Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Yes, I went to see Solo. Yes, there are spoilers in this post!!!! 

To tell you the truth, I'm still conflicted about this movie.  I enjoyed watching it and I really WANT to love it, but I just still feel...confused. Stuck. And I don't even know why. 

Sorry, sorry. So anyway, this is what I came away from the movie with: 

First, I thought that Alden Ehrenreich did a great job portraying Han. No, he didn't look exactly like Han, he didn't sound exactly like Han, but I think that overall he did an excellent job.  It didn't feel like a parody or imitation of Harrison Ford's Han, which I liked. Alden (using his first name because it's so tiring to type out the last name) put his own sort of spin on the character, while still keeping some of the little character traits that the original Han had. There were a couple moments where he would smirk or do some little thing that would inevitably make me think, "Oh yes, that was Han all over." 

I liked Han's character in the movie as well. Though I didn't care for the romance between him and Qi'ra (sorry!), I still liked him a lot. He was just the right mixture of streetwise and inexperienced, mature and childish. I felt like Alden really got the portrayal spot-on, even without looking exactly like Harrison Ford or anything like that.

To be honest, my favorites were Han and Chewie. I knew as soon as they tossed Han in with "the Beast" that it would be Chewbacca, and that made me excited. When I first saw that trailers for Solo and saw that there were other Wookies, I was afraid that the movie would pay homage to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special with the inclusion of Chewbacca's family, but THANK GOODNESS they did not. 

I mean, what can I say? Han and Chewie are an inseparable duo, and to have one without the other is just not right. I love how, throughout the entire movie, Han has people double-crossing and betraying him every which way, but then there's Chewbacca, loyal to the end, probably the first person--creature--Wookie--that Han ever had consistent loyalty and friendship from. That made me happy. 

I also thought that Lando was portrayed very well. His persona and, well, Lando-ness was well done by Donald Glover (I think that's the actor's name), and he was definitely a Scoundrel. The card game scenes were so good! And now I think we know why he asks Han in The Empire Strikes Back, "What did you do to my ship?" because, boy, the Falcon sure went through some changes. Also, the scene where he tells Han, "I hate you," and Han replies with "I know," was Perfection. I really didn't like Lando's droid girlfriend though. She was rather pointless and very obnoxious. After she "died" and we're supposed to be all sad about it, I could not take it seriously, like I would if BB-8 or R2-D2 died. I even like K2-SO much better than K3. But that's all beside the point.

Now, on to some other stuff. I really liked Beckett throughout almost the entire film, and then once it seemed that everything was going fine and dandy, after he left, almost the instant before he returned as a traitor, I was thinking, "Oh no, it's Beckett, isn't it?" It was sad that he was the one to betray Han, having been almost a father figure for most of the movie. I wonder if the other two members of his little gang had survived, if he wouldn't have betrayed Han? How would things have gone if the two of them had survived? His character, the way that he was so stubborn and refused to think in terms of helping others, made me a little sad, and his death was honestly painful. He was obviously someone that Han looked up to and admired, and it just hurt to see their friendship/camaraderie end in that tragic way. I liked Beckett...until the end. However, the scene where he was playing Holochess with Chewbacca on the Falcon was great! 

"You're sure you wanna make that move?"

I really disliked Qi'ra for some reason. Maybe it was her character arc--I had this feeling from watching the trailers, from the way Beckett said "everyone will betray you, etc" in the trailers, that Qi'ra would turn out to be a traitor, and well would you look at that, she did! Maybe I don't like her because I don't want to see Leia as Han's "replacement" of Qi'ra, the girl that he lost years ago. But that's beside the point. I just felt like there was too much romance--the first bit, with the chase on Corellia, was fine, I liked her then, but after that...

Maybe it was just that she was SO STINKING GOOD at being a traitor. She led them on all this time, and even Han, who has known her seemingly a long time, didn't notice her treachery until the very end. I feel like they kind of looked at each other and realized that they both knew what she was going to do, but that she was willing to let him get away before she put him in any real danger. I don't know, I just came away from the movie wishing her ship had blown up and she had died. (Anna, that's not nice.) Well I'm sorry! It would have been much more satisfactory than her having a hologram conversation with--DARTH MAUL??? What is going on here????? Might as well have Obi-Wan Kenobi pop up and turn out to be the villain!

