Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

This fight is for everything.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans in disarray!

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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Saw Star Wars this afternoon (please, be cautious in the comments if spoilers upset you), but all I will say is it was a nice diversion from a shitty 24 hours and I think the strongest aspect of the movie (other than the music) is that it didn’t feel like it was all special effects and that the best part of the movie were the new characters Rey and Finn, and they will definitely be able to carry the franchise. Rey is just adorable and cool.

One thing that cracked me up is that I was in the theater, about five minutes into the movie, and there was no surround sound. It was all coming through the center channels, which would have given Lucas a FUCKING stroke. And out of the 100 people in the audience, NO ONE SEEMED TO NOTICE. NO ONE. It was literally ruining the movie for me- John Williams spent thousands of hours on that music, and to hear the orchestra’s work just being destroyed made it unwatchable, so I went and found someone and told them they needed to fix the sound or give me another ticket and I would wait a half hour for another showing. Walked back in, sat down, and it was fixed about 30 seconds later.

And from what I can tell, no one seemed to notice. Makes me wonder how many hundreds of millions of surround systems are sold every year to people who can’t even appreciate them (or know if it is even hooked up right). I guess it’s a metaphor- no one pays attention to anything anymore. Especially when they are driving. But I’ll rant about that another day.

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  2. 2.

    Schlemazel

    And there are con artists that sell speaker connectors with gold plated ends for $5000. Seriously, $20 cables with 30 cents worth of gold plating but there are suckers who believe they can hear a difference – as long as they are told which cables are being used.

    There is always a greater fool. Hell, some moron assclown with more money than brains spent 2 million bucks for a Wu-Tang album.

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    For those who would like to discuss spoilers, Betty figured out how to create a super-seekrit hidden comment thread a couple down from here (click on the Star Wars logo). Sadly, it won’t work on the mobile site, but it does seem to be working on my iPad with the mobile site turned off.

  4. 4.

    NCSteve

    Countless millions didn’t notice that Whitney Houston sang off key and like the taste of Big Macs. Sensory dullards.

  5. 5.

    bobbo

    There was one time I thought I heard a sound coming from the back of the theater. That was pretty much it.

  7. 7.

    geg6

    Another day, another newscast screaming that there may finally be a state budget deal. I am withholding any celebrations until the damn thing actually passes and the governor signs it. I’ve been hearing this shit since June.

    Tea bagging state legislature needs to DIAF.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    Speaking of old man yelling at clouds, why the fuck would any browser developer think that disappearing features is a good thing? First IE started dropping the scroll down bar until you actively went looking for it (HATE. HATE. HATE.). And now FireFox decided to make the “Recent sites visited” down arrow be hidden until you go looking for it in the address bar.
    Fuck. Just leave shit where you can see and use it, FFSA.

  11. 11.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Is surround sound bad for your ears? This is a serious question. I know loud music with lots of bass is bad for your ears.

  12. 12.

    jl

    @kindness:

    ” Spoilers? Any? ”

    Most of the other GOPers are but a different shade of Trump. How is that for a spoiler?

    Jeb Bush On Crude Trump Comments: Clinton’s ‘Great At Being The Victim’
    TPM blog

    “She’s great at being the victim,” Bush was quoted as saying. “This will enhance her victimology status. This is what she loves doing. Trump is not going to be President because he says these things, it turns people off. For crying out loud, we’re two days before Christmas. Lighten up, man.”

    When reporters asked Bush to clarify, he said that Clinton “will use this in a way that won’t be helpful to our cause.”

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-clinton-victim-trump

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    @Mornington Crescent:
    She always had the power to go home, she just needed to clicker her heels & say “There’s no place like home”

    Not much of a movie if Glenda is honest but instead she tricks Dorothy into making a mob hit on her rival!

    And for shorter movies, why didn’t Obi-Wan say, “Her? Oh, she is your sister, you probably should know your dad is Vader too.”

  19. 19.

    gene108

    @geg6:

    What I heard this morning on the news is the PA State House killed it, though the Gov and Senate agreed to terms.

    Hope the impass changes.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    @Schlemazel:

    And for shorter movies, why didn’t Obi-Wan say, “Her? Oh, she is your sister, you probably should know your dad is Vader too.”

    “Oh, hey, BTW. Your real dad is like the Tony Soprano of the entire fucking galaxy. Stringer Bell ain’t got shit on that fucking gangsta.”

