Revenge of the Sith

Last weekend, I watched the original Star Wars trilogy with my roommates. What an event that was. So many memories floated through my brain as I watched the movies that were truly a part of my childhood. My identity as a nerd at heart is in many ways established by these movies. So when the new trilogy was released, I made sure to watch each at their midnight showings in the theaters. I loved them. Not that they were all fantastic by any means, but they were fun and they helped to flesh out the story. Today, I woke up and decided to watch Revenge of the Sith, the third in the series. The first time I watched it, I absolutely loved it, so I had high hopes coming into watching it again. Initially, while watching it today, I was awfully disappointed, but as I kept watching, there was a joy stirred up in me.

Warning: !Spoiler Alert!

In many ways, the movie starts out like other two movies. With this, a sense of nostalgia or the original gritty feel of Star Wars was awakened in me. And despite not having that met, I found myself being drawn in. The intensely strong deceit of Palpatine is absolutely detestable. He is so clever and appeals to all the good parts of Anakin by using the bad parts. The dialogue is clever and the storyline compelling. We get to see the transformation of Anakin to the dark side as his love is overtaken by his hate. It is so sad that this quick change is in many ways a perversion of all the good within him. The fact that a girl is at the center of the fall of the Republic seems so fitting XD. This story of a young man being taken advantage of because of his love is so powerful. It deals with a brotherly love too, as when Anakin and Obi-Wan go on separate missions, there is a goodbye that ends up being far more final than either would hope for.

On top of the conversion of Anakin, the political plot line is ridiculously clever. Palpatine started a war where he is the leader on both sides that he intended to lose on one side and win on the other for his political gain. And everyone goes along with it as he slowly converts the Republic into an Empire.

Beyond all of the brilliant plot elements, the desire for nostalgia is satiated as hints at the tech of the original trilogy abound. Whether it be in the s-foils on fighters, the red clad imperial guards, or in the actual sighting of Senator Organa's ship (the one his adopted daughter Leia later will use), it brings closure to this part of the story.

Oh man! even as I write this, I just wish I could beam into your mind the emotions I'm feeling. Such feelings well up in me as I watch this that I can't articulate them with written words.

The social, political, and spiritual messages within the Star Wars storyline are absolutely incredible and I only grow to appreciate them as I grow older. The redemption of Vader grows all the more strongly when you see who he was. If you have somehow lived in a cave and never seen these movies, I strongly urge you to get over your distaste for the cheesiness of a sci-fi movie and watch them with the eyes of someone who wants to be entertained and learn.


______________________

OH, and for something similar but definitely in a different vain:

Chad Vader::Day Shift Manager

Jon Foreman

I am a music guy, at least an appreciator. I was a player of music in jr. high and high school, and I still love the idea of being involved in it. I don't think I realize that there are some people that don't just go head over heels for music, which is a development that highlights the importance of my love for that form of art.

Recently, Jon Foreman, the lead singer for Switchfoot, has started a new music project that I've found fascinating and engrossing. He is in the process of releasing four EP albums themed around the four seasons of the year. He is releasing each throughout the seasons this year. The first two have already been released. These are Fall and Winter, and Spring and Summer are to come. They are 6 song albums with a softer sound, much like 24 off of The Beautiful Letdown. They are such heartfelt songs and the lyrics strike me so much.

Equally Skilled (snippet)

And both of His hands
Are equally skilled
At ruining evil
Equally skilled
At judging the judges
Equally skilled
Administering justice
Both of His hands

The thing that gets me about that is the "ruining evil." I think that simple word choice feels very powerful to me. Anyway, I really look forward to his next two EPs and I encourage you to check out Fall and Winter. They're totally worth the 5-6 bucks you're going to pay for them. I also look forward to the next Switchfoot album if this stuff is any indicator of direction for them as a whole.

Brawl

I know many a fanboy...

Whether it be Apple, coffee, VW, Catholicism, or Gilmore Girls.
I know people that just eat certain things up. Everybody has a favorite brand that they can't get away from if they tried. It is what we are loyal to because it makes us happy and no matter the thick or the thin of it, we want to love them.

I am a Nintendo fanboy myself.
I stood in line for 6 hours to get a Wii at midnight on release, and now, nearly a year and a half after I got my Wii, I have finally gotten to another game I can't wait to own. After getting Wii Sports in the package, and buying The Twilight Princess right away (and enjoying its epicness), I had to wait until SSX Blur, which was fun but not deep. I played Metriod Prime 3, and I liked it, but shooters just get tedious to me, so I don't own it yet. I want Super Mario Galaxy, but the money is keeping me off of it until the summer (I soooo want it too). Guitar Hero 3 is a great idea, but I'm so bad and don't have the time to get better.