I know that the cartoon Clone Wars resurrected Darth Maul with robotic legs, but NO. I'm very sorry. That is just not right. 

Now, the villain, Dryden Vos, was very good. Not that he was a good person, you see, but he was very classy and refined, a non-lame, non-cheesy villain. He was very intimidating and scary, but he wasn't over-the-top. The kind of villain who could stab you in the back while offering you a glass of wine with the other hand. 

It's really distracting to try and write with Obi-Wan popping up every couple seconds.  Let's see, what else is there to say? I don't know why I came away from this movie feeling very conflicted, walking away from the theater and trying to decide whether I liked it or not. Maybe it was because of the seeming endlessness of the betrayal and conflict. There were no definite "bad guys" and no definite "good guys," like in most of the Star Wars movies, and I felt like the line between good and bad was really blurred. There were no Jedi or Sith (which to be honest I rather miss, I love a good lightsaber duel), and the way that everyone uses whatever means necessary to gain their ends was a little disappointing, that there doesn't seem to be any objective Good in the galaxy. However, what's new? Isn't that every Star Wars movie? 

I think I would need to see it again in order to really understand the whole subplot with rival gangs, but the one gang needs the blue power stuff (I forgot what it was called) for their people, not for money. I didn't really understand that or the whole Enfys Nest thing. I also kind of wished that a clearer timeline had been drawn in regards to how long before A New Hope this took place.

I think I can honestly say that I enjoyed this movie. It had a great, almost Western feel to it, plenty of fun and action, and Han/Chewie made it a very entertaining watch. Leaving the conflicted feeling behind, it was a very enjoyable movie and, I think, a worthy addition to the Star Wars canon (other than the whole Darth Maul thing, I just will never accept that). Alden Ehrenreich was an excellent Han Solo without making the movie feel like a Harrison Ford impersonation, and it was a whole lot of fun.

Have you seen Solo? 

Agree (or disagree) with anything I said?

How do you feel about the return of Darth Maul?

Peter Rabbit 2018

All right, now that I've seen this twice, I feel qualified to write a bit of reflection about it. To get started, I wasn't expecting it to be amazing, but I did expect a rather fun kids' movie. So, when I sat down in the theater and the opening sequence began, I was a bit concerned. You see, it started with these birds singing a very lame, cheesy musical number, and that was NOT what I signed up for. But thankfully, that was cut short and the actual movie began. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was very funny, and had a pleasantly light, fun feel to it. The characters were well portrayed, acting was superb, and it was very consistent. The classic Peter Rabbit tales by Beatrix Potter were given a more modern spin, while still respecting their origins and referencing the original tales, with the inclusion of characters such as Mrs. Tiggywinkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher.  

So, content-wise this was fine.  There was some "rude humor" but nothing objectionable, which was pleasant, being a kids' movie! The rabbits and McGregor do fight each other, but the violence is shown in a very entertaining and almost cartoonish light. 

Anyhoo, on to the characters! Firstly, the Rabbits: 

Peter has a bit of an ego and is constantly a stuck-up character, not humble and definitely willing to be the boss. He doesn't really go through a character change, exactly (that is, at the end he's not all humble and sweet, he's still the boss), but he does apologize for what he has done wrong and it is clear that he loves his sisters and his cousin, Benjamin Bunny. Benjamin's self-affirmed "character flaw" is that he always follows Peter, no matter how foolhardy the idea might be. He is a naive, somewhat lovable rabbit, who always seems to get the worst of things but goes along with his cousins no matter what. 

The girls, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, are a little less developed. Mopsy has a lisp and ends up being the one telling the story at the end, Flopsy is the annoying big sister type, and Cottontail is rather a rogue who delights in adventure and risk, and also seems to thrive in violent situations. They all get on each others' nerves constantly, but they all love each other as well. 

The rabbits made me remember the "olden days" back when me and two of my brothers would pretend that the oldest was Peter, I was either Cottontail or Mopsy, I can't quite remember, and the youngest of the three was Benjamin. Whenever our family had tacos for dinner, there would be lettuce out on the table. Of course, we would pretend that Peter was teaching us how to "be bad" and steal the lettuce from Mr. McGregor's garden. That was a very long time ago, though. 