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: It’s really not about what I have to do to mitigate their BS impulses. It’s what in F’s name drove them to think disappearing features like nudie Snapchat photos makes sense?
    I am trying to read an article, you dumb POS, and the scroll bar is KIND OF FUCKING USEFUL. Why in the world should I have to keep reclaiming it just to consume content?

  23. 23.

    Pogonip

    This has nothing to do with Star Wars, but all you foodies may be interested to know that the food fight at Oberlin College has ended, with the college administration groveling appropriately.

    I think the college should follow the Party Rule: don’t get elaborate, just give them nuts and whisky. If you have enough whisky you can dispense with the nuts, they’ll never notice. (The Party Rule has saved me many hours of cooking, although out of the goodness of my heart I usually provide a few finger foods.)

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Makes me wonder how many hundreds of millions of surround systems are sold every year to people who can’t even appreciate them (or know if it is even hooked up right).

    I never made a secret of my inability to appreciate any # of things. In HS I had a buddy who was all into the latest stereo technology and he’d bring home a new component and rave about how much better things sounded etc etc and I’d look at him and say,

    “If you say so.”

    These days, I’m half deaf which is great. I have a built in excuse for ignoring people I don’t like, which let’s be honest, is damn near everybody..

  25. 25.

    Gimlet

    Evangelist Franklin Graham has announced he is abandoning the Republican Party in disgust over the move by the GOP-led Congress last week to pass a budget that Graham said was “wasteful” and provided funding for Planned Parenthood, which he compared to the Nazis.

    Graham himself has expressed admiration for Trump, the surprise front-runner in the Republican presidential field, and has voiced support for some of Trump’s more controversial positions — such as his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. — which have drawn condemnation from more mainstream evangelical leaders.

  27. 27.

    Mike J

    @Corner Stone: What really annoys me is that Chrome will do somethign mind numbingly stupid to fuck up their UI, so firefox will blindly follow a month or two later to make their UI worse to match. Like all those stupid gnome devs that want to just make a shitty mac clone.

  28. 28.

    Corner Stone

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    In HS I had a buddy who was all into the latest stereo technology and he’d bring home a new component and rave about how much better things sounded etc etc and I’d look at him

    Well, to be fair, that little Flintstone’s bird beak playing on the vinyl really wasn’t all that. So…

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    @Mike J: I added back the permanent scroll bar in my Safari but I seriously wanted to punch a motherfucker for a good few days. Who, I ask you, Who In The Fuck thinks disappearing features enhances a product? If I want to hide something, it’s pretty easy! Now keep that incredibly freaking useful feature where I can always use it, and get the F off my lawn!

  30. 30.

    Mj_Oregon

    Saw the movie on Sunday – a full 3D IMAX version. Wish I had opted for the 2D instead. My ears are still ringing after the TOO LOUD IMAX IMMERSION TREATMENT. Never again. I think I’ll go back and see it at least once more in January after all the crowds have thinned out. It merits a second viewing, I think!

  33. 33.

    gogol's wife

    I went to see the original Star Wars when it came out. I oohed and aahed over the space ships for about two minutes and then was colossally bored for the rest of the film. I allowed myself to be dragged along for The Empire Strikes Back. Endless, tedious. I just do not get it and never will. Oh well.

    I did enjoy Trump as Darth Vader, though.

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    What fucking football player brings a baseball bat onto the field before a game? Is his last name Capone?

  38. 38.

    RSA

    @Corner Stone:

    I added back the permanent scroll bar in my Safari but I seriously wanted to punch a motherfucker for a good few days. Who, I ask you, Who In The Fuck thinks disappearing features enhances a product?

    I point this out to the students in my class on human-computer interaction as an example of bad design; it’s been a “feature” on iOS for I don’t know how long.

    @Mike J:

    What really annoys me is that Chrome will do something mind numbingly stupid to fuck up their UI, so firefox will blindly follow a month or two later to make their UI worse to match.

    Open source innovation at work. (Half-kidding here, but not entirely.)

  39. 39.

    Corner Stone

    Michael Robinson clearly signed a contract with the NFL TV Network to be the Official Contrarian ™ .

