How important is Star Wars, really?

Back when I was in high schoo/college and they first started talking about VCRs I remember thinking how amazing it would be to watch Star Wars in my own home any time I wanted to. Now I'm finding out how much of a dinosaur that makes me, not just because I can remember a time before VCRs but because I actually remember when Star Wars was the new, exciting movie franchise.

We were living in Munich, Germany when the first Star Wars movie came out and someone who had seen it before moving to Germany was trying to tell us about it. It just didn't sound that interesting to me, but when I finally saw it, I was a complete convert. The epic nature of the movies, the startling special effects, Harrison Ford... Star Wars had everything.

When Empire came out I was living in Las Vegas and was in college. We went to see it over and over again in the theaters even though we really couldn't afford it. I gave my sister tickets to see it one more time for her birthday, even. These days, how often do you go see a movie at the theater more than once? I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean twice and that was a big deal. I don't remember how often we saw Empire at the theater, but it was probably five or more times.

So, what is the point of all of this? Well, I TiVo'd all of the movies, starting with the disappointing 1-3 saga and ending with the original films. The special effects in the old films don't hold up well, nor does poor Mark Hamill's acting, but I still prefer the originals. Anyway, I was watching Empire this morning, still my favorite, and I mentioned to my buddy, Chris, that Mark Hamill never looked the same after his car accident. Chris didn't know what I was talking about! Now Chris has lost all computer geek credibility. He's got to spend the weekend watching Princess Bride, Young Frankenstein and Monty Python to prove he's a true geek.

In the meantime, I asked the girls from work if they knew who Mark Hamill was. Four out of four could not identify him and only one of the four has seen the movies, and that was under protest. When I expressed shock, they told me that maybe the movies were only a West Coast thing. What??? This is Star Wars, people, not some obscure indie film. Am I the only one who remembers how much impact these movies had on our culture? Star Wars ranks up there with Star Trek and... I can't even think of anything as big. The Star Wars phenomenon dwarfs the Harry Potter franchise. Sure HP is fun, but it is not Star Wars. Of recent movies, only the Lord of the Rings trilogy can really compare.

So, how important is it that people know and love the same movies? If you believe, as I do, that every culture is defined by the stories they tell and the legends they share, then movies perform a much greater role than merely entertainment. They give us a frame of reference, a shared experience. We no longer sit around firesides and listen to stories of heroes who face down evil and survive, we sit in darkened theaters, but the effect is the same. Sure, most of the movies we see are forgettable and many of them are pure dreck. But when something comes along that speaks to our core values and connects with us on a deeper level, it binds us with other human beings who feel the same feelings. It gives us a starting point and a shared experience even if we have only just met. It gives us a history together.

How important is Star Wars... it's just entertainment, or is it?

TiVo Trouble

You know how much I love my TiVo. Well, tonight it refuses to change my cable box channel, so instead of taping "How I Met Your Mother" I got an episode of "Spongebob Squarepants." Ugh! I spent a long time trying to fix it but I finally gave up and sent out my ezine, Giggles & Grins. I wish I had time to do that every day like I used to, but lately I don't even have time to sleep. I had to choose between keeping in touch with all of the people I enjoy on the Giggles and actually writing a book. I have always wanted to be a writer, so you can see my dilemma.

On one hand, the Giggles (and to an even great extent, this Blog) gave me a forum and a training ground so that I could learn to express myself in a cohesive, semi-entertaining fashion. On the other hand, this is a book, the epitome of my writerly ambitions. No one is ever going to remember Becky, the writer of the Giggles. But, if I can get a few books published, I stand a chance of being remembered after I'm gone. Since I have no kids, other than Harley and company, the only legacy I can leave in this world is the written word (or lots of words, I don't think anyone would remember me if I wrote just one word).

I guess I'm a little vain, but I hate the idea of being gone and not being missed. I would be thrilled if I were remembered for being a wonderful human being and a great humanitarian, but that's not happening so I'd settle for someone saying, "Oh, Becky Shiles, I read her books. They were great! How come she hasn't written anything lately? Oh, she's dead? Bummer." Wouldn't it be nice to know you could make someone's day just a little sadder just because you were dead?

Bummed

I really wanted a lot of snow, but we haven't gotten it. The big bosses told us we could go home at 2:00, but I was the only one in my department who had left by the time I got out of there at 2:30. The drive home was uneventful, there was not much snow, just a lot of ice. The roads I drive on are mostly freeways, though so they were all clear. Maybe a miracle will happen and the snow will pile up overnight, giving me a snow day. It won't happen, but I can dream.

I have been teaching HTML on my lunch hour at work and last week one of my coworkers came to me and asked if I could help her with a website for the ice cream parlor she and her husband own. The two gals in my HTML "class" agreed to help her and so we created her site. You can see it here... Carousel's Ice Cream. She's pretty happy with it and she is going to give it to her husband as a Valentine's Day gift. I guess if I can't have love of my own I can contribute to someone else's. (bit of self pit there, ya think?)

I have been watching Beauty and the Geek and I am happy that Nate is going to the finals tomorrow night. I like him so much. He reminds me of my old friend, Chris. He's kind and unassuming and yet very sexy. Unfortunately, his partner in the game is a selfish, mindless, thoughtless, classless loser and if he wins she wins. I don't know whether to root for Nate or root against CeeCee. Maybe there could be a compromise, Nate wins and CeeCee gets hit by a bus. That works for me.

I got only 1500 words done yesterday and just over 400 today. I'm going to have to throw all of that out, too, which stinks. But, according to the rules, even if I can't use it, it counts. The ending of this stupid book is taking longer to write than half of the rest of the book. While I was driving home tonight, I came up with another solution to some of the problems I'm having with the ending. I should have come home and started writing while I was still excited, but first there was dinner, and then we watched TV and then I watched more TV and now it's almost 10:00 and all I've accomplished is emptying out some of the shows on my TiVo. I get so mad at myself. It's like when you know you shouldn't have those cookies, but you just can't stop. Then all of your hard work gets wasted. That's the story of my life. Wanna read it?

Weekend Over - Still Behind

I can't believe the weekend is over already. I got about 3,500 words done today so I'm still over two days behind. I just couldn't write anymore. I'm not sure of the exact number because I spent a lot of time rewriting some of it so that it would fit better with my new ending. I'm at 17,600 words or so for the month so far and over 70,000 on the book overall.

I quit around five or six and spent the rest of the night updating my LibraryThing list. I had ordered a Cue Cat from them. It is a barcode reader thingie, and all I have to do is pass it over the barcode on my books, and it adds them to my list. I have over 400 books in my list now and I haven't even really gotten started. Most of the books I added tonight are the joke, trivia and quote books that I keep near my computer for the Giggles. Soon I want to take the laptop into my bedroom and scan in all of the fiction and writing reference books as well as the other odds and ends I keep in there. I don't know why I'm spending all of this time, except it is fun in a very geeky way.

I feel bad that I did not make my word goal today, but on the plus side, I finally watched the Lost episodes that have been sitting on my TiVo since November. Now, if I can only get caught up on Desperate Housewives...