Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

This blog will pay for itself.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Republicans don’t trust women.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Bark louder, little dog.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / New Star Wars Trailer (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    As I saw noted elsewhere on the web, the Christmas release date offers a horrifying possibility: A remake of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

    Be afraid. Be very very afraid.

  4. 4.

    germy shoemangler

    @NotMax: Not enough calcium in his diet? For years I was 5’11”, but recently I was measured during a checkup and told I am now 5’9″.

    I am the incredible shrinking man.

    The Force Awakens will shatter (as they say) all box office records, I predict. Easy prediction.

  5. 5.

    germy shoemangler

    @kc: Thank Ceiling Cat. Now my kids can inherit tax free the three thousand dollars I’ll probably die with.

  6. 6.

    Eric S.

    I am downright excited about a movie release for the first time in so many years I can’t even count. Why? Why can’t I quit you Star Wars?

    Between this and the new Bond flick I may see three movies (The Girl and I saw McFarland, USA, recently) in the theater in a single calendar year. That’ll be a first since I don’t know when.

  7. 7.

    Fourten

    Newfash: Disney puts an old brand in the microwave and tries to pass it off as Thanksgiving dinner.

  8. 8.

    Hal

    @kc: At least they have their priorities. More money for the wealthy!!!

    The funniest thing for me is the number of middle class/working class Republicans who support this type of thing even though it is largely a give away for the wealthy. Yes there are some middle class people out there who have saved and are able to leave their relatives with a decent amount of money, but this is really about the rich being able to leave their fortunes to their kids/SuperPacs.

  10. 10.

    H.K. Anders

    @Hal: It’s not largely a giveaway to the wealthy. It is exclusively a giveaway to the wealthy.

    I am friends with a right-wing married couple. He is a city firefighter. She is a public school teacher. They vote exclusively Republican. He is passionate on the subject of the “death tax” because he doesn’t think it’s right that the estate he leaves his kids will have to be taxed. It is impossible to get him to understand the estate tax will not apply to what he leaves his kids because what he leaves his kids will amount to no more than his life insurance payout and the equity in their house.

    He simply rejects the facts. He knows what he knows, and that’s that.

  11. 11.

    Trollhattan

    Some of the visuals are…whoa, especially the ginormous crashed Imperial whatever ship.

    Very glad Han didn’t kill himself in that plane crash.

  13. 13.

    Trollhattan

    @kc:
    Very, very important to ensure the fraction of a percent of all estates subject to the current tax can finally be free of pesky gummint property grabs. Well played, Republicans.

  14. 14.

    Trollhattan

    @ranchandsyrup:
    Heh.

    “It wasn’t discriminatory, it was fairly factual,”

    “I’m sorry if anybody was offended by my relentless truthiness what exists in my head.”

    Martinez is mostly a dump, but lets make it a dump that treats everyone equally.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Hal: Yes there are some middle class people out there who have saved and are able to leave their relatives with a decent amount of money

    Taxation of estates begins, I believe, at $5 million, with spouses exempt. There’s another loophole, again I believe (I think burns, esq, is a tax and estate lawyer) that allows each parent to gift each child 500,000 in their lifetime. People play fast and loose with the valuation of assets to get it under half a million. My knowledge of this comes from reading an article about the Mitt-lets hundred million dollar, tax-exempt trust fund, so take all this with block of salt.

    I think people who think they’re richer than they are– “My house/IRA/coin collection will be worth a million dollars when I retire in eight years! The Democrats want to raise my taxes!” are one of the R’s best electoral assets.

  19. 19.

    Cacti

    @Hal:

    The funniest thing for me is the number of middle class/working class Republicans who support this type of thing even though it is entirely a give away for the sprogs of the rich.

    Fixed.

    In 2015, the first $5.43 million that an individual receives via inheritance is tax exempt. For a married couple, it would be double that. Surviving spouses are also exempt from estate tax.

    It’s a giveaway to the rent seeking, idle rich like Paris Hilton, or the Walton family.

  21. 21.

    Hal

    @H.K. Anders: I had a conservative friend ranting on Facebook the other day about the fair tax. She insisted it was the only way to fairly tax everyone and insisted we should all be paying the same amount of taxes regardless of how much people make. She even went so far as to say that if you don’t spend money, hey, you don’t get taxed, so it’s an incentive to save.

