Quick Flash News

Firstly, it’s good to recognize that there would be no Star Wars without Lucas. That said, the idea that Lucas birthed has taken a life of it’s own, branching off franchises worth billions of dollars in gaming, memorabilia, TV shows, and many other areas of life. From Star Wars bedding to Star Wars t-shirts, the influence of the artwork that his mind created has inspired a generation.

Some may argue, to such a point that it is the generation who have now taken possession of the true idea of what is “Star Wars”. When Lucas decided to start directing the prequels, many fans rejoiced, only to later flee in horror at what was to take place.

First, it is worth nothing that Lucas did not direct much of the original Star Wars series. One might dare say he was relegated to the role of a screenplay writer with little much else. The producers had the ultimate say, and had definitely helped to take Star Wars in a much different direction than what Lucas had intended.

Not so, the second time around, and perhaps with devastating results. Star Wars had become Lucas’ playground for his imagination and whatever desires he wanted. His little daughter liked boy band N’sync, so Lucas thought he had the right to allow N’sync members to become Jedi in the film. Despite the often bad image given to executive producers as being “corporate fat cats”, had producers been still in charge of the Star Wars series’ direction, this type of insanity would have never come to pass.

So outraged were the fans that tens of thousands signed petitions to stop him. They succeeded in preventing what they viewed as an assault on the series by the creator himself. At the very least Justin Timberlake was not seen waving light sabers. But fans were in for a surprise of a different sort.

Whatever anyone may think of Jar Jar, even George Lucas himself conceded the massive damage done to the series by the two eyed and perhaps even mentally ill creature, by removing him from the next parts of the series after protests against his inclusion had swelled in size. A cut of the film without Jar Jar has been released by fans, and it seems notably improved from the original cut. The decision by Lucas may have had more to do with his family and his own desires than anything else. The presence of Jar Jar was severely reduced, to some fans relief, but for many the series had died the moment Jar Jar set foot on the screen.

Perhaps George Lucas has lost all touch with the fanbase. George once said at a luncheon that the Empire Strikes Back was the worst Star Wars, despite the fact that many if not most Star Wars fans consider it to be the greatest.

Bob Bowersox is leaving the shopping network QVC. It has not been clarified whether the famous actor/spokesperson was fired, quit, or retired. The network did not extend or make a big deal of his leaving. The most agreed on conclusion in the QVC viewer community is that he did not renew his contract and the network didn’t fight to get him back. Bowersox has done some acting work and had said a couple of months before that he wanted to pursue other avenues. Who knows? He may become a famous actor one day.

For those of you searching far and wide for an ACC Tournament Bracket for 2009, your in luck, I made one myself. It may not be flashy, but it’ll work for office pools and friendly wagers. Enjoy!

ACC-Tournament Printable Bracket

The NHL has allowed fighting pretty much since the league’s inception. Now the NHL general managers are going to take a look at whether they should keep it or change the rules about fighting.

Lets look at the positive and negatives of fighting in the NHL. One positive is that many fans enjoy watching the fights and it gets everyone riled up. In many games a goal is not scored every period so there is not a ton of action in between scores. Many hockey fans I talk to enjoy the fights and might not go to games or watch them if they were banned completely.

Another positive is that it gives hockey a unique characteristic that other sports programs don’t have. You can’t see all out fights in basketball and football without players getting suspended for long periods of time. That and they rarely occur. Hockey has always embraced fighting, and claimed to be the toughest and most rugged of the four main sports. If the NHL got rid of fighting, the NFL would then take over as the roughest sport of the four. Even if no fight occur in a game, just the sheer fact that “it could happen” keeps some people entranced waiting for it to happen.

Some negatives are that parents watching hockey and see fights might not want their children playing such a violent sport. Another reason is that it slows the game down, the NHL is trying to speed up games by cutting out time stopping or slowing rules. Another is the image, some people may not watch hockey because it encourages fights and doesn’t try to stop them. They may consider it “barbaric” or “not civilized”.

