Tuesday, April 15, 2008
News Flash!
Los Angeles-In an attempt to sound remotely intelligent, "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul, when asked to comment on last week's results, said "I shall differ to Simon." Apparently, the songstress meant "defer," but did not have a strong enough relation with the English language to use it correctly.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A Solo Lesson from Star Wars
I'm rewatching one of my favorite films Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back on my newly installed Dish Network receiver and dish. Admittedly, some of the special effects make me laugh, while others make me gasp, "Wow, they could do that in the '80s!?" But the SFX aren't the reason I joined up with the Wars crew, nope instead it was the roguish Han Solo.
Now, don't get to thinking that I'm ooh la la Harrison Ford or anything, because I'm not. He's pretty much a....well...a hack. Han Solo, though, is Ford's most stellar performance (yes, even above Indiana and Jack Ryan) because Han is such a brilliant character. In the first two movies he has this push and pull with the audience. He's such a cool bad boy with this awesome ride (you know, the Millennium Falcon and its speedy parceps) that we want him to stick around. But then, he's just so darn unreliable, and a smuggler that we think he could ruin the Rebellion's efforts.
A character like Han is more or less archetypal at this point, but his development in the Star Wars universe is singular. More than any other character, he keeps coming back fight after fight when he has no personal stake in the battle (except maybe Leia).
I guess the reason I personally like Han, aside from his mad blaster skills, is that he keeps his head about him. He's not simply driven by a cause like Leia, nor unrealistically altruistic like Luke. Instead, he's honest and smart. Not to mention, he has great hair.
I think that Han has something to teach us modern collegiates. It's important for us to not get wrapped up in bandwagon movements without considering all the facts ourselves. For Han, sticking with Leia and Luke happened to work out. But in the real world, however, it takes a lot of sly cunning and good judgment to keep us from becoming one of the crowd.
Now, don't get to thinking that I'm ooh la la Harrison Ford or anything, because I'm not. He's pretty much a....well...a hack. Han Solo, though, is Ford's most stellar performance (yes, even above Indiana and Jack Ryan) because Han is such a brilliant character. In the first two movies he has this push and pull with the audience. He's such a cool bad boy with this awesome ride (you know, the Millennium Falcon and its speedy parceps) that we want him to stick around. But then, he's just so darn unreliable, and a smuggler that we think he could ruin the Rebellion's efforts.
A character like Han is more or less archetypal at this point, but his development in the Star Wars universe is singular. More than any other character, he keeps coming back fight after fight when he has no personal stake in the battle (except maybe Leia).
I guess the reason I personally like Han, aside from his mad blaster skills, is that he keeps his head about him. He's not simply driven by a cause like Leia, nor unrealistically altruistic like Luke. Instead, he's honest and smart. Not to mention, he has great hair.
I think that Han has something to teach us modern collegiates. It's important for us to not get wrapped up in bandwagon movements without considering all the facts ourselves. For Han, sticking with Leia and Luke happened to work out. But in the real world, however, it takes a lot of sly cunning and good judgment to keep us from becoming one of the crowd.
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