Happy Thanksgiving, Chilling and Preventing Style

 On this Thanskgiving in Canada, I feel both great and like crap.  Like crap because we got our 4th shot yesterday, and I am having some side effects.  Great because I got our fourth shot. It was always going to be a relaxed holiday since it is in between LA-fest and NYC-fly by.  

I am very thankful that we finally got to go back to LA where Executive Assistant Spew is
thriving.  The pandemic had preventing us from going there, but she had made it to family events on the east coast.  We got to meet 1/3 of her roommates, her cat kind of (shy cat), and we took her to Disneyland.  It was, indeed, the happiest place on earth if happy means packed!  It was set up for Halloween, which was fun but not as much fun as Busch Gardens about ten years ago with chain saw clowns and crazy doctors popping out.  Instead, we explored the new stuff--the Avengers complex with heaps of Spidey stuff and the new Star Wars land, which was most impressive.  We tried the blue and green milk which tasted more like sweet tarts than like milk.  We missed the big new ride--Rise of the Resistance--as it broke just as it was our turn.  Yuck.  Still, it was a great silly day.

We did heaps of art and gardens as well.  My wife and I went to the Getty on Friday while my daughter was working, and then we all went to the Huntington Gardens.  It involved a fair amount of driving, but we didn't deal with too many jams.  I do love driving up and down the canyons.  We ate very well, with me testing three different French Toasts.  None matched Hoshinos of Japan, but Porthos was the LA winner.  

What else am I thankful for?  The help of friends in all that I do.  The CDSN stuff, the

sabbatical supplements (I am looking for salary replacement for next year's sabbatical), emotional support during these stressful times, laughs, advice, and more.  This pandemic has been hard for all of us, but as an extrovert, being denied the opportunity to interact has been tough on me.  I was so happy to go the APSA last month in Montreal, to see my poli sci friends from all the way back including grad school pals, a friend from my first job, more recent folks.  

I am not thankful that the provincial folks getting elected across Canada suck so mightily.  Doug Ford got re-elected for .... being lucky enough to have crappy opposition.  He bungled the pandemic and is now continuing to drive folks out of the medical fields.  In next door Quebec, they re-elected a xenophobe with even more seats and votes.  A rapid nationalist is taking power in Alberta so that will mess things up further.  Good thing American politics is turning around.  Oh wait... 

I am thankful for Nigella Lawson, Sally's Baking Addiction, King Arthur Baking Company, Smitten Kitchen, and more as I am definitely eating tastier stuff with few (although some) fails.  I am also thankful for bice cream season which is now over.  I might have a few more bike rides left, but I am a fair weather biker, and we are nearly out of fair weather.  I do look forward to ski season, and I am already scheming with JC for more snow time.

I hope you and yours had a great Thanksgiving. The joy of being a dual citizen is that I get to do this twice!

So Much Time, So Much Star Wars: A Finished Clone Wars Post

As I can't play ultimate and as I have plenty of time on my hands, I have spent the quarantine watching Clone Wars while treadmilling.  I was reluctant to watch it when it came out because
a)  I didn't want to root for Anakin Skywalker, given what he became;
b)  Jar Jar Binks.

But with Mandalorian and Rebels both building on Clone Wars stuff (the Black Saber, among other things), it made sense to go back and watch.  Plus the seventh season, which looked cool was just coming out (spoiler: it was mostly very cool).  So, yes, I have many thoughts.

Revising Rise: Some Ideas While Driving

Mrs. Spew and I returned from visiting her family, and so we had much time to ponder what could made Rise of Skywalker better.  I liked the movie upon second-watching, but rather than revise my first post, (although after watching some of the original movies over the break and seeing Rise again, and, yes, responding to the commentary, I would move Rise from tied with RoTJ to the Ambivalent Tier, perhaps tied with Force Awakens with the conclusion of s1 of Mandalorian pushing it to Rogue 1 territory) I suggest how to revise the movie.

So, various ideas beyond the break, but no wayfinder needed:

First, There Was a Trilogy; Then, A Trilogy of Trilogies ...

Next, will we have three series of tri-trilogies?  It is probably too soon to react to seeing Rise of Skywalker, but, I will, because it is my blog.  Spoilers dwelleth below:

Balance to the Force?

