aka Blog v4.0
At WonderCon in 2008, while watching Jon Favreau’s first clip for Iron Man, I NEVER dreamed that I and many of my friends and family would be so invested, emotionally and otherwise, in what has become the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And 11 years later, the end is near.
Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it.
I was watching the closing ceremonies of Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019, and they showed the recap video.
Over Skype I told Nelson that I wanna go back.
He did too, and said that we should go if it came back to Anaheim or to Los Angeles.
After an interesting audience participation exercise involving a large replica of the data disc containing the Death Star plans and a large lightsaber, they revealed the next location:
Hope to see you there!
I got a bit emotional when I first watched this trailer earlier today.
Because it IS the end.
Not the end of Star Wars.
It’s the end of a story that I had first been aware of when I was 10 years old, and I’ve followed for 42 years.
The end of the Saga.
The end of the Skywalker story.
The end of a huge chunk of my childhood, since Star Wars has been an integral part of my life since 1977.
At least this story has been.
I said earlier that I don’t like the title, but the more I think about it, the more I suspect that it isn’t what I think it means.
There will be plenty of fan theories, and some may even be right, but as I learned from The Last Jedi, whatever happens happens, and no amount of whining and complaining will change that.
We shall see, come December.
Recap of a week+ off from work.
3/4 – Start of a week off from work. Not much happened on Monday.
3/5 – Testing day for… reasons. Mostly an assessment of how I deal with computer support issues and stuff like that. Visited a comics/toys store on Geary, which I’d never been to before. Almost bought a really expensive Mazinger Z import from Japan, but talked myself out of it.
Those three words flash across a TV screen:
TO BE CONTINUED
And I’m taken back to a couple of moments in my life.
Memorial Day, 1980: The Northpoint theatre in San Francisco, to see the second ever Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back.
Like my Mom had said later, it was like seeing old friends again, on the big screen. I was enjoying the movie, and then had a weird feeling: the movie had run for close to a couple of hours, and then Boba Fett flew off with Han Solo in carbonite. I wasn’t sure they had enough time to rescue him by the end of the movie.
And then the wild ending, from the lightsaber duel, the escape from Cloud City and the jump to hyperspace.
I fully expected the next scene to by Luke, Lando, Leia and Chewie rescuing Han from Boba Fett.
Instead, Luke got a new hand, Lando and Chewie flew off in the Falcon, and then…
THE CREDITS STARTED.
What?
What’s happening?
WHAT ABOUT HAN?!?!?!
3 years later, the cliffhanger was resolved.
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June 18, 1990: Star Trek: The Next Generation season finale.
“The Best of Both Worlds”, in which the Borg invade Federation space, the Enterprise intercepts, and Picard is taken and turned into Locutus of Borg.
I still remember how chilling it was when Picard first spoke as Locutus.
I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service… us.
Then three words were spoken by Riker:
Mr. Worf, fire.
Those three words mentioned above appear on screen.
3 months later, the cliffhanger was resolved.
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I’m glad this latest cliffhanger will be resolved next week. Or so I hope.
I finally watched Crazy Rich Asians. Good movie.
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Clean up continues around the house. More trips to Goodwill are planned in the future.
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The 1967 San Francisco Giants replay is finally finished. I’m moving on to the 1939 New York Giants replay and continuing the 1917 MLB replay.
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February is right around the corner, meaning my birthday is coming up. This year it falls on a Saturday, and will be our monthly Games Night.
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TNT has started showing Rogue One almost every other day.
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I’ve been feeling crappy over the last few days, so much so that I’ve skipped my daily elliptical for a couple of days.
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I forgot to get a haircut this past weekend.
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I really do fear commitment.
When the reimaged Hawaii Five-O premiered, I watched it for a couple seasons. I got bored of it and stopped.
I’ve stopped watching the DC shows on CW, because I got bored of them.
I’ve drastically cut down on the number of comics I read on a monthly basis.
I don’t watch Star Trek Discovery.
I’m didn’t watch a full NFL football game once this season.
In all cases, they went on without me.
I see lots of people bemoaning Disney and their upcoming Star Wars projects, or people upset with Doctor Who because of the way the show is now.
So why can’t they simply walk away?
The whole ‘childhood ruined’ excuse is stupid for a myriad of reasons.
Hell, any excuse is stupid. Walk away.
Being a consumer doesn’t mean that you HAVE to consume everything.
And shouting at the wind won’t make any of these corporations change their minds.
It was the aquarium scene in Aquaman.
There was something about seeing a little brown kid discovering his super powers while being bullied that simply made me smile and tear up.
Because I’ve been that bullied little brown kid. But without the super powers.
I didn’t expect that.
As for the rest of the movie, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was entertaining. There were a lot of predictable moments that I could see coming a mile away.
The movie looks pretty, certainly, but some of these shots lingered longer than they should have. Some of the action shots looked bad. Period.
And Black Manta was a frakking joke. He reminded me of Gigan in Godzilla Final Wars.
Is it a must see? If you’re a fan of Aquaman or Jason Momoa, by all means, see it.
I would rank it second among the DC movies, behind Wonder Woman, and slightly edging out Justice League.
