If I were to describe my thoughts of this movie in one word it would be redemption!
It took 3 tries, but Lucas finally pulled it off. He created a movie worthy of carrying the Star Wars title. The story line was great, the graphics were amazing enough to be unnoticeable, accenting the story beautifully. I found that just about every loose end creating a barrier between the Episodes I & II and the original trilogy was destroyed (except one, R2 didn't lose his ability to fly).

I had mixed feelings with episode II when they cast Hayden Christensen, but not only was pleased with his performance in Revenge of the Sith, but could think of no other who could have filled his shoes so well. Natalie Portman provides a stellar performance as Padame (I teared up when she named Luke and Leia). Ewen McGregor along with Samuel L. Jackson are more kick-ass then ever as Obi-Wan and Mace Windu (respectively). Even Ian McDiarmid's performance was nothing less then outstanding with his near-perfect portrayal of the Emperor's rise to power, and corruption of Anakin Skywalker.

Jar Jar, in this final installment, gets just about everything he deserves (but I won't go into details for those who haven't seen it). I will, however go as far as to say that he was on screen a total of about 15sec longer then I would have liked.

This movie, in my mind, was darker then Empire Strikes Back, and a better end to a trilogy than Return of the Jedi (of which I have many issues with the recent replacement in the CD release, putting Hayden Christensen in as Anakin in the final scenes, standing luminescent along Yoda and Obi-Wan). I was surprised to see, on screen, a head roll following a decapitation, and the entire accident leading to the physical transformation between Anakin and Darth Vader.

George Lucas deserves a pat on the back, as he has finally put out a movie that rivals his original trilogy. Again, I feel redeemed. The fire that has driven my love for Star Wars has finally been rekindled.

I recently read an article about well educated leaders in our society leading a war against the teachings of evolution and using it as an excuse to get religious teachings put into the public school system. I don't know about anybody else, but this seems like a huge step backwards to me.

I see two issues:

Issue 1,
There is a ton of evidence that supports Darwin's theories and the scientific information that has not supported has still supported evolution, only in other ways. Nothing has been found, scientifically, that supports a nonexistence of evolution. The only contradicting "evidence" has to do with pieces text that have been rewritten by those in power many many times in order to make them fit their power schemes of their age...There are contradicting texts, for instance, that give supporting evidence that women were rewritten in the bible in order to give them less power then men when, in the contradicting texts, women are shown to have a more equal power...I consider myself to be a religious man, but I take the "facts" of the bible lightly and, instead, focus on the lessons that underlay the ever-changing stories that focus on a seemingly pliable history.

Issue 2,
I am appalled at the fact the people would push to have their religious views put into the classroom. The line between church and state must remain clear for the foundation of our country to remain strong. The founding basis of this country was that it was a place where people in the rest of the world could flee to in the face of religious prosecution. It is not fair to press one view on the nations children when we are a nation comprised of many views. This cannot be allowed unless we're willing to face ALL the consequences.

I feel that there is a definite meeting ground between church and science and that if we lose sight of this, we'll lose the footing to some major future scientific breakthroughs that will only come from allowing the children of today to be able to expand on the theories of today as they become the great minds of tomorrow.

In a fascinating article I read recently, it seems that even the leader of our country can be caught by identity theft.



...I love The Onion

I love this view of Saturn...it's amazing that something so awesome (and I use this word in it's literal definition to size) could also be so insignificant, with a width comparable to a razor blade!

~mike is a Giant Mecha-Blob that rides around in a Metal Tripod, kidnaps Blonde Women, has a Computer for a Brain, is Sensitive to Noise, and CANNOT BE STOPPED. Strength: 14 Agility: 6 Intelligence: 9 To see if your Giant Battle Monster can defeat ~mike, enter your name and choose an attack: fights ~mike using StrengthAgilityIntelligence