way out the door Friday afternoon. And God, in His wisdom, must have agreed; less than an hour ago, I bent to give the dog a forkful of catfood for her breakfast, and felt the familiar dagger in my spine of my back going out.

Since then, I have tried moving to work the kinks out, but a quick walk up the road got me no further than the neighbor's house. I followed that with a return to the middle of my living room floor, where I intend to pass the morning, at least, before trying additional physical therapy.

I'm not terribly worried about this; although I've been pain-free for some time, my back was in no wise cured, and will likely be an ongoing condition until I have no other option available but surgery. I was told when I got my last round of shots that they could last as long as a year and a half; it has been, by my reckoning, about three months shy of that. I will see what a regimen of rest and low activity does for me this weekend. But if all else fails, all I need do is make an appointment for another round of shots with my surgeon in Nashville.

I must admit, though, the entire process would be a lot more palatable if I wasn't also fighting my way through a sinus headache.

On to other matters; I had intended to touch base this morning in any case, if for nothing else than to say hello. Life has been good lately, and I have much to be thankful to God for. For starters, I am writing again. The outline of a particularly troublesome chapter in my long-neglected novel fell into place as I was commuting to work two days ago, and so I have had a reason to break into my freshly-updated version of my Apple Pages word processor.

I'm also putting a toe in the water when it comes to some old friends. I have been so inspired by the news that "The Hobbit" movie has been greenlit that I have returned to my abandoned promise to re-read the whole "Lord of the Rings" series. This time, my goal is to finish reading the trilogy by the time filming begins in February. I am still a bit anxious about whether or not the movies will, in fact, be filmed in New Zealand, but I am enormously cheered by the news that Martin Freeman will be our Bilbo. He doesn't look as close to the Bilbo in my head as Elisha Wood looked like my Frodo, but it's still a very near thing, and I am greatly cheered.

By the way; I fully expect Peter Jackson to take some of the new footage from "The Hobbit" — particularly Bilbo's finding of the ring — and insert it into the flashbacks in "Lord of the Rings" where he used Ian Holm in a curly wig as a much younger Bilbo. Personally, I think this is an altogether sensible idea, but some of you may be a little squeamish about it (despisers of Hayden Christianson's disembodied head, I'm looking at you). Either way, you've been warned — it's going to happen.

On the music front, I have returned to my track-by-track comparisons of The Beatles stereo and mono recordings. I just finished Sgt. Pepper last night, and will no doubt find some time today to make some headway into Magical Mystery Tour. My sonic forays have been accompanied by readings in a couple of Fab Four-related birthday presents; The Complete Beatles Chronicle by noted Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, which is a day-by-day account of The Beatles' entire professional lives; and The Beatles: Anthology book; an impressively-detailed first-person history of The Beatles, by The Beatles, and the last piece of the Anthology project I had yet to own. There's also Beatle Gear, a well-researched book examining all aspects of The Beatles' instruments — probably boring as watching paint dry to many folks, but irresistibly fascinating to an old guitar slinger like me.

On the Star Wars front, I am very close to a long-overdue viewing of the Original Trilogy. I have two yet-to-be-achieved goals in my DVD-watching life; watching all three Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back, and an uninterrupted viewing of all six Star Wars films. I may try the former sometime before the first "Hobbit" movie is released (or immediately after seeing the second one), but have no firm timetable for Star Wars. I only know that I want to remember what I liked about the Saga. In order to do that, I have to begin at the beginning, which is the original three movies, without the special edition treatment, thank you kindly. I still intend to sit down and watch all six movies, in numerical sequence, as George intends them to be seen. At the moment, though, I'm not in a place where I can watch The Phantom Menace without wishing I was watching Empire instead.

Finally, we come to Disney. I am pleased to report we just obtained the BluRay/DVD combo pack of Beauty and the Beast. Since we don't own a BluRay player yet, I can only report on the DVD content, which is bare-bones compared to the BluRay stuff. As someone who decided, back in the day, that they needed Beauty and the Beast on DVD a couple weeks after the company put it "back in the vault" (a forced-scarcity policy on Disney's part that I heartily loathe), though, it was nice just to have it again. Happily, the new DVD contains everything that was on disc 1 of the original release — namely the original theatrical release, special edition version and "work in progress" version. The budding Disney animation geek in me loves this last version, since it gives a peek behind the curtain at the animation process in real time. The polished, final animation periodically drops out, to be replaced by rough-outs, storyboards, pencil sketches and other steps in the hand-drawn animation process. It can be a little jarring if all you want is to get caught up in the story. But if you're a fan of the movie-making process, as I am, it's great fun.

A little later, my daughter and I are going to do a little theme-park planning. This isn't the logistics and pricing exercises I spoke of in my last post. Instead, it will be a simple comparison of what attractions we want to see in what park; a little 'let's pretend' exercise that may help us narrow down what we want to do when we finally do arrive at the parks. All in all, fodder for a good, relaxing afternoon at home.

So that's life this week. I may be sidelined, but at least I'm not bored. And, God willing, I'll be back in the line up sooner rather than later.

Gone, but not forgotten

2010-10-15T06:44:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to tape a quick note to the virtual refrigerator to let all four of my readers know that I have not forgotten my posting responsibilities here. My life has been very good of late, but also very hectic, so when the muse has struck, I'm usually too busy to heed it. Inspirations and blog-worthy notions that have bounced off my cranium during my morning commute have usually been forced into a back corner of my brain when I get home, if not forgotten entirely.

By way of a quick update on a previous post — namely electronic books — I will mention that I am discovering that having a portable device, such as a Kindle or iPhone, makes a world of difference in their appeal. Since getting my iPhone more than a month ago, I have found that the experience of e-book reading is enhanced greatly by being able to hold the thing in your hand, as opposed to hitting an arrow key on a keyboard. The portability is also a plus; I've been able to find times to read — while waiting at the pharmacy, for example — that would have been lost to me otherwise. On the down side, an eBook on an iPhone is still not the immersive experience that a real ink-and-paper book is.

As far as fandoms go, I have been a Disney geek for the past couple weeks. I am in one of my period phases of planning our next trip to see the Mouse, which usually involves the nasty sticker shock of pricing different accommodation scenarios. We've resolved to stay on property this time, which while appealing to the Disney geek in me, is also more expensive nearly any way you slice it.

This, then, is a brief snapshot of my life on these, the Ides of October. I will try to post a lengthier treatise in the future; until then, adieu.

A matter of priorities

2010-08-21T11:04:00.004-05:00

This is going to be an off-the-cuff post, prompted by my disgust at a recent bit of Spam I just received from Lucas and company.

I've been subscribing to "The Homing Beacon," the official Star Wars e-mail newsletter, since — no lie — issue one. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there used to be actual news content in the Beacon; especially when George was making the prequel trilogy.

Sadly, those days died long ago. For the better part of a couple years, THB has been nothing more than a place for George & Co. to shill new Star Wars-themed Beanie Babies, or whatever the latest bit of Saga-related merchandising is.

This week, THB hit a new low — at least for this reporter.

In news, we designate the most important item in a news story, or laid out on the page, as the "lead." In a story, the lead is the most important bit of information that appears in the story, or the item that will impact the most number of people. We use a similar ethic ethos when choosing the lead story to go at the top of the page; what is going to affect the most readers. The question "what's the lead going to be?" is a question that I wrestle with every single time that write the most trivial of stories up to those times when I've acted as news editor for that day.

I don't own this, or much of anything else,
so don't bother sueing me, George.

So it was a great offense to me when THB's lead story in the wake of Celebration V was "Celebration V Merch Now At StarWarsShop!" I'm long since used to this sort of behavior from Lucas Inc., but what set me off the way the "real" news of George announcing that the Saga would be coming to BluRay next fall was buried "below the fold," as we say — you had to scroll down past the hawking of Yoda hats and similar dreck to find it. In news terms, this is worse than burying the lead. It is putting a car advertisement in place of an interview with the mayor on what his administration plans to accomplish this year.

Now, from an advertising standpoint, I understand this; the merch is here now, rotting in the warehouse. Likely, George's minions have just begun the work of compiling the material that will appear on the BluRay versions. So from a strictly business standpoint, the Celebration V chotskies are "now," with the BluRay announcement a distant "then."

But from a "news" standpoint, this is laughable and offensive at the same time. People have been clambering for the movies to be released on high-def DVDs since the HD-DVD/BluRay format wars of a few years ago. The movies are the single most important facet of Lucas' Empire — in my mind, they are Star Wars. That the long-awaited BluRay box is on the way was the single most important piece of real information to emerge from Celebration V.

I long for the days when we used to be able to get stuff like this from starwars.com. I loved getting new bits about making the new trilogies, or the frequent behind-the-scenes stuff about making the original trilogies. Not just archival photos; real articles and web documentaries.

Sadly, those days seem to be past. These days, starwars.com and the Beacon are all about product releases, and interviews with 'celebrity' fans. Don't getta me wronga — I'm glad that x bass player from y up-and-coming band grooved on Return of the Jedi when it came out. But I can only read so many such articles before acute boredom starts to set in.

I know. So they missed the lead? Big deal. And you'd be right. I guess what bothered me the most was that they had a bit of news that actually excited me, that woke up the slumbering Star Wars fan in me for just a moment. I haven't been interested in Star Wars for a while now; I've been busy with The Beatles and Apple Inc. of late, and haven't had much of a reason to find the goings-on in the Star Wars mythos remotely interesting — until now.

The BluRay release poses interesting questions; what archival stuff are they going to put on it? Are they going to include the "THX" versions as well? Is George going to go back and tinker with the films yet again? And is this just going to be "quickie" release, the first of a series of "new" BluRay editions, each just different enough from the last to justify a buying these films yet again for the upteenth time?

The first part of this question is genuinely interesting. You can cram a lot of stuff on a BluRay disc, and George has got a lot of stuff to use. As a teaser, he showed a long-documented scene from Return of the Jedi of Luke assembling his lightsaber at Ben's house (That little tidbit didn't make it onto THB either, BTW, although it is at least mentioned in this news item on starwars.com).

I liked Empire of Dreams, but it doesn't get a lot of repeated viewings — unlike the bonus material in the Extended Lord of the Rings DVDs, which I practically have memorized (can anyone say "bring the partridge?"). Heck, the stuff on The Phantom Menace DVD would be a step in the right direction. Say what you will about Episode I, it was the single best DVD release today as far as being a total package. The other two prequels were sadly lacking in extra features (none more so that Attack of the Clones), and to have a single disc of extra features for the entire Original Trilogy was kind of insulting.

Personally, I'd love to see the inclusion of From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, or something similar. George has got to have miles of behind-the-scenes footage and unreleased scenes that he's been sitting on for just such an occasion. Surely, this is that occasion.

The cynic in me is ready for George to use this release as a way to hype something new; say the live-action TV series we haven't been hearing much about lately. He's done that before, with several past releases: the plugs for video games on Episodes I and III, for example. And it would be very in keeping with Lucasfilm Inc. to use the weight of the Saga to drive interest in a new game for the PS3, or something similar.

But the optimist in me is trying to stay, well, optimistic. George has talked in the past about doing a "pulling out all the stops" box set of the Star Wars movies. A 10- or 12-disc set with lots of new goodies would go a long way toward regaining the confidence and, dare I say it, interest of fans like me. Like as not, we'll get six movie and a max of two discs of mediocre special features, with the promise of the better set yet to come "when he has time."

George has come through in the past — Revenge of the Sith may not have been what fans had envisioned in the early 80s when we first learned of the falling out of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. But I think you have be pretty picky indeed to have walked away from that movie thinking that he didn't deliver on everything that was expected of him.

So, in the end, it's going to be up to George; is he going to try to keep milking us for another twenty years, stringing us along with weak reissue after weak reissue? Maybe. But he might also come through in the end, and give every fan — not just the hardcore collectors — something they genuinely want.

Time will tell. But in the mean time, I have greata faith in the boy. We shall see.

Fresh resolve

2010-07-30T20:21:00.001-05:00

I used to read.

I used to read books compulsively, as easy as breathing. When I was a teenager, I picked up a fresh book before the next one was cool. It was a wonderful time — I had friends like Heinlein, Tolkien, Adams and Vonnegut, not to mention a brace of science fiction and fantasy greats.

Later, after I married, I let my wife suggest some books to e. I Read Rice, Irving and a few others. After college, I tackled Tolstoy, and tried (and failed) to follow it up with Dostoyevsky.

I fell in love with Lewis, and spent several years pouring over his books. I also got caught up in some popular bestsellers; Rowling and Meyers come to mind.

Gradually, though, my reading became a special occasion rather than a way of life. I read when I wanted to share something someone else was reading, or I nibbled at books in a hot bath. But I didn't devour books anymore. I left several books half-finished. Finally, even the books I would classify as "easy reads" seemed too formidable for me.

I blame the Internet.

The same perfectly-made tool that's allowing me to post this on the World Wide Web has made it far too easy for me to take the Internet with me wherever I go. As a result, I use it — very likely much more than I should.

As a consequence, I've been feeling a little part of me slowly dying. I haven't been aware of it for long, but it's similar to what I felt when I noticed that my love of music was mostly dead. A disquieting sense that something that I used to like about myself, something important, was withering and dying. And, growing by degrees, a sense that I didn't want it to.

The pebble that started the avalanche was a post on News, Weather & Sports by one of my mentors, Neil Peart of Rush. He was talking about time machines of all sorts — cars, songs, photos; things that take you back in time, or make you aware of the passage of it. One of Neil's time machines of choice is are books, and he illustrated the point with a fat stack of nine books represented his reading list for 10 days one February. He talked in glowing terms about the worlds that lurked behind the spine of each book, waiting to be discovered, its contours mapped out individually inside your mind. And he alluded to notion that, if there really was a heaven, it might just consist of endless time by the fire, with nothing to do but turn pages.

I was inspired and intimidated at the same time.

Inspired because I immediately wanted to started checking books off my reading list. Intimidated because reading has always been kind of an effort for me, and the stack of books he was going to take down in 10 days would have taken me two months of vacation time. Maybe more.

It's not my reading speed, which is serviceable, if not spectacular. It's because often when I'm reading, there's always the restless notion that I should be elsewhere, doing something else. Usually, it gets the best of me, and I wind up doing just that. Add to this my regrettable tendency to get stalled halfway through a book, walk away, and usually never return, and you wind up with a person that doesn't get a lot of books finished.

The last time I had a good read was more than a year ago, when I literally had nothing else to do. Then, I did read nine books, but it took me a little longer than ten days. I was flat on my back, recovering (or trying to recover) from a ruptured disc. Reading seemed like an excellent use of my time. And it was, but after four months, I eventually had to get better, and go back to work.

And that's a good thing, as far as it goes. But Neil's picture made me realize that it was time to get back to work in another way. And finally, two days ago, I yielded to the impulse.

I started by dusting off my Goodreads account, which I hadn't updated since finishing The Book of Mormon in October. My "currently reading" section had five books, four of them quite cold. I decided to pull those for the time being, and start with some new fare. And since I think the fact that I try to take down so many books at once is also to blame, I have decided to try to limit what I read at any given time.

At my wife's suggestion, I've decided to break my literary fast with something light, enjoyable, but with that hint of the fantastic I enjoy so much The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Also, there's a borrowed copy of The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn. Then there's the Phil Yancey ebook Prayer that I started a few weeks ago. And, of course, my copy of the Wesley Study Bible that I will never officially finish, but can't bring myself to take off the "currently reading" shelf. Because, like, you know, I'm currently reading it.

So that makes, ah, four books. Well, that's one less than five.

I'll keep you posted on my progress, dear readers. Until then, happy reading.

Maybe I'm Amazed

2010-07-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

I'm just a few hours back from the McCartney show. I'm tired, my throat is sore, and I don't think I have it in me to distill three hours of once-in-a-lifetime experience into a few paragraphs of pithy commentary. But here goes.

In the back of my mind, I was worried that this show would not, could not possibly, live up to the experience I had seeing the great man in 1993. Then I was awed at the idea of seeing actual Beatle in the actual flesh. Since then, I have been inordinately blessed to have seen both living Beatles in concert one time each. So when Paul walked casually onto the stage last night, I didn't have the surge of "Oh my God, that's really him" that I did in 1993.

There was also the fact that I had accidentally seen the first five songs in the set lists from another venue, so I had a pretty good idea what was in store early on. And, as it happens, the early part of the show was weighted with largely post-Beatles material, which I don't have nearly the emotional attachment to. Also, there was the lady sitting near me, who had decided to favor us all by wearing a generous slathering of her favorite perfume; a thick, sickly and cheap-smelling floral that kept intruding on my consciousness for the first 30 minutes or so of the show.

When all these factors are taken into consideration, I think I can be forgiven for the fact that I was 10 songs into the concert before the feel of the thing began to take me over. The emotional reactions I wrote of in my last post first reared their head during an especially playful version of "Let 'Em In." The interaction between the band; the way the drummer kept flicking his head to the left, the center and the right, the exact same way every time, as he drilled his way steadily through the song's military-inspired snare part; and just the whimsical nature of the song, hooked me, and pulled me into the show.

After that, I seldom left.

Oh, to be sure, there were minor annoyances; the beer vendor who bellowed "Ice Cold Beer!" three feet from my face as I was trying to enjoy the epic pyrotechnic excitement that was "Live and Let Die" (jolted from my concentration on the song, I bellowed "Shut up!" back at him nearly as loud). And there was the steady stream of people who opted to spend the concert plying their own special trade route between the concession stand, their seats, and the bathroom. Ordinarily, I would have never have noticed this last bit but for the fact that the steps leading down from our section crossed in front of our seats, and we had a steady stream of heads briefly crossing in front of our field of view.

But these were all minor trifles, and easily ignored, in comparison of what we got to witness. The delight I felt at "Let 'Em In" increased more and more during the next two hours, until by the time we reached the second encore, my wife and I were both in a more-or-less permanent state of slack-jawed amazement. The surprises, the "you've got to be kidding me" moments came regularly; "A Day In The Life," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (which he's almost never done live), "I've Got A Feeling," "Day Tripper," "Helter Skelter" — the arrival of each left me stunned, except for "Helter Skelter," which, instead, triggered a burst of maniacal laughter.

The most moving moment for me was "Two Of Us." The Let It Be album has been growing on me lately, and this track, which opens that album, has always reminded me of John and Paul's early friendship as Liverpool teens. A close second, and one of my wife's favorite moments, was his intimate and sweeping rendition of Something, which was a beautiful, touching and genuine tribute to George Harrison.

When we reached Hey Jude, the I felt the sadness set in. This number has long been a staple closing number of McCartney shows, so I knew we were close to the end. I knew going into this night that, all things taken into consideration, I would likely never be in the same room with Sir Paul again. I dutifully sang along with the roughly 20,000-strong crowd until the bitter end. Then, as he waved from the stage and took his bows with the rest of the band, I said a quiet "Goodbye, Paul."

