The Star Wars Starbucks Reunion Thread

HUNTER and THRAN: I'm not ignoring you, I just couldn't think of anything splendiforous to say. ( Hi. Ü ) To make up for my lack of discourse abilities, how about I draw one of those questions from my handy dandy conversation starter jar?

"The world is going to explode tomorrow. What do you do with your last 24 hours and what do you eat tonite as your last meal?"

Wow, that exploding part got my attention.... I'll be back tomorrow with my answer.

Oh, and EOWYN, isn't "Survivor" starting to become like watching the Donner Party live? Migosh, psychiatrists could record this and have reams of material to study for years, -- what a glimpse into people's psyches!

And I miss Jenna, the mood is much more dour since she left. ( in a perfectly pointless aside, did you notice how much better she looked when living on the beach than she did when she returned with make-up? Man, I wish that's how it was with me, I could save a small fortune...)

I have to know....who do you guess survives?

 

(Just a quickie...)

I HOPE Sean survives. Rudy winning would be fun, too.

I HOPE those that are left wise up and pick off part of the voting alliance, like Richard or Susan while they still can.

It's really quite eerie -- people on an island, and their plotting to get rid of each other. Susan (I think that's Susan) Wednesday night justified it that people go to Church just to sell more life insurance in the town, and so having a sense of tribe & alliance against others is human & natural. She also said that this is what politics are all about.

< shiver! >

And the question (Can all art be compared to SW?) comes to mind. At no point in SW am I trying to figure out who should be ditched from the cast during this scene. Hey! Han gets more reward if we kill... Obi Wan! yes! Banish Obi Wan! He'll come back as a ghost at future moments, but he'll be banned & those that remain will go on competing for the treasure!

If anything, that whole "ban from the island" is such the dark side thing. Obi Wan & Yoda weren't in their haunts because the dark side was a big happy family with some skeletons in the closet. Even thinking in terms of banning for self interest is the dark side -- and that's the strategy to the game. Sean with his random votes tried to get around it, but couldn't face when his vote contributed to Jenna's exile.

Poor Sean. You can't not play & care.

The big question in my mind:

If you KNEW that you would win (Vader told you so) would you ever play this game? Would you do the survivor thing, knowing that this is what has to be done, knowing that you would win the million dollars?

You KNOW you are going to win. ?????

(And, wow, those reactions. Wow.)

 

I know, poor Sean and his cocamaime scheme. At least he tried, and I like him for that even if he is naïve. ( I'm beginning to think that's a quality I like in a man. I mean, look at Richard and Sean, they're poster boys for each end of the spectrum and who would you rather spend the rest of your life with?) If he'd only kept his plan to himself.... And see, I wonder about that. Why announce it in the first place? Was his motive to help others who were also struggling with the issue see that there was another way, a "higher road"? Did he just want to make his thinking and allegiance clear so he wouldn't be bothered anymore about casting his vote in with others? Or was it important for him not just to BE nice, but also to be known and SEEN as a nice guy?

Man, being on that island must really mess with your mind...

Rudy makes me laugh, he is soooooo of his generation, isn't he? I can put up with a lot more from men of his age than younger, I figure they were raised that way. He's actually probably made more strides towards tolerance than anyone on the island, relatively speaking. And Sue is scary! She reminds me of that rule of thumb anti-terrorist SWAT teams have, "Shoot the woman first". I watch her and see why....MacBeth's wife. Yet at the same time it's such a surprise this week to see her exhibit all these tender, protective feelings for Kelly (who, frankly, strikes me as a mouse of girl). You can just never truly know the depth and breadth of a person, can you? I also think it's interesting how everyone instantly labelled Colleen as ditzy, yet she's turning out to be keenly savvy and intuitive. If they'd listened to her two weeks ago they could have broken up the alliance, I'm not sure if they have enough votes now. And Richard.....what can I say about Richard? That man is a show unto himself, you can just see his mind calculating and clicking. And he has such sweet eyes, they really bely his killer instincts. I also think it's cool that everyone was so anticipating seeing Navy Seal Rudy in action, yet he turns out to be more a crusty sea cook and it's the gay guy who manly goes out and provides for the "tribe". It's nice when stereotypes are turned topsy-turvy like that, expecially on national television.

And I have thought a lot about what I'd do if I were there, and I think I'd want to try to talk everyone into a Kobayashi Maru solution, -- rather than just one winner, why not all win? Agree (legally) to split the winnings equally right from the beginning, regardless of who survives, and then just enjoy the three week vacation. And if I KNEW I was going to win, that just makes it easier, I could even vote for myself every week so I wouldn't even have to feel like I had blood on my hands. Off, damn spot....

