One Lunch

In a way, it IS our religion. (Star Wars References)

People who have never read my old, now-abandoned blog about pop culture may not know about Star Wars References, a series of posts that proves my hypothesis that all of Western Culture is based on Star Wars.

And the latest in that proof? This commercial, which I just saw this morning:



OK, so first, those are pretty awesome costumes.

Second, prior to Verizon, only writer Rusty Carl had trumpeted the sexy potential of Wookies.  Is it a good thing, or bad thing, that sexy costumes for women now  include giant man-bear things from other planets? I'll let the reader decide.

With help from Kristen Schaal and The Daily Show:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Third, I just yesterday started (and then stopped, because it was boring) listening to a book about the history of Superman.  It's called Superman: The High-Flying History Of America's Most Enduring Hero, and it would be hard to make that book boring, but the writer did so -- in the foreword.  I made it to the beginning of the first chapter before deleting the book off my Kindle and going to listen to This American Life instead (where, coincidentally, the subject was secret identities!)

Anyway, one of the things the book promised to talk about was the fact that Superman has been beloved by every generation since his creation, that even young kids today still like Superman, and the author thought that was an achievement unparalleled by any other creative endeavor.

Which means that the author might be the only person to have never heard of Star Wars, which is now 36 years old -- 1/2 of Superman's age, about -- and has appealed to multiple generations, and is so widespread that Verizon assumes you will be familiar enough with the iconic images of those films to recognize the costumes in that commercial.

I like to think about what things from our times will survive 1,000 years -- because as history compresses identities of eras, as we decide to remember less and less about the more and more distant past, we have to be selective about what's most important to remember.  For example, the years 0-1,000 are summarized by... nothing.

1,000-1,492? Magna Carta.

1492-1776? Explorers, primarily Christopher Columbus.  And movable type, and Shakespeare.

And so on.  So right now, 20th-century America, which includes the nascent 21st century so far, seems like its full of things the future will want to remember about us. But in 3113, what will society look back and remember?

My guess is Star Wars.  They'll probably look at videos like that commercial and assume it was our religion.

Interested in the history of Wookies and how George Lucas maybe stole the idea from a non-copyrightable drawing? Read about that here unless you are one of George Lucas' lawyers, in which case no hablo ingles, lo siento mucho, nobody here can accept that summons.

Here Is The Review I Just Gave "The Hazards Of Love," By PT Dilloway

I am a huge fan of the Scarlet Knight, and this book carries on the quality writing, great storytelling, and emotional depth of the first two books in this series.

One of the hardest things for a writer to do is keep a character fresh on the 3rd (or later) telling, while not also destroying the ethos or feel of the major characters: it's tough to have your heroes and villains and supporting cast members stay interesting through change and development, and yet not deviate too far from the characters readers first loved.  Great writers have failed at that (I'm thinking particularly of Kay Scarpetta, here -- her development from slightly-overqualified ME to near-superhero eventually turned me off of the Scarpetta books).

Dilloway manages that trick in this, the third book in the series, and does it deftly, allowing his characters to grow and become more realistic while still holding their roles in the world he's created.  All the major players from the first few novels are here -- Becky, Lt. Donovan, Mr. Graves, Marlin -- but in this book we learn even more about them and each of the supporting characters takes on new characteristics.

As does the lead, Emma Earl herself: far from being a cookie-cutter goody-two shoes, Earl is a complicated and fascinating character in her own right: she's constantly fighting her own inner urges, to love Dan or to kill the bad guys, and Dilloway makes those inner battles a good complication of Earl's personality: her own goodness keeps one-upping itself, making her life far harder than it has to be.

I think that sort of a character must be the toughest of all to write. It's easy to have a dark tormented hero these days: Anyone can do Wolverine/Batman/Man Of Steel.  What's a lot harder is to write a character who is inherently good, but doesn't necessarily want to be, and still make that character interesting.  Emma Earl isn't driven to heroism by her parents' death, or because she was taught to use her powers for good, or because she is trying to get the world to accept her: she's a hero because she was chosen to be one, and now opts to live up to that even when it requires insanely large sacrifices-- sacrifices Earl makes, but regrets, because she's human.

Those characters remove this story from its comic book/superhero roots and make it a novel worth reading.  But, lest you get the idea that the book is all heady literary stuff, don't worry: there's plenty of battles, explosions, twists and turns to make the most ardent fanboy happy.  There are about three different intertwining plots as major storylines: Earl's seeking Isis, the new villain on the scene here, Lt. Donovan's capture (finally!) of Don Vendetta, and Earl's relationship with her best friend, Becky -- but there are dozens of subplots, ranging from Marlin's backstory to more corruption in the police force.

All in all, a solid, excellent book that combines the thrills of police/superhero stories with an emotional depth that's rare in books like these.  I wholeheartedly recommend it.

You can get the book on Planet 99 publishing, for just $0.99!