Conflict, Competition, Darkness & Death

Today is my last full day here in Connecticut for almost two months. Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying off to Colorado for the Navs National Collegiate Program. I found out a couple of days that I’ll be working at conference services. What’s that? I don’t know, but it sounds good. I’ve spent the last few days gathering the last few items I’ll be needing and today I’ve been packing. I can’t believe I’m bringing so much junk with me.

So I have to talk about the season finale of 24 before I go any further. Did these last two hours make up for the rest of the season being less than stellar? No, but they were very good none the less. The missile got shot down. Whatever. Tony and Michelle not only got back together but both managed to not die (though it was pretty close with Tony). I like how they put Michelle in the same situation that Tony was in last season. I think we’ve seen the last of them on 24. But what I really liked was that they brought back Mandy, the girl who tried to kill Palmer in season two. I totally didn’t recognize her until they showed the “flashback” to that episode. I hope she becomes the new Nina, or rather a character like Nina only not as annoying. As for Jack Bauer, we’ve also seen the last of him. Because he’s dead. Sort of. First of all, I totally bought it. I thought they killed him. I mean these are the people who killed off Teri Bauer in season one, why wouldn’t they kill Jack? Now that they’ve faked his death they’re going to have to get really creative with how they intend to bring him back next season. And there will be a season five starting in January according to the official web, so the madness is not over yet.

I saw Episode III this past week too. It was pretty good. If you haven’t seen it yet scroll down to the next paragraph. I’m not sure I quite buy into the clones being able to kill the Jedi as easily as they did. I totally don’t understand General Grievous. He’s half droid and half person and I’m just not buying it. Plus a droid using lightsabers just looks weird. I thought he was a lame villain. I guess he was in the Clone Wars cartoon too, so maybe he wasn’t as lame there. Yes, some of the dialogue was crap. As for the two lines that I keep hearing people complain about, a few words. When Obi-wan kills Grievous with the blaster and says, “So uncivilized” that is a good line. I don’t care if people think it’s anti-Iraqi War it belongs there. Obi-wan says in Episode IV that lightsabers were weapons of a more civilized time, so it would seem like this is just another way of saying that. As for his line later on about only the Sith believing in absolutes, I have mixed reactions. The whole franchise is built on dualism (not to be confused with duel-ism). There is good and there is bad, straight up. But then there’s Episode VI, where Obi-wan explains to Luke that many of the truths they cling to are up to their specific point of view. So… I don’t know. I don’t like the line but it’s not introducing anything that wasn’t already there. The fight scenes were pretty amazing. I still think it would have made more sense if Obi-wan had finished off Anakin rather than simply leaving him there. Wouldn’t that be the more merciful thing to do then to just let him lay there in agony? I don’t like the fact that the “I am your father” line won’t be a big surprise to fans seeing the movies for the first time later on down the line, or the surprise of finding out that Luke and Leia are siblings (though that will make the kisses in Episode V even more uncomfortable to watch). I did feel a great sense of completion when I came out of the theatre. I think there could have been some improvements, but I think you just have to look at this trilogy and accept that it’s not as good as the other one. Standing on its own it’s not bad, and it does make for a good back story for the originals.

On to sports. The Heat did finally lose in the playoffs but are now up 2-1 over the Pistons. Technically this is the farthest the franchise has ever gone in the playoffs. If they lose the series it will go at least six games, and the only other time they’ve been to the conference finals they lost in five. I have to admit I would be amazed if they won game four. For the Pistons to lose three straight games in the postseason seems unlikely. I think it’ll go back to Miami at 2-2, which is especially bad because it looks like the Spurs might sweep the Suns. If the Suns can win game four I think they can win at home in game five, so they might be able to push the series to six games but that would be the best case scenario for them. That would be great for the Heat should they make it to the finals to face them. Giving the Spurs that much time to rest would not be good.

What I’m going to say next I’m going to keep pretty vague because I want the other parties involved to stay anonymous (if you think you know who I’m talking about please keep it to yourself). Last Christmas break I received an IM from a friend that I had more or less neglected for the semester previous to that break. We go to different schools and only see each other at Christmas and over the summer. This person made it clear in a somewhat angry way that I should be a better friend or not a friend at all. I didn’t respond to the message (I was away when it was sent) and didn’t reply at all until I sent an email to this person about a week and a half later. I come to find out a couple of months later through a third party that this person had changed their email address and that the email I sent was probably not received or ever read. So the situation we are in is this: each one of us thinks it is the other’s turn to make a move. The reason I bring it up is that I saw this person since my last post. It was almost comical. We were at a group gathering, one big enough to where we didn’t have to be around each other but small enough to where it was obvious that we knew the other was there. We each did everything in our power not to make eye contact, let alone speak to each other. This thing has festered into something terrible. I just wanted to go up to this person, take them aside and tell them the whole thing as I see it and try to get something worked out. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t strong enough, brave enough, man enough. I don’t know how this person feels. They may just be angry, or they may feel exactly the same way. Anyway, this person is anti-blog so they’ll never read this. I just needed to get it off my chest.

Well I’ve been putting off packing for a while now so I should get back to work. My next post will be from Colorado Springs. Happy Memorial Day!

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