I Know It's Early, But...
Like 49% of the country (at least) and most of the world, I can't wait until the 2008 presidential election. Assuming the BushAdmin doesn't claim "wartime emergency powers" to allow for a third term (who knows, maybe they're still trying to get back at FDR), then November 2008 will finally free us from everyone's favorite self-righteous, fluffbrained marionette who thinks "disassemble" means "not tell the truth." But far more disturbing than Bush is the neocon network behind him -- a group that has demonstrated its contempt for the democracy it claims to promote. If you don't believe Bush stole the election from Kerry, that's fine, but so much evidence has accumulated towards that conclusion that it's starting to be more than just a crackpot theory.

So in 2008, the Bush crowd is going to need a new figurehead. Will it be Bill "Nuclear" Frist? Eh, too wimpy. Dick "Fuck Yourself" Cheney? Maybe, if he trained in the ancient art of smiling. The less probable options are even worse, including the likes of Rick Santorum and Jeb Bush. In a normal country, none of these guys could get democratically elected. Unfortunately, they don't seem to care about that. I have a feeling that elections will be manipulated in order to assure the ascension of a member of the neocon in-crowd.

Unless, of course, the neocons don't get the party nomination. There are decent Republicans out there who are very popular and stand a chance at unseating this bunch of frauds. This is why I will be (gulp) on the campaign trail for John McCain in the GOP primary.

I am of the opinion that no matter who the Democrats put up, the Republicans will win. A weak neocon will fix the election and a strong moderate like McCain (or his biggest competition, Rudy Giuliani) would win fair and square. I'd rather lose an honest election to a decent Republican than lose a stolen election to a right-wing whacko. So I'm going to spend the next few years urging Democrats to work for -- and, yes, switch their affiliation to vote for -- McCain in the primary. Once he's in, of course, we can all switch back, bring out the Hillary gear and fight the good fight, knowing we will be spared another Bush-like administration.

Sounds crazy, I know. But the Bush Club doesn't want McCain to be nominated. They'd rather have Giuliani, a puppet they can manipulate, if they can't find a strong voice in their own ranks. And McCain, conservative as he is, posesses enough toughness, integrity and knowledge not to bow to the neocons' will.

This just might work. I can't believe I'm doing this, but I think it's the only way to get our country -- slowly but surely -- back on track.

The Big News Nobody's Heard About
Do the words "Downing Street Memo" mean anything to you? They should, but unless you're plugged into the blogosphere (man, I hate that word) or read New York Review of Books, you're probably scratching your head. Actually, if you read this blog it means I know you personally and so we have talked about it, but no matter...in the off chance someone new is reading this, here goes.

Basically, the Downing Street memo demonstrates that Bush lied to the country about the buildup to war. The formerly secret document, published in the London Times on May 1,
details a meeting of senior British officials with Prime Minister Tony Blair in July 2002. The memo makes several things clear:

1. By mid-July 2002, eight months before the war began, President Bush had decided to invade and occupy Iraq. In October of that year, he was still telling us war would be a last resort.

2. Bush had decided to "justify" the war "by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD."

3. Already "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

4. Many at the top of the administration did not want to seek approval from the United Nations (going "the UN route").

5. Few in Washington seemed much interested in the aftermath of the war.

To further quote the NYROB:
What the Downing Street memo confirms for the first time is that President Bush had decided, no later than July 2002, to "remove Saddam, through military action," that war with Iraq was "inevitable"—and that what remained was simply to establish and develop the modalities of justification; that is, to come up with a means of "justifying" the war and "fixing" the "intelligence and facts...around the policy." The great value of the discussion recounted in the memo, then, is to show, for the governments of both countries, a clear hierarchy of decision-making.

Spread the word about this if you can. Simply put, it's grounds for impeachment.

You workout is everywhere...
I'm four days into Steve Ilg's Wholistic Fitness progam, and I am sore. I'm really excited about the program, though. For those unfamiliar, this fitness "lifestyle" combines strength training, cardiovascular fitness, yoga and meditation, encouraging followers to "not just work out, but to work within." Cheesy? Perhaps, but it works. I like it because it's so balanced. I hope I can stick with it for many years so I can see improvement and really become better attuned to myself and the world, both physical and nonphysical.

