You gotta be kidding me...

I just read this off a wrestling website today and it just annoys me to no end:

-"As we noted yesterday, the ECW DVD features tons of edits including that of The Dudley Boyz and Sandman's introductions. The Sandman's 'Enter Sandman' theme is a generic version and to make matters worse, the crowd noise is muted. There is also no cussing on the DVD until the end where you can hear Sandman say "EC F**king W" clear as day. That's interesting because on the live broadcast of the show, that was edited out. The DVD is listed as TV-14."

That just REALLY freakin sucks. I mean I guess I'm not too surprised at the Sandman thing, b/c I was surprised they even used "Enter Sandman" in the first place but still, they used it so they should just pay Metallica the royalities and be done with it.

Also, it mentions the crowd noise is muted. I don't know if they mean just for the part of us singing along to "Enter Sandman" or for the ENTIRE show. Cuz if it's for the entire show I'm gonna be super pissed. That was one of the things I was really looking forward to seeing/hearing b/c we in the crowd came up with some fun and evil chants.

And I heard a few other things are edited out, and for some reason they added an alternate commentary by JBL of him constantly bashing ECW- What the HELL?!?!?

I had ordered the DVD at Bestbuy and I'm gonna go pick it up from the store later today and watch through it the first chance I get, so I'll report back on how much they screwed around with it.

But just hearing about all these changes is making me want to get my hands on a copy of the original broadcast. Is there ANYONE out there who has the PPV on Tape? Or know of a site I could download the original (cuz I'm sure copies of the DVD will surface online soon and I don't want that version since I will already have it)? If anyone could help me out that would be awesome.

But yeah, here's hoping they didn't mess around with the DVD too much. Trust me, I WILL be back on here to bitch soon if they did.

Bombs Away!

Ok, did anyone else see that Yankee game last night???

I actually almost missed all of it. I had a lot of stuff to catch up with on my DVR so I was watching that but I had the game on my laptop using MLB Gameday (which is a play by play thing available on the MLB website).

But the Devil Rays jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. Then it was 7-2, then 10-2. At that point, I was actually chating with Sheila online and bitching about the Yanks inconsistancy. I then decided to change the Gameday over to the Marlins-Braves game. However, they have the scores for the other games on the top of the screen.

So I kept watching TV, but kept making a few glances over to the laptop to keep tabs on the games. Florida wound up getting their asses beaten but i noticed that the Yanks had slowly began closing the gap, first at 10-5, then 10-7. But then Tampa tacked on another run and I saw it as 11-7 and at that point my attention drifted mainly to just the TV for awhile.

Well after some time I glance back over and i see that the game is now 11-9, I look away again for a few moments (b/c my show wasn't in commercial yet) and before I know it, the score was 15-11. I was like "Holy crap!"

I wanted to flip to the game, but I'm anal about pausing a show to switch to something else mid-show (unless it's a commercial), so I waited til the commercials came, but during that time I noticed the score jump to 18-11.

I was finally able to flip over to the YES Network to see Matsui hit that liner homerun to the black seats to make the score 20-11. It was just insane!

I scrambled back to the Gameday thing on my computer and just read through all the hits and homeruns to see exactly how everything happened. It was just amazing.

The bottom of the 8th inning wound up lasting 35 mins 20 seconds and in that time the Yanks had 16 men up to bat, and got 12 hits for 13 runs. They also tied a team record for 4 homeruns in one inning.

Like I said, it was just amazing. I called Ariana immediately and started telling her the great news. She missed everything, so I just read everything to her off Gameday. I then decided to record the replay of the game so I could actually SEE everything, and so could she. I was gonna wait to watch it on the weekend when she came over, but I couldn't wait and watched most of it this morning. But I'll gladly go through it again with her, b/c it was just too cool.

So yeah, it kinda sucked that Randy Johnson had a terrible outting getting tacked for 7 runs in only three innings and getting pulled out early, but man, did the Yankees put on a hell of a show in the 8th. I just wonder how many people who were at the game are kicking themselves if they left early thinking the Yankees didn't have a chance. Must suck to be them.

But now, i'm pretty psyched for the Yanks. Hopefully their bats will stay this hot and I also hope that their pitching lives up to what it should be and becomes more consistant. If that happens, then hey we will have one hell of a race in the AL East. And major competition like that is just good for baseball.

****

In other "bombshell" news, yesterday I corresponded with Rachael by e-mail (it had been over a month since we last talked) and she gave me the awesome news that she heard that the Smashing Pumpkins are getting back together!!!

I was skeptical at first, b/c I had actually JUST read in a magazine this weekend how Billy Corgan had been badmouthing some of his ex-bandmates, especially D'Arcy and James Iha, in radio and on his website. So I had actually gotten kinda upset and was thinking "Oh well, there goes my hopes of a Pumpkins reunion, and finally getting to see them in concert."

But Rachael told me that Corgan released a statement along with the release of his new solo album yesterday, saying that he wanted to get the Pumpkins back together.

So it isn't "official" yet, so I'm gonna try not to get my hopes up TOO high. But if it actually does happen, you will see my grinning from ear to ear for quite some time, especially if i FINALLY get to see them live in concert.

::crosses fingers::

It's finally time...

I just got a letter in the mail last night from my lawyer giving me a date and place to meet for Arbitration for my case (the whole car accident/ back injury thing). It only took a little over 2 years, which from what I've heard is pretty fast considering these things could take as long as 5-6 years. So I'm hoping this is good news.

So yeah, July 5th I go in and we see what happens. I'm praying that it just gets settled and we don't have to go to court, b/c that would really suck. But I'm not gonna just settle for any small amount. My back is freakin messed up for the rest of my life, so hopefully the judge, or whoever is presiding over this thing sees the situation I'm in and we get a good amount.

Not trying to be greedy, but I mean I DO need to go to physical therapy every other week, and my back bothers at least a little (if not pretty bad) every single morning. So I don't think i'm out of line for thinking I deserve a pretty decent compensation for my condition. Especially considering it's ENTIRELY the other driver's fault (not to mention it was a hit & run).

So yeah, if everyone could please say a prayer for me that this all goes well, it'd be greatly appreciated. I'll pass along any pertinent info as it comes along.

A Sad comment on our society

I had completely forgotten to mention something me and Ariana saw yesterday that was both hysterical yet kinda sad.