All right, on to the two main human characters! The first is Bea, the lady who lives next to the rabbits' tree and is their friend and protector. 

Bea was very likable and sweet. Her failed attempts at being a painter are very pathetic, although the pictures she paints of the rabbits are just like the illustrations in the original books by Beatrix Potter. I'm still unsure where Bea gets the money to just live out in the country and paint, without (as far as we know) a real job, but I suppose that's not an important part of the story. Oh well.  The only problem I had with her character is that I felt that she was very pro-nature, telling everyone that the rabbits own the land and the garden is theirs...I mean, have you ever had rabbits invade YOUR garden? Do you know how much farmers hate that???? But, then again, I suppose that's not important to the story. None of the characters are making a living off their gardens, and so the gardens can be invaded by rabbits. (I only wish that rabbits were that neat and clean in real life.) So yes, Bea was very fun, and she didn't even have to be a "strong independent female character." 

The other main human character is Mr. Thomas McGregor, who had the farm left to him by his uncle, Mr. McGregor Senior.

Thomas is a man controlled by his OCD and the desire to have his own perfectly situated toy store, or at least manage one. He despises pests of all kind and is the rabbits' main enemy throughout the movie. However, he is a very likeable villain and the audience can't help but pity this strange, very awkward sort of man--it would be impossible not to laugh at his oddity. He is one of the most hilarious characters in the film, who is constantly trying to get the better of the rabbits while they get the better of him and laugh at him. However, he and Bea start to like each other, and then the rabbits get a little bit jealous of the attention. Full-on battle ensues, but Bea never knows a thing until explosives get involved and her paintings are mostly ruined. Misunderstandings take place, but the ending is happy. 

Overall, this was a very pleasing movie. There was plenty of humor, which was not stupid humor, but very well-thought-out humor. The characters were fun and engaging, and very well-played. Even though I suppose it would be considered a kids' movie, I really enjoyed it, as I do most kids' movies. It was a fun film and I felt that it did a good job of staying true to the original Beatrix Potter tales. I was glad that old Mr. McGregor was at least a part of the film, because he is sort of essential to all of Peter's life, having put his father in a pie and all...and as you can see, they got his appearance perfectly right. 

Anyhow, this was a good movie. It was light, fun, and enjoyable for everybody. The animation of the animals is an impressive feat, as is the fact that  the human actors were acting to...well, nothing or to little puppets showing where the animals would be placed by the animators. Very cleverly done, Sony. Very cleverly done.

End of the Semester--Upcoming Posts?

Goodness gracious, where have I been since my last post???? It's been almost a month!

Well, in short, I was finishing my first year of college. (Insert muffled gasps here.) That's right. I submitted projects and papers galore, presented my presentations in class and brought plenty of pencils and erasers to those final exams--and I survived, finishing my classes successfully, although there lots of painful moments. I feel like freshmen who make it through their first year should get a free t-shirt or something--at least a water bottle, come on people! The day after I got out of school, I cleaned out my backpack, threw away a huge pile of old stuff that I didn't need, and stored my books away. It felt like I was destroying the ancient Jedi texts, if you know what I mean.

But anyway, yes, I am out of school for the summer!!!

This is what I did after school was out....

All righty, all that aside. I have started working at a greenhouse for the summer, or at least for the busy spring months, and my feet are currently sore from two days of 8 hour shifts (I feel like a wimp for complaining because I really don't have it that bad, but they are sore!). And I've started to get into a "non-school" mindset.  I have a couple writing goals for myself this summer, but we'll see if they get finished or not. Goal One: Finish my 2nd book in the trilogy and finalize/publish it on Createspace. Goal Two: Type the draft of my 6th book so that it is on the computer and not just in notebooks.  Writing-wise, that is what I'm hoping to get done this summer. It doesn't sound like a lot, but things always take way longer than I expect them to. 