Furthermore, there is the offhand chance it could be to prevent injuries from occurring. If you punch someone in the face multiple times there is always a slight chance it could prove fatal. So far the NHL has been lucky and hasn’t had any deaths. I remember when Bertuzzi clipped a guy from behind and nearly killed/paralyzed him. It wasn’t a fight, it was a cheap shot, but because of the “let loose” realm of hockey, players think along the lines of “how can I really hurt my opponent”.

I think however, that despite all the negatives, the sport of hockey would lose a lot of fans if they cut out fighting. It is a much a part of hockey as peanuts are at a baseball game. Just look at how much popularity UFC has been gaining, Americans want more violence, not less. You cut out fights and hockey becomes as entertaining to an American as a soccer game.

It seems like all we see in the movie industry is sequels and remakes. If that is not the case then it was a book or comic strip. Are there no original ideas left in this world? Saw 5, High School Musical 3? Rocky Balboa (6th one in the series). When do you draw the line or cut em off? It seems as long as the sequels keep making money, the producers will keep at it. I know it’s no big news that movies are all about money in Hollywood. But we as movie goers need to stop supporting this drivel.

Look at Japan, they have original concepts and amazing imaginations. They think outside the box and actually use their brains. They still care about cinema as an art form. Sure there are some exploitative animes and B films, but they don’t have as many as America does. “The Ring” came from Japan, and was a refreshing revamp to the horror saga. Their horror films get inside your head, and you think about them long after you leave the theater. Whereas American films you forget about the second you walk into the parking lot.

I just wonder how much repetitions Americans can possibly take? Rambo 15? Saw 20? Scarily enough, these seem like real possibilities. You could eventually see those movie posters and not be dreaming. They saw that “Watchmen” won’t have a sequel. Ahh, but they never said it wouldn’t have a prequel, gotcha! They could do a story about the original watchmen. The producers and marketers never quit thinking how they can milk a movie concept for all it’s worth. Why did they need to remake “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” the original can not be outdone.

I recently gained another perspective when I went into a book store. Yes, books, they’re those things with paper pages that you look at. First off, I noticed tons of these best sellers had been made into movies or were about to. Secondly, I noticed when I left the store someone said “I don’t really read books anymore” that pretty much sums up American culture. Nobody reads anymore. Movies are never as good as the books. We can never fully match the amount of imagination in our minds using a movie to portray it. I love movies myself, but I realize how much our culture has shifted away from books and the imagination. Losing creativity and imagination is never good for a society that wants to progress.

Erika La Tour Eiffel, 37, a former soldier who lives in San Francisco has fallen in love with the Berlin Wall, a piece of fence, and her bow that helped her become a world class archer. You might say she has an object fetish. She has now decided to pledge to love honour and obey the Eiffel Tower. The marriage ceremony was attended by a handful of her closest friends. She even changed her last name to reflect this commitment of love.

She blames her upbringing for her condition. She claims to have been molested by her half-brother and abandoned by her parents to various foster homes.

“Someone who falls in love with objects can control that relationship on their own terms,” he said. “Their objects will not let them down. That is extremely attractive for a person who is otherwise often desperately lonely.” Says Jerry Brooker a New York State psychotherapist.

Brian Bosworth, infamous for the movie Stone Cold and his bust in the NFL was busted on DUI charges recently. Cops pulled over The Boz on Hollywood Blvd. for not having a license plate on his bike, but detected alcohol on his breath. He failed the breathalyzer and was arrested and taken into custody at about 3:00 AM. We’re told he was very cooperative. Boz was released with a $5,000 dollar bond.

There was an explosion in downtown Bozeman Montana on Thursday morning. The explosion leveled three buildings and the three block surrounding area had to be evacuated.

Reports indicate the explosion happened at about 8:15 a.m. in the 200 block of Main Street.

Crews were working to extinguish a fire caused by the explosion.

Boodles restaurant and bar were destroyed, KBZK-TV reported. A police dispatcher said the adjacent Rockin R bar was also destroyed. Police evacuated the two blocks surrounding the businesses, housed in brick buildings. The fire crews had trouble getting to the fires because there was a snow storm during the incident.