  40. 40.

    geg6

    @gene108:

    Just now, they are saying that a vote is coming tomorrow on the Senate budget bill that the governor and Senate agreed to weeks ago, but that was killed by the asshole teabaggers in the House. If so, this is very good news because it means Turzai is losing on this. I hate that smug asshole (for non-PA people, Turzai is the GOP House leader who got the voter ID law passed that was finally shot down by the state Supremes; he got caught on audio saying the voter ID law would guarantee a Romney win).

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @RSA:

    I point this out to the students in my class on human-computer interaction as an example of bad design;

    Do you use me as an example?

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    @jl: Dbag might as well bring a chainsaw onto the field and then walk over to a star WR on the other team. Canoe boy isn’t even suited up to play, what kind of message did the Panthers organization think that was supposed to convey?
    “Hey, this practice team guy who is basically garbage time for the organization is going to walk over to a star top line WR for the Giants with a baseball bat over his shoulder and essentially call OBJ a faggot.”
    Hmmmm…that’s not odd at all.

  44. 44.

    jl

    A good example for some here in the US:

    Passenger says Muslims protect Christians in Islamist attack on Kenyan bus
    Reuters

    Abdi Mohamud Abdi, a Muslim who was among the passengers in Monday’s incident, told Reuters that more than 10 al Shabaab militants boarded the bus and ordered the Muslim passengers to split away from the Christians, but they refused.

    “We even gave some non-Muslims our religious attire to wear in the bus so that they would not be identified easily. We stuck together tightly,” he said.

    “The militants threatened to shoot us but we still refused and protected our brothers and sisters. Finally they gave up and left but warned that they would be back,” he said.

    In previous attacks, al Shabaab has often killed both Muslims and non-Muslims.

    http://news.yahoo.com/somali-militants-kill-two-bus-attack-northern-kenya-133010287.html

  45. 45.

    terraformer

    Sound is incredibly important to the experience of a movie or show. Most folks don’t consider sound – no surprise given that they’re constantly bombarded with ads for new TVs and 4K systems that have (right now) very little practical utility in terms of programming – if at all. I think the sound system companies have dropped the ball on this for the most part.

  55. 55.

    p.a.

    @Mj_Oregon: I honestly believe seeing (hearing) the Ramones in a 400 person venue damaged my hearing for life. Their setup would’ve been loud in Yankee stadium. It was the Joey Johnny Dee Dee Marky lineup.

  56. 56.

    Zinsky

    I am a musician and singer who waited until rather late in life (50s), to start performing in public. What I came to quickly realize is that a significant percentage of the population are tone deaf or something akin to it, and wouldn’t recognize good music if it jumped up and bit them in the private parts. They quite literally couldn’t differentiate between a guy farting into a trombone mouthpiece from a Yitzhak Perlman solo on a Stradivarius. You practice and rehearse endlessly for the small percentage who really do appreciate music, though. And that makes it alright.

  61. 61.

    Amir Khalid

    At some point today, I must head out to the University of Malaya Medical Centre to have my swollen left pinky looked at. I hope it’s not life-threatening.

  64. 64.

    lamh36

    @gogol’s wife: I was literally only about 5 months old when the original came out.

    I saw it on VHS thx to my local library, when I was maybe 12-14??? I liked it well enough, but I was never OMG, OMG, OMG…about the whole thing.

    Never wanted to and likely never will see the Prequels at all. Honestly, I tend to not really want to see heavily hyped films, independent or blockbuster. So I was never gonna see this one on opening day.

    I’ll see it eventually, but it probably won’t be before the end of the year…

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    @debbie: I just don’t get where Jeb thinks he’s going to get ahead saying the things he said there? Why would he step in there with those specific comments?

  67. 67.

    Villago Delenda Est

    SPOILER ALERT: Rafael Cruz is an asshole.

    Oh, wait. That’s common knowledge.

    OK, real spoiler: The Titanic runs into an iceberg and sinks!

  69. 69.

    SteveinSC

    @east is east: I saw the first Star Wars in San Francisco back in 1977. I had been reading about the movie, rushes, stills and glimpses and people were going ape-shit. My wife and I happened to be in SF for a conference and I knew the movie was playing. Didn’t know what to expect, only seats in the back balcony. When the crawler started and next Leia’s small craft shot by, I thought”Holy Shit” this is great! Then the Imperial Cruiser went over and the seven-channel Dolby Surround sound kicked in and I nearly jumped out of the balcony. Sounded like you were 10 feet under a 747 coming in for a landing. Wow!