Thankfully, Sir Paul takes not one, but two curtain calls in his show, and my mood had lifted considerably by the second one, when Paul's simple, beautifully done version of "Yesterday" was answered a few seconds later with the raucous machine gun guitar opening of "Helter Skelter." When the band followed this with the "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise," it was yet another treat in a long night of treats, and it felt like an acceptable, and even fitting, way to end the evening.

Then the band bounced off of one of the chords from "Pepper," and into "The End" from Abbey Road — long one of my favorite tracks from my favorite album. And with that, any reluctance I had to say goodbye to Paul, and to the evening, disappeared.

Paul traded guitar leads with the other two band members until the band crashed into the soft piano ostinato, and I watched, stunned into motionless, as he sang the lines "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." If he had asked me how I wanted him to end the show, I would not have dared to think of this.

And then, the song was over. Paul took his bows, told us he would see us next time, and was gone, leaving my wife and I, jaws open, shaking our heads at each other in amazement.

The show I saw seventeen years ago stood at the top of the heap of the dozens of shows I've seen during my life. Until last night, that is.

I walked out of the Bridgestone Arena last night convinced, as I am now, that I will probably never see a better concert for the rest of my life.

And you know what? I think I'm okay with that.

…you get what you need

2010-07-26T09:20:00.007-05:00

The year was 1990, or thereabouts. I had been married for a few years, and was busy trudging along the singularly unwise career path of the professional musician. My guiding stars musically (then as now), were Rush and The Beatles. Having the passions of youth, I held both bands in a near-religious esteem; particularly The Beatles, whom I'd been raised on. So when I heard that Paul McCartney was going on tour for the first time in ten years to support his Flowers In The Dirt CD, and would be playing a substantial amount of live Beatles material for the first time since he walked off the rooftop of 3 Savile Row in early 1969, I was frantic to go.

Word eventually came to me that he would be playing at an arena about a four-hour drive from my doorstep. This concert took place in the less-than-halcyon days before the Internet, when getting concert tickets involved standing in long lines, or waiting in interminable phone queues for the next available operator. Just finding out the date and time the seats would go on sale wasn't easy to come by. And so it was that, by the time we found out about it, it came with the word that seats were going for $200-$400 apiece. And just like that, the dream of seeing an actual Beatle in the flesh — one of my heroes — popped like a soap bubble.

Bitterness naturally ensued. I wasted a couple years hating the circumstances that had deprived me of this holy experience (and even McCartney himself a little — did he really need that much money?). I bought the 2-disc CD of the tour when it was released (in fact, I'm listening to it as I type this), but didn't listen to it much. The wound was still too fresh, and it only made me remember what had nearly been within my grasp.

It is surprising to me how quickly that wound healed when I finally secured tickets to a subsequent Memphis appearance by the Great Man some three years later. This time, the tickets were $35 — a hefty sum for concert tickets then, but one I considered, then as now, to be altogether reasonable.

I am delighted to report that the concert, when it occurred, was all that I had needed it to be. It began with the inevitable excitement I felt as McCartney casually strolled onto the sun-soaked stage (it would be dark when we finished three hours later), carrying the same Hofner bass he'd used with The Beatles, and ripped into "Drive My Car." Not only was he doing Beatles songs, he was opening with one! It was one of the first of a happy, hazy jumble of memories of that show —things like the mist rolling slowly down the sides of the Liberty Bowl during "Michelle;" joining with 60,000 people as we sang "Hey Jude;" the ripple of excitement I felt during the opening of "Paperback Writer," and, in pride of place, the massive, fireworks-fueled percussion kick during "Live and Let Die," which raises the hair on the back of my neck every time I think about it.

In fact, my adreneline-soaked emotional reactions are really what I treasure about that show. Because ultimately, what makes a concert special isn't what you see or hear in that tiny march of minutes, it's your emotional reactions to what you're experiencing. It wasn't the mists of "Michelle" that stands out in my mind — it was the relaxed, serene joy I felt at that instant. It was a phenomena that the late Spaulding Gray called "a perfect moment."

Needless to say, that show was replete with perfect moments, and it still stands as one of the high points of my life. Because the show happened as I was winding up my baccalaureate studies, and because of the utter perfection of the experience, I often refer to the concert as 'my graduation present from God.'

Sometimes — though not often — I'm even joking when I say it.

Flash forward 17 years.

I learned a few months ago that Sir James Paul McCartney was coming to Nashville, my concert city of preference, and the closest he had ever come to the home of your humble author. After coming down from the ceiling, I told several people that I didn't care what seats I had; I just "wanted to be in the building." I said this a lot over the weeks leading up to tickets going on sale, almost like a mantra. Every time I said it, thought, there was also an always-unspoken second part — "... but I also want really good seats."

At the same time, my daughter was equally excited about seeing one of her musical idols, one Adam Lambert. Naturally, the pre-sale for that show went on sale on that same day in early June as the McCartney show. The thankless task of juggling Ticketmaster orders fell to my wife, and she had a very tense morning indeed. I say thankless, because after finding out the location of our seats, the first words out of my mouth weren't "Brava," "Good show," or even "I love you." What I said was, and I quote, "Wow - we're really far back there, aren't we?"

And to be fair, there are only a few hundred people — at most a thousand — who can say they are farther from the stage than we are. That doesn't matter; this is among the more ungrateful things I've ever said in a long history of saying ungrateful things. It wasn't until that moment that I realized the existence of the unspoken second part of the mantra "…but I also want really good seats."

It continued to be a very tense morning; I had to convince my wife that I was, indeed, very thankful to have tickets, and very grateful for her efforts. Thankfully, she believed me, eventually. She then turned to getting tickets to Adam Lambert. We had planned to go as a family, in part so that we could experience the show, but also in part because we wanted to watch our daughter enjoying the show. And after many mighty struggles with the ticket gods, and some timely assistance from a friend, we were able to obtain two, individual tickets.

Elsewhere, other battles were raging. My best friend and musical partner in crime was having problems with McCartney tickets of his own. We had long known that we wouldn't be sitting together this trip because we needed three tickets each, and the limit was four tickets per sale. So sadly, we wouldn't be sitting together. But he came very close to not being able to get tickets at all; it is only because of a friend's generosity that he and his wife were able to obtain seats, but that is a tale for another time.

By noon, it was over. No, we did not have great seats to Paul McCartney. We did not even have good seats. But we had seats.

I would not be able to watch my daughter seeing one of her musical heroes. But she would get to see him.

My best friend and I would not be able to sit together and share the experience of seeing one of our musical heroes, as we had 17 years earlier. But we were each going.

Since that day in June, I've had a snatch of a Rolling Stones song in my head — ironic, for a lifelong Beatles fan like me.

You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.

We leave for Nashville in a few hours. Look for a full report soon.

Won't Get Fooled Again

2010-05-26T20:59:00.001-05:00

For some weeks now, I have been promising an offering on the Mac vs. Windows debate. And I still plan to deliver it, but probably not in the way that most of you are expecting. I will give you all a bit of a hint of the tone of that essay when I say that a lot of the people on both sides, myself included, put entirely too much importance into a question that is, I feel, on the level of whether one's favorite color is red or blue.

That said, I do have a dog in that particular race, as they say. And for that reason, I cannot let a small bit of tech business news from today's New York Times website pass without comment.

According to the Times, Apple has just passed Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company. Let me put that another way; as far as Wall Street is concerned, Apple is now officially bigger than Microsoft.

When I first read the news at work, I hunted down a fellow Apple fan boy and co-worker to share the news. We exchanged a quick high five, then got back to what we were doing.

But now that I've had a chance to ponder this little tidbit, the ramifications are starting to hit me, and my sense of stunned disbelief is starting to rise. And I hope you will bear with me when I say that for me, this feels a lot like the way the end of the Cold War felt.

Not that I'm even remotely elevating the fall of Communism to the level of one brand of grown up toys selling more stock than another. The latter happens all the time, as businesses wax and wane. But what makes this news so epic is the context of history; for all of my life, Microsoft was the big boy on the block when it came to computers. As I think about it, 7 of the 11 computers I've owned in my life have had Microsoft operating systems (the other four, and the most recent, were, of course, various flavors of Mac's OS X).

Back when I bought my first computer (running MS-DOS 4.01), Microsoft seemed relatively benign, and even vaguely likable. And mean, what can you say about a company whose idea of a game is a flight simulator accurate enough to do low-level flight training on?

But the more software they sold, the bigger they became on the big electronic playground, and the more of a bully they became. No one seriously challenged their operating system, and any rivals that were foolish enough to go up against them in other areas were smashed; the Netscape web browser, Lotus's 1-2-3 spreadsheet, and my own beloved WordPerfect word processor; all were ground beneath the boot of Redmond. They did this with tactics like loading free versions of programs like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word onto every computer sold, and arranging for some computer manufacturers to sell machines with pre-loaded copies of Microsoft Office which customers couldn't not buy (and yes, I speak from personal experience on that last one. I wound up choosing another PC maker rather than buy $150 worth of software I didn't want).

So even before I made the switch to Apple, Microsoft was the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and everyone's symbol of technological tyranny — you danced to their tune, or you didn't dance at all.

At the same point in time, MacIntosh computers simply weren't a viable alternative for me until 2005. They were too expensive, impossible to get software for, and incompatible with every piece of software I had ever bought in my life. As a result, I wasn't one of the old guard Mac users; people for whom today must seem even more surreal.

For me, though, it is plenty surreal enough. In the 1990s, the idea that Apple would ever be bigger than Microsoft was strictly the province of rabid Apple fan boys (known among us Apple geeks as Kool-Aid drinkers — a tactless allegory to the Jonestown Massacre, with Steve Jobs in the role of Jim Jones). But times change, and apparently, Microsoft didn't; at least, not fast enough. Apple still only accounts for about 10 percent of computers, but computers are moving off the desk and into pockets — an arena where Apple has been giving Microsoft a beating since the iPod. Microsoft isn't dead yet, but its influence is dwindling; the new tech powerhouses are Apple and Google, and the new battlefields are smart phones and search.

It's starting to feel like a bit of a hollow victory, though. As Apple grows in power, the new Apple is starting to seem a lot like the old Microsoft. The last few weeks, we've been hearing about Apple demanding apologies for ad parodies, shutting out apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone for no reason, firing an employee who violated company security by showing an iPad before it's release to the (now retired) co-founder of the company, among other things. In other words, it's not all puppies and rainbows in Cupertino.

So I'm happy for my favorite toy maker today. But I hope they remember that the people that kept them alive in the lean years supported them precisely because they weren't Microsoft. I hope they take a page from their new rival's playbook — namely, "Don't Be Evil." And to paraphrase one of my favorite composers, I really, really hope that the new boss doesn't turn out to be the same as the old boss.

The shape of things to come?

2010-05-17T18:36:00.004-05:00

The other day, I got an e-mail from Amazon.com. The good people there just wanted to remind me that there was a free Kindle reader available for my PC, should I feel so inclined.

Now, I have been eyeing the Kindle since they were introduced a few years back. Portable book reader that does for books what the iPod did for music = good. A sticker price of $259 and no color display = bad. Also, there's the matter that Amazon insists on charging for e-books, which is okay so far as it goes, but I only have so much disposable cash. I have a sizable library of CDs that I can load onto my iPod. And while I have a small library of public domain books in .txt format (thank you Project Gutenberg), none of them are in Kindle format. So while I approve of the basic concept, the Kindle wasn't something I sat up nights plotting on how to get my hands on.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Apple, my gadget maker of preference, introduces the iPad; a sleek little piece of hardware that does everything a Kindle does, only in color, and with an iPod, web browser and some light laptop functionality thrown in for good measure. This = really good. A starting price of $499 = really bad.

Another point that shouldn't be lost in all of this is I like books. Not text files, not e-readers, but books. The codex format that the early Christians found so useful works just fine for me, venerable as it is. And in some ways, it's infinitely preferable. I would never take a $500 iPad into a hot bath on a Sunday afternoon, for example.

Nevertheless, when the e-mail from Amazon arrived, I finally decided to put a toe in the water. I downloaded the Mac version of the app (free), and almost as quickly, found a book on prayer by Phil Yancey (oddly enough, also free). Yancey is one of my favorite living Christian writers, and I'm still trying to figure out what one of his books is doing floating around on Amazon for free. Yet, there it was, on Amazon's top ten downloads list for $0.00.

And so, I find myself a few chapters into Phil Yancey's "Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?" — exactly 12 percent, as it happens (try judging that with a paperback). And so far, it's had a few differences from a regular book. For starters, it's a little too much like reading a web page. Instead of the satisfying flick of turning a page, I'm obliged to lightly draw my fingers against the trackpad to move on to the next section; not quite the sensory experience I'm used to. On the other hand, it remembers exactly how far I've gotten, so no more jagged bits of paper marking my place. There's also supposed to be a notes feature, which would be a little slice of fried awesome for some texts, but I haven't figured out how to make it work yet.

At the moment, it's a curiosity, and no more. I still think more than $250 for an e-book reader is too much. And even if I didn't, it would just be one more thing to carry. Too much cost, and not enough of a multi-tasker. So while I'm content to add Kindle functionality to my MacBook Pro, I can't begin to justify spending the money to get what would be the coolest thing about it — to be able to take a library of books around with you on a hand-held device a little smaller than an issue of Time magazine.

Of course, there is always the Kindle app for the iPad…

Glad tidings

2010-05-16T15:41:00.002-05:00

Slightly less than two hours ago, my daughter was baptized by immersion in the waters of Kentucky Lake. Next week, she will formally join the congregation of the church we attend, along with other members of her confirmation class.

In the words of my pastor, "Let the people say 'amen.'"

Heavy weather

2010-05-02T10:16:00.007-05:00

Well, as many of you have no doubt heard, we've had our share of weather this weekend. My family and I have just returned from an overnight 'holiday' at my parents house, after a 10:30 p.m. tornado warning prompted us to take shelter. I could make glib remarks about the time, or complain about the fact that because it lasted until 5:30 this morning, we weren't able to judge about whether we needed to take shelter or not. I could do that, but the fact remains that I am eternally grateful that I have someplace to take my family in the event a tornado decides to drop in.

And brother, do we get tornados. Tornados seem to really like the town that I work in. I've personally covered five of them for my newspaper, and have developed a deep, abiding hatred for them. And yes, I mean hatred. I know it's bad sport to hate anything, much less something that came from the hand of God, and I'm sure he knows better than me. But I've developed an actual hatred of tornados. I've only seen a handful of smashed houses — places where nothing but the sheer violence of wind created a soggy debris field of wood, insulation, clothing, photos and all the other things that people own spread hundreds of feet across their neighbor's bean field. But those few times have been enough to make me hate the word 'tornado.'

But I digress; the point of this post is simply to let everyone know that we're fine, and to say "goodness, we certainly are getting a whole lot of wet." We were obliged to go to town yesterday, and I must say I haven't seen flooding like that in the entire time I've lived here. We had to take an alternate route at least once because of submerged roads. The parking lot of The Catfish Place, a popular local eatery, was entirely submerged (needless to say, they were closed). And the creek that borders the back yard of my daughter's best friend's home had risen all the way up to the house. When I was there, the muddy water rushing through the yard made it look like they'd built on a river bank.

So we have had an interesting time here, but all are safe. By the way, the title of this post is a twofold musical reference. For starters, Heavy Weather is the title of a Weather Report album (that I do not own). It is also a lyric from the Jethro Tull album Heavy Horses (which I do own — picked it up in England on my honeymoon). The phrase comes from the title track.

Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A heavy horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather.

Stay dry, everyone.

And then there were none

2010-04-30T22:51:00.004-05:00

It is done. The portion of my bookshelf that holds my Beatles CDs — both mono and stereo versions — no longer has any gaps in it. I bought Help, the last missing piece of the reissued Beatles catalog, at my local Wal Mart shortly before 10 p.m. tonight. My collection is now complete (and pardon me while I sound like Darth Vader).

Now all that remains is for me to enjoy it. And for the past two or three weeks, I've been busy doing just that. I recently embarked on a track-by-track comparison of both the mono and stereo versions of each song in The Beatles' catalog, starting with Please Please Me. I plan to take each release, in order, until I reach the end of Abbey Road. To be sure, it is a silly little exercise, and very subjective, to say the least. But it has been enormous fun, and I'm discovering wondrous things in both recordings. I'm also falling in love with The Beatles again with an intensity that I haven't had since I was a young lad with a bass guitar in my hand and a gleam in my eye.

It's good to have the boys back again. As always, they were worth every penny.

Facebook and me

2010-04-28T13:54:00.002-05:00

Hello, dear readers.

I know I've been gone for a while. My next post was supposed to be a zippy little essay about the deeper issues underlying the Mac vs. Windows debate that so monotonously abounds on the tech news websites. That's still a work in progress, and I fully intend to give the world the unvarnished glories of my thoughts on this subject in the near future.

But since I also want this blog to be more timely, I'm going to interrupt your regularly scheduled programing with a brief announcement about Facebook — or, as I now think of it, my Datamining page.

In recent weeks, Facebook has become more much more aggressive about adding "features" that are really just sweeping attempts to collect users into ready-made groups for advertisers. I don't have the time to go into details here, but you can read a pretty good summation — and an approximation of my feelings on the subject — here.

The last straw came this morning as I was logging onto my FB/DM page. Before I could get past the first page, I was confronted with a box that "asked" me to link all of the interests in my profile to their appropriate web pages: education, music, books, and that sort of thing. For example, it asked me to link to pages for both of my colleges as well as my high school. I didn't want to deal with this issue right at that moment, so I looked for a "cancel" or "ask me later" button.

Instead, I was given the choice "choose all" or "choose individually." I opted for the individual choice, thinking the option to put it off or, even better, not do it at all, could be found there. It wasn't. Instead, I only had the option to deselect all of the pre-checked boxes that corresponded to each of my listed interested. I did that, and told it "ok."

Facebook responded with the news that this would result in all of my unchecked interests being removed from my page. Apparently, in order to show you like something in Facebook-land, you now have to link to the official site. True to their word, the only interest I have on display now is for the band Rush — because it and The Beatles were the only sites I had cared enough in the past to link to. Why The Fab Four didn't make the cut, I don't know.

I may chat about the deeper ramifications of this in a future post; in the meantime, I just want to pass on that this little exercise in totalitarianism will result in my withdrawing from Facebook as much as possible. I intend to use it as a way to communicate with friends, and little else. From now on, what I like is none of Facebook's business.

The good news is that I intend to keep posting items here, and even plan to refer some of my friends from Facebook to this site. I may even shift some of my regular updates over to my long-neglected Twitter feed. Maybe it's making a tempest from a tea pot. But at the moment, I think that Facebook is looking at their users only as a commodity that they can deliver to their advertisers. And with all the myriad communications tools at our disposal today, I assure you that they need us far more than we need them.