    I was blown away since a fair tax would apply to everything from rent, gas and food to prescription drugs, and once again, was really about eliminating things like capital gains, but damn, there was no swaying her. There is something pathological about not rich folks who care so much about the taxes millionaires and billionaires pay.

  22. 22.

    Cacti

    As for the upcoming film, I can hardly wait for Star Wars and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I loves me a good old-fashioned type scandal

    The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is literally in bed with the airline lobby.
    Politico reported Thursday that Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) has been dating a top lobbyist for a U.S. airline trade association since last summer, citing multiple anonymous sources familiar with their relationship.

    I think Shuster is the son of Bud? One of the great pork barons of all time, rivaling Robert Byrd at getting things built and named for him in his district.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: unpossible, who could they get to play Bea Arthur’s important part?

    Doesn’t Carrie Fischer claim to have no memory of that, she was so high?

  27. 27.

    Calouste

    @Cacti: Wow, $5.43 million per recipient? So if you have 3 kids that are married the first $32-and-a-bit million won’t be taxed?

  28. 28.

    Gravenstone

    That black stormtrooper seems like he can’t breathe through his helmet. He ripped it off and was gasping in the last teaser, too. He might want to talk to someone about that.

  29. 29.

    gene108

    @Hal:

    Yes there are some middle class people out there who have saved and are able to leave their relatives with a decent amount of money, but this is really about the rich being able to leave their fortunes to their kids/SuperPacs.

    I think people get confused with the capital gains taxes on an ancestors assets that may get assessed on sale of property versus the actual estate tax.

    Someone died, there’s an estate and taxes got paid.

    Figuring out what taxes got paid is too subtle a distinction for many people.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    @H.K. Anders:

    He simply rejects the facts. He knows what he knows, and that’s that.

    That’s what we’re up against, and it’s damn near impossible to counter, even if, as in this case, there are independently verifiable facts that people should be able to consult.

    Politics as an identity marker is an enormous problem, particularly in a fragmented media environment where people can choose the outlets that confirm their biases. Our side doesn’t completely escape this either, but we’re pikers in the denial game in comparison with Republicans.

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    @Calouste:

    Wow, $5.43 million per recipient? So if you have 3 kids that are married the first $32-and-a-bit million won’t be taxed?

    If you leave the max to each surviving child and their spouses individually, then yes.

    Most people with those kind of assets don’t dispose of them by will in the first place. They set up trusts for their kiddos long before their death.

  32. 32.

    gene108

    Watched the trailer again.

    Why does Luke say, “The Force is strong in my family, my father has it, I have it….”

    Why the present tense when talking about Anakin / Vader?

    Hmmmm……….

  33. 33.

    replicnt6

    @Cacti:

    Wow, $5.43 million per recipient? So if you have 3 kids that are married the first $32-and-a-bit million won’t be taxed?

    If you leave the max to each surviving child and their spouses individually, then yes.

    I’m somewhere in the vicinity of 90% sure you’re wrong about that. Estate tax is based on the size of the estate and the exemption applies to the estate. Some states, I believe, have an inheritance tax which applies to the recipients, but I do not believe that there is a Federal inheritance tax.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    Sounds like Chewbacca might be in this one.

    My first rescue dog was abandoned by his family – they packed up the kids and the other dog and left the (soon to be my) dog and the cat in the dust as they drove away to California. A co-worker lived next door to the abandoned animals and asked me if I could take the dog for a week as they were leaving on vacation.

    He greeted me with the sound of Chewbacca every single time I got home. The “just for a week” thing didn’t take, and the rest is history. But until the day he died, many years later, Chewbacca greeted you at the door when you returned home.

  35. 35.

    Cacti

    @H.K. Anders:

    I am friends with a right-wing married couple. He is a city firefighter. She is a public school teacher. They vote exclusively Republican. He is passionate on the subject of the “death tax” because he doesn’t think it’s right that the estate he leaves his kids will have to be taxed. It is impossible to get him to understand the estate tax will not apply to what he leaves his kids because what he leaves his kids will amount to no more than his life insurance payout and the equity in their house.

    Another thing that most people don’t know is that Life Insurance or other lump sum payable on death benefits are not part of the dead person’s estate, unless they don’t have a named beneficiary. A lump sum life insurance payout to his wife or kids would be fully tax exempt. They would only owe if they received it as an annuity, or in monthly installments, but would pay tax only on interest accrued above the face value of the policy.

