Why Disney Buying Star Wars is Awesome

So you may or may not have heard today that Disney purchased Lucasfilm, and all of its various subcompanies and intellectual properties, from George Lucas for the paltry (at least to Disney) sum of 4.05 Billion Dollars. And by “intellectual properties,” I mean Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. What’s most important about this news is that Disney has also announced plans to release Star Wars Episode VII in 2015.

Now this will undoubtedly polarize the Star Wars community more than any other bit of Star Wars related news since Jar-Jar reared his ugly and more-than-a-little-racist face in our beloved series. People are going to be scared Disney will stray from the canon, which they might. People are going to be afraid that Disney won’t take this series seriously, which I doubt. I am here to tell you that this is the best thing to happen to Star Wars since Return of the Jedi’s release.

May I present to you Exhibit A:

Marvel

See a long time ago Marvel was a much smaller studio. It made lower (not small, just…lower) budget super hero movies like Blade, Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four, Hulk, and Man-Thing. You know, bad movies. And while they did occasionally have gems (namely Spiderman 2 and X-2), both those trilogies ended in god-awful conclusions. Then, in 2008, Disney bought Marvel. Since then we’ve had what’s referred to as “Marvel Phase 1,” that is those films leading up to The Avengers. In that sequence not a single one of those movies was certified rotten on Rotten Tomatoes (which isn’t my favorite critic site, but it is good for a summary of reviews). Compare that to before the buyout, where the vast majority of their films were rotten (the only exception in my list above, excluding Spiderman and X-Men of course is Hulk, which still scores lower than all Phase 1 films). Disney worked wonders with Marvel and turned them into a legitimate studio. Imagine what they could do with a studio that has a rich past and only recently fell out of glory.

And now Exhibit B:

George Lucas

Stop laughing. Seriously. Look, now George may have screwed up Star Wars recently, letting Greeto shoot first, creating Jar-Jar, casting Hayden Christensen as Anakin, killing Padme with a broken heart. I’ll stop there and save us the pain. But let’s not forget that George did create Star Wars.

But why he’ll be another reason why Star Wars will be good is that he’ll be a creative consultant. That means he’ll influence the world, but he won’t write or direct the films. We’ll have true Star Wars, but as seen through the lens of someone with actual talen- I mean someone who has a fresh perspective. So unless they hire Michael Bay (which would induce mass suicide I think and would probably cause Joss Whedon to sabotage The Avengers like J.D. sabotages his relationships [sorry I’ve been watching a lot of scrubs lately]), we won’t have scenes like this:

Or characters like this:

Either of them

In conclusion, this is good. Don’t freak out. Rejoice, cause we have more Star Wars coming. 

Candid Questions

So first this is mostly a self indulgent post, I need to talk about these things and if I've learned anything about myself it's that writing is my best way to talk about something. So if you're looking for a minorly witty or angry article feel free to skip this post. I've got something cooking for later this week. This post isn't for you guys, sorry, it's for me.

Have you ever had one of those nights where you can feel change coming?
I've heard wives' tales (I apologize for the misogyny, it's a phrase) that animals can sense danger or fear. You know, things that shouldn't be sensible. And I think as humans we have a similar, if more rarely occurrent, ability to sense when something is about to change, since we're sort of apprehensive of such things. But I've had one of those nights.
It came about after a weekend of thought. See I've been in college for four years now. Well, three and a sixth. And while I've learned a lot about what I came here to study, what I've learned most about is something I've never had single class on: me. I've learned who I am and how I operate. I learned a lot of why I am the way I am. I've learned what I fear, why I fear it. I've learned what I love and why I love it. But what I've also learned about is what I lack. And I don't know really how to describe it, whether it's drive, or desire, or passion. I believe those are all wrong words, cause I have those things. For lack of a better, more culturally current word, the only term I can think of is what it is that makes me a man rather than a boy.
Now this term "man" can be used to refer to men, women, transgendered, asexuals, or people who don't know who they are yet. It sounds a little sexist, and I suppose the term is, but basically what I mean by "man" is that thing that makes you solidly you. It's that thing that makes you stand up for your beliefs or defend your friends. It's that thing that makes you take a girl in your arms and kiss her without any warning. It's that thing that makes you say "I want that, and I will do anything within my power to get it." The thing that makes you help a person in need rather than watching and think about the sadness of the image. The thing that makes you a companion and a leader rather than a bandwagoner.