Mono musings

2010-03-23T18:56:00.003-05:00

Well, it’s finally here — the crowning jewel of my Beatles collection, and indeed, my entire CD collection, arrived a week ago. I first learned of the existence of The Beatles in Mono set in April of last year. Slightly less than a year later, I am finally a proud owner.

The journey has been long, and I admit, looked bleak at times. Because of its limited edition status, the set essentially sold out before it was even released, which cast serious doubt on my ever owning it, and temporarily sending me into a serious mope. I still suspect that this was an attempt on EMI’s part to create an artificial excitement for the set — the “If it’s sold out this quickly, it must be good” mentality. Even if I was manipulated in such a callous manner, it’s a moot point; I would have wanted this set even if you could find it at every Wal Mart and Walgreens between here and Topeka.

Exactly why I wanted it so badly is another question. Since I announced my fervent desire for this set, I have been asked by nearly everyone, “why mono?” Mono, as we know, is only half of stereo, and very often, not even the best half. Why on earth would I pay for something that is going to, by its very design, limit my listening experience?

Well, for starters, there’s the fact that this was what The Beatles intended most of their songs to sound like. When the group recorded its first album in 1962 — the exalted year of my birth — hi-fi stereo units were the province of rich audiophiles, and stereo recordings had all the earmarks of a pricy, gimmicky fad. The bulk of the record-buying public spun monophonic platters on a record player equipped with but a single speaker — as were most car and portable radios.

My own experience from those days was no different. I first heard The Beatles as a no-doubt cranky 1-year old who was trying be convinced to go to sleep by my sisters. A few years after that, I started my journey into music appreciation sitting in front of an orange and white portable record player with a single speaker. While my sisters both had access to players with built-in stereo speakers about the same time, it wasn’t until the early 70s that I got regular use of one myself. Radios took even longer to make the switch — the new kitchen radio we bought for my mother in the late 70s was a mono unit as well.

Because of the predominance of mono, The Beatles and George Martin put all of their time and effort into the mono recordings. They did this until near the end of their partnership; only Yellow Submarine, Let It Be and Abbey Road are stereo-only. In fact, George Harrison once talked about how suspicious he was of stereo at first because the extra speaker diluted the sound.

So it’s little surprise that The Beatles, and occasionally not even George Martin, weren’t even in the building when the stereo masters were done. For them, the finished version was the mono version. So one of the main reasons for shelling out the extra dough was for the sake of simple historical reference — back in the day, this was what they wanted the songs to sound like.

Once the mono set was in my hands, and I had a chance to compare the mono mixes with the stereo versions, I realized the true value of this. The mono versions serve as a great road map to what both the Beatles and Martin considered to be the important elements of the song. Sometimes, an instrument or vocal part that's buried in the stereo mix rises to prominence in the mono version. And occassionaly, the mono versions even sound better than their stereo counterparts.

Before I go further, please understand that I am blown away by the stereo remasters. Each and every one of them have something that was sometimes lacking in the 1987 CD versions — separation and accuracy.

You should also know that my preferred method for listening is with earphones or headphones. This is for two reasons; first, it spares the rest of the house the both of having to listen to what I’m in the mood for, and second (and most important), it allows me to focus much more easily on individual parts. One of the invaluable lessons I gained from my days as an active musician was an appreciation of the way individual parts go to make up a cohesive whole. It is the single thing I value most about music.

There is a scene in the movie Amadeus that I adore; Salieri is taking musical dictation of a requiem mass from his rival, Mozart, while the latter is too ill to compose. As we watch, Mozart, from his sickbed, sings the individual parts of the confutatis section to him one by one; first the percussion, then the brass; then the individual string parts, and finally, the vocal parts. As he sings each part, you hear the actual part being played by the instrument in question as he sings it to Salieri. Finally, Mozart takes the music from Salieri, brings his hand down as if he’s conducting an orchestra, and the entire glorious piece is played back from the beginning, all parts intact. It is a brilliant way of giving the viewer insight into how a whole song is made up of individual parts, and how beautifully those parts can intertwine.

The new stereo masters allow this to a remarkable degree. I can easily follow each individual line; much is being made of the way the new remasters cement Ringo’s invaluable contribution as a drummer, but for me, one of the jewels is the way it allows me to focus on Paul McCartney’s virtuoso bass work. McCartney has always been in my top five of all-time greatest rock bassists, but I never really emulated his style, or tried to re-create his lines, the way I did with Geddy Lee of Rush, Chris Squire of Yes, or John Entwhistle of The Who. If I’d had access to these discs when I was actively playing, I likely would have been committing Mr. McCartney’s work to memory as well. As it was, his contributions were often muddy, and buried at the bottom of the mix next to Ringo.

That’s certainly not the case in the new stereo masters. All of the instruments on the stereo mixes sound incredibly clear and lifelike; it’s like sitting in the middle of the band while they’re recording. For example, the crashing opening chord in the stereo mix of “A Hard Day’s Night” reveals not just the chime of a Rickenbacker 12-string, but also an acoustic guitar and bass. The sound is so realistic, I can easily make out what kind of bass McCartney is using on a given track just from the sound of it. And in fact, the quality of the bass part on the mono mixes is one of the main things I have against the set. The bass on many of the mono songs I’ve heard — I’ll give “Nowhere Man” as an example — are unpleasantly muddy and indistinct; precisely what I disliked about Paul’s playing when I was a young musician. I realize now it wasn’t his fault — that was the best that could be managed with the recording equipment of that time.

But this ‘fault’ — that the monos have a lot of the flaws I remember from my youth — is also the mono set’s greatest strength. Because, at the end of the day, the mono versions sound like to original releases a lot of us heard in 1960s. I was completely sold on the mono set from the moment I heard the mono version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” I have fond memories of spinning the original 45 rpm single of this tune on that orange record player I mentioned, but the song has never sounded quite right since the ’87 CDs. Now I know why. The Past Masters Vol. 1 version was in stereo; I remember from my youth must have been in mono, because the mono version sounds right for the first time in a long, long time. In some cases, it’s like getting the music you loved back.

Conversely, there are times when the stereo versions, as well done as they are, simply don’t sound like the same song. Sometimes, the stereo is a great boon — “Nowhere Man,” for example, which has a big, spacious clarity that compliments the song beautifully, especially in comparison with the mono version’s cramped muddiness. Just a few tracks later, though, the same spacious quality in the stereo mix completely undoes “In My Life” into an incoherent jumble of (admittedly great-sounding) parts, while the tight, clean mono version sounds like a cohesively-mixed song, and one that sounds better than it ever has.

There are some disappointments in both sets. For example, both the mono and 1965 stereo versions of Help are generally lifeless, and sound, to use a borrowed phrase, as if they were dubbed from a cassette. As of this writing, I have no idea if the 2009 stereo mix follows suit.

Happily, there are also some new revelations as well. For example, there’s a curious silence during the falling arpeggios played by George Harrison in Help’s title track. Further investigation revels that a full measure of Ringo’s drums, including a fading cymbal crash, and the light beat of a floor tom keeping time, were scrubbed from the mono version. This further showcases Harrison’s part, and ads a new ‘surprise’ to a song I’ve heard hundreds of times over.

This brings me to the final, glorious, fun of both sets — the two versions are so different, in so many different ways, that one could devote weeks or months to just going over the differences in the mixes between the two albums. Needless to say, this is precisely what I intend to do, from the beginning, once I obtain the final pieces of the puzzle — the stereo remasters of Please Please Me, Beatles For Sale, Help and Yellow Submarine. In the meantime, I’ll be happily get acquainted with both new versions for a long time to come.

So what versions should you get? That’s easy. Unless you’re a completist when it comes to the Fab Four, go for the stereo versions. You can buy them piecemeal, and you’re probably going to be a lot happier with the sound.

Sorry if this post was overlong; I’m afraid I was writing this one for myself, and neglected to follow the first rule of writing — namely, “pity the reader.” I shall return in a few weeks with a hopefully non-partisan discussion of Macs vs. PC debate. You have been warned...

Fiat Accompli

2010-03-10T18:20:00.000-06:00

Almost a year ago, I put up a fairly longish post about The Beatles box sets that were due to be released in September. I explained in some detail why I was going to spend what, for me, was an absurd sum of money in order to own both the stereo and mono box sets. And I left the reader with the impression that the purchase of both sets would take place shortly after their release, or shortly after Christmas at the latest.

That estimate was, as it turns out, rather wrong.

By the time Sept. 9 rolled around, my wife and I were still in the process of paying for my new MacBook Pro. One CD box set, let alone two, was simply out of the question. Weeks went by, and still, I hadn't so much as heard one of the remastered. I couldn't afford the set, so there was nothing I could do. And slowly, but surely, I started getting twitchy.

It took me until mid-October before my wife finally convinced me to give in, and just buy one or two to tide me over. I chose Abbey Road and The White Album, and was delighted to learn that they were all that I'd hoped for, and a bit more. Since I wanted to own the entire catalog as soon as possible, and since my bank account was still no great shakes, I began to revise my strategy. As the stereo box really had nothing in them but the individual discs that were commonly available, I decided to start picking the remasters up a few titles at a time, and leave the elusive mono box as the big prize. Maybe if I'd been buying drugs instead of CDs, I might have recognized what atrocious rationalizing this was. At the time, though, it seemed perfectly reasonable and logical.

As to the grand prize itself, I will spare you the tale of how the mono box sold out completely virtually before it was released, and how great my chagrin and suffering was that I would never lay hands on it because I couldn't afford to pre-order it when I had the chance. Suffice it to say, by the time Christmas rolled around, EMI had rescinded the set's "limited edition" status, and both sets were in stock at Amazon. About twice a month, I would check the site to make sure the set was still available, and promise myself "some day."

"Some day" is apparently today. This morning, over the usual stumblings of the morning, and amid the haste to begin going about our respective days, my wife said the words "Easter present" when I brought the mono box up for the upteenth time. And after having a day to consider both it, and our financial situation, I acquiesced, and reached for my debit card. And with much fear, wonder, and trembling, I overcame my reluctance to spend that much money on myself, and ordered the silly thing.

So, the thing is done. My copy of the mono box is on its way. I am equal parts excited and relieved, but most of all, I am grateful. Grateful that I have a wife who loves me enough to think that spending $166 on a set of mono recordings of a musical catalog I already own nearly twice over is a reasonable use of our money. Grateful that EMI decided to manufacture the silly little trinkets long enough for me to scrape the money together. And most of all, I am very, very grateful that I have received so many blessings in my life that I can put so much energy into the luxury of fretting about things like my music collection.

Facebook is eating my brain, and I don't seem to care

2010-01-23T09:26:00.002-06:00

This past week, I joined FarmVille on Facebook. May God have mercy on my soul.

For those who don't know, FarmVille is a Facebook app that lets you grow pretend crops, sell them for pretend money, and do favors and send gifts to your real friends, who are also busy in the growing of fake food, milking fake cows, etc.

I had no choice in the matter whatsoever. Last Sunday, my wife told me "I don't care if you play it or not, but you have to join FarmVille so that I can get a bigger farm."

Now, I love my wife, and live to help her anytime I can without movement or labor being involved. So I signed onto my Facebook profile, and accepted her Farmville friend requests I'd been ignoring for the past 4 months. I planted my first crop (soybeans and strawberries, I think), and walked away.

Now, here I am, one week later, waiting to harvest a rice crop that takes up most of my arable land, and plotting my days around when I have be available to harvest crops. It is the nature of this insidious little game that you can always get a bigger harvest, or more stuff. Seemingly, the game only takes 5 or 10 minutes of your time. Seven or eight times a day. Or more. And because the game is so addictive, you don't really care.

I've already got my exit strategy in place for when I inevitably get tired of feeding make-believe people. One day, I will sell all my animals, leave my land fallow, and put up a sign telling any visitors that I have gone away to read and play in the sunshine — another abandoned virtual farm on the vast digital landscape.

And I think I should do it soon.

Unless, of course, I make level ten. I've always wanted my own cranberry bog.

Mini movie review — "The Da Vinci Code"

2010-01-09T10:45:00.000-06:00

With my daughter staying the night at a friend's house last night, my wife and I decided to watch The Da Vinci Code for the first time. Thanks to donations from family members, I have had a hardback edition of the book, as well as an audio cassette version, for several years. However, I had become resigned to the fact I was never going to read either one, and that the movie version in this case would do just fine.

As a movie, Da Vinci works pretty well; it's suspenseful, and has an interesting narrative and subject matter. Plus, I like the idea of a symbologist as an action hero. The scenes illustrating his thought processes as he tries to crack a puzzle are pretty neat to watch.

An impressive stable of actors has been recruited here, and the performances are pretty solid throughout. Particularly enjoyable for me were the always-impeccable Sir Ian McKellan and the likewise first-rate Paul Bettany. Jurgen Prochnow was also enjoyable in his role, as was Alfred Molina.

That said, a lot of the plot twists were seen coming a mile off, both by my wife and myself, so there were few real surprises. Most alarming, it plays extremely fast-and-loose, and somewhat cynically, with church history. Some of the conclusions it takes are decidedly from a certain point of view, and, just based on my limited knowledge of the subject, it takes a cafeteria approach to both gnosticism and some of the so-called "missing" gospels. I'm no one's expert on that subject, but from where I see things now, it seemed as if they were taking a lot of things out of context to try to justify their conclusions.

So, overall, as a movie, I give it a solid B, but a theological and historical D-.

Long time, no see

2010-01-06T09:16:00.001-06:00

If blogs were houses, this one would be the house on the corner that the family moved out of a couple months ago; freezing inside, somewhat dusty and moldy, completely barren, and starting to give way to the elements. Life, the holidays and Facebook have effectively diverted my attentions elsewhere.

No longer; it is a new year, and I haven't given up on this little diversion just yet. I have just been refreshed by prolonged contact with 'purt near everyone in my extended and scattered family, and am eyeing the coming year with a sense of optimism and purpose.

To that end, I plan to go back to the 'notes on the refrigerator' school of blogging. I may post the occasional essay. but like as not, it will just be 'thoughts for the day.' After all, what's the point of being brilliant if I don't share (he said, tongue firmly in cheek).

We'll begin our journey into my mental processes with a quick thought about the Twilight series. As many know, author Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon, and I've just pieced together what I believe is a bit of Christian symbolism included in her books, unintentional or no.

The "good" vampires, the Cullens, are "vegetarians" — living on animal blood, and not human. This isn't a new idea; Anne Rice did the same thing in Interview With A Vampire. But in so doing, the vampires in both books are rebelling against their created nature, and choosing a moral path rather than a natural one.

In the same way, Christians rebel against their created nature, and live according to a moral path rather than a natural one. There are a hundred temptations we resist each week that our natural impulses tells us to give in to. They can appear small; white lies, excessive venting about why we're angry with someone, and other little moral shortcuts. Or, for some, they can loom large: fighting the urge to drink or smoke; resisting the urge to cheat on one's spouse, or any of the multitude of demons and compulsions being fought at this very minute around the globe. Either way, it is a seemingly natural drive that we, like the Cullens, resist because we are heeding "the better angels of our nature."

Now whether or not Meyer intended to be that deep is a question for further debate.

Pardon our dust

2009-11-15T08:05:00.002-06:00

The management of The Padawan Pause apologizes for the prolonged absence of content from this blog — the people responsible for sacking the people doing the sacking have been sacked.

Apologies for blatant plagiarism to Monty Python aside, visitors may expect a new look (overdue), and a hopefully more user-friendly focus and format.

More details to follow as time permits.

The Mgt.

Rumor confirmed

2009-09-20T21:49:00.004-05:00

You can tell this isn't one of those blogs where people go for up-to-the-minute updates on fan topics. Last week (which is a horrible delay for someone who makes his living as a newsman), the president of Disney Parks confirmed several rumors, including a major princess-themed addition to Fantasyland at Walt Disney World. This is really good news for my readers who might be raising princesses-in-training. You know who you are.

At the same time, they confirmed that Star Tours II will be opening in 2011. It will include 3D technology, which I can attest that Disney rocks at. The promotion they did for the announcement naturally included a garrison from the 501st (who are becoming a bit too ubiquitous for my tastes), and an appearance from Darth Vader. The footage they showed included a first-person view of a podrace in 3D, which, I have to admit, would be incredibly awesome.

So, with a new Star Tours opening in 2011, and an expansion to Fantasyland in 2012, I think another trip to the Magic Kingdom is definitely going to fit into my travel plans within the next few years. As if it wasn't already...

ASWC — Actual Star Wars Content

2009-09-03T06:34:00.004-05:00

As I try to wake up this morning, I am going to do something unprecedented for a blog called "The Padawan Pause" — I am going to put in a little Star Wars content. I am also going to be brief, which is something else I'm not too good at. I hope to do more of both in the future.

So, here we go — this just in! Our friends over at The Force.Net have a post stating that Celebration V has been confirmed for 2010. Why this is good news for anyone other than Star Wars collectors is, I believe, this — George tends to have the Celebrations around times when fan interest is the highest. In the past, this has meant right before the release of all three Prequel movies.

There has been very little coming down the Star Wars pipeline lately, so what this is about — other than an opportunity for GentleGiant to sell minibusts of characters whose names you don't know — is open to question. My current theory is that it will be part of the buildup for the new live-action television series, which I have heard from other sources (which I lack the time to document now) is gearing up in Australia at the moment. This may also explain the rumors of an upcoming announcement of a StarTours refresh that a lot of Disney geeks have been speculating about lately.

More news as I hear it.

Circling the airport

2009-08-15T07:51:00.011-05:00

I've been waiting this week. Professionally.

I ordered a new MacBook Pro last Friday, which was, in itself, the culmination of many, many months of dreaming and scheming. Ordinarily, I would spend a couple paragraphs rhapsodizing about what I love about Apple computers: You know, why their Operating System is the best I've ever seen; how unbelievably great their quality is; how the MacBook Pro is, in my opinion, the gold standard for laptops; how I've wanted one for years; yada, yada, yada.

And mind you, I still may, if enough interest is shown. but I'm not here this morning to proselytize. I'm here to share some Genuinely Useful Information.

My job this week has been to monitor FedEx's overseas flights. In between this, I've managed to find time to cover events that resulted in three top-of-page-one stories for the paper I work for, so don't think I've been slacking off. But largely, my hourly routine has consisted of:

1. Check FedEx package tracking website.

2. Check actual location of FedEx cargo flights between Shanghai, Anchorage and/or Memphis.

3. Recheck FedEx package tracking website.

4. Perform the necessary time zone calculations.

5. Sigh in disappointment.

6. Go do something else to take my mind off the fact that my computer still hasn't left China.

7. Repeat.

With that kind of experience under my belt, I am proud to offer you, the reader, the benefit of what I've learned this week. To wit:

1. Shanghai, CN is not in Connecticut — I actually knew this one already, but a surprising amount of people don't. In fact, there's a blog dating back to January 2006 that includes dozens upon dozens of comments from otherwise intelligent and well-read people who were of the opinion that the CN abbreviation stood for Connecticut. In fact, a friend of mine who helped me unlock the intricacies of the FedEx delivery system initially made this same mistake himself, even though he'd had the same model computer ship from the same place three years earlier. Sadly, CN actually means China, or I would have had it by now.

