#we shoulda just had her teach me right handed but alas

[cerealmonster15]

hhhrhrhggh i still dont really understand when doing things left handed for crochet does and doesnt make a difference but i think i def messed something up just now 😒 so whatever guess it's just gonna have to look a lil funky

[dpargyle]

Thoughts on the Last Jedi

OMGs so many spoilers!!!!! Also it gets a lil NSFW and super dweeby at the end…. (proceed at your own risk)

So I just got back from The Last Jedi and -

I have so many EMOTIONS!!!

Lemme at least attempt to go through this chronologically…

“The First Order reigns.”  I got goosebumps from that opening sentence of the opening crawl.  It was like, yup – pretty much the feeling in the real world rn too hahahaha *sobs*

That whole opening space battle scene – ahhhh!!!!  I loved so much about it – I especially loved how quickly Rian Johnson (the writer/director) was able to establish Paige Tico’s character – make the audience care about her and then boom she’s gone and I knew she was a goner as soon as they introduced her at Celebration but still it hit me right in the feels – like damn the sacrifices the Resistance is forced to make

At long last we got back to Rey and Luke on Ahch-To and I love how he doesn’t even say anything – he just flips the lightsaber over his shoulder like “thanks, I hate this!”

And then Rey follows him around like an adorable lost puppy for days and days and days and I was like awwww!

Speaking of which – I really liked how Daisy Ridley played Rey this time around – not so naïve (although I loved happy go-lucky, plucky Rey from the Force Awakens) – but she’s grown now – she’s seen some shit – and so as a result her character is a little more galaxy-wise and wary – which I think fits – though we see some of that lighter Rey sprinkled throughout the narrative – the “reach out” moment which I thought was pretty damn hilarious…

As for the new characters – oh my – how I love Rose.  She’s this fan girl who’s suddenly grieving and then one of her heroes shows up and she’s all ready to fangirl but then he severely disappoints her but she doesn’t even hesitate – she stuns him – like yeah, she’s excitable and incredibly sad but she’s still gonna do her damn job and I loved it.  And we see her grow and mature throughout the film and learn to trust Finn again – and the end where she saves him and then she says “we can’t fight what we hate – we have to save what we love” and then she snogs him and I was like HELLLS YES!  What a bad. Ass. Character.. I love her.  #protec I already liked the sorts of things Kelly Marie Tran was saying from the press tour – but she brought this character to life and now I have EMOTIONS.  

So yeah, I’m totally on the FinnRose ship now since Disney are cowards and Stormpilot is never gonna be a thing ☹ (though I did appreciate when Finn and Poe finally meet up again Finn literally squirts on Finn lmao (I’m sorry I have a dirty mind!)  so I think that’s the closest we’re ever gonna get hahaha)

I loved how Canto Bight really illustrated this incredible gap between rich and poor – so similar in our own world right now – and Rose’s rage at this injustice – “I just wanna punch straight through this beautiful, ugly terrible town.”  (First off – what a line.  Second off that sounds like something Leslie Knope might say hahahaha) Rose was given some of the best and most poignant lines.  

Also – the focus on the little children slaves – fuck, that was crushing.  And the Fathiers – how their coats were bleeding from the whips and the lashes – damn all so heartbreaking.  I’ll get back to the little slave boy at the end – as I think there’s so much going on in that final scene.

Back to the Force montage on Ahch-To with Luke & Rey – damn I love how Johnson elaborated on the Force – showing us what Rey was seeing – such beauty.  Such resonance.  Kinda reminded me of those BBC nature documentaries (The Planet, etc…) – the beauty and savagery of nature – personified in the Force – ughh so frikken powerful.

As for Luke – his scene with Artoo was the best.  Artoo shows him young Leia pleading for Obi-Wan and Luke’s all like “you’re not playing fair” and Artoo basically gives him this shit eating grin and oh gods so good – this is why Artoo continues to be my fave. Character.  He is the best.  Doesn’t even have to say anything.  Like yes!  Damn! Ughhh!

Then Luke’s scene with Yoda’s force ghost!!! As soon as you saw that little profile and the ears I was internally going like !@@!#$%&^%!@#$%%@$ and then he just blows up the tree like HaShem in Exodus and you’re like lmao – and he literally tells Luke “Rey has all the knowledge from the Jedi Texts with her already” – then if you fast forward all the way to the very end of the movie when everyone is on the Falcon – Finn is rummaging through a bunch of drawers and if you blinked you missed them – but the texts were in there!  Rey up and stole them hahaha – amazing!  And Yoda knew too!  Ugghhhhhhh I love these characters!

Alright.  Now on to the really big stuff.

