January 2018 Monthly Entry
I've been surprised that the weather up to this point hasn't been snowy compared to last year. It's been raining a lot instead. There hasn't been much for frost and ice either. Things can still change in February but I've been grateful for how this winter is progressing currently.
I've been enjoying not having my day job anymore. Sleeping in has been wonderful and my stress levels have gone down. No more calls and dealing with my manager... it's like a nightmare that finally ended! More importantly, it's like life has changed and I have a little more time for myself. I even managed to get caught up on my blog entries and finally upload them. I'm slowly starting to get back into playing my games too. I want to try and go visit bear buddies more often but living in Langley still makes that difficult. Prior to what just recently happened (mentioned below), I couldn't waste money on gas so when I didn't have a school shift, I would stay home and relax instead. I was having a problem of non-consistent income as the shifts were no longer regular and I got two days off in a work week usually. But three Thursdays ago, the remaining runs from the major "reset" that kicked in after the winter break, were finally advertised. I bid on three out of eleven of the openings. In order from what I most wanted to least wanted: District - permanent, Burnaby South - temporary, and Rosser/Montecito - permanent. All are full time. Last Friday at 1:27pm, I got a call from HR that I won the contract for the least of the ones I bid on: Rosser and Montecito. Before Tuesday, I've never been to Rosser before and it's close to Gilmore near East Hastings (so a bit of a extra drive to get there). The run is only two hours but I didn't know the difficulty of it until yesterday. It's actually pretty easy. Montecito is a ways from Rosser so I need about 15 minutes to get there depending on rush hour traffic. The last time I was at Montecito before Tuesday was the final week of summer break. It was getting a big time renovation but after coming back, it seems like it's finished. The 6 hour run is kind of difficult as the floors have a lot of tracked in dirt and pine needles. I'll let you guys know how my feelings are on this run in next month's entry.
I had to retire my 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitrae as oil has been leaking out and my engine or transmission is kicking the bucket. It would cost me over a thousand dollars to fix and replace some of that stuff but it just isn't worth it anymore. A mechanic friend of my father was selling a used car in good shape and was worked on by him. On Monday, I went with my father to North Delta to the mechanic's garage to make the trade. He will take my Suzuki as he can sell the parts given how increasingly rare they are becoming. My new car is a 2008 Jeep Compass in red. It was $4500 plus $450 in insurance and fees. It runs smoothly but I got a lot to learn about it. At least, the radio works well compared to my Suzuki in which both (mostly) AM and FM didn't always have a clear signal. But I'm glad I saved up money every school district paycheque for over the last 2 years. I knew I was going to one day retire the Suzuki but didn't think it would be this soon. But this Jeep should last me years and it saves me from being stuck into making car payments. I got it at a very good deal so I was in the right place and at the right time - plus knowing the right people.
So two major things happened in mere days from each other. I'm still processing all this change. A new car that I need to get used to, and I finally got a permanent position - which justifies the timing of quiting my day job at the right time! I now return to full time work with a consistent income plus added benefits! YAY!
One day before I went and saw The Last Jedi, I watched The Force Awakens after two years since my originally seeing it in theatres. It was probably a slightly better viewing this time but the movie still had problems that I couldn't ignore.
Three Tuesdays ago I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi in IMAX 3D at Cineplex Colossus in Langley. Compared to The Force Awakens we didn't have 15 minutes of advertisements! This time it was just under 10 minutes but 6 car advertisements in a row. The trailers took about 7 minutes, including upcoming movies Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. After the movie, I left the theatre angry because the very end of the movie felt like a kick in the balls due to how corny it was. I'm surprised at how I managed to drive home given how emotionally compromised I was! So without further ado...
