Thursday Night Open Thread

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Yeah, it’s May the fourth. They did that sill “May the Fourth Be With You” silliness at work. Really. Yeah, I watched the Star Wars movies when they came out. Loved the originals. Saw the first two movies (Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) several times each. Star Wars was the first movie I ever paid to see more than once in a theater. But this “May The Fourth” stuff? Not my cup of tea.

That’s just me, though. What about you? I’m not asking about Star Wars or silly “May The Fourth Be With You” nonsense — unless that’s what you want to talk about. I’m just asking what’s on your mind.

It’s Thursday Night Open Thread. The topic, the topics, are up to you.

Who wants to start?

19 Comments

  2. Luke and Obi-Wan walk into a Chinese restaurant. Ten minutes into the meal, Luke’s still having trouble with the chopsticks, dropping food everywhere. Obi-Wan finally snaps, “Use the forks, Luke.”

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  3. Star Wars (1977) is the first movie I can remember seeing twice in the theaters.

    It’s the first movie that I ever heard of being a goal or a badge of honor to see more than once.

    Animal House came out the next year, I think, and I think I went to that more than once.

    Serial (1980) I saw at least twice in the theaters. Many, many times since. Basil, if you’ve never seen it, please put this comedy on your list. A send-up of S.F. (Marin County) liberal groupthink, with a conservative protagonist (Martin Mull), still relatable today. Nothing’s changed.

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      • Disclaimer: I imagined that the Darth Vader theme played during Darth Vader’s appearance in the Star-Wars-Original-Movie-Or-Episode-Four-Or-Whatever-It’s-Bloody-called. I wouldn’t have gotten that wrong if I’d seen it nine times.

        I can see why you would see it nine times, though: a combination of the big screen mesmerizing effect and the uncertain cost at that time of ever obtaining a copy to view on your own TV.

        Also if you had a bird to snog in the back row, know what I mean, nudge, nudge? Say no more.

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    • Serial? Never heard of it. A search shows that Vito Russo wrote “the film is permeated with hatred for gays” and that it was “perfect anti-feminist, homophobic statement in to usher in the age of Ronald Reagan.” Sounds like a film for me.

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      • There is a flamboyant male hairdresser who is funny in a “La Cage Aux Folles” kind of way, but it’s not hatred.

        There’s a child who treats the idea of homosexuality with the same unthinking reaction that Bluto has towards the guitar on the stairway in Animal House, but that’s comedy. Animal House isn’t “permeated with hatred for music” because of that scene.

        And there is mocking of people who try to keep their gayness a secret. That’s not hatred either.

        And that’s all I remember.

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  6. News from flyover country: Our little hamlet of 22,000 people is about to be held hostage for the next 30 years by a 115 million dollar LOB (local option budget for schools). Cause the world ain’t crazy enough and it’s for the children.

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    • It’s ok, you can criticize Star Wars all you want.

      I was impressed by it because I was 11, and the bulk of the good feelings I still have for it are rooted in nostalgia.

      You are allowed to feel differently.

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      • My young nephew loved the prequels when they came out. He was a kid. I was an adult, and I hated them.

        The point is, that, like Harvey said, we can all have different feelings about them, regardless of why.

        Go ahead and trash any and all the films. We may mock you for your feelings, but it’s with love.

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