See this weekend has been an important one for me. I've been thinking. A lot. I watched a fantastic film about fear and how it drives us to courage. Cause how can you have courage (defined by the always phenomenal Mark Twain as "resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear") without fear? Then I spent a day with an absolutely amazing girl, reminding me that I've always let fear force me into submission rather than taking command of my fear and using it as a drive. Then today I thought pretty much constantly of this idea of death and fear as driving forces. And then I watched the San Francisco Giants sweep the world series. And I thought about how terrifying it must have been to be Romo: everyone relying on you to not give a run. To take the game. To give the Giants another championship. And how that could be crippling, yet he still took that time to calmly strike out that last batter and take the victory.

So I've been thinking a lot about risk and who I am as a nonrisky person. How I just allow myself to coast through school and through my relationships. And all I ever really put any effort into is my writing and filmmaking (coincidentally the only two times where I have complete mastery of my fear). And how I hate that. I'm on this earth for less than a century to appreciate all creation has to offer. Why not experience it? All of it? Joy, fear, courage, fun, nature, people, a kiss in the moonlight, a song sung in public, a dance through the park, a visit to a foreign nation. Besides, what do I really fear anyway? Failure? What's wrong with failure? Is it that it brings about sadness? My favorite description of sadness was in the episode of Doctor Who entitled "Blink." It's written by Steven Moffat and the line is delivered by Carey Mulligan. When asked what is good about sadness she says "Sad is happy for deep people."
And don't we all want to be deep? I want to - deeply sad, deeply happy, deeply lost, deeply in love. I know this is kind of a trite topic, but it's still something Im learning. It seems the most basic to living lessons are the most difficult to master.
I've kind of run out of steam for this post, but to sum up, I can feel change coming. I've felt it bubbling up for a long time and now that I'm in the eye of the storm I can see it coming. And I must say I'm terribly excited. Terrified. But I think that's what's so exiting. I'm so scared that life's happening, but I can't help but feel like it will be wonderful. Life is many things and I want to feel it all. That's what we're meant to do. If not, then why were we given this amazing world? I'm scared pantless (heh that autocorrected to panthers in my phone) of what's about to happen. Of my plans this week. Of my graduation. Of my career path. Of my life beyond this city. But that's why it's exciting, without fear how can I be courageous? How can I be a man? I can't. And that's terrifyingly exciting.

Memorable Performances at The Lyceum Theatre by Angelina Lawson

There have been numerous performances at the Lyceum theatre London, which will forever be etched on the minds of those who attended these shows. The theatre has had its share of controversy since its establishment. In fact, there were a couple of times that the theatre itself was destroyed. However, the performances that have been carried out in the theatre have definitely been classic ones and lived on well past the building in which they were performed. The theatre helped to establish many professionals in the performing arts category.

One astounding performance that has been performed in the Lyceum theatre was “The Bells”, which was performed in 1871. Henry Irving played the role of a ghost haunted burgomaster and his performance was more than incredible. The audience was left star struck by his acting. Because of this, the play ran for a good 150 nights and the theatre reached its full capacity every night that the play was showcased.

His next play, “Charles I”, received even greater attention than “The Bells”. He and other well known artists performed the play in 1872. The show ran for 180 nights to an overcrowded theatre. Certainly, the audience could not get enough of Irving and his acting skills. However, his greatest performance of all time was in the play “Hamlet”. This play is a timeless classic and Irving’s performance was more than mind blowing.

There were other memorable performances that propelled the theatre to fame. The “Cosi Fan Tutti” is one such high profile production which was produced by Mozart. The opera was and still is seen as a masterpiece throughout the world. At first, it seems like a hilarious comedy, but hopeless romantics will tell you that the play is much deeper than just a comic tale. The play remains relevant today because of the opera’s main lesson that the depth of our feelings remains hidden because of our clumsy statements and the predictability of our actions.

More recently, “The Lion King”, which is currently playing in the Lyceum theatre London has been able to gross over £300 million. This is one of the highest earnings brought in by a single show in the West End theatre. The musical has been running at the theatre for ten years now and the producers do not seem like they want to close it any time soon. This classic story of a young lion cub named Simba will tug on your heartstrings and provide some laughs. What’s more, with hidden adult humour it is suitable for all the family.

