Recent music additions

I recently picked up two new albums from artists that I grew to love back in the early 90′s:

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Even though this album is short, clocking in at under 40 minutes for all 11 tracks, it is very solid and tight.  Every song on here is well written and Matt Cameron’s drumming really dominates on this album.  Any Pearl Jam fan would be happy to own this one.

Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue

Their first album since the tragic death of Layne Staley, this sounds like the old AIC chains from the Dirt album in the 90′s.  I was skeptical at first, given the new singer, but one listen to this album, and I was hooked.  Of course it helps to have Jerry Cantrell’s signature guitar sound to bring back the classic sound of Alice in Chains.  Again, highly recommended to any AIC fan.

Follow Me.

So a past coworker of mine has pointed out this thing called Twitter. I signed up for it and getting to learn it. I do not like saying “read my tweets” though, sounds a bit off.

Anyway, my username is  NoLongerSuper if you want to follow me.

Been a while..

I almost forgot about this blog!  Not that anyone missed me though.

I am back now and will post some updates shortly, have some new music to share my thoughts on, and some other stories.

On a side note, I think I will be Superman for Halloween this year.  If I can still fit in to my outfit.

What the HELL is going on?

Is it just me, or are we seeing an awful lot of “some normal kid just schooled a star athlete” stories coming out?

First it was Lebron James, Cleveland Cavaliers star, being dunked on by a college kid.

Then it was Phillip Rivers , QB for the San Diego Chargers, losing a skills contest to a high schooler.

Now a video showing some pre-teen beating Serena Williams in tennis?

I smell something foul!  Either this is a fluke, or some clever marketing ploy by their agents.

Family night

So my oldest child, who is almost 6, comes up with these “family night” themes every so often.  This week, he said he wanted to have a family night so we could play games.  The kids love playing board games and puzzles, so I figured we would have dinner, and play some games.

Nope.  My son had other plans.

When I asked him; “Sure, buddy, what would you like to do?”

His simple reply: “Pasta and paintball.”

Confused, I figured out that he had just seen a commercial for a local indoor paintball park.  That, and he loves pasta.

After some explanation, he settled for pasta and board games.

Get ready to yawn.

WARNING: This is about to get very geeky and long-winded. And if you have not seen all six Star Wars episodes, there be SPOILERS ahead.  Sorry, this is good for slow Friday reading, I hope.

My oldest son has been into Star Wars lately, so I have been watching all six episodes with him to bring him up to speed. I grew up with these movies, and it is cool that he likes them as well. But I have also found some holes, or at least topics that confused me and maybe were not answered as I think they should be.

So here goes my inner Star Wars geek, spilling his guts….

Obi-Wan Kenobi:
Ben Kenobi states to Luke in Episode IV that his father wanted him to have his lightsaber when he was older. How would Anakin know about Luke being alive? Also Ben’s ghost states after Luke leaves Dagobah that “that boy was our last hope” and Yoda says, “No there is another.” (Leia) Ben should have known that too, since he was there when they were born.  Ben also says to Luke in Empire he should go to Dagobah and seek Yoda the Jedi Master who instructed him. Yoda did not instruct Obi-Wan, Qui Gon was his master.

Ben does not even seem to recognize R2-D2 and C-3PO in Episode I.  He is told that R2 claims Obi-Wan is his master, but Old Ben says “I don’t remember owning any droids.”  This is a valid statement, as it never shows him as the OWNER of them, but in the prequels, he interacts with them a lot.  And I know droids can all look the same.

Luke Skywalker:
If you are going to hide a child, why would you hide him under his real name of Luke Skywalker, knowing that Anakin Skywalker is his father? Seems like The Emperor would be able to easily Google “Luke Skywalker” and get his info.

Senator Palpatine: Emperor
How did he become a sith, are we to believe he always had the force running through him?  It seems that the training takes a long time.  How was he able to hide this training from the Jedi, who claim to be able to sense everything going on around them.

Leia:
In “Empire”, Leia is standing right next to Darth as Han is being frozen. You would think if he can sense Luke, he would sense the Force in Leia. But then in “Jedi,” before the final battle between Luke and Darth, Darth senses Luke has a sister because he feels what Luke is thinking. So you’re saying he can sense there is another Skywalker through Luke’s thoughts, but he can’t pick up on the feeling himself just by standing next to her in “Empire”? She’s offspring of Darth, so why wouldn’t he sense her?

And I have to think in the original Star Wars, Leia was not written to be Luke’s sister yet, she even kisses him at one point to make Han jealous.  And Luke is obviously attracted to her and seems proud that she chose him over Han. You think they would have sensed they were siblings!

