2002-05-20 - 10:11 a.m.
Just another weekend recap.

Well, I saw "Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones" on Friday. *rolling eyes* Lucas should have learned his lesson from the original trilogy -- he's brilliant at the visuals, but can't direct people worth a damn. I spent 80% of the movie going, "Oh, that's pretty," and laughing myself silly at Anakin's dialogue.

The good? The fight scenes were nice. I still liked Obi-Wan, although his role wasn't very well written in this one; I can't believe he'd be that blind to Anakin's state of mind. (Probably Ewan McGregor was hampered by having to channel Alec Guiness). I liked Amidala too; Natalie Portman is a good enough actor to make me feel her performance, even though they didn't give us enough dots to connect in the romantic arc. Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) got to wield his lightsaber, and so did Yoda, which was pretty cool. Boba Fett made an appearance. And, I repeat, the scenery was gorgeous.

The movie was good enough that it should have been amazing, but instead it left me going, "Huh. Better tell Mom to wait until this one comes to video."

I have a very hard time believing, now, that Owen Lars didn't recognize C-3PO and R2-D2 in the original "Star Wars" (Episode IV), at least by mannerisms, and that they didn't know him, since 3PO plainly lived with the Lars' for awhile and R2-D2 also stopped by in this flick. That's no glitch, that's a plot hole!

Don't even get me going on what happened to Shmi. You could see it coming a million parsecs away. And I still want to know, if Amidala's "Queen" title was an elected role and not an inherited one, how Leia ends up being a "Princess" ... and if it is derived from her mother, how could they possibly have explained that without the Emperor and Darth Vader catching wind of it? *throwing up hands*

Well. At least I can say with certainty that ONE movie this year will live up to my expectations ... I just wish I didn't have to wait until December. Bring on "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". I'm ready for it.

In other news, "Vee" won Survivor IV last night. Whee. It should have been Paschal; as far as I'm aware, that was the first time anyone was ever "voted out" without receiving any votes. Jeff Probst made them draw colored rocks for a tie breaker, and even though Neleh and Kathy were the ones voted against, Paschal still had to draw. *sad expression* Oh well. I had about equal feeling towards the last two contestants, Neleh and Vecepia, so the ending was OK. I might even keep following the series through Survivor V ... it's going to be in Thailand. That ought to be fun.

In personal news? My brother psyched me out yesterday. He took off early in the day to help our cousin Leopold do some maintenance at Granddad's, and told Mom to relay me a message that they'd be coming back to the apartment around 5:00pm. So I spent several hours cleaning like a madwoman, finished up in the nick of time, and logged back into EQ while I waited for them to arrive. Only, they never did. Azash got home around 6:45 all by his lonesome and was all, "Leopold had to go home, but hey, the apartment looks nice." Nice? Argh. Do some chores yourself once in awhile, buster!

And ... my parents threw me for a loop again. I know, I've always known, that they tend to spend beyond their means, but this time they went a little farther than I expected. They're signing up to take a cruise this fall that costs $1800 each! Dad's in his fifties now, and their retirement fund isn't nearly large enough, and Mom can't carry their finances, and they're burning thousands on a cruise? Azash and I were supposed to save up and send them on one. They weren't supposed to jump the gun on us and pay for it themselves.

Argh. Anyway. The one highlight in my weekend? You're going to laugh ... it was reaching level 33 with my mage on EverQuest. Finally. Oh, and posting two more short stories on fanfiction.net. My imagination's still crunching away on the next one in the series; I'm having trouble getting a grip on Warren's character. He's male, psychopathic, and a gifted engineer; I am none of the above. I managed with Giles and Ethan, though, so I ought to get it eventually.

*glancing at clock* Better end my break. Later.