Angelina Lawson is a content writer whose interests include film, travel and technology, and eco living. Check out her article theater superstitions here or her website here.

The Dangers of Patriotism

First off, this article is titled “The Dangers of Patriotism” because we are currently in the context of an upcoming election, but it could just as easily be titled “The Dangers of Narcissism” or “The Dangers of Overconfidence” or a similar extra-contextual synonym. Secondly, if you’ve watched Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, you’ve probably seen a monologue with a similar message to the one in this article. That’s because my article is highly influenced by that monologue. In order to save you some time I’ve embedded the video at the bottom of the page so you may watch that video instead of read the article if you’d like. I won’t be offended. Thirdly, this article get's a little ranty because I'm passionate about this and I wanted my thoughts to be mostly unfiltered. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s explore this idea.

Before we talk about what is wrong with patriotism, we first need to define patriotism. Patriotism is defined as the devoted love, support and defense of one’s country; national loyalty. For the sake of this article I will extend that definition to mean unwavering support of one’s country. Now I am not about to argue that having pride in one’s country is a bad thing. I think there is a place for that kind of pride, and indeed it is necessary for improving one’s country. The word patriotism might be a little misleading, as it carries too positive a connotation; nationalism may be a better word. Whatever you choose to call it, this idea of unwavering support in one's country results in an over-inflated impression of that country.

You know what? I’m gonna drop this objective not-naming-names strategy people normally use for thoughtful posts, cause it’s counterproductive to my point. When our forefathers (sorry Russian readers, I know there’s a couple of you. This is written with US readers as the main audience, but feel free to continue reading and let me know if you agree from an international standpoint) first started the United States it was the greatest country in the world. We were the first major country to explore civil freedoms. We brought democracy back as a government structure after the Greeks developed it. We competed with our peers to lead the world in education and scientific advancement. And while our country has had some (i.e. many) dark times (slavery, civil inequality, witch hunts, Hollywood blacklisting, the list goes on for a while), we had for two centuries sought to improve ourselves so that we were the greatest country. The rest of the world looked to us as the leading power in the world. Our president was considered the most powerful man in the world. And yet, here we are.

Rather than repeat the statistics in the video or list my own I’ll link you to this website. Basically, what that website will tell you is the United States is not number one in pretty much any of the categories that count. I hope that is sufficient evidence for you that our country may have been the greatest country but certainly is not now.

This brings me to my point on patriotism/nationalism. We became the greatest country in the world, and then we said, “Holy crap! We’re the best. We did it guys, we won the human race.” And we never moved on. We kept this state of mind that we were the best country in the world. We have no competition and thus have no reason to improve. And because of this idea that we implanted in all our minds and the minds of our children that we are the best, we stopped improving. We got too comfortable and we got greedy. We tanked our economy. Now we’re trillions of dollars in debt. We are constantly cutting programs in our education. One of our presidential candidates is contemplating cutting funding to the only democratic television network our country has. Other countries laugh at our health care system. Our middle class is rapidly disintegrating. And we've pretty much cut all funding to NASA.

I’m going to cut off my rant there, because I want this article to maintain some sort of cohesiveness. But we allowed ourselves to become comfortable with the idea of being the greatest and stopped doing what it is that makes a people great: striving for greatness. Thus this idea of patriotism, this unwavering devotion to our country, in which recognizing the accomplishment of another country is an unforgivable sin, forces us to ignore progress other countries make, effectively crippling our ability to compete with our global peers.

We should strive for greatness. As a species, we humans have a constant desire to be the best, to be bettering ourselves. And we should, for only through that can our world improve. And by extension our countries should be competing to be the best, because through that competition we can improve ourselves, our peers will improve themselves and the whole world will slowly improve. But if we refuse to acknowledge the achievements of our peers we allow ourselves to fall into cycles of constantly patting ourselves on the back for being the best despite a complete lack of evidence to support that claim. We must put aside our pride, our nationalism, our patriotism in order to improve ourselves.

Note: One way you can work towards improving your country is by voting in the upcoming election. I don’t care who you vote for, just vote. Because that very act of being involved is an improvement over inaction. So yeah. Vote. Participate in the world around you, including your government. If you aren't registered to vote go here and register. It seriously takes two minutes. I did it the other day. You have till the 22 to register. Please do.