I am also trying to figure out good ideas for upcoming posts. I would LIKE to do about two (significant) posts a month, but I don't know if that will happen. So I have been brainstorming ideas. If you read my ideas and have any ideas for posts you would like to see, please let me know!! So far here is what I have come up with, in no particular order: 

1. An "Ask Me Anything" post
2. Introductions of characters from my books or interviews of those characters
3. Some reflections on movies/books (the Han Solo movie comes out soon so that will probably happen)
4. The usual "lately" posts, probably after vacation(s)
5. Maybe I could find someone (ie a cousin--we are attempting to co-author a story) to do a post with me
6. Maybe I'll talk about the World Cup or something...;)

That's all. I've probably missed several ideas, but that's not important. This isn't an extremely interesting post, and I apologize. But it's a post all the same.  Goodbye! 

This is me before and after a year of college

When Writing Gets Its Own Way

Hello! And Happy Spring!

Ruth over at Amongst Spring Blossoms has initiated a "write about your writing" week, which looks like supreme fun! Even though I'm posting very late on the last day of the writing week. (sorrryyyyy!!!) And so I have decided to write this post about...The Writing. More specifically, about what happens when I sit down to write but then the characters and the story take over from me and write themselves.*CAUTION: This post is bound to be disjointed and rambly!*

To begin, have you ever been writing something, intending it to end a certain way, and then looked back later and realized that it turned out completely unlike how you intended? For example, I've been working on my last prequel, chronologically right before the trilogy (the six book series ended up like Star Wars and no I didn't plan that), and I finished the very first handwritten draft not long ago. As I've been reading through it and making (mostly mental) notes about what to change, I suddenly realized that a very great portion of the story is a love story.

How did that happen? I didn't intend this! But all of a sudden, there it is, and there's no way I can change it. I mean, it's a Very Necessary element of the plot, we all must admit. I didn't mean for that to be such a central element of the story, and of course I try to keep any amount of romance as un-sappy and as respectable as possible (ahem, I don't do lines like "I'd die for you" or "I don't like sand"). However, the story took a turn in a direction that I had not expected. 

Sometimes I find that certain characters have more of a propensity to dictate their own actions than others. There are a few I can control. A Few. But many of them just pop up and tell me "this is what I'm doing next, get your pen ready." *glares at a certain character* 

Has this ever happened to you? Have you been writing, intending a certain character to do a certain thing, and then it somehow ends up differently? The funny thing is that when my characters take over the book for me, it occasionally turns out to be much better than I could have managed on my own.

I think the reason that authors (maybe it's just me...I am remotely crazy) say "my characters took over the story for me" is that they tend to think in the minds of their characters. For example, my Sherlock Holmes Story. I was trying to keep it so much in the spirit of the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories - keeping characters and the "feel" authentic, and the only way I could really do that was to try thinking the way that my characters would think. Now, right now I'm trying to write what Mycroft Holmes would say...let's see...he's grumpy, lazy, and doesn't care what anyone else thinks about really anything...Sherlock as a young boy? He would be unfazed at his own oddness when he is around other children, act very mature for his age, and always be figuring things out in the background. 

When I start to talk to myself like this in my head is when some of (arguably) my most realistic writing takes place. Who knows why? Maybe I get more "into" the story that way. Maybe it's easier to write realistic dialogue if you realistically think about your characters' personalities and what they would say. Maybe I'm just crazy. That's probably it. 

In any case, I used to think it was ridiculous when authors in movies and such would say that the characters took over and the story wrote itself. When they talked about their characters being very real to them, I was skeptical. But now, after writing six books (writing being a relative term including things that are just hand-drafted), I think I begin to understand. 

Hmm...this is a rather short post. But there isn't much else to say. I just happened to be thinking about the ways that stories change when you least expect them to, the way that characters can get a bit out of hand. What are your thoughts? Have you ever had characters seem to dictate your story? 

(because there has to be a Princess Bride quote in here somewhere)

War Horse: Michael Morpurgo vs. Steven Spielberg (sort of)

*WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS SPRINKLED LIBERALLY THROUGHOUT THIS POST* 

A Very Dear Friend gave this book to me and I immediately read it. (Of course, I was on a three-hour long bus ride stuck with a bunch of college band people, so that gave me a perfect time to read.) I fell in love the the movie War Horse the first time I watched it, and I've been wanting to read the book ever since I, ahem, learned that it was a book. 