We were in CVS looking for a last second Father's Day card for my mom's husband (cuz even though he's not my dad he is A dad, so we just wanted to be nice). So we were searching through the categories like "To Dad" "To Grandpa" "To Daddy from Child" etc while looking for the "Step Dad" or "For Any Dad" section and we came across:

"To the Father of my Child(ren)"

To which Ariana bursted out "they got 'Baby daddy' cards!" Which just got me busting out laughing. What made it even funnier was it was one of those fancy ones in script but it had a picture of a black man on it too. It was just so wrong in so many ways. I almost couldn't believe it. Leave it to a card shop in the Bronx to have "Baby Daddy" cards.

It's just such a sad commentary on our society though. It's become so commonplace that cards are being made for people in that situation, AND it's considered acceptable? It kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But it was still funny regardless. Does that make me a bad person? I hope not b/c there were lots of people around when we saw the card and commented on it and dammit, I still laughed. Oh well...

Or Maybe not...

Remember when I mentioned a few posts ago, that now with a lot of shows and stuff ending I could have my life back and actually get to play a lot of the video games I've been meaning to?

Well things haven't exactly worked out as planned. First off, even though a lot of shows ended, I have gotten caught up in a few new shows- like some anime on Cartoon Network such as Samurai Champloo, Full Metal Alchemist, and now they just started airing the uncut, unedited episodes of DragonBall Z from the beginning. Not to mention that ABC has started to re-air Lost from the 1st episode. I had missed the entire season but I heard so many good things about it I started to record it.

So add that also to the fact that I've been pretty busy the last few weekends and thus haven't been able to catch up, I've got like almost 40 shows I need to go through on my DVR... so yeah it might be a few weeks before I can get down to some serious gaming. Oh well...

****

Picked up the new Foo Fighters CD on Tuesday. It's a double CD and only cost $9.99 at Bestbuy, so that was pretty cool. The first CD is the hard rock stuff while the second is all acoustic. I've gone through both a handful of times and I like them. It's not as good as Colour & The Shape or One by One, but it's good. And for that price you can't go wrong. So if you're a fan of the Foo, you should pick it up.

****

Went to the Yankees vs Pirates game on Wed. It was the one where the Yanks came back to win 7-5 in extra innings. It was a really cool game to have gone to b/c the whole crowd was really into it. It also put the Yankees back to .500 (and since then they have gone on a 6 game winning streak, yay!) So I'm happy about that.

Another cool thing about the game, was that I got there early, so I went around the stadium looking for all my old co-workers. I ran into a few of them, and they were all happy to see me. Some of them even offered me free food and drinks and stuff, which was cool. It was also nice to see how appreciated I was b/c almost all of them said the same things about me all like "Oh, how come u didn't come back?? We miss you, the new guys they hired aren't as nice as u were. They can't count for crap either. Are u gonna come back? etc:" So that made me feel pretty good. I doubt I'd go back b/c it's a lot to deal with but it's nice to be missed.

****

Thursday Night I went with Ariana, Henry, Maryellen, Athena and her sister to go see Batman Begins at New Roc.

When I had first heard about the new Batman movie a long time ago, I wasn't really very psyched for it. Don't get me wrong, i was happy they picked Christian Bale to be Batman, and I was definitely planning to see it but other than that it was just kinda "ehh."

But then this past week I kept hearing all these excellent reviews on the movie- all like "greatest comic book movie EVER!" "Heads above the previous Batman films!" (although granted that last one wouldn't be too hard to do) and just tons of other great things said about it. So then I started to get psyched all like "Ok, now I gotta see this..."

I was planning on seeing it on Saturday but then I checked Fandango and oddly enough there were only 4 showings (not counting the IMAX version but still, that ain't much). So i didn't wanna deal with the weekend crowd for that. So we joined Henry and his crew for the movie on Thursday.

So did the movie stand up to all the reviews?

Kinda.

I thought the movie was definitely good, and without a DOUBT the best Batman movie ever made (Live action at least- cuz Mask of the Phantasm was a pretty sweet Batman movie). But as I said before, that in itself isn't saying much b/c ALL of the previous Batman movies kinda sucked INCLUDING the first 2 Michael Keaton ones. I know people seemed to love those movies for whatever reason, but I wasn't feeling them. And the less said about Joel Shumacher's last two abominations, the better.

But don't get me wrong, the movie was cool, but I just don't see what all the hoopla was about. Granted I only had two complaints about the movie. One I won't mention here b/c it might spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it but I can at least say it pertains to the main villaiin of the movie. And second was that, they didn't fix my initial complaint about the fight scenes. All the fights still sucked. I can't STAND that jerky camera motion and massive editing to piece the fights together. Granted I understand it would prob be kinda hard for any person to really move around and fight in that costume but still, it just really bothers me.

Other than that though, still not much to complain about. They kept the movie VERY true to the comic book. They even put in a little bit of humor, but nothing campy. They also explained everything very well. This movie really made the audience understand why Bruce Wayne became Batman, and even though this IS just a comic book, it was made as realistic as possible so the audience could really identify with him. So props to them for that.

So yeah, while nothing was truly "wrong" with the movie- it still wasn't this grand masterpiece people were making it sound. Both the X-Men movies still reign as the greatest comic book movies ever, and hell to some people (like me), this might not even crack their top 5. (Cuz I still like Punisher, Sin City and Spider-Man 1 & 2 better).

But then again I'm a picky comic book geek with distinct tastes, so don't let my opinion get to you. If you're a fan of Batman- go see the movie- it's definitely the best BATMAN movie you'll ever see. I'd hold off on thinking movie of the year though. But go, have fun. It's good stuff, just don't let those amazing reviews get your hopes up, like it did mine and then be disappointed.

****

Friday was a VERY long day for me. I had to get up by 5am to be at Fordham by 6:30am so I could pick up my co-workers and then drive up the middle school so we could get them all on the bus for the field trip we were gonna have to the Aquarium up in Mystic, Connecticut.

The bus had a DVD player so I brought the Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Shrek 2 for them all to watch on the ride there and back (and we actually got through them all). The Aquarium itself was also a lot of fun. I had never been there before, so I had just about as good a time as the kids going around seeing all the interesting things they had around.

The only bad part about the trip was that we hit MAJOR traffic, especially on the way back to NY. It was nearly a 3 hour ride back, so even though we had the movies to entertain us, it was just killing my back to be sitting that long, and also despite the movies, the kids were getting restless near the end. It also sucked b/c I was supposed to meet Steve P by 6:30 since he had my ticket to the Judas Priest show and he was also my ride out to Jones Beach.

Luckily, Steve wasn't in any kind of a rush, so even though I showed up a few minutes late things turned out ok.