    So, if you have life insurance, tell your named beneficiaries to opt for the lump sum.

  37. 37.

    srv

    @Tenar Darell: JJ Abrams will take his 8-way lightsaber and cut your cannon, hopes and dreams into pieces. Then he will stab you in your soul while lens flares burst from his director’s megaphone and burn your eyelids off, so you can never unsee a crime worse than the prequels.

    @gene108: It’s from RotJ

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Well, the trailer is awesome.

    I’m not sure if I can forgive Lucas for allowing Star Wars Galaxies NGE from happening.

    We shall see.

  41. 41.

    Hal

    LOTR saved me from my sci-fi/fantasy doldrums after the prequels. To this day I have not seen the entirety of Revenge of the Sith. I just couldn’t be bothered to care, and that was after I had sat in line for 2 hours to see the Phantom Menace debut at the old Coronet theatre in San Francisco, which I think is a hospice now. So much hope dashed on the cgi rocks. I’m much more excited about this film, but we’ll see.

  42. 42.

    Turgidson

    @Hal:

    FWIW, Sith was easily, easily the best one. But, that’s like winning a competition for least offensively terrible. Best I would say about it is, it would be an OK thing to watch on TV if not much else is on.

    I told myself I wouldn’t get excited about Episode VII when it was announced, but I have to say this trailer is testing my resolve. Looks pretty cool.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @Hal: I hear ya, man. I’m surprised at myself for being as excited about this movie as I am. I should fucking know better! The triumph of hope over experience, I guess…

  44. 44.

    dogwood

    @Betty Cracker:

    You can’t counter it. The motivations of insecure and resentful middle and working class Americans who consistently vote against their economic interests seem to baffle Democrats. Republicans understand them perfectly, and know how to flatter their egos. These people aren’t resentful of people who have more than they do. It’s people who know more than they do who make them profoundly uncomfortable and insecure. Democrats are never going to win with a populist appeal that is based on economics alone. Screaming that republicans are picking your pocket ain’t enough. They need an approach that says they’re picking your pocket and they think you’re too stupid to understand it.

  45. 45.

    Botsplainer

    @Gravenstone:

    That black stormtrooper seems like he can’t breathe through his helmet. He ripped it off and was gasping in the last teaser, too. He might want to talk to someone about that.

    Why would ANYBODY want to be an imperial stormtrooper?

    1. The armor sucks ass and can’t repel a club or rock thrown by a teddy bear.

    2. Range instructors must suck. Their whiz bang personal space lasers make awesome noise but they can’t seem to hit what they’re within 25 feet of.

    3. Their targeting computers on ship-based weapons suck.

    4. Their spaceships are built with easily penetrated design flaws.

  46. 46.

    Cacti

    @replicnt6:

    but I do not believe that there is a Federal inheritance tax

    You are correct insofar as the tax liability falls on the estate, rather than the beneficiary, and would come out of whatever share they had in the gross estate. But the individual exemptions are calculated against the gross estate, and for the current tax year, they max out at 5.43 million per individual beneficiary. So 100 million dollar estate, plus 3 kids and their 3 spouses all left an equal share, would exempt 32.58 million of the estate’s value from tax, and would fall on the remaining 67.42 million.

    ETA: The top federal tax rate for estates I believe is 40% at present. So everyone’s share would work out to a bit over 12 million after federal taxes.

    Poor dears.

  47. 47.

    Botsplainer

    @Turgidson:

    I’d like the entire series reimagined according to the genius that is Quentin Tarantino.

    I’d totally watch that.

  48. 48.

    Gravenstone

    @srv: As at least one wag online has noted, with a Christmas release date, this could well be the Star Wars Holiday Special, Episode II

  49. 49.

    Gravenstone

    @Botsplainer:

    4. Their spaceships are built with easily penetrated design flaws.

    Hey now, you can’t blame the stormtroopers for the faults of the Imperial Navy.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @gene108:

    I think people get confused with the capital gains taxes on an ancestors assets that may get assessed on sale of property versus the actual estate tax.

    But even this often favors recipient. In most cases, the fair market value of inherited property is the fair market value on the date of death of the person passing the property on.