(Also I've decided that since it's March now I don't want a wintery background.) :D

This was a very pleasant read. It was meant to be a children's book, and is definitely not a hard read--the spine is less than an inch thick and there weren't any words that I required the dictionary to understand. I still think that the story is a lovely one and the characters are very memorable, although I would rather it was in third person than told in first person from the horse's perspective. I like the idea of a horse story that isn't all butterflies and daisies (not that they ARE all butterflies and daisies), and this one has some nice realism and 'grit' to it, some life, if you get my meaning. And, although there are quite a few plot changes from book to movie, I still think that the movie did the book great justice. Neither were too graphic with the violence, but were both descriptive enough to be very sad and moving, to make the reader/watcher understand the horrible things that happened during the war. 

As to content, there really wasn't anything objectionable in this book. There might have been one or two slight language spots, but really, nothing bad--probably better content-wise than the movie. 

The plot changes that were significant? 

Well, first of all, after Captain Nicholls dies, Joey doesn't get taken by the Germans.  He is first assigned to another British rider named Trooper Warren, a very young man who is inexperienced with horses, but is a sweet, kind fellow. Trooper Warren was a very pleasant character and had quite a few memorable lines. My favorite part of his was when he is reading a letter from home to Joey (yes, they all talk to Joey), he talks about his sweetheart, Sally, saying that "as soon as this war's over and finished with, I'll get back home and marry her. I've grown up with her, Joey, known her all my life.  S'pose I know her almost as well as I know myself, but I like her a lot better." When I first came across that line, I had to stop and read it again several times because it was just so sweet I couldn't get over it! For some reason, I can't help but think that Steven Spielberg based the character Charlie (the one with the new hat, I can't remember his title) on Trooper Warren, but changed the character for his own purposes...anyhoo, that was the first plot change. 

 The little French girl's story was a little different, but we are given a bit more information about her sickness. In the book, she and her grandfather care for the horses and give them lodging while the horses work for the army by day, pulling ambulances. At one point, Emilie is seriously ill with pneumonia (on Christmas Eve night) and her grandfather confides his fears in the horses, Joey and Topthorn. However, at that point, she gets well again and all is happy, but Emilie is still weaker. That is the cause of her later death, we find out. Then the army takes the horses to pull their cannons.  Emilie insists she is "just lending them" to the soldiers and that she had to get her horses back someday, after the war.

Then the story is mostly like the movie, although everything seems to take a much longer time. The only thing I was disappointed in was the ending. The British find Joey again (after the toss of a coin by the German and British soldiers to see who gets the horse) and the doctor agrees to let him live. Now, Albert is, at this time, helping in the army's stables with his friend David. Unlike the movie, Albert's eyes were not hurt and he was in perfectly fine condition. He thinks his friend is teasing when he says he's cleaning a horse that looks exactly like Joey, but when Albert whistles his owl whistle, Joey comes and Albert knows that it is his Joey. I almost like the movie's version of this better for some reason, but the book is good too. 

There were about three things that were in the movie, not in the book, that I wished would have come from the book. One: the flag that Joey has tied on him throughout the movie is not really a part of the book’s plot. Two: the ending; Albert’s eyes aren’t hurt and it isn’t quite the same. Three: the German brothers, Gunther and Michael, aren’t in the book. I loved the story with the two brothers in the movie and I was a little disappointed that it didn’t come from the book.

Oh, and it didn’t have the scene where the soldier is walking through No-Man’s-Land quoting Psalm 23, which was a really beautiful thing in the movie. Other than that, though, I thought it was a lovely book. I enjoyed it and there are quite a few note-worthy quotes. To wrap up, I’ll just share a few quotes, and some pictures from the film too. I think Spielberg did a really good job capturing the feel of the book as a movie! It feels like a seamless transition from text to screen. (Please don't be depressed! I know it's a kind of sad story...but I don't want to make you sad.) 

“I always knew the British were crazy. Now that I know that they use horses such as you as cart horses, I am quite sure of it. That’s what this war is all about, my friend. It’s about which of us is the crazier. And clearly you British started with an advantage. You were crazy beforehand.” 

"There are brave men, German and English, lying out there on stretchers in the trenches." 

"They saved good lives today, those two - good German lives and good English lives."  

"Someone suddenly remembered it was Christmas morning, and they sang slow, tuneful carols all the way back." 

