Why Star Wars?

I am extremely late to this but I just finished watching Star Wars: A New Hope. The movie only seemed important to me in terms of the popular culture references it generates and if one is unaware of the film and its expanded circles, one would not be part of this inclusiveness.

The film itself is decent. I appreciate the wide scope, the grandeur and the epic narrative. Some effects seem ahead of their time and many just remind me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Doctor Who. But some things are extremely mind-boggling.

- Why is Princess Leia so irritating? She’s loud and demanding. And the hairstyle – my god!

- Because I am so late to hear ‘May the force be with you’ in its actual context, I was immediately reminded of the Indian Superman ‘Shaktimaan’, where the villain and his party often end their conversations with andhera kayam rahe (May there be darkness). And of course, there’s always Superman.

- The light sabers are actually a cool concept, expect for the noise they generate. They’re too noisy if one is planning a homely homicide.

- Is someone inside the suits or are they just bots?

- I don’t think it says much for the film if I like C-3P0 or R2-D2 more than the humans, does it? Those guys didn’t even care that R2-D2 was injured! Jerks!

Reviews and Linkage

First news...

1. A great list of sci-fi novels HERE. I have read just one of them and that too the ealiest one. Shelley's Frankenstein. It's not exactly sci-fi but more of Gothic and something else...But it includes a lot of cyberpunk and steampunk references, which I really wanna get into soon. There's a huge list on Wikipedia about the influences on the Matrix series, which is also an example of cyberpunk (hightech, low life)..The first step in that direction was watching a Miyazaki movie yesterday, which was extremely fulfilling. I think he's my favourite director. Period.

2. The Tintin movie will come out in 2011... Its like you wait for Potter movies till 2011 July, and then..this long wait...But hope its worth it.

3. Was treading around to find out which was the best anime EVER. Some sites say Neon Genesis Evangelion and some say Death Note... Its difficult to make this choice cause there are so many genres to mangas and anime. I have started watching Sailor Moon, but once you've watched "the way of the ninja" in Naruto or the madness in Paranoia agent, you cant help but dislike the slow pace of Sailor Moon and its reluctant protagonist.An interesting link I found in conjunction with this was HERE.

A man was arrested for his manga collection which contained some child pornography. The question remains whether you can say whether a manga/fictional character is underage or not?

Okay...So i watched a few pilots yesterday and here are some of my views of them.

1. TRUE BLOOD: Based on the famous Southern Vampire series written by Charlaine Harris, True Blood is about the coming-out of vampires. It is pacy, interesting and has oodles of gore and blood, which makes it an interesting watch. Anna Paquin who plays the lead is also an amazing actress and as usual, there is always one vampire who is a gentleman. (This reminds me that I hated Angel, but loved Spike..strange.)

2. THE MENTALIST: This one looks like a CSI/Numbers/x-forensic serials rip-off or spin off but I should probably give it more credit. The case is solved not by too much focus on the science but observation. However, this also leads to fast stereotypes and categories..which might create problems..But this is very similar to Miss Marple's theories of detection...that human nature is same everywhere..

3. MERLIN: In the name of whatever's sacred, this is a BBC hot chocolate. It's a series like no other. Even though the special effects are nothing to write hot about, the story line, characters and the enigma of the series is enchanting.. And Merlin and Arthur are Yumm..