Guardians of the Galaxy 2 = Empire Strikes Back. Well not exactly but here are 11 plot points in common...

1. The "team" splits up.
Quill, Gamora and Drax go on a trip without Groot and Rocket. Just like Han, Leia. Chewy and C3PO went on their own adventure while Luke and R2D2 went to hangout out with Yoda.

2. There's a big chase scene through an asteroid field.  Pretty simple, but there are asteroid chase scenes in both movies.

3. One team hangs out in a natural forest after their ship crash lands there.
Rocket, Groot and Nebula are in the forest repairing their damaged ship.  Luke and R2D2 are on Degobah where they crash landed.

4. While the other part of the team goes to a wonderful place and is in the lap of luxury.
Quill, Gamora and Drax go to Ego's planet, which on the surface appears to be paradise. Han, Leia, Chewy and C3PO literally go to a city that floats in the clouds.

5. The paradise is not what it seems. Ego and his planet try to kill Quill and his team. Darth Vader is waiting for Han and company in the Cloud City. Whoops on both counts.

6. The forest team tries to rescue the part of the team in paradise. Rocket and co. go to Ego's planet to try and save Quill. Luke goes to the Cloud City because his friends are in trouble.

7. The main character has daddy issues. Quill's dad Ego wants him to join him and take over the universe. Luke's dad Darth Vader wants him to join him and take over the galaxy.

8. Both the dads killed the main character's mom. Ego killed Quills mother with cancer. Darth Vader broke Luke's mom's heart when he turned to the Dark Side, which killed her (somehow. Of course, Padme had to have known Anakin had some anger issues, he did kill all the Sand People, even the women and kids).

9. A bad guy turns out to really be a good guy deep down. Yondu turns out to not be too bad of a guy. Lando turns out to not be too bad of a guy.

10. There's significant loss for each team. Yondu dies. Han is frozen.

***SUPER BONUS THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON***

11. They are both sequels that at least some people think are better than the first movie in their respective franchises.

I really hope there are teddy bear looking aliens that turn out to be cold blooded killers (Ewoks) in the the 3rd Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

May the 4th Be With You, Always

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - spoilers ahead.

The Force Awakens v A New Hope: 18 plot points are the same. EIGHTEEN!  JJ Abrams pulled a Wrath of Khan with the Star Wars franchise. By that I mean, we shouldn't be surprised that JJ Abrams borrowed heavily from A New Hope and the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. He remade Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (and called it Star Trek: Into Darkness) and no one called him on that so why not recast and tweak A New Hope?  

To be clear, I liked Force Awakens OK. It's just startling how much they based the story on the original movie. 

Remember how geeked you were when you 1st saw the #StarWars Phantom Menace trailer? Just saying, let's see the new one before we decide it's great.

Awesome Star Wars Flickr Page

Here's the link to this great Star Wars themed Flickr page that a friend of mine forwarded to me.

May the 4th Be With You

In honor of Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you, you get it?) here's some Darth Vader funnies

Speaking of Star Wars...

Patton Oswalt did a great, hilarious improvised bit that was Star Wars/Marvel-centric to say the least on Parks & Recreation:

Greatest Custom License Plate Ever? Uh, Yeah...

iphone photo(s) - Star Wars Is Back - New Movies Coming Soon

Liam Neeson Is Funny

Just saw the movie The Grey starring Liam Neeson.  Sure, he's a great actor but, did you know he's also hilarious?  Check him out on HBO's Life's Too Short and on SNL.

iphone photo: Lego Superdestoyer

Blasphemy: Star Wars Episodes I-III better than IV-VI?

That's what one daring author recently wrote and  defended in an article.  Good arguments made.  Of course he's flat out wrong but, kudos for taking a contrarian position and running with it.

This...Is...Awesome!

Star Wars (Episode IV, A New Hope) was remade/pieced together using, at a max, 15 second fan-made clips by Casey Pugh at Vimeo.com.  I now have a reason to figure out how to hook up my laptop to my TV.  Again.  Awesome.

 
Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Jedi Listed as Religion in Census

The Czech Republic's recent census revealed that many more people than you'd think listed Jedi as their religion.  And there's even an official website for them and their religion.