And thank god, the ride out to Jones Beach wasn't too bad, b/c I wasn't looking forward to being stuck in more traffic. It went pretty quick, so that was good.

As for the show itself- we wound up having AWESOME seats. We were in the upper section, but towards the front of it, and we were DEAD CENTER. So that was sweet. Then Priest just went on and kicked ass as usual. I would even say, some of their songs came out better than they did at Mohegan (at least i think Exciter did). So yeah, I'd still rank the Saturday show at Mohegan a little higher and I prob would have enjoyed it even more if I just wasn't so dead tired but it was still a great show.

****

I was also happy to find out that night that System of a Down will be coming around in concert sometime in August. So I'm pretty psyched for that.

Also, speaking of concerts- I was FINALLY able to score tix for Ariana for a Marc Anthony show. He'll be at MSG with Alejandro Fernandez and Chayanne (who Ariana also really likes) in September and even though I don't know much by any of those artists, I'm just glad I was able to get tix b/c I just really wanted to treat Ariana to something nice and she's very excited.

It'll just be a very busy concert week for us, as a few days earlier (Sept 1st) we have Green Day & Jimmy Eat world over at Giants Stadium, and then the night AFTER the Marc Anthony show we return to MSG for the Coldplay show. So yeah it'll be crazy but should be a lot of fun.

****

And finally (as far as I can think of at the moment), I wound up joining the WWE Fantasy League. It's basically like Fantasy baseball but just with wrestling where you have a budget and you draft wrestlers and get points depending on what they do. It was free this time around, and Charles and a few of his buddies (who I also know) are doing it and encouraged me to join their league so I figured "why the hell not?" I'm actually a week behind (I joined too late to participate for week 1 last week) but I'm set up for this week, and with my extensive wrestling knowledge and knack for figuring out what the hell the WWE is gonna do, I should be able to catch up pretty well.

So wish me luck!

"Priest! Priest!"/ "ECW! ECW!"

This sure was one hell of a weekend. I went to two very big shows, that I had been looking forward to quite a bit.

The first was on Saturday when me, Ariana, Alan and Steve P. went up to the Mohegan Sun Casino for the Judas Priest concert. We wound up getting to the Casino with plenty of time to kill before the show, so we went around and gambled a little bit (I only spent about $30 this time b/c I know I suck at gambling, and of course I lost everything). Ariana only lost about $5 total, and Steve was the only one to make a profit (a whole SIX dollars! lol).

After wasting our money, we decided to eat at Bubba's BBQ (the same place we ate last time). The food was pretty good once again. And after that, we were off to the show.

Queensryche was the opening band. Believe it or not I don't really know any of their stuff. I've heard OF them and I also know that "Operation Mindcrime" is their best known album, but I honestly didn't remember anything off it (as I prob only heard through it once back when I was at Fordham). They wound up being decent though. The sound could have been a little better but they were solid.

Then Judas Priest hit the stage and proceded to kick ass. This show was almost as good as the last time we saw them here (which was quite a feat b/c if u remember I ranked that among the top 5 shows I've EVER seen). The only reason it wasn't just as good was they played 2 songs I didn't know too well, plus they omitted playing the Sentinel and the Green Manaleshi. They did play Exciter though, which was very cool. And once again Rob Halford did an AMAZING job with "Victim of Changes." Oh also, this show was just a tiny bit longer than the previous one, lasting just under two straight hours. So yeah, all in all it was a very kick ass show.

****

The next day was even more crazyiness. I didn't get a chance to rest b/c in the morning I went to church, then to a Retirement party for Ariana's old boss from her church (which was nice and we scored free food there, heh), and then we headed downtown for the Main event of the weekend as we met up with Henry & Maryellen for the ECW- One Night Stand PPV at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Despite the outrageous ticket prices for the show, it seems the old ECW faithful turned out in full force. As we walked toward the end of the line to get in it, we saw tons of people either dressed up as wrestler's, carrying title belts, or breaking out the old ECW shirts from like 4-8 years ago, lol. I was part of the latter, heh.

Speaking of t-shirts though, Henry & Maryellen decided to create their own LWO (Latino World Order) shirts, which came out pretty cool. I know Henry had mentioned for the longest that he always wanted one of those, so I found it amusing when I showed up to the line and they had those suckers on. But as I said, they came out pretty good and it actually wound up being the perfect weekend to wear them, as it was the weekend of the Puerto Rican day parade, heh.

Our seats in Hammerstein were decent. Not the best (due to a pillar that could block your view depending on what angle u looked down at everything and also since we were kinda high it was hard to see one of the corners outside the ring, but thankfully the wrestlers did not go there very much). Also for some reason they put the large screen TV VERY high up and since we were on one of the balcony's (but not the very top) the roof blocked our view of the screen. So anytime we wanted to see the screen we'd have to duck sideways almost under our seats. So that was kind of annoying, but in the end was only a minor gripe.

But yeah, as for the show itself- it was probably one of, if not the best wrestling show I've ever been to. Even better than Wrestlemania 20 (with the exception of the coolness of me being there to see Benoit win the World title). But from top to bottom the whole card was solid. Every match was good. Some were a little shorter than I would have liked, but they were really cool for while they lasted.

