Tag Archives: the last jedi

pictures, pop culture

Fran & Joel Back Out + Other Stuff

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I’m just wanting to get a post out with some assorted pictures and neat stuff I’d noticed before the weekend begins in earnest, as I’m sure it’ll be fun to recount the stuff from Fran & Joel’s visit out.  But first, we had dinner with them last night:

They flew in from Phoenix yesterday after attending the same conference they went to last year, which was when we met up with them in Vegas.  It was nice to take them to one of the many neat restaurants here in Glendale, this time Bacari.

On Monday, Larry & I went out on a school night to see a show at the Largo – this was where we had previously seen “How Did This Get Made?” last year; this time the show was “Hanging with Paul Scheer” and it was hilarious and the guests were Nicole Byer – who is hilarious and who I first fell in love with from her appearance on “Gay of Thrones” below:

Bye, Bitch!!!!   ALSO, Maria Bamford and Fred Armisen were guests, so yeah, it was hilarious.  I ended up taking the bus from DTLA as I was downtown that day, and while waiting, I took some downtown pics:

The previous weekend, we finally got to hang with Rekha and belatedly celebrate birthday fun with her.  Nicki chose a cool place, Cafe Stella, down in Silver Lake on the Sunset section.  Very trendy bar and restaurant with many attractive people everywhere.  Ah, hip Los Angeles.  Larry & I bailed after the restaurant but we heard the fun certainly continued through the rest of the day/night!

Outside Cafe Stella
The secret door of Cafe Stella
Rekha
Nicki & Rekha
Us
The group

And then the weekend before that, I dragged Larry to go out and see The Last Jedi ONE MORE TIME.  It was my fourth time, his third.   We went to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and while it was an experience, the presentation of the movie at Universal was way better.  But there was a fun organist playing tunes before the show and a cheesy laser show too!  And a cool costume display from the movie that we visited.  Anyway, the movie still rocks and I can’t wait to see it again…on Blu Ray.

One last time
The outdoor lobby area of the El Capitan
With Stormtroopers
BB-8!
A live organist playing classic film favorites
Praetorian Guards observe the proceedings
Enjoying ourselves
Costumes from the movie
Rey!
Kylo
Leia…
Looking across Hollywood Blvd at Hollywood & Highland
The Dolby Theater
Looking towards the Chinese

We also did go and see Phantom Thread this past weekend…I’ll give the movie that it was beautiful and well-directed, but this was a movie that I was okay with until the last 10 minutes, and then I was done with it.  What a waste of time.  I hope it loses in every Oscar category it was nominated in.

In totally unrelated stuff, Rebels Season 4 comes back soon, and if you love Star Wars, this animated series is a must watch.  The final half of the last season is airing and by the looks of this preview, a whole lot of stuff is gonna happen – and the Emperor makes an appearance!!!!:

I also saw this in one of my favorite sites – These timelapses of Seattle are pretty mesmerizing especially to see how quickly the city is building up:

 

And that leaves us to where we are now.  I’ve failed on my Amazing Race updates, but I’m still watching as it’s amazing.  And the cast of Celebrity Big Brother was announced…and it’s gonna be hard for me to choose to watch with Omarosa on it.  Seriously, wtf.

pop culture

Some “The Last Jedi” Love

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I’ve seen The Last Jedi three times, and I think it’s possible that Larry is up for seeing it once again.  I ended up seeing it the third time on my own while Larry was at work during the Christmas/New Years week, and regardless I’m up for a fourth time.  You see, I loved the movie.  I do like to write, but I know I’m not very good at critical analysis writing, and instead, I’d like to provide some great writing that gets at what I did like about the movie:

I’ve shared this just a few posts ago, but I love Jenny Nicholson’s take on the backlash of the movie:

Luke Skywalker Isn’t Supposed to Be “Nice”

Here’s a Twitter feed that I thought was particularly apt in its discussion of how Luke was never going to be the “idealistic farmboy” from the original trilogy – you may need to click on the date/time link within to see the entire Twitter thread:

The article here discusses things that could be “problems” about the movie but really aren’t all that much:

https://tay.kinja.com/four-problems-with-the-last-jedi-from-someone-who-thou-1821630144

For me, I had some quibbles with certain scenes, but certainly not enough to make me hate the movie and declare Star Wars over:

  • Leia Poppins:  it’s a slightly jarring scene, but in that universe, I’m not at all of the mind that it’s impossible; after all, she IS the twin sister of the most powerful Jedi still alive and the daughter of possibly the most powerful Force user in history.
  • Holdo not telling Poe the plan:  As someone who was in the military, yeah, leadership does not always tell the plan to everyone.  ESPECIALLY if that one individual, as hot as he may be and my man Oscar Isaac is certainly hawwwt, just went and played hero, got the entire bomb squadron eliminated, and recently demoted.
  • The whole Luke thing:  I completely disagree with those who say Luke wouldn’t act the way he did in The Last Jedi.   And the articles above articulate it way better than me.