Now, what about this.... What if WE (Starbucks) were put on an island or in a house together for three weeks? What if it were an all or nothing offer, -- everyone agree to participate, or none will get the opportunity? Even if we did draw up some nice friendly iron tight agreement at the beginning to split the money, -- we'd still have to live with each other. I wonder how that would play out? The shock of having to get to know the 3d version as opposed to the net personae... shifting group dynamics....truths and annoying habits revealed......migosh.... have they ever had a murder on that show? We might be the first!

CASTA: I've been meaning to mention to you that your wanting omniscience as your super power reminded me of the OSCard book, "Speaker for the Dead", -- you want to be Jane. The ultimate sentient information network.

 

EOWYN: I just realized how right you are about the voting off being of the dark side. You're right, we can't imagine Luke or Han bumping one another off, even though they had a great reason to want each other gone. Luke could have been helping Han pack his bags so to speak, but instead he put the needs of the rebellion first. (awww.... what a guy) Whereas, you'll notice that officers in the Empire were dropping like flies....

Sooo....does that mean Sean is the Luke of the island? The ESB version, -- he rushes to help his friends and just makes things worse but hey, he's still our hero. Ü

 

LOL! This "Survivor" discussion is beginning to remind me of the Luke fan club back in the early days. Sadly, I don't even have a TV so I can share in your fandom. I do know that one of the non-Survivors is now working for a law firm.

CASTA, I've been rude to not say hi - HI!

Watched a movie last night, finally - Hollow Man. Mildly interesting special effects, but pretty banal overall. More fodder for the Kevin Bacon game, I suppose.

I realized this morning that maybe one reason for American men's breast obsession is that you can actually show breats in a Rated R movie.

So, SASHA, what do you think of my trap-laying abilities? I managed to get QUIET QUEEN out of the woodwork... which usually draws VADER out. Those Swedes.

I'm thinking of stirring up some trouble in the Ep. II & III non-spoilers forum with that "Anakin isn't Luke's father after all" theory...

 

<< "The world is going to explode tomorrow. What do you do with your last 24 hours and what do you eat tonite as your last meal?" >>

Sasha, if the world was about to end, I seriously doubt that I'd have much of an appetite. I don't know what I'd eat, but I'd want to drink lots of Root Beer. I'd probably use the time remaining to me to finish whatever books I'm currently reading. My summer reading includes AoC and LotR.

~ Hunter of the Winds ~

 

World ending? CHOCOLATE PUDDING! Clearly CHOCOLATE PUDDING! It's a new thing for me, but it's really taking. I may have another life long love on my hands. oooops. I had a pile tonight -- perhaps the world will end now?


>So why always talk about wanting to achieve
>balance if the goal is really to bring light
>side supremacy back? Did it just have a nice
>ecologically mystical ring to it?

I've been thinking that it's not impossible to have 2 religions/philosophies at the same time. Odd as this sounds, bear with me a second. Why can't there be the part of RotJ which is about defeating evil & at the same time a part of RotJ which is about whatever balancing the force is?


HUNTER -- what is AoC? And where are you in LotR?????? I _love_ LotR!!!!!

 

1. The one person you'd like to meet...

Carl Jung. And Gary Coleman. And those Coyote Ugly bartenders.


2. Superpower you most want...

To be one with the universe. Wait, I already am! Sooo...instead, I'd want to be able to surf the galaxy like the Silver Surfer.


3. Favourite munchie at 2am...

drumstick ice cream cone and caffeine free coke.


4. Things you collect...

pennies and quotes.


5. Favourite cartoons...

Star Blazers, Robotech, and that old Star Trek cartoon.


6. Person you would most want to work with...

Tree


7. Favourite musical performers...

Current favorites: Blink 182, Moby, and a few other Generation Y performers.


8. Favourite TV show...

Summer favorites: Big Brother and The Real World, New Orleans


9. Last good movie you saw...

High Fidelity with John Cusack. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed that movie.


10. Last good book you read...

Mindfulness by Ellen Langer. One of those books that has significantly changed the way I look at and understand the world.


11. If you had the power of The Beyonder...

to be able to understand and speak all the languages of the world.

 

Jedi Eowyn: AoC is the latest NJO paperback novel by James Luceno. "Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial" is what I'm currently reading. I just started "The Hobbit" and it will have to wait until I finish reading AoC and "Rogue Planet." Next on my summer reading list is LotR.

