Laugh it Up, Fuzzball

Well, I wound up doing nothing this weekend. My original plans to go over to Spokane were wiped out when it started snowing like crazy in the mountains. Then, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I just didn't have it in me to make the drive up to Vancouver. So I just wound up lounging around here and not doing anything. Well, I did clean up the joint a little. But that was about it.

It was a good thing that I didn't even go to Kennewick on Sunday as I was also thinking about. It turns out that there was yet another rock slide on I-90 again. For those keeping score at home, that's three in about two months. So they finally did the wise thing and just completely shut down the entire freeway for a good 12 miles or so. Which, in the larger scope of things, isn't all that good for our economy...at least for the short-term. I-90 is the main arterial between west and east in Washington. Oh, there's still highway 2 and 12 to go over. But if you're going between Seattle and Spokane, that's alot of extra miles to drive. They just had some pictures on the news of highway 2. It's already jammed up for miles and miles. So I'm sure glad that I don't have a job that takes me to the other side of the mountains on a daily basis.

So to replace the game that I was missing out on, Tom and I first decided to go to Sprinker to watch the UPS club team play. But then Tom called and said that he didn't want to go to that one, but rather the Puyallup High game out at Sparks Stadium. So we decided that we would do that. But then, about 10 minutes before we were to leave, he called and told me that he just didn't feel like going to that one, either. So here I was with absolutely nothing to do on a Saturday night. Which actually didn't bug me a whole lot. I don't get too many Saturday nights at home. So I figured I would just watch a couple of movies.

The two I watched were the first two original Star Wars movies. I think I chose those since I hadn't even watched "A New Hope" all the way through for a couple years. Of course, the "Cantina" scene in the first one is still one of my all-time favorite scenes. I still think the best part of that one is when the band starts into the second song and the patrons in the bar let out a little cheer like it's one of the most popular songs of all-time. Even after almost 30 years, that still cracks me up whenever I hear that.

But the real highlight was watching "The Empire Strikes Back". A film that is still in my all-time Top-10 favorites. The battle of Hoth is one of the better battle scenes ever shot. It also cracks me up when Yoda goes rummaging through Luke's little supply box. The scene where Darth Vader and Boba Fett (my favorite character in the saga...by the way...lol) invite their company to join them is still pretty cool. And, of course, the scene that absolutely rocked every 1st graders world in 1980.....when Vader broke the news to Luke that he was his old man. Of course, adding insult to injury was that not even a minute before, he had hacked-off his kids right hand.

Some say the best chase scene of all-time was the one through the streets of San Francisco in "Bullitt". Others like the one in the "French Connection". Those were pretty good. But I still nominate my favorite scene from "Empire".....the chase scene through the asteroid field. Even with the special effects technology being out-dated by today's standards, it still works really well. My highlight of that scene is when one of the TIE Fighters slams into an asteroid and you can see the pilot go spinning through space at the bottom-left part of the screen.

So other than watching the Seahawks whup-up on the Cardinals today, that was pretty much my weekend. Not too exciting. But, when I think about it, it's nice to have a weekend with no running around or driving miles and miles to do stuff. You know...kinda recharging my battery a little bit. Next weekend is a little more normal. Saturday night is gonna be spent down in Portland as the Winterhawks take on the Thunderbirds. Those are always good. And then on Sunday, the Seahawks "Revenge Tour" (that's my title, not theirs...lol) continues as the St. Louis Rams come back to the scene of their crime from last season. Over this little stretch that I've given that special name, the Hawks have:

1. Beaten the Rams in St. Louis
2. Pounded a lesser team (Houston) into submission
3. Avenged last seasons bogus loss to Dallas at home (you were out of bounds, Keyshawn!!!)
4. Avenged last seasons embarrassing loss to Arizona in Tempe

And now for the biggest monkey on their back.....FINISHING the Rams at home. By that, I mean don't go into that ridiculous prevent defense at the end of the game. Keep slapping those softies they like to call receivers around since they don't seem to like that too much. And keep on hitting Bulger like there's no tomorrow. He's almost as fragile as Kurt Warner. And also, hopefully Holmgren's pass-happy arrogance won't get in his way. This time, if they have a large lead near the end of the game, just let Shaun Alexander and Mo Morris finish it off. If they can do that, then they'll be just fine.

To end this little entry, I'm recalling an email I got about a year ago from somebody. In it, they asked "if you could choose 10 movies to show at your own film festival, which ten would they be"? Here were mine:

Pulp Fiction
A Clockwork Orange
Dr Strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2001: a Space Odyssey
Run Lola Run
Fargo
The Empire Strikes Back
Seven Samurai
Kill Bill (both volumes as one)

Now I'd like to hear what yours are. Feel free to post them in the comments section or email them to me. If you email them to me, I'll post them on here at some point in the near future.