Jason Shrauger with the Gallatin County Disaster and Emergency Services said it was unknown what caused the explosion or if there were any injuries.

We all look forward to March Madness, whether its the office pool or some website’s chance at a million dollars with a near perfect bracket. We doubt that we will actually achieve a near perfect bracket but it’s an exciting roller coaster none the less.

There is also the drama of the Cinderellas and upset games, there is nothing like a kid hitting that buzzer beater to knock off the big school. College Football and Baseball got nothing on basketball, it is way more fastpaced and a better tournament. Everyone was clamoring for a playoff in football this year, but we know that will never happen. Too much money being passed around in the BCS.

There will be a lot of new comers that haven’t seen recent success like Clemson, Missouri, and Arizona State. There are also a lot of teams like Creighton and VCU who love upsetting the big dogs. Basketball is my favorite sport, and the NCAA Tournament is my favorite sporting event. It lasts longer than the SuperBowl. It plays at a much faster pace than the World Series or College World Series. Elimination tournaments are the best. You win, you keep going, you lose, bye bye. I’ve been doing brackets for over ten years now and you can never predict the first round, even when playing with 6 different brackets. Even if you do you have the second and sweet 16 which you couldn’t make it through flawlessly. I believe I predicting North Carolina winning it all a couple of years ago. That is one of the few years i predicted the winner from the beginning. But that was a pretty dominate team, with Felton and May. This year Uconn, UNC, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma all look powerful, who knows who’ll win it all? Maybe a Cinderella will steal the glory or maybe all the favorites will dominate like two years ago.

There is no set pattern for picking a winner, some people flip coins, some ask their little sister. Sometimes your wife could predict more right than you? We all get very superstitious around this time. We wear different shirts, avoid watching certain games. Shout stupid stuff when players attempt free throws. It’s absurd but it makes the whole thing even more fun and intense. We hang on every shot of some games, and hold our breathe in the final seconds. When March Madness comes and goes we’ll see who’s brackets are left standing, and whose brackets are in shambles. Like Forest Gump said “you never know what your going to get” and I like it that way.

This Friday I look forward to seeing “Watchmen”. There haven’t been many great movies so far this year, and I’m hoping this will be one of the year’s best. It has the CGI and great comic storyline to be right up there with Dark Knight. But will it be a let down? The critics in newspapers and media are cutting the film down, saying it is all wrapped in “misogyny” and won’t live up to the hype. Some fans of the comic that saw early previews loved it, others not so much. After watching trailers since last fall, I agree, there is definitely a lot of hype to live up to.

Zach Snyder and the crew used the Watchmen comic as their personal handbook and tried to make the best film possible. Many producers thought the movie was “unfilmable” because their are so many facets in the story with multiple characters each with their own storyline. How can you get attached when you are following six heroes? I’m hoping they can pull it off, Zach Snyder did an impeccable job with “300″ so I trust him to do the same with Watchmen. I’m sure he knows his career could be smudged with a giant flop as well as anyone else knows.

Rorschach is a hero who has ink blots that shift around on his mask. Very different from you quintessential hero, but I think it’s cool. Its hard to explain to non-comic enthusiasts what Watchmen is about and why it’s so cool. It is similar to Batman in that 5 of the 6 are heroes without superpowers, more the vigilante types. Rorschach is the one investigating the murder of his fellow hero, The Comedian, it could be a corporate or government agency hunting them down? Or a super villain? So the story is a mystery wrapped in an over-arching mystery.

There are many moral stories surrounding each character and Rorschach’s ink blot mask represents the black and white morality he believes in. Whereas many other’s believe in grey areas. So this film may be too morally complex for the average person who likes the Superman type characters. These heroes look out for the people, but no one watches over them. If this film flops it could hurt the comic-film industry as a whole. I like the Iron Man and Dark Knight films and hope they keep coming out with good ones, and not butcher my favorite comics like (Avengers), my fingers are crossed.