The card wound up looking like this:
-Lance Storm defeated Chris Jericho thanks to outside interference by Justin Credible (making a one night reformation of the Impact Players)
-Super Crazy def. Tajiri and Little Guido (Nunzio) in an Elimination Style 3 way dance. It was cool b/c Tajiri came out with Mikey Whipwreck and the Sinister Minister and Little Guido came out with the ENTIRE FBI (Full Blooded Italians)- including JT Smith and Tracy Smothers.
-Rey Mysterio def. Psicosis in an extreme lucha libre style match. The match was cool, if also criminally short, especially for how these two can go. But I'll chalk that up to the fact that Mysterio was working with a leg injury.
-The Raw and SD "crusaders" came out and started talking trash. It was great b/c the entire time that JBL tried to talk the entire audience chanted "Shut the F**K UP! ::clap clap clapclapclap::" Then RVD came out for a "shoot" promo that was pretty cool, and that transitioned right into-
-Sabu def. Rhyno- pretty decent match especially considering that Sabu was taped up all over b/c on Friday night he had just went through an insane Barbed wire match. The finish to this match was pretty sweet with Sabu crashing down on Rhyno through a table with a chair to his head..
-Chris Benoit def. Eddie Guerrero- the crowd was really into this match and hell who could blame them. Sadly this match was also kinda short (prob around the 11 minute mark) so they couldn't go as nuts as everyone knew they could. So I'm sure many people would say the match was a disappointment, but hey it wasn't their fault, and hell, it WAS cool while it lasted.
-Mike Awesome def. Masato Tanaka- this match was a later addition to the card (I believe it was only added like 2 days before the show). And thank god it was b/c believe it or not this match absolutely STOLE the show. These two guys put on one hell of an entertaining match. They smashed each other constantly with chairs, each guy got put through tables multiple times and it was just stiff and brutal as all hell. Towards the end of the match they had the whole audience chanting "THIS MATCH RULES!!"
-Paul Heyman came out for a promo and ripped into Eric Bischoff, Edge and especially JBL. Line of the night was directed to JBL when he said "if you wanna shoot, then how about this? The ONLY reason you were champion of SD for over 10 months was b/c Triple H didn't want to work Tuesdays!"- (BURN!!)
-The Dudley Boyz def. Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman- the whole night the WWE wrestlers were coming out to their WWE entrance music and the other guys were coming out to either new stuff or variations of their old themes (b/c when WWE bought out ECW they did not pick up their licenses to use all the real music the wrestlers used- which explains why you don't hear the theme music in the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD). So when Tommy Dreamer entered to a rip off of Alice & Chains "Man in a Box" I was just thinking "oh crud, it's not gonna be the same for the Sandman to not come out to Metallica's "Enter Sandman." But thank god WWE decided to shell out a few extra bucks b/c as soon as they announced the Sandman, we all heard the opening notes to "Enter Sandman" and the crowd went INSANE. As for the match itself, it didn't get underway right away, as there was tons of interference by the BWO, Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney, Kid Kash and more. But after they were all cleared away, the match was typical insane brawling between the 4 men which ended when the Dudley's Powerbombed Dreamer through a FLAMING table. So that was pretty sick.
-Then the show came to an end with Steve Austin coming out and challenging the Raw and SD crusaders to come to the ring and fight all the ECW guys. They did, and it was just a HUGE 30-40 man brawl. It was crazy and lots of fun to see. It ended with the WWE guys getting beat and then Mick Foley dragging Eric Bishoff to the ring and having a bunch of the wrestlers do their finishers on him. A fun end to a great show, where the last scene was Tommy Dreamer in the ring alone thanking everyone in the crowd for their support.

-I know I've neglected to mention many things that happened during the show (like wrestler run-ins and appearances) but this isn't a wrestling recap column. For that- head over to OnlineOnslaught.com or something, heh.

-But yeah I'd also be remiss to not mention how AWESOME the crowd was that night. We were all truly in our old form. Cursing out certain wrestlers "F**K You Bischoff!" "SHUT THE F**K UP!!"(to JBL) "She's got Herpes!" (to Lita) "SIT THE F**K DOWN!" (to anyone in front of us who stood and blocked our view) Singing "Angle takes it up the ass, doo-da, doo-da! Angle takes it up the ass all the doo-da day!" Chanting "We Can't See Shit!" from the balcony when the wrestlers went out of view from us (and which the wrestlers actually listened to us and moved more to the center when we did that, which was cool) plus PLENTY more. The crowd was just INTO it and it was great to see and be a part of. It was also fun to introduce both Ariana and Maryellen to it, since they never watched ECW back in the day, let alone have been to an ECW show. And that's what made this cool- it was as close to an ECW show as we could have imagined. Yeah there were some small WWE influences but for the most part- pure ECW. And hell not just pure ECW, but kind of a dream ECW show, b/c they actually got to talk trash right to their "enemies" faces and even beat up the Raw and SD guys. So yeah it was just awesome and well worth the money spent. If they decide to make this an annual thing, I would totally go again and I think so would many other people, cuz all I've read and heard are rave reviews about the show as a whole. So yeah props to them. And a final big Thank You to Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon for making that night possible.

"E-C-W! E-C-W!"

Videos and stuff I promised

I'm back quickly to post the stuff I said I would before. But before I do that I have to share a quote from Ariana that came from an argument over an answer to a question in Scattergories (which we played last weekened at Patty & Joe's party). The question asked to name an athlete starting with the letter F and Ariana used a wrestler's name. The answer was challenged b/c everyone said that wrestler's don't count as athletes (now, I could go into a HUGE debate right now over this but I won't). So one of the things Ariana said in defense of her answer was:

"Anybody who uses their body to make money is an athlete."

This of course illicited a response of pure laughter from everyone in the room. It took Ariana a moment to realize exactly what she said too, which made it even more funny. Once again, I must say that I love it when she's so naive for some things, hehe.

****

-Another funny quote I heard over the weekend was from a television show. American Dad made me laugh for the first time this weekend when in a segment where the Dad (I don't even remember his name) was in a simulator where he had to conquer Iraq. He did so with ease and used a clever catchphrase while doing so. But then he was told another officer did the course faster and had a better catchphrase which was:

"Lucy you got some 'splodin to do!" In full Ricky Ricardo voice as he pulled the pin from a grenade and talked to it before chucking it at the enemy base.

I dunno, I found it amusing...

****

Now finally for the links to websites I promised. The first one was sent by Marisa. It's a site making fun of the whole Katie Holmes- Tom Cruise "relationship." It's worth a look just for the funny pictures they have posted.

The second site was sent by Joe V. It's a link to a video of Triumph the insult comic dog talking to people waiting to see the Star Wars movie outside of the Ziegfeld Theater in NY. You all HAVE to check this video out. It's ten minutes of pure hilarity. Seriously, it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Triumph brutalizes those poor nerds. It's classic stuff. You can check the video out right here.

And finally, the last video is also Star Wars related and it was sent to me by Greg. It's not as funny as the Triumph video, but it's amusing. Basically, some guys who must work at a Grocery store had just WAAAAY too much time on their hands. Check it out here to see what I'm talking about.

I had forgotten to mention...

I went ahead of myself the last post or two. I did do a few small things on the last weekend in May.

First off, on that Saturday I went with my family (Ariana, my mom, her husband and my uncle) to go see Star Wars- Episode III for the 3rd time, but this time it was on the IMAX screen over at New Roc. So that was pretty cool. That will be the last time I see it in the theaters though, but that's fine, b/c how am I gonna top seeing it in digital and then IMAX?

Then the next day we celebrated Memorial Day a little early. A group of us were supposed to hang out on Memorial Day itself, but with weather reports being all wacky, Patty & Joe just decided to hold a small gathering at their place. We had an "indoor BBQ" complete with burgers and hotdogs, Henry brought his special Rice Krispie Treats, and Joe got about half of us drunk (sadly I could not participate in that area since I was driving but I had a few sips of the concoctions he made, and they were pretty good).

