Star Wars Memory Lane: Special Edition - The Empire Strikes Back

February 24, 1997
Tonight we saw Empire Strikes Back. It was so good. The cloud city was so much better. They added some things to it, too. It wasn't very packed, though, because everybody had seen it on Friday or Saturday. 

 We weren't able to see it on Friday or Saturday because we were busy that weekend. That's at least what I wrote, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one who was busy. My mom, trying to placate me and be a good mom, told me we would see it on Monday for Family Home Evening.

Also, my preference for packed movie theaters was apparent even at fourteen. It still is; my favorite time to see a movie is opening day/weekend when crowds are the biggest. In a few years I'd discover midnight showings.

Empire is the best of the trilogy. It's dark and totally awesome. The poster art features only bad guys and their weapons of destruction. It takes place in a short amount of time (apparently....) and ends with the rebels defeated, missing limbs and entire people. There's also the big reveal of Vader being Luke's father. It's still my favorite, and the Special Edition isn't too bad (still not my preferred version, though).

Yesterday - A New Hope   Tomorrow - Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Memory Lane: Special Edition - A New Hope

I'm going to do these how they happened in real life, not chronologically in the Star Wars universe (which is also a bit wonky.....Episode IV before Episode 1...what?!). 

My first memory of Star Wars is watching them on t.v. in my parents' bedroom. The trilogy seemed to air on one of the cable channels around Christmastime, and I remember watching them with lots of excitement. For Christmas one year Santa brought my family the boxed trilogy set, meaning I could now watch them when I wanted without commercial interruptions. My obsession began.

Back in 1997, we didn't have the internet and social media. I apparently didn't find out about the re-releases until I went to a movie with my mom on January 18 and saw a trailer. I mentioned this in my journal. I generally state that I'm excited and can't wait. Two days later, I mention that I watched Star Wars and The Empire Strikes in preparation, but did not have time for Return of the Jedi. 

And then Saturday afternoon, after returning from a sleepover, we went to the theater. This is my excited and critical review of it in my journal:

February 1, 1997
Today I watched Star Wars. But it was on the big screen! It was so cool. My dream come true. The city where Luke finds Han is totally changed. All the effects were way better. Especially when the Death Star blew up. On February 21 The Empire Strikes Back come out. I can hardly wait. 

Julie of 1997 was pretty pleased with this experience. At this point, I'm just super jazzed to be experiencing it on the big screen, in a movie theater. Present Julie is less enamored with the Special Edition versions.

Tomorrow - The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars Memory Lane

We are now one week out from the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Exactly one week from now I will be settled into a seat at a movie theater in Pocatello with my best friend, Lindsay. The previews will just be ending, and the all-familiar Star Wars theme will start playing. The theater will go crazy.

I have seen ALL of the Star Wars films in Pocatello at the same theater - the Carmike 7. That theater was torn down a few years ago, and a new, bigger one built not too far away on the other side of the mall. When I say ALL of the Star Wars movies, I obviously am referring to the Special Editions, since the originals were released before I was born (well, the last one I was a month old). So it's pretty great to be seeing the latest one in the same city with my best friend.

The Special Edition was released in 1997 as part of the 20th Anniversary of the original release. Turns out, I was an avid journal-er back in the day. Yes, I have journal entries for ALL of the Special Edition releases AND the Prequel Trilogy. So, as lead up to the release of The Force Awakens, each day I am going to go down memory lane and share what 1997 Julie felt about seeing Star Wars for the first time on the big screen, and what 1999, 2002 and 2005 Julie felt about the prequels.

In anticipation, please watch the video below. I LOVE rom-coms, and this parody perfectly captures the essence of rom-coms and my feelings about Star Wars post-the prequels. 

Denton Is the Best

It's fall here in north Texas. I know the calendar says it is December 10, but it certainly doesn't feel like that. It has been perfect, amazing, magnificent fall weather all week long - temps in the 70s, sun shining, no humidity. The other day I had an eye appointment after work. I left my office around 5:15, made the short walk to the office on the Square, made a stop at Rusty Taco on my short walk home, and basked in the gloriousness of it all.

Not just the weather, and the pink sky from the setting sun, but the fact that I walked to all my destinations. I love this little town of mine (it's not really "little", we have 113,000 people....). I love that I live two blocks from work and right off the Square, where I can walk to get tacos, or check out a music act, or experience the latest festival, or people watch, or buy ice cream, or go to an optometrist, or get a good burger, or even get a hot dog at 3 a.m.

It's perfect and I love it.

Spotlight

I have been waiting anxiously/patiently for Spotlight to make its way to Denton. My cousin Phaedra already saw it in SLC (oh how I miss the Broadway...) and raved about it. What's strange is that I can't really explain why I was excited for this movie, other than the fact that it received great reviews. I don't even remember seeing a preview for it. I've since watched the previews, and I'm glad I didn't see any of them prior to the film. Not because they reveal too much, but there is something awesome about going into a movie with no notion of what to expect.

The movie did not disappoint. Spotlight is an investigative team at The Boston Globe. They research long-form stories that takes months to put together. When a new editor arrives, they are pushed to write a story on the Catholic Church and the allegations of sexual abuse of young children by priests. It's a difficult subject to face, as Boston is very much a Catholic city.

