star wars – lastgreypoet

2019 Whisky Wind-down, 13: Re-hashed Favorites

Today’s dram: Resurgens Single Malt Rye (ASW Distillery, Atlanta)

Today’s tasting notes: I know it tastes like warm bread and smells of a barn full of spent grain on a warm day. I’m not a huge fan of rye whisky, but then I’ve never had another single malt rye whisky, either. This is a rare find.

Today’s thoughts: Yes, that was a big gap between posts. I said there’d be gaps, but, no, I did not mean to take the concept this far.

Thing is, I am still recovering from the lingering cold that just won’t go away.

Yes, still.

Apart from fatigue and one other thing, I’m doing pretty well.

The one other thing, naturally, is sense of smell.

Oh, how that screws with appreciating whisky!

So I’ve mostly been sitting around grousing — resting, I mean — and waiting to feel better. I’ve started to think, however, that it may be time to wind down 2020 before I get back to normal.

With that in mind, I’ll be writing some more in the coming days. They may be mostly posts re-hashing old favorites, until and unless I can actually taste some new stuff, but I’ll at least try to keep them entertaining.

Speaking of re-hashing things and trying to keep them entertaining after a long break … it’s opening night of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

At this point I shouldn’t need to tell you how I feel about Star Wars, but if you’re new, hit that link and read everything I’ve ever written here about the series.

It’s mostly positive.

And I remain positive toward Star Wars, in the face of cynical fans, friends, and press. No other series has ever — will ever, can ever — take its place in my heart.

Doesn’t mean I’m unaware of its low points.

Oh, no.

Just get a whisky in me — for this or any other reason, really — and ask me about the prequel trilogy … or those damned cartoons.

Then stand back.

But I love the first three movies like no other three movies ever made, and they’re the three I’d take with me to that hypothetical deserted isle where you can only take so many of some thing, and a long-distance radio and Bear Grylls are never among the options.

When The Force Awakens came along, I commented (as did others), that it was nice there were now finally four Star Wars movies.

The Last Jedi felt less like that and more like some weird amalgam of a Star Wars movie and something else I can’t quite put my finger on it. Not wrong, exactly, but not quite right.

Tonight the last movie of the new trilogy comes out. Which way it goes swings the whole set. I’m optimistic, but cautiously so. I’ve felt this way before, many times, heading into a theater to see one of these films on opening night.

I love that, too.

Today’s historical note: Resurgens is the motto of the city of Atlanta. It’s Latin for “rising again,” and it accompanies a phoenix on the city seal. Come to think of it, it’s maybe a terrible name for a whisky.

Today’s toast: May the Force be with you, always.

Luke Skywalker, Generation X-Wing

Okay, readers.

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about the “OK Boomer” phrase, its meaning, who is (or should be) offended, who is (or should) be correct, etc.

This makes it, basically, just like anything else people argue about online these days.

I’m not here to further that argument or get at all political today. I don’t want this to be a hostile place, mostly because I’m just getting over being reallllly tired, and spending any more time being angry while trying to write seems counter-productive to me.

I do want to talk about one of the many “OK Boomer”* memes going around.

*(Can I just get something off my chest first? I loathe, loooathe, the spelling OK. That’s the postal abbreviation for Oklahoma, people. Stop being so damned lazy, even if it is what The Dusty Old Newspaper Stylebook would have you use.)

I must’ve seen 50 of these memes this week, but one in particular sticks with me.

The image is a screencap from Return of the Jedi — well, more accurately, two screencaps combined — that shows the following:

Top panel: The Emperor. His words from the film are captioned on the page as: “Your faith in your friends is your weakness.”*

*(I knooooow. The quotation is not quite right. I’m just describing, not correcting. As the kids say, don’t @ me.)

Bottom panel: Luke Skywalker stands next to his father, Darth Vader. Captioned above Luke’s head is a phrase uttered nowhere in any Star wars film every made:* “OK Boomer.”

*(Trust me.)

This meme bugs the shit out of me.

It’s not that someone is taking scenes from a beloved movie and using them to drive a political argument — okay, it is that, a little — it’s that LUKE IS NOT A MILLENNIAL.