Then we decided to play some Texas Hold Em Poker with a $5 buy in (there were six of us altogether). It was cool, b/c I did surprisingly well (last time we played I didn't do too great). Ariana lost her money and had to buy back in, but then she made a comeback and in the end both me and her wound up wiping out the table and claiming all the cash between us. I think we were about as shocked as anyone by that outcome but that was pretty cool. We just gotta be careful the next time we play there b/c we will so totally be the targets, heh.

****

As for this past weekend, it was pretty cool overall (except for the very beginning but that was minor). What I'm referring to is that on Friday night I was going with Ariana, my mom's husband and my Grandfather to Shea Stadium to see the Mets vs Giants. It took us about an hour and a half train ride to get there, we waited around an hour in the seats and then the game got called due to rain before it even began.

So that was pretty annoying b/c in the end we wasted nearly three hours in a round trip on a train out to Queens for nothing. Plus we weren't gonna be able to attend the the actual make up game, so now we are gonna have to exchange those tix for another game some point down the line. Oh well... at least maybe we'll get to go to a Marlins game or something instead. That would be cool.

-Things picked up the next day though, as it wound up being an absolute beautiful day outside. That made it a PERFECT day for a concert in the park- which is exactly what we did as we headed to the Central Park Summerstage to see The Killers.

I had never been to the Summerstage before, so i didn't know what to expect. In my mind I was picturing possible insanity along the lines of the Dave Matthews Band show on the Great Lawn the other year. Thankfully this was NOTHING like that. The area set up for the show was not very big, but not too small and cluttered either. We lucked out b/c there were actually bleachers in the back for people to sit (or stand) on if they didn't want to be right in the front with the rest of the General Admission audience. We decided to go there b/c first off, it wasn't very far back at all b/c the GA area was more wide than long. Plus since we sat in the bleachers, Ariana was able to see the entire show perfectly, which I was glad about, b/c I always feel so bad for her when we go to big GA shows since she is small and there always happens to be tall people right in front of us.

The show itself was also really good. It was short (about an hour) but that's b/c they only have one album. They played just about the entire album, plus about 3 extra songs (2 old and one brand new one), so I pretty much couldn't have asked for more from the show. Big Thumbs up on the show which was only enhanced by the great weather. Then after the show we took a stroll over to Broadway and grabbed some hot dogs over at Grey's Papaya. Now that is a great way to end a big outdoors day, heh.

-Oh I also forgot to mention that, that morning I was able to score tix to go see Coldplay at MSG on Sept 6th. It wasn't easy though. Ticketmaster was acting up big time that morning. First off, I was trying to get 6 tix, but sadly I found out there was only a 4 ticket limit. So I was on both my mom's computer and my laptop trying to score a combination of tix. But as I said, TM was not cooperating with me that morning. The site was SERIOUSLY lagging, which I guess was b/c there were like 5 Coldplay shows in the Metro Area alone that were onsale that morning, not to mention a few other big events. So yeah, it was a big pain. At least I was about to get tix, but sadly it was only 4 and I wasn't able to get them all together. I landed two pairs, but they are only one section apart so I guess that's not too bad. But hey, it's better than nothing b/c I would like to see them again, and Ariana never has, so she really wanted to go. So I'm glad it worked out one way or another.

-The weekend fun continued on Sunday morning when me and Ariana met up with Pat Butler at Ariana's church. We went with him and Ariana's godmother- Rosie- to the diner nearby and then to Rosie's place to chill. I hadn't seen the guy in over a year so it was good to catch up.

-Then after that, me and Ariana headed to my grandparents where they wound up making my favorite dinner (Chicken Cutlets with Rice-a-roni, yum...).

-and the night was not yet done as following that me and Ariana headed out to City Island for my buddy Matt's Law School Graduation party. Now I wasn't planning on eating as I just had two decent sized meals earlier in the day and I AM trying to maintain a diet, but the food there was just TOO tempting and delicious- especially the Pene Vodka... ::drools::

So as a whole, the party was really fun. I got to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen in awhile, so it was good times.

-Then when I finally got home for the night I was greeted with two big surprises (well kinda). First off, my sister returned from visiting her boyfriend out in Pittsburgh that weekend, and brought back for me a copy of Star Wars- Revenge of the Sith on DVD. This wasn't just any bootleg copy though. This was like an official reel of the movie- the quality is EXCELLENT, with the exception of a slightly annoying constant blur about 2/8ths from the top of the screen. [Turns out the blurring is of the serial numbers of the reel or something, which was done to protect the identity of the person who leaked this official copy]. The copy even worked on my PS2, which was a bit of a surprise, so that was very cool.

But I did say there were two surprises. The other I knew was just a matter of time and when I heard my mom scream (happily) and call the family over to Jenny's room it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize why we were called in. Turns out that on Saturday night my sister's boyfriend (his name is Robbie) asked her to marry him and she accepted, so they are now officially engaged.

I kinda think it's a little fast, but they said they aren't gonna rush things with the wedding (it'll probably be a year or more away) so that is good. But in the end, I'm very happy for Jenny b/c everyone in the family actually likes this guy. He's an extreme improvement over pretty much all of her previous boyfriends. He's kinda nerdy (the two of them actually met through some video game website b/c he's one of those guys who writes those huge strategy guides for RPGs and stuff) but he's very nice and treats her right. Plus the dude gave me a copy of freakin Star Wars on DVD (way to buy your way into the family man! lol). So Congratulations to her.

-I did just have to laugh over one thing though. All my life my mom and sister would tell me that I'm a pretty impatient person. And I guess to some degree I am (at least for certain things). But then both of them go and meet a guy and just months later get engaged. Who's the impatient one now?? I hold no ill will though. It's a little surprising to me that despite the fact I'm the one in the family with the longest lasting relationship I'll probably be the last one to get married but that's ok, b/c I plan to make everything special and do what I need to when the time is right. Plus I'm saving money b/c when I move out it's gonna be to a house, not an apartment. So even though it might take me longer, I'm gonna be sure that we are in a great position. The quickest doesn't always win the race. But yeah, I just found that amusing.

****

Picked up 2 new CD's yesterday- Coldplay- X&Y and Black Eyed Peas- Monkey Business. I just got through listening to the Coldplay CD (and actually heard a good chunk of it last night on MTV2 where they had an hour long live concert of them playing most of the new album). And am about halfway through the BEP CD. It'll take a few more listens before I can give an official opinion, but I'm liking them so far.

