New Yard

We blew the big bucks from savings, tore up the weeds that had been pretending to be a lawn and had a landscaper (EWG Dirt Cheap) come in and create something native, environmentally responsible, and easier to take care of. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Losing Weight

This is another case where the pics could speak for themselves, but I want to add that Gary Taubes Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It and Good Calories, Bad Calories were a huge inspiration to me, since they talked loud science over the chattering of all the weight-loss pundits trying to sell me cardboard shakes and awkward spring-loaded pulley machines.

I feel better and I find it easier to control what I eat. More, I learned to skip the health article headlines and dig deeper into the results to figure out what the latest scientific study is really trying to tell me.

Disney Anniversary Party

My wife, Natasha, celebrated her 20th anniversary of working for Disney this year. We’ve been to a few of the big anniversary parties over the years as guests of my parents, and they were lavish affairs with great food, but they always felt kind of big-company stodgy.

This year’s party seemed to be created entirely with us in mind. Apologies to the rest of you that had to attend our destiny. Held in Disney’s Hollywood Studios (nee Disney-MGM Studios), our “home” park over the years. The triumphant return of the blisteringly brilliant Adventurers Club cast (as well as the rest of the Pleasure Island cast). A massive fireworks show. Free drinks, colonel! It took me back to the heady, Eisnerized Disney Decade around the time we started.

Ultimately, Natasha had a wonderful time and I was happy to come along for the ride highlighting the best of our time there. I’m hoping for a similar experience when I turn 20 in mouse years next year.

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue

I would have been excited about the reboot of the Star Wars ride at Disney regardless, but it came with so many bonus prizes! My buddy, Bree Starlighter, made it big as the intergalactic PR princess for the Star Tours company.

Star Wars Weekends, which I had been worrying would go the way of every Death Star, absolutely jumped to hyperspace this year.

Anthony Daniels performed a heartfelt one man/one droid show about the wonderful blessing it is to be See-Threepio.

James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan from The Clone Wars) rocked his own stage show that managed not only to show off his own incredible talent but to inspire the audience to find its own.

All that, and did I mention the attraction is awesome, too?

(Side note: if you’re not watching The Clone Wars and you say you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re not…really…)

Ships and Dip 4

You know it’s going to be an absolutely incredible cruise when you get back from the lifeboat drill and there are spaces in the front row of the sail-away concert just waiting for you.

It only got better when I got stopped by Mike Evin, who recognized me from my Facebook page and wanted to thank me for all the nice posts about him. (Seriously, if you’re not listening to Mike’s music, you’re missing out. And definitely get the chance to see a live show – Mike is an awesome performer whose musical passion just reaches out and grabs the audience.) If only I would have remembered to get my picture taken with him! I guess I was a little bit star-struck.

Now, when do I sign up for the next one?

Being Part-time

Back in August of 2010, after much personal deliberation and discussion with Natasha (which, for her part, was mostly, “Really, you need to do this”) I decided to go part-time at my “real” job and spend some time rediscovering bits and pieces of myself that had been missing for a while, subsumed by corporate culture and technology. I started work on a novel. I stopped working on said novel to struggle through a short story. I completed a draft of possibly the worst science fiction novel ever written during National Novel Writing Month. I rediscovered the joy of making things in my brain, and I keep learning every day about the things that hold me back and how to kick them to the curb. I am so lucky to be able to do this, and I am looking forward to my future.

Great wishes for all of you! Hope you have a wonderful 2012 and find all the things you’re looking for…

Yes, you did hear right…new car. I really loved my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. It felt so green, despite the fact that it was blue. But it developed an ABS chip problem that was draining the battery. And when I looked back through my phonebook sized stack of warranty work (including replacing the hybrid battery pack), I realized that the same ABS chip problem precipitated months of regular trips to the dealership. Even my wife, as she shuffled through the pages in the stack sorting them, finally said, “Um, do you REALLY want to fix this clunker on your own dime?”

So we spent a few days of our vacation on car stuff. What Natasha calls my “most expensive birthday present ever.” But, in looking at the maintenance schedule for the Fit, it’s going to be a LOT cheaper to maintain than the hybrid. And it doesn’t have that gremlin guy from the Bugs Bunny cartoon under the hood with his little hammer.

Now that I’ve actually found this blog again, I think I might try to upgrade the look some. I’ve been meaning to finally get around to posting some more bad poetry and stuff. Hmmm…you might want to consider deleting your bookmarks…

Yeah, not really.

