Memorialized

Hey there. Hope this Memorial Day finds you in good form. I had a very busy but productive vacation. Lots of work got done around the ol' homestead, with the help of my parents. I have two shiny new storm doors, a motion sensor light over the garage door, and an overhauled and cleaned up front yard. Now, the little weed patch term really only applies to the back yard. I spent the afternoon at an alpaca farm, hanging out with a friend from Cornell and some other assorted people. True story.

So, back to the office tomorrow. Damn. I'll try to resist the temptation to post at work (again).

- RK

Do this I must

Yeah, I must blab a bit about Star Wars. I very much enjoyed Episode III. The weaknesses were pretty much the same as the weaknesses in the other two prequels, but less flagrant. The new trilogy improved with each installment, but we should have not expected it to be as revered as the original trilogy. It's hard to duplicate success once, much less five times. One thing kind of bugged me though - Yoda's reference to Qui-Gon at the very end. Was this stuck there as an explanation of the "blue ghosts" of old dead Jedis that come to talk to Luke in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi? Or was it just a "surprise!" moments stuck ungracefully at the end, when there was no time to elaborate, just so the audience felt like it got its money's worth? Most people I've asked seemed to think it had to do with the blue ghosts. I'm not convinced. I think it's more of a tacked-on surprise, and it didn't work. I mean, all the reviews are correct: there wasn't much that fans of Star Wars didn't know going in to this one. Anakin becomes Darth Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan are forced into exile, and Palpatine is behind the whole stinkin' thing. But did the Lucas team really need to put some ill-explained surprise in at the last minute? I don't think it helps. Also, I was moderately disappointed in two other things: 1) Sam Jackson not being enough of a bad-ass (who would have ever thought?), and 2) Count Dooku biting it so early in the film, because more Christopher Lee is always good. Also, it was a long movie (the longest of the Star Wars films?), but that probably only bothered me because of the time of day I saw it (late afternoon on Saturday).

OK, enough complaining. Overall, I enjoyed myself very much. There were great space battles, some genuinely tense moments, and several little nuggets for the fans. Star Wars may be over, but we're left with six very entertaining films, a couple of which come very close to being great cinema. Stupid Lucas control-freak issues aside, it's good that they went out this way. No dancing Ewoks celebrating the end of this trilogy. But hey, the Ewoks were cool when I was 7. And isn't that what Star Wars is all about - kindling that childlike sense of "wow?"

- RK

Still getting used to this consarned contraption

Yes, it's true. I am not the world's best blogger. But I'm getting used to this malarkey. First off, I've enabled open comment posting, so you don't have to be a Blogger member to post (thanks to long-time jug bander and all-around mensch Mike Gray for pointing that out). Also, I'm using one of the canned templates because I don't know CSS for nuthin'. Learning basic HTML back in 1995-96 came in handy for a while, but it doesn't really cut it in today's go-go world, does it? Ah well. Anything else you want to point out, don't be afraid.

Note to Sebastian: don't you know I'm not a big fan of popcorn? I mean, I'll eat it if I'm hungry, but it's not my favorite food. But I'm happy that the Spirit of Corn hath moved you so, my son.

So, how's by me? My house has been resided and it looks sparkling neat and clean. I promise I will post before and after photos, once I have digital photo capability, and once I can kick one of our students off the terminal here at the library that has a scanner attached (this would be for the "before" photo). Enjoy Star Wars Episode III, all you lovely geeks, you.

- R

Where have all the corn stalks gone?

Yeah, I haven't done squatola with my blog since the day I set it up. Still working on that digital camera. I might actually buy one this weekend. Otherwise, things have been dull and busy. Dusy. Or Bull.