Simon Pegg & Nick Frost's Take on Star Wars Scene

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Real Top Grossing Movies of All Time*

(*adjusted for inflation)

The asteric above and what it means are important, at least to me anyway. It's been getting on my nerves that Titanic is always declared the box office king year after year and now Avatar is number 2 on lists of the top grossing movies of all time. Lists that rank Titanic number 1 (and now Avatar has been declared to have over taken Titanic) neglect to adjust the box office receipts for ticket price inflation which of course makes a huge difference.

Comparing movies' receipts without adjusting for inflation is, for example, like equating a millionaire's buying power today with the buying power of a millionaire back in 1950. Sorry, it doesn't quite work that way. I'm not an economist or anything but, I'll go out on a limb and assert that a million dollars back in 1950 was worth just a little more than a million dollars today.

So, if you adjust ticket prices for inflation you get a ranking based of what each film made if each movies' tickets had been sold for an equal price. Or, in other words, you get a list reflective of the total number of actual tickets sold.

At least 2 different sites (click here or here) have a good list of the top grossing movies of all time adjusted for inflation. Guess where Titanic is. It's number 6 behind such movies as Gone With the Wind and Star Wars. Avatar is number 27.

Below is a good list of the top 10 movies adjusted for inflation:

Rank Title                                  Adjusted Gross                             Unadjusted Gross
1 Gone with the Wind                   $1,485,028,000                             $198,676,459 
2 Star Wars                                  $1,309,179,000                             $460,998,007 
3 The Sound of Music                   $1,046,753,000                            $158,671,368 
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial          $1,042,629,400                            $435,110,554 
5 The Ten Commandments            $962,850,000                               $65,500,000 
6 Titanic                                        $943,342,300                                $600,788,188 
7 Jaws                                          $941,379,300                                $260,000,000 
8 Doctor Zhivago                          $912,395,600                                $111,721,910
9 The Exorcist                              $812,679,700                                 $232,671,011
10 Snow White and the...             $801,150,000                                 $184,925,486

"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."*

*of course that's a quote from your favorite little green alien and mine, Yoda from Star Wars.

Well, looks like Yoda was wrong again-don't forget that Anakin/Darth Vader turned away from the dark side right before he bought the moisture farm in the sky. A conservative blogger has broken ranks with Emperor Limbaugh and Darth Beck. Charles Johnson, writer of the blog LittleGreenFootballs.com, has "parted ways with the Right." Read his reasons, in his own words, here.

Too Soon?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Yeah, probably.

But, a little levity sometimes helps an otherwise solemn, serious situation or in this case past occurrence.  

"Always Two There Are, a Master and an Apprentice"*

*Yoda - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Both HSB and Andrew had good, but not quite correct, guesses about the Star Wars themed cartoon about Limbaugh and Beck. So they each get half a star and an honorable mention. By the way, keep the ideas coming, I may use them here in the near future.
An article on Politico.com titled Glenn Beck vs. Rush Limbaugh inspired the above cartoons. I couldn't decide which one to go with so I drew and posted both, although I think I like the Darth Maul one best, what do you think?
What made me think of the Star Wars theme cartoon idea regarding Limbaugh and Beck after I read the Politico.com article? Answer: Limbaugh and Beck are two peas in a pod, with Beck copying and learning from the master of fear mongering, Limbaugh. Beck's modus operandi is almost a step by step recreation of Limbaugh's early ventures after Bill Clinton was elected. For example:
1) TV and radio show? Check. (I remember when Rush had a TV show in the early 90's)
2) Write some books? Check.
3) Criticize a new Democratic president's every move? Check.
4) Pander to the least common denominator through lies and fear mongering? Check.
5) Laugh all the way to the bank? Check.
And that's the thing, both Limbaugh and Beck are experts at fear mongering. The Politico.com piece quotes a GOP strategist that says that Dems and Limbaugh should be afraid of Beck. I think not.

Quick thoughts on why Dems are not/should not fear Beck is that he, like Limbaugh, thankfully appeals only to the hardcore GOP base. And Limbaugh shouldn't be afraid because, let's face it, he's Limbaugh and is still in a league all his own when it comes to inspiring fear.

One last thing that the above cartoons made me think of given both Limbaugh and Beck's use of fear as their stock in trade:

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
-Yoda, Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Side Note: I've noticed on the comments sections of many articles folks expressing their worries and fears at the tone of some protesters.

Then, the response from some is that "liberals" don't believe in free speech when people are criticizing a Democratic president. That's not quite correct.