Oops. Used all-caps. I’m not a Boomer, I swear. Check my birth certificate.

The film came out in 1977. During filming, for most of 1976, Mark Hamill was 24-25.

On screen, Luke is supposed to be 19, per Wookieepedia.

I guess, within the film, on a strict comparison, you’d consider him on the tale-end of Millennials or an elder member of Generation Z.

But, wait. I just said Mark Hamill was 24 in 1976.

Yep. Dude was born September 25, 1951, making him … wait for it … a Boomer!

I’m not going to get into the “Boomer is a state of mind” debate, either. No debates today.

I am going to say this: Forget generational labels.

The Emperor is bad not because you can lump him in with people born in the same 20-year window.

Generational traits are kinda crap. You realize that, right? Worse even than horoscopes.

No, he’s bad because he’s an all-powerful dictator who uses his power to mercilessly crush the ideals of democracy and independence!

Put him in any generation, he’s the villain.

On the other side of the coin, Luke’s age and generational cohort also mean squat; he’s a hero because he stands up to The Emperor and says no.

Seriously, he says no. Won’t do it. Nuh-uh.

Okay, okay.

“Never. I’ll never turn to the Dark Side. You’ve failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

Chills. Every. Damn. Time. I. See. It.*

*(I do not know how many times that is. Can’t count/remember such numbers.)

That’s a hero, friends. My hero, forever and always.

He stands there ready to die, if it comes to that, because he believes, ultimately, not in his power, but in his friends, and in the power of redemption. He saves his father, his father saves him, and his friends save them all.

There’s probably a lesson in all this, but I promised not to be political today.

Whisky Wind-down, 18: Love and Lightsabers

Today’s dram: Glenkinchie, 12-Year-Old

Today’s tasting notes: Dunno. Haven’t tasted it yet.

Today’s thoughts: I love Star Wars.

Since I wrote about that life-long affection a year ago, I’ll focus on something else this time.

The salient point to bring forward is: I waited 32 years* to know what happened to those beloved characters. When The Force Awakens hit theaters two years ago, I was anxious as hell about seeing it, wanting to have hope, but fearing another heartbreak a la The Trilogy of Which We Do Not Speak.

I left that theater feeling renewed hope for the future. Of Star Wars, anyway.

Last year’s Rogue One was also good, but my excitement for a prequel, even a good one, will never match my interest in the futures of Luke, Leia, R2, Threepio, Chewie … and Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8.

Tonight The Empress of Whisky and I see The Last Jedi.

She enjoys the films, and we have had tremendous fun at the last two opening night events, but there is, shall we say, an enthusiasm gap. She would, for instance, be happy waiting as long as tomorrow(!) to see this film.

But she indulges me, even when, as it so happens tonight, the occasion falls on, for example, our anniversary.

Twelve years she’s been indulging me. That’s pretty good, no?

In celebration of which she gave me the whisky above, which is as old as our relationship. Pretty good thinking there. We’ll open the bottle tonight, at home, and discuss the movie over a dram.

Happy dozen, love!

Today’s note on sharing: I think it’s worth considering just how much better life is because we’re in it together. I do, in fact, consider this all the time.

Today’s toast: To my love: May the Force be with you, always. Me, too.

—–

* — If you want to be picky — and really, what Star Wars fan isn’t, to some degree? — I waited 32 years and seven months between the release of Return of the Jedi (May 1983) and the release of The Force Awakens (December 2015). That’s a long time with no Star Wars.**

** — No Star Wars. Nope. You imagined that other trilogy. You must have been on a bender. Bad you.

2016 Whisky Wind-down, 17: It Will Be With Me, Always

Today’s dram: Rogue, Dead Guy Whiskey

Today’s tasting notes: I haven’t had it.

Will it be good? Will it live up to the reputation of the beer it’s based on? No clue. Someday I’ll give it a try, though.

Today’s thoughts: I’m posting this one early. Because it’s movie night.

Tonight I continue an unbroken streak of watching every new Star Wars movie the week it arrives in theaters, on opening night if feasible.