It’s a friggin’ hour drive to Bartow to the court house, way too early in the morning. Then I get to spend the day attempting to convince a bunch of lawyers that I would make a lousy juror, without actually saying, “Because I don’t care, and all I really want to do right now is go home. Or go to work. Or have dental work.” I know, “It’s my civic duty.” “I should be honored to serve.” Blah blah blah. Well, I’m not. I’m bitter.

Anyway, think of me on Monday, waiting desperately for them to dismiss me, so I can go home and forget about this whole ridiculous ordeal for another year or more. I swear, if they call me next year, I’m moving.

For all of you who face similar issues in the future, may I present the following links on how to get out of jury duty. I haven’t tested any of them, but they do give me some hope that I might only have to be there one day.

• Wiki How on How to Get Out of Jury Duty
• Mental Floss on How to Get Out of Jury Duty
• Larry Awesome’s Amusing and Informative Take on Getting Out of Jury Duty

There’s more. Google is an awesome service.

From Orlando History Center

Natasha and I went there this weekend to see the Jim Henson’s Fantastic World exhibit that’s showing until May 3. I had hoped to post some pics from the exhibit, but the Muppets asked for a little peace from cameras. Besides, if you learned how to count in Spanish or your alphabet from Sesame Street, then you really want to go see this exhibit. On the one hand, it’s a trip down memory lane to see all of the Muppet wisdom and comedy that were the building blocks of my education.  Seeing things like The King of 8 really took me back to the very beginnings of the formation of my education.

You know, call me dumb, but I never really got the “Sesame Street was brought to you today by, the number 7, and the letter K” at the end of every episode. I mean, I got it was a spin on the whole sponsor thing, but in the exhibit, they point out that it was a creative TV person who looked at the children of that day and realized they were learning more from commercials on TV than from their busy parents. She set out to take the commercial format and harness it to teach kids things they needed to know. Like how to count. And she enlisted Jim Henson because up to that point he was best-known for making engaging commercials with puppets. So subtly, all those short films in Sesame Street were commercials for education.

Soaking up the concentrated career of Jim Henson, it’s amazing to see all he did and to realize he was just one of those people, those leaders who was always out there trying to push the next big thing, like Walt Disney and George Lucas. I was especially taken by looking at the concept art on display for Dark Crystal, with how many of the artistic memes there have become a staple of the fantasy movie and video game genre. I looked at some of them and felt like I was looking at World of Warcraft concept art. Henson’s work really was great inspiration for the artists of today.

The History Center is well worth a spin for the other exhibits there, too. I mean how much do you know about John Young, or Dr. Phillips, or all those other place names you pass by every day? Take an afternoon and realize that there’s more to Central Florida history than Walt setting up stakes here.

One other note on the Henson exhibit, there’s a link on the history center web site to an MP3 tour of the exhbit that you can pop on your iPod and use to guide you through. It’s a bit hard to follow, because there are some numbers missing from the exhibit that are mentioned in the audio tour, but it’s well worth listening to for the interviews and commentary.

You can find videos as I post them on this YouTube playlist.

We entered the complex through a huge underground parking garage. There were dark suited, men-in-black security guards checking badges and faces at the entrance. “Keep those badges in sight,” they advised us, in that gruff, sort of good-fella tone. “The Boss is here today, and he wants everyone wearing one of those.” I started to wonder if I might not be going to a party hosted by Jabba the Hutt!

The parking garage reminded me of the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings. My first thought was how easy it would be for someone who spent a totally focused day at work to take an elevator down to the complex and be at a loss for where they parked!

We were greeted at the top of the elevators by a trio of Wookiees  –  a group of costumes from the film setup on display in the entry hall of the event. Signs everywhere proclaimed various dining areas themed to locations from Episode III — the Mustafar Dining room, Coruscant Dining room, and others.

A huge crowd had gathered around one corner of the first room we entered. There, Robin Williams and George Lucas had stopped to greet guests, chat, and take pictures with them. I’d been warned that there wasn’t really supposed to be any picture taking or autographs at the event, but since both of the celebrities seemed to be open to it we decided to sidle up and see if we could say hi.