Luke & Leia:
Luke has “no memory” of his mother. Leia says she “died when I was very young,” yet remembers “images, feelings. She was very beautiful, kind, but very sad.” We know in Episode III that Padme dies after they are born. Is it maybe the force that enables Leia to remember her, and if so, why doesn’t Luke have those memories?

Darth Vader: He doesn’t know he has children, but in Empire, the Emperor describes Luke as “the offspring of Anakin Skywalker.”
“How is that possible?” asks Vader.
“Search your feelings, Lord Vader, you will know it to be true.”
If he searched his feelings, he should sense Leia (as stated above).

We also know why Vader is so tall, or so we are to think this.  His legs were cut off during the battle with Obi-Wan, and the machine legs put on gave him his addtional height.  I believe that is how George Lucas wanted to make the connection.

The Jedi: In the original trilogy, the Force is a religion, we are told. But in the prequels, it is based on midi-chlorians in the blood. We know Luke has them because Anakin had a high level of them. But in Episode III, we see a LOT of young Jedi trainees. Where did all of them come from? Were they born from existing Jedi?  Jedi’s are unable to express feelings of love to others, as we see with the conflict between Anakin and Padme.I don’t get how there were so many.

I find it hard to think that the entire temple of Jedi knights was unable to sense that Palpatine was a Sith Lord. He basically oozed Dark Side Force, and all they thought was “we better keep an eye on him”.  Obi-Wan and Anakin were able to sense those poisonous millipedes in Padme’s room before they got to her, why coulnd’t they sense the Dark Side getting stronger?  I know they say the Dark Side clouds everything, but there are too many scenarios where this is confusing.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the whole Star Wars experience, and to actually see the whole thing come full circle, 30 years later, was amazing. As a kid I was so scared of Darth Vader, but now you almost have to feel sorry for him and what he has become.

That is all my brain can come up with now, I am sure there are some other holes, or slips. And I am not bashing it at all, just things I have noticed after watching these with my soon-to-be 4 year old son.

Photos

I saw some of these photos online, thought I would share:

What's worse, the outfit, or his mustache?

This is a little too close for me

I thought this was pretty cool

I would love to see this out my window.

May not be real, but looks cool

Latest music purchase..

Street Sweeper Social Club.  Tom Morello.  For any Rage Against The Machine or Audioslave fans, that name is really all you need to know before buying this album.

Info from Amazon.com:

Tom Morello & Boots Riley have joined forces to form Street Sweeper Social Club. The group’s anticipated self-titled debut album will be released June 16th. The 11-song set was produced by Tom Morello and features Boots Riley on vocals, Morello on guitar and bass, and Stanton Moore (Galactic) on drums. Street Sweeper Social Club’s debut tour will be opening all dates in North America on the Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction May-June Tour. Tom Morello is a founding member & guitarist of the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. The two bands are responsible for multiple Grammy Awards & a combined 30 million albums sold worldwide. Widely celebrated for his unique voice as a master electric guitarist, he is recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Guitar Players of All-Time(#26).” Boots Riley is best known as the leader of The Coup, the seminal Hip-Hop group from Oakland, CA. As a producer & lyricist, Riley has crafted critically acclaimed albums for The Coup that have graced many year-end Top 10 lists.

I have listened to this a few times so far and am really diggin’ on it so far.  If you are in the hunt for new music, go pick this one up!

Movie favorites

Since I am now enjoying the “normal” life, I have been watching a lot of movies.

Most of my favorites are a given, others, not so much.  So here is a short list of movies that I can watch over and over again.  Even when shown on network TV, with commercials and horrible editing.

1.  Dumb & Dumber – really, the best movie of all time.

2.  Heat – the shootout scene in the street MUST be played at a high volume level.

3.  True Romance – One of Slater’s best movies, if not THE best.

4.  Fargo – Seriously, how can you NOT like this movie?

5.  O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Clooney at his finest.

6.  The Matrix – like all 3, but the first one is the best, obviously.

7.  American History X – very powerful movie.

8.  Back to the Future – the second one was OK, but the first and 3rd one are great.

9.  The Big Lebowski – “Shut the f*ck up, Donny!”

10.  Shaun of the Dead – zombies and comedy.

11.  Remember the Titans – Denzel should have won the Oscar for this movie.

12. Aliens – Bill Paxton rocks in this movie.

13.  WALL-E – not only do my kids love it, but so do I.

There you have it.  A short list of some of my favorite movies, so far.  Feel free to comment if you like the same, or if there are others you would add to the list.

I have resigned.

So, I recently resigned my position as Superman, and since I have all of this free time,  I decided to start blogging.   I hope to keep this updated a few times a week, so keep checking back.