Stardust1138

Anakin Starkiller, I’m familar with some of these but not all. I’ll have a listen when I have the chance. I also meant to say Crisis? What Crisis? Is the name of the album not A Soapbox Opera. I always think A Soapbox Opera has the working of a great title for an album and get it mixed up.

Dek Rollins, they’re such a great band. It’s good to see some love for them!

These are classics too.

https://youtu.be/low6Coqrw9Y

https://youtu.be/VxPmb_pg6aw

Anakin Starkiller said:

Yeah. Either this thread or another one. I’m leaning towards this one to make it a catch-all.

Personally, I really don’t get the appeal of the Beatles, and to a lesser extent Queen.

Also 99% of hip hop is just bad. I don’t like hip hop. Just these annoying, repetitive snares and monotone vocals with the most needlessly crude lyrics imaginable. Yay, you do drugs and have been to prison! Are you proud of yourself?

I’d equally recommend Queen I. It’s a great album. I used to listen to The Beatles all the time as a teenager. Now I’m more into George Harrison’s solo work. I especially love his albums Somewhere in England, All Things Must Pass, and self titled George Harrison.

Another underrated band I see never talked about is Supertramp. I highly recommend their album A Soapbox Opera.

I don’t think it works because it undermines everything Anakin did of bringing Balance to the Force. I really wonder who “Uber” was in George’s treatments.

I think Snoke had the perfect set up to return in Episode IX and even be Plagueis. Especially as he told Kylo “You wonder why I keep such a rabid cur in such a place of power, a cur’s weakness properly manipulated can be a sharp tool.” He easily could’ve had himself “killed” to take himself out of the conflict as it divides the First Order further as Kylo and Hux clearly don’t know how to lead and with the Resistance already weakened it opens the door for him to invade the galaxy with the Knights of Ren, his army he was building up during the events of the PT and OT. All while searching for the secrets to immorality and perhaps the essence of Rey and Kylo could be that key as she’s the Light to Kylo’s Dark and together they must defeat him. You could even have him declare he and Palpatine created the Empire as a partnership after influencing a Jedi master to create a clone army all those years ago.

It even gives Finn the chance to lead a stormtrooper revolt.

The First Order and Resistance versus the Knights of Ren.

This ultimately keeps everyone’s legacy in tact yet adding the final layer of giving everyone a part to play in the final battle and defeating the ultimate bigger fish!

George Lucas
Andrei Tarkovsky
Larisa Shepitko
Sergey Bondarchuk
Ingmar Bergman
Akira Kurosawa
Hayao Miyazaki
Nancy Meyers
Sergio Leone
Alfonso Cuarón
David Lean
Alfred Hitchcock
Ridley Scott
Denis Villeneuve
Terrence Malick
Christopher Nolan

These are the ones that come to mind. I especially really love Soviet/Russian cinema. It’s filled with so much beautiful visual cinematography. I think the three Soviet/Russian directors I mentioned reflect that strongly in their works.

oojason said:

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott put on a great evening (he of The Housemartins and Beautiful South, with Jacqui of Beautiful South fame too) - a really good vibe and atmosphere, and will likely leave with a smile on your face.

They’ll change the tempos to some of the more popular tunes to keep things fresh and fun etc.

There are a few youtube videos of them live - in concert both indoor and at festivals etc.
 

Johnny Marr (of The Smiths, Electronic fame) also puts on a top show; superb guitar playing and a lengthy catalog of music to choose from 😉 Plus, he is getting more confident in his own right as a vocalist too. At times you may think he’s not playing live - as his guitar playing sounds the same as it does in the studio or for a single release - the man is that good.

Johnny Marr - Getting Away With It (6 Music Live October 2014)

Johnny Marr performing “How Soon Is Now?” Live at KCRW’s Apogee Sessions
 

The Specials and the The Beat (The English Beat in the US, and RIP Roger) are well worth catching if you can - great atmosphere at their gigs.

John Power (of Cast, and The La’s) is well worth going to - a top night out.

Dido was surprisingly good - just wasn’t expecting it (I wasn’t a fan, previously thought she was a little bland, and went as a favour for a mate), yet she great sense of humour & interaction with the crowd. Good voice and turned up the power and range as and when.

