My thoughts on hunting and pollution

I'm on a good number of email lists for petitions, and I get a good number related to protecting animals.  I definitely support protecting wildlife.  What is depressing me is how much of the threat against these animals is from stupid things like hunting, or stupider things like corporate greed.

Let me start off with saying: I am a fervent supporter of gun rights and our second amendment in the United States.  I get annoyed at people who think that limiting our freedoms further will somehow result in us being safer.  Hopefully the logic there is obvious to you because that could take a whole other essay.  I'm just trying to make clear that I support citizens owning guns.

And I even tentatively support hunting... for food.  I still eat meat, so I'd be a hypocrite if I said it was okay to eat butchered animals but not hunted animals.  So long as the hunter is capable of killing the animal quickly so it doesn't suffer, and so long as the animal isn't of an endangered species, I'm okay with hunters hunting for food.

But sport hunting...  I get angry at the thought.  What a horrific sport.  Feeling pleasure and pride at killing something is disgusting.  Or just not caring at all and being willing to end life without it bothering you is a sign of a horrible person.  I despise trophy/sport hunting, and the people who do it are appalling to me.

The story of Cecil the Lion (wiki article) comes to mind.  I hope the guy who killed the lion has a miserable life.  He deserves it.  I hope Cecil's death makes it more difficult to trophy hunt from now on.

That selfish putrescent sack of feces who killed Cecil isn't alone.  There are whole industries around killing endangered animals.  Elephants and Rhinos hunted for their tusks and horns.  Tigers hunted because of some stupid superstition that parts of them can be used as medicines to help with vigor and strength...

What is wrong with people?  Are we that awful as a species that we're willing to let animals die for our entertainment, greed, or even just our sheer laziness?

Urban sprawl and fossil fuel use, along with the other toxic crap we just keep pumping into the environment... But we have big companies that need millions of dollars for their CEOs.  Why do a good thing making less money when you can do a bad thing to make more money?  Selfish sacks of rotting anus... I loathe those people.  Not only do they pay themselves ridiculous amounts while they screw over their own employees, but the do it at the cost of our world in many cases.  I'm tired of these people being such horrid pungent douche-bags.

We as a species are killing each other; other animals; and the environment itself in the name of greed and selfishness.  I just can't think of a solution.  It seems like the only way we're fixing this is if the people doing the most damage wake the fuck up and stop being terrible people.

My thoughts on Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens

A friend of mine is arguing with me in a chat window, to suggest that Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens is worse than the prequels (Episodes 1 to 3).  My gut response was "of course that's ridiculous... the prequels are supremely awful".  But I'm starting to wonder.  So here's my potentially meandering attempt at picking apart how I feel about the new entry in the Star Wars movie line up.

I saw The Force Awakens when it came out and then a couple more times in the theater, and then once more so far at home with the blu ray.  I had the same sense of hope I had when I first saw the prequels, but a different sense of worry.  When I first saw the prequels, my excitement overcame any other response, and I liked them at first.  Took me a while to think it through before I realized they were awful.  I was just happy for new Star Wars.

So when I watched TFA the first few times, I decided to hold judgement until time had passed.  I worried that we might be in for the same problems as before.  Thankfully, it's not exactly the same problems... but... there are problems.

From here on in, there are spoilers.  I can't imagine someone reading this won't have seen it yet, but I figure it's still polite to give the warning.

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Problem 1: It's a copy

TFA is a copy of the major plot points and characters of Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope... the original Star Wars.  You have a young person from a desert planet that was brought there by someone to tuck them away (Luke and Rey).  You have a swashbuckling anti-hero that doesn't want to be involved (Han and Finn).  You have a powerful fascist organization with a weapon that can destroy planets (Empire and First Order).  You have the powerful dark Force using bad guy that is trying to support their evil organization (Darth Vader and Kylo Renn).  You have a droid carrying vital secret information that both the good guys and bad guys are trying to get (R2-D2 carrying Death Star plans and BB-8 carrying some bizarre map that tells you where Luke Skywalker is... more on that later).  You have the heroes blasting off of the desert planet while escaping from bad guy forces.  You have the desperate Rebel assault on the big planet destroying weapon before it can be turned on them.  You have the seedy bar where the heroes are supposed to get help.  You have the force sensitive hero inheriting a lightsaber.  You have a major character dying at the hands of the evil force user with their lightsaber (Obiwan dying at the hands of Vader, and Han dying at the hands of Kylo).

That paragraph was getting long.  If you think about it, I'm sure you can think of more parallels.  But the point is that Episode 7 is a copy of Episode 4.  And they don't even try to hide it.  They joke about how the evil organization has another big planet destroying weapon.

I like the new characters.  They are interesting enough, and the actors did fine jobs with them.  But I think I'm unhappy about TFA being a copy of ANH.

Problem 2: The bizarre map

Yeah... really... I'm not even sure where to begin on this one.  One of the major plot points of the movie is that Luke Skywalker is missing.  And some family friend of the Skywalkers and Solos has found some clue that could lead to Luke's location.  Okay... reasonable enough I guess.  We don't know why he's missing or really for how long, but we know he's missing, and obviously he would be of some great help to the galaxy again.