Holy crap. Snoke is dead.  HAHAHAHA!  Ren turned out to be the BIG BAD of this trilogy.  I guess I shoulda seen that coming, but tbh I was absolutely gut-wrenched. I thought he and Rey would join forces and become gray force users and have babies and it would be beautiful, but it was not to be.  When they were fighting Snoke’s red guards I thought that would happen but then Ren is so full of hate and greed he can’t see anything else – he’s dead inside.  He can’t see a path to redemption.  He doesn’t even ask for forgiveness.

Yes, I know – for the last several months I have been a Reylo.  I really wanted them to get together.  And when they were force-touching hands I really thought they would – but then this asshole goes and

Decides to tell Rey she’s nothing????  Like what? No.  No, no, no.  You don’t tell someone they’re trash but they mean everything to you.  Like I sorta get what he’s trying to say but he’s being super manipulative.  Is that what gaslighting is?  

Like fine you murdered Han Solo.  You blew up Akbar.  AKBAR! But you will not insult Rey.  No.  That is crossing a line.  Maybe he wasn’t even consciously doing it – maybe he thought he was praising her – but really he was just trying to convince her she’s nothing without him.  He allowed his rage to rule him.  

I’m sorry people who still might see them together – but I no longer do.  Rey doesn’t need Kylo’s bullshit.  She gave him a chance at redemption and he denied her.  She realized she can’t save him – and I think that’s an incredibly valuable lesson to teach young girls.

I’m sorry if that offends some people on the Tumblrs – and you’re totally entitled to your opinion – I’m not gonna be a dick about it (it’s not my way) – but respect that I’ve changed my mind.  

As a side note – I think it’s kind of hilarious how whoever the hell Snoke was and who Rey’s parents were don’t even matter!  All those theories!  All the mental anguish we put into discovering how everything connects to older characters!  But it doesn’t.  Ha!  We deserve it!

Luke made a mistake trying to take out Kylo, no doubt, but Kylo has to be responsible for his own actions.  I think that’s what Johnson was trying to say – sure he might have been neglected, abused, and then manipulated by Snoke – but ultimately he had the power to choose – and like so many young men in this day and age – Ben has chosen hate.  Rey has chosen hope.

And I choose Rey’s path.  

The darkness might reign right now.  But the light is strong.  And it can burn in us all, if only we allow it to ignite within us.    

Sure, the Jedi have a legacy of failure.  But as Yoda said, “Failure is the best teacher.”  Don’t I know it.  Failure is painful.  Failure sucks.  But that doesn’t mean we burn it all down.  We can rebuild.  We can grow. We can make new the old.

The Jedi can live again.

And that gives me great hope, kids.  

Great Hope.      

And now, Luke and Leia.  

I….

I can’t even…

This woulda been emotional enough with Carrie Fisher still with us – but now that she’s gone…

“Nobody’s really gone.” – Luke.  That last conversation – just the two of them – Oh man, I’m not a crier but sometimes I wish I was.  So powerful. So important.  So cathartic.  Funny. Sad.  Bittersweet reconciliation.  Imperfect people, imperfect goodbye – but a perfect scene.

I feel like we all needed that.  Or I did anyway.  

And then….Luke dies.

Luke dies?

Luke Skywalker. Is gone.

What?  No!  How?

Feels like I’ve known him my whole life – cuz I have.  Like he’s a real person and the myth he became all at once.  Who was one of the ones who taught us the power of forgiveness.  To let go of hate.

And now he’s gone?

I know, I know, I sound ridiculous – he’s not a real person and it’s just a movie and you’re probably all rolling your eyes and saying “bundles you’re being such a dweeb rn” but damn it! stories matter.  Characters matter.  Words matter. Words have power.  

Star Wars is a great myth of our time.  The saga of the Skywalkers is our Arthuriana.  From Anakin to Rey – this is our Trojan War.  Luke is our Achilles.  

And now he’s gone? When he disappeared watching those two setting suns (gods what great cinematography) it was like a gut punch.  Like fuuuuuuuuuuuuck what now?  

How do we go on?

I think Johnson gives us an answer – look to the past – look to the future – to the balance – to the cycle –

Which brings me to that final poignant scene -

The slave boy on Canto Bight.  As with Anakin Skywalker all those years ago – he’s a force user (pulling that broom to his hand ala Mickey Mouse in Fantasia) and he’s staring up at the stars and dreaming….he embodies, with his phoenix-inspired Rebel insignia ring – the rebirth of hope – of the rebellion – of the resistance – of the beautiful broken dream that were the Jedi – he is Johnson.  He is all of us.  From Anakin all the way to this slave boy.  And the story repeats.  The cycle continues.  

The myth lives on. Hope lives on.  And if the myth lives on, well then so does Luke – “nobody’s really gone…”

I love Star Wars.

I love stories.