    So, aunt Mini bought a house in 1959 for $5,000 in a really nice neighborhood. When she dies, the house is worth a million bucks. You inherit it and immediately sell it for $1.1 million. You’re broke and unemployed that year and the sale is your only income. You’re married and file a joint return (no kids). Your tax on the gain of $100,000 is a whopping $885.

    The Republicans think a tax of $885 is too much money.

  51. 51.

    Cacti

    @Botsplainer:

    Who would win a fight between the Imperial stormtroopers and the Red-shirted ensigns on Star Trek?

    Stormtroopers can’t hit anyone, but any time a red shirt is in the company of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, they have to die.

  53. 53.

    Keith G

    But will they release the the first three (in our time line not theirs) on disk without the visual “enhancements” that where added by Lucas later on?

  55. 55.

    Turgidson

    @Cacti:

    Stormtroopers win that battle without breaking a sweat. Remember when they boarded Leia’s ship when she was “on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan”? All those non-essential rebel soldiers guarding the door dropped like flies or were captured.

    Hell, stormtroopers might never miss if they’re only shooting at an army of token-death Star Trek ensigns.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    @kc:

    The House has voted to repeal the estate tax.

    The Republican Congress will only vote on three things. To repeal the estate tax, to make abortion illegal again, and to kill Obamacare. Rinse and repeat. This is the closest they can come to stopping the government, or slowing it down until they get a Republican into the White House.

    Treaties, cabinet nominees, anything else, just doesn’t matter.

    It’s pretty damn despicable.

  57. 57.

    Eric S.

    @Botsplainer: “Their Range Instructors Must Suck”

    In a New Hope, when Luke and Obi-Wan find the burned out Jawa transport, Obi-Wan says, “Only Imperial Stormtroopers are that accurate”. Lucas spent the rest of the series proving him wrong.

  60. 60.

    patrick II

    Meanwhile at the other end of the financial spectrum, at the end of life, many people end up in nursing homes. Medicaid, not Medicare, will pay for that, but:

    For the states who use the SSI standards, SSI has a $2,000 limit on countable assets for one person, and the limit is $3,000 if both members of a married couple are receiving care.

    So, if someone has assets of than a few thousand bucks it has to be spent down before medicaid kicks in for the nursing home. leaving essentially nothing for the children. For the repuublicans in the house, breaking poor people isn’t enough they want it so the inheritors at the top keep everything and those at the bottom lose everything.

  61. 61.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Brachiator: I’m sure they’ll vote to get rid of the Capital Gains Tax, that’s always a Republican favorite. They’ll call it the Bob Novak Memorial Tax Reform Act of 2015.

  62. 62.

    Shana

    @gene108: Agreed. I remember a conversation I overheard a few years ago (I’m an inveterate eavesdropper) where a middle-aged man, very nicely dressed, having dinner in an expensive restaurant in Chicago, clearly lived there so not some rube visiting from out of town, who insisted that if the top tax rate was raised to 50% that half of his income would go for taxes. IANAL but I’m married to an Employee Benefits attorney. I leaned over to correct him but he refused to understand me.

  63. 63.

    Hal

    One little thing. The black Stormtrooper is John Boyega, one of the leads in the film.

    UPDATE: A new teaser has surfaced and is embedded below…

    I’m watching the live-stream of a panel at the “Star Wars Celebration” gathering, which is taking place in Anaheim, CA, featuring writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy. And during the conversation, Abrams revealed that the upcoming movie’s 3 leads are Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. I grabbed the above image from the YouTube live-stream, which filled the stage screen when Abrams revealed the news.

    We already know that Boyega’s character is named Finn; and still not revealing much, the actor added that, at the beginning of the film, he’s character is in “incredible danger,” and how he chooses to reach to that danger, changes the course of his life, and launches him into the “Star Wars” universe in “a very unique way,” he shared. Oscar Isaac then added that his character and Boyega’s eventually run into each other, and team up, while Isaac’s character is on a mission. I believe his exact words were, “their fates [his characters and Boyega’s] will become forever intertwined.”

    Representation matters.

  64. 64.

    Cacti

    @Turgidson:

    Stormtroopers win that battle without breaking a sweat. Remember when they boarded Leia’s ship when she was “on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan”? All those non-essential rebel soldiers guarding the door dropped like flies or were captured.

    Hell, stormtroopers might never miss if they’re only shooting at an army of token-death Star Trek ensigns.