Major SPOILERS below:
Like Force Awakens, I came into this movie with little expectations. I was expecting another Star Wars movie and for answers to questions that were left over from the previous movie. This movie is definitely polarizing because it kills tradition, has no subtly in its preachy messages and SJW activism, and treats the Star Wars universe as expendable to whatever the writers choose to make it - instead of respecting the boundaries that George Lucas put in place and the respect authors of the expanded universe gave it before Disney waved their magic wand and - POOF! - said it wasn't canon. We finally get to see Luke Skywalker but he's so reduced as a character that he barely trains Rey. I was expecting something more in vein of how Yoda trained him in Empire Strikes Back. But nope, Luke hardly trains her and just ends up being an old grouch. It gets better for him in the end but still, I was expecting more badass scenes. I didn't feel that sad at his death but it adds to a major problem with this sequel trilogy: the killing off of old characters to make room for these (mostly) pathetic new ones. Rey once again is like what she was in the previous movie: able to use the Force without training compared to the Jedi before her. This is ludicrous. While it was a joy to see Princess Leia again and she finally uses the Force, there was one scene that was just bizarre. To put it mildly, she should have died when thrown into space but then she uses the Force to fly back to the ship like Superman??? (when I saw this, I immediately thought, "cue the John Williams Superman theme song" LOL! I know someone will make a YouTube video of this!). With Leia recovering, we get one of the worst characters in this movie: Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. She's only written in this movie to be a man-hating feminist onboard. You could easily write her out and have Poe take over the ship's operations but nope, because he's a white male and this movie has a habit of portraying almost all white males as the villains or weak, they had to go all SJW on this movie. And speaking of SJW: Finn is paired with a new character who is very unlikeable named Rose Tico. There was no point of having her in the movie but again, they needed to fulfill their "diversity quota" (she's Asian) and shoehorn in a character who is poorly written just to promote more SJW messages. Case in point: there is a scene in which Finn and Rose go to a casino called Canto Bight which is full of rich and corrupt people (a jab at the 1%) trying to look for a master codebreaker, and this casino has these creatures that are used for racing but are abused (animal rights activism) plus child labourers who take care of them (but are given a message of child-empowerment!). A lot of people agreed that this entire Canto Bight scene could be (more like, should be) taken out of the film as its only reason was SJW preaching.
Let me talk about the ending of the movie, the part final scene that cue's the credits. I hated it. Before I get to its preachy message, let us remind ourselves what the final scenes are in each Star Wars movie just before the credits appear:
The Phantom Menace: A celebration after the Battle of Naboo, we see all characters together and a hint of the love between the young Anakin and Padme. Last shot is all characters in a row. It's not bad and serves to end the movie on a good note before things get darker.
Attack of the Clones: After we see the clone army and the impending Clone War, we are then shown the secret marriage of Anakin and Padme. After they kiss, we get the last shot of them together. Pretty good way to end the movie as it is the last glimpse of happiness before everything crumbles down.
Revenge of the Sith: We get the final scenes of what will transpire from now and before A New Hope. The Death Star is being built, Yoda will go into exile, Leia will lead a life on Alderaan, and Obi-Wan gives Luke to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. The final shot is their looking at Tatooine's two suns - in which Luke will do in 19 years - to symbolize that hope is not lost. I liked this ending and found it ended the prequel trilogy on a good note.
A New Hope: After the destruction of the Death Star and Vader hurled through space, the main characters and the Rebellion celebrate their victory. There is an awards ceremony and this ends up being my favourite ending of all. I just love the John Williams score in this final scene, the cinematography is shot wonderfully, and that one final shot of the characters before the credits appear is one of my personal favourite cinematic highlights. While the ending may be a little quick, it just does it so well and it gives you all the hints of a sequel but it's good enough to just end the movie on its own!
The Empire Strikes Back: Luke's arm is replaced by a robotic one after his defeat from Vader. He ponders on the plan to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hut on Tatooine. He joins Princess Leia and his friends as they watch Lando and Chewbacca ride away in the Millennium Falcon from the remaining Rebellion fleet. This ending was okay, though a little abrupt.
Return of the Jedi: Probably the ending I like the least of the first six movies. Luke returns to Endor and celebrates with the Rebellion their victory over the Empire. He sees the ghosts of Yoda and Obi-Wan again but now, his father joins them (though this was later changed to the young Anakin to link the prequel trilogy - a controversial move by Lucas!) and they show their appreciation to Luke. It ends with a final shot of the main characters. Because of the Ewoks, this ending is just corny and seems to cater to kids. If they took out the Ewoks and just had the Rebellion celebrating, it would be better.