~ Hunter of the Winds ~

 

Wow, this place sure is the hotspot on Saturday nights, isn't it?

Hey, SASHA, EOWYN brought up this question on Starbucks E-Z, but was your original purpose for Starbucks(TM) a way to collect the most interesting threads happening in the JCF? How did it turn into... this?

Last request meal: You know, the thing about me is that I rarely pay much attention to food. I actually like cooking a lot, and I like a good meal, but I've never had a "favorite" food. (The flip side to this is that I'll eat most anything without complaint).

"Balance": I have a lot of problems with Lucas's new quasi-ecological balance symbiosis etc. thing. To someone who's been pretty environmentally aware for a long time now, it seems so... faddish. I wince when I Obi-Wan say "symbiote circle" - I mean, it's such an unnatural phrase that Terry Brooks changed it in the novel.

Anyway, EOWYN, I'm now pretty much into the idea of Luke ushering in a new era in which the Jedi fade in importance as super-beings - thus the disenchantment of the world and the rise of the mundane. "Balance" is not a very heroic goal to strive for, vs. "conquest."

Hey, has anyone seen CALLIE around? I'm worried about her...

 

Balance, midichlorians, and symbiote circle: I like all those concepts, but I never really thought of them as being ecological concepts, PADMEWAN, even though I agree that you can definitely see them that way. But, I believe the idea of balance and symbiosis have their primary roots in taoism and buddhism, and are extensions of what Lucas laid out about the Force in the OT.

There's this great passage from the Tao Te Ching that really captures the essence of what I think Lucas means by the unbalancing and balancing of the Force. I'll try and quote it later. (geez, I'm wanting to quote from the Tao again; it is just like last summer!)

I love the concept of midichlorians, too. There's a very zen-mystical quality to midichlorians. One of my favorite lines from TPM is when Qui Gon tells Anakin, "if you quiet your mind, you can hear them speaking to you." And I love the merging of science/biology/physics with spirituality in TPM. Midichlorians directly challenge Cartesian dualism (i.e., the mind/body split), and instead embody a more holistic belief in the connection between spirit, mind, and body. The main thing I don't like about them is that I keep thinking of clorox bleach when I hear the word "midichlorians."

 

PADMEWAN, I was going to post this in your Tone Poem thread, but I realized it was really off-topic, so I thought I'd post my thoughts here instead.

I was about to answer your question about whether the tone poems are better than TPM, and I really can't answer this question, since I'm one of the handful of SW fans who has NOT seen any of the tone poems. I think I remember Eowyn saying that she hadn't seen them either.

I deliberately avoided reading about any spoilers, plot points, or seeing any of the t.v. commercials or trailers before I saw TPM. I wanted to see TPM without any expectations whatsoever. And I plan to do the same with Episodes II and III.

And the result of seeing TPM without any preconceived expectations? First time I saw it, I enjoyed it, but didn't know what to make of it. (And the audience I watched it with was really quiet during the film, so that dampened the experience, too. Some guy sitting by me started yawning during the Senate scenes, and that was distracting).

I remember everything going by so fast. At the end of the film, I was still ready for another hour of the film. I couldn't believe it ended so quickly. But, visually, the movie totally blew me away, and I had some really vivid dreams about TPM that night. And for me, on multiple viewings, the movie keeps getting better and deeper. The movie may have its flaws and inconsistencies, but that movie is absolutely hypnotic...it just sucks you into its technicolor Alice in Wonderland world; well, at least it does for me.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, I know lots of people talk about how TPM just "feels" different from the OT. And I agree, although I like the way TPM "feels."

I think the reason why the OT feels different from TPM is that the OT is more sci-fi/ACTION ADVENTURE/fantasy, while TPM is more sci-fi/FANTASY/action-adventure. In other words, TPM works and feels more like a fantasy film than the OT, which is more like a romantic action-adventure in the Flash Gordon b movie-saturday serial vein. And TPM's fantasy feel might explain why people thought the film felt more "kiddie" than the OT.

When I think of TPM, I keep being reminded of movies and stories like "Fantastic Voyage," "Alice in Wonderland," "The NeverEnding Story," "The Wizard of Oz," etc. And the film isn't merely just visually stunning; rather, TPM creates a whole fantasy world that is regal (Theeds), ancient (Tatooine), magical (the Underwater City), and postmodern/futuristic (Coruscant), all at once. And it's also filled with fantastic creatures, much more so than the the more humanoid filled OT, which adds to the Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland effect.