From 2005 – Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith Premiere and After-Party

Robin was wonderful. I shook his hand and told him I liked his work, and he thanked me. I asked him if we could take a picture and he said, “Sure.” He’s looking really good, as you’ll see in the picture. Very trim and well muscled — cut like the movie star he is. Natasha asked him how he liked the film. “TERRRRR-riffic!” he said, sounding kind of like Tony the Tiger. He was a blast to meet. He was one of my heroes as a kid.

I couldn’t believe George Lucas was actually just hanging out there taking pictures and shaking hands. He played a lot with the kids that came up — you can tell he’s truly a parent at heart. When we finally got over to him I think he was trying to sort of sneak away from the photo ops. I kind of felt bad bugging him. I walked up and, to tell you the truth, I know I said something to him like “I really enjoyed the movie,” or “Hi there, Mr. Lucas,” or “Gurgle, smip, Star Wars!” But I can’t remember what it was. Natasha walked up and followed up with a more coherent, “We came all the way from Walt Disney World to see the movie.” George, ever laconical, said, “Oh?” Natasha asked if we could take a picture and he said, “Sure.” Sort of during the picture his secretary was trying to grab him and pass along some info, so it took a couple of seconds to get a shot of him looking into the camera. He got dragged away by his secretary so we said “Thanks” quickly. It was totally, totally, incredibly cool to have a minute or two with him, and I’ll treasure the look into his world that we got for a long time. I really equate George with Walt Disney — a true innovator in entertainment who has made changes to the very basic nature of the art that will reverberate for many, many years.

It was really gracious of both George and Robin to pose for pictures with us. They seemed very down to earth and friendly and I really appreciated the minute or two they took with us, since they were swamped with people and probably wanted to enjoy the party.

We also met was Matt Wood, the voice of General Grievous in Episode III and the Supervising Sound Editor on the prequels. Matt actually started his Lucasfilm career in LucasArts, and is a good friend of the friends who invited us to the event. We got to be buzz droids on the wall for a conversation where some of his friends were teasing him about his newfound fame.

“I looked you up on eBay and your signature is worth $60,” our friend Johnny kidded him.

“I know, I’m expensive because I’m RARE,” Matt chuckled, obviously feeling a little awkward about his newfound fame. “I spent two whole days at the autograph table, and I’m rare! Go figure!” (Matt did spend long hours at the autograph table at Celebration III, I can confirm. A friend of mine from the Orlando Sentinel actually brought him lunch one day when Matt couldn’t find the time to get away.)

Matt also related a great story about the cough Grievous has in the film. “We were looping the dialog,” he explained, “And George was there and he had a bad cough. He said, ‘Go’ to prompt me to start a line and then coughed before I could get it out. I said the line after he finished, but when we showed it the next time, we left the cough in. I guess George liked it because when it was done, Grievous had developed that cough. So Grievous is really my voice and George’s cough.”

“The great thing is,” Matt added, “When the Clone Wars people saw it, they actually ended up adding a scene where Mace Windu kind of Force-squeezes Grievous’ innards and he develops the cough. So there’s actually a story reason for it now. Pretty cool.”

I also got to meet Pablo Hidalgo, the Jedi Web Master who helped all of us fans enjoy the filming of Episode III with his deft handling of the web cam and his scintillating set diaries. Okay, I’m a web geek, but it was great to meet Pablo. He’s done a lot for the fans by being our eyes and ears on the set, and I appreciate it. He was also the writer of a couple of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game books, which I’ve always been a big fan of.

The rest of the event was amazing. Huge buffet tables filled with lasagnas and baked salmon and veggies and such. The dining rooms were decorated with these huge banners with stills from the film. Some of them were like 40 feet long, covering an entire section of the hallway with a still shot of Coruscant or a shot of some of the characters. There were props from the movie setup in various places. The Wookiees, Darth Vader, Tion Meddon, and other characters from the films. Another building housed a huge display of props and costumes from the film. There are a bunch of pictures of these in the gappage gallery.on Picasa.

The Letterman Digital Arts Center is a really beautiful facility. It’s nestled right at the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge and has a stunning view of the Palace of the Fine Arts (the dome in some of the pictures that looks kind of like Naboo from “The Phantom Menace”) across the street. There’s a public park there with a brook and a garden. It’s really peaceful, kind of a wonderful college campus. Natasha and I both commented later that, yeah, we could work there easily. I know I had an envious moment as I watched some kids rolling down the hills that made up the park. I really wanted to just jump over and do that too.