I have been listening to the new Binge-Mode podcasts which are now focusing on Star Wars after doing Game of Thrones and Harry Potter.  So, I have been reminded of something that drove me crazy long ago.  Yes, there is so much bad in the prequels, but one of the dumbest ideas is this: that Anakin Skywalker would bring balance to the force.

What the hell does that mean?  It is often suggested that his killing of the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi is finally the act that brings balance to the force.  But balance suggests an equal weight on both sides.  Killing the most powerful Sith and then, well, dying himself and thus removing most of the relevant dark side types (until Snoke and Kylo return to the scene--depending on how much of the expanded universe one consumes and adheres to) actually disturbs the balance as now the weight should all be on the light side. 

Which gets to one of the dumbest things in the prequels--if at first, the Jedi don't think that there is a Sith menace out there, why would they (Qui-gon especially) value a prophecy about bringing balance to the force.  At that moment, these Jedi think they utterly dominate, so balance is the last thing that they would want.

Let's move to IR for a minute: once the Soviet Union collapsed, the US stood alone, a superpower with no equals.  It did not then seek out to balance power.  Power became very unbalanced, tilted heavily to the US.  As China has risen relative to the US, there is greater balance in International Relations.  Is the US happier now?  I think not. 

One could argue that it is not so much about balancing of forces but any moment in time is a particular status quo that is seen as a balance, a juxtaposition of forces, and stability-seeking powers want to keep the status quo.  Again, however, until Darth Maul and Darth Siddious became well known, there should have no need or desire for an agent to balance the force. 

So, alas, we are stuck with this dumb prequel concept attached to Darth Vader in a more sticky way than much of the crap in the prequels.  However, it is handy for illustrating how problematic the concept of balancing is in International Relations.

What I liked most about The Last Jedi is how Luke railed about the stupidity of the Jedi.  I need to re-watch to see if the balance stuff comes up.  As it stands, I am thinking of the Rise of Skywalker is not about Rey being kin to Luke/Leia/Anakin but rather a new way, alternative way to think about the force and one's role in using it.  This would allow Rey to occasionally use the force in anger, to engage in love (something else that was so dumb about the prequels--that Jedi can't marry, etc), and the balancing is within the force user rather than between the forces of light and dark. 

We will find out next month how wrong I probably am.  And that will end any balance there is now between me and my uncertain opinions.

Star Wars Exhaustion or Too Much Fett?

I am a big Star Wars fans, and I have enjoyed the new movies quite a bit.  So, when I hear they are making a Boba Fett movie, my first reaction is:   ug.  No, not because of SW exhaustion but because I never really found BF to be a BFDeal.  I asked twitter thusly:

Star Wars Survey:
Is Boba Fett the most overrated character in the galaxy?

— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) May 25, 2018

One third think that Boba Fett is not the most overrated character, which is not that dissimilar from the usual surveys about Trump, GOP stances, and all the rest.  One third of the people are misled or misguided.  Why?  Because Boba Fett gets killed by accident mostly and is otherwise most unimpressive.  What does he do?  He tracks down Han Solo.  Fine, clever boy.  But in battle?  Meh.  Oh, and his father was easily defeated by a Jedi, so let's just consider whole Mandalorian merc thing wildly overrated.

So, will I go to a Boba Fett movie?  Sure, I am a sucker.

On Second Thought: Last Jedi Still Rocks

Yep, beyond the break:

The Civil-Military Relations of the Last Jedi

There ain't none.... that is, there are no civilians among the resistance, so no civil-military relations.

Spoilers below the break

The Last Jedi: Woot!

People are worried about too much Star Wars now that Disney owns that property and Marvel and maybe even the Fox stuff (Spidey, X-stuff).  After last night, I am not so worried.  I saw folks rank Last Jedi among the very best Star Wars movies, but I need to watch it a few times to be sure.  I can be sure that it is the most enjoyable of the new ones and will rank well ultimately (spoilers below):

Going Rogue: Too Soon to Rank?

I saw Rogue One last night, so I have many thoughts below the break (spoilers, including there is this thing called the Death Star, oops):

May the Fourth Be Hamilton With You

Thanks to Erin Simpson for tweeting this:

Rogue 1 Insta Reaction

I just saw this (twice) and have so many feelings:


So many feels.  Felicity Jones looks wonderfully haunted.  Where is Alan Tudyk?  Forrest Whitaker will rock.  The scenery (no desert! palm trees!)!  New Stormtroopers (we need new toys action figures).  This just seems to have a nice Star Wars meets heist kind of feel to it. 

