Star Wars, yes, the movie

Here's something I don't get. In the original trilogy, Episodes 4-6, these droids, C3P0 and R2D2 escape from Princess Leia's ship and land on Tatooine, the planet which bore both Anakin and Luke Skywalker.

(Now, in the prequels, the droids are omnipresent. They are around Queen Amidala and Obiwan and Anakin and all that for all three movies.)

The droids arrive at Tatooine and they are purchased--surprise!--by Luke's Uncle Owen. And what doesn't happen? C3P0, who is more gossipy than the queen of the Pride parade, DOESN'T say, "Skywalker, huh? Any relation to Anakin? That dude's Darth Vader. I used to work with his girlfriend."

In fact, he never says it through three movies. Wouldn't you think C3P0 might say sometime, like when they're on the cloud planet with Landau, "Gee, he used to be such a nice kid. Why I remember, when he was so cute and cuddly and won a big speeder race back on Tatooine." In fact, when he went back with R2 and met up with Luke, he never said, "Oh yeah, Tatooine. There used to be this great ice cream place just outside of Mos Eisley back in the day."

And since I'm on this: When the droids take an escape pod, some Imperial dude tells Vader that there were no life forms on their pod. Vader knows, of course, that the droids were on it. But later, when the Millenium Falcon is taken aboard an Imperial cruiser, Han, Chewy, Luke, Obi Wan and the droids hide in the smuggling compartments, and no one finds them. So, what? The Imperial forces scan pods but not ships on tractor beams? Please.

Other than that, I have fun watching these flicks. Well, the first three.

Sopranos

Opinions are like assholes, right?

No catharsis, which is the accepted convention of dramatic storytelling. That sucked. I get the existentialism. I really do. I watched and enjoyed Groundhog Day. But characters change. This is why we watch (or, gasp, read) the stories people dream up. To learn how to live, or how not to.

So we were left with life continuing as it had.

Realistic? Sure.

But that's not why we watch.

Alternatively: maybe Tony did get whacked, but in keeping with the thing Bobby said in on the lake, it comes without your knowing it's coming. The same idea can be found in mob movies all over, for example Goodfellas.

Fine.

But we weren't in Tony's head watching the world go by for the last 7-8 years. If this was Tony's lights going out, there was no groundwork for it.

Cheap.

But, hey, I'm not the rich guy who created the show. Maybe David Chase knows some shit. I suspect he does, even if the show last night felt like a big "fuck you."

Call it what you will. I call it half a blowjob.

Skip's Election Prediction

I've had a moment of clarity.

I'm pretty sure it will be Obama or Clinton for the dems.

But who will be on the red side?

Fred Thompson.

For weeks, I've been thinking no way could he be a contender. Then I realized. He evokes everything about another older politician and actor who was very successful: Ronald Reagan.

So it will be Fred--a smart, smooth, famous, Southern (Southerners do very well in Presidential politics) guy against either:

A black man with a funny name or

A carpetbagging woman from Illinois/Arkansas/New York.

Shoot, why even have the election? Someone appoint Fred quick.

TB, again

Here's a great quotation from a guy on an airplane:

"I wasn't sure what to think or who to be mad at, or if I was allowed to be mad," said passenger Jason Vik. "I know he spent a lot of money on his wedding and I can understand him wanting to hold that obligation but you can't put 487 people at risk on our flight just because you've already spent this money."

He's talking about Andrew Speaker, the TB passenger from Georgia. Andrew is a divorce lawyer.

I still say he drives a Mercedes. (Mercedes drivers are the most obnoxious, self-important dickheads on the road.)