The Force Is Strong With This One.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Dude. DUDE. DUUUUUUDDDDDDE. DUDE!!!

I take back everything I said about the Flanneled One. Throughout the entire film, I was grinning like an idiot. (Well except that part after the rescue of Palpatine)

The drama in the movie caught me very much off guard. Tears were on their way as Anakin ignited his lightsaber in front of the children, again during the Jedi Purge, again as Obi-Wan learns of Anakin's actions, and once more during the landing pad scene with Padme, Obi and Anakin.

Battle scenes were awesome of course. Dooku's scenes were fun to watch, and any lightsaber battle involving Palpatine was great. My jaw was on the floor as Yoda took on Palps. I couldn't get rid of the smile on my face as master and apprentice fought to the near-death.

BEST. SPACE BATTLE. EVER.

R2 got his fair share of laughs and applause from the crowd. Yoda as well; everybody cheered when he pushed away the Royal Guards. The humor in here was much more controlled and appropriate than in the other prequels.

The Duel was great. I can't stress this enough.

Music = awesome. John Williams is amazing. I've been humming "Fall of the Hero" all night.

Hayden seems to have improved somewhat, though Natalie Portman could have been CGI for all I knew. Ian McDiamard steals the show, and most of the actors do all right.Writing was alright. Better than AOTC at any rate.

Greivous was enjoyable. The battle with him and Obi could have been longer or more climactic, but it's good to know that the crew remembered who the real villain was.

It does drag on after the Battle above Coruscant. That was the point I chose to use the bathroom.

I'm not sure what to think about Vader's final scene. On the one hand, it's a very human and realistic reaction for someone who's gone through what Anakin's gone through. On the other, Vader does a decent Frankenstein impression and the "NOOOOO!" seemed a bit off.

Oh yeah, the Battle Droid voices were annoying. I had always assumed that the Super Battle Droids would sound more masculine.

Small complaints in the end.

Rating: A

Thank you, Lucas.

Tomorrow, people. TOMORROW.

And I'm seeing it tomorrow. With friends. Or at least, I think they're friends. I mean, I don't get them anything for Christmas. In any case, there will be much waving of lightsabers and merry-making.

What? A Video Game system is supposed to play games?

Well, all three systems have been unvieled. Let's do some reviewing.

Sony - Playstation 3
I'm digging the sleak design of the console. The Spiderman-logo style works quite nicely. The controller looks alright, but I'm hoping they'll release something more dual-shock-like. The system seems powerful enough from what they're saying. How much of this will actually come true is yet to be determined. Of course, anything that advances the Playstation is good in my book. Being a loyal Sony costumer, I'll be getting this one. Gotta go check out the games of course. That's where it really matters.

Nintendo - Revolution
It's refreshing to know that Nintendo's sticking to videogames rather than trying to sell me a new computer/cell phone/microwave/back massager. I'm really liking the compact style for this system. It looks small enough to pop it into your backpack and go. The sideways stand seems a bit unnecessary, though. Also, I really like the idea of an online handheld, especially on a Nintendo system. Looking forward to seeing the controller and the specs. It's great to know that a company like Nintendo is still going, even with the gearheads at Sony and Microsoft competing. Of course, it's all about the games.

Microsoft - X-Box 360
While I don't own an XBox myself, and I don't plan on it, I'm still going to comment on the 360. It certainly seems like the 360 is going to be the leader in terms of online action, and why not? This is Microsoft after all. I find the system itself to look a bit dull, though. I'm expecting Halo 3 to carry the system on it's shoulders, much as Halo did for the original. I'll be getting a PS3 first, as that's my first loyalty, but it'll be interesting to see what the newcomer is going to give us on it's second time through.

As may be obvious, I'm a tad biased towards Sony, but here's my preliminary ranking.

PS3 > Revolution = XBox 360

As games come out, expect my crazy opinions to change.


Oh yeah, Animation Domination

1st The Simpsons: C
2nd The Simpsons: C
Family Guy: B+
American Dad: B+

*lays down some phat, block-rockin' beats, dawg*

Teen Titans - Episode 45: "TROQ"
Standard good action and animation. The moments where the Teens were idolizing Val-Yor were amusing. Val-Yor could be interesting if he ever shows up again. A decent episode, though a bit preachy on the racism thing. I liked the message at the end though. "Everybody has opinions. No matter how uneducated they may be, sometimes there's nothing you can do to change them."
Rating: B+

Power Rangers SPD - Episode 15: "Wired Pt. 2"
"Wired Pt. 2" was excellent. One of the best this season. Delta Command Megazord is frelling awesome. Digging the transformation sequence, with the employees and cadets running for cover. A shame to see the General get beaten, but at least it was at Shadow's hands. Sophie was much more interesting this time around and I'm willing to bet we haven't seen the last of her. Finally, Gruumm gets pised and returns Mora to her former self, Morgana.
Rating: A
Looks like Morgana's going to be the American version of Succubus. They've got the same tatoo and everything. Next week looks to be hilarious. They're actually using the DekaGold suit, but not in the way we were expecting. Can't wait.

Samurai Champloo - Episode 1: "Tempestous Temperaments"
I must say I was worried about all of the rap and hip-hop, but it worked out nicely. Clever use of it during action and as a censor. As I would expect of anything out of Production IG, the animation is top-notch and the action scenes were very fluid and fun to watch. The music works a lot to the action's benefit. I haven't seen the sub, but it looks to be a solid dub. We have Daniel "I'm not David Lucas, I swear" Andrews as Mugen, Kari "I was Haruko" on Fuu, and Kirk "I did Gabumon AND Anavel Gato" Thornton as Jin. The only thing I'm having trouble buying is Jin and Mugen's instant dislike of each other. I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Rating: A-
Line of the night:

Jin: "He doesn't know the meaning of restraint."
Mugen: "Kiss my ass."

No new W.I.T.C.H. this weekend. "Ghosts of Elyon" is next week and that looks good.

I'm off to Best Buy now to pick up the Gunslinger Girl Vol. 1 + Box set thingy. I'll throw in my opinion of that later, along with Trinity Blood Episode 2.

My Star Wars campaign plods along awkwardly. Threw a Chrysalis Beast at them today. Came close to killing one of them. The Jedi does some nifty moves and the Soldiers kick ass. The Scoundrel learns the ways of the Force. The absent Fringer, I don't know, steals stuff.

That last post was too long anyway.

Sunday. FOX. Animation Domination. Ratings. Now.

1st The Simpsons: didn't see this first one
2nd The Simpsons: B
Family Guy: B+
American Dad: B

Nothing really impressed me that night.

So anyway, I have a A- in my Advanced Algebra class, putting me in the top sixth of the class in terms of grades. Cool.

I introduced my nifty new Dwarven Marshall to D+D the other day and it's nice. I haven't done much with it besides attack and damage, but it seems to work out nicely in combat. Either that or my dice were just nice to me. The single dwarf in a party of dirty Elves bred a bit of hilarity as well. Here's the build, if you're into that kind of thing. http://www.3eprofiler.net/3ep/view.php?id=23295

That's it.