    Yeah the sound was a huge part of that movie. Fucking unbelievable. I haven’t seen the new one, but it better come with the full audio.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jl: Holy shit, they’re all projection, all of the time. They project more than any of the gazillion screens of Star Wars right now.

  77. 77.

    Felonius Monk

    @debbie:

    to out-nutz Trump?

    Nah. Jeb? is the Bush family shlub. He’s never going to be the nominee, let alone the President. He just stands around with his hands in his pockets and all he can do is come up with stupid sounding rejoinders to Trump’s bullshit that falls flat and just makes him look more impotent than he already is. Poor Jeb?. The life of a shlub ain’t easy.

    ETA: Oh and did I mention that Jeb? is a dick.

  80. 80.

    Amir Khalid

    @Sad_Dem:
    This is a universe in which Stephenie Meyer and her biggest fan E.L. James, neither of whom can write decent prose to save her life, are bestselling authors.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    @Steve Alcott: If it is not a live concert, it’s a sonic compromise. And even hear you can have bad acoustics. But it’s the music that counts and your engagement with it, not sound systems or god’s gift to headphones.

  84. 84.

    Schlemazel

    @Sad_Dem:
    As a saxophone player I think you insult trombone players who fart into their mouthpieces when you compare them to Kenny G

  85. 85.

    Elmo

    Just got back. Loved, loved, loved it. Totally true to the originals. Harrison Ford phoned it in a little bit, but he’s been doing that for years and who cares it’s Han Solo on the fucking big screen again.

    Lots of homage with very little ripoff, which is a hard line to walk. Best $4B ever spent, to rescue the franchise from Lucas’ palsied grip.

    I saw Jedi four times in the summer before my senior year in high school. I may see this four times as well. So happy!

  86. 86.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Schlemazel:

    And for shorter movies, why didn’t Obi-Wan say, “Her? Oh, she is your sister, you probably should know your dad is Vader too.”

    Thanks for the spoiler, jerk!

    Seriously, though, it’s because when that movie was written, directed, and produced, Vader wasn’t the father of Luke or Leia (whose father Ben served in the Clone Wars). Lucas makes things up as he goes along and generally isn’t good at plotting, and the original trilogy would have been really bad if his then wife hadn’t fixed things.

  89. 89.

    Schlemazel

    @Bobby Thomson:
    I knew that but think it is hilarious. Particularly so when you hear that Lucus claimed he had the whole thing planned out from the start.

    My favorite spoiler for the current film has to do with Han. Turns out Padme had reassignment surgery after giving birth to Like & Leia and became a smuggler – HAN IS LUKE’S MOTHER!!

  90. 90.

    goblue72

    @Bobby Thomson: No kidding. Seriously, I swear Lucas didn’t come up with “Vader is his father” until he was halfway through scripting Empire. There’s no suggestion anywhere along the way, then all of a sudden – “I AM your father.” Almost like he wrote himself into a corner and couldn’t figure out what else to do.

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemazel:

    I noticed that they fixed that little plot hole in “The Wiz” — it’s Glinda’s ditzy sister who forgets to tell Dorothy about the power of the slippers to take her home.

  93. 93.

    Felonius Monk

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have questions,

    Don’t get your Lagrangians all twisted up, even Einstein said Maxwell’s Equations were probably the greatest achievement in Physics.

    But most people don’t have a clue who Maxwell was anyway. But they have heard Einstein’s name mentioned somewhere.

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    @goblue72: In the first draft of Empire by Leigh Brackett, Vader was not Luke’s father. That twist was, in fact, added by Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan when they did the rewrite. I don’t think they had any idea that Leia was his sister until Jedi was written.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Take a kid with you and you’ll enjoy it more. Though John Boyega is very nice eye candy, too. (Frankly, all of the young guys are, including the villain.)

    @Elmo:

    I didn’t like Solo’s entrance, but his chemistry with Ren was great. Further discussion in the hidden thread down below!

  98. 98.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    That spoils the story for me. I much prefer to envision Glenda plotting to get her sister whacked and using Dorothy to make to hit. Makes the story a lot funnier and more entertaining. I have often thought of writing Glinda’s story using this twist but some clown beat me to the idea of re-envisioning the story so I would wool like the jonny-come-lately!