    Good point.

    Under the “principle of evil marksmanship” the villains have no trouble picking off as many nameless good guys as necessary, but the hero has to be involved for their competence to disappear. So, while Kirk, Spock, and Bones could take on a whole regiment of stormtroopers without a scratch, the red shirts would be dropping like flies.

    I just recently learned about the “principle of evil marksmanship”.

    A related cinematic action device is the “one at a time attack rule,” where the villains are always polite enough to attack the martial arts master one by one, rather than, you know, gang tackling him.

  66. 66.

    bemused

    I’ll never understand how average joe republicans faithfully cling to the belief that what’s fantastic for the wealthy, tax cuts and estate tax repeal, is going to be good for them. They really do believe that they too will some day be rich if they just keep voting R and cheerlead every tax cut for the wealthy. It’s so delusional.

    Does anyone have a dog that has contracted the dog flu that I keep hearing about in the news. Just wondering if this is actually something to be concerned about or if the media is over-reacting again.

  69. 69.

    mrmike

    @gene108:

    What makes you think that’s Luke talking. Maybe it’s Ben.
    Except Ben doesn’t have a sister unless you buy the rumors about Jaina.
    Oh I don’t know.

  70. 70.

    El Caganer

    I just saw an item at Asia Times advising that Congressional leaders have agreed to fast-track TPP. Who says bipartisanship is dead?

  72. 72.

    Hal

    Oh Glob. Another Mysteries Pizza in the making; this time the owner of a car repair shop has taken a preemptive strike against the evil gays and for guns! guns! guns!

    Enough is enough.
    Our rights as conservative Americans are being squashed more and more everyday. Apparently if you are white (or close to it), you have a job, go to church, and own a gun… That translates into racists, privileged, bigot, conspiracy theorist. Too many of us say nothing. Well, freedom of speech isn’t just for Liberals, THEY are the ones that need to learn to “co-exist”, THEY are the ones who need to WORK to be “equal”

    Poor conservative, gun owning white folks. Well, Mr. Diesel Tech has a solution!

    Therefore, in the spirit of freedom (whats left of it) and MY right to operate MY business as I see fit:
    Guns ARE allowed at DIESELTEC, so much so in fact that we will offer a discount if you bring in your gun. (“On duty” cops are excluded because thats not their gun, thats my gun bought with my money, off duty absolutely!)
    I am a Christian. My company will be run in a way that reflects that. Dishonesty, thievery, immoral behavior, etc. will not be welcomed at MY place of business. (I would not hesitate to refuse service to an openly gay person or persons. Homosexuality is wrong, period. If you want to argue this fact with me then I will put your vehicle together with all bolts and no nuts and you can see how that works.)

    He does say he does not! want a gofundme though, so don’t bother sending your money. Also, that nuts and bolts thing was a reference to lady and boy parts, not that he would purposely put someone’s care back together incorrectly.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/car-repair-shop-gay-customers_n_7078370.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000050

  73. 73.

    Arclite

    @Betty Cracker:

    That’s what we’re up against, and it’s damn near impossible to counter, even if, as in this case, there are independently verifiable facts that people should be able to consult.

    It should be simple: “The first five mil are tax exempt. You’re not leaving more than five mil to your kids. Why do you care?”

  76. 76.

    germy shoemangler

    Here’s the new trailer for Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSYjORgaRn4

    It stars Traci Lords, and some spectacular special effect killer sharks:

    When a fracking mishap accidentally rips apart the earth’s crust, the resulting hole opens up a gaping underground waterway to a vast and mysterious ocean somewhere deep below. Instantly, giant prehistoric sharks begin wending their way upward toward a murky bog in the heart of the Arkansas Bayou. Unfortunately for a group of female prisoners on a work detail in the swamp, the deadly sharks attack without warning – pinning a hapless group of intended victims in a small deserted cabin in the heart of the wetlands. Death may be the only means of escape!

  77. 77.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Hal: I wonder if he will provide service for people that eat shrimp, are divorced, or have tattoos?

    ETA: I see he’ll provided services to teh gay, just no homo PDA’s in his shop.

  80. 80.

    askew

    I am so excited for this movie. Boy, do I hope it is better than the 4th Indiana Jones movie. That was painful. Freaking aliens.

