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May 12, 2002
A bunch of people came by my house to check out the Sci-Fi Channel special showing a bunch of Star Wars spoofs. They were all terrible. We didn't get it; just boring, unfunny shorts. There are funny ones out there... "George Lucas in Love", "TROOPS", those are hilarious well-crafted spoofs but the ones that won awards in this special were just boring, really. Ach, well.
I'm teaching three classes a week now; two level 4 and one level 1. It's great- I love teaching. Level 4 is the Harold and I love sharing my love of it with other people. I even made some Harold hand-outs. I wish we had one of those old mimeograph hand-cranked machines.. I used to love the smell of that blue stuff. Level 1 is a bit harder for me to teach.. it's very basic but really a great bunch of people and I'm having fun with it. Sadly, since one of the classes I teach is during the same time the Pat Shay Dancers rehearse, I'm on a hiatus (again!) from performing with them. Eight weeks without improvising. Feh. I hate that, but teaching makes up for it. I love it.
Hey, L.A. Law is on. Again. I used to love this show. Dr. Giggles is in it.
I've been so exhausted of late. Between "Felt" and "A Song Time Ago", both running Fridays and Saturdays @ 10:30pm back to back, I've been working weekends about 15 weeks now. Ironically, it'll only be June when ASTA ends it's run- only half the year. I think I'll probably do another show or two before the end of the year. I've got a couple on the burners now... one scripted and one improvised. We'll see which one decides to take precedence.
Wednesday morning, I'll be in a body bag in front of the Thompson Center. It's for an anti-cigarette demonstration. There's going to be 52 bodies in bags to represent the 52 tobacco-related deaths that occur in Illinois alone. It's for a very good cause, but to tell the truth I really want to be in the body bag. Maybe they'll let me keep one. That'd be awes. Maybe I'll commit suicide while in the bag to make it easier for the coroners.
Spiderman was excellent. Best superhero movie ever made. I will proof that in a very nerdy essay later in this week.
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It's just 3:27am. I just got home from the 12:01am showing of Star Wars:Attack of the Clones.
We got to McClurg Court around 9:30 or so. There was a line leading from the entrance to the theater down the block to just about the corner. We swiftly found Stephanie McCullough who was having fun with her Chicago Force friends. They're the official Star Wars fan club for Chicago. They were the ones who have been standing in line for a few weeks and have had several cool charity events.
There were several people in costume. There was a jawa, Alec Guiness Obi-Wan (with a real white beard.. looked so cool), Forest Endor Leia, coupla random Jedi and then just a whole lot of people with lightsabers. A saxophone player wandered up and down the line serenading the burgeoning crowd with Star Wars tunes (the SW: A New Hope/Cantina Band piece got a hearty round of applause.) Near the front of the line were a bunch of people watching a DVD of The Phantom Menace. Someone had a small table and on it was a laptop connected to a projector. On the wall of the theater was a duct-taped white sheet and the movie was watched on that.
As I write this, on CNN there is a story entitled "Cloning: Double Trouble?"
There is freakin' nothing on TV right now. How much nothing? Jaws 3 is on. On Showtime is some terrible "action" direct-to-video movie remarkable only because porn star Juli Ashton is in it. She's actually not a bad actress. I taped West Wing and Law & Order, but my NBC is barely coming in right now... it looks and sounds like a scrambled porn channel. Very frustrating. Bah.
The Chicago Force people began handing out what they called line-up cards. They were Star Wars card game cards with numbered stickers on them. We got four cards, for John O. Amanda, Andel and I, numbered 215-218. They announced that "we" would be lining up in order of those cards. I believed them. Sadly, I began to realize that they're just a fan club OUTSIDE of the theater. They had no power here. Now begone before someone drops a house on you. There were lots of press there as well. They love events like this... they get to act superior to those "crazies" waiting in line for a movie. I hate the local news. Except Amy Jacobson. Her, I love.
There were two guys standing, one of them holding a pocket version of Sorry!. Another group of people were seated on the floor playing gin. I recognized them as friends of mine. I walked up to them and asked where their Magic:The Gathering cars were. They said they would NEVER play with their cards on concrete!
The rest of the people in the cast that we knew were coming arrived around 10:40 or so. Some went to the back of the line and some stayed with us; much to the chagrin of the people standing behind us.
Seating began around 11pm. We all just walked in. I gave the job of finding seats to John and Amanda since I really, really had to visit the water closet. We somehow ended up all sitting together! All the A Song Time Ago people (except for Stephanie- she sat with her husband Aaron and the rest of the Chicago Force) were in one big row at the back of the theater. That was fun. The Force was with us. (sorry) There was guy standing there protecting about 15 seats. People were streaming in and he would ward them off and say that he was saving them all. John O. was sitting just on the edge of that guys perimete and I was standing at the end of the row. I saw John and he speaking to each other and I immediately jumped to conclusions (I was ticked at that seat-holder already). "Is he saying you have to MOVE?!" I said too loud. They both reacted with a surprised, "no!"
So now we all had an hour to kill before the movie. *sigh*
Saw a bunch, well, three, other improv people at the theater. There may have been more, but we were in Theater 1 (the one with the digital projection?) and some people got the smaller, side theaters.
I had some Skittles and Big Red. Someone gave me a box of california rolls. Amanda, Andel and I ate them. Two little kids jumped on the little stage in front of the screen. People clapped for them as they both were wearing Star Wars Lego shirts. Someone handing them lightsabers and they began to fight. Bits we shouted: "Two kids enter! One kid leaves!", "Kill the Pig! Slice Him Up!", and my personal favorite because it's a reference to a recent Japanese film that's banned in the US, "Battle Royale! Battle Royale!" Everytime one of kids made a cool move or something the crowd clapped and the kids just drank it all in.
There were some previews, which I didn't think they were going to do. The Austin Powers preview just isn't as funny as the previews for the other two were. I mean, those other two were so creative and this is just, well, clips from the movie. There was a trailer for a movie called "Like Mike", about a kid who can't play basketball and then gets magic sneakers that gives him super basketball powers. You may have liked this movie the first time, when it was called "Rookie of the Year." There were two other trailers, but I don't remember them.
The Digital Projection logo got applause. The THX logo got applause.
Then it began.
The movie is GREAT and TERRIBLE at the same time. Wonderfully cool political manuvering and mystery. Terrible romance scenes. The dialogue seemed to me that Lukas got stuck for words and thought to himself, "Hmm, this romantic stuff is tough... Hmm. these Harlequin books seem to do it well... let's us someof that..."
It will beat Spiderman's numbers. I loved it overall. MUCH Better than Phantom Menace. Out of the Star Wars films, it comes in third after Empire and New Hope.
THINGS THAT ROCKED: Yoda, Windu, Jango, the clone planet (forgot it's name), seismic space mines, Yoda, the Jedi Council is wrong about something, bad acting redeemed in second Act, Yoda, monsters, robots, Tuskan raiders, Force training, the Jedi library, the music, the bars.. and more...
THINGS THAT SUCKED: (swipe to see) bad acting, bad romance dialogue, plot holes from which light itself cannot escape, there is not a whole lot of logic in some of the actions of the characters. Ach,.. I'll stop..
Bottom line: I loved it. It was great fun and I'll probably end up seeing it again.
I have to go to sleep now.
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quote from the movie! Swipe to see!
"Go back to your drinks. Jedi business."
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