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| Star Wars: The Last Jedi |
Luke Skywalker: No. [They draw their lightsabers and fight]
Luke Skywalker: I failed you, Ben. I'm sorry.
Kylo Ren: I'm sure you are! The Resistance is dead, the war is over, and when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi!
Luke Skywalker: Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.
Two vital artifacts of the Resistance, two blockbuster epics, offered for your consideration --
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
In the Star Wars universe, power (often embodied in an ability to control the Force) is indeed a potent corruptor, one that’s hard to walk away from once you’ve gotten a taste. This is what lies behind the stories of the villainous Sith order, but it’s a tension that the heroic Jedi face, too. In The Last Jedi, the factors determining how power will be wielded and yielded are an awareness of history and — most importantly — a connection to that history through the people around you. It would spoil the story to say much more, but in several key scenes, characters face a choice between following the right path and disconnecting from their pasts and from others. The choice is clear, and the images near the film’s end underline it in moving fashion. That’s nothing new for Star Wars, which has always been a space opera about a family. But this particular iteration drives home that point in a manner that feels, on the tail end of a wearying year, like a deep point of relief, and even joy. Watching lengthy sequences involving heroic, complex characters played by black and Asian and Latinx characters, we can see a future worth living in. Being told that one character was “more interested in protecting the light than she was in seeming like a hero” is a reminder about wielding power well that feels deeply truthful and necessary today. I didn’t grow up with Star Wars, or much pop culture at all. I only saw the films as an adult, and while I’ve always liked them, I never connected to them the way so many people have; whatever it was they were trying to give me never really found its place in my heart. I went to The Last Jedi with high expectations because of the talent behind it, but I was prepared to just have a good time. And I walked out feeling many emotions, but especially something like hope, that elusive thing with feathers (though hope, to be clear, is not a porg). I felt expectant, and I believed not just that what the movie was saying was true — that even a small band of people with purpose, conviction, and a good, true story to tell can carry on in the face of evil — but that there’s a special power to saying it in a movie Star Wars has been with us for four decades now, telling that same essential story in a format that’s overwhelming and engulfing. With wit, skill, and love, The Last Jedi takes up the torch and carries it for a new generation. -- Alissa Wilkinson, The Last Jedi is A Magnificent Next Step for the Star Wars Universe, Vox, 12/16/17
I, the Dragon: Chronicles of An Epic Life Among the Humans
EXCERPT: The Triune Goddess herself wrote the Book of Creation. With a quill made from one of her plume feathers. Dipped in an ink pot that held her own rainbow blood. She dreamt each of the sacred symbols. And then she painted them one by one, page by page. The Triune Goddess herself tore the pages from the Book and shuffled them as if they were a deck of cards. And so they are. This is how divination came to be. The Triune Goddess established the cycles, just as if she was choreographing a dance. In their ignorance and greed, the humans are disrupting the cycle of the seasons and the planetary balance upon which civilization itself is predicated. But even the humans cannot disrupt the solar cycle. And so the Solstice has arrived. Light. Dark. North. South. Winter. Summer. Deepest. Darkest. Highest. Brightest. Zenith. Nadir. All. At once. Forever. Feel this. Primordial. Power. Shuffle the cards. Read the signs. Divine the truth. The Triune Goddess herself tore the pages from the Book and shuffled them as if they were a deck of cards. The Triune Goddess herself wrote the Book of Creation. With a quill from one of her plume feathers. Dipped in an ink pot that held her own rainbow blood. She dreamt each of the sacred symbols. She established the cycles. And so Solstice has arrived. Again. Feel this. Primordial. Power. Her hand is still moving ... -- Richard Power, "I, the Dragon: Chronicles of An Epic Life Among the Humans" (January 2018).
"I, the Dragon" Limited Edition available exclusively via this link --
http://www.gofundme.com/wordsofpower
EXCERPT: The beauty is almost unbearable; likewise the pain. The joy will drive you mad. The immeasurable ignorance will overwhelm you. The unspeakable ugliness will shatter whatever you imagine your "heart" to be, scattering it into countless, irretrievable and very real shards. Yes. Yet you will choose to lean forward, discovering (as if in slow motion) what your heart truly is. You will vow to fiercely engage with all of it, and to bear relentless witness. There is no other authentic way for YOU to live. Leaning forward into the all-consuming darkness is the essential nature of light. Devouring the sublime flash of soul lightening (and transmuting it into the fuel of the cosmic engine) is the essential nature of darkness. This is the exquisite truth of our sojourn here. -- Richard Power, "I, the Dragon: Chronicles of An Epic Life Among the Humans" (January 2018)
"I, the Dragon" Limited Edition available exclusively via this link --
http://www.gofundme.com/wordsofpower
EXCERPT: Grace is the universe's spontaneous uprising of pleasure at what you have chosen to do with the opportunity it has given you. The universe's assessment of where you are and what you are doing has no relationship at all to human value judgements, that's why grace seems to arise from nowhere and for no reason. The algorithms which govern the overflowing of grace are secret and known only to the seven goddesses embodied in a hot blue star cluster 444.2 light years away. But you have direct and immediate access to that circle of seven star goddesses. Your innate, original conscience is a portal. Your creative will is a portal. Your unconditional love is a portal. Through these portals the seven goddesses bear witness to your journey; through these portals you open yourself up to receive their boon of grace. All the people I couldn't be have made me the person I am. All the things I couldn't do have allowed me to do the things I do. For better and worse. That's the best deal I could make. Grace is always rising, always flowing, always surging. But will you embrace the numerous plot twists through which she reveals her true nature? Can you see through to the flesh of luminosity behind her many extravagant disguises? If you succeed in extracting your innate, original conscience from the misshapen pretender borne of dysfunction (both societal and familial), if you unleash your creative will to roam the wilderness of your shadow, if you offer your unconditional love to the lost and the wounded who are journeying alongside you, if, if, if, then all of the portals will open for you, one after another. The algorithms which govern the overflowing of grace are secret and known only to the seven goddesses embodied in a hot blue star cluster 444.2 light years away. But you have direct and immediate access to that circle of seven star goddesses. This is the truth. -- Richard Power, "I, the Dragon: Chronicles of An Epic Life Among the Humans" (January 2018)
"I, the Dragon" Limited Edition available exclusively via this link --
http://www.gofundme.com/wordsofpower
