Detrimental Actions
Warning. I am grumpy today.
Section 12-4-A
This is the blanket rule in the ever changing NASCAR rulebook that reads “Any member who performs an act or participates in actions deemed as detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR. (subject to a) fine of at least $100.00, and the member may be suspended and/or lose championship points.”
I personally would like to rule that for the removal of 1” off the spoiler and the gear rule, Brain France is in violation of section 12-4-A. I am sick to death of races in which one guys gets out front he runs away from the field and it takes a caution for anyone to do anything with him. I am sick to death of all the cautions. It’s ridiculous, it’s boring and I am really, really sick of it.
And did you see how fast the field spread out yesterday? :(
Oh yeah. And Goodyear. They’ve sucked too.
~Rant Fini~
That being said, the race yesterday got exciting in the last 60 laps. Props to the Bud Crew from bringing the 8 in at last so that Dale could at least start to make up some of those laps. I won’t chide him for speeding on pit road. :D
Elliott hung in there and Mark finished 3rd, leaving them at 9th and 3rd in the standings.
Congrats the Kurt Busch et al. Well done.
Star Wars: The White Elephant.
Well, at long last I finally got to see Revenge of the Sith over the weekend.
Well.
The effects were very, very good. The worlds created were stunning. Visually, it's an amazing piece of work.
Though why nobody in sci-fi likes to think of space battles in 3 dimensions is beginning to trouble me. It took ST: The Next Generation seven seasons to finally come up with one spectacular shot of the Enterprise blowing upwards through another ship, why did Lucas no pick up on this? In the grand space battle the film opens up with, while the ships are positioned above each other, they are all fighting horizontally, nose to nose.
The fights were… well, nothing stands up to the sheer artistry of the Quin-gon/Obi Wan/Darth Maul fight in the first film. They were good, not outstanding, but good.
But…
Why is it that the man subtle enough to create the Machiavellian machine of the Clone War in order to consolidate power is so ham fisted at manipulating one kid? Good Lord, he’s two steps away from a evil cackle and a Fu-Manchu mustache. I guess it’s over the top is a grand operatic style and no expects miracles from Lucas dialogue, but it just came across as so clumsy. And why did Windu want to off Palpatine all of a sudden anyway? WTH? And since Anakin had whacked off Count Dooku’s head when he was a helpless prisoner, why does he react so extremely to Mace trying to do the same thing?
And the Granddaddy question of the all: Why hasn’t anyone close to Anakin noticed how off his rocker he is? I mean really, this seemed to have come as a great surprise to characters after the audience has been listening to this whiny punk talk about how powerful he is and how better than everyone else he is and murdering little kids and so on for two films. Someone was sparing the rod here. Why didn’t Kenobi notice this when it first manifested at puberty and threaten to dump is whiny punk ass back on Tattoine? When he come back from killing all the sand people in Attack of the Clones, why didn’t Padme start edging towards the door? “No, you rest honey…I’ll be right back….” *sound of speeder starting up and zooming off*
This is the problem: Lucas lacks subtlety. He’s great with archetypes, but he didn’t have it in him to write a Greek Tragedy, which is what the story of Darth Vader is. In a Greek Tragedy, we have to see the goodness, the potential in the hero to fully appreciate his downfall. Anakin could have been so much more powerful as a confused teen tottering on the edge rather than someone who, to the audience, is already arrogantly skipping half way down the road to evil. We saw no goodness in him. Lucas wrote Anakin, the pivotal character too dark, too arrogant, too violent and obnoxious for the audience to sympathize with and so in the end loses the full dramatic impact “losing” him to the Dark Side. There was nothing to be lost: he was there already.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret the 10 bucks to have seen this on the large screen. It was good enough for that, I’m just frustrated at how close it came to fulfilling it’s potential or true greatness. It’s one of those films that you shouldn’t think about after you walk out of the theatre.