I'm almost ready to go to Peru! So psyched. Puedo decir las cosas importantes en espa?ol.

I watched the original Star Wars (Ep. IV) today. It's so different from Ep. III in cinematic texture (28 years, man...) it's impossible to even compare the two. However, there were some moments of beautiful continuity. Love love love it.

I'm tired so my writing is boring. Deal.

The Saga is Complete: A Review of Revenge of the Sith
Mood:  happy




Wow.

So this is the end.

I?ll start by saying I loved this movie and recommend it to anyone who has seen any combination of the other movies. It is not a perfect film by any means; it could have been better had Lucas collaborated with one such as Peter Jackson. It?s cheesy, of course, but the ratio of Cabot to Cheeze Whiz is quite palatable. It is enjoyable, engrossing, and well done and gives the fans most of what they want. It?s never, ever boring. It is also the only prequel that adds power to the original trilogy, both because of the nature of the story it tells and because of its quality. See it, people should.


Critical Breakdown:

Story: Somehow, this film has to connect the dots between the world of the prequels and the world of 1977?s Star Wars. In a way, one of the chief strengths of ROTS is the way it capitalizes on a potential weakness: we all know the ending. Yet it manages to maintain a certain level of suspense. It?s not what happens, but how they happen that intrigues. One of the great pleasures of ROTS is watching everything come together like prophecy.

Anakin Skywalker?s tragic fall from grace obviously constitutes the central dramatic arc, and Lucas pulls this challenge off quite well. He falls well short of Shakespeare (as most do), but the casual comparison has been fairly made. It is easy to understand the motivations (and there are several, not all equally stressed) behind our hero?s temptation, and yet the blindness of his decision is also painfully clear. We also understand, in the most quietly horrifying moment in all of Star Wars, how truly evil the Dark Side really is for all its alluring coolness.

Paralleling the rise of Vader is the creation of the Star Wars universe we all know and love, in which the infamous Galactic Empire rules, the Jedi Order is no more, and a young hero and heroine are waiting to take their first steps into a larger world. At the end of the day a few debatable plot inconsistencies remain, but most are sewn up. In a rare act of subtlety, Lucas resolves one dangling question from Episode 1 to chilling effect, though it might be lost on less-mindful viewers.

Action: Always Lucas' strength, the action in ROTS is constant and almost perfectly excecuted. The movie opens with a fantastic action sequence that begins as every Star Wars movie must: flying through space. For those of us with lightsaber fetishes, it gets no better than this. Everywhere you look, lightsabers! Love love love it.

Visual effects: Impressive?most impressive. Just by virtue of how far technology has come, this is the most visually stunning of the series. Compared with the earlier prequels, the physical environments felt less sterile and overdone this time around, and all the computer-generated creatures, machines and weapons were a notch more believable. There were a few exceptions, but they were minor and showed Lucas testing out some whimsical ideas, which I can't blame him for.

Acting: Not the strong suit of the series, especially the prequels, but this time around the cast seemed pretty much on par with that of the original trilogy. As Anakin/Vader, Hayden Christensen is usually adequate and occasionally wonderful, and certainly more convincing than in his last attempt. He seems to get more and more into the character as the film progresses, adding realism to his performance. Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan is probably the best actor of the bunch and sometimes appears to be channeling the late Alec Guinness. He gets some lighter moments as well as tragic ones and handles both quite well. I really wish Natalie Portman had more to do as Padme, but she suffices. "Chancellor"/Emperor Palpatine, played by Ian McDiarmid ever since Return of the Jedi, is downright scary. McDiarmid's performance is a true highlight, especially in the first half of the film, after which it comes dangerously close to overacting but nevertheless succeeds.





Oh, and R2-D2 gets his own category for seriously rocking. Is there anything this cute lil droid can't do? Forget Palapatine; if Anakin wanted to get some sweet new powers he should've gotten Artoo to train him.


Dialogue: Eeesh?pretty much universal agreement on this one. I know that the script is supposed to be campy, as it has been in every episode, and on the whole ROTS does show improvement over Eps. 1 and 2. Actually, some of it is very effective. I liked the much-hyped "politicized" lines a lot, even stripped of their contemporary relevance. However, there were a few lines that elicited laughs which Lucas might not have intended, and at least three cringeworthy exchanges marred what might have been very powerful scenes. See if you can spot them.

