I saw Revenge of the Sith today. You know a movie has made an impact when you and the people you went with can only sit in silence for minutes as the credits roll. That can indicate either a good thing or a bad thing. Today, it was a positive sign.

For some of us, we've waited nearly two decades to see the events unfold on screen as we did today. I was ten years old when I read about the near-legendary battle between Anakin and Obi-wan on a lava filled planet. Master and former apprentice facing off in a climatic battle. Former friends forced to fight each other. How did it come to this? What exactly happened? Why did Obi-wan leave a horribly scarred Anakin to seemingly die? These were the questions I've asked myself since I was a child. Today, those questions were answered.

For almost the same amount of time, I've also wondered how Luke and Leia's mother died. What tragedy had befallen her? What prevented her from from raising her twin babies? Again, we found our answers today.

The movie was satisfying to a great extent because so much information was provided. Information that we've only guessed about for so many years. Closure is such a good thing.

So why did we sit silently as the film ended? For me, I was struck by the tragic and sad details that Lucas finally provided us. I doubt if there were any of us who didn't know the general ending of the movie. The original three films spelled out the story in broad strokes for us. It was seeing the fine details that made it emotional. I've known for twenty years that Anakin was burned by lava, but to see and hear him immolated by fire was shocking. I've also known that Luke and Leia were split up to be raised on separate planets, but to see the babies actually delivered to their surrogate parents tugged at the heartstrings. Though I didn't see grown men reduced to tears as one reviewer witnessed, I certainly could understand why.

Yeah, the special effects kicked ass, but I was most impressed with the darker tone of the movie. If you don't think it's dark, go see it and we'll talk about the younglings afterwards. I've read how Lucas has described the Star Wars saga as a tragic and sad tale, but today I fully understand what he meant by that.

Sith is easily the best of the prequels and better than Jedi. It doesn't quite surpass Empire, but only time will tell how I compare it with A New Hope.

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Tomorrow, Revenge of the Sith opens worldwide (except in Japan, sorry Newmark) in theatres. As some of you know, it will be the last Star Wars movie to ever hit the silver screen. For many fans, this will be a bittersweet month as the movie series draws to a close.

I've always wondered about the stark contrast between Star Wars fans and those who don't have an affinity for the movies. The people who aren't fans, at least to me, have always expressed a failure to understand why some people love the Star Wars universe so much. There seems to be this wide gap between the two groups.

I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to shed some light on why I have a special place for the Star Wars universe in my heart.

I first saw A New Hope, in either 1978 or 1979, when the first movie was re-released to the theatres. I wasn't even in kindergarten at the time and the whole movie-going experience was completely new to me. My dad brought me to the theatre. There, I saw my first movie screen, how the seats were arranged, the concession stands, the bathrooms, the nervous wait for the movie to start, the trailers, and unfortunately, the guy with the big 70s hair in front of me.

The first movie basically showed me the ropes about the whole process of going to the movies. The film itself left a huge impression on my young mind. There were heroes and a big bad villain. There were spaceships and huge space battles with lasers. There were droids and strange-looking creatures. In the late 70s, entertainment options for children sucked. Back then, we had no video games, no Internet, no specialty channels for kids, nothing. Star Wars was unlike anything I had seen before.

Somehow, little Erwin found out that there would be a sequel to A New Hope. Even before I was ten years old, I was going to learn the painful lesson of waiting for a movie sequel. Though I had to wait only about two years, it was an excruciating long time for a child since that amounted to a third of my entire life up until that point.

When Empire came out, I quickly learned to read the movie listings in the paper, which back then, was basically the only place you could get movie times. Again, my dad took me to see it. When Vader told Luke he was his father, that was probably the most shocking thing I had heard as a six-year old.

The three-year wait for Jedi was much easier to endure for some reason, probably because I was gettin' it done in elementary school by that time. At the time, I think enjoyed Jedi less because it got a bit dark at the end and I think I was still in the space battles part of my childhood. That or maybe I thought the Ewoks sucked.