    Martin O’Malley just gave a speech and did a Q&A session with a bunch of smartass Harvard students. One of them asked if he thought Hillary would make a good VP. There should be more Q&As like that.

  81. 81.

    germy shoemangler

    @askew: I am so excited for this movie. Boy, do I hope it is better than the 4th Indiana Jones movie. That was painful. Freaking aliens.

    I’m excited about Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre, too. I’m sure it’ll be better than the 4th Indiana Jones movie.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    @dogwood: The bill was passed to protect 5000 people. Many who do hire lower wage folks for their chain stores. My tax dollar is supporting their employees through food stamps and medicaid. I’m resentful as heck.

    also.. someone needs to ask the same folks who are for a giant tax break for the wealthy, if they want their taxes raised to pay for it.

  83. 83.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @JPL: Why raise taxes, if a Republican replaces the Near Sherrif; just tack it on the credit card. Ronald Reagan showed us that deficits don’t matter when a Republican is President. Or just enact a national sales tax. See, no problem.

    Oh, and why do you hate the job creators?
    /snark

  86. 86.

    beltane

    @JPL: If Henry VIII could disband the parasitic monasteries and sell off their assets, you’d think someone could do the same to the parasitic Walton heirs.@germy shoemangler: When I was a freshman in college way back in 1986, one of the bands on campus was called “Traci Lords ex-lovers”. I’m not sure why I remembered that.

  88. 88.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Brachiator: “until they get a Republican into the White House.”

    I doubt they’ll get a Republican into the White House in 2016 though. Unfortunately, they’ll probably hold onto the House through the next Presidential election so you’re right about the rinse and repeat tactic.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    Thirty years ago when my son was in first grade, we won the bring the hamsters home for the summer contest. Yes we were the only family to enter, but we still won. My fondest memories was going in my son’s room and watching him fly one of the hamsters in one of the star wars ships. The hamster was unharmed but did return to his nice crate after son and I had a few words.

  91. 91.

    Joel

    Abrams did OK with Star Trek, but I’m not getting my hopes up here. I fell for it the last time around, I’ll need to be convinced now.

  92. 92.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    @kc:

    I’m sure Obama will sign it too. What a disappointment.
    CHAIneD Cp! ARGLEBARGLE!

    /CornerStone

  96. 96.

    Geoduck

    Re: Stormtrooper accuracy. It’s important to remember that during the sequence when this most comes into play, when the heroes are on the Death Star, the Imperials want them to escape, so that they can track the Falcon back to the rebel base.

    Looking forward to the new flick, even though I was underwhelmed by Abram’s Trek foray to the point I didn’t bother seeing Into Darkness.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just turned on MSNBC to see what Chris Hayes is talking about tonight, caught tweety talking about the “chicken hawks who took us so stupidly in to war”. Two months ago (when the Libyan mass beheading took place) he was calling for American troops against ISIS

  101. 101.

    Germy Shoemangler

    A group of physicians and medical experts is asking Columbia University to remove Mehmet Oz — better known on television as “Dr. Oz” — from a top position at the university’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, Gizmodo reported.

    “Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops,” the group stated in a letter to Columbia medical school dean Lee Goldman. “Worst of all, he has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.”

  103. 103.

    Jacks mom

    @patrick II: this is what happened to my family. My father left my mom pretty comfortable but at 88 we were unable to take care of her without the help of a full time nurse. Not being wealthy and able to afford 24/7 in house nursing care we put her in a very nice nursing home but we had to make sure we paid everything she had left except $2000 in order to qualify for Medicaid. The nursing home charges about $4500.00 per month so it didn’t take long to run through what she had left.

    My main concern is that my mom is taken care of, but my republican brother is really pissed that the government spent all my dads money on my mom when he’s sure he should have inherited It. Yet he hates the government that is taking care of his mother and is all about abolishing the “death tax” ….

  106. 106.

    Shell

    Sorry, Star Wars should have ended with ‘Empire Strikes Back’
    Just like the Alien franchise should have stopped with the second movie. Ripley should be living happily, raising Newt, and maybe that hunky Marine.

  107. 107.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @efgoldman:

    species of shark always has women’s clothing for an appetizer…

    It’s always good to get fiber in your diet.

  111. 111.

    lamh36

    @JPL: I was reading a bit about that yesterday. What is up with that?

