2002-06-11 - 9:41 a.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Star Wars" theme

Saturday we went to Manhattan to celebrate Father's Day. My brother had picked up tickets to see "Attack of the Clones" at the Zeigfield theater, which has a digital projector.

I found the digital projection to be awfully good. We had a discussion about it at lunch. Digital versus film is, as I understand it, the visual equivalent of CD versus vinyl. If you do it RIGHT, film or a turntable is the highest-quality viewing/listening experience you can have. But the problem is, nobody ever does it RIGHT, so for the average situation, you're better off with digital.

That said, the three guys were enormously impressed with the digital projection. The picture was nearly flawless. The lighting was right, there were no splotches or "hairs" or anything. I rarely go to the movies, but even I notice that the picture was exceptionally clear.

When the movie was about to start, in that breathless silence before the opening titles, I was bouncing in my seat and squeezing my dad's hand. I mean, it's STAR WARS!!! STAR WARS!!!

Unfortunately, I only got about 1% of the dialogue, so I don't have any coherent commentary on the movie yet. By the time it comes out with subtitles, no reader will care (well, except maybe one ;)). So never mind. I do have some non-plot, non-dialogue related comments, though:

SPOILERS!!!

- OK, I knew ahead of time that Yoda had a kick-ass fight scene, and I had a really hard time imagining how a little tiny thing like Yoda could fight with a light saber and not look ridiculous. But it was SO FREAKING COOL. I loved it.

- Amidala is the Queen of the Mixed Signals. She hangs out in those skimpy outfits, makes moon faces at Anakin, and then backs away when he tries to kiss her. Good grief. Poor Anakin.

- During the big fight scene at the end, Obi-Wan's hair got messed up and he was panting. Mmm, hmm. Drool.

- Y'know, I've said this before and I'll say it again. There is too much crap on the screen in the new movies, and it looks fake. The limitations George Lucas had with the models and such in Episodes IV-VI made for a much more realistic and believable world. It was REAL to me. I no longer believe what I'm seeing, except sometimes on Tatooine. It's pretty annoying.

- On the other hand, I did find the whole chase scene in the sky-cars pretty damn exciting, especially when Obi-Wan jumped through the window and when Anakin rolled over the side of the car.

While waiting for my brother to meet us, we sat in a little concrete park near the theater. I went out looking for a place to eat lunch. When I got back, everyone had moved from a seat in the shade, facing one direction, to a seat in the sun, facing the opposite direction.

Mom said, "Poindexter wanted us to move into the sun because he was cold, but look at the view from here," and she laughed. I looked over and saw a blonde in a short black dress and heels, laying on her stomach on a bench, kicking her feet in the air and yammering on her cell phone. Well. I asked Poindexter if the real reason was the sun or the girl, and he said, "Both."

Then we went to Pasta La Vista (hahaha) for lunch, wherein a very handsome, longish-haired, mid-thirties, man was working. He was wearing a shirt that was worn very thin, and it was unbuttoned to mid-chest, and it was loose, so that when he bent over to clean a table I could see inside his shirt.

Mmmmmmmmm, hmm.

He was cleaning a table near us, and I turned to Poindexter -- who knew I was ogling -- and said, "MY turn!" Poindexter pretended to be jealous and said, "You don't get a turn" and tried to keep me from looking.

Woo! I assume the beefcake was probably an actor waiting tables. And then two of his friends -- also presumably actors -- came by, and THEY were easy on the eyes, too. I was beside myself. I just don't get eye candy like that on a regular basis. At that point -- especially after a cheap, delicious lunch arrived -- I was ready to move to New York.

It's funny. I would probably be bored out of my mind if I tried to talk to any of these guys -- my taste in men is firmly stuck with engineer/geek types -- but for a few glances on the street it was quite enjoyable.

There's a whole debate going on over at denbeste.nu over a couple of articles he wrote about men looking at women and about the artifice that makes movie stars look the way they do. It's pretty interesting, and I agree with much of what Den Beste has to say.

Generally I think there are more good-looking women out there than good-looking men. And by "good-looking" I mean they have traits that cause you to look twice upon a first sighting. A lot of people who may be extremely attractive after you talk to them for 10 minutes are, unfortunately, not in this group, which has a superficial kind of attractiveness.

So, I'm thinking that with the aid of makeup, societal pressure (mainly from other women!) to be thin, and other appearance-enhancing grooming habits available to women (highlights, brow waxing, etc.), not to mention a wider variety of clothing options, you end up with a lot more women in this attractive-at-first-glance group than men. It's really not fair. I wonder if women would ogle as much as men -- and find it more understandable when men ogle -- if the average man on the street spent as much time on his appearance as the average woman.

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