TPM also sort of reminds me of the movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," in terms of fantasy-feel and loose storyline structure. Munchausen is the third film in Terry Gilliam's trilogy (Time Bandits and Brazil are the other two films in that trilogy). Anyone seen it?

Ok, those are my random thoughts on TPM.

 

Hello. I don't really have much to say, but Padmewan McGregor invited me to drop by, so here I am! Greetings to all. I may try to hop in here now and again and see if I can
1. figure out what the current topic of discussion is... and
2. serenade you with my trivial thoughts.

 

I'm sure you all know by now that Sir Alec Guiness has passed away.

"The Force will be with you... always."

 

<silence>

 

*sob*

 

Everything always happens AFTER I leave work! Damn it! I'm really bummed over this! Did we know he had cancer?

 

I didn't know that he had cancer.

*(

Guiness did Obi Wan perfectly. And he always will.

 

A loss...

 

Sorry you showed up in the midst of a funeral, LAGNIAPPE, you'll find that we're usually quite chipper here. For example:

Does your user name sound like "Lapti Nek" from ROTJ?

 

Topic, Laniappe? Pick a topic, any topic!! (Hi & welcome!) Make one up if you like.

The end of the epic years: As I was babbling, LotR seems to be about the shift away from the years when words alone alter physical reality. After reading HAVE above I get some inklings of what you & Padmewan were saying about the change in the SW world.

Perhaps the imbalance in the force is what gives Jedi their powers? Sith, too? Jedi are using the imbalance to try to do what the chosen one will do (very nearly staving of the chosen one's time by keeping the balance close?)? Yet, it must happen, and BANG! even the Jedi can't fill in for the chosen one anymore. And they are mostly destroyed in the growing imbalance (Sith = using the imbalance to make things more unbalanced).

The Chosen One will do what the Jedi have been trying to do -- but being a Jedi has nothing to do with it. The Jedi have been listening to the force for years say the one little thing it yells at Anakin in that moment in RotJ: "FATHER."

< shivers >

The word spoken that brings The Chosen One to the point of choosing is "Father." So this is a fable about us being "father"s in this world. (And Luke in his way is the father of Anakin in that moment.)

So the end of the fairy tale is saying "yes" to being the father to the innocent world. That is quite a brain teaser. It creates the importance of the FATHER, something that is somewhat missing from the current US culture I think.

Being a corrupted, old, broken down Sith second in command, and still saying "yes" to the innocent that has rejected joining you there. This is prefigured by Qui Gon picking up Anakin. Still, it is something the Jedi can not completely do for the force themselves. And this is the moment of balance.

That and I'm still impressed by the quality of *thinking* Guiness brought to Obi Wan. When Luke says "Obi Wan Kenobi" we get that slightly confused moment as if he's awash in memories.

*sigh*

memories which we're going to see in the next movies! YAY!

 

One small Survivor detail:

a friend pointed out to me that "SEAN" -- our innocent guy -- has voted with the alliance 'by chance' every time. >:

Our Luke-like-guy in survivor seems to have embraced the dark side, but is pretending that he hasn't. >:

He voted for Jenna "just because it was alphabetical time." He voted for Gervase because he found the guy annoying. Coincidence? >: There is no such thing as chance.

I don't remember who he voted for when the guy who speaks to coconuts got voted off.

 

EOWYN, quick note -

Your theory of balance reminds me of the Dark Crystal - another story that ends with the demise, literally, of Mystics. One presumes that with the passing of the Skeksis and the Mystics that so too goes the magic they brought with them.

I would doubt, though, that Lucas imagines the Jedi drawing from an imbalance -- he's too good / evil, I believe for that -- but we shall see...

 

We're just shy of 200 and I wonder if we'll make it...

In case any of you are interested, I'll second EOWYN's invitation... Come by the Starbuck E-Z Board page:

http://pub21.ezboard.com/bstarbucks48843

for downtime chatting... HAVE, EOWYN, and I are already there, and perhaps you'll run into some old pals from last summer, too!

HAAV would have loved it, all the chicks are there... together with a sexy hen!

 

Here's helping you reach 200...

The username is pronounced "Lan yap" with short a's... It is of French origin and comes from my old stomping grounds, N'Awlins... or New Orleans to those of you not in the know. It means "a little something extra" and used to refer to the extra bit of meat of produce that the grocery might though in with an order (sort of like a "baker's dozen") I chose it to remind me of the city that will always be HOME, and because I am both "little" and "special".