I loved the movie and loved that it basically wrapped up a lot of the “mystery boxes” from The Force Awakens.  Episode IX has the freedom to do something exciting and new, and doesn’t have to be a Return of the Jedi of this trilogy, and that’s amazing.  Who knows where it’s going to go next?  I love that unknown.

pop culture

My One Favorite YouTube Personality

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There’s soooo many people who actually can make money and a career out of making videos on YouTube and it kind of blows my mind at times.  Mostly I’m jealous of how comfortable they are on camera and on what they bring to the table in terms of ideas and thoughts; but that’s of course if I actually like what they have to say.  I think I’m a generation away from the ones that go to YouTube (etc) as their prime entertainment feed.   ANYWAY, old person shouting at clouds rant is ending now, as I just wanted to post about Jenny Nicholson.

I think I first saw a video of hers when for some reason I was looking up stuff about the movie Tomorrowland.   I had written a post about how much I actually didn’t hate the movie despite many of the reviews coming out that basically were like, MEH.  Well, Jenny Nicholson was no fan of the movie and she indicated exactly why, and I was blown away by how funny and precise she was in her criticisms.

She can make long-ish videos, but they are entertaining.  As I found out, she is very much into the geekier side of entertainment, meaning she likes things such as Star Wars, Westworld, superhero movies… you know, basically stuff that I like too.

What I find particularly great is that she is really funny and clever yet doesn’t go overboard with production values (not shade, I promise), so the humor and commentary shine through.  I’ve especially liked her recent videos on Star Wars, and there are a lot.  I’ll just link to a couple of the most recent as I completely agree with her on The Last Jedi:

As you can see, she does have a need to collect toys, like that GIANT Porg.   Am I jealous?  Maybe.

I can’t say I loved Rogue One.  I enjoyed it a lot and it definitely has some stunning scenes, but the soundtrack and lack of the Star Wars fanfare at the beginning really annoyed me.   Anyway, I am certainly on board with most of Jenny’s comments regarding Rogue One.

I guess I could just post every video she’s made, but that is silly.  I just had to share my appreciation for this wildly hilarious woman.  You may find yourself going down the rabbit hole of her other videos – don’t worry, the water’s warm here in YouTubeville.  Don’t resist.  It’s easier this way.

pop culture

“This is not going to go the way you think!”

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I can not get enough of all the trailers that have been released for The Last Jedi.  Ask Larry.  I watch them endlessly.  And the long wait from the last scene of The Force Awakens with Luke Skywalker to show up but not say anything is just about over.  It’s almost time to see the damn next movie!!!  Happily, as I posted about earlier, we have tickets for 3D IMAX on Saturday, but then PwC also is providing its employees a screening of the movie this Thursday night, so yeah, we’ll be seeing it twice.  So excited!!!

Porgs!  Poe!  Leia!  Luke – evil?  Luke – not evil?  Rey – evil?  Snoke – menacing!   And Luke’s line in many of the trailers which spoke to me from the get-go:  “This is not going to go the way you think!”   I figured that was a hint from Rian Johnson about the movie.  The early buzz from the screenings supports that, and they’ve all warned in non-spoiler terms that by all means, go into this movie without knowing anything of the story.  The internet blackout will definitely be in effect for me starting….maybe Wednesday?

Anyway, to make it easier for me, I’m going to link to all my favorite The Last Jedi trailers here:

This first teaser had very little in the way of giving us much to go on, but the whole “the Jedi…must end” was one hell of a way to end it.  Preparing all of us for some shit to go down.

The music in the Official Trailer is so damn good.  “This is not going to go the way you think.”  Leia and Kylo Ren’s connection.  Snoke’s “Fulfill your destiny.”  SO PUMPED.

My favorite of the “shorter” teasers.  The music, yet again, is amazing.  Luke on the Millennium Falcon.  “Darkness rises…and light to meet it.”  HELLS YEAH.  This is the one I watch most often to get that buzz going.

Here’s where we started getting a lot more new footage, especially around Finn and Poe.

oooooo….way more with Luke and Rey and what looks like Rey losing control.  What ever is going to happen out there on Ahch-to?

Delicious line reading by Phasma of “so good to have you back.”  And I can’t help but cackle with glee when Chewbacca swats aside the Porg in the Millennium Falcon and you hear that quick “sqweek!”  Another of my favorite teasers.

A fantastic assortment of BB-8/Poe moments and one of my favorite moments which includes a Porg smashed up against the window.

Oooo…update as I found some more with additional footage I’d forgotten I’d seen before but couldn’t find in videos:

That’s a lot of new stuff to see!!!!

Then here are some of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos that have been officially released.  Some are quite amazing and might give away locations and such, but they’re edited well enough to I think minimize getting spoiled too much:

This one is great to see some more scenes with Carrie Fisher and of course the very last moment:  “It’s a Wrap!!!”

This one just came out and I was stoked to see it was partially filmed in Dubrovnik!

This last one is just fun as Anthony Daniels is still rocking it as C-3PO and now is the mentor to others playing droids.

This post is a long way of saying I can not believe Episode VIII is about to be released!!!!!  We just rewatched Episode VII this past weekend (after starting the process of buying the house) and it is still just as fantastic as ever.  The only bittersweet thing is Carrie Fisher dying after filming 8.  I can only imagine what the plan was originally.

pop culture

Tickets for Last Jedi? Check!

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It took a few tries, and finally yet again got them via the MovieTickets app on my iPhone, but here we are, with tickets to see the next Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, at the AMC Universal City IMAX.  Hells yeah!  And here’s a trailer that shows a lot more new footage that may be revealing a lot….or not.