 "Captain Nicholls walked by my head turning his eyes out to sea so that no one should notice the tears in them. The wounded were everywhere - on stretchers, on crutches, in open ambulances, and etched on every man was the look of wretched misery and pain." 

"He'd have been proud of you, Joey. He'd have been proud of you, the way you kept going out there. He died leading that charge and you finished it for him. He'd have been proud of you."

Have you seen or read War Horse? What are your thoughts? 

Is there anything I didn't cover in regards to book vs movie? 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Additional Thoughts

It has been a month or two since I last saw The Last Jedi and I had originally posted a first-impressions review here. Since that time, however, I have had a few more thoughts than "OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO GOOD!" and these are those thoughts. PLEASE NOTE: There are some spoilers in this post if you have not seen it! 

As Relates to Plot: 
The first time you watch the movie, you don't realize this, but a whole lot of the plot was actually not even necessary.

FIRST: Can we talk about this lady? I have quite a few questions, such as: 

1. Who is she?
2. Who does she think she is bossing Poe around like that?
3. Why does she have purple hair? 
4. What kind of an outfit is that? It's awful! 
5. Why didn't she tell them the plan? 
6. Why was she even in the movie?
7. If she was so important why didn't we ever see her before this?
8. Just WHY? 

The thing is that I think Holdo would have been a competent leader but she had severe communication issues. I mean, she obviously knows what kind of a guy Poe is and knows that he's a loose cannon ready to blow something up if nobody tells him the plan, so why didn't she tell him what was going on? It would have been simple: "Poe, I'm fueling up the transports because there's an abandoned rebel base on a nearby planet that I think we can reach so that we have a safer place to get our battle plans ready." This would have solved a lot of problems. Poe wouldn't have started a mutiny (even though, admit it, we were all on his side), Finn and Rose wouldn't have gone on a completely useless mission (which I will talk about in a minute), and maybe people wouldn't have died as much.

This leads to the whole mutiny thing. Now, I know that mutiny is bad and any pirate captain can tell you that too, but, like I said, we were all rooting for Poe and his buddies. Why was this? Because Admiral Holdo was a jerk and annoying and we all hated her! Okay, okay, once she blew up the bad ship in that cool soundless scene, I hated her less because at least she did something helpful.  I guess my whole point is that I don't understand why she couldn't just tell Poe/everyone else the plan instead of just telling him that "you're the last thing we need right now." Yeah, maybe he is, but at least tell him what you're thinking of doing. You know he's going to do something equivalent to jumping in a spaceship and blowing something up if you don't tell him what's going on. Instead she starts sassing and just being obnoxious, rubbing it in his face that he was just demoted (which was hilarious when Leia did it, but nobody likes Holdo). Naturally, he's going to go blow something up. Poe was a little pigheaded and didn't think things through, but, overall, I think we can agree that the percent of things going wrong was 90% Holdo, 10% Poe. 

You can't tell me that this wasn't your reaction to Holdo

Okay, that's topic one. Topic two is the whole Rose and Finn side quest.

They go to the city and park ON THE BEACH instead of like, in the grass where nobody would notice their ship????? Hello? Then we get the whole "don't be cruel to animals or small children" lecture from Rose, which is true, yes, don't be cruel to animals or small children! But right at that time they really needed to get out of there and go save the galaxy. Then again, without the little kids' help (that little boy was so sweet though) they wouldn't have been able to actually survive, so I guess it worked out. 

And then there's the codebreaker. Who was slightly useless. They got in, got the thing, and then it turned out that all their efforts were for nothing and they were just gonna die anyway and the codebreaker was deserting them. I wonder if he's going to conveniently return in the next episode and help them out for real, or actually turn out to be a significant character? But seriously, everything that Finn and Rose did just seemed extra, and they really didn't accomplish anything other than set the animals free and say hi to the cute little kids. Maybe that'll turn out to be important later. But other than that, they just return to their friends on the red salt planet (why was the salt red?) and all is as it was before. (And we got to see some of BB-8's skills.) 