****

Baseball stuff-

I haven't talked about baseball in a few posts b/c well... there isn't too much for me to talk about b/c my two teams aren't doing all too great, especially this past week. However, last night was a step in the right direction for both teams. The Yankees finally put a spanking on a team they SHOULD beat by crushing the Brewers 12-3. The game also included a history making event when A-Rod hit his 400th career homer- making him the youngest player to ever reach that plateau. So that was cool, but I just hope they can keep it up over the weekend b/c they are about to face the tough St. Louis Cardinals. The Marlins also did well last night by salvaging their series against Seattle with a win. It was also the 10th win for Dontrelle Willis, making him the first Major League pitcher to 10 wins this year. Once again, I hope the winning keeps up for the Marlins b/c right now they are in last place in the NL Beast (although they ARE above .500 and only two and a half games back).

The NL (B)east is just insane this year. Right now Washington of all teams is in first and all the teams in the division are over .500. It's gonna be a TIGHT race for first this year, which I find very exciting. I hope it stays like this for the rest of the year, but that is doubtful... at least one or two of those teams has got to slip sooner or later. I just hope it's not the Marlins... although right now I'll just flat out say I hope that ANY team in that division wins it other than the freakin Atlanta Braves.

But yeah, that's all I got on the baseball front for now. Talk to me again next week if both my teams are still over .500, lol.

****

I had a few links to some funny videos and stuff I was gonna share, but I'm at work on the Mac and we all know how those suck. So I'll have to post them later on. So check back later, maybe I'll have them up this afternoon.

It's not all bad...

I hate leaving my last post on such a downer. Especially b/c for this weekend (and the next) there are some exciting things coming up in my life.

First off, tonight I'm going with Ariana, my grandfather and my mom's husband to see the Mets vs Giants. It was originally so they could all see Barry Bonds, but obviously that's not gonna happen now. It should still be a good time though. I also know my buddy Steve is going so maybe we'll run into him.

Then tomorrow, me and Ariana are going to see the Killers at the Central Park Summerstage. I've never been to the Summerstage so I don't know how it works. I hope it's not like the Dave Matthews Band show last year b/c that was just insanity and we had to get there so early for good spots. But that aside, I'm very excited for this show... it's rare nowadays to go see a band I've never seen before, lol.

Oh and before I forget I'd like to give my best wishes to Athena and her fiancee. They are having an engagement party tomorrow which sadly I will miss (b/c we had the tickets to the show before we got the invite to the party) but I hope they and anyone else who attends has a blast.

Next on the weekend to-do list is my friend Matt's Law school graduation party on Sunday night at one of the restaurants out on City Island. His brother just had his college grad party out there a few months ago, and that was a lot of fun, so I expect more of the same.

Then next weekend two more huge events. First on Saturday- Steve, Alan, Ariana and I will be going out to the Mohegan Sun for some gambling, fun, good food and HEAVY METAL, as we see Judas Priest & Queensryche in concert. Should be a very cool time.

Then the weekend wraps up as me, Ariana, Henry and Maryellen join with the rest of the scum and villany of NY as we gather at Hammerstein Ballroom for the ECW- One Night Stand PPV. I already mentioned the half announced card for the show in a previous post, so yeah I'm still psyched. E-C-W!!!

So yeah, things are looking good, and hell, I've only just mentioned the next 2 weekends, there are actually even more things already planned for the rest of June, but I'll get to that in time. And with that I bid you all (a more happy) adieu.

Yay, Fordham??? :-(

Ok, so lately I've been posting about all the cool things happening in my life, yet I've neglected to mention some of the negative things. I mean it's nothing terrible but there have been a handful of sucky things that have happened (well let me correct that, basically one big thing that will probably have a trickle down effect). I've mentioned it to a handful of people b/c it's come up, but I guess I should update everyone on what's going on.

So basically what happened is that I was once again rejected from the Fordham Grad school. I got the letter back in April but I didn't say anything b/c I was just so busy and I just didn't want to deal with it or talk about it. Mostly b/c I try not to let things get me down. Yeah it sucks but I wasn't gonna let it ruin my good times. The other reason was that I was so pissed off when I received the letter that I knew if I had posted about it right then and there it would just be a very angry post and I probably would have gone on to say a few things I might later have regretted saying.

However, I will say that I officially dislike the majority of people over at the Fordham Grad school now b/c they are a bunch of idiots. After a few weeks I was given the excuse that this years batch of applicants was extremely competitive and that the minimum GPA and stuff was raised to the highest it's ever been. I still call BS on that explanation though. B/C after all I went through last semester there was NO reason why my admission to the program should not have been a "given." So screw them.

So even though I tried to not think about the situation at first, sometimes I can't help it when it slips back into my mind. The main reason not getting into the Grad school sucks is b/c now I will need to find a new job, b/c I can't afford to go to another school with my current salary. The main reason I got my current job was due to the fact that they gave tuition remission. So I would be able to work, and save money while going to school for free. Well now that I can't go to school, I gotta go somewhere else so I can eventually get into a program (preferably for this fall semester if possible). B/c while I absolutely love what I do now, to become a permanent fixture I need to have my Master's degree, so until then I'm kind of just spinning my wheels.

I mean, with the whole budget problem in the Federal Gov't I might have had to leave my job by Aug. 2006 ANYWAY (depending if they fund us or not) but this just forces my hand to have to leave much sooner. And it really sucks, b/c like I said, I love my job. The people are great and I really like knowing I'm making a difference in these kids' lives. And I hate the thought of me possibly having to leave, especially if this winds up being their last year, b/c it would leave the program in a bit of disarray as there would be no one to cover my two schools (thus the other counselors would have to shift schedules to try and cover my schools and that's just a mess). So while I know I have to think of me and my future first and that I know my boss and co-workers would be understanding it still sucks and I can't help feeling at least a tinge of guilt. Thus I try to just not think about it.

-But then sometimes little things happen (like one small incident this morning, which I will get into later) that just make all the venom I have towards parts of Fordham spring up.

It seems to me that the majority of people working at Fordham are a BUNCH OF FREAKIN MORONS that don't know their heads from their asses! I'm talking about from the administration to the faculty, even to the security and construction staff!