What's the clue?  A partial map.  A map.  With what looks like a path between star systems.  It's implied Luke has been gone for a good number of years.  And it turns out the rest of the map is in R2-D2.

If Luke just drops out of his life and takes off somewhere, why did he leave a map to find him?  Why does the map show a path instead of a location?  How did he know how long it would be before someone came looking for him, so he could just hang out on the island waiting (the Force?  Why?  This makes no sense!)?  Why not just come back on your own?

If Luke didn't make the map (which would make a little more sense)... maybe it was the results of all those people who have been trying to track him down?  But then why does R2-D2 have a part of the map that is necessary?  The map can't have been made after Luke left if that piece of the map was given to R2 before he shut down for years.  Maybe it was a background process and someone uploaded a file to him?  ugh... what a crock.

This map is just stupid.  The clue SHOULD have been something like: one of our searchers found that Luke stopped at Planet A and used the library at City B.  According to the records he was doing research on an ancient Jedi Blah Blah Blah which is rumored to have been on Planet C.  We think Luke is heading for Planet C.

The map is stupid.  I want something better.  And it annoys me that the map is what they went with.  If there's something we don't understand yet because it'll be explained in episode 8 or 9... I'm still mad.  I'm happy about big surprising reveals, but the setup should make sense, so that when the reveal happens you can feel shocked.  With this map, it doesn't make sense to begin with, so if they explain it later my reaction will be an unimpressed "oh".  But if I had to guess, we're not getting an explanation.

Problem 3: Han's story

So this one is actually new to me.  This is the one my friend brought up that I hadn't really though enough about.  I might have realized it one day on my own.  But my friend gets credit for sharing this one with me.

Han's story arc across his four movies is handled stupidly in episode 7.  In episodes 4 through 6, we are introduced to a shady smuggler who apologizes for killing a man in a bar by tossing a coin to the barkeep.  Han shot this man because he knew Greedo was probably going to shoot him.  He had a reason.  But shooting Greedo when he did was a matter of convenience, and it didn't phase Han at all.  Han has killed before, and it doesn't seem to bother him.

He's hired to transport a couple people and their droids to another planet, and when things go sideways, he frequently considers if the pay is worth it to keep going.  And by the end of episode 4, we get to see this criminal grow a bit... he recognizes that friends might be okay to have.  And he risks his life to help them.  As the movies continue we see him jump into danger with his friends over and over again, and see him growing as a person.

Han Solo is an excellent character.  At the end of the original trilogy we see that what he wants most is to be with the woman he loves.  The last line of the movie is about Leia telling Han that there's nothing standing in their way, and then they kiss.  It's a great moment where Han has transitioned from immoral greedy criminal to heroic man in love.

And then in the story, 30 years pass, and The Force Awakens happens.  Han has grown older, and he's given up on his love.  He has (for years) gone back to smuggling with Chewbacca.  Leia is struggling to hold a rebellion together... still fighting and risking her life... and Han just leaves?  What a dick.  If he left because he feels like he failed with his son... still a dick.  Leia is dealing with the same emotional burdens, and Han ditches the love of his life?  What a dick.

There was zero need for the story to include Han abandoning Leia.  It didn't add to the story at all.  It wasn't necessary for the story either.  I would have loved to see Han and Leia standing together for the story.  There was no need to add in the weird drama of them meeting back up again after years of abandonment.

So, I'm angry that Han was so poorly written as a character.  You might wonder what I think of Han dying.  I think Kylo's lines were somewhat ridiculous.  That scene could have been written better.  But I agree that Han dying was a good addition to the story.  It served purpose and set up possibly my favorite scene of TFA where Chewbacca sees his best friend of more than 30 years cut down, and he goes berserk.  He tears through storm troopers and destroys more of the base with explosives.  He's a badass motivated by grief and he's unstoppable.  I love that scene.  It's unfortunate that the Han character story for the previous 30 years was so bad.  And it also makes no sense that Leia hugged Rey instead of Chewbacca when they got back to the rebel base.  ugh... anyway... Han.  What a dick.

Problem 4: The new characters

I'll start with: I like Rey.  Her character is interesting enough that I'm curious about the mysteries they wove.  And her personality works okay, though I'm a bit skeptical a person would wait 10+ years on a crap-hole desert planet thinking someone was coming back for them.  That part needs more explanation.  But I like the character well enough.

Finn is okay.  I'm amused by his social awkwardness (which comes from his being brought up as a storm trooper).  There are some funny moments.  So I'm okay with Finn.

The rebel pilot who's name I can't remember but who is supposed to be the best pilot in the rebellion... his best moment was at the beginning of the movie when he's being snarky to Kylo Ren.  After that... I just don't care anymore.  His lines become cliche things that don't really matter.  It's like they wanted him to have more time on the screen so they crammed unnecessary scenes in for him.