Music: John Williams, will you marry me?

The Downer Factor: So how depressing is this movie? Is it as violent and disturbing as some black-clad Gen-X males had hoped for? Well, it?s as dark as it needs to be to tell the story and no more. As for intensity, in the words of one reviewer, ?It?s comparable Return of the King, except Frodo turns into Gollum, Arwen dies, and the Fellowship is hunted down and killed.? This makes the film a little exhausting by the end, but it is by no means a drag. The mood of ROTS is saved by four things: (1) The first half includes some good old Star Warsian fun; (2) as evil guys go, we all know Vader kicks ass. Watching Anakin fall, as awful as it is, is damn exciting ? heck, it?s what we?ve been waiting all these years to see; (3) the movie ends on a hopeful note, foreshadowing the original film; (4) everyone already knows how the story really ends: with an Ewok party in 1983.

Sith's Place in the Saga:

This movie had so much riding on it. I remember coming out of the theater after seeing Episode 2 three years ago, thinking ?That was cool; MAN, EPISODE 3?s GONNA ROCK!? The first two prequels were important chiefly in that they allowed spine-tingling lines like ?Anakin Skywalker, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi? and the final scene of Attack of the Clones that so beautifully foreshadows the rise of the Empire.

I think this is why the problems bother me more this time around despite the fact that the movie is far better. This film had potential to be the best of the whole series, and it's not. That title still goes, in my opinion, to The Empire Strikes Back (the other depressing Star Wars movie...hmm). How does ROTS compare with ROTJ, the oft-maligned but emotionally resounding finale of the first trilogy, and Episode 3's titular counterpart? A surprising number of critics favor Sith, but I haven?t decided. It doesn't match the feel of the orignal films, which is a strike against it but not a fatal one. I plan on re-watching all three Classic films this month as well as going for at least another round of ROTS to find out. :D (Whee!)

But regardless of ?ranking,? there?s no question that this is an essential Star Wars film; in fact the essential film for those who care at all about integrating the two trilogies. And it works! We see the pieces come together and feel something beautifully satisfying happen in the process. We feel at last (CHEESE ALERT) the balance of the Force.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Sorry about that...
Ok, so for the last week I haven't been able to see the changes I've made to my blog and assumed they weren't being made at all, until I found out otherwise...so that's what those "testing" posts were all about. I guess I'll just go on posting blindly and hoping it's readable.

My much-delayed Star Wars review is coming, as is some extensive excited blathering about my latest big idea, Wholistic Fitness. But right now I just don't feel like it, so sit tight, folks.

Summertime!
Flying home tomorrow, finally. It's been a long, long year.

Today I'm chilling in various bookstores, drinking tea. Could life be better? Clearly not.

New Haven is so nice when you have nothing to do.
:)

The Force is Strong(er) With This One....
According to early reviews, the latest and final Star Wars film is a good movie, improving on and almost redeeming the first two prequels (which weren't all that bad, guys, come on...). Not that you can expect any Oscar-worthy performances or believable dialogue, but apparently the story is told in a genuinely affecting way that ties things together the way it needed to to preserve the integrity of the six films as a true saga rather than a classic trilogy with forgettable appendices. Let's hope. I'm excited.

(((((((XX)))){{:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>



Yes, I do remember how to do that from 7th grade. Go ahead and laugh. Y'all are just jealous of my Jedi powers.

(-o-)

Look, it's a TIE fighter!...ok now I've lost you all.

Woo Hoo!
I'm Done!

Yay.

A day of cleaning and meeting Jane Goodall (!), then to the woods I go.

Ah, exam week...
According to Diet Snapple's Real Fact #124, seals only sleep for 1.5 minutes at a time.

I think I may be approaching that number myself.

Three down, one big one to go...

Two Down...
My English exam is over, along with my Ceramics presentation! Now I have no more tests and only two papers to go before I'm halfway done with college...now that's a scary thought.

The real world looms on the horizon. I'm so old it's ridiculous.

Oh, and to talk about something important (because it's no fun to just sit and talk about yourself all day, right?), this spot-on article went up yesterday pointing out that Sunday was actually the 2-year anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech. That's a laugh.