Monthly Archives: September 2004

Poof!

Due to some back-end fun with the server, which no doubt required my buddy Jack to do much skulking about in darkened hallways after normal working hours, my last two entries didn’t immediately appear when they were saved to the site. This is a good thing for you, my three loyal readers, because now you’ve got lots of reading matter to distract you from your jobs on a fine Friday morning. Have fun, and I’ll hopefully be back a little later with a few thoughts on the first Kerry-Bush debate…

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Star Wars on DVD

I’ve had a couple of people ask me when I intend to pick up the new Star Wars Trilogy DVDs that came out last week. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m going to, for a number of reasons. That surprises a lot of people, especially those who have known me for a long time and know that my basement is full of all kinds of fascinating junk that bears the SW logo. It surprises me, too, actually. I never thought there’d come a day when I wouldn’t be the first in line for any new Star Wars product. But then a lot has happened in the SW scene during the last seven years, and I now find, to my great surprise, that I’m more excited about buying the new collector’s edition of Footloose than I am the Trilogy box set. (I’ll discuss my reasons for loving that silly little ’80s relic some other time.)

Basically my hesitation boils down to three issues:

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SpaceShipOne: One Down, One to Go…

It’s been an exciting day for spaceflight enthusiasts, almost like the one 24 years ago when my dad woke me at the crack of dawn to watch the first launch of space shuttle Columbia. That day so long ago was one of the rare bonding moments I shared with my father as I was growing up. Dad worked odd shifts at his job and I rarely saw him when I was very young; to this day, we don’t know much about each other and it’s difficult for us to talk, something we both regret. On the day of Columbia‘s first flight, Mom had told us not to wake her until T-minus thirty, so it was just us boys, sitting in front of the old console TV with the clunky manual knobs, suffering through interminable countdown delays while we waited for that gleaming white fantasy-machine to hurl itself skyward. I remember that Dad fixed me my very own cup of coffee that morning. It was more milk than coffee, and I’d had the sticky mixture before so it wasn’t any big coming-of-age ritual or anything, but it was a rare, precious experience to be dunking coconut-chocolate chip cookies and drinking coffee with my dad as we impatiently waited for something to occur.

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Shane! Come back, Shane!

OK, assuming that I haven’t scared away my loyal readers with three consecutive entries about Michael Moore, I promise that I’m done talking politics for a while. Today I thought I’d throw a bone to you armchair travelers looking for vicarious Mormon history-tour thrills by catching you up on Anne’s whereabouts…

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Movie Review: Fahrenheit 9/11, Plus a Couple of Vital Links

Up to now, I haven’t had much interest in seeing the film that earned Michael Moore the ever-lasting enmity of political conservatives, namely his anti-Bush polemic Fahrenheit 9/11. I figured there was little point, since my opinions of the incumbent president and his administration are already well-developed and, I believe, well-informed. I had a pretty good idea of what charges Moore would level against Bush in this film, and they’re all issues I’ve learned about through other sources, so I didn’t need to see F9/11 for educational purposes. Nor did I need the film to stir up my political passions, because the daily headlines are usually sufficient for that. Finally, there was the deterrant effect produced by Moore himself. If he was a typical documentarian who stayed safely behind the camera, there wouldn’t be a problem in that regard, but one of the valid criticisms of Moore is that he likes to take center-stage in his films. In short, it often seems that Michael Moore’s movies are less about the subject matter than they are about Michael Moore.

However, after thinking and writing so much about the UVSC controversy over the past few days, my curiosity was aroused. And so, with Anne away on her Church history tour and nothing better to do on a fine early-autumn Saturday, I decided to go ahead and have a look at what it is that has everyone’s panties in a bunch.

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More on Moore

[Ed. Note: Political rant ahead. You’ve been warned.]