Kylo Ren... I can't figure out what I think of him.  I like that he has temper tantrums.  That makes sense for someone on the dark side of the Force.  I mean... Jedi are supposed to control their emotions so they don't take emotionally motivated actions that might actually be bad ideas.  Darth Vader is an awesome character, but he is in complete control.  Does he even use the dark side of the Force anymore in episodes 4 to 6?  He's calculating and controlled.  Even when he chokes an officer to death... he doesn't really seem that angry.  It's scary... but it isn't fueled by rage, greed, and obsession like I imagine the dark side to be.  Kylo actually brings an element of uncontrolled emotion that I like.  But... he's still too mopey.  Eh... I think I'm not a fan.

That guy in charge of the military for the First Order... whatever his name is... is too exaggerated for me to like the character.  The speech he gives before they fire the weapon to destroy a few Republic worlds is too over the top.  It broke my immersion in the story.  All I could think was: why is he shouting and frothing at the mouth?  I really don't care about this guy at all.  It wouldn't matter even a little if the character just disappeared from the story without explanation.

Snoke.  Could be interesting.  So far it seems like it might be just another copy from episode 4.  It's an emperor character.  But we don't really see him enough for him to be interesting yet.

Overall, I just don't feel invested in the new characters yet.  They really missed an opportunity to use the old characters to introduce the new ones.  Instead the old characters are just sort of there.  Han has his cool moment where he tells Rey and Finn that all the legends are true (I'll admit I teared up at that scene), but instead of drawing on the framework of characters that already exist to introduce the new, they started from scratch and gave us characters we don't have any reason to care about yet.  Yeah I think this was a really big missed opportunity.

Problem 5: Why is the rebellion still a thing?

That's a good question.  At the end of Return of the Jedi, the most powerful dark side user of the time who has manipulated events and struggled to build his empire gets killed, and the rebellion destroys the second attempt at a super weapon that would make controlling the galaxy through force and fear possible.  The empire just lost its leader and his second in command, AND they lost what must have been a ridiculous investment of time, money, and lives.  The movie doesn't spell it out, but it implies the empire is on its way out.

If you read the Thrawn trilogy about what happens after Return of the Jedi, a fairly interesting picture is painted.  The empire is falling apart until a new leader starts bringing them back together.  He's an incredible genius and he has plans for bringing the empire back to power.  Note that last part: "back to power".  It makes sense that hundreds of worlds tired of war and being controlled would jump at the chance when the emperor died to take off their shackles and kick out the jerks controlling them.  Obviously the rebellion still had work to do helping those systems kick out the remaining imperial forces, but the empire was falling apart.  And the New Republic was building up.

In the story line generated by Episode 7... somehow... after 30 years... there are like 4 Republic planets and the people resisting the gaining of power by an empire-like group is still handled by a rebellion.  Why the heck is the First Order not being smacked down by a huge well funded military defense force?  It's been 30 years!  Why is the New Republic not further along?  What is going on in this movie?  It makes no sense.

The First Order should be the small group trying to take power... not a huge group that already has power.

Problem 6: Starkiller Base

Speaking of things that make no sense, here we have Starkiller Base.  What a stupid thing to put in the movie.  Worst possible choice (though I suppose someone might think of something worse I haven't thought of).

Why did the bad guys need a planet destroying weapon?  Why not just make it a big moment when the First Order figures out where the main rebel base is, and then have them send a fleet to attack?  We get our big movie screen space battle, and the good guys are shaken from their seat of power... maybe they have to leave and find a new place to work from.  I don't know.  I just think the need for something that destroys planets was exceedingly low.

And then we bring in the logic.  Stars are big balls of power.  So much power that a planet submerge in the surface of the sun would be vaporized.  Right?  But somehow by taking a little at a time, they can squeeze that amount of power that would be going for billions of years into some kind of capacitor built into a planet?  That's nonsense.  It's so unbelievable that it broke my suspension of disbelief.  What a terrible idea for a super weapon.

But there's more.  When they fire it, it is moving slowly enough for people on a ship orbiting the base to watch it move.  So... slower than the speed of light.  But the claim is that it's a hyperspace weapon.  It's supposed to go fast enough to get from one solar system to another many light years away in a matter of seconds.  Sure... write license to make the movie prettier.  ugh.  I know it's space opera, but I need at least a little effort to make things seem at least plausible otherwise instead of enjoying a big moment in a movie, I end up sitting there with my brow furrowed while I exclaim the problems with what just happened.

The whole thing was unnecessary and illogical.  Making it be one of the climaxes of the story was a bad choice.

Conclusion so far

I'm realizing the movie has a lot of flaws.  Big flaws that are hard to accept.  I still feel some hope that episode 8 will come back in a big way and sweep me off my feet again.  But episode 7... I probably put it on par with episode 3 which was also very bad.  It's still not the shit pile of putrescence that are episodes 1 and 2.  But I guess my friend who says he likes the prequels more than TFA might not be too crazy.  I mean... a little crazy... but not completely bonkers.