Star Wars

I’ll admit, I am a Star Wars geek fan.

Bought the DVD edition of the original trilogy today, and spent 4 hours watching a documentary on how the fantasy came to life. Considering all the problems and mishaps each film went through, it was amazing the films actually did reach the theatres back then.

George Lucas is a revolutionary. Star Wars just feels eternal. Even after nearly 20+ years, the films still look good and believable, something hard to find in a lot of other films.

The other thing I dig about Star Wars is the soundtrack composed by John Willliams. His style is distinct (for epic orchestral tunes anyway) and I can remember almost every single tune churned out. He is a true master of his art, drawing from all his experiences with tune, tone, rhythm, types of instruments, vocals etc.

Today we have Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), the company responsible for so many of the digital effects we see in films these days. His vision has inspired countless directors, including my other all time favourite, Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy, another masterpiece to behold.

Also got to watch the preview where Obiwan and Anakin kick each other’s butt, and boy, did that light sabre scene look cool, even if it was only on a blue backdrop with sticks and no sound effects. While I think Episodes I and II have lost a little of that sparkle in character development (Han Solo the antagonist always makes life interesting), the vision for cutting edge filmatography (if there is there such a word) is still very evident in Lucas’s work.

Heh, sorry for the random blurps. Just so much info to digest and probably discuss.

Looking forward to May 2005 now.

PS. Have you ever noticed that in Star Wars, there never were any opening credits (no reference to the director, the actors etc, all these are put only in the ending credits).

Nostalgia

The trip to Adelaide was a welcome diversion from the daily routine. Coming home, I feel a little more settled and willing to do the things I’m supposed to do that I’ve been putting off.

A little about the trip… there were two cars travelling, me being in the one where there was Chun Fei, Jerome and Emily, who are my friend’s girlfriend’s younger sister, the same friend’s younger brother and his girlfriend respectively. I’m obviously the odd one out, being the only ancient one as most of my travelling mates have either graduated or are somewhere else. The rest I’m about to say in this post is mainly about the stark difference and contrast in comparison to prior trips I’ve been to.

Firstly, girls planned this trip. lol: This makes a big difference. I’ve never seen so much food brought along on a trip before. There were sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, chips, sweets etc. The whole trip was mainly about eating, we’d be looking for places to eat more than we were looking for places to sightsee. The itinery of our four day trip included visiting the beach in Adelaide, going up one of the scenic mountain tops and the rest was just eat and shop. With guys, the trips I’ve been to involved more walking and exploring outdoor regions, usually going for long walks in non civilised areas and really annoying push-the-car-out-of-some-mess-in-the-middle-of-the-night-routines.

In prior trips, accommodation was usually an afterthought. We’d be scrambling around looking for decent and affordable accommodation. In this trip, with girls behind the planning board, accommodation was booked in advance and was only a matter of hunting the place down. This takes out the thrill of trying to find a place before sunset but brings about the security of not having to worry about a place to cover your head over at night.

I’ve been to Adelaide before, so there wasn’t really much to miss for me as I’ve seen most of the more interesting stuff. The funny bit for me was pointing out the various gas stations I’ve stopped at before on different trips to Adelaide and Central Australia. Everything brought back memories and exact details of when and what, which still surprises me considering the Dory type memory I have with these things.

The last thing I’d probably mention is the trip back and forth. I was sitting in my usual navigator seat beside the driver. Having a slightly better sense of direction these days (I can still get lost in KLCC, don’t ask me why), it took a little map gazing to figure out the key towns we had to pass through to reach Adelaide. And what trip is complete without in-flight music? Heh, the song selection is much different from what I’m used to. I used to provide music CDs for the trip, but this time round, it totally eluded me to even worry about such stuff. Had plenty of tunes to listen to and when we needed something fresh, there was always the radio.

One thing I like about these trips. You bond with the people you spend practically every minute of trip with. You get to know them better, and also talk about the funny things and experiences in life (there is a constant topic that livens up the whole car which I’m not inclined to discuss here). Sharing these moments together, you know a person more closely and appreciate their uniqueness all the better.

Heh, now wondering when my next trip will be, if ever a trip in the foreseable future.

Sitting Down Again

We now tune you back to your regular programming schedule.

Back! Heh.. it feels good to come home, you just feel like everything’s as you left it and you feel real comfortable just settling and sinking into it all again. Just trying to catch up with my daily activities before I packed up and left abruptly for Adelaide. Even my internet connection is choking at the amount of tabs I’m trying to open to read everything that I’ve missed so far. It will take a couple of hours, but I’m sure I’ll be able to play catch up.

Took lots of pictures, just not sure if any of them are any good. A little humbled looking at pictures on someone else’s site. Heh.