GJ Willis' Art Notes

The big event of the day for me was going to the 12 noon showing of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I saw it at Security Square Mall. I was truly surprised when I got there because standing right in font of me in line was Ricky from the mailroom. He had on a red baseball cap pulled backwards and a red shirt along with dark sunglasses. I thought maybe he was waiting for a date or a friend to show up but no one came along. I didn’t say anything to him because I don’t really know him. Besides, for all I know he could be a very angry person and might have yelled at me.

Back to the movie.... Overall, it was great. It ranks right up there with Episode Five: The Empire Strikes Back.

I really loved how everything was tied together.

I loved all the mirror images you see in this film that occur in subsequent episodes in the series. For example when you see Palpatine for the first time in this movie. He’s in a chair similar to the one you see him occupy in Return of the Jedi. You also see him get all excited and contort around when he watches Anakin/Vader fight. He also did this in Return of the Jedi with the epic light saber fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. It kind of makes me wonder if he get’s off on watching Anakin/Vader cross swords with opponents.....

Also curiously, the first thing out of Palpatine’s mouth in the movie as he addresses Anakin is that he calls him, son. This makes me wonder if Palpatine is really Anakin’s father. I’m sorry but I will never buy any of that midichloridian bullshit that was introduced in Episode I. Besides I think it would be interesting viewing Palpatine as the evil grandfather puppeteer. The type of person who will stop at nothing to gain power. Leaving the woman he impregnated and his offspring to live as slaves on a dust planet. Equally willing to sacrifice son or grandson to gain even greater power. I see Palpatine as a cold heartless bastard who sees family as nothing but mere pawns in a game of intergalactic domination.

Another mirror like image I liked was towards the end. There’s a shot of Uncle Owen on Tatooine which is similar to the image that opens up Episode Four: A New Hope. You remember the shot of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine.The one big problem I had with the movie was Amidala dying after giving birth to Luke and Leia. This is a problem of epic proportions because in Return of the Jedi Luke asks her what he remembers of their mother. Pray tell me, how is it possible that Leia has memories of a mother that died shortly after giving birth to them???? I suppose this problem will be fixed/edited/explained in another re-released special edition box set. In this special edition I would also expect to see a CGI Qui-Gon Jinn in Episodes 4 and maybe at the end of Episode 6.

Also while watching the movie I did spot the Millennium Falcon in a scene. I wonder who was piloting it? It couldn’t have been Han Solo because he was probably still a little kid on Corellia.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a bright yellow short sleeve shirt that has a blue flower design on it. I also have on bright blue pants and beige canvas tennis shoes.

MORNING COMMUTE:
This morning we still have the Patti Austin driver. Wow! Four days in a row! Has she decided to take on the route as our regular driver?

BABY SHOWER REVIEW
Yesterday, was the baby shower for Tyra. The food was catered by co-worker Keisha. Keisha appears to like to cook a lot. I’m surprised she hasn’t seriously looked into running a restaurant or catering business. In the past she liked to encourage us to participate in her pot luck lunches. I never participated because I’m not much of a cook.

Wednesday’s office baby shower was held in the cafeteria. This meant that you could barely hear above the din of other dinners. In a curious switch off we ate first before opening presents.

In the past showers were held in a spare conference room. In the room the designated pregnant person/bride/father to be would open presents and then we would, “Ohh!!! and Ahh!!”, over what they had opened. The party would then disperse to the cafeteria where we would go and eat. I really miss that format....

The party held in the cafeteria felt all over the place and not as centralized. This could have been because some of the people there were just on their lunch break or hanging out.

When I went in the first thing I did was get a plate of food. It seemed that I could not find a free place to sit so I had to sit amongst the people who were in the cafeteria on their break. While seated I heard a very engaging conversation directly behind me. It was amongst the computer geek guys. I don’t know if they really work in the computer department or not. They always seem to hang together and well, they look geeky. They were talking about the new Star Wars film and the Millennium Falcon and how.... Hey, wait a minute back to the Baby Shower Review!

The food was scrumptious. I really liked the meatballs and (gasp) Chicken from Popeye’s! The string beans were OK albeit a bit over cooked.

The one thing I missed from this shower was hearing all the “Ohhs and Ahhs!”, after the person opens the presents. When Tyra opened her presents it was all just a cacophony of cafeteria sound. I had no idea who was responsible for what present.

I strongly feel that it is best to open presents first in the conference room then eat in the cafeteria as opposed to eat and later open presents in the cafeteria. There was just too much noise and confusion for me to follow what was going on. Then again maybe others felt differently and were OK with everything.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a multi-coloured striped mock turtleneck with blue jeans and black canvas tennis shoes.

MORNING COMMUTE:
I caught the #2 bus. The driver looks a little like singer Patti Austin. The light rail and shuttle bus are both on time.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a purple mock turtle neck blue jeans and black canvas tennis shoes.

MORNING COMMUTE:

The #2 bus was nearly empty. I wonder what happened? I also noticed that the man who looks like Andy Rooney was not aboard. The shuttle was also half full. Could this all have been a direct result of Lopez’s death?

Concern of the Day: While at Walmart Yesterday, I went to Walmart to get a present for Tyra. Tyra is this year’s pregnant co-worker. This will be the first present I have ever bought for a co-worker not Christmas Secret Santa related. There have been many baby showers and a wedding thing since I started working there many years ago. The reason I never bought anything for anybody was that I didn’t have the cash. This time I had a little extra scratch.

I bought Tyra three things for her baby. I can barely recall what they were. I think I got her a baby grooming set, shampoo, and a hooded baby towel. I was going for a theme. The only thing I noticed while shopping was that baby things are dirt cheap. I guess that’s because they are small and don’t take up much space.

While at Walmart I also finally bought myself a new digital camera. I have an Olympus D-535 zoom camera. Next month I’d like to work on getting an iPod or a Sandisk flash MP3 Player. I think I would like the Sandisk most because it also has an FM receiver on it. Also the Sandisk is Mac compatible and it costs $68.00

All I know is that I’ve downloaded a lot of songs and want to get them on something so that they can stop taking up space on my hard drive. I know compared to other people I barely have a substantial amount of songs on my computer to complain or brag about. Right now I have about 60 songs ripped from my cd’s and bought from the iTunes store.

WHAT I’M WEARING:

Today, I have on a plaid green shirt, blue slacks, and black canvas tennis shoes.

I woke up this morning with the sad news that 98 Rock’s Lopez had passed away. I am very sad. KML did a show this morning that featured Lopez bits spliced in between music.

I knew that his lung cancer had taken a turn for the worse when it had been weeks since he was on the air. There will be a public funeral held.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a white long sleeve shirt, green pants, and black canvas shoes.