Hola de Peru!
Chilling in Chepen...Having so much fun! No time to hablar. Blisters on my fingers! I love getting dirty with sharp pointed objects. ;)

Adios!

Adios Amigos!
Mood:  happy
This is it! I'm off to Peru in a matter of hours. I'm going to be digging Moche tombs in San Jose de Moro, near Chepen. It's winter there. That's not really fair...someone owes me a month of summer! I think it'll do me good to get out of the country for a while.

Speaking of the country, I take back what I said about campaigning for John McCain in 2008. I TAKE IT BACK! I just can't do it after hearing him praise Bush's Iraq speech on Larry King Live. McCain is no Dick Cheney, but I just can't support someone who is so pro-war and unwilling to speak out against the lies and selfish policies that have gotten us into this mess. No way am I going to change my party registration (um, wtf?!?!) to vote for that poor misguided soul. No. Way. I'm blue, da ba dee da ba die...Better to just go down with the ship than try to jump back and forth between them. It's called integrity, people. So all you who thought my "brilliant" plan for temporary GOPdom was completely nuts, you win. Got that, you win! It was a bad idea.

Does this mean I'm a flip-flopper?

Maybe I should just stay in Peru :)

Have a wonderful July!

Officially Summer...
I'm tired of writing about the real world...there's nothing I want to say anymore that isn't being said with much more wit on The Daily Show

My, where has June gone? How do I spend my time these days? I'm not really sure. Finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo.I should have read it in French, though it probably would have taken me all summer. Still pondering my next summer reading venture...got a long plane ride ahead of me. I'm trying to learn Spanish before I go to Peru, but I'm being embarassingly lazy about it. On Father's Day (beautiful irony, people) I saw Revenge of the Sith again and loved it even more. Speaking of which, in honor of my Star Wars-themed post during the Vice Presidential debates, I now belatedly present this little Father's Day gem.

I had a magnificent, cleansing three days in the Grand Canyon. It was just what I needed. I can see why the wholistic guru Steve Ilg moved to Flagstaff. There's really nothing like the American West. I thought I would grow so attached to the northeast, but I was wrong. I love it out here so much where it's brightopen new...

I am looking forward immensely to Peru, though I just realized I only really have three more weeks at home this summer!
I will have a hard time maintaining my fitness routine there, so I'll focus on internal fitness. And fun, lots of that! Today I realized that going to a third world country is kind of like going back to the 1970s. Whee! :) I'm probably not going to bring my computer so expect another long, blogless hiatus. Sorry to break it to you; I know you just can't get enough rambles.

The Big News Nobody's Heard About, Part II
Last night I finally saw something on CNN about the Downing Street Memo. Unfortunately they did everything they could to downplay its significance. In a belittling tone, Aaron Brown tried to answer "why it hasn't gotten the attention some -- some -- think it deserves" in America comared to the furor in Britain. His conclusion? The memo surfaced right before the British election, whereas the U.S. election had been over for months. Um...no? It think it's because the press in the U.S. is being censored. CNN questioned the relevance of the memo given that wht matters now is not the conditions leading up to war in Iraq, but what we should do now that we're there. Well I'm sorry, but if the President lied to us an manipulated facts, even if there's nothing we can do to fix the resulting disaster, we need to make him explain himself. Tellingly, CNN skirted the issue of Bush's deception, brushing it aside by airing a clip of Blair and Bush denying they fixed the facts. Oh see, they say they told the truth. Now we believe them. Good job, CNN.

I wrote them an angrygram. :D

Quote of the Week



Republican politicians have come a long way since the 1950s. Check out this Eisenhower quote (no I'm not going to find a legit link. It's all over the net):

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

If only that were stll the case.

Cry, the beloved country.

What to Say?
Grr.

I've been having trouble finding compelling things to write about, and yet I'm more disgusted than ever with the state of our nation and planet. I just feel like everything in the news is bad, so there's not much point in singling anything out. I'm just not surprised anymore.

Apparently Bush doesn't know where Wales is. Unsurprised.

According to the NYT, a White House official repeatedly edited climate reports in ways that play down links between emissions and global warming. Guess what? He used to be a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute. Unsurprised.

More Iraq carnage. Unsurprised.

Some people have been giving newly-unmasked "Deep Throat" Mark Felt a hard time. And by "people" I speak very loosely, as I am including Robert Novak. Oh, and G. Gordon Liddy, Pat Buchanan...what's wrong with this picture?

Sigh. There's so much more but frankly I just don't have the energy. Guess I'll go back to rambling about my personal life. As if I do anything in the summer! I am going to the Grand Canyon next week for those of you who don't know. Yay.

I'm just hoping that this is the worst it's going to get. We could do without, say, a war in Iran. But you never know -- badness tends to grow exponentially. I'm still optimistic about the long, long term. These guys just might do themselves in with their own scheming, and if the American people finally wake up, it could be hard for the Republican Party to recover. As Gandalf said, "Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend. It can be so, sometimes."

I can only repeat my November 7 entry:

It is starting to be better. In church today, we were told that no story, either of victory or defeat, is final. That despite our frustration, our path still lies before us, unaltered, and we are never done. That victory often breeds hate, because the losers dwell in bitterness, but that we must cling to love, though it be unfashionable. That we can learn to look at those who disagree with us, even those who would hurt us, and see the same human hearts, beating, the same wind filling all our lungs.

"The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

Those were the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. Before him, they belonged to Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister. He was speaking in hope of the abolition of slavery. Thinking on those times, how can we not see the truth of those words? How can we not see that the liberal voices of the world are the ones that still echo the truths of history?


If real life were like Star Wars, I'd like to think that we're still mid-saga, with a few more Episodes to go to set things right. Then again, if life were like Star Wars...well I won't get into that.

Keep hope alive!

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.