  99. 99.

    lamh36

    @Schlemazel: funny enough, the televised Wiz broadcast was retooled by Harvey Feinstein. He improved on the story by making Dorothy less of a “do good” oh no why is this happening to me girl into one who in not ready to rumble, who rolled with the punches. Also too, it was a running gag, that Dorothy is just like an actual murderer…and uses that fact to get folk to “tremble” in fear…lol

  100. 100.

    Anoniminous

    @Schlemazel:

    William Shirer’s Berlin Diary is an interesting read as well. Really sets the tone for the period. I can’t remember if he talks about Prescott Bush but he does talk about US businessmen coming over and slobbering over the Nazis.

  101. 101.

    Pogonip

    @SteveinSC: @lamh36: Oh, my. I graduated in 1977, an event I have largely forgotten, but I’ll NEVER forget Star Wars. George Lucas has tried and tried over the years, but he can never dilute the impact of the bar scene and Luke’s dizzying flight through the Death Star. No one had ever seen anything like it, and probably never will again now that people grow up with fancy special effects.

  102. 102.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: I really only have my godson and my nephew when it comes to movies like SW and neither one is really into Star Wars.

    So the SW priority isn’t the same as usual for them

  103. 103.

    Schlemazel

    @Anoniminous:

    Thanks! I need to look that up. I have read short bits by a few people who met Hitler before the war & none claim he was impressive at all.

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    Random complaint: I hate and despise that GE ad with the bedraggled muppet reject creature that is supposed to represent scary new ideas.

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    If they’re not into it now, the power of peer pressure will probably make them want to see it once they’re back in school or daycare (I can’t remember how little they are).

    It’s a fun popcorn movie. I’m not going to pretend it’s any deeper than that, but it’s fun for what it is.

  107. 107.

    Mike J

    Hey Omnes, hope you read #31. I’m organising a mob to make the salad bar at the new place remind people of the restrooms at the old. Hope I can count you in.

  108. 108.

    Schlemazel

    @Pogonip:
    I was 25, saw it in an old-fashioned theater with a huge screen. I remember the whole place ducking when the cruiser comes in overhead. There had never been special effects as good as that before. There were no pie plates on strings or Gorn rubber monsters. That made the story easier to believe, no break in the reality. But it had a clever story with several great scenes so it was not just car-crash, huge explosion noise. It was a well-built entertainment package.

  110. 110.

    Anoniminous

    @Schlemazel:

    If you are interested in the period, YouTube has a large number of Pathe and other newsreels. Fascinating documentary evidence of what was being shown and said at the time.

  113. 113.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Pogonip: This.

    Star Wars was a perfect storm of monomyth, inventive FX, and spectacular soundtrack. It absolutely requires a big screen.

    I confess myself disappointed in the soundtrack for TFA.

  114. 114.

    Schlemazel

    @Anoniminous:
    I have always felt that the period between the two wars gets short shrift in American history. When discussed at all it is prohibition and the crash but there is so much more, particularly on the international stage. I’d love to have an in depth look starting at the negotiations at Versailles (because it laid the foundation for the next war as well s so many of the worlds troubles from 1945 onward and is still reaping blood today) and looking at how the world grew, the empires shifted and nations dealt with the social upheaval that grew out of the first war as well as the economic turmoil.

    BTW – there is a decent WWI series on youtube that covers the war week for week. A lot of good stories and insight, it updates once a week until Nov 11 2018. The host has a few annoying habits that makes binge watching a teeth grinder for me but historically a good experience.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I went to see the original SW in 1977 with a colleague who was hugely knowledgeable, and a huge fanatic, about film music. (In fact, he was one of my community producers at the NPR station where I worked, and did a weekly program on movie music, long before it became a “thing.”) I came away from the experience loving John Williams’ score and rather impressed by the special effects, and thinking R2D2 was cute, but beyond that did not get much engrossed in the idea of Star Wars and have not seen any of the other films in the series, sequels or prequels. Although, because I do not live under a rock, I have a tolerably good notion of some of the major characters and plot elements.

    Doubt very much that I’ll bother with this new Star Wars, given my *eh, shrug* attitude toward the franchise. But within a few weeks or months, I expect I’ll recognize most of the tropes, and maybe be able to refer to them somewhat intelligently.

  117. 117.

