Down With the Sithness

I finally got to see Revenge of the Sith yesterday. It was well worth the wait because i got me the famed lazy and hellishly cozy seat in gateway's platinum cinema. panalo. free popcorn and drinks pa, with refills.

Tama nga sinabi ng mga kaibigang nanood na. daming cheesy lines. at masyadong ipinaliwanag lahat. Pero okay na rin; I'm not really complaining. Now that's done. Star Wars is done.

Now, what? Why, go back,
turn as I please.
My step is to the south.
-- Randall Jarrell

And to think I grew up on Star Wars. I think part of why I didn't want to see Revenge too soon was knowing sadly that it is the last. Naalala ko pa nung nakikipag-unahan ako sa SM City (ikalawa ako nakapasok sa Mall, ikalawa sa pila sa sinehan) para sa Phantom Menace. It was an odd sight: all those people rushing like Zergs, clambering up the stairs, not making any sound. Parang eksena sa Dawn of the Dead. At syempre, sa pila, daang-daang hapong-hapong Darths. It was beautiful.

You were saved because you were the first.
You were saved because you were the last.
-- Wislawa Symborszka

I'm on higher ground now. The view is good from here.

------------------

Lastly, from Ashbery's prose poem, "The System":

I know now that I am no longer waiting, and that the previous
part of my life in which I thought I was waiting and therefore
only half-alive was not waiting, although it was tinged with
expectancy, but living under and into this reply which has
suddenly caused everything in my world to take on a new
meaning. It is as though I had picked up a thread which I had
merely mislaid but which for a long time seemed lost. And all
because I am certain now, albeit for no very good reason, that it
was this one and no other...

jedi badiday

there's nothing remotely interesting about luke skywalker. he's just a wimpy, lame-ass version of his dad. i mean, anakin was d' bayaw!

the way i figure, luke didn't have to endure the kinds of pain and loss anakin endured. in A New Hope, luke returned to find his aunt and uncle killed and didn't seem as affected by it as he should. all he wanted was to leave, fly, je-die! he didn't actually lose anybody else; even obi wan was always around in his casper-like presence. at most, luke had abandonment issues.

but anakin's story is a lot different. you've all seen revenge by now, and it's perfectly understandable why anakin succumbed to the darkside. all these jedi, with their lofty counsel of control and discipline couldn't save anakin. he was tailor-made to follow the path of the dark.

and isn't that what revenge of the sith really wants to tell us? the logic of losing control? to let go of our emotions and feel? We should keep in mind that all this time, star wars is really anakin's story--his rise, fall, and, in the end, redemption.

make no mistake about it. luke was never the one. he was too wimpy for the dark side, too wholesome. nothing remotely poetic about it. pwe!

heck, they should have just given han solo a light sabre. he could've played the part better.

Perfect Blue Buildings -- Counting Crows

Just down the street from your hotel, baby
I stay at home with my disease
And ain't this position familiar, darling
Well, all monkeys do what they see
Help me stay awake, I'm falling

You got an atttitude of everything I ever wanted
I got an attitude of need
Help me stay awake, I'm falling

Asleep in perfect blue buildings,
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion
Try to keep myself away from me

It's 4:30 am on a Tuesday
It doesn't get much worse than this
In beds in little rooms in buildings in the middle
Of these lives which are completely meaningless
Help me stay awake, I'm falling

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion
Try to keep myself away from myself and me

I got bones beneath my skin, mister
There's a skeleton in every man's house
Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hang
on everybody
There's a dead man trying to get out
Help me stay awake, I'm falling

Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me

Song of Sand (Suzanne Vega)

If sandwaves were soundwaves,
what song would be in the air now?
What stinging tune
could split this endless noon
and make the sky swell with rain?

If war were a game that a man or a child
could think of winning
What kind of rule
could overthrow a fool
and leave the land with no stain?

Brook

The old dirt road will lead you to it, eventually:
a depression visible through the gaps among the tall grass,
the air terribly lonely where a bridge should have been.

The descent will be difficult. The banks are steep
and riddled with roots and insects and mud.
But the brook will be there--the daily chorus of rocks

gurgling the sweet water, the dragonflies balanced
curiously above the laughter of lilies and fish,
the visiting kingfisher, blue, chest puffed, proud.

Late this afternoon a letter arrived from some country,
some memory, some small movement in the soul.
It had nothing to do with the brook, but still

I walked out of the house to stare at the gathering night
and to weep for the little deaths--the day's demise,
the loss of color, the brook I will not visit in the darkness

nor come back to, ever again. Return is the tragedy of time,
rotting the spoiled places, inconsolable by presence.
We handle grief by moving. Distance makes it intense.