I really liked the film. It's understated, which fits the topic well. There's no flashy camera movements or overt screen positioning (and believe me, I love those things; like the it's-all-one-take flashiness of Birdman and the tracking shots of The Social Network). What really makes this film work is the actors. All of them are terrific. Seriously, all of them.

My favorite would possibly be Liev Schreiber as the new Boston Globe editor, Marty Baron. He's quiet and thoughtful, and Schreiber plays the role with lots of restraint. He's a forceful actor, and is generally in much showier roles. Such as the lead in Showtime's Ray Donovan (although I'll always remember him as Stuart from Kate and Leopold).

Then there's Mark Ruffalo. He's one of those actors who is good in everything. He has a moment in the film when he reaches his breaking point and starts yelling at those around him, including his boss. It's heartfelt, emotional, brutal, a man trying so hard to do what's right.

Stanley Tucci, another fabulous actor who easily goes between playing Julia Childs' husband to host extraordinaire Caesar Flickerman to a German doctor who creates special serums (on a side note, can we talk abut how there are a ton of superheros in this film - Michael Keaton was Batman and Birdman, Mark Ruffalo is the Hulk, Liev Schreiber played that thing opposite Wolverine, John Slattery is Howard Stark), plays a lawyer trying to do the right thing. Then there's Billy Crudup playing another lawyer, sorta sleazy on the other end of the spectrum.

The movie is straightforward, not just in its directing style but also its storytelling. It reminds me of Frost/Nixon, which just so happened to be my choice for Best Pic that year (it lost to Slumdog Millionaire) and Apollo 13 (those are both Ron Howard films....). The film not only focuses on the larger story of the cover up by the Catholic Church, but also the personal stories of each of the reporters and how their faith and relationship to the Church is affected by the scandal.

Faith is an interesting thing. One of the characters in the film sums it up best in how he deals with the issue: My faith is in the eternal, I try to separate the two.

Denton Holiday Lighting Festival

Friday night was the Denton Lighting Festival, a yearly tradition to celebrate the start of the holiday season with the lighting up of the tree on the Square. But this being Denton, we don't just light up the tree and call it done. We have live music all night long. And funnel cake and corn dogs. And Wassail Weekend. It's magical and awesome.

My coworker and I decided to hit it up together, each of us experiencing it for the first time. We were excited for the wassail. It's like a chili cook-off, but with wassail. A list of all the businesses participating in Wassail Weekend is provided, and signs that say "Wassail Station" in a stop sign are posted on their doors. Everyone goes around and gets tiny samples from each place, eventually voting on their favorite one. Some were citrus-y, a couple too cinnamon-y, and one that was my favorite.

After getting some sustenance from the Parks booth, it was time to enjoy the live music. This is one of the things I love about Denton - music is always a part of everything. And we have some pretty darn good musicians from Denton (some are even Grammy winners). I love the atmosphere of these music events - everyone is just happy. Couples dancing, kids dancing, nearly everyone clapping or moving their body in some way to the music. It's joy and happiness and contentment and I love it.

My co-worker asked if I sometimes felt like I lived in the world of "Gilmore Girls." Yes. Sometimes I do.

God is Not Petty

I grew up in Pocatello. It's a small-ish city that is predominantly Mormon (perhaps not actually, but when you're a kid and most of your socializing is with people you go to church with, your social circle is small and yet feels like your whole world). The culture of being a Mormon was very prevalent.

When I was twelve or so, I remember a girl from one of the wards in our stake being pregnant and unmarried. This was kind of a big deal. People talked about it in hushed tones, perhaps fearful if they talked about it out loud it might happen to their daughters, too. As if it could be the worst possible thing in the world. This girl wasn't a girl at all, as she wasn't in junior high or high school. And yet it was still so tragic to everyone around me. And I, being young and not knowing anything except what I had been taught my whole life, also thought it was tragic.

Then this girl, who married the boy, ended up having a miscarriage.

I remember asking my mom, "Did God punish her?" That was the connection I made based on everything I knew and had learned as a twelve year old - sexual sin is the worst, being pregnant and unmarried makes you a pariah, and naturally God would want to punish you.

My mom looked at me and explained that God is not punishing her, He does not work like that. I remember her being slightly off put by my question, and she answered it emphatically.

And she's right. God isn't petty or spiteful or mad at us for making bad choices. God is loving and unconditional.

So when we have tragedies, real tragedies where innocent lives are taken in a public place, be it a school or a movie theater or the place you work, it's not because "society" has removed God from those places  and God is being spiteful. It's true, we don't have a national religion, we don't make everyone pray at school, we don't build publicly-funded monuments to religious leaders or organizations. But that doesn't mean God isn't allowed in those places.

God is everywhere, and anyone can pray to him at anytime they want. I can sit in my office and say prayers all day long. A student at school can say a prayer before a test. A family can say a prayer at a restaurant before eating their food. A person can wear a t-shirt that states, "I Love Jesus" and wear it wherever they please.

Bad things don't happen because we no longer have state-endorsed prayers in school, or because we removed a Ten Commandments replica at the courthouse. Bad things happen because bad things happen. Bad things always happen. People get cancer. Marriages fall apart. Finances are mismanaged. Wars happen. If we expect God to stop every large-scale tragedy because we are saying endorsed prayers at school, then shouldn't we also expect Him to stop every other personal tragedy just because I pray and have faith?

That's not how it works. Many times we have to do things, take action, start the ball rolling, because God expects us to do our part.