Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches

On November 1, 2005, the circle, or collection anyway, will be complete. The final Star Wars "episode" will be released on DVD.

Before it came to theaters, Revenge of the Sith was said to be the "darkest" of the three prequels; it would be for the prequels what The Empire Strikes Back was for the originals. Steven Speilberg was quoted as saying he cried during it:

"It's the best of the last three episodes. It's the best way you could possibly imagine for George to finish it off, it has a tremendous ending and it's very dark. You'll cry at the end, it's wonderful"."Look, this is a movie I was genetically predisposed to love. I remember being eight years old, and reading in Starlog that Darth Vader became the half-man/half-machine he was following a duel with Ben Kenobi that climaxed with Vader falling into molten lava. Now, twenty six years later, I finally got to see that long-promised battled - and it lived up to any expectation I still held. I was sad to see the flick end, but happy to know it's not the end of the Star Wars universe entirely (I've read stuff about a TV show...)".
He pretty much summed up the feeling I had about it.

The trailer, as with the previous two prequels, made me cry. Has there ever been, in the history of cinema, a movie that has such incredible trailers?

Episode III could've, should've been great. It could have should have "redeemed" Lucas and Star Wars. Instead, director/creator/sreenwriter George Lucas majorly dropped the ball. Amazingly, the whole Star Wars phenomena sort of deflated, if not imploded, as a result of Revenge of the Sith. It's like Lucas was feeding on himself, and invited the entire world to look on.

Still, I love the original three, and I'll eventually learn to love this one, as I have the other two (The Phantom Menace, specifically, is a better film as a result of III. Attack of the Clones is pretty tough to watch; it's so pointless and stupid, for the most part). I will be buying the DVD.

The DVD, as with the other two prequels', is loaded with extras:

Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

Commentary by writer-director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett

Exclusive deleted scenes with introductions by George Lucas and Rick McCallum

"Within a Minute" documentary film about the making of the Mustafar battle

"The Chosen One" featurette: George Lucas traces the myth of Darth Vader through episodes 1-6

"It's All for Real: The Stunts of Episode III"

A 15-part collection of Lucasfilm's Web documentaries

"A Hero Falls" music video

Poster and print campaign

Trailers and TV spots

Never-before-seen production photo gallery


Sweet! I'm excited! Shouldn't be...but I am!

A couple of days ago, Ain't It Cool News showed several pics of some of the more interesting deleted scenes:

"The Slaughter of Shaak Ti<"That's fairly brutal. You can see why it was thought the movie would earn a "R" rating.

My favorite are of Dagobah, and a defeated Yoda

making his escape to the isolated planet where twenty years later, the very last of the Jedi Knights, Luke Skywalker, would seek him out.





It would've been nice to have seen that sequence in the actual movie!

My final verdict on the whole prequel fiasco is that Lucas should have made just one. He could've taken the very best from each prequel, and made a truly great, 3 hour plus, classic. People went to see the 3 hour plus The Return of the King, so I'm sure they'd do the same for a Star Wars movie. Nonetheless, I can't wait for November 1, and the opportunity to once again throw money at Lucas & Co., which in no way needs it as much as I do.

Labels: Star Wars

This should be interesting! From last night's (Thursday) Variety update:

"Myers lands on Moon"


IS

Labels: music

With all due respect to Old Haunts, the best place on the Web to find "old photographs of Halloweens long past", I submit a couple of pics of downown Nac, ready to lose itself in the season, as the weather slowly begins to change. This Saturday is October 1, by the way. (used in previous post)

Labels: Nacogdoches

Nacogdoches? Almost.

She hates these trees!!!Stay away from the trees!!!Some of the trees Rita selected were near power lines......and people's homes and property. Caspar, right in the thick of it.Buddy, keeping a safe distance and behaving oddly "cat-like".

Labels: Nacogdoches

"Rock Hall Snubs 1980"
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee was unable to find a band or artist from the newly eligible class of 1980 worthy of putting on the ballot sent out to voters last week. This is a little surprising, because it's seemed to me over the last several years that they'll put anybody in that bleepin' thing, truly rock and roll,

or not
such as:

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
(actually released December of '79 in the U.S.)
The phoenix rising from the flame.
Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk--It's still rock and roll to me.
You can't tell me this isn't rock and roll when he's clearly channeling Hendrix on the guitar solos. And, he opened for The Rolling Stones.
It's hard to explain just how cool The Police were, so I won't even try. Consider though that Zenyatta Mondatta had a song called "Behind My Camel".
The last "good" Queen album.
XTC, the Rodney Dangerfield of rock bands. Guess they were skipped over last year?
At least for the first two songs!
NAMBLA's fave?
Speaking of NAMBLA...just kidding! I love St. Pete!! He was doing research. Research, people. Much love to Townshend.
All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

Like...Bridgette Bardot! (inducted last year)
The album which ended with Springsteen contemplating a
"Wreck on the Highway", leading perfectly to his next, 1982's dark and dreary (but so good)
Just kidding. Making sure you're awake, gentle reader. Although, the title track is a guilty pleasure (c'mon, admit it), and E.L.O. had a couple of good tunes on it.
Finally, my personal favoriteThe Clash's epic, three album set. A three album set a year after putting out the classic double album, London Calling (Rolling Stone mag's album of the decade for the 1980s). Let's see Babyshambles, The Darkness, or even Green Day do that! I don't think so.

