Episode II

Date: 2002-05-16 11:28:10

One advantage of managing to acquire only one ticket for the 0001 Attack of the Clones showing is that now I'm forced to see it again with Gem. I'm tempted to go tonight, but I'm not convinced that'll be a good idea, even if I can acquire tickets in time.

Make sure to watch the credits to catch "Javva the Hut".

Yesterday evening, before wandering over to the local theater, I played on one of the local Sun boxen (while squinting against the setting sun in my eyes) building the control for my processor. I'm curious what the last processor was where the designers drew K-maps by hand to optimize the state machine that runs the processor. I made it to the local cinema house shortly after 2100, successfully rendezvoused with the guy whom I bought my ticket from (through the use of our wireless phones -- they are good for something, Willy) and enqueued myself at the back of the line, which wrapped around the side of the building. I broke out Ender's Shadow (which I started reading recently) and waited.

Shortly after I enqueued, the line advanced and shifted position from hugging the wall to standing in the middle of the parking lot in a direct shot to the door. Light was a little harder to get here, but I still managed to read about our good friend Bean at Battle School. (I think I'll have to acquire and read Ender's Game again, too.) The manager addressed the crowd and told us (I kid you not) to buy concessions, since that's what his bonus was based on, and his wife recently had a baby. At his direction, the line returned to the wall, although not nearly as orderly as could be desired. It was obvious that there was a lot of shuffling going on; no one ended up in the same spot that they started in.

At 2250, I became vaguely aware of beeping in the vicinity of my right leg. Sounded vaguely like "Jingle Bells" being played with a sine wave. That was, in fact, exactly what it was; Gem was calling my wireless phone. (She borrowed my DS9 cds to entertain herself while I queued.) We talked for a few minutes until they started letting people into the door.

I entered a theater lobby filled with rabid Star Wars fans and took my place in one of the dual lines heading to different screens. I looked up and saw Swinyar and Kramer standing right in front of me. (This surprised me a little, since I hadn't seen them anywhere in line.) Swinyar spotted someone standing towards the front of the other line, so he discretely traversed the lobby and inserted himself towards the front of the queue. Kramer and I followed, shifting the balance of Teds in the lobby.

We waited there for about an hour until we were allowed into the appropriate auditorium. Even though there were plenty of people in front of me, I still got a seat on the first full row of stadium-style style seating, exactly where I wanted to be.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

WARNING: SPOILERS EXIST BEYOND THIS POINT

(That warning may actually be an appropriate use for the ever-unpopular <blink> tag. But I'll resist.)

Wow that was a freakin' cool movie. The last act surpasses any battle sequence I've seen anywhere. Yoda was awesome with his lightsaber. (It was all I could do to resist the urge to scream, "Go little man, go!" He made me think of Dr. Aaby for some odd reason, probably because he's short, smart, speaks in riddles, and mostly bald.) The "Sound of Music" scene was hilarious, simply because it was absurdly out of place. The audience laughed at the feeble romantic scenes. We clapped when Yoda pushed back his cloak to reveal a lightsaber hanging from his belt.

I was a little dubious at the beginning, though; the first fifteen minutes felt entirely too cheesy. But then the movie got going, and I loved almost every remaining minute. I'll defiantly go again.