My original hard back copy from 1970 looked like this
Wie geht's?
Hopefully the answer to that question is that 2021 has started off more positively than 2020 for you but I know a lot of the planet is in lockdown or some sort of covid-19 hell.
Here in Nu Zild, life continues to gear up for a normal return to work for me next week with students set to arrive back on campus a week later.
In the meantime I'm continuing to read the George Lucas bio and a novel I last read 51 years ago: Running Blind by Desmond Bagley.
I bought it in hardback in 1970 and, at the time, it signalled something of a transition towards more adult themed novels.
Recently, I was browsing in the Hastings' Warehouse and saw a copy for $6.00 so I decided to re-read it.
It's still an exciting enough adventure/spy story but the writing hasn't aged particularly well, or else my tastes have expanded during the 51 intervening years and my standards have risen. Take your pick.
I guess you could file this away in the 'you should never go back' category.
That George Lucas bio though! Boy, that is delivering!
George Lucas A Lifeby Brian Jay Joneshas moved to the top of my reading pile.
It's been sitting there for a while, ever since I bought it for $5 from a second hand shop in Woodville.
I'm not usually one for biographies (give me an autobiography instead) but George is special and Brian Jones does a pretty good job.
It also turns out there are additional pleasures to reading about his life as a student in the sixties. In the age of YouTube - we have access to all* of the films he made as a varsity student:
These are fascinating and pretty typical of students' films I guess. I did a Film Studies post graduate masters paper at Auckland University back in the 1980's and made similar types of films, albeit on video. I loved fooling around with cut up images and soundtracks but the passion to continue down that film route didn't exist in me like it did in George.
I love the fact that I can instantly reach those films now. I wonder if George minds that?
Whatever, the force is strong in these short films!
I've had some lively debate of late with Keegan and Adam about the recent sale of Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney company.
They seem to think that having the Star Wars empire under the Disney umbrella will result in an embracing of the dark side, i.e. the future movies will become Mickey Mouse vehicles and quality will nose dive.
Like vast numbers of people they are huge fans of the first trilogy (episodes IV to VI) but are not as impressed by the second trilogy (episodes I to III). They have heard reports that Disney will not stop at a third trilogy (episodes VII to IX) but continue to milk Star Wars into the future.
Keegan, also argues that George Lucas has a less than stellar reputation as a director (hhmmm, by selling the franchise he effectively removes himself from the director's chair as well so that's less of a concern I would have thought).
My p.o.v. is different.
As a director he is responsible for two of my top 10 movies of all time (Star Wars episode IV 'A New Hope'; and American Graffiti), Not bad considering he's only directed six major feature films in his whole career, and four of those were Star Wars movies (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and A New Hope).
That makes five movies and THX 1138 is the sixth. All six are fine movies in my eyes and yes Jar Jar Binks, The Ewoks Adventure, the animated Clone Wars, and Howard The Duck were embarrassing mistakes but that shouldn't colour things as much as they do.
The next three Star Wars movies will start being released from 2015 which is right and proper as Lucas always intended the Star Wars story to span nine movies (I remember reading a story in an American Film magazine that indicated this, even if Lucas has insisted it's a six film series in the recent past). I see no huge problem with the story working towards that conclusion, aside from the actual plot.
What will these episodes be about? Who knows! George Lucas says he doesn't know (I think he's being disingenuous). The original story is wrapped up - Luke has saved the galaxy and redeemed his father by destroying the Sith so that piece of the story is finished. It also can't be a prequel to Episode I because it's already being labelled Episode VII (can it?). So...it should be interesting.
Of course I am hoping for the best but Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were unique products of their time (actors, budgets, technology). It's ridiculous to expect episodes VII to IX to be like the middle trilogy.The CGI gloss of the first trilogy took some getting used to and, fer sure, I'll need to adjust for what Disney come up with (I know that sounds like I'm apologising already). That's fine, I can live with that, and I'm heartened by the news that Lucas (and Kathleen Kennedy as President of Lucasfilm) will still be around to keep an eye on his creation for a while yet.
It's just a shame we all can't return to 1977 for when Star Wars started, or to the late 80s/early 90s when my children were discovering Star Wars for themselves. That initial surprise and magic cannot be recaptured. We're all older, wiser, more experienced, but the inherent magic of Star Warswill be discovered by new generations into the future, and I think that's nifty!
At the risk of having you break into song (Feelings, nothing more than feelings) this post is indeed about 'Feelings' (with a capital F). But we'll bypass Albert Morris' song if you don't mind.
Instead - let's rip into the Jackson Five's disco down boogie of Can you feel it?
The third of my video homages to Feelings is from The Feeling - a great British band that I've mentioned before on my music blog http://googoogarjoob.blogspot.com/
That's all nice 'n good, I'm sure you're thinking. but why is he telling me this? And why isn't this post on his goo goo blog thing anyway? And why don't I have anything better to do than read this stoopid blog??
Well I'll tell you - it's all because of a Time magazine dated May 3 1999. Yes, that's right - 1999! It suddenly appeared in my pigeon hole at school. The cover introduces a story on the new Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. Turns out the librarian at school came across it and thought of me! I'm pleased she did too. I've been reading this copy for weeks now. It has the aforementioned cover story but it coincided with the Columbine massacre and that story is still chilling and fascinating to read. It shook me at the time and it shakes me still. Aside from those two stories it's been interesting to look over a ten year old magazine. It puts the 'now' in perspective in many ways.
But anyway - feelings - remember. I am getting there - trust me.
The magazine also had a great interview with Bill Moyers and George Lucas. Those of you who've been along on the blog ride with me since the start will remember I'm a huge Joseph Campbell fan - he of the 'follow your bliss' line. I have a series of great interviews on video between Moyers and Campbell in which they discuss the mythic properties of, among other things, Star Wars. So when I saw this interview in this old issue of Time my heart started to pound.
Moyers: In authentic religion, doesn't it take Kierkegaard's leap of faith? Lucas: Yes, yes, definitely. You'll notice Luke uses that quite a bit through the film - not to rely on pure logic, not to rely on the computers, but to rely on faith. That is what "Use the force" is, a leap of faith. There are mysteries and powers larger than we are, and you have to trust your feelings in order to access them.
I love this idea! Lucas says at another point in the interview that, "You have control over your destiny, you have many paths to walk down, and you can choose which destiny is going to be yours...You must let go of your past and embrace your future and figure out what path you're going to go down". This is when the 'Trust your feelings' lesson means things for me. David Gray in Babylon says 'Let go your heart, let go your head, and feel it now'. Same deal. Go with the inner voice, trust that. Is it instinct? The Holy Spirit? The Force? Different people will have different answers. I don't know what it is for you. For me - trusting my feelings leads me into the larger mysteries of the universe.
I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment by Susan Jeffers called 'Feel the fear and do it anyway'. It's a self-help book (I find these books affirming at various stages of my life - I'm there now) and her basic message is in the title. Again with the Feeling you'll note! I found the book by complete accident. I was watching CNN and a short clip from China had a person say he'd read this book called 'Feel the fear and do it anyway' and it had changed his perceptions of life. Okay! So I, of course, googled the title and then went to my local bookstore - who had a copy!
I'm enjoying the book and one passage resonates with me and all this Feelings stuff - "Stop fighting your life. Let go and let the river carry you to new adventures by the way you experience your life." I like this idea of letting go, simplifying, casting off old skins. It's very liberating! Time to stop fighting.
