Raithe

Saw Rogue One. This actually reminds me of some years back when Lucas wanted to do that tv series in parallel with the movies. Have the movies be the grand space opera fantasy adventure side of the good vs evil, but do episodic tv that showed the "underbelly" of the SW universe in self-contained stories to expand background and potentially appeal more to the adults then the kids. The SW 7, 8, 9 etc being Disney's grand fantasies and the one-off films being the grimy elements that go on in the background. On another note, I liked the way they tried to use cgi characters to have that connection... But I think they overused Tarkin, and while that end note of the film made it a nice "this is 5 minutes before SW IV: A New Hope" announcement I think it would have worked better as a side shot rather than a full blown full facial close-up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpMbrmnoGkE

See, that's one of the things I find interesting. The "anglo" while rooted in the idea of the anglo-saxon background.. the anglo in America seems to be a very unique culture of its own rather than having specific English roots. The whole WASP thing is just so... American.

Out of curiosity, how many Americans say that they are English by heritage? I mean, we get Irish-Americans, and Scot-Americans who proudly claim their heritage (or at least the Hollywood version of their heritage and large drinking).

I'd say one of the most evocative Christmas mood songs... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q

It ain't Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall off of Nakatomi Plaza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYQ8bcDaMaI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pg1obK0Qfo&list=PL86F4D497FD3CACCE&index=1

I think that was the problem with ME3. It has some incredibly excellent portions, but scattered around with equally dismal portions. So the good bits make the cruddy bits stand out even more. But I can generally sink into the enjoyable space opera b-movieness of the whole thing.

The Magnificent Seven. The remake with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Martin Sensmeier taking the roles of the seven "gun men" hired to defend a small village/town from the evil robber baron and his army of mercenaries. It hits all the notes of a western, has the requisite music, the panning shots of the horizon and glorious west, fairly well-done gunfights and righteous vengeance. All the actors are good in their roles, it just doesn't really hit anything out of the park. It's a decent western with nothing really outstanding. So, worth the time to watch it, but not one I'd spend overlong hunting up.

Alas, many innocent threads gave their life.... I've actually spent the weekend doing as little as possible beyond chilling, reading, poking at a few games and that sort of thing. Letting my legs recover. My bank balance might thank me by the time Christmas arrives, but I'm not sure my feet will forgive me - averaging that 20-25km walk every shift has definitely been a new experience. Plus, five weeks of this might not have been the best of time to break in new boots.