Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Let me clarify: I don’t actually hate Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I watched the movie three times in four days, and will surely see at least twice more before it leaves theaters. But even though I love the movie, there is one major aspect of it that distresses me immensely. Major spoilers ahead… Because…
It’s been a few days since we saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and our minds are still reeling. This movie added so much to the Star Wars universe, and opened up so many new mysteries. Here are the questions that are driving us the most crazy after seeing Episode VII. Some of these questions…
Ye be warned! Seriously. If you have not yet seen “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” do not keep reading. Get off your butt, go see the movie, and then come back and enjoy this mind-blowing analysis. This is a literary analysis. This is a literary analysis drawn from my own thoughts and…
Warning: Major spoilers ahead. Don’t read if you don’t want any details on the plot points of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Star Wars” is shallow and silly and campy and fun, and a dozen other synonyms that suggest we shouldn’t think about it too hard. I don’t usually—I watch “Star Wars” with an impressionist eye, the way I…
In one of the more visually stunning scenes of the new Star Wars movie, director J.J. Abrams creates a vast rally reminiscent of those Albert Speer organized for Adolf Hitler, replete with rhetoric glorifying a new kind of super-weapon. (Hint: It’s better than the Death Star!) A thousand storm troopers raise their hands in a…
Daisey Ridley as Rey, left, and John Boyega as Finn, in a scene from the new film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” (Disney/Lucasfilm via Associated Press) This piece is chock full of spoilers for “The Force Awakens.” Also, feelings. One of the downsides of trying to sum up the year in pop culture early in…
First, the good news: 2015 was a fantastic year at the movies. There were great original stories, sequels done right, adaptations that match their source material and more. But for every great movie, there’s a ton of bad ones too. Here’s our picks for the best and worst science fiction and fantasy films of 2015….
Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999. Keith Hamshere/Lucasfilm/The Kobal Collection END CLASS=”PLAYERWRAP” Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast END ID=”RES459877994″ CLASS=”BUCKETWRAP EMBED_PLAYER_WRAP RESAUDIO CLEARFIX LARGE” Unless you’ve spent the past year or so in an ice cave on Hoth — or have the misfortune…
START “MORE ON” SINGLE STORY BOX v. 2 END “MORE ON” SINGLE STORY BOX v. 2 Firmus Piett’s most memorable scene in the Star Wars series is the moment of his promotion. Standing silently in the background, he watches nervously as his boss, Admiral Ozzel, gets telepathically strangled by Darth Vader, the homicidal sadist everyone…
From Darth Vader coffee mugs to holiday sweaters with Chewbacca in a Santa hat, “Star Wars” has unleashed a galaxy of goods. Cash registers will ring again when “The Force Awakens” hits theaters on Dec. 18. The film could generate more than $9 billion in revenue for Disney and its partners, from cinemas to TV…