I was sad to have to leave, but it was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I hope I’ve done some justice to the wonder of the trip, and I hope everyone enjoys the pictures! I have to say a big special thanks to Tabby and Johnny, who invited us. They really made a couple of Star Wars fans’ dreams come true!

You can read a blog about Star Wars Celebration by Jim and John Booth here.

Time and the wisdom gained through it has given the event a slightly larger impact.

I’m very lucky to have friends who thought enough of me and my passion for Star Wars to invite me to fly several thousand miles to see the last of the movies as a guest at their employee premiere. When they asked me to go, I was excited, but I did kind of sit around sort of hemming and hawing and thinking, “Well, that’s a lot of money to spend just to see the movie. I mean, yeah, I’m seeing it early, but…wow…it’s a couple hundred bucks a movie ticket.” I even went so far as to think to myself, “If I wanted to see the movie early I could spend that much on a charity premiere and at least the money would go to a good cause.” (Not saying supporting the airline industry isn’t currently a good cause as well, as they seem to currently be operating as not for profit agencies as well.)

At some point, I took a second to travel in time and talk to that nine-year-old me and ask, “Hey…what would you do?”

“Oh man,” he said, rolling his eyes and throwing his arms up, one of them holding a Han Solo toy blaster pistol. “You’ve got to go!”

And I couldn’t dissapoint the nine-year-old me, because I’ve found that, often, he’s a lot smarter than me, and as long as I keep his hand in my adult one when we go into the video game store or toy superstore, things tend to be okay. Perhaps more than okay…they usually turn out to be the more memorable moments in my life.

So my wife and I made the journey to San Francisco for the premiere. Early Saturday morning we set out for the Metreon entertainment complex in San Francisco, where the movie was showing in four theaters at 9:30 am. Only one of the showings was digital, and we all decided that getting into that theater was more important than sleep. (I think the nine-year-olds in all of us were talking.) The line stretched about halfway down the block when we got there at 7:00, showing that Lucas employees are fanboys and fangirls, too.

We passed the time that morning chatting about the movies, the games, all the things George had wrought, until the doors opened and we charged into the building. When we got into the digital theater, our elation was great as we saw a couple of rows of prime seating available in the very middle of the theater. Our hopes were dashed when we discovered those rows were reserved. So we settled in left of center near the front, still happy to be there, and suddenly had the thought, “Hey, who are those seats reserved FOR?”

We didn’t have to wait long for our first celebrity sighting. Robin Williams snuck in with the rest of the crowd and settled into one of the reserved rows. Robin was a hero of mine when I was a kid. I read all the interviews he gave about how he wasn’t a very popular kid and how he was shy, and that was why he developed the whole frenetic comedy persona we all love. I emulated that a bit, and while I never had the talent to be as funny as him, it did help me come out of my shell with people. I was still shy (still am till this day, to tell the truth), but he showed me you could be an extroverted introvert sometimes. So it was cool to share the theater with him, and watch him kind of sneak in and find a seat in much the same quiet way I would, despite the fact that, hey, he’s Robin Williams.

So could it be? Did this celebrity sighting mean we were in for more than just a movie? Sure enough, shortly after that the Lucasfilm celebrities joined us. I recognized Rick McCallum, John Knoll, Howard Roffman (president of Lucas Licensing), and a few others as they settled in. And yes, George was there, too.

When the credits rolled and the “Star Wars” logo shouted across the screen, fading like an echo, I thought, “Wow, somewhere behind me, George Lucas is watching this movie with me. Wow!” And the nine-year-old me sort of thundered with glee. This was total coolness.

The crowd was a little muted during the film. There were only a couple of moments where the collective inner geeks in us allowed us to cheer. (But come those moments did.) It was a great audience to see the film with, and a great way to see it the first time. To really be able to soak it up, and hear all the lines, as opposed to having some washed out by the cheers of the enthusiastic audience. Sounds weird, but I enjoy both ways of seeing the movies, though usually the soaking-in way is reserved for DVD viewings at home.

Having been to a few Walt Disney Feature Animation movie screenings in my time with my wife (who worked for Disney Feature Animation here in Florida for many years), I was aware that at these screenings you don’t jump up to leave when the credits start to roll. It’s a sign of respect to applaud throughout the credits for the people you know whose names are going by on screen.

Once the credits ended, there was a pause, in the dark, and then the lights came up, and as one, we, the audience, rose, turned to George, and gave him a standing ovation that just went on and on.