Jazz wise, Candy Dulfer (saxaphonist) puts on a good show - she a very strong band playing with her - modern, covers, funk, as well as some traditional.
 

For more modern stuff you’d have to ask someone else 😃 Though… The Tea Street Band, The High Dials, and The Cheap Thrills all put on a good set.

My apologies for the delay! I’ve not had a chance to listen as I don’t have high speed data for another few days but I’ll have a listen to these suggestions when I do! Thank you so very much. Always enjoy hearing new tunes and artists. Don’t worry about the modern stuff. There’s very few current artists I like. I’ll try to come up with some recommendations for you too and send it when I have data! 🙂

This feels appropriate. Haha

https://youtu.be/xChORIKcAcg

This is also a classic moment.

https://youtu.be/UixoYj1CheM

oojason said:

^ The 12th Timelord doing a half decent Bowie impression? 😃

(I like Craig Davidson’s outlook & humour on his old show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5zhExXiL8A)
 

Re the Manics, if you get a chance to see them live go check them out - they put on a great show, and some quality music too (when all this is over and things start to get back to a sense of ‘normality’).

Hahahaha. 😁 Yes!

I love this interview. Craig’s show is a gem and greatly missed. He interviewed Carrie quite a few times. I wish I could’ve seen Craig’s face when he got the news that Peter was doing it.

Oh, that’s great they put on a great live show. I’d certainly like to do so for sure. The Manics and Paul Weller are my top two British acts I want to see when I move across the pond. 🙂 Who else would you recommend seeing?

Rey’s Journey follows the Heroine’s Journey more than the Hero’s Journey but unfortunately it’s botched in the final installment a great deal. It’s more Kylo/Ben who follows the Hero’s Journey but in reverse.

One of the biggest problems with this trilogy I feel though is it’s not necessarily something we believe in anymore. It’s inclined more towards the Han Solo side of the story versus continuing on the path of the Force and Luke Skywalker aspect which is more spiritual.

The trilogy (and Disney era in general) is very modern and not as timeless as the two trilogies before it in a lot of ways.

The Heroine’s Journey:

https://m.mythcreants.com/blog/using-the-heroines-journey/

oojason said:

^ Love that song - and also Clapton’s cover of it too. Will have to give the album a good listen to in a bit 😃

 

Marvin Gaye - ‘What’s Going On?’ (live in 1972):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPkM8F0sjSw
 

or the official 2019 video:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5TmORitlKk
 

It’s a great one. Really enjoy Eric Clapton’s cover as well. Great tune your way too. I also enjoy Manic Street Preachers as you shared in your previous post. It’s such an interesting story what happened to Richey Edwards.

Here’s one for you. Any guesses who the singer is without reading the comments?

https://youtu.be/9P7e3PMear0

Love Comes to Everyone by George Harrison. Strongly feel it’s one of his most overlooked songs.

https://youtu.be/peTMq9lVBoA

DominicCobb said:

As misguided as TROS is, whatever George had come up with for the trilogy would have been 100% worse.

I doubt that very seriously. I think it would’ve been much better as at the very least he’d be following a broader story that is consistent. He always had an idea of where the story was going as even Steven Spielberg said in the 90’s that part of George’s process for the Prequels was part of his concept for the Sequels. The Rise of Skywalker has no sense of plot or story but feels more like a game of darts. You can’t say that for the Prequels. For all. The Disney Trilogy is essentially a modern take on the Original Trilogy.

NeverarGreat said:

I wouldn’t have cared if Rey was the cured love-child of Ahsoka Tano and Jar-Jar Binks as long as she got a consistent and well-written arc.

Absolutely. That’s how I felt after resigning myself to the fact we aren’t getting George’s story. Unfortunately The Rise of Skywalker botched her arc beyond repair while The Last Jedi at least pushed her away from merely being an audience insert character as she mostly is in The Force Awakens. She has emotional growth which is an important part of the Heroine’s Journey but it’s sacrificed and made into a clunky tug of war between two different visions. The whole mystery around her character was a mistake.

StarkillerAG said:

But we don’t really know if George would have wanted that. We know that he wanted the protagonist of the sequel trilogy to be a woman, but we have no record of him wanting her to be Luke’s daughter. I would be wary of making assumptions about that kind of stuff. All you have to go on is your own personal opinions, which can be biased.

