LessonInMachismo

Oh, the pic from my prom: http://www.geocities.com/thetowerofpisa/tg4.jpg

Well, I live 2,000 miles away from my high school, so there's REALLY no fucking way I'd participate in that shit. That being said, as a joke I made a post on the message board for our school at Classmates.com trying to get a reunion together. I was excessive in my use of exclamation points. No reply, but then there are only five or six people from my class on the site. I'd love to get together with my old buddies, though. Our class was broken up into a few groups. Group 1: The "Christian" girls and metrosexual guys who hung out in the principal's wife's classroom. They went out on the weekend and fucked each other and did drugs. Group 2: The nerds. Three or four bookworms who were just there to get it done and get out. Very respectable kids. I had gone to school with one of them since 5th grade. Another of them was one of my best friends, and is now a dentist. Group 3: The grunge/jock crew. Nine or ten assholes who weren't that much different from Group 1, save that they weren't so blatant in their asskissing. Group 4: Me and my friends. There were four of us. We had come up together since kindergarten. One of my friends had a house down the street from school on the lake, and it was parties every weekend. Parties with girls from the freshmen, sophomore and junior classes. We had heat with Group 3, didn't get along with Group 1, but maintained amicable relations with them. The faculty hated us. They hated the fact that we got good grades. They hated the fact that the underclassmen girls partied with us. They just...hated us. So, yeah, I'd love to spend a weekend with Group 4, but I have no desire to see anyone else, even to check out how fat people have gotten.

Indeed. It sucks that the last one is apparently the mediocre Starfighters of Adumar. The writing was OK (always liked Hobbie and Wes) but the entire plot just didn't strike a chord with me. And, while it was good to see Wedge get the proverbial happy ending, I just didn't like how everything finished tied up with a pretty bow. Actually, SoA is my favorite Star Wars novel. I thought it was fresh and uninhibited in its creativity. And it was damned funny. But to each their own. In the months leading up to TPM, I remember reading somewhere -- was it Star Wars Insider? -- that Shmi was cruel to Anakin. It was probably Cinescape, because I remember it being in a caption under a pic of Anakin and Shmi, and her face was stern. That would have made a lot of sense.

This happened quite a while ago when they were updating some stuff. Funny how it happens today, after that really weird week and weekend. The Pit felt...different.

Prom. Let's see...I went to three and one winter formal. All sucked. The first was my own prom, which theoretically in the eyes of the planners was going to be pretty BA, but it didn't turn out that way. We were on a yacht in the SF bay. It was ice cold outside, so everyone was stuck inside. I went to a Christian school, so we weren't allowed to use the small dance floor. The catering was by King's Table, which was a shitty buffet restaurant. The best part was when we made speeches and I went up there and made my entire speech about the principal and how he had influenced me and changed my life. In actuality, we had a Stone Cold/McMahon feud that year. The end was great because I stepped down and raised my arms, saying "What's all this WATER here?!" Several people laughed hard because in 8th grade one of the kids present had pissed all over the hallway floor because he got mad at something and the former vice-principal saw the puddle and asked the same question. Second prom was with a friend of mine who didn't have a date. It sucked. Winter formal was with my ex, and it blew. Third prom was with my ex again, and it blew harder. I almost fought this asshole because he told someone to come tell me to stop "mad dogging" him. Nice auditorium, though. All in all, a waste of time and money, but like weddings, they're just something you gotta do.

You have to understand this creature. It isn't simply "an animal that blocks the Force." There are mammals on the planet that hunt using the Force, and as a defense the ysalamiri developed the ability to create a "bubble" in the Force so that the predators could not sense them. It's evolution. And they were a fine plot device. Thrawn used them to control Joruus C'baoth and to ensure that his clone army didn't go insane, as Zahn reveals that improperly developed clones go batshit. The Ysalamiri somehow blocked the Force from affecting the clones' accelerated growth. Luke's turn to the Dark Side in Dark Empire was shitty, as was the series and its sequels. As someone mentioned, Palpatine's return defeats the entire purpose of the movies and Vader bringing balance to the Force. At first the novels didn't acknowledge Dark Empire, but sadly, they began to. Thankfully, they rarely mention it. I, for one, like the X-Wing books more than the Thrawn Trilogy, but they are pretty level in quality, so it's more of a taste thing.

The line about losing the will to live was pukeworthy.