I swear, George blushed. He kind of looked around and at the ground and waved it all off and when it got quiet he said, simply, to his gathered employees, “This is about you. That,”  he pointed at the screen, “Is YOUR hard work up there on the screen, and I thank you for it.” It was genuine, appreciative, and respectful. George really is a humble guy, and he seems to truly appreciate the artists he works with to make his visions a reality. I felt really honored to be there, and to watch him thank the folks he worked with to make Star Wars for that nine-year-old kid who was jumping up and down and cheering in my head.

More tomorrow about my visit to the Letterman Digital Center, the new home of many of the Lucas companies.

“Revenge of the Sith” is brimming with sword fights. It’s more full of flashing swords than Jabba is of gorgs. If you like Jedi action, you’re going to walk out of the movie giddy as a Naboo schoolgirl after she’s elected queen of the planet.

The biggest feeling I left Episode III with though was very similar to the feeling I had when I walked out of “Return of the King” — I wished there were more. The movie rockets by like the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel run. There are plenty of new and beautiful locations, there are great performances by many of the actors involved, and great moments of story and revelation. In fact, George Lucas has so many great ideas in this one he can’t spend much time with any one of them. It’s a story told in one long, fast, enthusiastic breath, and I was an enraptured listener. And once you’ve heard it once you’re going to want to stop that excited storyteller and ask them to go back to the beginning and tell it again, so you can ask questions and think about it some more. You’re going to want to know the whys and the hows. Like “Return of the King”, I walked out of the theater thinking, “I can’t wait for the extended DVD release where maybe we’ll get to see some of the scenes that were cut, and get even more of the story.” At the end, I really thought it was just a terrible shame this movie is only two hours long. It has the same adrenaline rush of a good roller coaster ride, and the same draw to repeat it again for the good parts.

I read the book and the script beforehand and was just amazed at the level of story and emotion in this one. This is, of course, the story of how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, but it is also the story of the fall of the Republic, the ruin of the Jedi, the rise of the Empire, the end of a love story, and the birth of hope. Comparing the movie to the book and the script , I really missed the loss of some of the subplots and the stories of the other characters. (Padmé especially suffers in this regard, since she has little to do once her subplot was cut but to sit and watch her husband’s fall.) But it’s probably a wise choice, with as much is packed into this movie, to focus it on Anakin, for it is ultimately his story.

And given the real spotlight on him, Hayden Christiansen really shows his talents. There’s a great scene between Hayden and Natalie Portman at the beginning that really sets up Anakin’s fall. The actors’ work in that scene is so good, it reveals a complexity of character that makes the rest of the movie work. Hayden really shows Anakin being pulled in a million different directions, and the internal pain he must be suffering trying to make his life work as a Jedi, a warrior, a husband, and perhaps even the Chosen One of prophecy. I think people who don’t really get this scene might have issues really accepting Anakin’s fall, but the scene really worked for me.

Ian McDiarmid is also given a platform to truly flex his considerable acting muscles here. He is wonderfully Evil as Palpatine, and his scenes really engaged me. It is his performance, his ability to be Evil and yet convincingly deep at the same time, that makes the conflict between the Sith and the Jedi work. McDiarmid really creates the tiniest bit of…maybe not sympathy, but a sort of understanding for his character. I really want to know more about the history of the Sith now.

Yoda and R2-D2 really steal the show at points. Some of my favorite moments feature either everyone’s favorite astro-droid, or the little green Jedi Master.

The movie won’t be perfect for everyone. There is some cheesy dialog, but hey, this IS a Star Wars movie. It’s somewhat graphic in its violence, but lives up to its PG-13 rating. There’s nothing outright terrifying, but there’s a little bit that’s gross (hey, we all know how Anakin becomes Vader). It might be too much for young kids. But the movie’s violence is portrayed as a consequence with moral overtones associated with it. There’s a good lesson at the center of the Star Wars mythos, and this movie tells it in a very direct and emotionally engaging way.

I think for me, George really left me wanting more in a good way. I wanted to sit in that theater for three hours and really linger on these characters and soak in the places and the story. It is truly a moving, involving action movie, and I think fans of the series are going to find a big place in their hearts for this one.

This IS the movie you’re looking for, Star Wars fans. Rush out, get tickets, and get ready for an experience that truly brings the circle to completion on the Star Wars saga.