No matter what else happens in 2016, at the end, we will be rewarded with more Star Wars.  Woot!  Woot cubed!!!

We are All Awakened!

I saw SW: The Force Awakens with my family on Friday.  It was delightful.  Even the previews were delightful.  Ok, not all of them, but the sloth at the DMV was fantastic.  Anyhow, I was most impressed that no one (except a troll at a certain website) tried to spoil the movie.  I was surprised by that, even as the big twist in the movie was ... (Spoilers below the break)

Revisionist Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Is Underrated

I ranked the Star Wars movies a while back, but the topic is fresh again thanks to this deadspin post, perhaps as we anticipate the 7th SW movie.

Some excellent points are made by the Deadspin folks:

• the first act doth rock!  Leia's big moment as Hutt-killer, the repartee after Han is defrosted, the first time we see a semi-trained Jedi really demonstrate what one can do.
• that Vader being lame is actually a good thing.  Worshiping the bad guys is always going to hurt in the third part of a trilogy because they are going to go down and down hard.  That Boba Fett got defeated pretty easily is actually terrific since he is so overrated. Yes, I said that.  His dad got killed by a Jedi pretty easily too because guess what: Jedi >> Mandalorian armor.
• Ewok hate is heightist.  Chewie rocks but Ewoks don't?  And, as we look back at the six, one can see Ewoks as a gateway cutesy that leads to Jar Jar OR so very superior to that which Lucas could have done and subsequently did do.  Depends on your point of view, as Obi-Wan would say.
• I raised my one qualm on twitter--that the Ewoks seemed way too prepared for the battle with the Stormtroopers.  How did they get the big logs in place?  The answer: the Ewoks had been preparing for this battle for quite some time.  Lots of pre-positioned stuff that just needed a spark to light their rebellion.  
• The real reason why some folks hate on Return, other than it inevitably was not going to get as much love as the two excellent movies preceding it, is the love of darkness for the sake of darkness.  Meh to that.  This movie was always going to have to be light because it was always going to provide us with a happy ending... complete with singing and modest dancing.
• So many good bits:

• Better realized Jabba
• Han's confusion about Luke and Leia.
• "Hey, it's me,"
• Speeders in the woods!
• Yoda... sob.
•  More Wedge!
• "Face the power of a fully armed and operational death star"
• The superstar destroyer plunging into the death star like Excalibur back into the lake.

The third movie ended the trilogy the way it should have ended.  Were the Ewoks a bit too cute?  Sure.   But the movie also created iconic moments and memorable lines, about as many as the previous two movies and way more than the prequels.  So, yes, I admit that I love Return of the Jedi.  It was not the best of the three, but it was a damned fine movie.  If Force Awakens can be as good as Return of the Jedi, I am going to enjoy my winter break with multiple viewings.

An Awakening?

I was tempted to write about the Liberals' embracing of deficits but this is far more fun:

There has been an awakening... #StarWars #TheForceAwakens

A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

Revenge Reconsidered

I saw a tweet about Star Wars today and responded thusly:

Worst part of Sith, going from reluctantly fighting Mace Windu to killing kids in like 30 seconds. https://t.co/5c1Tj8UBXs

— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) July 11, 2015

The resulting discussion led me to re-watching Revenge of the Sith.  I haven't seen it in years, so I forgot how truly awful it is.  I guess I thought it was not bad because it was better than the other prequels, but damn it is bad.  The dialogue is awful, awful, awful.  The Anakin flitting back and forth between Palpatine and Jedi Council causes headaches, and I got lost counting how many different hairstyles Natalie Portman has in this movie.  It seems as if the rule is that she needs a different hairstyle in each and every scene.

I remembered that the action was good, which it kind of was.  Indeed, the action in the prequels is mostly good.  The start of Phantom Menace with Qui-jon and Obi Wan showing what real Jedi can do is just terrific, and the fight with Darth Maul at the end is very good.  In Clones, the stuff in the arena is quite good, so much so that the dialogue is not bad.  But then I realized watching RoS today that the action in the third movie is mostly ... dumb. 