2. Shanghai's airport is so far from the actual city they had to build a land rocket to take people there — To pass the the time, I decided the least I could do was learn a few things about the city where my computer had been born, so I did what any college-educated American would do: I read Wikipedia entries and watched YouTube videos. My favorite of the latter sort is a promotional video of the Pudong International Airport's high-speed maglev train. Basically, this is like the monorail that takes you to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, only it uses magnetic suspension instead of pneumatic tires, and goes 267 miles per hour instead of 30. My favorite part of the video is the train station segments. Apparently, it's someone's job to stand at attention and salute the train as it leaves and arrives.

3. The FAA prefix code for Anchorage airport is amusingly close to the word "Panic" — One of the first things I learned during this interminable wait is that a great circle route between the FedEx hubs in Shanghai and Memphis bisects Anchorage, Alaska almost exactly. Not surprisingly, a lot of cargo planes go through that airport every day. The second thing I learned was that four-letter code identifying the Ted Stevens International Airport is PANC, which I will forever read now as "panic." I'm not sure that you want people planning to fly to your city to think of the word "panic" in any context, but as long as I don't actually have to fly there myself, I don't have a problem with it.

4. FedEx has black hole generators or transporters mounted on all of its aircraft — This is the only explanation for the fact that on at least one occasion, a package arrived 12 hours before it left. Even accounting for the International Date Line, I couldn't reconcile some of the time changes that my poor MacBook has gone through on its journey to me without invoking theoretical physics. I once got a ground crew "In Transit" scan on my package when I know the flight it was supposed to be on was 25,000 feet above the Bering Sea. So the only thing I could come up with was black hole-powered time field generators, or in-flight transporter booths. Of course, it could also be linked to the next, more mundane, explanation (see below).

5. In FedEx speak, "In Transit" doesn't mean it's actually moving — I used to think that "In Transit" meant "in a truck" or "on a plane." No, no. "In Transit," in FedEx parlance, apparently means "between stages." This is the only reason that a package "in transit" would take a full day to go from "arrived at FedEx facility," to "in transit," to "departed FedEx facility." Foreknowledge of this could spare the reader the experience of having his hopes of early delivery crushed like an empty beer can under a biker's boot ("What do you mean 'it just left?' The web site has had it in transit for two days.")

6. FedEx likes their packages to soak up the local atmosphere before sending them on their way — This is the only explanation for the fact that my precious MacBook Pro sat around the Shanghai airport doing nothing for two days, and the Anchorage airport for one day. And don't tell me things like "they're probably very busy," and "your package isn't the only one they have to deliver," or "If you wanted it faster, why didn't you pony up the extra $15 for priority shipping?"

7. I'm lousy at waiting — But you probably caught that by now.

No news is good news

2009-08-02T08:04:00.006-05:00

Well, it's been a riotous month here. My wife has returned to work, and next week my daughter goes back to school. I've been busy at work; not to the point of becoming stressed, but to the point of being so tired when I did return home, I lacked the necessary energy to post anything.

And really, there's been nothing new here to speak of. I am still in the process of learning about things that grow. I am walking regularly. I still trying to stay aware of what is around me. In short, I am still trying to appreciate this gift of life.

But there is one new thing. I am learning how to cook.

Now, when I type or say the phrase, "I am learning how to cook," it is always with a twinge of guilt that I do not know how to already. The plain fact is that my mother handled all the cooking duties until I moved out in college. When I was on my own, I either ate low-maintenance stuff like peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (which has long been a staple for me), or "heat-and-eats." I simply did not know how to take separate ingredients and combined them with heat to make a dish, and neither did I care to learn.

When I married, naturally, the cooking duties fell to my wife — duties she accepted more or less gracefully. Like many husbands, I have been greeted with the occasional idea that I could cook something for a change, or even just help prepare the meal. And even more occasionally, I would actually step up to the plate and do so. Say, like once a year. Maybe. If I felt like it.

Three weeks ago, I had a revelation (which I seem to be have a lot of lately). As most of you know, I have long been a devotee of the Canadian power trio Rush — to the point that if you asked me to sum up my musical identity in one artist, I would point to them without hesitation. I have seen them in concert 12 times, own every album they have ever released with the exception of three compilation CDs, and can't go for more than a couple months without listening to them. Simply put, I'm an addict.

One of the many great things about Rush is that their drummer, Neil Peart, is not only one of the greatest rock drummers who's ever lived (and that is not just fanboy blarney), but is a pretty durn good writer to boot. Peart posts regularly to his website in a regular column called "News, Weather & Sports." In it, Neil does much of what I do here, only better — he writes about his life. Since he's highly intelligent, impressively self-effacing for someone who's one of the most talented drummers currently walking planet earth, and possessing of a keen sense of humor, he's a genuine pleasure to read. His web site, www.neilpeart.net, has several interesting side features, including Bubba's Book Club, in which he talks about what's been on his reading table; and a new one — Bubba's Bar 'n Grill.

This second feature tackles another of Neil's passions — cooking. Before Neil learned to cook, he was probably more of a heater than a cooker — much like your humble narrator. The Bar 'n Grill feature of his website tells the story of how he learned to cook (a tale definitely worthy of a read), and offers recipes and general information for other Bubbas who, like him, found themselves in the alien environment of the kitchen at age 40. He waxes eloquently about his successes and disasters in the kitchen, and makes a subtle pitch for other "Bubbas" to get in there and try it for themselves. The website features information about the well-stocked kitchen, and gives a few of his favorite recipes at various skill levels for readers to try.

I don't know if was the way I empathized with Peart's fish-out-of-water approach to cooking, the fact that he was about the same age when he learned to cook that I am now, or what — something about the feature spoke to me in a huge way. And for the second time in as many months, a light bulb went off.

So, in addition to being a budding nature lover and gardener, I am now learning how to cook. After a few false starts of stupidly trying to do everything by myself, I have given myself over to the gentle tutelage of my wife, and am happy to be her personal sous chef. Right now, I'm on basic things like chopping, peeling, measuring and mixing things together. At the moment, I'm happy to just starting putting some basic skills under my belt, and it may be a long time before I "solo" on a dish, but if it is, I won't care too much. I have come to find, like hosts of families already know, that cooking, although work, is also fun, and a great way to spend time with your wife.

So far, as a cooking team, we've had a few successes — like the batch of improvised spinach puffs we made from a pasta sauce that wasn't working. We've also had some "back-to-the-drawing-board" experiences — like the salmon filets we made last night that, although made from a fresh cut of meat, didn't quite taste right when we got through with it. But no matter the outcome, it's been great fun, and I've been kicking myself for the time I lost when I could have been doing this.

Ah, well — live and learn.

Tempus Fugit

2009-07-03T12:48:00.005-05:00

Today is an anniversary, of sorts. One year ago today, I overcame my fear of publicly posting things on the Internet, and started this blog. It began as a simple experiment, and was born of a desire to communicate with other members of my far-flung family. Since then, it has given me a chance to pontificate on things near and dear to my heart, and has allowed me continued practice in putting my thoughts and feelings down in a (hopefully) concise and accessible form. In other words, it has given me one more way to work at being a writer.

Today is the day before Independence Day, and since I will have to work for part of that day, I am dedicating most of my time today to relaxing and spending time with family. So this will be brief — doubly so, since I really don't have much to say at the moment.

One thing I will say, though, ere I leave you.

Fittingly, as I reach my one-year anniversary as a blogger, I have recently had it brought home to me how much I appreciated this medium I have been dabbling in for the past 365.2425 solar days (give or take). Earlier this week, I set up a Facebook account, so that I could communicate better with my sister and niece, both of whom are currently traveling in China. Before I knew it, I found myself with several friends, some who sought me out, and some whom I went looking for. And while I can see some advantages for the medium, all in all, my week or so on Facebook has mostly served to make me appreciate my blog all the more.

Facebook (and, I'm guessing, its ugly half-sister, Twitter), is very good at quickly throwing out bursts of information. Posts are one or two sentences at most, which is ideal for logging on, posting something new, reading all the new information that's been posted to your "Wall," and getting off.

Blogs, on the other hand, are more leisurely, and more time consuming. At least, this one has been. Most of my posts here in the past few months have taken the better part of a morning to write, post, and edit. (I should write, edit, then post, but I never manage to get that sequence right — I'm always catching things after the initial post). Even so-called "quick" posts like this one often take at least a half-hour or longer. To me, this is a good thing — writing shouldn't be rushed. For me, this has been my own personal editorial page; Facebook is more like an Internet page of public text messages — it may be conveying important information, but it isn't writing.

In the coming months, I will continue to explore the possibilities of Facebook, and maybe even a few others — if nothing else, to learn how to make them safe enough for my daughter to use, if that time ever comes. But in the meantime, I will always give my blog pride of place; it is both more personal, and because I have shared it with far fewer people, more private. And I continue to be grateful to my readers and friends for encouraging me to start it, and to continue it. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you.

In the present moment

2009-06-26T18:41:00.004-05:00

I went walking today. This is nothing unusual, especially for someone who is medically required to exercise if he doesn't want nasty things to happen to him. Again. I have a favorite walking trail two miles from my workplace, and it makes a nice break in the day to get away from work, and put myself in the midst of trees, water and sky. I liked to do this before my forced vacation, so, again, nothing unusual there.

What made today different is I noticed noticing things. The past two days, I stepped down onto the gravel track, and been met with the warm, moist smells of the vegetation; no doubt pounded into the air by the sun. I have been struck by plants I have walked by hundreds of times, yet am only now seeing. And I was very surprised today to learn just how much I enjoy tramping through the heat. It is, in a way, cathartic to feel the way my body responds to what are, frankly, dangerous levels of sun and humidity. I find myself responding to it the same way I do a hot bath, or a sauna. It was tiring, and a little draining. But I find I am beginning to enjoy exercise. Just a little.

On my commutes back and forth to work, I find myself seeing trees and plants that I have gone past before — in this case thousands of times — only now, I see them. Now, I care that they're there. The other day at choir, I had to take a moment, leave my seat, and walk down to a place where I could see the light playing through the stained glass windows. Just a minute ago, I finished off a long day at work by coming home and winding up on my knees in front of my trailer, helping my wife plant purple Iris bulbs. We were frantically digging in hard clay, trying to beat the storm clouds before they drenched us. It was hard work, more than a little tiring, and I loved every moment of it. Well, maybe not the part where the dogs kept trying to lay in the holes on top of the Irises so we'd pet them, but it didn't matter — I was gardening. I was finally unleashing my inner hobbit. Or, at least, a part of him I didn't give vent to in college.

The point of all this is that I seem to find myself alive these days. The Buddhists, who I admire a great deal, might call this condition awake. Mind you, I don't think I'm truly awake, by Buddhist standards. After all, I just powered through three southwest chicken tornados, seven cheese pizza roles and a grape popsicle I barely noticed — not a very mindful way of eating. But I suppose it's a start.

New loves, and old

2009-06-20T12:36:00.007-05:00

I am in the midst of enjoying my Father's Day weekend, but wanted to take a break from being spoiled royally rotten to update my loyal readers on a couple of budding interests of mine (pun at least partially intended — see next paragraph).

As the prospect of returning to work loomed large on my horizon, I was suddenly struck with an appreciation of growing things. I have always loved nature, and find trees both comforting and fascinating — when I take the time to notice them, that is. And I have always regretted that I wasn't one of those people who spent their weekends canoeing, hiking or climbing things.

One morning, a couple of weeks ago, I was enjoying my wife's flower boxes on my front porch and the slight valley that is my privilege to view every day, when I was suddenly struck with the notion that this — the plants thriving under the morning sun and the birds wheeling in the sky in the valley — was what was real. The day-to-day things that we humans put importance on are often little more than complicated games compared to the world that God has put around us. If we were all to disappear tomorrow, the myriad of green, growing things, and the multitude of life moving and breathing amongst them, would continue with barely a blink. I actually found it to be a comforting notion, and I was reminded of Matthew 6: 26-34, most strongly the "consider the lilies of the field..." passage (although, as I re-read the passage while I'm typing this, I would been very moved by the part about the "fowls of the air," as I distinctly remember watching the birds soaring across the fields before me. It was a very strong lesson in the true place of anxiety and our often-misguided priorities in the face of God's kingdom, and I hope, a lasting one.

Since that moment, I have been cultivating an interest in things that grow (another pun — sorry 'bout that). I have started paying attention to the species of trees that surround me every day, thanks to a field guide loaned by my father, and I am slowly learning the types of flowers my wife has planted on the porch (and how to care for them). Not only that, but I have actually purchased two house plants, and am trying my best not to kill them. So far, they are cooperating by continuing to live.

In short, I think I might be in the nascent stages of becoming a gardener, but it's too soon to tell.

The other interest is in Le Mans Circuit racing. Briefly put, this is a type of racing in which four different classes of modified or purpose-built sports cars race at the same time. In two of the classes, GT1 and GT2, the cars are recognizable as coming from street-model cars like Corvettes and Porches. The other two (and my favorites) are "Le Mans prototypes," which feature cutting-edge engineering, new automotive technologies, and high top speeds. The circuit is based in Europe, and its jewel is the Le Mans 24 Hours, a venerable 24-hour road race held at the famous 8-½ mile Circuit de la Sarthe track in France. The race is made of about 55 teams of three drivers sharing one car, aided by a small army of mechanics and engineers, each trying to drive as far as possible in 24 hours.

I got hooked on the concept when I was on my back, after I watched a film called "Truth in 24." Available as a free download on iTunes, the film tells the story of last year's race. Something about the whole thing grabbed me, and I was fortunate enough to be able to watch about 10 hours of this year's race in between celebrating my daughter's birthday. Many people would find this tedious (including, apparently, the bulk of my countrymen, since it was virtually ignored outside of the Speed network). Not me. I was enchanted by the drama and flow of the race, and I am looking forward to following the rest of the season. I even have a favorite driver (Allan McNish of Scotland) and team (Audi Sport).

The discovery of Le Mans reminds me very much of the sort of excitement I felt many years ago, when I was a growing figure skating fan. I eventually fell away from that sport when it became clear that it would never shake itself free of the politics it was mired in — politics that often impacted the final results more than the quality of the skating. But the general emotions I'm feeling are the same — mostly excitement at just how much there is to learn about this new sport, and wonder at how much I'm enjoying it.

Finally, for the old. I have been pleasantly reminded of my past this week. My wife stumbled across a PBS showing of Chess in Concert. Chess is a musical — nearly an opera, really — about two world chess champions from the US and Soviet Union in the late 70s and early 80s. I became a fan after I was introduced to it by a friend (who also did a fair job of turning me into a fan of the game), and I subsequently introduced my fiancee to it. When we were on our honeymoon in England, we were fortunate enough to see it performed at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End. In retrospect, having seen it at all is something of an accomplishment, since the show only lasted three years there, and a retooled version for Broadway audiences closed after only eight weeks.

Suffice it to say, the musical is a dear favorite of ours, both from a shared artistic fondness as well as a sentimental attachment. Our copy of the Chess CD seems to have taken a walk sometime in the past 21 years, and it was a delight to hear the songs again in such capable hands as Idina Mendez, Josh Groban and Adam Pascal — the latter of whom is in my opinion the best actor to play the American champion since Murray Head, who created the role. He may even be a little better, but don't tell Murray that.

Anyway, my wife and I are resolved that we have lived without the Chess soundtrack for far too long, and we intend to replace it this weekend. The only question we have to debate is whether we want the original, or this newer version. Decisions, decisions …

Always in motion is the future

2009-06-11T10:50:00.004-05:00

I've spent a bit of time wandering the Internet this morning, and I've picked up a couple of useful tidbits about the future of Star Wars. This is an important topic to me, since for Star Wars to live as a product, there always has to be something real and tangible to look forward to. And by real and tangible, I mean screen product; video games and EU novels aren't going to do it. The Clone Wars is an acceptable stop-gap for now. There are a lot of stories to be told about the two-and-a-half years between Geonosis and Mustafar, and although we saw some nice battle sequences from this period in Clones and Sith, there is a lot more to tell. Granted, I would have preferred a live action, and one that was a little less kid-friendly, but since the current show is helping my daughter become a more enthusiastic fan of the Saga, I officially have no complaints.

The scuttlebutt I read today had to do with the coming live-action series, which is set in the much more promising time of the years between the Clone Wars and Episode IV. There are a lot of characters here that I want to see more of, like every rebel general and leader shown in the movies, as well as some Imperials. Ackbar, Piett, Tarkin — there's a lot of ground to cover here, and I'm much more interested in the stories that will be told here than I am in the Clone Wars saga.

Beware: Mild Spoilers Ahead

So the news is that production for the new series is starting to ramp up, which means that pretty soon the Lucasfilm PR machine will start posting tidbits on the website about what is to come. As I alluded in my previous post, the folks at Lucasfilm are masters at building up anticipation for new screen product. Far from faulting them for it, I'm actually counting on it. So I am officially beginning to follow posts about where they might be filming (current rumors include Czechoslovakia and the old Mos Espa set in Tunisia, but nothing has been confirmed), and which actors will be cast. Again, the current news here is the actor who played Captain Typho may have a role. I'm just fine with this as long as it doesn't involve his uncle, Captain Downer…er, Tanaka. I didn't like his character, and from what little I heard in interviews, liked the actor playing him even less.

The other rumor I encountered was that production was beginning on Episodes VII-IX of the Star Wars Saga. Now, while the post I read quoted "very reliable" (but safely anonymous) sources, I have to chalk this one up to fan boy wishful thinking. George has said he will not make any more films, and wants to devote himself to other projects. So far, this means Red Tails, the story of the Tuskegee airmen, which is long overdue for a big-screen treatment. I really think that George is content to let others mine the gold of the Star Wars universe for a time, both literally and figuratively, and concentrate on other projects, albeit at a leisurely pace.

But this got me thinking: if it were true, would we even want to see Episodes VII-IX? Granted, I have always wanted to see what Master Skywalker, General Solo and Premier Organa-Solo (or would it be Master Organa-Solo?) would look like. Of these, I am most intrigued by what Han would have become in the years after the fall of the Empire. Although originally not a fan of the character, I have lately been very intrigued by the journey that Han Solo undergoes in the original trilogy as originally released. I am very interested in what would become of him in later years. In my mind, I see a distinguished but still somewhat cynical figure with a greying goatee, but that's just me.

