SlowpokeBlog

A "classic" Slowpoke this week -- though it's really more relevant than ever these days. The cartoonist is busy finding new digs (see earlier post). As the strip points out, democracy becomes a joke when people don't pay close attention to the news. Of course, whoever states this fact is often accused of "elitism," creating a neat rhetorical trap for those of us concerned about the problem.

So how about that new Star Wars movie? I'm not exactly a huge Star Wars geek (didn't bother to see the previous one), but overall the new one is pretty decent. I can only hope the message that "we have become what we've sought to destroy" sinks in a little.

I have to say, though, I'm really getting tired of CGI animation. Maybe it's because I work with graphics, but to me, CGI looks fake and soulless no matter how "realistic" it gets. I mean, Yoda looked SO much better when he was a little puppet than some vectorized simulacrum. Yes, I know the battle scenes are harder with a puppet... but that's part of the challenge of filmmaking. Someday, I suspect this age of video games as film will be seen as the height of kitsch. Too-perfect, mathematically-driven CGI characters will strike us the same way B-movie special effects do now.

One other thing I found slightly disappointing is that there's exactly one major female character in the movie, and she's little more than a baby machine. In the earlier episodes, at least we had Princess Leia. Now ALL the action is carried out by dudes. Can someone let me know if any of the Jedi Younglings were female? The one that was briefly featured was a boy, but there were others in the background. If they were all boys, then George Lucas is a fat fuck.

New Opiates of the Masses