Jedi Junkies - Documentary Review and some Feminist Digressions

I was excited to get an email about a new Star Wars fan documentary, “Jedi Junkies”. Excited, but nervous. With documentaries about fans, you never know what you're going to get until you start watching. Sometimes the results are great, other times you know that a director saw an entire fan base of people to tap into for the sole purpose of making fun of them. A la, “Trekkies”, which was funny, but you can't help but feel as you're watching it that they specifically looked for some unstable fans to highlight as if they were making a Christopher Guest mockumentary.

So you'll pardon me for being nervous. I have a great sense of humor about being a geek. So it's not that I'm oversensitive. It's just that, if you seen one, “let's make fun of these weirdos” documentaries, you've seen them all. I'm feeling similarly apprehensive about the news that Morgan Spurlock will be making a Comic-Con documentary this year. Be wary boys and girls, that's all I'm saying. If you want to be in the doc, just know that it all gets shaped in the editing room later and if they want to make you look like a freak, even if you're not, they absolutely can.

But a few minutes into, “Jedi Junkies”, I was breathing a sigh of relief. This is not one of those documentaries...

More LOST Questions

Some of these I feel like I know the answers to and I actually have many more questions than are featured here, but this is an AMAZING start. Here's a list of some of the unanswered questions...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Sheer Genius

LOST Finale: The Morning After and 10 Unanswered Questions

Well, here we are. LOST is officially over. Like most fans, I'm left a little stunned by the finale. A little touched emotionally, in a good way, at having to say goodbye to some great characters and a historically significant show.

I'm also extremely frustrated.

What frustrates me the most? The fact that the writers (Lindelof and Cuse and many others that worked on the show) have prepared for my frustration. They're ready to shirk it off. For weeks they've been giving interviews and saying they wouldn't answer questions when the finale was over because they wanted the show to speak for itself.

Well, the show didn't speak for itself.

It was vague. Vagueity vague vague vaguerino. Vagueinstein. I'm sure they'll say that was the plan, to keep it open to interpretation. Let me tell you, a little of that goes a long way. I have six years worth of questions, six years worth of stakes in the story and the characters that are going to go forever unexplained. Not just because they weren't answered on the show, but because the writers are going to refuse to answer them. Probably in an effort to make people feel stupid. Maybe in an effort to save face.

Last night's finale was, "You just didn't get it." the episode. I can hear it coming now. Well writers, that's a lovely way to give the middle finger to an audience that sponsored your salary for six years, that cared about the characters you created. The very LEAST you can do is explain yourself if you can't explain the story.

But I did "get it". I got what the writers wanted me to get. Which was not much of anything except an overarching theme. I understand the character arcs, how they grew as people and why over the series. How they changed. Central themes. Relationships.

Here are some things I don't get...

The Top 12 Movie and Television Sets I Wish I Could Visit or Live On

I spend way too much time daydreaming about this topic. Sometimes my plan involves winning the lottery and faithfully recreating the sets myself. Other days I hotly debate the idea of an illegal break-in to a studio lot or private location that was once used as a set.

Having been on hot sets, I know they're full of tape and wires and lights and teamsters. So I guess more so what I'm talking about here would be more like a private playground of movie sets.

While none of those are practical, a gal can still dream. Believe it or not, narrowing it down to twelve was difficult. You may notice some overlap from my "Movies That Should Be Theme Park Rides" list from a month or so ago. What can I say? When I get obsessed with something, I stick with it.

In no particular order, they are...

To My Subscribers - May 20 Update

The light construction from yesterday will probably get fairly major over the next week. So hang in there as the format changes. It may take a few days to really get up and running. Thanks!

Park Geeks - Staying Cool (and sane) at the Magic Kingdom

Here is the Park Geeks Magic Kingdom mini-sode filmed as a part of test shooting in August of 2009. There will be some new content going up on our YouTube page this week, as well as over the course of the summer when filming for the new season, the first official season (oooh fancy), begins in June!

If the video...

Introducing the Black Widow - Did She Sink or Swim in Iron Man 2?

Here's the thing about action heroines on film, they work or they don't. Audiences will buy them right away or dismiss them as silly and unbelievable. The same thing goes for their male counterparts.

It's a tough sell to begin with, the idea of a costumed superhero. Audiences will make their decisions in about thirty seconds. Yesterday, I saw Iron Man 2, and Scarlett Johannson is on screen for almost the entire film as her secret identity, a buttoned-up hyper-intelligent assistant to Tony Stark and Pepper Pots.

When she finally showed up in her trademark black catsuit near the finale and started doing her real job? It only took me a few seconds to love it.

10 Happy Movie Tunes Guaranteed To Cheer You Up

If you're happy, or if you need to be, check the list below. If you are and you already know it, clap your hands.

Some of my choices are pure nostalgia. Others are downright random. But these are the 10 songs that can cheer me up instantaneously. (Plus, one bonus apology pick.)

I made a playlist on Spotify for just such a purpose, and many of these songs made the cut. Some of them have been with me my whole life. I remember listening to Angela Lansbury's Step in the Right Direction as I drove myself to college orientation. And Life's a Happy Song on my way to audition for Titanic. (I got the role.)

If you don't have your own playlist, I highly encourage you to make one. It can really come in handy. Until then, borrow mine.

RE: Betty White's SNL episode

Well, first of all, I'd just like to start out by saying...I told you so! All these long years, I've been going on and on and endlessly on about how legitimately funny, "The Golden Girls" was. Most people brushed it off as nostalgia, but a select few of us all these years have known and loved that show and all the actresses therein. Because it's a funny show. Truly and honestly funny. But then...I've gone on about that before. (See prior rant here.)

Betty White's timing and delivery are sharp as they've ever been, even at the age of 88. She is the model for aging well. A true legend, as evidenced by the appearance of so many SNL alumni at last night's show. They all came back to work with Betty.

White was phenomenal. Phenomenal. HOWEVER...