For instance, the small incident from this morning. Ok so as you all know I drive to Fordham. Well I have a parking pass to park in the Teacher's lot (A-Lot- the one right at the front of the campus). Well they have begun construction of the new parking garage over the H-lot so they fenced it off and by doing so also closed off one of the entrances to the A-lot, but what they did was make a new way in over the grass. Well usually I don't bother going that longer way anyways, as I usually go through the A-lot entrance at the VERY front of the school. But it's been closed for the last week. So I go to the new entrance but there is a big cement truck blocking the entrance entirely. So I start honking, and the guys get out and start telling me to go back and enter the other entrance. Well first off, there wound up being a line of like 3-4 cars directly behind me so I couldn't back up, and also the other entrance was freakin CLOSED!!!

So what wound up happening is that we all had to back out and security had to come over and open the other gate for us to get through. But see THIS is the problem with Fordham, as I've stated before, their right hand has no idea what their left hand is doing! B/c if there were intelligent people working at Fordham they would have known that the cement truck had to be there (b/c it turns out it was gonna pave over the new entrance, so DUH that no cars would be able to get through that way) so they should have been prepared to have the other entrance open for cars to get into. But see this is Fordham, and apparently it's run by morons.

-And you know, it sucks to badmouth Fordham b/c I really loved this place as an undergrad, but sometimes they just freakin deserve it. But I hate to do it b/c this was the place where my life began to change and all for the better. So I always defended Fordham from people who said bad things about it, even when some of you guys talked trash about it. But now, part of me has realized that I shouldn't be so naive.

B/c in the end, it wasn't Fordham itself that really changed my life and made me happy, it was the people I met at Fordham. That's what I will always be grateful for- all my friends that I made during my time at Fordham. B/c when I think about it, it wasn't the classes, or the professors or the place itself. Fordham was just the catalyst for me to earn my freedom and change into a better person but I don't think it was b/c of the education itself. I'm the one who made the change- Fordham was just the excuse.

And now, you know what, I don't need that excuse anymore. Other than the fact that I will really miss my current job (b/c it'll be very hard to find a better one), I can't wait to get out of this place.

These thoughts have just been building within me for a long time. It started with the issues with the grad school, but there were also smaller factors at play.

Like for my job, one of the things we do is take the high school students to visit different colleges all around the area. During these visits they get information sessions, tours and lunch on the campus. And in my two-plus years in the program I'd say we've visited probably around 14 different schools. And of those fourteen schools, I'd say ALMOST all of them were better than Fordham.

A list of some of the schools we've visited includes: Wesleyan, Manhattan, Pace (in Pleasantville), Long Island University, Marist, Manhattanville, Quinnipiac, Mount St Mary, Hofstra, Rutgers, Mount St. Vincent, Columbia, Yale and Princeton.

Granted some of those are Ivy League schools and should very well be better than Fordham, even some of the smaller schools were HEADS above Fordham in many ways. Like Mount St. Mary, I bet most of you have never even heard of that school (I myself had never heard of it before one of the other counselors decided to take his schools there). It's only about 80 minutes upstate but it is such a great school. Get this- we visited the Freshman dorms and first off- the rooms are HUGE, and every room has it's own bathroom- even the doubles, the whole dorm (as well as the whole campus) is wireless so you can access the internet on your laptop anywhere, then in the basement of the dorms they have their own laundry room- in which the washers and dryers are operated with the student ID card, each dorm also has it's own mini-gym complete with like 6-8 machines- in case you're too lazy to go to the actual gym (which of course is way better than Fordham's, as are the gyms for just about EVERY school we have been to), the dorms also have pool tables and a Movie projector room, where if u wanted to gather like 20 of your friends and watch a DVD on a huge projector screen you could. How awesome is that? And mind you those were the FRESHMAN dorms.

And while not all the schools had stuff that awesome, even some of the "little things" were cool, like how most schools had FREE parking (as opposed to the $300 we need to pay), the cafeteria's and food are way better, etc.

Seeing all these things sometimes makes me think "what if I had really researched schools back when I was in high school?" B/c I chose Fordham pretty much sight unseen. And like I said, I don't really regret my decision b/c of the great things that happened to me and the cool people I met, but sometimes I just wonder what it would have been like to go to a school that probably would have been better than Fordham. But ehh, that's just me being meloncholic I guess....

-But in the end, Fordham basically has forced my hand to leave. I'm upset b/c I wasn't ready to just yet (mostly b/c I wanted to get my Masters first) but hey, I believe all things happen for a reason. Maybe something even better will come along and it will pay for me to go to school and I can save up even more money. So wish me luck, and let the job hunt begin!

Star Wars

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I am about to discuss various things about the latest Star Wars film. If you have not seen it yet and don't want things spoiled for you, then skip this post til after you've seen it.

Spoilers begin here:

Ok, so as I said in the post after I saw Revenge of the Sith (from here on now referred to as RotS) I thought it kicked ass. Was it perfect? No, but it had enough cool stuff in it to make up for the things it was lacking.

I guess I'll start with complaints first though (since there are fewer of those). The main thing was the acting. Some of it was pretty bad, especially some of the scenes with Anakin and Padme.

I'm thinking specifically the balcony scene- Anakin "You're so beautiful." Padme: "Only b/c I'm so in love." Anakin: "No, only b/c I'm so in love with you." Padme: "So then love has blinded you?"

BLEH! So bad...

But then again, George Lucas has never been know for his brilliant dialogue. Even the original trilogy had it's share of pretty terribly acted lines of dialogue. B/c everyone should realize, Lucas isn't the greatest writer or director. He's got a great mind for inventing characters and story ideas but guiding actors in how to deliver certain lines isn't his forte. He's more "big picture" than "subtle detail."

But other than that, not too much to complain about actually. I've heard lots of people bitch over how Anakin's turn to the dark side after he helps Palpatine kill Mace Windu was way too quick and forced. I can see those people's points, but since I've been reading the comics, novels and seen the cartoon I know that Anakin had been struggling for a long time and had seen many things throughout the war that made him question the Jedi ways, so seeing Windu trying to kill Palpatine who he not only considered a father figure but also a means to an end (keeping his love Padme alive) he just snapped. And even though he immediately questioned his actions, in the end his actions were so extreme he knew that his only choice was to either be severely punished and live with the guilt or just go all out to the dark side and just fully change to hide the hurt. I found this realistic b/c this happens to people in real life all the time. They hurt someone they love and instead of asking for forgiveness just push themselves more and more away.

Now for the cool things:

- All the battle scenes were pretty cool, especially all the lightsaber duels (Anakin vs Dooku, Windu vs Palpatine, Obi-Wan vs Grievous, Yoda vs Palpatine, and of course Anakin vs Obi-Wan).

