Well it's been a couple crazy weeks here in the Allie family. A few items of note:

"I'm so excited about Star Wars I have a rash!"

Yes, that's right, my poor allergic-to-everything body decided that the amoxycillin I had been taking for an upper respiratory infection, stuff I've used since I was a kid, was BAD NEWS! And, starting at my hands, I slowly got covered with a nasty, itchy rash! Of course, it didn't happen til 20 minutes before school, and the were no subs, so that was a mess. Anyway, I go to the doctor, get a cortisone shot, and she says to take Benadryl to control the itching. She told me to not go to work in case I had more reactions. Luckily, she didn't say to skip the movies! However, the rash got worse overnight and I had to get even more doped up to control it.

"Why Yoda is MY HERO!"

Ok, my expectations weren't THAT high for Episode II. The Phantom Menace was a bit of a chore to sit through even recently, and I was afraid Lucas was gonna screw everything up. However, by and large, Ep. II was quite well done, very exciting, and the scene with Yoda alone was worth the price of admission!

But...

It's sad the CGI Yoda acts better than the dude playing Anakin. He seemed to be trying awfully hard, and it came off like someone playing the lead in a high school play. I know that there couldn't be a harder role to play, after all, Vader is a cultural icon, right? Still, his acting was pretty bad, and even notorious in the love scenes. I realize we are supposed to think he is a jerk; after all, he DOES end up slicing his own son's hand off. I think, though, that if you took out the love scenes, the movie would be almost perfect. I found the romance to be contrived at best and silly at times. Anakin standing on some cow-looking alien to impress Amidala? OOOOOkay. Rolling around in the grass? Riiiight. I was reminded of the scene in Shrek where Shrek blows up the snake and ties it like a balloon. It was hokey, but cool in Shrek because it was for laughs, but in Star Wars? Eeeww. And the scene right before the arena battle where Amidala all of a sudden loves Anakin came practically out of nowhere. Go watch the scene in Empire where Leia tells Han "I love you" when he is being frozen. Now, THAT is a fantastic scene. And since the whole Anakin/Amidala relationship is the CORE of the Sar Wars story, I expected much more.

The new ranking of the saga is:

Empire > Attack of the Clones > Jedi > New Hope and Phantom Menace (tie)

"A Wedding, Dinosaurs, and the Best Steak I Ever Had!"

Last week, of course, was my brother's wedding. I was quite impressed with it, overall. The ceremony itself was shorter than our own wedding, which was about impossible I thought! It was also way too hot in the house they got married in, but it was really really nice otherwise. The highlight, though, was the dinner at Devito's in Eureka Springs. Oh man was that a great steak. New York Strip, baked potato, some broccoli I didn't eat, and a great, dark leaf lettuce salad with awesome parmesan dressing. I know my steak and this was one of the best I've had. Makes me hungry thinking about it!

We spent the night in Eureka Springs, and the next day, after breakfast with the newlyweds and my parents, we took a sidetrack and toured Dinosaur World. It's basically a little park and gift shop. You can drive through what is probably a couple miles of gravel road and look at probably 2 or 3 dozen plaster sculptures of dinosaurs. Some of the dinos were life sized, but not all. The highlights were the T-Rex, King Kong (with a woman in his grip!), and the Octopus in the lake. Maybe I will scan in some of the pictures soon. The boys both got little Godzilla toys at the gift shop, too, but Connor lets me play with his.

"6 hours and 45 minutes left of school!"

YES it's the last day! I am almost through at McGregor Elementary! It couldn't come any quicker, in my opinion. I will have all summer to find a new job, so that is a good thing. I've a second interview at Halfway, MO next week, for a 5th grade position. I am confident it will all work out in the end.

That's all the news for now, more to come soon!

Just a couple pre-Episode II ramblings.

Brandon and I are going to watch The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace this week to prep for Friday night. I picked these two out of the 4 for one reason only:

Awesome fights involving Jedi and Sith masters.

Let's face it, the fight betwen Obi-Wan and Vader in Ep. 4 leaves a lot to be desired. I am sure that the poor effects of the time was part of it, but it only makes sense that an old, retired Jedi who was out of practice would have little chance against a Sith Lord in full power anyway.

In Jedi, the whole father/son thing ruins the duel aspect. These two obviously cannot unleash their full strength on one another.

So why do I like Empire? Vader, plain and simple. He uses the force and his skills with the lightsaber to maximum effect. I still get chills when he starts force pushing objects at Luke. It's a demonstration of absolute skill and power.

The Battle of the Fates scene in Ep. 1 is the purest of them all. A full trained, deadly Sith vs. a Jedi Master and a powerful Apprentice. While I was a bit disappointed in the death of Darth Maul (and the non-development of his character) the action was impeccable. Astounding leaps, acrobatics, and the first 2 on 1 battle in a Star Wars movie. Plus, the novelty of Darth Maul's double bladed lightsaber was a nice touch. This fight is easily the best of the Star Wars franchise, and perhaps the ebst in ANY movie.

Let's see what Lucas cooks up in Episode II!

I apologize for the lack of updates. I hope to get at least a weekly update from now on so you know what we are up to. It has been a crazy busy time here at the Allie house.

This past Tuesday, I had my most recent of 3 interviews for positions in surrounding school districts. Let's just say that they aren't exactly beating down my door to hire me. I'm going to start looking for alternatives soon; my teaching career might be finished.

However, Spider-man kicked BOOTAY so I really can't feel that bad hehe. Spidey has always been one of my favorites, and this movie actually did him right. It was 99.9% true to the comics. I'm always disappointed when a movie based on a comic changes things (Batman using a gun? The Punisher with no costume? David Banner, not Bruce Banner, in the Hulk TV show?), so it was a real treat to see the classic stories on the big screen. I get all choked up when I remember how cool it was seeing it with my boys. ;)

A few people I have talked to seemed to think it was way too slow for a good action flick. That may be the case, but when you look at it as the start of a franchise of movies, I'm glad they took the time for good character development. Pretty much every comic book fan seems to love the movie; lamers who didn't read comics as kids find it merely adequate.

The Hulk, Daredevil, and X-Men 2 are all in production. It's nice to see what was once seen as a "geeky" medium (ok ok comics are a bit geeky... ok, a LOT geeky even) get great treatment in the mainstream media.

Plans for this weekend include watching all the Star Wars movies to prepare for Episode 2 next week. I just hope it's as good as Spider-man.

Movies to look out for this summer: Men in Black 2, Reign of Fire, xXx, and then the new Bond movie in the fall.

Next update, sooner than the last. Later!