star wars

May the Force be With the New One

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Hey Kids,

Remember, if you can, when the original Star Wars released. You know the movie, Star Wars. The one we all wondered why it said Episode IV.522679OriginalStarWarsposter (1)

First, I don’t remember it releasing. I remember talk of the movie, and then it was open, and then everyone had to go see it, and then they kept going. And going. And going. My family was poor and I still saw ghe movie three times in the theatre. And once at the drive-in when they re-released it a few years after. I heard of people who watched the movie at the theatre over a hundred times.

I knew jack squat about the movie before I went. No synopsis to read, or leaked stories. Except for Harrison Ford (who we knew as that guy from American Graffiti) and a couple of English dudes that my parents knew, they were nobody actors. We only knew them as Luke and Leah.

Sure merchandising came along, but not months or years ahead. After we all learned we liked the movie, then we went out and bought the crap.

Empty Christmas wrapping tubes made great Light Sabers and we all beat the crap out of each other. Cheaters used Hot Wheel tracks.

I’m not poo-pooing the new Star Wars movie, but I know it will never capture the imagination like the original did. That movie wasn’t a just a movie. It was a social shift, we grew up, we imagined again, and we had hope in our own world again. Look up the goings-on in 1977, there were some sad people and things then.

Funny thing, the episode was actually named A New Hope. Of course, this made no sense to anyone. It was Star Wars. I don’t recall ever thinking about a sequel until there was one.

I hope this new movie is good.

No, I’m hoping for great.

 

Day 290

Internet Takeover

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Hey Kids,

Back to the Future or Star Wars?

That has been the internet for two days now.

Monday, the full trailer for the new but 7th Star Wars movie aired during Monday Night Football and the internet soon became clogged with replays of it. People started buying tickets for the December release and crashed the sites selling them within 88 minutes.art,backtothefuture,comic,illustration,movie,starwars-8b146d844d7f7e3477f82e4026f39602_h

Today was the date depicted in the movie Back to the Future 2 as the future. Everyone made their comparisons to what the movie saw as our future today and what it is for reals. They were not exactly right.

I’m a little full of the Star Wars and Back to the Future references, although I’m not against either.

But you know what’s really cool?

With so much Jedi and Marty McFly in the timelines, a whole lot of crap got pushed out.

I’m OK with that.

 

Day 240

A Long or Short History

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Hey Kids,

I remember 1977.

Star Wars. That was really what that year was about. How many times did you go to see it? We were poor, and yet I saw the movie at the theatre maybe 4 or 5 times. When was the last time you watched a movie at the theatre 4 or 5 times? Me, never before and never since. And my 4 or 5 times was nothing to what many of my friends did.

1977 was also the middle of a serious drought in the west. We lived in Reno at the time and the Truckee River through downtown dwindled to more of a creek and series of puddle holes, from what I remember. When things finally got better, the question became whither it was the end of the drought or just a slight reprieve to possibly a longer drought, not yet realized.

And then in the early 1990’s, I left California in the middle of yet another drought. The reservoirs all drew down to then historic levels. One lake in particular drew down to expose the old dam before they built the much larger new dam. Again, the weather changed and the drought subsided.

Without going into a long history, this has been the pattern of the West my entire life. Yet during these times, we have figured out how to manage it. Our lakes fill. Our lakes empty. Too much rain one year. Too little the next.

I’m not a climate change expert and I really think it’s beyond my scope to understand it all. I like the Earth and without being a total alarmist, I do what I can to help. If help is even possible. For all I know what we see happening can be part of a larger picture that we cannot map in just 200 years of history. Hasn’t the earth froze over and thawed a couple of times that we know of? I don’t know, and I really, beyond recycling, using the AC less, trying to get the best fuel mileage, and etc.; I don’t see my part or opinion as very crucial.

Sizing up the exposed dam. That spillway is a long way up there. East Canyon Res., Utah

Sizing up the exposed dam. That spillway is a long way up there. East Canyon Res., Utah

But while I’m here, I’m going to enjoy the Earth my time has allotted to me. I’ll fish the streams, I’ll hike the mountains, and like today, I’ll Kayak the lakes.

None of us had any idea that nearly 40 years later we would be awaiting the release of a new Star Wars movie and the West would be in yet another drought. 40 years again from now, I hope people are still wondering if the lake is half full or half empty; and I’ll be the old man in the middle yelling “Fish on!”

 

Day 181

Shields Up!

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Hey Kids,

Force fields.

For my entire life, at least as far as I can remember, Star Trek has had them.

Later in life, Star Wars had them.Star%20Wars%20-%20D6%20-%20Equipment%20Stats%20Netbook_img_109

As an adult, I was made to believe I understood them. As much as fiction can make someone understand a technology that doesn’t exist.

When the aliens came in Independence Day, the shields on the wrong side almost spelled Mankind’s doom. But the tide may have turned. Force field technology is seemingly no longer in the future. At least as far as Boeing is concerned. They filed a patent on it.

Transporters, I hope, are soon to follow.

I hate traffic.

 

 

Day 29