There isn't much to say about Luke, because he was just...Luke.  He was funny at times, and just very much like Luke. I've heard complaints that he was too mean and angry, but, take into account that he's been alone on an island for years without any other human interaction and he is still bitter about what happened in the past.  His duel with Kylo was pretty cool, even though he wasn't actually there and was just a ghost. (I don't understand how Yoda could use force lightning as a ghost, though. Was he just that strong?) And also, the Jedi texts (insert derisive snort here) aren't lost like Luke thinks they are. "Rey has everything she needs," said Yoda, and later, right when Finn is getting bandages out of the Falcon for Rose, we see the texts in a cupboard, at least I'm pretty sure. So Rey stole them. 

Not even gonna talk about Leia surviving floating through space using the Force because I think we all understand that's stupid and she should have died then. Not that I want people to die, but...it would have worked plot-wise.

I was disappointed that Kylo didn't turn good or Rey didn't turn bad, I was expecting one of the two. When they fought as a team, I was so happy, but then he had to go and wreck it. Also, I still don't know if I believe that Rey's parents were nobody. She had a rebel pilot doll in her old home on Jakku! What does that mean? Also related to the Jedi island, why are people so crazy about Porgs? What's so great about them? I mean they're cute and all but they have absolutely no impact on the plot or character development at all. Chewie should have eaten them.

All right, last thing. When they are fighting on Crait (that's the name of the salt planet right?) and Finn is flying straight into the battering ram laser beam, that whole sequence didn't make sense. For one, Finn would have been dead just from the intensity of flying straight into the laser beam. For another, I thought he was going to fly into the cannon and sacrifice himself (wow a move that is not running away for once!), thereby saving the rest of the Resistance, but Rose wrecked that idea. Yeah, it would have been sad for Finn to die, but at least he would have saved the rest of them somewhat. Oh well. It was not to be. 

So anyway, these are my further thoughts on The Last Jedi. I still love it, but of course there are some things that make me scratch my head and wonder "why?" The characters are great and already becoming iconic in the Star Wars universe. Most of the humor is great too.

All right, that's all. Now I need to go watch it again. Also just found out that the working title of Episode IX is "The Black Diamond." 

I'm not sure how I feel about that title....

Any thoughts? 

Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, or In Other Words February 14

All of a sudden it's February 14th. How did that happen? Yesterday it was Christmas and now it's Valentine's Day!!!! So, this post is going to be very discombobulated, BUT I had a few thoughts with the arrival of this holiday that I wanted to get out in writing.

Personally, I've never been a huge Valentine's Day person. When we were little, my mom would help us decorate cookies for our cousins and maybe our music teachers, and of course every year we make my dad a big cookie, but I have never put much stock in the whole idea of Valentine's Day. Of course, there's the whole St. Valentine thing, but, considering everything, for some reason I've just never been a 'roses, hearts, and baby Cupids' person. One story of the origin of Valentine's Day is that it was set up, supposedly, to commemorate the martyrdom of Christian saints, especially by the name of Valentine, who were executed in Rome, but another origin story has the day coming from the Roman holiday of Lupercalia, which was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, Remus, and Romulus (according to History.com). The legend is that the church made an attempt to "Christianize" the holiday by commemorating the saints on the day that the pagan festival traditionally took place. But anyway. That doesn't have anything to do with anything.

This year, Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent season leading up to Easter, coincide.

I've never considered myself a romantic person. I get mad if a movie is too mushy for my taste or if kissing scenes last more than three seconds (about). But, as much as we yell at the TV screen, as much as we groan and complain and gripe about romance and how big a deal we make about how gross it is, I think that down in their hearts everyone, EVERYONE, appreciates a good, clean love story.

And that's what so interesting about Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday coinciding this year. Even though Valentine's Day was set up, allegedly, to be a pagan holiday, Ash Wednesday reminds us of Lent, which reminds us of Easter. And the whole story of Easter is the greatest love story ever told, of a Savior who gave Himself up for his loved one, the church, and the people of of the church as individuals. It's interesting, how things that were (allegedly) instituted and kept up by pagan or non-Christian traditions have a way of pointing to Christ in the end.

 Now, I'm not saying anything against baking people cookies or making a card or giving roses to somebody. That's fine, make your friends, teachers, family members, and sweethearts (if applicable) cards and cookies, smile and say thank you if you receive something. Remember the martyred saints and their loving service to others. But remember also that Ash Wednesday leads to Easter. And Easter leads to the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that, my friends, is the greatest love story ever told, "which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”-C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle.