xphiles

Not Actually Blogging about Episode Three...

... but for me, the most powerful moment of the movie, indeed of the whole prequel trilogy, was Yoda's statement, "Failed have I."  (Or words to that effect.  Only seen it once.)  Sure, it has immediate application.  He didn't hand Palpatine's posterior to him.

But the Sith couldn't have pulled it off if the Jedi hadn't been asleep at the switch, no?

And when Yoda said that, I thought back to Ep I: "Fear leads to anger.  Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to... suffering."  And all the detachment stuff for Jedi in Ep II & III.  So, now I am conceding that it is beyond lame to make hypothetical what-ifs about a movie world.  But I have also conceded that I can be quite lame.  So maybe if the Jedi hadn't been so unwilling to enter into suffering with the Republic they were supposed to love, they wouldn't have failed.

</fanboy lameness.>

Sheer, Unadulterated Genius

Heh.

You will click here, read, and be amused.  It will proceed as I have forseen it.

It is your destiny.

Strength and Weakness in Harmony

Just finished reading The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, an interesting set of essays.  Sort of on the level of "philosophy for dummies," it's a fun read, but not exactly challenging.  One of the essays, though, sparked some interesting speculation for me.  It's an attempt to compare and contrast Tolkein with Zen and Taoist ideas.  Now, they're not claiming Tolkein is Taoist or anything nutty like that.  But it does raise some fruiful questions, particularly when looking at the Taoist idea of yin and yang.  The author comes up short, I think, but provided an interesting departure point for some theological reflection on power, weakness, force, sacrifice, and the theological concepts of Law and Gospel.

May It Be Right and Salutary

Ah, George, you've bitterly disappointed the faithful twice in a row now...

May 19th, 2005, Mr. Lucas.  Please don't let us down.

Link warning: Quicktime movie.  High bandwidth.

Staying away from The Passion

I think I've decided that I'm not even going to try to make the time to see "The Passion of the Christ."  I haven't been able to see it yet, but to be honest, I haven't really wanted to.

Over at Signposts, I found out I'm not the only one who feels this way...   I'm not saying that the movie is bad, or that Mel Gibson is evil.  But I just don't want to see it.