Grump, Grump, Grump. ;)
Section 12-4-A
This is the blanket rule in the ever changing NASCAR rulebook that reads “Any member who performs an act or participates in actions deemed as detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR. (subject to a) fine of at least $100.00, and the member may be suspended and/or lose championship points.”
I personally would like to rule that for the removal of 1” off the spoiler and the gear rule, Brain France is in violation of section 12-4-A. I am sick to death of races in which one guys gets out front he runs away from the field and it takes a caution for anyone to do anything with him. I am sick to death of all the cautions. It’s ridiculous, it’s boring and I am really, really sick of it.
And did you see how fast the field spread out yesterday? :(
Oh yeah. And Goodyear. They’ve sucked too.
~Rant Fini~
That being said, the race yesterday got exciting in the last 60 laps. Props to the Bud Crew from bringing the 8 in at last so that Dale could at least start to make up some of those laps. I won’t chide him for speeding on pit road. :D
Elliott hung in there and Mark finished 3rd, leaving them at 9th and 3rd in the standings.
Congrats the Kurt Busch et al. Well done.
Star Wars: The White Elephant.
Well, at long last I finally got to see Revenge of the Sith over the weekend.
Well.
The effects were very, very good. The worlds created were stunning. Visually, it's an amazing piece of work.
Though why nobody in sci-fi likes to think of space battles in 3 dimensions is beginning to trouble me. It took ST: The Next Generation seven seasons to finally come up with one spectacular shot of the Enterprise blowing upwards through another ship, why did Lucas no pick up on this? In the grand space battle the film opens up with, while the ships are positioned above each other, they are all fighting horizontally, nose to nose.
The fights were… well, nothing stands up to the sheer artistry of the Quin-gon/Obi Wan/Darth Maul fight in the first film. They were good, not outstanding, but good.
But…
Why is it that the man subtle enough to create the Machiavellian machine of the Clone War in order to consolidate power is so ham fisted at manipulating one kid? Good Lord, he’s two steps away from a evil cackle and a Fu-Manchu mustache. I guess it’s over the top is a grand operatic style and no expects miracles from Lucas dialogue, but it just came across as so clumsy. And why did Windu want to off Palpatine all of a sudden anyway? WTH? And since Anakin had whacked off Count Dooku’s head when he was a helpless prisoner, why does he react so extremely to Mace trying to do the same thing?
And the Granddaddy question of the all: Why hasn’t anyone close to Anakin noticed how off his rocker he is? I mean really, this seemed to have come as a great surprise to characters after the audience has been listening to this whiny punk talk about how powerful he is and how better than everyone else he is and murdering little kids and so on for two films. Someone was sparing the rod here. Why didn’t Kenobi notice this when it first manifested at puberty and threaten to dump is whiny punk ass back on Tattoine? When he come back from killing all the sand people in Attack of the Clones, why didn’t Padme start edging towards the door? “No, you rest honey…I’ll be right back….” *sound of speeder starting up and zooming off*
This is the problem: Lucas lacks subtlety. He’s great with archetypes, but he didn’t have it in him to write a Greek Tragedy, which is what the story of Darth Vader is. In a Greek Tragedy, we have to see the goodness, the potential in the hero to fully appreciate his downfall. Anakin could have been so much more powerful as a confused teen tottering on the edge rather than someone who, to the audience, is already arrogantly skipping half way down the road to evil. We saw no goodness in him. Lucas wrote Anakin, the pivotal character too dark, too arrogant, too violent and obnoxious for the audience to sympathize with and so in the end loses the full dramatic impact “losing” him to the Dark Side. There was nothing to be lost: he was there already.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret the 10 bucks to have seen this on the large screen. It was good enough for that, I’m just frustrated at how close it came to fulfilling it’s potential or true greatness. It’s one of those films that you shouldn’t think about after you walk out of the theatre.
Grump, Grump, Grump. ;)
posted by KiplingKat | 5:17 PM
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