Leia is a Skywalker too. So the granddaughter may not have been Luke’s.

Jett Lucas also implied as much after The Force Awakens when he compared it to the animated Anastasia film.

Even Pablo Hidalgo said the starting point of what George left them was about a girl Jedi.

These too.

https://youtu.be/z_nigIbJ9KM

https://youtu.be/viDu9SLvF_E

So it’s not really assuming but going off of what we’ve been told by George and others.

StarkillerAG said:

So basically, you’re saying that you wanted Rey to be a Skywalker by birth? Because if you are, then I don’t really agree with you. I wish they had just gone down the nobody route.

It’s what George would’ve done, so yes. It fits the estiablished lore and canon of what we learn from the Mortis Arc. In particular from Father, “It is only here that I can control them. A family in balance. Day with night. Destruction, replaced by creation.”

A random nobody doesn’t fit the natural direction the saga was going on but as its own thing away from George Lucas Star Wars it works just fine. I don’t get the thought from some though that say the Prequels change anything about anyone being Force Sensitive or not. We see a bunch of random Jedi and it resides in all living things. There’s nothing contradicting there.

So really there’s two Star Wars franchises for me now. The one from George which consists of the first six films and The Clone Wars and Disney Star Wars which consists of their produced content. It contradicts what we know sometimes but it still can be enjoyed and even loved mostly. For me personally that consists of The Last Jedi, Rogue One, and Rebels.

DominicCobb said:

I don’t think it’s accurate to say the series is about tragedy. Overcoming tragedy, sure. The “Tragedy of Darth Vader” was always bogus, the films themselves never supported that framing. I don’t see how the ST changes the saga’s meaning in any way, adds on to it sure but it doesn’t really contradict anything.

I’ll kindly disagree as I find it very tragic as we see a young man lose his way amongst a Jedi Order that suppresses his emotions and doesn’t try to help him overcome any of it. This leads him to having to hide and repress his feelings. All of which leads to the beginning of losing the ones he loves in his mother from his inability to let her go and ultimately his wife as he’s promised what the Jedi refuse to give him by Palpatine as a way of saving Padme from the same fate as Shimi. Even Qui-Gon, the only one who truly believed in him amomgst the Jedi was a significant loss in his life. All of this occurred under the backdrop of a crumbling Republic. By the time of A New Hope he’s a shadow of his former self as he’s become a slave yet again but this time to the Sith and Empire. We slowly see him trying to find his way again when he discovers he has a son and makes a plea for him to join him. Ultimately he is redeemed through the love of his children but not without tragedy along the way.

The Sequels change it from being about the Skywalker family to both the Skywalker and Palpatine family. Making a Palpatine the main hero of the trilogy really misses the whole overarching point of the Skywalker saga as a whole being the story of a family that happens to live in a galaxy far, far away. We can’t say for certain what George would’ve done apart from a few details that have come out but we can be assured it would’ve continued where we left off in a natural direction.

As he told StarWars.com last year for the 20th anniversary piece about The Phantom Menace, “Early on, it was that Anakin had been more or less created by the midi-chlorians, and that the midi-chlorians had a very powerful relationship to the Whills [from the first draft of Star Wars], and the power of the Whills, and all that. I never really got a chance to explain the Whills part.”

His story would’ve followed Anakin’s grandchildren and more than likely would’ve explored his legacy and the consequences of his actions through the grandson who falls to the Dark Side and the granddaughter who follows the Light Side to go along with exploring the more mystical aspects of their family’s existence.

And while the story of family is still there in the Sequel Trilogy it retroactively changes the original intention of it being about a family.

It’s very unfortunate we didn’t get the whole story.

This discussion reminds me of the open hatch on the Mllennium Falcon in Empire being a G.I. Joe in place of Lando when they’re rescuing Luke. Haha

Edit: It seems to be a white card according to the commentary.

It’s hard to say now with the Sequel Trilogy (particularly The Rise of Skywalker) as it retroactively changed the intention of it being a story of a family, tragedy, and redemption. It’s unfortunate we never got to see the conclusion with the grandchildren.

