Saturday night was a combo of movies and TV for me. And a few thoughts came through in the watching.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace really isn't very good. I've always said it's not as bad as people have said, but maybe Saturday was the watching that finally put it in my negative view. The kid is a horrible actor. Jar Jar is the tragic comical character that isn't funny. Several of the aliens just seem like people in Halloween suits. What still stands out as great, for me, is the pod race through the desert (minus the two headed alien commentator). The rest of the movie is rather annoying.
After watching three episodes of the Discovery Network’s show, Frontier, I've come to the conclusion that it's a fairly unoriginal, average show. It's like someone stole the scripts for the pirate show, Black Sails, or the period spy show, Turn and decided to rework them into the fur trade. Half the cast really aren't all that good at acting and the writing is mediocre. I've enjoyed moments of the show. I like guessing which scenes were filmed in Newfoundland and, when there's action, it's a bit of fun. But as soon as people spend more than two minutes talking to each other, the writing just really brings it down.
Besides tv, I'm of two minds of the reactions to Fidel Castro’s death. I see Trudeau got some backlash for his complimentary and kind words for Castro. And I saw plenty on Twitter speaking of the hardships he brought on the Cuban people.
But at the same time, Cuba and Canada have always had a kind of unique relationship where things were always relatively friendly. Canadians are often going to Cuba for vacations and several of our political leaders had a fairly close rapport with Castro himself.
Bottom line, I think the day a 90 year old sick man dies is not the time to go about lambasting him. In reality, Castro has been irrelevant to Cuba for quite a while now. His death doesn't suddenly bring great change to the nation. Sure, in the coming months, go ahead and be critical of him. Let history speak for itself. But immediately after his death, such criticism just seems cruel and in bad taste. And it's definitely not the right way to go if the western world really wants to bring Cuba into a more free political era. After all, it is still a Castro in power. Badmouthing his brother is likely not the best first step of that new era.
Nostalgia
How much is too much?
I’ve found myself becoming more drawn to the old. TV shows, old games… old memories.
A few weeks ago, I was delighted to watch a few episodes of Three’s Company.
In the movie, A Christmas Story, Ralphie Parker’s greatest Christmas gift is a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and "this thing which tells time”. Well my greatest childhood Christmas gift was a video game. Tandy’s Cosmic 1000 Fire Away game.
I still have my Fire Away. But it doesn’t work any longer. But at about the same time as I was sitting in front of the tube, engrossed in my Three’s Company watching, I found that my greatest Christmas gift is now in App version. Of course I paid the few bucks to own it again. And I can return to my Red Rider BB gun days by simply picking up my iPad or phone.
And now, in my surfing around the internet, I’ve found that Atari has an all in one console… with 101 games built in… and I’m tempted to ask for this for Christmas! (Santa… that’s the Atari Flashback 7… available at Amazon but also at Urban Outfitters Canada for around $25 less!).
I mean I have a PlayStation 3 with several games… and I haven’t played any of them for the last five years. But the thought of returning to the days of playing Jungle Hunt, Asteroids, Frogger and Yar’s Revenge… all in 8 pixel, 1980s glory… well it all makes me long for the days gone by, that’s for sure.
Perhaps this is something that comes naturally with age. I mean my father can clearly tell me stories of some seventy years ago… where you can tell that every image, every texture, and every smell is crystal clear.
And I’ve always been a nostalgic person. There isn’t much from my past that’s been thrown away. Every ball glove I’ve used. Every action figure and teddy bear. Cases and boxes of dinkies. They’re all somewhere either in my Ottawa home or my parents St. John’s one. And I do already own DVDs of WKRP in Cincinnati, Gilligan’s Island, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. And most of the music I buy is now in vinyl record form rather than download or CD (though the perfect is the vinyl with a digital download included, so the music can still get onto my phone).
But I wonder if I'm sliding deeper into the memories of decades past. Has the cold and confrontational world we live in drawn me back to simpler times? Could terrorists be the reason I was happy to sit with Three’s Company? Could Donald Trump be the key to my Atari desires? Or is this all a natural form of aging?
I suppose I’ll know it’s a real problem if I find myself on Amazon, searching for pacifiers… or begin to consider giving up my current bed for something more along the lines of 1970s bunk beds.
Until then, I’ll return to Atari dreams, and clue this up for a session of iPad Fire Away.