Episode I is something I'd love to see MATB do. In thirty years, it will be seen as our generation's Prince of Space. Also amazing is how the CG looks FAKE. The original trilogy had that crisp feeling that the ships were real, that (some) of the aliens were real. Now we have Jar Jar, Dex, Jango Fett, etc. all CG'd up and looking like cartoons. Just really awful. CG has a wonderful purpose, but I don't think that purpose is making characters.

Has anybody read Betrayal, the first book in the new Legacy of the Force series? They're doing a "new world order" angle where the Galactic Alliance (UN analog) and putting all of its fingers in the pie and Corellia, Han Solo's homeworld, among others, are starting to just do what they want. I am about a quarter of the way through the book.

Yeah, I know they use midichlorian counts to check for Force sensitivity, but it's never said how they do it. Do they check every baby in every hospital in the galaxy? Palpatine's master, Darth Plagueis, was not a Jedi from what I know. Wikipedia erroneously lists the information of Plageuis being Palpy's master as Expanded Universe when it is implied in the movie and stated in the novelization, which is canon. I am sure we will learn more as novels come out over the years. THOSE will be EU. A novel about Darth Bane is coming out later this year. I believe it is called Path of Destruction and follows the events of the awful Jedi vs. Sith comic.

I don't believe it's ever been specified how, but they identify infants with Force potential and appropriate them. With the parents' permission, of course. In Babylon 5, when they identify a telepath, they give a choice: Join Psi Corps or go on a drug that inhibits telepathy. Problem is, the drug leads to depression and suicide. The Jedi need a moral ambiguity like that to make them more interesting.

I have said this before...very consistent series. I actually liked 4. I went in not wanting to like Close's character, but it turned out pretty good.

Well, that clears up the confusion over The Shield's 5th/6th season. I'd really like them to get Bruce Boxleitner for the final season.

Who were all of these Chinese generals, and why did they like chicken so much?

Back in '97, me and some friends took a trip to the Bay Area. We'd go every few weeks or so. Anyways, it was around this time of year and we all went to Subway. My ex and her friend were halfway through their meat-laden sandwiches when one of them realized that it was Friday and that it was...Lent. They were acting all guilty. I asked my ex why eating meat on Friday during Lent was something to feel guilty about, while having premarital sex with me the night before wasn't. Oh, they gave me the rest of their sandwiches, too. They didn't go so far as to induce vomiting, though.

My letter to Meltzer:

I turned into the guy who works for one of the companies that supplies Taco Bell with their tostadas and 12" tortillas. Taco Bell drastically reduced their orders of each this past week, which means that the promotion is coming to an end. The shelf life for the stuff is eighteen days, so give it two weeks or so and no more crunchwrap.

Just saw a cheap ($30) deal at Wal-Mart which you plug in to your cigarette lighter port. It has a USB slot in it for your flash drive. It then transmits the signal to your tuner. Sweet deal.

Well, enjoy it while you can, hippie. It'll be gone within two weeks or so.

Does IDRM condone this bullshit?

Pay up then, bitch.

What a fucking fag. While FM is lame for doing what he did, it doesn't terribly bother me. It was a forum on the internet. We can just start another one, and let him wallow in the putrid pond of pitiful self-indulgence that only losers like him can relate to.

I'm not totally sure but could it be the version bundled with the Rise and Fall of ECW? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That sounds about right. There had been rumours before the ONS PPV that WW_ was going to bundle the two together. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I finally have an update, guys. DDDVD sent me an e-mail on the day of the supposed release of the DVD. It said that funds would be charged back to my account because they no longer carry that title. So, my initial assumption is probably correct; they are pushing the release date back. No surprise, as there wasn't ANYTHING on the DVD. Nothing. No box art, no description. Meltz and Keller were dumbfounded.

This is as good a place as any to ask this question. HTQ...what is with the ECW Collection DVD set to be released on 7/12? I haven't heard anything about it from the usual suspects. WWE.com has nothing on it. Yet several sites have a release date of 7/12. http://videoeta.com/movie/72659 http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=WWE093886 Will the date be pushed back?

Apparently, Skywalker isn't a very common name... The Empire has spies, and it wasn't much for these spies to get ahold of the new Rebel hero's name. That said, isn't it kind of dumb that Obi-Wan and Owen didn't decide to give Luke Owen's last name, especially considering that they were trying to hide Luke?