    Its bad I guess, but this is honestly the first time I’ve heard of Engel’s kidnapping. I missed it

  114. 114.

    max

    @Gin & Tonic: Traci Lords is still in films?

    Holy shit. Traci Lords was born in Steubenville, OH.

    max
    [‘And now she’s thriving in horror movie MILF roles. Go figure.’]

  115. 115.

    germy shoemangler

    @efgoldman: And a music career:

    Her single “Last Drag” was released on October 25, 2011 and peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Three other songs, “I’ll Be Your Alibi”, “Watching You Watching Me” and “Catch Me In the Pose”, were featured on the television series Sons of Anarchy, but were not commercially released.

  116. 116.

    beth

    I just saw a news report on that airline baggage worker who took a nap at work, woke up after the plane took off and forced it to make an emergency landing to get him out. He’s currently fine and back at work according to the report. Just how bad do you have to screw up to lose a job as a baggage handler?

  117. 117.

    Hal

    @Shell:

    Just like the Alien franchise should have stopped with the second movie. Ripley should be living happily, raising Newt, and maybe that hunky Marine.

    If Ripley hadn’t gone back for Newt she would be living on earth with Hicks and the Alien threat would have been wiped out. Sorry Newt!

  118. 118.

    mclaren

    Wow, this looks spectacularly bad.

    Can someone just pound a stake in the heart of this lame-ass franchise and put it out of its misery?

  119. 119.

    germy shoemangler

    @beth: I saw the story on the news and also on “Inside Edition” and another handler said it’s common for the baggage people to take naps like that.

    It made me wonder if they’re sleep-deprived to be doing something like that.

  124. 124.

    PaulW

    I can still remember the anticipation for Episode I back in 1999…

    I can still remember the heartbreak the moment the audience discovered Jar-Jar was a major character and that the kid they hired to play Anakin was five years too young.

    I am a more jaded geek today, I admit.

    But the second I saw the Falcon fly across the screen with its new scanner dish… the moment I saw that the BB8 bot is a REAL prop… the fact that somehow, some way, they’re making honest efforts to make a Star Wars movie the fans will *love* rather than experience (which is what the prequels all turned out to be, just experiences)… well consider me still a little jaded, because I’m a fan of the Thrawn trilogy and I’m a little disappointed they didn’t stick to that (I WANT MARA JADE).

    Just kidding. I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE.

  127. 127.

    Hal

    @PaulW:

    and that the kid they hired to play Anakin was five years too young.

    I believe Anakin’s age and Jar Jar’s existence were the end result of Lucas wanting to make these movies for kids. Jake Lloyd’s casting always perplexed me because of the old “he’s too old to train” argument from Yoda and the other council members when the kid was 1st grader. It would have made so much more sense to have a pre-teen or even teenager, someone who lived his life as a slave and maltreated his entire childhood. That would have made far more sense as to why Anakin gave into anger and the dark side.

    My other irritation; Lucas needed people who grew up on these movies to make the prequels a hit. I’ve always felt he sort of crapped on the people who grew up with these films to make a more child friendly movie (something that started with the whole Greedo shot first nonsense) while expecting the millions of people who had been waiting for those movies for years to just hand over their dollars and be happy he even bothered to make the films.

  129. 129.

    gnomedad

    @Cacti:
    There’s a joke that goes: A stormtrooper fires at a redshirt. He misses, but the redshirt dies anyway.

  131. 131.

    Arclite

    Traci Lords started acting in porn movies when she was 15. The vast majority of her porn productivity was produced when she was under 18 years of age. Most of it is online somewhere. Doesn’t that qualify as child pornography? I supposed the same could be said of Christian Slater’s scene in Name of the Rose. He was only 15 when he did the sex scene in that movie, IIRC.

  132. 132.

    NCSteve

    I went to see “John Carter” and left both entertained and suspecting all the hate was a fashion statement, so consider the source.

    I went to see Revenge of the Sith and blessed Lucas for explaining the Iraq War to millions of people who didn’t get it. I also forgave him for Jar Jar Binks when I realized he and Qui Gon were opposite sides of the same coin: the well intentioned imbecile who bumbles his way into power and the noble wise man who thinks he knows what’s best better than anyone else. Between the two of them, they manage to destroy democracy.

    Those fucking “Hobbit” movies, on the other hand, have just really given me the shits . . .

Comments are closed.