It’s really nice to hear Frasier is appreciated here as I’m so used to people saying Friends is the best.

Anakin Starkiller said:

I don’t watch sitcoms. I need some greater plot to be invested in or if standalone it needs to be more than just comedy.

Frasier has that with the relationships of the characters. I think you’d really enjoy it.

DuracellEnergizer said:

BB-Rey said:

And unrelated to George and Star Wars I’d say Frasier is superior to Seinfeld, Friends, and other sitcoms of its time.

This I can agree with mostly (I was never a regular viewer of Seinfeld, so I don’t know how the two compare).

I haven’t watched Seinfeld much either to be fair. However from what I have noticed I’d say Frasier has more of a linear sense of character growth throughout its eleven seasons and unique relationships as each character feeds off of another really well that brings out the best and worse in them. You really see the contrasts in ideals between Frasier and Marty, Niles and Daphne, Roz and Bulldog (even Noel), and other characters. I think what separates Frasier the most is that it feels more like theatre than that of a typical sitcom and how it has such a genius usage of humour that doesn’t play just for the laugh track. It never dumbs itself down for the audience which is unfortunately all too common.

Anakin Starkiller said:

The Force Awakens still holds up fine, IMO. Sure, it’s not revolutionary, but it’s a damn good time. The first chunk up until they meet Han and Chewie is absolutely phenomenal.

For sure! The first half and a good chunk of Takodana mostly work for me as there’s potential as to why the lightsaber calls to Rey and the rain sequence in the vision for examples. Although now these feel a bit too much like an empty mystery box. I also enjoy when the Resistance arrives and Rey pulling the lightsaber out of the snow later on Starkiller. I think my problem with The Force Awakens in retrospect is that it resets the state of the galaxy to Rebels and Empire 2.0 and our original heroes to basically the same starting points of the Original Trilogy. It’s not a bad film by any stretch but I can’t really enjoy it like I used to. I think for me at least it has to be seen as its own thing away from the macro story.

Anakin Starkiller said:

Funny you’d say that, as someone whose username is made up of reference to two characters from the Sequel Trilogy.

Haha, yeah! I used to really enjoy the Sequel Trilogy for what it is as I really loved Rey but unfortunately they botched her character beyond repair in The Rise of Skywalker. Lately I can’t really watch any of the trilogy apart from The Last Jedi. I may not think it understands the lore and canon it’s continuing entirely from the first six films but it at least feels like it’s trying to tell an interesting story that continues where The Force Awakens left off and that’s a film I feel doesn’t understand the macro story of the first six films in retrospect at all. So there’s no point in connecting the Sequel Trilogy and first six films together entirely.

This video really conveys my feelings on it almost exactly.

https://youtu.be/MCHg_j4jcFU

All and all I think The Last Jedi and Rogue One are the only Disney era films I can enjoy.

George Lucas is the most underrated and underappreciated filmmaker of our time. You can truly watch his films without sound and still understand the emotional context of the scene and piece together what’s going on with visuals alone. Not many filmmakers can do that. I also think despite what is said by some he did have a story to tell with the Prequels and it wasn’t just about telling the same story all over again or pushing the technology forward but about teaching us important ethical issues yet in a way that resonated with children. He always planned it this way as he saw the Prequels as the more social trilogy. I equally think his dialogue is very unique and like that of cinema of old. I’d rather have a vast imaginative clutter on screen with a million things going on like the streets of Mos Espa for re-watch value than nothing going on like Jakku in The Force Awakens. I appreciate his imagination and wanting to make each era of Star Wars different and unique. I’d rather see the Whills and Midi-Chlorians over the Disney Sequel Trilogy any day! Not to mention he gets too much flack for changing his mind. Every creative person is like that!

And unrelated to George and Star Wars I’d say Frasier is superior to Seinfeld, Friends, and other sitcoms of its time.

One of the beautiful things about the podrace is how it syncs up perfectly with the speeder chase in Return of the Jedi. The pods explode at the same second for example.

I also found this recently. The original arrival on Courscant!

https://youtu.be/-r4ucS1WhQc

Ordered Wild Strawberries and The Magic Flute by Ingmar Bergman and Wings and The Ascent by Larisa Shepitko. Really looking forward to diving into their work!