Let me point out the fact that those extreme, wingnut protesters can freely express themselves, albeit in vulgar and hateful ways, demonstrates that the freedom of speech is alive and well in the USA. Protesters can actually compare Obama to Hitler, for example. It's actually protected free speech. I get that. "Liberals" get that it's protected speech. But, folks can also express their thoughts about that type of hateful, extreme speech. You see, it's a two way street.

Some don't seem to understand that if they are going to express an extreme or false or hateful sentiment others also have the right to express their thoughts about those who would express extreme or false or hateful sentiments. It's called the marketplace of ideas. In fact, I really believe the more some people, like wingnuts, express themselves, the more they are revealed to be extremists, alarmists, delusional and hateful for hate's sake and therefore hurt their "cause" or "causes". By the way, some of those extremists seem to follow fear mongering talking heads like Limbaugh and Beck (there's the tie in to the above cartoons).

Here's another example, wingnuts can express their belief that Obama was born in Kenya. And I can express the view that those "birther" wingnuts are sad, delusional morons. The wingnuts have the right to express themselves freely and so do folks, like me, that want to criticize them. Ain't it great?

Some Thoughts Before the Weekend On: Racist Witch Doctor Posters; Tea "Party" ; Beck vs. Limbaugh; O'Reilly Shocks; Dems Push Back

Some things that got me thinking that you may be interested in checking out before the weekend:

First, a CNN piece discussed posters depicting Obama as a witch doctor seen at the 9/12 protest in D.C. with some discussion as to whether the posters(and those holding them) are racist. This is not the first time this poster has made news. I made my thoughts known regarding this racist poster here on PTN way back in July. Think of it this way, what kind of posters would they be carrying if the president were Mexican-American? Jewish American? Asian-American? Or, gasp, of Middle Eastern descent? Sure, using stereotypes for a race or ethnic group happened often to Irish and Italian Americans(see below), for example. But, that was during the late 1800's and early 1900's for the most part.

(anti Irish propaganda titled The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things, from Harpers Weekly)

(anti Italian propaganda from The Mascot newspaper)

Moving on, Time did an article about Glenn Beck (I still don't understand how people can take him seriously). Time! How much more mainstream media (or "MSM", that's what some conservatives call "mainstream media" even though "mainstream" is one word so it should be MM, jeesh, they can't even get initials right) can you get? Remember, Beck trumpets the Tea Party. Beck was behind the 9/12 protests. Look at Beck's site the912project.com, if you scroll to the bottom it's owned by Mercury Radio Arts, Inc., Beck's company (by the way, and I'm sure someone's already called him out on this but, really classy on Beck's part using the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to help promote his 9/12 protest attended by at least some wingnuts). Here's a thought, if the Tea Party is going to continue to call itself a "Party" that means it should put up its own candidates. Would a real third party in the form of the Tea Party be a bad thing? I would think it would be a good thing for the Dems and a bad thing for GOP'ers. Why? Do you think Dems would lose votes to a new Tea Party political party and its candidates? Or would GOP'ers? Or if GOP'ers embrace Tea Party ideas how many independent voters do you think they'll get? Remember, only about 30-35% of Americans consider themselves Republicans. Also, recall if you can the Independent Party when Ross Perot ran for prez in 1992. How did that work out for H.W. Bush? OK, I'm done ranting about this.

Next topic, Politico.com has a piece about Beck vs. Limbaugh (oh, don't worry, there's a cartoon forthcoming about that, it'll be Star Wars themed, if you guess the general idea of the cartoon you get a gold star from yours truly and a mention when I post the cartoon). In the piece a GOP strategist says that Dems and Limbaugh should be worried about Beck. I disagree, see my thoughts above regarding what an actual Tea Party as a political party would mean for the Dems. And not that I care one way or the other but, Limbaugh has nothing to worry about regarding Beck's popularity.

Also, Bill O'Reilly is for the public option?!?!?! (spit take, shake head, rub eyes, pinch self) OK. Kinda. Maybe. HuffPo has the actual conversation O'Reilly had regarding the public option on its site.

And lastly, the Dems are actually pushing back against some of the outlandish assertions being made about health insurance reform through a new site. Well, would you look at that? The Dems finally got hit enough in the nose on this (death panels for example) that they finally decided to stand up for themselves. This is what it must feel like for a parent when their kid stands up to a bully.