The Force Awakens: Rey arrives on the oceanic planet of Ahch-To to look for Luke on an island. She ascends the long steps and sees a robed man, who turns around and takes his hood off, revealing that he is the Luke Skywalker she had been seeking. Knowing it is him, she presents his lightsaber. I thought this ending was okay - on first watching I had mixed feelings on it but on second watching, I found it tolerable. Still, I didn't like that Luke says nothing at all and what he said in the trailer was never said in the movie (and now after The Last Jedi, means nothing!). And now for the worst ending...
The Last Jedi: The movie starts to end decently... After Luke fades away and we get some comforting words from Leia, Rey is found to have saved the Jedi books and the surviving Rebellion fly away in the Millennium Falcon. I was expecting the credits to appear and this would have satisfied me. But then (here it comes) it goes back to Canto Bight and shows those slave-children being inspired after their meeting with the Rebels earlier. Um, why? It then focuses on the one boy (his name is Temiri Blagg) who just happens to be Force-sensitive because he willed a broom to his hand. The last shot is of him looking up to the stars as he holds his broom as a lightsaber. Cue the credits - and my anger! What do you notice about Last Jedi's ending compared to the past 7 movies? The other movies end on relation to the story and features the major characters being set for the next movie. This ending was corny and is meant to empower the kiddies who are watching - after empowering women, animals, and minorities. This minor character got about a minute of combined screen time before the ending! It was nothing more than to reinforce what this movie did to the whole concept of the Force - that anyone can be Force-sensitive instead of certain individuals and you don't need training to understand it! What a stupid, weak ending...
Seriously, it was so corny that the movie had to sink so low as to "inspire" children and preach again the message that the Force is no longer choosing certain individuals to tap into its power, but that anyone can be strong in the Force. This again, contradicts the Star Wars universe for the sake of empowerment messages. Truth be told, not everyone in the Star Wars universe can be a Jedi or Sith. And if they could, they need to be trained - a concept this movie throws out in the vacuum of space. No need to train by way of a Master or study the teachings of Jedi or Sith, you have the potential inside yourself and that's all that matters. Sorry... but this where both the original and prequel trilogy got it right. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Luke, etc. all got training throughout the series. Kylo Ren also got training in this new sequel triology. But Rey and now future Jedi/Sith are told they no longer need training and it will all come naturally to them - surpassing those who spent years training their minds and bodies in this discipline? Is it any wonder why it seemed so stupid that Rey was able to beat Kylo Ren in Force Awakens and be pretty much evenly matched in this movie? And the killing of Snoke? WHAT??? The main villain that we know hardly about and they just (both figuratively and literally) cut him out? Lame, just... lame.
I'll end my long rant here and get to some positives. The movie's production values are top notch, and the lightsabre duels are pretty good. There were a couple of emotional moments I'll admit too. When R2-D2 shows Luke the old recording of Princess Leia all the way back in A New Hope ("Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi!") it was a pretty emotional moment plus the final meeting between Luke and Leia before he passes away was a nice touch. There is a lot to process from this movie as it just purposefully goes against expectations and, I feel, bulldoze the whole Star Wars universe and re-create it with a different vision - one that I feel will hurt its future. The continued SJW messages really hurt this movie as Star Wars didn't much care about your race, background, gender, etc. It just wanted to tell this grand space opera, not preach at you much. But with Disney at the helm, they are putting these messages in many of their movies and it just ruins them. We have one more movie left in this trilogy and I hope they can fix the mistakes of this one. Not sure how the upcoming Kenobi movie is going to pan out...
What were your thoughts on The Last Jedi? Did you like it or hate it? Leave a comment below on your thoughts.
I'll be continuing both Star Trek: Voyager and Discovery when I get the chance.
Last Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (IMAX 3D), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Netflix)
Last Book: The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Mere Christianity
Last Game: Dragon Quest (Android)
Current Book: The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - The Screwtape Letters
Current Games: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD (Xbox 360) & Dragon Ball Origins 2 (DS) & Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2)