Tuesday, August 07, 2001

Happy birthday and a quick recovery to HoC guiding light Garrison Keillor, who turns 59 today. He hasn't shirked from talking about his recent open-heart surgery, and he'll have an essay on the subject in this week's Time which doubtless will be poignant and elicit a few hearty chuckles. Godspeed, Garrison.

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The title of the latest George Lucas space opera has been announced: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

At first blush, I find this title too corny, just as I did with The Phantom Menace. I expect that my acceptance of the name will follow the same path as its immediate predecessor. Slowly, it will grow on me. Then, I'll love it, convinced that it couldn't have been called anything else. Finally, as the movie's premiere approaches, it will echo through my brain, shouted unceasingly by the seven-year-old inside me who still remembers the thrill of seeing that first, massive Star Destroyer engulf the screen.

I just hope the pattern stops there. I don't want to walk out of the theater again wishing Lucas had remembered, in the midst of all the CGI and woefully ill-conceived amphibian "comic relief", to do some basic storytelling.

Posted @ 9:36 AM

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