Sex Pistols + The Beatles = The ClashThe album it came from may have been critically panned, but the single
is a classic, and the video for it was groundbreaking (it seemed so weird!).

Labels: music

Stephen F. Austin State University-Nacogdoches, Texas

Labels: Nacogdoches, photography

Labels: blogs

September 22, 2005 is the autumnal equinox, and the beginning of fall. Today (Sept. 14), the heat index, yep, heat index, was right at 102°, with humidity, in the morning at least, at around 94%. It's freakin' hot, people. It's not as if a week will make a big difference in the temp., but at least we know the end of the merciless summer is near. Main Street, downtown Nac., is ready for Halloween!


I love Halloween as much as the next guy, and can barely wait for the seasonal change! Check back in October for mo' better Halloween pics.

Labels: Nacogdoches

"The Next Mother Lode: Mars"

A company has set out to make Mars "a center for needs of the solar system economy".

Part of the plan involves the first permanent human settlement on Mars, using strictly Martian materials, as early as 2025(!).

One of the company's consultants was director of science and research at Biosphere 2.


These are nice renderings, the first one reminds me of '60s mod-style (there's gonna be a swingin' time on Mars):

I mean, what could go wrong on Mars?




It's not as if authors (going back to Ancient Rome) and screenwriters haven't held a dim view of the planet of war...

Labels: miscellaneous miscellany

For anyone who grew up in the Galveston/Houston, Texas, area, this is probably sad news:

"For AstroWorld, the ride is over"

That's right, after 37 years, AstroWorld plans to close on October 30, the last day of their annual "Fright Fest". I'm sort of in shock about this, although the news of a potential sale has been out for at least a month. The problem is the value of the land has gone up, while at the same time, attendance is down. Six Flags, who has owned the park since 1975, is more than $2 billion in debt. It has been a local icon as long as I can remember. I grew up going to this place, the last time being just two years ago. It will most likely be leveled to make room for housing or office space. My heart breaks. As an adult, I understand the great irony of life--the one thing that never changes is the presence of change. But, oh, how it hurts! The child in me weeps (the adult can't keep a dry eye).

This is a sweet article about all the memories people created while there:

"From free falls to first dates, park delivered plenty of thrills"

Can it really be? Goodbye(?) to:
The Texas CycloneGreezed Lightnin'Antique Taxis (lots of childhood memories!)
I can't believe it will all soon be gone.

Do you remember:

Wackyshack?Horizons Theater?Skyarama/Astroneedle?Excalibur?Modville (too groovy to last!)?
And the one I've missed the most of all since they took it out years ago:
Alpine Sleigh RideThe Alpine Sleigh ride was especially great on those hot, Texas summer days. AstroWorld has never been the same without it and the Alpine Village.

Labels: Houston, miscellaneous miscellany

Raguet Elementary School--Nacogdoches, Texas

"It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!"

Labels: Nacogdoches, signs

But, as I've said, the attention to detail and subtlety is pretty remarkable, considering each character is a Lego version of the movie character. Playing as Yoda feels uncannily like what it must be like to be Yoda. When his lightsaber is drawn, the Lego Yoda spins around in a whirlwind of movement that pushes the limits of the Playstation 2 technology. When his lightsaber is off, he walks frustratingly slow, with a cane. That experience is but a very small example of one of many moments in this game that drop you right into the middle of various scenes from the prequels.

This scene from Attack of the Clones:

is one of the coolest levels in the game:

It's not all adventuring--many of the missions involve space battles
and pod races as well.

Most of these are extremely difficult, and will probably take you more than a couple of attempts in order for you to make it through them.

Anakin's pod race from The Phantom Menace is one of those that'll make you throw the controller across the room in a fit of rage because it's so challenging. Some of these races and space battles feel like something from an arcade, while some of them remind me of old Genesis games like Subterrania.

In addition to the beautiful graphics, the game uses the same sound effects as used in the films. A huge part of any of the episodes, for me, has been the scores of John Williams. The movies would not be the same without his music. Many of the familiar themes are taken from each prequel and used throughout the game, adding a cinematic element.

On a side note, the first three or four times I rented this game, I couldn't get the it to load on my Playstation 2. I would keep getting the dreaded "disc read error" that occurs to users of the early SCPH-30001 Playstation 2 model, with a U serial number. I'd been having this problem from time to time when playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Newer games often don't load on the earliest Playstation 2s. To compound this issue (as far as playing Lego Star Wars is concerned), Lego Star Wars was made on a blue disc, blue being the hardest color for even the latest Playstation 2s to load. I came across this site which offers a step-by-step way to correct this error. It requires opening up the Playstation 2, so you'll void your warranty if you do it. Mine was old enough that the warranty period was long over. I followed each step, precisely, and can now play both blue discs and San Andreas with no problem.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game is a tremendously fun game--fun if you pick up the controller and play for just a few minutes, or a couple of hours. Lego now needs to apply this concept to the original trilogy.

Labels: Star Wars, videogames