    Roger Moore

    @Schlemazel:

    I was 25, saw it in an old-fashioned theater with a huge screen. I remember the whole place ducking when the cruiser comes in overhead. There had never been special effects as good as that before.

    That reminds me of what I thought watching The Matrix at Grauman’s Chinese Theater opening week. Nobody in the audience really knew what to expect, so the first fight scene when they started with the wire work and bullet time was a complete revelation. It helped that it was in Hollywood, so it was an audience that really appreciated movie making.

  118. 118.

    Gvg

    Sadly I am one of those with little musical ear although I do enjoy music. I noticed in high school when my friends would rave about music that I couldn’t even hear. I am apparently slightly deaf in one ear which means I cannot tell which directions sounds are coming from since I can’t triangulate the way everyone with even hearing does without thinking. I don’t have a good ear and I can’t make out lyrics easily though friends can. I have still enjoyed a lot of music for years and been wise enough to not spend on fancy equipment. It looks like the future may be interesting though because the kid seems to have better ears and interest. He is only just 8 but has been showing musical interest since about 3 or 4.

  119. 119.

    Really?

    Is Maddow actually trying to argue that Trump was confused? Is that really what she just tried to do?

  121. 121.

    Thoughtful David

    @Pogonip:
    This. This is what made the original such a significant movie.
    I was 20 at the time and working at a summer camp. We got a free weekend. I had heard about the movie that was coming out and convinced a couple of the other counselors to go with me. We went for the opening show. Theater was about 2/3 full–no one had yet heard about it, and it hadn’t been hyped to hell like they do now.
    When the scroll ended and Leia’s ship went over then was followed by the Imperial cruiser, we were BLOWN AWAY. We had never, NEVER seen anything like it It was about a 2 magnitude leap in effects over anything seen before.
    This is what made it such an amazing movie. We were happy to overlook the thin plot, to see those game-changing effects.
    Nowadays, all movies have effects like that, and I am no longer willing to over look weak plots just for the effects.
    BTW, by the next day the word had gotten out, and the lines to get in wrapped arond the block. No more empty seats.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    Regarding sound, there is good sound, and there is bad sound. Some nights you get to go from alpha to omega in one night.

    Invited to go to a ZZ Top show at the Civic Center. Openers were Lynard Skynard (sic – however you spel it) with a young cousin, his aunt not related to me, and another person who used Mrs J’s ticket since she wasn’t able to attend.

    Now Lynard Skynard has done a lot of famous music, but most of the band members were killed in a plane crash. Their sound system was cheap, and they were overdriving everything to be louder than the system would support. The highs were being clipped, and the distortion was complete. I had to use the ear plugs I brought in case of agony. The same ones I use to target shoot with big guns.

    Also they were jingo to the max, except with Confederate flags along with American flags. These were not the same countries, if you will remember. War was fought, etc. So terrible. Just awful.

    Then came intermission. Quiet spell, chatting with Cousin and semi-in-law, nice people all in all, exp cousin, who is now a grad student with a full ride in Chemistry, so smart.

    The stage set for ZZ Top is minimal, two small speaker towers, drum kit on a riser, two mic stands. The 3 guys come out and rock it out totally. No need for ear plugs, as they are loud without distortion nor clipping. Wonderful sound, great musicianship.

    After a couple of songs a fan comes down to the stage, and (I think) Dusty walks over and takes a vinyl album from the fan -says “Wow, our first album release! Thanks!” and walks away with it. Then turns and says, “Oh, there’s a Sharpy with it, did you want us to sign it?” Crowd goes wild, they all sign the album and give it back to the fan. Great music continues.

    Then a tall girl in heels comes out with a tray, walks over to the guys. and Dusty says “Oh, here are our blues hats!”and they all put on old time snap brim hats, and get down with classic blues rock. A great experience, the best following the nearly worst ever.

    Quite a lesson in good rock versus really bad rock.

    Hope the movie is more like ZZ than Lynard…

  125. 125.

    barbequebob

    Star Wars – The Box Office Awakens

    had a great time watching the new movie, but could not shake the feeling that the plot, and many of its details seemed VERY familiar. My god, that scene near the end, with fighters flying down that narrow channel trying to hit the “sweet spot” and destroy the planet, it was like they cut and pasted that scene from the original Star Wars released in 1976.

    Is Star Wars becoming as tired and predictable as a James Bond movie?

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