However, in a little over a week (or a WiiK if you're an uber-nerd) SSBB hits the shelves on this side of the Pacific Pond. That's right folks, Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I cannot wait. I will probably not be getting it upon release, but I do know that I'm super stoked. In my mind it should have been out a month ago (and a year ago if I want to get nitpicky), but I will trust that perfection was worth waiting for. It has such depth that I can't even get into it all. It looks to be similar to Family Guy in it's cultural references. There will be so many things from games of old to games of new that I will only recognize a fraction. There are about a bazillion modes, and I can finally play my friends or anybody who fancies, online. I guess I had to just let you know how excited about this game I was. I would love to play with you too on my nice tv in my house. It is gonna be incredible.

Grades, prepare to be challenged.

Meme'd

OK, so Ben did this thing...

and I feel obliged to keep it going, mostly because I happened to have a book on hand...

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
Find Page 123.
Skip the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people (if you want, I don’t care).

Documents of the Christian Church: Edited by Henry Bettenson & Chris Maunder

...We acknowledge, as we are bound, that the right and authority to elect a king (later to be elevated to the Imperial throne) belongs to those princes to whom it is known to belong by right and ancient custom; especially as this right and authority came to them from the Apostolic See, which transferred the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans in the person of Charles the Great. But the princes should recognize, and assuredly do recognize, that the right and authority to examine the person so elected king (to be elevated to the Empire) belongs to us who anoint, consecrate and crown him. For it is a generally observed rule that the examination of a person belongs to him who has the duty of the laying-on of hands.

A mouthful...

I think

a) My font is retarded and won't go back to what it was and I don't want to bother with it.

b) This is an odd section of the text. The entire book is a bunch of small sections of documents. This is part of a letter from Pope Innocent III to the Duke of Zahringen about his right to intercede in a matter as the Pope.

Illini Life Videos:

Hey, I want to get YouTube traffic. Shameless YouTube traffic. OK, so actually, I want to just show you my videos that myself and my friends have made this year for iLife.

Night of Man: Myself and Jeff put this guy together to promote a men's night in the fall.



About You Card: Jonathan and I put this together to explain something new in our church.

Who am I? (When it comes to entertainment)

A breakdown of who I could be in a few shows...I love these shows...sooooo much. Now I can pretend to be in them,and to be honest, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Your results:
You are Mr. Eko

Mr. Eko 75% Boone Carlyle 70% Sayid Jarrah 65% Claire Littleton 56% Michael Dawson 52% Jin-Soo Kwon 50% Charlie Pace 48% Hugo "Hurley" Reyes 46% Shannon Rutherford 40% Sun Kwon 40% John Locke 35% Walt Lloyd 32% Dr. Jack Shephard 32% Kate Austen 30% James "Sawyer" Ford 29% Ana-Lucia Cortez 28%

You are neither a leader nor a follower. You are a Bible reader and are motivated by God's will. Many people have respect for you.

Click here to take the Lost Personality Quiz

Which Office Character Are You?
	You are Ryan. You are extremely smart and perceptive, and it irritates you to no end when inferior people try to tell you what to do. Sometimes, though, your critical eye makes you come off as aloof and bitter to others, and it may take awhile for people to get to know you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Heroes Character Are You?
	You are Hiro. You are everyones favorite Japanese tourist. Your time is well-managed and you make sure things get done. On top of that, the girls always want a second chance with you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Character Are You?
	You are Leonardo. You are a natural leader with a strong sense of honor.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

My Writers Strike Ends

So, I wasn't blogging...at all...over break cuz I didn't find the time, didn't have a computer of my own, etc.

So now, I find myself writing again for the first time...So, in old school fashion, I present to you my bullet points of the recent times.

• I went to the Rose Bowl on an epic journey across our country (this will be highlighted later)
• The Packers are in the NFC Championship game and I am stoked
• I got an amazing Canon digital SLR camera for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!)
• The Cowboys lost to the Giants! Sorry Tony Romo...
• I started classes again. I am enrolled in 5, but one of them is super lame so far, so it might be gone, as I don't need it.
• Illinois basketball is playing super sloppy
• Christmas was a lot of fun with family and getting to see my new young cousin Peter was a blast. He's a cutie.
• I have been watching a lot of tv shows on DVD. My roster includes Lost (gotta get through season 3 before the 31 of Jan), The Office (just about caught all the way up), and Heroes (thanks Emily for that one! I'm finishing up the most recent episodes that exist)

I think that's a good start...

Commence Ridiculous Scenarios

23

Looking for payday loan?