Forget what I said about UVSC student Sean Vreeland in yesterday’s comments on the Michael Moore controversy. If you’ll recall, I complimented Vreeland on his statement that student fees would’ve been better spent on people from the presidential campaigns than on a celebrity like Moore. When I said that, I believed that Vreeland was simply a “guy on the street” who had voiced a reasonable-sounding opinion to a reporter and been quoted in the article I linked to. Apparently I didn’t read the article closely enough. Today’s article on this whole Moore-at-UVSC imbroglio clarified the situation for me. It turns out that Vreeland is in large part responsible for the stink that’s being raised over this event. He is the mastermind of a petition to “recall” (i.e. cancel) Moore’s appearance and oust Jim Bassi and Joe Vogel, the student body officers who invited Moore to speak.

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Hurricane Michael

I tuned out the local news last week while I was doing so much running around, so it’s only now come to my attention that liberal firebrand Michael Moore has been hired to speak at Utah Valley State College on October 20. Interesting. That means the grinding sound I’ve been hearing for the past few days is either the gnashing of teeth or villagers sharpening the points on their pitchforks. Anyone call Home Depot recently to check on the availability of torch oil?

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Where’s Bennion? Also, Where’s Bennion’s Woman?

So, by this time my regular readers — all three of you — are probably wondering what’s been consuming so much of my valuable blogging time these past few weeks. Well, I’d love to tell you that I’ve been on photographing wild tigers in India, or battling the World Crime League for control of the global licorice market, or something equally glamorous and noteworthy. Unfortunately, the truth is far more mundane: I’ve been under the gun at work, finishing a project I’ve been working on since May while simultaneously trying to line up another one so I’ll be financially sound through the end of the year. (The latter goal is still uncertain as of this writing, by the way; ahhhh, the life of a contractor is nothing but one long adventure…) Meanwhile, my free time has been booked with social events and domestic chores that have kept me away from the computer. (No! Don’t make me breathe fresh air and associate with actual, non-virtual humans!) However, I can finally see some blank space opening up in the schedule. In fact, as of last night my social calendar is nothing but blank space, due to my lovely Anne skipping town with her parents for the next two weeks. They’ve flown back east to explore various sites related to the history of the Mormon Church, along with a handful of carefully chosen secular attractions. Such a trip wouldn’t really be my cup of Darjeeling, but Anne — who was raised in the Church and still maintains a fairly high level of faith, despite being involved with a flaming agnostic such as myself — has really been looking forward to it. She hasn’t had many chances to travel in her life and often has struggled with a certain degree of jealousy while I’ve gone off on my own journeys, so I’m excited and happy for her.

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Threepio Retires

Sorry the fresh content has been so sparse around here lately, but there’s been a lot going on in the Real World. I hope to have a few pieces up within the next couple of days, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, I’d like to share a bittersweet article about Anthony Daniels, the man who occupied the C-3PO costume and provided the lovable robot’s voice in all six Star Wars films. Daniels recently completed his final scene as the character for Episode III and, presumably, will never again don the gold-plated fiberglass torture armor that he’s so associated with.
The article quotes some of his very sweet remarks about everyone’s favorite fussbudget ‘droid as well as his surprisingly honest appraisal of the prequels:

“George’s devotion to digital effects over-balanced the films. Too many digital funky characters become a little bit wearing. The storytelling always gets subsumed.”

Right on, Tony.

Incidentally, I met Tony Daniels a few years ago and found him to be a charming, friendly, funny, and very thin man who has managed to remain open to fans despite having to put up with a lot of silliness. One of these days I’ll get around to scanning the photo I have of myself with him for the site.

Oh, in case you’re wondering about this post’s title, the name “C-3PO” is usually spelled out in the Star Wars novels as “See Threepio.” Given all the years I spent reading and re-reading the novelizations of the original films, it’s become second-nature for me to think of the character’s name in that form. And in case you’re still wondering about such trivialities, R2-D2 is “Artoo Detoo” in the novels…

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Lament for a Summer Ended

Labor Day, the traditional end of summer, is almost a week behind us. Soon our noses will tingle with the scent of burning leaves and our ears will be filled with the papery rustle of dry corn stalks. It’s time to trade the seersucker for flannels and put away those white shoes for another year…

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