Paper Flowers.

Watched some more of The Phantom Menace.

Good parts:

The conversation between Padme and Anakin was quite touching.

Samuel L. Jackson's awesome.

Ian McDiarmid's awesome. Seriously, the scene where he's manipulating Queen Amidala...be still, my heart! 

Bad parts:

-A tad boring, especially with the excess talking scenes.

-Queen Amidala's a little wooden. I know she's supposed to be royalty and thus dignified, but the monotony kind of gets...a little tiresome after a while.

-Jar-Jar's starting to wear on me. (Yeah, I said it. God help me. XD) I don't think he's the Antichrist, but I think you could have cut him out and the film wouldn't have suffered...much. That, or at least not having him talk like Stephen Fetchit. :/ It's just distracting.

Listening to the ROTS Audiobook again (yeah, I know. XD). My thoughts:

-Stover's really good at writing action scenes. From the space battle above Coruscant to the fight with Dooku, he does it brilliantly.

-Anakin's a woobie, per usual. Seriously, his reaction to finding Palpatine on the Invisible Hand made me want to hug him. Doubly heartbreaking considering Palpatine exploits his loyalty to create the Galactic Empire (which also makes it a rage-jerker. Didn't Palpatine even realize how much Anakin -- in a way -- loved him, or did he just not care? :/).

-Obi-Wan's awesome, per usual.

-Dooku's a douchenozzle, per usual. (Seriously, his indirect reference to, basically, his hatred of nonhumans kinda sorta pushes him into Asshole Victim territory for me. :/)

-Sidious is awesome. A jackass, but awesome. Especially his -- semi -- sticking up for Anakin. Huh. Maybe he does care for Anakin a bit, but has to play the villain in order to bring peace to the galaxy, twisted as it may be. (I could be wrong, though. :)

-Even though ROTS' novelization is darker than the original movie, bits of humor still sneak through, mostly kind of...British, for lack of a better word. For example, Sidious sarcastically thanking Dooku after Dooku goes on a long rant about why they can't associate themselves with Anakin (mostly regarding how repulsive his mechanical arm is. Did I mention that Stover's Dooku is kind of a walking douchequake? XD No offense to any Dooku fans, BTW).

All in all, great start for Stover, I say. :)

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-10-2011/arizona-shootings-reaction

Looking promising, really. :) Personally getting a crack out of John Oliver's PJs. :) Really interested in how Jon Stewart will handle it. :/

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/nash/wtfiwwy/29761-tainted-love

Good vid. Had to wince -- sort of -- at the bit about "if a woman's setting fire to your crotch, you've probably done something to upset her", but I guess...*Shrugs, facepalms a bit, then shrugs again*

(Hell, someone even pulled a What The Hell Hero on Nash in the comments)

Other than that boneheaded comment, the video was awesome. Some highlights:

 

-Nash's reaction to the guy who completely removed another guy's penis. (Seriously, I'm a girl and that made me wince in sympathy) Even though the story wasn't funny, he looked so aghast that it made me giggle. :3 (Really, that's why I watch the show: to see Nash being his snarky self. XD)

-The Running Gag with Stuff Blowing Up. Especially the exploding hot dog. XD

-Why does Florida always have to be a hive of batshit crazy? Just wondering. :/

-Stick Boy's attempts to hit on Lupa. Awww...seriously reminded me of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

And of course, Stick Boy hooking up with a stop sign at the end. And Todd getting possessive per usual. XD And...well, basically everything to do with Stick Boy and Lupa.

Fantabulous job, Mr. Nash, as always!

http://www.gifbin.com/bin/1233928590_citizen%20kane%20clapping.gif

(Yeah, that gif's never gonna get dated)

...and it was actually entertaining on this go round. (Eep! XD)

Some highlights:

-Jar-Jar was pretty cute, really. (Double eep! XD) I think the only problem is that he could have been taken out without impacting the plot or characters too badly. Or they could have at least rewritten him to be more entertaining and likeable. If I'd been writing Jar-Jar, I'd keep the slapstick to a minimum and mostly have him be...well, more like Chewie and less like...well, Jar-Jar. (And please lose the painful slang; it kind of breaks my heart. :( )

-Little Anakin was also cute. Jake Lloyd wasn't a bad actor; he mostly suffered from George-Lucas-trying-to-emulate-M.-Night-Shyamalan syndrome. Seriously, if Anakin was aged up a bit, the plot would have been enhanced a little. First off, Anakin's the protagonist, but because he's nine, he doesn't really get to do much. :/ Second of all, I'm not saying little kids should talk in baby talk, but let's say that some of Anakin's lines just...well, poor Jake Lloyd couldn't really get his mouth around them and that kind of brought him down. :( Lucas should have been producer instead, or at the very least, gotten some feedback about his dialogue. Such as, "Hey, George, this has a lot of potential, but the dialogue's kind of off..." (It's a good thing Lucas at least has a sense of humor about it. XD)

-Liam Neeson's made of win, but Qui-Gon...there's kind of a continuity issue. I think Qui-Gon belongs in an entirely different movie. I'm thinking in my hypothetical rewrite, I'd try to find a way to integrate Qui-Gon. I love Qui-Gon long time (XD) but let's say he just doesn't fit. Plus, removing him kind of allows Obi-Wan to do a little more. I think the real problem with The Phantom Menace is that there's a lot of talk and not enough people doing things. It gets people restless. And when your audience wants to turn off the movie and go and do something else, it's just death for your movie. :/

-I think Natalie Portman and Pernilla August were really the best actors in the movie. They just gave a lot of heart to their characters (which may be one reason why I didn't turn the movie off). Hell, at least the Phantom Menace has a degree of heart, even if it's pretty shoddily executed.


So bottom line, the real problem with the Phantom Menace isn't special effects (they're quite beautiful really), continuity issues, and so on and so forth. It's just a movie about people sitting around and talking, and not really doing much. It might as well be an Exposition Clinic. It does fit into the puzzle of the prequels in the end, but really, it deserved a little better. *Pets it* :)

Thoughts? Comments? Rotten tomatoes? Speak. :)