The thing about Star Wars that I love the most is that there is so much to enjoy on so many different levels. Yeah sure, as a kid, I loved the space battles mostly, but as I grew older, I began finding a lot of depth to the movies. There were a lot of themes that Star Wars presented that I had never seen before. As a kid, where else did I see murder, betrayal, jealousy, hope, and redemption rolled into one story?

I was nine years old when I thought that in Jedi, Luke would be forced to kill his own father to save his friends and the galaxy. Space battles aside, what other movie presented such issues? When Luke lit the funeral pyre to cremate his father, I thought, wow, that's gotta be tough.

To this day, I still believe the archetypical mentor is Yoda. The dimunitive Jedi Master was essentially a rubber puppet in real-life, but his image in popular culture will remain as a wise and sometimes playful teacher of all things Jedi. Think of all the times you've taught or been taught by someone. I bet at least once, a Yoda reference was brought up.

Then there are the Jedi, who I have always liked. Sure they were super cool mystical warriors with lightsabers, but they were more than that. They shunned feeling anger, fear, or aggression in life, but instead preached understanding, knowledge, and peace. They weren't wussies either, 'cause they kick your ass in a bar fight if they had to. If you're thinking the ways of the Jedi have almost religious undertones, you'd be right. In the last British census, enough respondents listed "Jedi" as their faith that the government was forced to recognize it as an "official" religion.

Of course, all of this didn't come to me when I was a kid. Much of my appreciation occurred when I was older. I didn't fully appreciate that Yoda stuff until I was in my late teens or early twenties, when I was thinking, man, I wish I had a mentor at work. The point is, for a series of movies to give you stuff to think about even decades after their release, that in itself makes them worthy of watching.

While I admit the prequels won't have the same effect on me as did the original trilogy, I am looking forward to seeing how the last movie ends. I've waited twenty years to see this legendary battle between Obi-wan and Anakin among the lava, let's hope it doesn't disappoint.

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As of 1am PST, if 2000 out of the 3500 or so people who voted for the Green Party had changed their vote to NDP in the Vancouver-Point Grey riding, Gordon Campbell would have lost his place as premier. Two thousand votes is still a lot of votes, but think of it this way, in Campbell's riding, more people voted against him than for him. The same cannot be said of Carole James who garnered more votes than the entire slate running against her.

I'm not an expert in politics, but these are the interesting trends that my solar-powered calculator shows me.

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I'm on a poopy computer at my parents' place. I'll be back later with what I had for lunch.

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It's finally here. This week, Revenge of the Sith opens worldwide (except in Japan) in theatres. In honour of the occasion, I've decided to pull out a classic comedy clip. For those of you who watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien, you'll probably be familiar with this selection. Robert Smigel writes and performs the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog skits in which he uses a hand puppet to mock celebrities and regular folks alike.

In May of 2002, Triumph visited the Star Wars fans lined up outside the Ziegfeld Theatre in Manhattan. It was heady times back then as the world waited for The Attack of the Clones to premiere. What followed is widely regarded as one of the funniest mockeries of Star Wars fans, akin to Shatner's skit for Star Trek followers.

Here are just a few lines from Triumph:

"It's a big commitment standing in line waiting for the show, how do you explain this to your imaginary girlfriend?"

To a rare girl in the line up:

"You can choose from all kinds of guys who have no idea how to please you..."

To a pregnant woman in line after hearing her due date is in six weeks:

"That's the last time he'll ever see female genitalia..."

Go download the whole skit, it's funny stuff.

triumph-clone2.wmv - 18 Mb

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I have just concluded that Revenge of the Sith will not be playing at the new Paramount Vancouver theatres. Both the web site and the recorded phone showtimes indicate that Vancouver's newest theatre complex will be devoid of Star Wars fans come May 19 and beyond. Why they chose to not screen the movie at such a high visibility location is beyond me.

For those of you who may have had some informal talks with me about going, our plans have been altered. We'll need to figure something else out now. Stay tuned.

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