Examples:

• the fight to save Palpatine at the start is undermined by the very fact that Palpatine staged all of this to manipulate Anakin.  I mean, Palpatine is seriously in danger unless he could bounce from a falling starship. 
• Grievous is scary until he isn't.  Obi Wan literally disarms him one arm at a time.  How could this guy beat some many Jedi before this?  And he coughs?  Why does a droid have a lung condition or allergies?
• Fighting on a volcanic planet?  Why are folks mining lava?  Why does Obi Wan maneuver himself further and further into the lava?  

 The other real problem with this movie is how it ends.  No, not just that Padme gives up on living just as she produces two kids that might just want a mother.  No, I mean, the last we see of the Emperor and Vader is their watching the Death Star being built.  It took 18 years or so to build the Death Star?  Who was their defense contractor?  Lockheed?

Anyhow, as we anticipate Star Wars VII with the latest stuff out of comic-con, people are thankful that George Lucas is not involved. Which is sad, since the original trilogy was his baby and was so very good. But the second trilogy was even more so, as he wrote and directed them, and boy did they suck.  I don't know if JJ Abrams can do better than the first trilogy, but I am fully confident that he can do better than the prequels (even if I am not a fan of his version of Star Trek).

I need to have some beer now to improve the bitter taste in my mouth.

If I Had a Vote In Canada's Election This Year

If I had a vote In Canada's election this year,* I would vote Liberal.  Why?

#LPC will create a new CDN Child Benefit – one that’s simple, meaningful and tax-free. #fairness #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/cf2cxruRn3

— Justin Trudeau, MP (@JustinTrudeau) May 4, 2015

Yes, I am easily pandered to, and I have no shame. 

*  My citizenship process is not going to be completed in time.

Star Wars: Space Only

Someone has edited the end of Return of the Jedi to be just the space stuff



 And it is just fantastic.  It ramps up the tension far more than the three sided battle--on Endor; between Luke, Daddy, and the Emperor; and the space stuff.   But, well, the rest of the stuff was kind of necessary.

Still, the interplay among the various elements in space is far more compelling than the space battle that opens Revenge of the Sith.  There, it is just Anakin and Obi-wan.  Here, so much more with stakes one cares about.

Once again, the internet is a magical place and this is why I am on twitter.

H/T to @cblatts

Who is the Normal and Who Is the Weird?

I finally got around to reading this piece entitled "Examining the US Military's Long, Weird, Star Wars Fascination."  I guess we should not blame the title on the author, since one could also call it: "cool ways that Star Wars has affected our thinking."

The article does not really document that there is anything "weird" in this.  How is the US military distinct from American culture in its interest in Star Wars?  No data here.  We do know from its ubiquity in pop culture, that Star Wars is not just a military thing.  So, how can we call it weird? 

Also, how fascinated is the military?  Yes, some people in the military are fascinated, and some folks use Star Wars as useful analogy to explain stuff, but how deeply/broadly does the US military indulge in SW stuff?  The examples here are just a bit problematic:

• Naming hand prosthetics after Luke.  No, this is not the military but a company making the product;
• An article using lessons about overreliance on expensive technology--ok, using pop culture to as an analogy makes sense to me. 
• Laser cannons.  Ok, this one might qualify if Star Wars was the first to popularize laser weapons, but noooo, hardly.  Also, the text here is about the media call these new laser-cannons Star Wars-laser cannon.  Last I checked, the media ain't the military.  So, who is fascinated?
• Kids and parents and random folks wearing Star Wars stuff and playacting?  Apparently, no one involved in this article has gone to a Comic Convention and seen the cosplay.  We could only expect no Star Wars stuff being enjoyed by US military personnel if the gap between the military and society was so vast that the SW stuff did not cross over.
• They call the old guy who headed a Net Assessment Office "Yoda".
• Reagan?  Really? Last I checked Reagan was a civilian.

 So, yes, Star Wars is everywhere, it connects us, it binds us, it is ... akin to the force.  Saying the US military is weird or fascinated is just silly.  Many of us are fascinated by Star War, and thus we are giddy after the release of the teaser.

Teaser Analysis: The Snark Awakens

I have been asked for my thoughts about the new Star Wars trailer. 


My first reactions are these: