Everyone has The Last Jedi Wrong

Look guys, if you're one of those who are going to tell me how awesome "Rogue One" was and then call "The Last Jedi" complete trash, then this is not for you. But for the record, "Rogue One" was a fine fan film. Crowd pleasing but there was zero depth to the characters. It was difficult to connect to them. Not as bad as the prequels but bad.

The Force Awakens made characters I wanted to see, I cared about. It's weakness was the plot. A complete (well almost) rehash of Episode IV. I understood why and I accepted it. It was necessary after the prequels so people would get on board again.

So now "Last Jedi." Everything has a purpose and theme, and that theme is "failure." If you want to argue how well this was executed and how engaging this was in all parts, I can have this discussion. But that was theme.

Kylo Ren failed to turn Rey. Rey failed to turn Ben. Rey failed to bring back Luke. Luke failed Ben. Poe failed leadership. Admiral Holdo (?) failed to communicate her plan. Her plan failed. Finn and Rose failed their mission. Phasma failed to live. First Order failed to snuff the rebels. Rebels failed to save everyone. Leia failed to understand her son. Snoke failed to understand Ben.

So much failure. And it all revolves around not learning from the past. That's the message from the movie and it took Yoda to point it all out. We must learn from our failures or we are doomed to repeat it. It's why the Jedi failed, it's why the sith failed. If they keep going, it's just more Sith lords vs Jedi, round and round. Ben is breaking that cycle, perhaps incorrectly but he understands it needs to stop. It's the "how" is the part he is failing at. Will Rey learn now?

Rian broke the cycle. Snoke didn't need a backstory, he is the Emperor stand-in. Of course he will be snuffed, just as it happened in ROTJ.  Even if Ben did turn to the good side, why wouldn't what happened with Luke and Ben, as what happened with Ben and Anakin, happen again? And again? an endless cycle of good guy winning, failing to train new generation and student turning bad, winning and taking over to be dispatched and rinse and repeat. This is the attempt to break the cycle.

That's what this movie is all about. Learning from failure and not repeating the cycle. That's the POINT. Which is why after this all finished, it's a complete mystery where it goes now. And that's a great thing.

People are divided on this. Those who weren't around in 1980 don't remember that ESB was divisive as well. It was the least liked. It aged like fine wine once the entire saga was complete.

It could still fall on its face. But right now, I think this movie is brilliant. I can agree that not all of it is as engaging as it I'd like it to be but I appreciate the effort and I think there's layers here that will get better and better on repeat viewings.

Also, your theories are destined to fail. That was also the message. Try to see the Star Wars for the larger story and not what happened previously.

Teachers - Don't Believe Your Own Hype

I know I don't post here very often but I had to get something off my chest.

My son has decided to take up cross country. So he joined the rest of the seventh grade team which is short players. This means he no longer takes the bus home. Ok, fine. But the practice ends at 4:45 and I don't get off until 5. I work close but sometimes the demands of my job keeps me longer. We all know the demands of our jobs. We chose those professions and they don't always punch a clock.

So I pick up my son at 5:30. The coach then tells me how he will have to kick Jeremy off the team if I can't be there and not make him be 45 minutes late away from his family. I didn't respond to this passive aggressive whining because it was in front of my son.

I guess he'll make it up when he gets his summers off. Seriously, don't tell me how late you are already working and pretend that 4:45 is already past what you normally do. I work in IT. I don't get the luxury of deciding when the computers break. If I have to work a weekend, 38 hours straight with no sleep, that's what I do. I don't whine about it.

And believe me, I'm grateful for it. I see guys working street repair in the hot summer, roofing, coal mines, garbage collecting, real shitty jobs. They don't complain either. They don't get THEIR summers off and many of these men are away from their families for MONTHS at a time. Ask anyone in the military.

Yes, I try to be on time but I'm so tired of hearing the hype machine that Teachers are our most important jobs, how hard it is. No, it's not. You teach 7th graders some basics and how to run around a track. If you were doing such and awesome job, I wouldn't have to work with my son and reteach him what he learned that day. Which I always seem to do better than you do and I have to learn it on the spot. So it can't be that hard.

See everyone already knows how hard working in an oil rig or being a surgeon or working construction already is. They don't need to tell everyone how hard it is all the time. You propagandize us because you know your jobs AREN'T hard. It's fine if that's what you want to do. But don't think for a moment a job where you get 3 weeks of Xmas vacation, days off sprinkled constantly throughout the year, and at least 2 months in the summer is "hard." It's not. You're just self-important. The fact you can say that shit to me in front of my son because you know I'm not going to raise a stink in front of my son just shows me the coward you are.

Once cross country is over, you'll be off around 4 or earlier. Boy it must be rough. I'll try to think of you when I'm still getting off at 6 and getting woke up in the middle of night about your hardship.

C'mon, we can't go down the same roads

So Gatway Pundit, who I really like, had this article:

NY Times Tipped Off Shooter to GOP Practice Field Around Time He Moved to Area

This is the kind of leading language I despise. "Tipped off?" Doesn't this sound like they were working with the shooter.

"Psst, hey buddy, wanna know where the GOP is practicing for target practice?"

Look I hate the Times, but being like them isn't good for us. The article in the times itself talks about heightened security around certain congressman. While it may be true Hodgkinson may have read that in the Times and used it, the article seems to talk about how these are more difficult and secure places if you want to off a congressman. Not the best tactics.

Look, the article itself was a news story. Locations where people are going to be or where they happen to spend their time, even important people, get printed all the time. If Gateway is trying to insinuate that the Times was in some way responsible for this happening, it's a stretch to say the least. It also doesn't do anything but get clicks from angry people.

I think we have enough angry people.

Deep State II: The Bureaucrats Strike Back...First

Here's my latest video. Sorry I haven't been updating the blog lately. Subscribe to my channel as that's where I'm devoting my time these days.

Progressive Fascists

These guys irritate me so.

Queer Kids Stuff -- This is a thing. Why is this a thing?

Ghostbusters 84 vs 2016: A Comparison of Cultures -- How we have stumbled

Ghostbusters 2016 and 84 are two movies that provide us with such a clear comparison of how the culture has fallen. Take a look:

My 500th Article btw!