“The Wookie Has No Pants”

Best line from the Star Wars DVD documentary came from Carrie Fisher, who said that during the production of Episode IV, all sorts of corporate types were coming in with various concerns and troubles, one of which was, “should Chewbacca have a loin cloth or something?” So far I haven’t had a chance to fully dig into the box set yet, but it’s really an enlightening look at Lucas in the early days, and it shows me his perspective better. I now understand the reason for his constant edits. He didn’t want to make 3 movies or 6 movies, he wanted to make one. So all these edits he makes are just things he would have done if he hadn’t had the restraints of budget and time and studio politics that he had. Plus the documentary is full of screen test, alternate takes and on-set goofing off, which is great.

Last Sunday, I overheard three kids at Allsop Park racing each other. When they arrived at their destination, the boys chimed in thusly:

Boy 1: “Winner!”
Boy 2: “Second!”
Boy 3: “Wait, we tied for second!”

They raced again, and the results were somewhat similar:

Boy 1: “Winner!”
Boy 2: “Second!”
Boy 3: “Look a red leaf!”

Something tells me I’m going to raise a child most resembling Boy 3.

Just Another Manic Monday

I came to work this morning to see something peculiar in the parking lot.

My office sits at the bottom of a steep hill leading up to Interstate 40. The driver insisted he was OK, but he seemed to be limping. I heard from the cop on the scene that he didn’t have insurance. He had Minnesota plates, so I’m not sure if he was just passing through or what. I’m also not clear on what happened exactly, but the speculation is he fell asleep at the wheel. Fortunately for us, the damage was superficial. No structural damage to the building, no loss of expensive or sensitive equipment. He just bashed in a closet. A little to the left and he would have taken out our A/C; a little to the right and he would have taken out our phone line and T1 connection. And the fact that this happened at about 6:30 AM means our cars are OK.

Last night DeLaine and Richard and I went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It’s the single most fabulous visual presentation I’ve seen since, well the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but still…maybe it’s better to say that it is the most original visual presentation I’ve seen since Star Wars. My dad is going to freak out when he sees it because it is essentially an old Republic serial with a CGI budget and modern film technology. It’s retro sci-fi, and it’s gorgeous to behold.

Pride is a Sin

This is why Mike Keneally is my hero. He has a song called “Pride is a Sin” and here is some unpacking of that concept he did in an interview over at seaoftranquility.org:

I think that pride as an emotion or as a way of being, it’s like it cuts off possibilities. It cuts off emotions and feelings. Pride is self … you puff yourself up and it’s like you can’t hear or you can’t feel. And frequently these are hardcore religious people who go on and on about how proud they are. But that’s thing one if you’re going to have any kind of enlightenment is to let go of that shit. Remove yourself from the equation to the best of your ability. Stop being centered on how you feel and how proud you are of your accomplishments. Anything that happens to you is a gift so how can you feel proud of it? Grateful. That’s how I feel about it.

Thanks, Mike. To take it a step further, I think pride is often something that’s only expressed in the face of criticism. Black pride and gay pride are things that only come in opposition to prevailing attacks on their particular cultures. And white pride is something that probably comes from the same thing, but only gets expressed by people who aren’t confident enough in themselves as individuals that they have to identify with a group to compensate for their own deficiencies. However thin you slice it, it’s still baloney. Pride is a sin; everything is a gift so stay humble.

Required Readings on the Topic of Cool

Artist, writer, poet, and Professor of the Humanities Bill Watterson wrote the definitive source text on the Nature of Cool in the late 20th Century. Witness his Zen-like efficiency of line and word.

Sombreros Rule

“What Fun Is It Being Cool If You Can’t Wear a Sombrero?” has been my motto for so long, I’m number 1 and 2 in Yahoo Search for that phrase.

Sloan

Pics from last night’s Sloan show. They rock. Also some other random bits all in the new Plog, arriving just 3 days after the last Plog.
Sorry to be so horribly sporadic. Not much happens around here, but when it does, it brings friends.

Rain

Last night rain came down in a peculiar way. I could only hear it. I was eating my dinner and I heard the sounds, but looking out the window, I could receive no visual confirmation. Were I deaf I would not have known it was raining. I had to stare very intently at the leaves outside my window before I could see some wet effect on them. I opened the window, and immediately my view was crowded by those two cats that live in my apartment. We smelled the air and watched the ground turn dark with moisture. Good times.

A Full Weekend

Last weekend I got my violin fixed, went to Chris’s birthday party at Heather’s (birthdays on September 11 deserve twice as much drinking as regular birthdays we figure), went out on the river with David and Emily, then went to see Hero, which was quite good. Pictures from the river in the new Plog.