Day: May 16, 2016

The ‘new’ finally wore off Star Wars and I found myself able to sit and watch the film without giggling like a teenager. Through a critical lens the film is very much a mirror of Episode 4 with a lot of purposeful placement of characters and even actors. Still, Abrams went to great links to delve into this world and make it his own out of the pieces that Lucas first created.

This is a movie that starts on the desert world of Jakku much like episode 4. This setting returns us to our first and likewise Abrams’ first view of the universe and does so in a way that shows us how he saw it. Where he missed an opportunity was to seize on some of the relationships in that world. We know Rey is an outsider and lives in the wreckage of a AT AT, but who does she know? What is the real value of those chips? Who are the other players on this world? Where is our bar full of colorful creatures? We see rough glimpses of that world but never stay put long enough to recognize who makes it tick.

When we hit space we are introduced (quite roughly and horribly) to Han Solo who just happens to be in the right sector of space to pick up the Falcon’s signal. I’m not going to remark on how the Falcon wound up in Jakku (sometimes you have to believe in the force). The missed opportunity here is two-fold. There was a chance to build on the Rey-Finn relationship in a way that made their connection more believable and a way to better build the mystery of who she is in relation to Solo. It just went too fast.

I have more to say but ten are up. More soon…

 

 

 

I’m writing this beachfront on a brisk sunday evening as the sun falls deeper beyond the horizon. I can hear the ocean crashing against itself like rich cymbals. Overhead the pelicans swirl and circle looking for an evening of food and fun. The taste of salt whispers against my tongue and fills my nose with a sense of joy and wonder I haven’t felt since New York. This is not my coast or my city or my world even but I enjoy it all the same. It feels me with joy, peace, and wonder.

My bestie reminded me that I need to take a moment to love myself every once in a while and I admit that she is right. I knew last night that the me moment was long overdue. Today all of that anger and futile rage has dissipated in a ball of wet sand sucked back into the ocean of my joy.

I’m a happy person–now, generally, and mostly when I write and I love and I live life this way. I have everything I want at my fingertips at this moment except for my kids. That is a big part of my joy too and I promised myself this morning that I will bring them here to sit under the same sun and hear the waves crash and the pelicans sing and the people laugh and play and be pleasant. They ought to know my joy so that they can see what I call happiness and, in time, find their own path there.

Some Thoughts:

1. I was able to catch the second half of the Heat-Raptors game and watched a team give up on itself. That is terrible, but I can see so many of those Heat players with the hunger and urgency to come back and do this right next year. This year was never their year. It belongs to the fated match between the restocked and healthy Cavs and the ‘Golden Warriors’
2. I need to go back to my CRT glasses because my eyes are the red of chiba with far less of the peaceful joy. Now where did I put those things…
3. Fantasy novel is going to happen soon. It lives in the back of my mind but keeps creeping forward like summer weeds.
4. The wordpress update is still terrible and I continue to have to cut and paste my entire post and reload to a new entry to post anything.