First of all, let me provide you with LARGE SPOILER WARNINGS !

Yes, I'm about to talk about Star Wars, Episode II, Attack of the Clones.... You have been warned.

I made fun of Ep. One when it came out and still I went to see it five times... I -must- see Ep. Two again ! Soon ! It was cool. No, it was pretty damn good, with a steady momentum (though too many men with under-developed senses of maturity would say the first hour is slow, stupid, or weird) up to one Hell of a finish. All of a sudden, you're sitting in the theatre and you realise that everyone has started shifting in their seats. Why? Because suddenly, they're getting excited. Really excited... and tense.

Yes, the love story is so played up it's almost cheesy, yes, the lines are sometimes... unlikely, and yes, someone should take the writing pen out of George Lucas' hand - but that wasn't so bad, because he had a co-writer that obviously pointed Mr. Lucas to a screenplay 101 book for at least a couple of important scenes. It was amazing how many men giggled through the love scenes, which were ripe with emotional tension, and how none of the women did. No, this flick actually appealed to its female audience. Anakin was believable as a 19 year old man with no experience in love, suffering the un-controled emotional swings of a teenager trying to figure out his place. I had an old friend in highschool named Max... Anakin IS Max, seven years ago.

The acting was a whole lot looser than it was in the last film and there were no immediately noticeable bloopers, at least not on a first viewing. It's funny, and it's dark, though arguably not as dark as it might have been. I still found it pretty dark. The slaughter of innocents is ALWAYS dark, you just can't get around that. The effects are so stunning, you don't find yourself saying, "Wow, that was an awesome effect," you just find it all... believable. Sure, there were the requisite Star Wars chase/race scenes, and ya, we've seen them before, but boy did it look good. The same with the make-up and costumes - perfect (with the exception of the nipple shirt, which was actually a pretty neat shirt, except I'd like it in a fabric a little more, um, substantial). Palpatine looks older than he did in the last one, a good deal older, Obi-Wan definitely passed for a man in his late 30s, and Padme had the poise (rather than stiffness) of a woman in her mid-to-late 20s.

Okay, so, let's take a minute to talk about the action. Holy wow. Ya, I missed Darth Maul, we all knew I would, but... well, this was damn cool and no one got cheesily cut in half. And Yoda kicks some serious Sith ass. My God, he moves fast - it was awesome ! Big guns, big light sabres, big fun ! Oh, and Jar-Jar really does only have a small part, fear not. And really, everything can be blamed on him. *joy*

Am I going to see it again? Probably VERY soon. I'll probably write more in depth about it when I do, as well, because, well, that's something I do.

As for the social activity of yesterday, it was good fun. It seems that Tanya, Carrie, and myself all have major blonde days, as did the wait staff in Java, with spilling, general not-too-swiftness, and slowness. But it was nice and fun to see people. I've missed seeing Tanya, she's an excellent conversationalist and a good friend. Hopefully, Carrie and I will converge upon her in London later in June. That is the plan.

Now, I have to put on socks, wander over and get my car, gas it up, and go uptown to get the keys to A&C's appartment so I can do some cleaning out on Sunday night while they're back in the Petes.