At our fingertips entertainment

As I sit here in MEL studying for my final exam that is in 2.5 hours, my thoughts drift back and forth between Manufacturing and Viral Videos. Maybe this is just a comment on how I live or a comment on nothing important, but it seems like it should be said in my opinion.

The internet has become our at our fingertips entertainment. We share videos, pictures, and songs like mad. Sites like Digg have taken off and apps like Google Reader allow us to put all our favorite info into one pretty website. We spend hours a day looking for that entertainment. We log onto AIM to send a link. And we peruse for our own newest laugh.

(This feels very obvious and rambly but I needed to say it for myself. Maybe you could flesh out my thoughts better with comments)

In any case, the interwebs have given us a way to connect to others and give our own entertainment to others. It even lets us get off the ground with our own creative ideas. It just gives us everything at our fingertips.

So, if you don't really know about this internet, I leave you with this helpful film and offer.

YouTube Fest

Being a college student, I have some free time here and there. Having a Wii, I have a web browser on my TV. So, those two components combined with YouTube, my friends and I have found some serious YouTube ridiculousness. Here follows a few fantastic videos...

















I suppose that's enough for now...

The Case for a Playoff Part 2

Here's ESPN.com's fancy National Championship Tournament Application. I just managed to make Illinois the National Champions! Man that felt good. So where's the real playoff?

Tuesday Morning Distraction

Bella

Normally I don't do something like this...at least I don't think I do. Go see this movie! Bella is currently playing in Champaign and Savoy and is definitely worth the 92 minutes of the film and the 6-9 dollars you will pay for it. It is a fantastic story that entraps the human condition and what it is like to rise above our sinful nature. In a completely un-overt spiritual film, I believe God's heart speaks loudly. It is an absolute beauty. Don't go scouring for plot or trailers though. The internet is full of spoilers, and in my opinion, some of the trailers ruin the plot. I'd say don't even watch the official trailer. I went in with no expectations and that's what made it so beautiful for me. I think everything played well into a substantially climactic end and just beautifully worked together. The music is fantastic. It just oozes fantastic artwork in my opinion.

GO SEE THIS FILM

Quad Cam

Ok, so this is definitely my third post of today, but I just can't help but show you all this wonderful item. This is the Quad Cam. The University of Illinois has a camera placed atop Foellinger Auditorium that you...YES, YOU...have the opportunity to control. It can pan and zoom very accurately. You can even snap a picture. Creepy...

Blog Reading Level

I stole this from Amy and was somewhat surprised at the rating of my blog. Go check it out yourself. It is a site that will identify the reading level of your blog. I'm not sure of the criteria they use, but I'm down with it.

Get a Cash Advance

Notice Anything?

Check out the front page from Friday's Daily Illini

And for the awexomeness of it...The sports front page from today's DI

Monthly, Weekly, Daily? Mae Lyric

I flippin' love Mae...as you might already know. But it must continue to be known. I don't know if I can periodically blog about a lyric, but today I can...

" When does this physical meet with the spiritual" - Reflections

This lyrics gets me because, as I've gone along, specifically this year, I've felt the physical world around me intertwining with the spiritual world within and around me. I've felt like they cannot be disconnected. It is a very holistic perspective. The idea that we cannot separate our physical life from our spiritual life. I see it when my emotional health suffers and I get sick soon after. I see it when a friend describes their rough time this weekend and seeing the physical aspects totally un-separated from the physical, so much so that the spiritual battle they were feeling manifested itself physically. This seems like a place to camp for a long time. When do our lives become so intertwined that we can't tell the difference? It seems like the line is becoming a lot blurrier.

Super Great (and pretty sad) Thing

The Office, Last One Standing, and Darkness

So, my roommates really love the tv show The Office. I've watched bits and pieces here and there, but I've never been that interested. At this point in my day though, I have just watched the newest episode, and I really have to say that I'm finding myself attached to the characters. They are really well done. Substantially quirky and honest at the same time. It really is a fantastic cast. If only I'd realized this sooner.

Another show we've picked up is Last One Standing. There have been three episodes so far (I've yet to see the third). This show basically takes incnredible and diverse athletes from the US and Britain and pits them against natives of different countries in their own fighting style. For example, last week, they went to a Zulu tribe in South Africa and learned Zulu Stick Fighting. It's definitely a really neat show as well.

Finally, I've noticed lately how much darkness is lame. I live in the basement of my house and I can tell you whenever I step into the dark, I feel different. More sad, more easily beat down. It kinda just stirs of sad/bad feelings. It's pretty fascinating seeing the power of darkness. I'm gonna keep exploring this one later as I'm really tired right now.

Another interesting video

Pretty useless rube-goldberg machine