While I don’t distinctly remember it, I’m told I was a well-behaved child when my parents took me to see Star Wars in ’77.* Most of my memories of the movie are from watching it (and re-watching it and re-watching it …) on cable or VHS tape.

Not only do I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back in ’80, but this is the first real movie theater experience I remember at all. Oh, the anguish I felt when Lando and Chewie flew away and the music rose and the credits started … what? how? no! Best. Cliffhanger. Ever.

Three years is a long time. Three years is forever to a child who can’t wait to know what happened to his favorite heroes. Return of the Jedi is the first movie whose release date I marked on my calendar and counted down the days for. Then I wasn’t allowed to go until the Saturday matinee. “Moooom, I’ve been waiting for-ev-er! Arrrrgh!” Anyway, it was worth the wait. My jaded adult eyes may see flaws now, but for this movie the child inside me will always light up immediately, just like Luke’s new green lightsaber.

And that was it. Thirty-two years went by before anyone made another Star Wars film.

What?

Those other movies?

Yeah, okay. I was pretty excited to see The Phantom Menace in ’99. So were my good friends in college. We scoured movie listings to find a midnight showing, and the closest one that was feasible was an hour and a half away, so we piled in the car and went to see it, then slept on my roommate’s mom’s floor. I mean, we slept eventually. After we were done arguing about it.

By the time Attack of the Clones rolled around to theaters in 2002 I really couldn’t be bothered. And yet, a good friend was visiting when it opened, so we went to the midnight release on a lark. This was better, but still not good.

I did not want to see Revenge of the Sith. I was tired, so tired, of this entire pointless prequel trilogy by 2005. But Mom asked if I wanted to go. So we went, on Sunday of opening weekend. It was okay. At least it was over. And I got to see it with the woman who had taken me to see the original trilogy, so there was a nice closure to the whole experience.

But then … The Force Awakens.

I really tried to tone down my excitement when this came out last year. (The title helped.) This couldn’t be good, could it?

Except, they had Lawrence Kasdan back. And much of the cast. And it was what I had really wanted to see all along: the next part of the story …

So I bought tickets for opening night.

The Empress of Whisky, who did not grow up immersed in Star Wars, and does not think of it with anywhere near the same degree of passion, accompanied me nonetheless because she is awesome and knows what this means to me.

I can no longer remember who said it first, but lots of people said, of The Force Awakens, “There are now four Star Wars movies.”

I have no better words to describe how I feel about it.

A week after it was released, we went to see it again. We were in my hometown for the holidays. Mom and my younger sister joined us, and we watched it in the same theater where I had seen the original trilogy.

A few weeks later that theater closed forever, but I feel like that old building and I had come full circle. It hadn’t changed much in almost 40 years, and maybe that’s why it finally shut its doors, but I felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend, who had been with me for so many good times, but none, none, as important as Star Wars.

Now, it’s another opening night.

Again, I’m filled with a bit of trepidation. Yes, the new minds in charge of Star Wars have my faith, and yes, the trailer looked damned interesting …

But I have my doubts, and they are almost entirely the fault of the prequel trilogy. Aside from all its other shortcomings, its biggest problem was telling a story whose ending we already knew. Everything you ever needed to know about Anakin Skywalker was told in the original trilogy. Spending nine hours watching him grow up and go bad, awash in outrageous digital effects, was pointless.

And so, Rogue One.

We know this story.

We know the outcome.

Or do we?

There’s something in me, some longstanding attraction to a story where the ending seems inevitable, a small band against incredible odds. They aren’t going to overcome. It’s not about winning. It’s about how and why they lose.

Maybe that’s what this is.

Maybe it’s more about the nature of resistance, the forming of rebellion.

Maybe it’s exactly what we need to hear right now.

Today’s comment on word counts: Yeah, I hear you. All this and no real whisky, either, right? Sheesh. I owe you a double.

Today’s toast: To the Rebellion: May the Force be with you.

—–

* — That’s the title of the movie, Star Wars. Star Wars (no italics) is also the name of the franchise. I refuse to participate in the revisionism of calling the first movie A New Hope.