Next would be Leia; I have always wanted to see what she would look like as a Jedi, and have always wanted to know how her own Jedi education progressed. Oddly, the EU canon never got around to exploring that except in the most intangible, peripheral way (at least in the books that I read), which is another reason I don't like the EU. They are much more interested in portraying Leia as a galactic soccer mom who runs the New Republic on the side, which is decidedly not the direction Lucas intended for the character as laid out in Return of the Jedi. Of course, given the whole Jedi non-attachment doctrine he laid out in Clones, neither she nor Luke could ever have families anyway.

Finally, Luke, one of my favorite characters. I really don't need to see Mark Hamill as a wizened Yoda figure, since I can already see it in my head so clearly. It would be fun, but for me, actually a little redundant.

Which brings us to the main reason for this post: do we really need any more Star Wars films? The rabid fan boy in me is screaming "YES! OF COURSE! WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING!" But given the Saga as a whole, are there any more stories that need to be told? We have seen the fall of Anakin Skywalker, and we have seen his redemption. Anything further would mean that one of the classic trilogy characters falls to the Dark Side in one way or another — a possibility I am vehemently against, dramatically — or the drama would have to come from offspring. I do not need to see a movie about Jacen and Jaina Solo — I'm not even sure that they exist, outside of Timothy Zahn's imagination. I do not need to see the characters that made Star Wars work to begin with relegated to sidekick status in someone else's story; although seeing Luke in the New Hope Obi-Wan Kenobi role would be fun. And most especially, I do not need to see the characters become caricatures of their former selves, a la William Shatner's Kirk.

So if there are to be new films, which I very much doubt, they need to be done for the right reasons, dramatically. They need to fit in with the existing movie canon. There needs to be a real reason to make them, and a real story to tell. If so, I'll be the happiest man on the planet. But I do not think these films need to be made, save for the fact that they would add to George's already abysmally deep pockets.

I will be returning to work tomorrow, so this may be my last post for a time. I have enjoyed writing these posts immensely, and I very much hope I'm wrong, and that I will continue to be able to dabble in this world. But my time is about to come under normal, human constraints, rather than the extended vacation hours I've been enjoying, and I don't know what the fallout will be yet. Hopefully, I'll see you soon.

A long time ago…

2009-06-09T13:29:00.007-05:00

In my recent Internet wanderings, I have noticed a few articles pointing out that this summer is the 10th anniversary of The Phantom Menace being released. Just now, I stumbled across an article on Popcorn Monster by Dan Geer, listing his Top 10 Memories of Anticipating The Phantom Menace. Go check it out — I'll wait.

While I absolutely love the memories I have of waiting for the release of new Star Wars movies, particularly Revenge of the Sith and The Empire Strikes Back, I don't think anything can possibly match the buildup and excitement I felt at the prospect of seeing Phantom the first time. Think of it — the first new Star Wars movie in nearly two decades! Many people, me included, had given up on the idea of another movie. Then, one day, the announcement came, and the waiting began.

The hype around the new film was everywhere — you couldn't get away from it if you wanted to, which I definitely did not. In many ways, the anticipation leading up to the movie was more enjoyable than the film itself. I don't mean to detract from the film: unlike a lot of people, I love Phantom, warts and all. It has some great characters, despite the fact that George keeps them on a leash through most of the film. Qui Gon is one of the best Jedi knights I've ever seen, and who doesn't love seeing Obi-Wan as a student instead of a teacher? Plus, it has two undeniably great Star Wars action sequences: the pod race, and one of the best lightsaber duels ever put to film. What's not to like?

But what I remember most of that long-ago summer is not seeing the film, but the build-up surrounding it. To that end, then, I have decided to post my own list of favorite memories, both before and after the release of Phantom, in no particular order.

The games — During the long wait for Phantom to be released on VHS tape, one of the best ways to feed your Star Wars addition if you had a PC was with several Phantom titles that were released immediately after the film. Without question, my favorite was Star Wars Racer, otherwise known as "podracer." It did a fabulous job of putting you into the cockpit of each of the podracers shown in the film, plus a few new ones. Set at locations across the universe, the courses gave entertaining glimpses into their respective worlds, and it was often fun to play just to look at the scenery of the course you were running. I miss it to this day. Another staple was the Insider's Guide to The Phantom Menace. In the days before the Internet (and believe me, this was), resources like The Official Site were limited in the content they could deliver over dialup lines. The guide gave us enough SW content to keep busy for hours, including a host of database-style entries about the film and enough Quicktime clips of the film to hold us until the movie came out on video. All of this for only $25 — worth every penny in my book.
The trailers — One of my favorite memories is waiting anxiously in front of my VCR, hand poised on the "record + play" buttons, for the end of the TV show Entertainment Tonight, and its promised debut of the trailer for the new Star Wars film. From the first moment that the Gungan Army came out of the mist to the backdrop of "Obi-Wan's theme," I was hooked. An even fonder memory is dubbing a copy onto a spare tape, labeling it "Watch Me," and putting it in the hands of my father moments before he left for the Virginia home of my nephews. They had renewed my own interest in the Saga years before; this was my chance to repay them in kind. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had been able to sneak myself to Virginia in the bargain so I could watch it with them. Later, I spent nearly five hours downloading a copy over my dialup line, then watched it over and over again who knows how many times. I could write a whole post on how much mileage I got out this trailer: My excitement at hearing the voice of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan for the first time; the way I enjoyed seeing the moment Anakin and Obi-Wan met; hearing Yoda's voice again. I still get excited about the film when I watch the trailer to this day.
The magazines — A matter of hours after my daughter had been born in 1997, I was in line at Wal Mart. After the birth, I had gone home to nap and get roses for my two girls, and was getting some last minute sundries before rejoining my newly-minted family. And there, in the "impulse buy" rack, was an Entertainment Weekly dated with my daughter's birthday, adorned with Ewan McGregor's face, and labeled "Inside the new Star Wars." Naturally, I snatched it up on site, and I was able to read it at my leisure during the next two days at the hospital. I have always gotten a kick out of the fact that God gave me a new daughter and the knowledge of a new Star Wars trilogy on the same day. I still have the magazine hidden away in a closet with some other SW memorabilia, where it remains a priceless relic. Near it is an "Official Guide" to the film, which I bought in Virginia after seeing the film. What makes that special is that I wore the cover off of a similar "official guide" that I bought for the original Star Wars back in the day. In retrospect, I didn't get nearly as much out of the newer version, and it was quickly tucked away in a safe place. But it still gave me a nice sense of continuity with the original film.
The toys — Star Wars toys were everywhere, and I couldn't go into a Wal Mart before the release of the film without getting massive spoilers. I literally would avert my eyes anytime I saw a display, and consequently, nearly walked into more than a few people in the weeks leading up to the film. It got so bad that I would go to the toy aisle and just stand there, not looking at anything, but wanting to be next to the wall of action figures because it brought me that much closer to the film. One of my favorite memories after seeing the film was getting to go into a Wal Mart in Warrenton, VA, and finally just being able to look at what had been released. Unfortunately, I was too vapor-locked at my new freedom to actually buy anything, but I was able to make up for that later in spades.
The camaraderie — To no one's surprise but mine, I determined to make the trip to Virginia to see the film for the first time with my fellow Jedi — who at that time were simply my fellow fans, the foundation of our own Jedi order still being some days away. I have seldom been more excited than when I made my way up the Shenandoah mountains at 5:45 a.m. that day in May, 1999. My wife and daughter were asleep, the Empire soundtrack was on the tape player, and I was beside myself with the knowledge that the next day, I would finally be seeing a new Star Wars film. To my surprise and great delight, my nephews and I subsequently made an impromptu decision to see the film that very afternoon. The cashier at the theater took one look at the four of us, bedecked in brand new Star Wars t-shirts (a gift from my sister), and said "Let me guess — you guys are here for The Mummy, right?" Once the film started, I remember my nephew, the Veiltender, watching me as my eyebrows raised at the first mention of "my young padawan" — the first time I'd ever heard that new tidbit about the Jedi. The film unrolled slowly, a contrast to the urgency and excitement I'd felt before. As the credits began rolling, they asked me what I'd thought of it. "I didn't want it to end," I said. Ten years later, I still don't.

Greetings from Tatooine!

2009-06-03T10:30:00.016-05:00

Well, as I predicted, we're in full Star Wars mode this week. What can I tell you — a visit from Henri does that to me. I only wish he were still here to enjoy it. For that reason, visitors may find that this blog is temporarily reverting to the reason I initially started it in the first place; namely, a chance to vent about Star Wars. If you're not in the mood for that sort of thing, best skip a bit. Also, this post tends to be a bit on the negative side, so if you're not up for that right now, move along.

That said, I stumbled across an interesting tidbit about the Expanded Universe that I absolutely had to pass along to my fellow Jedi. I was browsing Wookiepedia yesterday, and for some reason was delving into the background of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. For those who know me, or who have stumbled across my review of the first book in the trilogy on Goodreads, you'll know I pretty much despise Zahn's take on the Star Wars universe. His characters are near-godlike in their abilities and foresight, making Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia — who, before the Expanded Universe stories began, were once the heroes of the Star Wars universe — look like half-witted buffoons who are lucky enough to hang out with said main characters. Or unlucky enough to find them as adversaries.

This is a frequent complaint of mine about the EU novels, but Zahn originated the idea of the near-infallible EU character. He also spends a great deal of time trying to get the reader to share his delusions. Most of the time, he spends so much time telling us how great Grand Admiral Thrawn is, I half-believe the character is a real person who hired Zahn as a PR flack. The worst offender in my memory is when Wedge Antilles, one of Henri's favorite characters, ruminates on how the battle of Endor might have been different, if only Grand Admiral Thrawn had been there (cue scary music).

He also has the habit of making a lot of Rebel Alliance coalition members seem dirty and unlikable. In Return of the Jedi, Mon Mothma mentions the heroic Bothans who died getting the information about the second Death Star. After Zahn finished "fleshing out" the Bothans, they are so shifty, underhanded and downright unsympathetic, I found myself being deeply sorry that more of them hadn't been killed. I can, in all seriousness, name at least three Imperial officers from the movies that are infinitely more likable than all of Zahn's Bothans put together.

To polish things off, Zahn is so afraid of the Force as a dramatic device that he created ways to make it not work. He created the Ysalamiri so that Grand Admiral Thrawn could have a cocoon of invulnerability to the Force — essentially, Jedi kryptonite. He also created a predator, the Vornskr, who hunt the Ysalamari using the Force. I still haven't figured out how the Vornskr were able to cultivate the ability to use the Force while evolving on a planet that is essentially, because of the Ysalamiri, Force-dead, but nobody else seems to have a problem with it, so who am I to criticize?

Sorry. Tangent. Won't happen again. For this post, at least.

One of Zahn's creations was a Jedi Master named Joruus C'baoth. We later find out that he's an unstable clone of the original C'baoth, and as luck would have it, quite insane. He essentially fills the role of "evil Dark Force user" since Darths Vader and Sidious are no more. Like most of Zahn's characters, he's pretty much insufferable, and I remember hating his character only slightly less than Thrawn, albeit for similar reasons.

During my research yesterday, I discovered that Zahn had originally planned C'baoth to be an insane clone of Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is pretty much the last nail in the coffin for me with Zahn; you don't take the beloved mentor and turn him into the bad guy. The fact that Zahn wanted to do just that to give the book a little more oomph speaks volumes about him as a writer, Hugo award or no Hugo award. Like the Bothans, it ruins whatever good feelings you may have had about the character. As a literature device, it is on a par with making Han Solo a wife beater, or Luke a drunk — it has dramatic impact, but it is a cheap bit of sensationalism that has no respect for the integrity of the characters as they have been already shown.

The other important thing I discovered yesterday was that the only reason he didn't use the Obi-Wan clone idea was because George Lucas stopped him. Let's stop and think about that for a moment: the man who a lot of people blame for ruining Star Wars with the prequels stopped Timothy Zahn from turning one of the most beloved characters in the Original Trilogy into an evil and psychotic plot device for his own selfish ends. So the next time we start to bad-mouth George for his numerous (and somewhat valid) sins again the Franchise, let's remember that he was once a force for good.

As an epilogue, I have been mulling the idea of putting where my mouth is, and writing some Star Wars fiction of my own. If I decide to do it, I would take only the established six films as canon. This might teach me some respect for Mr. Zahn, who, to be fair, had the enormously intimidating job of adding on to a legend not of his own creation. I haven't come up with anything yet, but the wheels are starting to turn in that direction.

That's all for now, campers. I promise, I'll have some fun Star Wars content in my next post.

Return of the Jedi

2009-05-31T20:33:00.007-05:00

I was graced this week by a visit from my former padawan, Henri Magee, and his wife. Henri is the most fervent Star Wars fan I know, and just being around him makes me remember what it is that I love about the saga.

From Blogger Pictures

This visit was no different. While we attended a screening of Star Trek during his visit (just as awesome the second time, I'm happy to report), and did some unexpected geeking out on Civil War history (like where exactly Henri's wife's great-great-grandfather fought the Yankees at Shiloh), the thing I will take the most from the visit is the return of my interest in Star Wars. Part of this came from a partial, interrupted viewing of A New Hope, but part comes from two long and utterly enjoyable sessions of Star Wars: Battlefront II. Nothing like running around blasting battle droids with a good friend to make you remember why you became a Jedi.

As I often do, I now realize far too much time has passed since I have watched the trilogy. And while the attempt to see the trilogy again with my fellow Jedi fell flat, as it often does, I don't doubt that I will finish the full saga, and soon. My latest padawan learner, aka my daughter, has noticed deficiencies in her Star Wars knowledge, and just a week ago said that we needed to watch some more Star Wars together. Since she admitted she didn't know who Lando Calrissian was, I think I know a good place to start. After we finish where we left off with A New Hope, of course.

I think it's going to be a fun couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Out of the frying pan…

2009-05-25T12:05:00.003-05:00

Now that the suspense about whether or not the new Star Trek film will be any good has been resolved (well, for me, anyway), now is the perfect time to start worrying about the latest new movie that threatens a cherished part of my past. I speak, of course, of the new Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes.

Now, on first blush, I would think that Downey would be an inspired bit of casting for Holmes; the right blend of edgy, comedic and ridiculously talented. He was great in Chaplin, rocked Iron Man, and is generally building up a fine body of work. He is, in my opinion, past due for one of those little gold guys they hand out every March in Hollywood. I just checked Mr. Ritchie's resume at IMDB, and I haven't seen anything he's done. I have, at least, heard of one or two of the films. So he is an unknown quantity at the moment.

Like a lot of people, I spent a chunk of my young adulthood devouring the Holmes stories. While the corpus of Arthur Conan Doyle's best-known creation is largely in my rear view mirror, I still have a warm place in my heart for the characters of Holmes, Watson, and yes, even Inspector Lestrade. So I naturally have been following news of this latest rendition of the Holmes classics, and was happy indeed when I stumbled across the new trailer for the film online.

I was a little less happy after actually watching said trailer. If you haven't seen it yet, by all means, go to the page on the Apple trailers site and give it the once-over before you read the rest of this post. Go ahead — I'll wait.

Hollywood is increasingly becoming a town built on formulas and recycled ideas, of which the latest is the "franchise reboot." It is a direct descendent of the "franchise" concept, which grew out of the sequel mania that followed Star Wars. It presupposes that the film will be popular and palatable enough to film goers for them to want to revisit the characters. When this is no longer the case, you do a reboot, and try to make some more money off of it.

In the reboot, you take a property that has been a consistent performer that has, of late, become somewhat stale and predictable. In other words, it's not making money anymore. Then you put a fresh coat of paint on it, cast all new actors, maybe spin it in a new direction, and drag all of the characters back to square one to begin their adventures again. Some very well done examples of the reboot include Batman, James Bond and Star Trek. All of these reboots were, in their first incarnation at least, extremely well done, critically acclaimed and financially successful, so it's a very hot concept in Hollywood right now. Especially because of the money part.

So its no surprise that one of the most popular episodic characters in all of fiction, and a strong box office performer back in the day, should now be dragged through the "reboot" machine. Downey is putting his own spin on the Holmes character, including repeatedly appearing with a three-day growth of beard (which I think is very un-Holmsian) and eschewing the famous deerstalker in favor of a black period hat (which I am completely in favor of — the deerstalker needs to die for the character to be taken as anything more than a caricature by modern audiences). As an actor, this is his right, nay, his duty, and I expect no less of him. We would not expect every Hamlet to be the same with each actor — that would be boring. Why then should we expect it of Holmes? I have every confidence in his abilities as an actor, and I still think he'll make a fine Holmes.

But just as Sir Basil Rathbone, arguably the greatest large-screen Holmes ever, had to contend with a comic-relief Watson and forgettable pastiche plots, Downey looks like his portrayal might be overshadowed by the modern Hollywood affection for action and explosions. The roughly two-minute trailer I saw featured at least one explosion, two scenes of Holmes kicking Victorian butt, some gun play, and a character who is ostensibly supposed to be Irene Adler prancing around in front of Holmes in her unmentionables (which both my wife and I think is preposterous). In other words, it seems to be trying to reassure modern audiences that they will have all of the elements they need in a good blockbuster — explosions, fight scenes and sex.

I would have been happier if I had some reassurance that the hallmarks of what the Holmes stories great — strong characters and mind-twisting puzzles — were present as well. For now, I'm just going to take it on faith that these will will be found amid all the fireballs and partial nudity, and hold my breath.

The good news is that the film in question debuts during the Christmas holidays, at a time when my fellow Holmes aficionado, the Veiltender, may be visiting. If so, he, my wife and I will have a chance to peruse it together. And, if I am any judge, complain about it together.

Because, tongue firmly in cheek, isn't complaining with loved ones what the holidays are all about?

Another seal of approval

2009-05-16T23:29:00.001-05:00

Friday night I took Yvonne out for her Mother's Day present; she had wanted to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and told us both that was what she wanted for Mother's Day. Naturally, Amy and I were happy to oblige such a simple request.

Although we were both tempted to skip straight to Star Trek and see Wolverine on DVD, we stuck to the plan. I am pleased to report that although I don't think it's quite in the same league as Trek, Wolverine is a worthy addition to the X-Men film canon, and just plain old fun at that. I was never bored, Hugh Jackman carries the movie convincingly, and I genuinely got a kick out of some of the side characters — most especially Remy LeBeau. I have heard Yvonne speak glowingly about Gambit for years, but never knew what the fuss was about until now. I mean, really — how impressive can a guy be who's main power is throwing playing cards at people, anyway?

As it happens, pretty darn. Ably played by Taylor Kitsch, Gambit pretty much picks up the movie and walks away with it every time he's on screen. This is quite a feat, considering that most of his scenes are with Hugh Jackman — the guy who did the same thing every time he was on screen in the original X-Men film. Also particularly noteworthy is Liev Schreiber's Sabretooth. The movie would not have worked if Schreiber had not been as convincing in the role as he was.

So, we're two for two on summer movies this year. I'm doubly happy because, now that we've seen X-Men, the deck is clear for our second crack at Trek, which should take place sometime during Samuel & Aleatha's World Tour 2009.

After that, I don't care what I see. A third viewing of Star Trek, maybe?

I feel young

2009-05-10T20:40:00.007-05:00

At 1 o'clock this afternoon, in a moderately nice theater in Martin, Tennessee, all of the waiting finally came to end. With my wife on my right side, and my best friend on my left, I was finally able to see J.J. Abrams re-tooling of the Star Trek mythos that I grew up with. I walked in hoping to like it — even expecting to — and praying that my wife would not have her own childhood too cruelly marred by this new treatment of a series that is beloved to both of us. I cannot adequately put into words what was riding on this film for me, and for my wife. And since you all know me, I'm not really going to try. Instead, I will simply skip ahead to the verdict.

Awesome doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't want to artificially inflate the expectations of those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, since all taste is subjective. But with that firmly in mind, I am happy to report that, for me, this film succeeds on a level that I hadn't expected. It could very easily be the finest Star Trek film ever made; I will need time and perspective, and a lot more repeat viewings, before I can tell. But the early results are promising.

Happily, I am not alone. Yvonne, who was almost afraid to see the film, was beyond delighted, I am happy to say. In fact, I believe she liked the film even more than I did; of course, I was so worried about whether or not she was enjoying it, it was rather like viewing the film with one eye shut. Now that I know we both loved it, all is right with the world, and I will be able to give the film my undivided attention on my next viewing.

Where to begin, and how much to reveal? On the latter point, not much; I will give away no spoilers here. I only ask that when you go see this film that you don't walk in with a lot of preconceptions, and you should do well.

Now, let me spend a few paragraphs talking about what was right with the film, and I will be off for tonight.

For starters, I hereby retract my comments on the new design of the USS Enterprise. As she is lovingly photographed in this movie, Enterprise is a beautiful lady indeed. Maybe it is the angles they chose; maybe it is the glorious amount of detail that is present in her every appearance. But I can honestly say I have never seen a better job of showing off the Enterprise in any of the previous movies. What we see here is not quite as lavish as the five-minute-long reveal she got in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But pound for pound, it's at least second place.

As for the design, I still have some quibbles about how she looks from some angles, and it's still not my favorite of all of the versions of Enterprise. But as of this moment, all of that is cheerfully forgiven.

I am equally as impressed by the way the actors inhabit their characters; Pine is eminently believable as young Kirk, and Zachary Quinto's Spock is wonderfully complex. Bruce Greenwood's Pike more than lived up to my expectations, and, as anticipated, was one of my favorite parts of the film. Especially praiseworthy was Karl Urban's McCoy, in my opinion, although in point of fact, every single "new" actor did a fine job with their characters. It's not a recreation or pantomime of the original actors; the performances here are new. But at the heart of each performance are the characters we're acquainted with.

As far as the plot goes, I can only tell you that it picks you up at the beginning and carries you along without effort; the whole thing was over before I knew it. There is plenty of action typical to Star Trek. And at the end, all concerned have managed to pull off what I thought was impossible: Star Trek is back.

This movie, in my humble opinion, has managed what several previous additions to the franchise have attempted, but fell short of: they have recaptured some of the youthful spirit of the original Star Trek. By going back to square one with the original characters, and laying the foundation of the their relationships brick by brick, they have come closer to the first two seasons of the classic Star Trek that started it all than any of the other well-meaning efforts since then have managed. Some of it may not seem familiar, and not everyone may like it. But for me, there's no question. The series that I loved as a teenager has successfully been reborn. What I saw this afternoon has only whet my appetite. I cannot wait to see more.

Again, let me close with my usual caveat. The opinions expressed here are only those of one opinionated Jedi Master, and wannabe Starship Captain; your results may vary.

On a more personal note, let me say that the new round of shots, while more painful, have been extremely effective — as I write this, I am virtually pain-free, and am nearly as mobile as I was before I started this little adventure in indolence. Even if the treatments do not last long, I feel we have gotten to the heart of the problem, and that the end is finally in sight.

Add to that a very enjoyable Mother's Day weekend, and you have, all in all, one of my favorite weekends in recent memory. Hope it was the same with you. And, of course, Live Long and Prosper.

I hate waiting...

2009-05-07T19:03:00.002-05:00

Doing some virtual pacing again tonight. The verdict from the surgeon, as I think everyone knows, is another type of shot. I leave for Nashville at 3:30 tomorrow morning. I greatly appreciate the support and prayers I've gotten up to this point, including the shout-outs on the last post from the Ohio contingent. I have a feeling of peace about it. Except for the nerves. Which, as I think about it, is perfectly normal. Needles. My spine. Oh, yeah — gimme some more of that.

As a reward for being a big boy, I am planning on seeing the new Trek movie with my wife and best friend the next day. Yvonne has made me aware that I may feel like twenty-five pounds of broken glass the next day, so I am forced to concede that it might be a later date. But I will see it as soon possible. And as soon as I do, I will, of course, let my loyal readers know if it meets my approval.

Until then, adieu.

The necessary preparations

2009-05-05T22:46:00.004-05:00

I am keeping watch over my daughter as she stays up entirely too late with homework assignments, and trying not to think too much about the appointment with the surgeon I have tomorrow. Since I'm starting to dislike the fact that I'm only managing one post a month, and that being a rather drawn-out affair, I thought I might try shooting from the hip for a change.

I have achieved a milestone today. I have, for the time being at least, all 79 episodes of the the original Star Trek, as well as the first pilot, on my iPod. Not to mention each of the movies that I currently own on DVD as well. It's a dubious achievement — I mean, really, do you actually need the entire series? Can you possibly watch them all?

The easy answer is no. But there is a method to my madness. I am, by this time really excited about the new Trek movie, which as I write this, debuts in just a few days. In part, having the entire library of classic Trek makes it easy for me to "get back up to speed" on the original series. After so many years, there's a lot I've forgotten. Since I have a lot of time on my hands these days, it also gives me something to fall back on, entertainment-wise.

Also, as someone who used to be dependent on the whims of syndicated television for my weekly fix of Trek, there is something both decedent and powerful about having the entire series in my pocket at my beck and call. It's the iPod syndrome again, I'm afraid.

On a somewhat less pragmatic tack, it is also, in part, fanboy training. The days of work that went into loading the iPod was kind of a geek Mount Everest, and just the sort of senseless and time-consuming work I needed in order to feel like a "real" fan again. Because that's what real fans do — they spend time, money and effort on seemingly silly things, simply because it makes them feel like more of a fan.

Finally, and least logically, it is a good luck charm — a talisman of classic Trek to ward off the specter of what could be another Star Trek V — or worse. In any case, it was what I wanted to do.

And it seems to have taken my mind nicely off of the fact that tomorrow morning I am going to hear of the unknown and permanent things that a perfect stranger plans to do to my spine.

Here's hoping that both the back and the movie turn out well.

Spare no expense

2009-04-10T13:34:00.009-05:00

A few days ago, I was writing an e-mail to my nephew who's a mission for his church, and I happened to use a title — Good Morning, Good Morning — that was a Beatles reference. This is nothing unusual for me; I was literally raised from a toddler on The Beatles, and they were hugely important to me during my days as a musician. Today, they hold an exalted place in my musical pantheon, and it's nothing unusual for me to drop a Beatles reference every now and then.

Little did I know I'd be predicting the future. That very morning, a very short time after the e-mail left my computer on its way to California, I got an e-mail of my own from none other than The Beatles. 'Cause, you know, we're just that close.

It seems the folks at Apple Corps. thought I should know about the long-awaited remasters of the band's catalog, which will be released on Sept. 9, 2009 (09-09-09). There will be complete remixes, in both stereo and mono versions, of all of the original releases, along with the singles collection Past Masters. There will be a full stereo boxed set of all the albums, including a DVD about the recording of each album, as well as boxed set of mono releases. The Beatles actually preferred to work in mono, and, according to my research, weren't involved in the stereo mixes. So not only is the mono version what the artist preferred, my readings also tell me that the next mono mixes reveal things that listeners may not have noticed before.

In addition to being a Beatles freak, I'm also a latent audio snob. If there's a chance that I can wring something new from a recording of a band I really, desperately love — in my case Rush and The Beatles — then I'm there. The CDs that we have now were released in 1987 (the year I got married), and represent state of the art digital remastering for that time. Problem is, it's been almost 22 years since "that time" — less than the time it took the 8-Track tape format to be introduced, become popular, and die a richly deserved death. I'm thinking that maybe they've learned a few things since then.

So the fact that I have to have these new recordings is a given.

For most people, this would mean buying the individual discs, especially if you don't have an oil well in your backyard generating a steady supply of disposable cash. And, in fact, I'm still slowly replacing my Rush CDs with remasters, and have about 9 to go. Those came out at least four years ago. So, any normal person would be content to buy one or two new discs a week, getting to know each new recording before moving on to the next.

Like I said, any normal person. But this is me we're talking about.

For some reason, I have it in my makeup that when it comes to something I truly love, I have to have the ultimate version of it. You say the boxed set has a few extra features you can't get elsewhere? I'm there. You say the mono set is being created for collectors, and will only be available for a limited time? Who do I make the check out to?

If I have my way, on September 9, or shortly thereafter, I will be the proud owner of both the stereo and mono boxed sets. Realistically, it may be after Christmas before I achieve both. Either way, economically, this is going to hurt — I don't spend such sums on myself lightly, and we are talking something that is going to cost hundreds of dollars. Since I've been off work for so long, we'll just be getting back to normal when this hits. So why am I doing this?

Because, for me, it's the right thing to do.

One of the things I have learned from my wife is that sometimes, doing the smart thing with money isn't necessarily always the right thing. My wife and I are far from millionaires. Heck, we're not even middle middle class. Yet we have taken two trips to Disney World — an enormously expensive place to hang out — in the past five years. Why? Because to us, the memories are more important than the money. Because our quadrennial pilgrimage to The Happiest Place on Earth gives us all something to look forward to, and to get excited about planning together. And because, long after my daughter has moved on to a life of her own, we will all three share the bond of what good times we had as guests of the Mouse.

I could, and probably will, devote an entire post to the subject of why I think Disney World is important, both personally and in general. Here, it serves to illustrate the point that sometimes you have to suck it up, and sink large sums of money into things that will only serve to make you and your family happy. Because, let's face it, few retired couples sit on the front porch having conversations like this:

HE: "Say, you remember all the groceries and household items that we bought instead of taking the kids to Disney World?"
SHE: "Do I ever! It took me five years to use all of the laundry detergent we were able to buy."
HE: "Yep. We had the cleanest sheets in three counties. And how about all that diet soda we bought? We were burping for a year!"
SHE: "Those were sure some good times."
HE: "How are the kids, anyway?"
SHE: "Now you know they haven't spoken to us since they moved out after high school."
HE: "Oh, how could I forget. Hey, pass the diet soda!"

I'm being extremely flip, obviously (a character flaw), so please forgive the sarcasm. And I'm not suggesting for a moment that money should not be used wisely and prudently; babyfood should always take precedence over a remastered copy of "The Essential Jimi Hendrix." But part of that prudence is occasionally using it for the simple task of making yourself and your family happy. My master, C.S. Lewis, was sharply critical of the puritan concept of denial for denial's sake, and wrote glowingly of the need to foster those things that give you honest pleasure. And who am I to argue with my master?

I do not covet this for the sake of that most elusive of goals — a "complete collection." Since I want these new sets for the genuine pleasure of listening to it, and the joy of rediscovering something that is of immense importance to me, then I am content that my motives are pure.

Of course, it's equally possible that six months from now, I'll be found locked away in a dark room, clutching both sets to my chest and whispering "my preciousss" to myself over and over. But that's a chance I'm willing to take.

The thin line between love and hate

2009-03-09T13:53:00.031-05:00

In the past few days, there have been two vital bits of web flotsam that I have been moved by. Both involve the new Star Trek movie, and, between the two of them, they are giving me some very conflicted emotions about this re-imagining.

On the positive side, we have the new Star Trek trailer (images from which come from the ever-faithful trekmovie.com website). This is the third Trek trailer to be released, and they just keep getting better and better. Although nothing, for me, will come close to the anticipation and excitement I felt from seeing the two Phantom Menace trailers, this last Trek trailer punched all of my fan boy buttons big-time. Of particular interest was the first on-screen speech by Captain Pike, whose character has always fascinated me.

I already like this character. I want to know more about Pike, just from hearing a few snatches of dialog. Heck, at this point, they could move the Kirk character into the background, and give the movie to this guy. He looks like a starship captain, and he sounds like a starship captain. As it happens, way more than the new Kirk. But to be fair, the movie is about how Kirk became THE Jim Kirk, so we have to allow for some character development, I suppose.

Speaking of Kirk, another view getting a big fan reaction is our first glimpse of Kirk sitting in the captain's chair for the very first time. The center seat on the bridge has always been a powerful symbol for me, and I once had a beloved poster of William Shatner's Kirk sitting at his rightful place on the Enterprise's bridge. While I don't think this will be taking its place in my heart anytime soon, it's still a pretty cool moment.

Viewers should note that this screenshot is taken as Pine is completing the act of sitting down. So the fact that his head is lowered isn't an indication that he's nodded off on the bridge after a particularly vigorous shore leave. I thought I should point that out, since after all, this is Kirk that we're talking about.

(By the way, I'm assuming it should be patently obvious that I don't own any of the pictures or characters I'm putting up, don't pretend to, that they belong to whatever lucky corporate entity holds their respective copyright, and that I'm not making any money by using them to illustrate my rather rambling points. Pretty please don't sue me).

Anyway, I'm still in the dark how somebody as young as Chris Pine's Kirk gets to sit in the center seat when there are a whole starship full of people who seem to be at least as qualified, if not more so. But if I knew that, I wouldn't need to go see this movie. And, after seeing this trailer, I need to see this movie.

Mind you, I've been led astray by Star Trek trailers in the past. After Star Trek IV came out, I was panting for the next Star Trek movie. And when I saw the trailer for Star Trek V the first time, I was convinced it was going to be just as great as IV, if not better. Imagine, then, my disappointment, when I figured out that it had taken every interesting, exciting or funny moment in an entire two-plus hour film just to make a two minute trailer, and that the remaining umpity-ump seconds should have been left on the cutting room floor. Today, I feel about Trek V the way I feel about bad fan fiction. It never happened. There was no Trek movie between The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country.

So, there is precedent for disappointment, but until I am proven wrong by the actual facts, I will remain excited about this movie.

One thing that is already tempering my excitement, though, is this recent image gallery from Quantum Mechanix, which is a replica prop and model house I'm afraid I've never heard of. They were kind enough to post a series of views of their outstandingly detailed model of the new USS Enterprise, giving me for the first time a variety of different angles of this most iconic of ships. And, after a good long look by yours truly, the verdict is in.

I hate it.

I'm not usually one to talk badly about what I don't like about my fandoms. My disdain for the "Jar-Jar haters" is, or should be, the stuff of legend, and I have little patience for people who are supposed to like something, but instead spend all of their time complaining about what doesn't measure up. If you don't like something, that's fine, but don't throw water on my fire. And its possible that someone could find something to love about the new Enterprise. But that someone is not me. So if you don't want me to do that to you, now is the time to stop reading. And whatever you do, you should go to the gallery link above, and draw your own conclusion.

And, just for clarity's sake, the actual QM model is absolutely superb. It is the design the model was based on that I have issues with.

With those caveats out of the way, I can tell you that I only have three main problems — the nacelles, the primary hull and the secondary hull. Since these are the three principle components of the ship, that doesn't leave much left to like.

My biggest problems are the nacelles. The front domes (known as the Bussard collectors to us Trek engineering geeks) are grotesquely huge given the scale of the rest of the ship. Putting them so close together only accentuates this effect. In "Gung Ho," a Michael Keaton comedy about the auto industry, one of the Japanese workers describes a back-heavy 70s-era Chrysler as looking like "a fat American woman in stretch pants." Alas, that is similar to the feeling I get from looking at the new Enterprise's stern.

By contrast, the secondary hull would look sleek and graceful on any other ship. But with the almost-cartoonish look of the warp engines, it looks overwhelmed and out of balance. I say this as an admitted fan of bigger secondary hulls — a fact I will elaborate on in my promised, later post on my favorite Enterprise designs.

But back to this one. The best piece is possibly the circular, or primary, hull. This has historically been my favorite feature of the Enterprise's design. The new one is good, but is so similar to the movie Enterprise's primary as to be almost indistinguishable. The aztec detailing, raised phaser banks and identification fonts are strictly out of the first movie. I loved that design, mind you, but I was hoping for something new; not a re-hash of a thirty year old design.

Taken as a whole, the new ship looks like the movie Enterprise with a bad makeover; not a re-imagining of one of the most beautiful and iconic designs in the whole of science fiction. If I sound slightly miffed, it's because I am one of those fans to whom the Enterprise is one of the main characters. In my entire life, we have only been given six new variations of the original design. Considering how much I have loved some of the past versions, I must admit to being let down by this one. In fact, it may be one of the worst versions of the Enterprise yet conceived. And, for me, if you're going to get something wrong in a Star Trek movie, it had better not be the Enterprise.

I have heard it said that J.J. Abrams told the designers to take the movie and original series models, and combine them. If that's true, then I guess I know who to blame. Hopefully, this will be the only misstep the movie makes. And after some time to get acquainted, maybe the new proportions will grow on me. But right now, it's hard to get past the thought that somebody — maybe even a lot of somebodies — could have done a better job than this.

Time out

2009-02-18T14:30:00.009-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Ain't it funny how time slips away?

I have been taken out of the race by a ruptured disc. By doctor's orders, I am laying on my living room floor, surrounded by books, DVDs and iPods, and watching a DVD of 101 Dalmatians.

Okay, so the doctor just told me to lay on the floor. He didn't say anything about the DVDs, or any of that other stuff. Oh, yeah, and he gave me drugs to take, and told me to stay here for two weeks.

Since I have been put in the penalty box for 14 days, I am going to try to catch up on my reading. This means studying my Bible, but it also means returning to my place in The Lord of the Rings. I had just arrived at "A Shortcut to Mushrooms" when I lost the track. My wife also wants me to follow her into the Twilight series. I am loath to pick up another series when I'm trying to make my way through Tolkien, and I've never been much for vampires. Still, I may humor her, just so she'll have someone to talk to about the series.

One of the blogs I follow, 2719 Hyperion, has a fascinating post on the myth that Walt Disney once owned the rights to make a movie of The Lord of the Rings. Of course, Disney never actually even approached the professor for the rights, after his story department (I think, correctly), told him that the story was too unwieldy for a feature film. Then there's the not-too-surprising revelation that Tolkien had a "heartfelt loathing" for Disney's treatment of fairy tales and faerie creatures.

As a lover of both Disney's and the Professor's works, I thought the post was fascinating food for thought. What would Disney's artists and storytellers have managed to create with the wealth of imaginative imagery present in the Professor's masterpiece?

A disaster, I am quite sure. Disney would have stripped Tolkien's story down to its barest bones, and slapped on the carcass his own unique artistic vision, leaving something that resembled Tolkien only superficially. P.L. Travers, who Walt wooed for years in an attempt to get his hands on her Mary Poppins stories, was, according to many accounts, heartbroken by the treatment of her story. The friction between Disney and Travers was well-documented, and somewhat nasty. The clash of ego and artistic vision that would have surely happened betwen Walt and the Professor during the creation of Walt Disney's The Lord of the Rings would been an epic battle the like of which the world has never seen.

In the end, I think we can all be grateful that such a battle never had cause to come to pass. Jackson's films, despite their flaws, are head and shoulders above anything that the Disney studios could have produced. The Tolkien books have too much detail, and too intricate a plot, for the Disney treatment. Nearly all of the classic Disney films that I can recall at the present were adapted from shorter fare — short stories and fairy tales. I don't think even a longer story, such as The Hobbit, would have fared well at all as a Disney film.

That's all for this week, campers. If you need me, I'll be here on the floor. Mind your feet, please.

The road goes ever on...

2009-01-21T22:30:00.003-06:00

I was going to call this "Queer Lodgings," since I was reading that chapter in The Hobbit when I was staying in my daughter's hospital room. Happily, she has since been discharged, and I have since moved on all the way to "Concerning Hobbits" in The Fellowship of the Ring.

I have made several false starts on The Trilogy (note the allcaps) in the past decade or so, but I really believe I'm going to manage it this time. For a time, I believe I lost the ability to read. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it really was quite hard for me to finish anything for a while there. It was demoralizing and depressing.

I don't know if it's the fact that I'm re-reading something I already know quite well, or if it's because I'm re-reading my favorite book of all time, but so far, reading The Trilogy been a delight. I savored every page of The Hobbit, and intend to do the same with Fellowship. It was about this time 32 years ago that I read the book for the first time, and the memories of that first reading are with me still. In fact, I was giving serious consideration to giving full vent to my nostalgia by listening to the same music I did then, and using my mint condition copies of the same Ballentine paperback set I read back then. Money to buy saidsame music made me chicken out on the former, and my hopelessly OCD personality made me chicken out on the latter (Eeek! Is that a crease in the cover?), but I'm remembering that time just the same.

In fact, I've already made a pact with myself to re-read the trilogy at this same time of the year prior to the release of the film version of The Hobbit. It's not quite Christopher Lee's "every year" discipline, but it's a start.

Stay tuned for another post on a completely different topic within a few days time — I'm simply too tired to manage it right now, and my bed is calling...

"Riddles in the Dark"

2009-01-03T21:35:00.006-06:00

Since I only have, at most, five readers, and since all of those readers have read The Lord of the Rings, I am going to feel free to post about my current attempt to re-read my absolute favorite book. Stranger, you are welcome here, but if you are a Tolkien neophyte, you have been warned.

I have just finished "Riddles in the Dark," which has much to do with Bilbo, Gollum and The Ring. Although it comes early in the book, it is the chapter that has most to do with the larger story of The Lord of the Rings. What I did not realize was how at home the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter fits with LoTR. I had always thought Tolkien had added nuances of meaning to this chapter when he refered to it in LoTR that were not really present in The Hobbit. In other words, he was describing things that weren't really there.

For example, let us take the famous line from Gandalf to Frodo: "Pity? It was pity that stayed his hand." I had always imagined Tolkien was using Gandalf to add a shade of color that Tolkien hadn't foreseen when he wrote the original draft of The Hobbit, but that didn't conflict with what was on the page overmuch.

I now see that I was wrong. Bilbo indeed had a chance to kill Gollum, but was stayed by exactly what Gandalf said: a surge of pity for Gollum's condition, and a reluctance to kill without need. Tolkien clearly writes:

"A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo's heart: a glimpse of endless, unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering."

In this single sentence, Tolkien reveals Bilbo to have a depth of empathy that is surprising in one so dedicated to his own creature comforts — surprising to all but Gandalf, perhaps. In a lesser authors hands, or in the hands of one of our more violent modern-day scribes, Bilbo would have plunged Sting into Gollum's vitals — out of fear or revenge, perhaps — then skipped nimbly over the cooling corpse on his way to freedom. In this day and age, I daresay few would notice.

It's certainly what James Bond would do.

Instead, we see a "silly hobbit," who, in a flash of insight, sees beyond his opponent's attempts to thwart him, and is instead able to see his opponent's suffering. It is a moment of pure compassion, in the best traditions of the world's great religions. It is also a rarity in fiction, and in real life.

The Professor

2009-01-02T11:12:00.012-06:00

One hundred and seventeen years ago this day, John Ronald Ruel Tolkien was born to us in South Africa. Since I noted the great man's death a few months back, it is only fitting that I celebrate his birth here as well. Now if I can only remember to do the same for Jack when the time comes...

The title today comes from a custom the Tolkien Society has of toasting the memory of Tolkien on his birthday. It is done in the tradition of British ceremonial toasting — one raises a glass of his or her preferred memorial beverage and says "The Professor" before taking a sip. I performed the ritual myself last night when it was about 4 a.m. in Oxford, and I will leave my choice of beverage to your imagination. For more information on the tradition, look to the Tolkien Society's Website here.

Fittingly, I have (as most of you know) returned to reading Tolkien's classic, The Lord of the Rings, beginning with The Hobbit prequel. I tried The Hobbit about a year ago and found it unsatisfying for some reason. Happily, this time, it is a delight, and I am enjoying it very much. I am, at this writing, deep beneath the Misty Mountains with our hero, who is about to embark on a riddle game with a most unsavory creature.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I hear my last day's cup of expresso calling me.

The Professor!

A nice morning blog

2008-12-06T10:48:00.004-06:00

Okay, right off the bat I have to explain my title. "A Nice Morning Drive" is a short story by the author Richard S. Foster about a future where automobiles are illegal, and driving for pleasure is a crime. This story was adapted into the song "Red Barchetta" by Neil Peart of Rush, my favorite band, for their "Moving Pictures" album. In it, the protagonist keeps a vintage roadster in his uncle's country barn, and defies the law with a little weekend motoring. If ever a song was written to drive dangerously fast to, this is it. I loved the song so much when I was in my early twenties I named my first car, a red Pontiac J2000 hatchback, "Red Barchetta," and spent many a happy afternoon tearing through the back roads behind my house with the song pumping through the car's tape deck. In retrospect, this was a supremely stupid thing to do, and I was thoroughly lucky I wasn't killed. But it was great fun at the time, and having lived through it, I wouldn't change it for anything.

That said, if I ever catch my daughter trying something like that, I'll ground her for a year.

As an aside, Peart's "Red Barchetta" is apparently based on a real car — a Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta Speciale, a 1948 example of which appears above. To give credit where credit is due, I got the photo from the Classical Drives website, but a full gallery and history can be found here at ultimatecarpage.com. I will resist the urge to talk about this particular model, lest I confirm my ignorance, but this rare little beastie is apparently Peart's "Barchetta," since the rear-projection displays when the band played this song live showed this car.

As for my own personal "Barchetta," it wasn't long before the 4-syllable name I had emblazoned on the front license plate was shortened to the more familiar "chetta." I drove her all the way through college, and wrecked her once to my shame. When my new bride and I drove off into the sunset after our wedding, it was in that car. Finally, after eight years, I was forced to trade her in on a Ford Ranger pickup truck.

I still miss her to this day.

The not-so-final frontier

2008-11-17T16:48:00.008-06:00

I've been away from my blog for sufficiently long enough to forget what my last post was. To my horror, I returned to find the grinning face of one Bill Gates looking back at me. What's a committed Apple user doing with the face of "the enemy" on his website?

Being lazy, that's what.

Rather than post a real news item for my vast readership of four, I decided to throw up a couple of the meme quizzes I had recently indulged in. It was the blogging equivalent of junk food; quick, easy, and probably, bad for you.

The fact is, I haven't had much time to post lately, and for that I ask forgiveness. I've had no end of subjects to blog about; in fact, I almost posted a review of some of the new photos released for J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie about three weeks ago. And since the new trailer for that film was released today, I should probably post some impressions on this new Trek now. And while my impulse is to put it off, take some time, and give "proper preparation," I know my tendency towards procrastination makes this a bad idea. And so, without further ado...

The photo above is the new-and-improved USS Enterprise from the upcoming Star Trek movie. The image comes from the trekmovie.com website (which I highly recommend), who in turn got it from Entertainment Weekly. There's been a flurry of new information about the new movie that's come out in the past month or so, but I've treasured none more than the photo above. To me, the Enterprise herself, dinky metal-and-plastic model that she is, is one of the most important components of any new Star Trek venture. I can (and probably will) post my critique of the designs that preceded her, ranking them in order of preference. For now, let me say that while I was initially less than pleased with this latest offering, she is starting to grow on me.

What does excite me is what this new Star Trek represents. If this next generation (pun intended) succeeds at reviving the Star Trek franchise, they will have breathed life into it beyond their wildest dreams. While many of the Star Trek incarnations of the past like Next Generation have been successful in their own right, they are rather like the Star Wars prequels; fun, and part of that universe, but not quite up to the original. What is missing in any Star Trek other than the Original Series (TOS, if you want the fan lingo), is what is missing from the Prequels — characters. Specifically, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty and the other members of the original Enterprise crew. More specifically, the characters as they were written and portrayed during the three seasons of the Original Series, not the six movies they were subsequently featured in. That is a debate for another time.

If Abrams & co. can sell this new crew, and make us believe they are Kirk, Spock et. al., then Star Trek will be in the same position as Dr. Who and the Bond series. The characters will be what lives on, not the actor's portrayals of them. Other actors will be able to give their own unique takes on the Kirk character, just as the various actors to fill Bond's shoes have, or the numerous good doctors. Anyone who says that there can be only one definative Kirk or Spock need look no further than Daniel Craig's Bond, or David Tennant's excellent Time Lord, to blow that theory out of the water.

As far as scripts, there are countless stories yet to be told in the Star Trek universe, as there are in Star Wars. Whether or not they will be told depends on whether the people holding the purse strings that are making those stories. Will they want to tell a good story, or will they just want to milk the cash cow until it drops dead. Personally, I'm hoping for the former — it would make me very happy indeed if, thoughout my life, there were always a new Star Trek to look forward to, just as I am enjoying the new Star Wars offerings.

As Genie said in Aladdin, "here's hoping."

Uh...thanks, I think

2008-10-25T17:02:00.002-05:00

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Outcast Genius

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius.

Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject).

Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius.

Congratulations!

Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Professional Wrestling

Love & Sexuality

America/Politics

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at HelloQuizzy

I don't know if it's art...

2008-10-23T17:45:00.000-05:00

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Conscientious, Fulfilled, and Spiritual

19 Renaissance, 17 Islamic, 11 Ukiyo-e, -31 Cubist, -35 Abstract and 13 Impressionist!

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosopy, religion, art, politics, science, and all other aspects of intellectual enquiry. Renaissance artists looked at the human aspect of life in their art. They did not reject religion but tended to look at it in it's purest form to create visions they thought depicted the ideals of religion. Painters of this time had their own style and created works based on morality, religion, and human nature. Many of the paintings depicted what they believed to be the corrupt nature of man.

People that like Renaissance paintings like things that are more challenging. They tend to have a high emotional stability. They also tend to be more concientious then average. They have a basic understanding of human nature and therefore are not easily surprised by anything that people may do. They enjoy life and enjoy living. They are very aware of their own mortality but do not dwell on the end but what they are doing in the present. They enjoy learning, but may tend to be a bit more closed minded to new ideas as they feel that the viewpoint they have has been well researched and considered. These people are more old fashioned and not quite as progressive. They enjoy the finer things in life like comfort, a good meal, and homelife. They tend to be more spiritual or religious by nature. They are open to new aesthetic experiences.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Good, clean fun

2008-10-06T10:00:00.006-05:00

We (meaning my wife, daughter and I) spent some of Sunday afternoon cleaning out and refreshing the inside of my Honda wagon. I sort of accepted the "lived-in look" as the way things were, since there are a host of things I'd rather be doing on the weekend other than cleaning out my car. But it went quickly with help, and I must admit, it made the commute to work this morning much more pleasant. My noble steed is in desperate need of a good wash and wax job, and I'm looking forward to tackling that this weekend.

We had planned to see "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" this weekend, but that one somehow dropped off the radar. Instead, we managed to get two really enjoyable viewings in. For starters, the three of us watched "The Clone Wars" debut on Saturday. My daughter stayed overnight at her best friend's house Friday, when the debut was, so I brought our VCR back online. It was the first time I'd taped something in at least at year, and I'm almost surprised I remembered how.

I was definitely pleased with the first two episodes. "Ambush, " the first episode, did a nice job of highlighting Yoda, melding the playful little green frog of The Empire Strikes Back with the Jedi warlord of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The second, "Rising Malevolence," was especially enjoyable for the way it highlighted Plo Koon, one of my favorite "background" Jedi Council members. I think it was criminal that Plo, a fan favorite of many, including my esteemed apprentice, the Jedi Hero, was neglected throughout all three prequels, except for a short bit during the Order 66 sequence of Sith. I'm not sure I agreed with the voice they gave him in "Clone Wars," but they got the attitude right, I think. However, I await the Hero's verdict before I give the portrayal my full endorsement.

Both episodes had a couple of "neat bits" in them, and my youngest apprentice and I both agreed that we have a new Friday night tradition — assuming she has nothing more pressing on her social calendar.

The second treat came Sunday, as I watched the movie Iron Man for the first time (minus the aforementioned padawan). What can one say about this movie other than "it rocked?" Downey was absolutely perfect as Tony Stark, and the entire affair was well done from start to finish. I look forward to Iron Man 2, and plan to acquire the 2-disc set the first film so I can immerse myself in the "making of" features I enjoy so much.

Next week, if all goes well, I should acquire the new Indiana Jones DVD, which I am embarrassed and ashamed to say I missed in its theatrical run. Naturally, you may expect a full report on that experience, as well as the new Clones episodes as they are aired. Until then, dear readers!

Here's where the fun begins

2008-09-27T10:23:00.013-05:00

I celebrated my 46th birthday on Wednesday, the high point of which was sitting down to watch A New Hope. I had decided that since it was my birthday, I should feel free to do something that was special, just for me, and thought a viewing of New Hope fit the bill nicely.

I couldn't have been more right. I was joined by my youngest padawan, who is beginning to see things in the movies that she missed a year ago. After, we looked through a Star Wars popup book that was a Christmas present from her and her mother. She still has much to learn, but she is growing stronger in the Force, and is taking her first steps into a larger world.

Since then, she has enthusiastically joined me as I watched the remaining Original Trilogy movies on successive nights. We also have plans to watch Episodes I and II before the premiere of The Clone Wars. As my apprentice Veiltender is no doubt discovering, and as my other former padawans will one day learn, one of the great joys of parenthood, and of life in general, is sharing things that you love with your offspring.

Happily, it seems that there will be much more of that sort of things in the future. I interrupted our viewing of Jedi last night to watch a 30-minute preview of Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. Sure, it's for kids; what did one expect? But it looks like fun, both to my kid, and the kid in me. As a result, we are both looking forward to the debut this Friday (which will naturally be followed by a post on our reactions).

What are my expectations for the series? I do not expect it to be great, I do not expect it to live up to the lofty standards of the Original Trilogy. But I do expect it to be good, overall. If all goes well, it should be a fun little half-hour in the Star Wars galaxy, delivered fresh to my door every Friday night. Some of it will be funny, some of it will be bad, or juvenile, and some of it will simply be so-so. But overall, I am very happy at the prospect of getting to know a new Star Wars creation.

I must admit, I've had some help in nurturing my fandom. In the past few weeks, I have been listening to the podcasts on TheForce.Net once again. I once derided this podcast as being too much about collecting and conventions, and with a little too much name dropping.

To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, "I was wrong." I fully retract that premature judgement. The people who do the Force.Net are sincere fans, who are obviously thrilled at the prospect of new Star Wars. And their excitement is starting to fuel my own.

As a result of my current fan focus, you can expect more posts on Star Wars in the coming weeks. In addition the aforementioned review of the series premiere, I plan to follow the example of my Fellow Travelers, and throw out a few lists of my own for consideration — Saga based, of course.

I expect the next few weeks to be great fun.

Old and busted; new hotness

2008-09-16T20:53:00.007-05:00

Anybody who knows me knows that I am an iPod freak. I love the little things. The ability to carry my entire music library with me is one of the miracles of the modern age. Forget cell phones, TIVOs, and GPS navigation — iPods are the great technological breakthrough of my lifetime.

Okay, okay — maybe they're not all that. But it used to drive me nuts when I wanted to hear a song in the car, and I didn't have that cassette with me — if I'd even made a cassette of that album yet. Now, thanks to a device the size of a deck of cards, if I want to hear something I own, I can, right then, no questions asked.

Better yet, I can use the shuffle function, and let it surprise me with songs I had forgotten about, had never heard, or didn't even know I had. This becomes important for people who, like me, tend to get stuck in musical ruts. And I don't even get me started on being able to buy just one song if I don't want the whole album, or make different playlists to suit certain moods.

But, as my niece-in-law Aleatha (whose artful blog fisticuffs versus the guards still stubbornly refuses to let me link to it in my Fellow Travelers section) put so well a few posts ago, having all this power changes things. iPods can lull you into relying solely on the shuffle mode, or just buying a song here, or a song there. People don't listen to CDs anymore as entire artistic creations; instead they take pieces her and there to suit them. Worse yet, the hidden gems you might hear on a CD you bought for one song are lost to you if you bought just that song off iTunes. Musically, the iPod can discourage exploration and patience in some ways — both crucial traits for music listeners.

But, as Spock once observed, just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do a thing. For that reason, I have resolved to return to my old ways of listening whenever I can. Lately, when the the mood takes me for a specific song, I try to listen to the entire album instead. When I became obsessed with the song "Possession" by Sarah McLachlan, I spent days listening to the entire Fumbling Towards Ecstasy CD, enjoying once again the process of cramming an entire new album and artist into my head. And most recently, when we had a little money in the family budget for luxuries like iTunes shopping, I used my cut (at my dear wife's subtle suggestion) to buy the 9 remaining tracks from Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless that I lacked (I'd bought "Airwaves," one of my favorite songs, as one of my first iTunes purchases). It is, I think, a change for the better. It certainly feels more like the natural order of things.

A final note on the subject of blog upkeep and maintenance; I enjoy posting whatever media (books, film, CDs) I happen to be enjoying at the moment, as a way for my readers to know where my head is at artistically, even if I don't have time to post. When I started, I would link these lists to sites with more information about that title; amazon.com, the Internet Movie Database, etc. I plan to continue posting the list, but I'm going to stop adding the links. They're a little more work than I like, and you guys can use Google at least as well as I can...

As usual, any thoughts, agreements or disagreements are most welcome. And, as always, may the Force be with you.

In pace requiescat, Beren

2008-09-02T17:43:00.010-05:00

Thirty-five years ago today J.R.R. Tolkien left us. I hereby raise this virtual glass to his memory, and to the "beauties that pierce like swords, or burn like cold iron" that will be his legacy for generations yet to come. All hail!

A promise to keep with an old friend

2008-08-31T22:52:00.007-05:00

Sorry about the delay in getting something new up here; I actually had the beginnings of something written that would have sufficed well, if only I hadn’t tried to drag it out into another topic, and gotten irretrievably bogged down. Live and learn, as they say. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with short and to the point, a lesson I mean to put into action immediately.

Tonight, I finally made good on my threat, and saw The Clone Wars, some two weeks after opening night. For a “real” Star Wars movie, this would be unforgivable foot-dragging, but given what this film is, I’m happy to have managed the enthusiasm to have seen it in the theater at all.

What I am about to say is not colored by any opinions other than my own. I saw the film alone (my wife wanted to see Babylon A.D., I wanted to see Clone Wars, so we decided to have an anti-date), and have scrupulously avoided reading any film reviews since coming out of the theater.

I liked it. I did not love it, but I liked it.

For me Clone Wars fulfilled the First Commandment of all Star Wars films, and yea, all action movies: Thou Shalt Be Fun. For those of you who were expecting it to be a key part of The Saga, capital T, capital S, you will be disappointed. If you want great character development and background to the Prequel characters, look elsewhere. If you want a great lightsaber duel, don’t bother — computer animated characters just don’t have the oomph that real people do in a saber duel. And if you want an intricate plot, you should definitely stay home.

But, if you just want to buy another hour and a half in that world, if you want to get a glimpse at some pretty impressive 3d animation — at least from a texturing standpoint — and if you want to watch some pretty nifty action sequences, particularly in the realm of Star Wars land battles, then by all means saddle up and go forth.

Let me elaborate on the good points briefly, in a spoiler-free kind of way. For one thing, many of the environments felt like Star Wars. There was a great attention to detail in things like lighting and texture. The environments were fairly realistic looking, and that gave it the feel of a real place. That’s one thing that I loved about Star Wars. I can practically smell the dawn air when the Falcon lands on Bespin, and a few of the landing pad sequences in the prequels were similarly evocative — not bad for something done with a blue screen set and a room full of computers, in the case of the latter, or with a masterfully-done matte painting, in the former case. Clone Wars also has that sort of attention to detail, on more than one occassion.

The animation wasn’t just evocative; it was almost artistic in a few places. Granted, what they’ve shown us in the trailers hasn’t seemed that impressive. Despite that, I found there to be an incredible attention to detail when it comes to texturing. I was counting facial pores in some of the close-ups, which I wasn’t expecting. The starships and backgrounds were spot-on; so much so they would have passed muster as live-action visuals if they’d been rendered photo-realistically. In fact, we may find out one day that much of it was taken from the database of CGI animation prepared for the Prequels, and “dumbed down” visually for this film.

In contrast to this were the characters themselves. As realistic as the ships and skylines were, the characters looked as if they were carved wooden marionettes. It’s okay once you get used to it, and I know they were going with that style largely because they wanted to tie-in stylistically with the earlier Clone Wars cartoons. But I couldn’t get over the exquisite irony that these crudely-formed characitures were interacting with these incredibly detailed starships, backgrounds and props. In short, it was the sort of thing George is usually guilty of, times ten: give a quick once-over to the characters and story, then spend two years trying to get the backgrounds just so.

I won’t waste words on the plot, particularly since it exists in this film merely as a device to hang action sequences on. That’s okay, though, because a few of the action sequences are really cool. There’s one land battle that has a very innovative and visually exciting twist. And as someone drawn to the hardware and engineering in the Star Wars films, it’s really cool to see all of those tanks and weapons that were designed for the Prequels that we only saw for a few seconds finally getting a good workout.

At the end of the day, nobody should expect Clone Wars to win any fan favorite polls. But it is new Star Wars — a topic I have preached on before. And it is moderately fun to watch, yea, even enjoyable. It’s purpose was to whet our appetites for the 100-episode animated series that will follow from it.

Guess what? The bait worked. When the series finally debuts, I’ll be watching.

"I am feeling very Olympic today"

2008-08-09T09:03:00.001-05:00

This post will be all over the place, I’m afraid. I don’t have long to post this morning, so I should just wait, I suppose. But my internal calendar seems to have selected Saturday mornings as my blogging time, since that’s when I get the strongest urge to update. And after all, who am I to argue with the voices?

First, the Olympics. Last night, my wife and I indulged in our regular Olympic ritual of celebrating the start of the Olympic Games. Typically, this involves nothing more elaborate than having a good meal, and watching the opening ceremonies. Last night was no exception. We indulged in a family tradition known as a “floor picnic,” wherein we prepare a bunch of finger food, spread out a blanket on the floor, and eat in front of the TV. Last night was special because we welcomed a new member to our Olympic Appreciation Society — our 11-year-old daughter, who found the opening ceremonies just as fascinating and wondrous as we did. Of course, this was aided by the fact that China’s opening ceremonies last night were without a doubt, the best that have ever been done. Period.

There’s a lot that I love about the Olympics. I know there are ugly bits; it is, after all, a massive sports competition, and sports can be a very nasty affair. And I know all about the doping scandals, the over-commercialization, the corruption, “… et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.” Wherever there are shiny prizes, there are men and women who will cheat to win them.

But one of the main things I love is the fact that the Games give us just a little taste of world unity. For two weeks every two years (counting both Winter and Summer games), the world gets a little bit smaller. There are few things that capture the attention of the entire planet at one time the way that the Olympic Games do. We’re a long way from the ideal of an Olympic truce, as the events in Georgia clearly demonstrate. But even a little glimpse of the nations of the world peacefully co-existing, competing, and even co-operating, is intoxicating.

I want to throw out a quick, two-sentence movie review. My wife and I saw “The Dark Knight” on Thursday. Words cannot express how excellent this film is. The late and lamented Heath Ledger will own the Joker character for a very, very long time indeed. And it definitely exceeds it most worthy parent film, “Batman Begins.”

Okay, that was three sentences. Sorry.

By the Way, I am back to being indifferent about “The Clone Wars” release. I still plan on seeing the film, but I have very low expectations for it.

Finally, you may have noticed a few changes in the appearance of this blog. I was growing to dislike the green theme, and wanted to add some graphics. I find graphic design fun, when I have the time to indulge in it, so expect tweaks and changes for some time to come. By the way, the sunrise photo is my own, taken from a car as I travelled in Eastern Colorado.

I’m also already starting to fall out of love with the blog’s title. It doesn’t have quite the feel that I want. Also, there’s no way I can confine myself to blogging just about Star Wars. So, I’m open to suggestions on a suitable replacement.

Let me know if you agree or disagree about the Olympics, whether or not you liked “The Dark Knight,” or if you think I should drop the title in favor of a less fandom-specific one.

A brave new world, and a somewhat flawed older one

2008-07-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are two weeks later, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the response I’ve gotten. I don’t know if it’s a case of encouraging the new guy, but I’ve been gratified that people have actually commented. I’m starting to see how this whole blogging thing works — people leave comments on your sight, and you leave comments on theirs. Kind of like e-mail, only slower, less personal and open to lots of people.

By the way, I want to publicly thank Thora, who’s partially responsible for getting me into blogging in the first place, for listing my blog on her blog. I promise to return the favor as soon as I figure out how.

A while back, I got a free audio book copy of Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Now anything that has three titles should be treated with some suspicion, and any book named Betrayal is pretty much guaranteed to be a downer. Also, I’ve done some research — Legacy of the Force is a nine-volume series, of which Betrayal is the first of the series. My guess is that Legacy was made available for free as a way to pull you into buying the other eight. Clearly, George is now employing a former crack dealer as his marketing director.

Nevertheless, a free audiobook is a free audiobook, and I do spend a lot of time in the car. I spent the weekend doing technical things with my iBook (I’m a rabid Mac junkie, by the way), trying to convert and combine the various MP3 files into a single file for my iPod (yep — total iPod geek, too. Had one before I had my Mac). I succeeded, and by this posting, have listened to about an hour and a half out of six.

To my chagrin, I haven’t had the time or desire to read much of anything lately. So I suppose there’s some little bit of embarrassment that the first thing I pick up in months is a Star Wars novel. After all, when you have a limited time to read, you should make your time count. There are limitless volumes from the wellsprings of human wisdom that should be occupying my attention. Instead, I pick up a space opera pastiche.

But at the same time, I am a firm believer that while expanding your tastes is a noble goal, you should also not turn your back on that which is merely fun. And, at the moment, Star Wars is very fun for me. I only wish Star Wars fiction were of a better quality.

The book I’m “reading” now is deep in the established canon of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Now, I don’t care for the EU canon, and never have. I know that Timothy Zahn’s novels, which are the cornerstone of the EU, have Clone Army-sized legions of fans, and reports I’ve read have said he is a terribly nice man; a very good thing in my book. But that does not alter the fact that I dislike his creation intensely, and rue the fact that it has come to dominate the EU.

There are, to my knowledge, few if any EU novels that don’t have Zahn’s fingerprints on them, and Betrayal is no exception. I intensely dislike the character of Mara Jade, yet she is Luke’s wife. I am indifferent to the Solo children, and to Luke and Mara’s own progeny, yet the Legacy series seems to largely be about them. As a side note, Leia is still protected by the Noghri bodyguards, another of Zahn’s creations, although they play little part in the story so far.

In fact, I have recently learned that Zahn had originally conceived the Noghri as the Sith race, and Vader’s breath mask was to be a stylized representation of the Noghri’s general facial features. Thankfully, Lucas had more in mind for the Sith than this, and shut the idea down cold.

This lamentable tendency among some of the early EU authors to try and carve off huge slices of the film’s canon to serve their own creations is one symptom of what I dislike the most about the Star Wars EU novels — many have an overly exaggerated opinion of their own importance. For instance, I realize that, dramatically, a great hero requires a great villain, and that a new ancillary character needs to at least be on a par with our heros for them. But I was never able to make myself that Prince Xizor, painted as one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, was anywhere near in the same class as his supposed rival, Vader; or that Zahn’s Grand Admiral Thrawn was remotely as nigh-omniscient as his creator made him out to be. And I resented the way that Steve Perry kept inventing ways to make Dash Rendar vitally important to the established Star Wars characters in Shadows of the Empire.

I could go on about my objections to the EUs, but it would quickly become as tiresome as I find some criticisms of the prequel trilogies. The fact is that millions of fans love the EU books. While I am not one of them, you shouldn’t lightly slam someone else’s tastes.

There seems to be a growing tendency among Star Wars fans to complain about any new story in our chosen universe, even when it comes from Lucas himself. I unabashedly plead guilty to that. Sturgeon’s law, created (or at least popularized) by science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, holds that “ninety percent of everything is crap.” While I think that’s an overly harsh exaggeration, it makes the point that not everything can or should be expected to be at the same level as the best of its breed.

That sounds like a rationalization, and probably, it is. The bottom line is that I’d rather enjoy Star Wars than not enjoy it. By the same token, I'd rather enjoy life than not enjoy it. My natural tendency is to pick something apart until I reach the point where I wondered what I ever saw in it in the first place. There comes a time when you have to overlook the flaws, glaring as some may be, and try to find the good things. This holds true for movies, music, books, painting, sculpture, dance, television shows, and most especially, people.

Well, that was fast

2008-07-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I hadn’t even put up the last post when I got an e-mail from starwars.com urging me to check out the complete new look for the Official Site. Sure enough, the collecting stuff has been de-emphasized, and the site is back to giving you things to read and look at. In short, it no longer looks like an online catalog of Star War kitsch.

Now, I’d love to take credit for showing George the error of his ways, but since the new site went live before my last post even left my computer, I can only assume the collective non-traffic of my fellow fans to the existing website caused the change.

Of course, I’ve seen George fix websites that I thought were perfectly fine, so maybe this is just a case of him fixing something whether he thinks it is broken or not. You know how much he loves to tinker.

So what's the consensus? Does anybody like the new site?

Returning to the faith

2008-07-05T07:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, now that the preliminaries are out of the way, let’s get down to business.

As most of you know, I am a first-generation Star Wars fan. I was privileged to be alive when the original movie hit the theaters in 1977, and I was one of the many that continued to live inside the movie in the months afterward. I practically wore grooves through the soundtrack to the original LP, eagerly consumed “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye,” one of the first Star Wars novels (if not the first), started (but never finished) my own scripts for what was then known as “Star Wars 2.”

I mention this just to illustrate to any wayfaring strangers that my obsession goes back a ways. And like any meaningful relationship, there are periods of disillusion and wonderment, dissatisfaction and pure joy. So it is with me and the Yoda of Modesto, one G. Lucas.

No, I don’t hate George for the unforgivable sins of the prequel trilogy. I don’t hate the virtual air Jar-Jar breathes, am not scarred for life from the admittedly stilted love scenes between Anakin and Padmé, and don’t begrudge any of the other faults others have with the trilogy. For my part, I was glad to get three new Star Wars movies. I enjoyed all six viewings of The Phantom Menace immensely, like a good deal of Attack of the Clones while acknowledging its imperfections, and rank Revenge of the Sith among the top three of the saga.

I’m even willing to forgive George’s attempts at revisionist history with the Special Editions, although I am loathe to understand his reluctance to release quality versions of his original films. Still, as my nephew Avram has shown me, there is a substantial difference in feel from the original and SE versions. George can be extremely stubborn, and it's just possible he thinks that by giving the original films the treatment they deserve, he would be admitting he was wrong to do what he did to them — something he's not really good at admitting, in my experience.

No, my main objection to George is the way he’s reduced his outreach to his fans to simply fleecing their pockets. I understand he’s a businessman, and I understand there are scores of Star Wars collectors with plenty of disposable income and a need to follow in Steve Sansweet’s footsteps.

In the last few years, I’ve watched Star Wars fandom go over to the dark side of Star Wars collecting. The Force.net, which used to be one of the best fan sites on the Internet, is now almost entirely dominated by collector’s news; exactly when Hasbro is coming out with what limited edition 4½-inch figure, and what stores are expected to get them — that sort of thing. The President of the Official Fan Club (a fan-elected post) was won by a member of Rebelscum.com — the same collector’s site that seems to more-or-less run The Force.net now. The site’s podcast, when I last listened to it a couple years ago, was recorded by two members of Rebelscum, and as such, was biased heavily toward collecting news — nearly an hour of it, as I remember. Most of the e-mails I got from Starwars.com and website updates seemed geared toward getting me to buy stuff. After a disagreement with the Official Fan Club over the number of issues of Star Wars Insider they owed me, I wandered away from the faith.

Enter “The Clone Wars,” the two hour “movie” based on the first few episodes of a planned television series. I had been supremely cynical of the animated series, and am not a huge fan of the Clone Wars period. Even though it’s chocked full ‘o Jedi, which is a good thing in my book, I’m more of a fan of the rebellion period. I’m genuinely intrigues by the possibilities of the new live action series, but am not happy about a 3d cartoon being labeled as a Star Wars “movie.”

Not that it seems to matter what I think, since I don’t seem to have any free will at all when it comes to Star Wars.

Apparently, there’s some hidden switch in me that George can manipulate at will whenever a new Star Wars movie is coming out. When I first learned that “Clone Wars” was being released as a full-length movie, I said emphatically that I wasn’t going. Two months ago I told myself that I might go after a week or so, but I wasn’t going to make any special plans or anything.

Today I admitted to myself that I was going to go as soon as I could; opening night, if possible.

My wife, as usual, knew the truth all along.

“Like there was every any doubt,” she said “Please! You knew you were going to cave like wet tissu...sorry.”

Since then, I’ve watched “A New Hope” all the way through, and am watching the Echo Base scenes from “Empire” as I type this. I am proud to say that my daughter asked for “New Hope” rather than “Phantom Menace,” and wanted the original versions over the Special Editions. She is still young for a padawan, but apparently, I’ve trained her well.

And what woke up my enthusiasm? I think for Star Wars fandom, or any fandom for that matter, to be an active, vital thing, it needs to have the hope of new stories to feed it. At least, that is the way it is for me. Either that, or George really does have an “on” switch installed on me somewhere…

So what’s the verdict? Is anybody else reading this going to “Clone Wars?” If so, drop me a line and let me know.

Until next time, may the Force be with you all.

Welcome

2008-07-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

After much procrastination, and pointless internal debate, I have decided to stick a virtual toe into the silicon-based ocean of the Internet. And you, foolish mortals, have apparently joined me to offer moral support. Bless you all, but I must warn you, it’s probably a bad idea to encourage me to pontificate.

I tend to talk like that when I’m nervous. Forgive me.

Actually, I’m guessing that most of you will know me as either a friend, family member, or both. That’s really why I’m starting this blog. I don’t have an important message that I must tell mankind about (unless you count Christianity, and you all probably already know about that one). There will be no virtual 95 Theses here, I’m afraid. But if you want to hear me warm to topics that are dear to my heart, can put up with the occasional rant (I’ll try to keep it down to once a month), and don’t mind if I do most of the talking, then I would be glad of your company.

So what’s in the name? I had initially intended to call this blog Gone Native, given my history of being an outsider that eventually became adopted by the tribe he observes. Primarily, this encompasses the American South and my aforementioned Christian faith, but there are other areas applicable as well. I thought about it, and even got as far as writing the first draft of the “Welcome to my Blog” post using that title. But I vapor-locked when I came to choosing where to host the thing, and sort of lost my way for a time.

Sometime last week, the drive to actually start the thing started nibbling at my consciousness again, and I decided last night to get on with it.

So what to call it? Gone Native was taken on Blogger. I had long been mulling over the idea of starting a monthly newsletter on Star Wars topics for my nephews (like me, all rabid Star Wars fans), called The Padawan Post. That name was free on Blogger, but more research showed it already in use by the galactic-voyage.com website. I'd never heard of the site before, so I don't think it was unintentional plagiarism on my part. In any case, they seem to have had it first. Great minds think alike, I suppose.

My wife suggested using The Padawan Pause instead. The more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. I admire the Buddhist and Christian traditions of valuing silence, so the connotation of pausing for a moment to listen, or to reflect, appealed to me. As for the Padawan part, they are students — seekers. I pray I will always remember that I, too, am a student.

And finally, my nephews and I have formed our own personal order of Jedi, and I hope this blog will help us to communicate about our common interest in Star Wars. And so, it is an altogether fitting name.

At least until tomorrow, when I change my mind…

Stay well, gentle readers. There’s more to come.