- R2-D2, Yoda and the Emperor were the true stars of this movie. R2-D2 stole the show during the first half hour. Then Yoda kicked ass throughout the movie (c'mon, who didn't cheer when he decapitated the clones who tried to sneak up on him on Kashyyk or when he used the force to knock the Emperor's Royal Guards unconscious as soon as he entered Palpatine's chambers to face off with him)? Finally, Ian McDirmid was awesome as Emperor Palpatine. He truly made everyone believe he was both evil and insane. Props to him. Oh and honorable mention also goes to Ewan McGregor for doing a great job of channeling Sir Alec Guiness in his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He truly got better with his role as each movie progressed.

- I was happy to have gotten all the minor references throughout the movie about stuff that happened in the novels, comics and cartoon. Like right after Obi-Wan and Anakin save the Chancellor and return him to Coruscant and they joke over how many times Anakin has saved Obi-Wan's life (ten times) and Obi-Wan retorts "No, it was nine. That business on Cato Neimodia doesn't, doesn't count." I actually know what the hell they're talking about! Same with the very quick mention of Master Vos (the main character of the comic series). One thing I was surprised they put in the movie- especially since it would probably throw off a lot of people who ONLY watch the movies and not any of the expanded universe stuff was the whole thing with why General Grievous was constantly coughing and hacking and wheezing. First off, let me say that he was not normally like that. He was coughing b/c in the last episode of the cartoon (which is the DIRECT prequel into the movie- with the kidnapping of Palpatine and everything), Mace Windu uses the force to crush in that chest cavity thing that houses his heart, lungs and other vital organs. So to those of you who may say the comics, novels and cartoons don't really mean anything in the "official" Star Wars universe (aka the canon of JUST the movies), I say that's not true b/c these few references prove that the expanded universe means something- cuz otherwise they wouldn't mention them in the movies at all.

-Was also happy that they tied up pretty much all the loose ends. We got to see Chewbacca help Yoda (which shows how Obi-Wan knew to look up Chewie at Mos Eisley in the original Star Wars. It's subtle but there). C-3PO had his mind wiped, which explains why he doesn't remember in the original trilogy that freakin Darth Vader built him. And we got to see all the Jedi wiped out (which sucks b/c I had grown attached to some of them due to the novels and such, but oh well...).

-One loose end that was both good and bad was when they tried to tie it up was the whole thing with Yoda telling Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon found out how to contact the living from beyond the realms of death and that he was gonna teach him how to do it. So it's cool they actually explained how there are Jedi ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda running around in the original trilogy, but I wasn't thrilled with the way they went around it. It seemed to come up out of nowhere. I wish they had actually showed the ghost, or at the very least shown Yoda hearing Qui-Gon speaking to him (if they didn't want to pay Liam Neeson to actually show up in the film). That's a minor detail though- the bigger thing left out is then how the Hell does Anakin know how to do the force ghost thing at the end of Return of the Jedi? Hmm...

****

Oh one thing I HAVE to mention b/c I kept reading all about it in reviews and crap. To the people who think the movie is some kind of social commentary on the Bush Administration (with all the evil empire stuff), you are freakin retarded.

Now don't get me wrong, you all know I can't stand Bush, but this movie was not trying to point out anything. First off the seeds for the corruption in the Senate and Palpatine coming to power were first shown back in Episode I- in 1999, before Bush was even President. This story was gonna happen this way whether Bush was President and doing the things he is doing or not. It's just kind of a creepy coincidence it worked out that way, that's ALL. 'Nuff said on that subject.

-But one theory that may have SOME merit as to a point George Lucas was trying to bring across was that Anakin Skywalker is an example of what would have happened had Jesus Gone Bad?

Think about it- Episode I- Anakin's mother claims she had him as a virgin birth. The Jedi also constantly talk of a prophesy of Anakin as the "Chosen One" throughout all the movies (and even the books and stuff). So, right then and there he's shown as a Savior figure.

So then jump ahead to Episode III- Anakin is tempted by the dark side by Palpatine (mirror that with Satan tempting Jesus on the mountain- and hey, wasn't Anakin in the tallest building in all of Coruscant when he pledged his allegience to Palpatine)? This is where the split happens. While obviously we all know that Jesus was able to fend off Satan, in this story the savior figure succumbs and that's when everything goes to Hell- literally. Then just listen to the pain in Obi-Wan's voice at the end of the movie after he's defeated Anakin. He's devastated to learn that everything he believed in came crashing down on him. He cries in anguish over how Anakin was the "chosen one" and was supposed to bring balance to the force and peace to the galaxy but instead became evil and destroyed everything.

So yeah I just found that an interesting theory, and one that I did think of on my own as I watched the movie. What does everyone else think?

In the end it may not matter though, b/c there was another VERY subtle thing thrown out there in the movie- that might not mean anything at all, BUT just might be a very huge hidden plot point. When Palpatine tells Anakin the story of Darth Plagueous the Wise, he mentions to Anakin how Plagueous learned how to sustain and even create life (by influencing the midi-chlorians). Could it be that Plagueous is somehow responsible for Anakin's birth? And maybe that explains why Palpatine was so interested in Anakin from the moment they met- maybe he knew of him, b/c if it wasn't obvious to you during the movie- I'll tell you right now that Palpatine was Plagueous apprentice- the one who killed him as he slept. So maybe he knew that Plagueous created a life and that that person would be the key to power over the universe... just a little theory I thought of. I might be reaching too far, and in the end it doesn't really matter, but just thought I'd throw the idea out there and see what you all thought about it.

And so yeah those are pretty much my thoughts on the movie (at least all the ones I can think of right now). The only thing left is to rank it in what I think are the best Star Wars movies. That is REALLY freakin tough, b/c I'm weird and I liked certain movies more than others and some people might think my choices are blasphemous. But then again it's just hard to choose b/c not only are the prequel and original trilogy's very different, there is also the whole nostalgia thing working against the new movies. In the end I still say Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie- and I would rank Revenge of the Sith as a tie for second with Return of the Jedi. The reason I have RotJ so high is PURELY nostalgic. Mostly due to the fact that my very first memory as a child is being like 2-3 years old and going to the movies to see Return of the Jedi... so while other people may dislike many things about Jedi, it holds a special place in my heart for that reason.

So for now my list would look something like this (and hey my opinion may change in a few years).
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Revenge of the Sith (tie)
2. Return of the Jedi (tie)
3. Attack of the Clones (I really don't understand why people trash this movie so much...)
4. Star Wars- A New Hope
5. The Phantom Menace

Feel free to argue with my choices, it might be amusing, lol. And with that, I'm out. May the Force by with you (I just HAD to end it with that, hehe).