Five reasons why Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is better than Star Wars: A New Hope.

1) Boba Fett - Quite possibly the most popular character to only have three lines, and three lines only. And no, Fett's appearance in the Special Edition of A.N.H. doesn't count. I also like to remember my favourite character without a New Zealand accent.

2) The ending - The movie ends like a prequal should. Unlike A.N.H. where it finishes as if the entire Star Wars series had finished, Empire actually has questions unanswered an dleaves you on edge to see the next. I know that someone will probably say that "Lucas wasn't sure if he would be making Empire and R.O.T.J. but, according to the master himself, he had always intended to make the three, which poses the question why do an ending like this at all). The ending is probably the best of all six, and has possibly the best plot twist to ever happen on the silver screen (and the most "mocked").

3) Yoda - Yoda is the bridge between the first and the last, even though he doesn't appear in A.N.H., and a very dodgey-looking Yoda appears in Phantom Menace, the "essence" of Yoda exists in them all. Yoda is the embodiment of the Force, what the pure force stands for and is the ultimate good in the six movies. As said, not in A.N.H., and we have to wait until Empire to meet Yoda and fully understand the Force.

4) Vader as a top dog - Finally Vader is actually the power-player that he is set-up to be in Revenge. In A.N.H. he is the lackey to a lackey and walked all over by guys in mean uniforms. In Empire however, he controls the bad-ass Super Star Destroyer Executor, largest of the Star Destroyers in the films, he gets to fight the second-best lightsabre fight in the originals (behind Vader vs. Luke II: Hand for Hand), he gets to flaunt the Dark Side, and he gets his son back (a heart warming moment).

5) Asteroid chase - Where do you think the Endor chase, the Boonta Eve Classic, the Coruscant chase, the droid factory, the opening seqence of Episode III and the Boga/ Kenobi chase on Utapau all came from? The asteroid chase! It's the first of it's kind, and it wasthe most exciting thing to happen in Star Wars. Where are your asteroid A.N.H.?

Clayton Northcutt.

Aras!? Aras!? Anyone but that hack. Please, Survivor was an average season in comparison, but all I'm going to remember is how Terry was robbed of a deserving Sole Survivor title. The guy wins nearly every immunity challenge, a heck of a lot of rewards, spends days on end on Exile Island, defies the odds of a minority tribe at the merge and finds the hidden immunity idol for God's sake and he looses out to the second best (by far, in both directions) guy in the game and a girl who didn't do jack on the Island? Please.

Also, Cook Islands for the next series? I would have thought that after an island one they would have taken it to land. And when I say land, I mean Australia or Africa land. The middle of a damn desert of something. Hopefully Series 13 (quite a good run for something that doesn't have too much variability in the creation) picks up from the two average seasons that have just gone by. They really do need to find some great characters that have made the memorable seasons, for example:

Season One: Rudy and Hatch
Season Two: Jerri, Colby, Michael, Keith and Elisabeth
Season Three: Ethan, Lex, Frank and Tom
Season Four: Rob Mariano and Robert DeCanio
Season Five: Brian and Erin
Season Six: Rob Cesternino (I used to consider this guy the greatest Survivor contestant ever, and I still do, to an extent, but he was replaced by Chris from Vanuatu), Jenna, Heidi, Butch, Christy, Mathew and Dave (I have come to the conclusion that Survivor: Amazon might be my favourite)
Season Seven: Rupert, Fairplay, Lillian, Sandra, Darrah, Burton and Andrew
Season Eight: All of the All-Stars (bar maybe two or three)(do note that a lot of the people I have mentioned appeared in that series, so "The Bosses" must know a thing or two)
Season Nine: CHRIS!!!! (bar none, with no exceptions, the greatest Survivor to ever play and win (I might post on this later)), Ami, Eliza, Chad, Julie and Twila
Season Ten: Bobby-John, Steph, Tom, Angie and the Ulong tribe (for never winning an immunity challenge)
Season Eleven: Steph (again), Bobby-John (again), Judd, Rafe, Gary, Brian and Brandon
Season Twelve (just finished): Terry, Austin and Aras (I suspect I only remember Aras and Austin because they were on my T.V. less than 24 hours ago)

Now those are the people I can remember off the top of my head, without having to research the series. And looking back, there were only two very bad series (four and five), and two average seasons (in comparison), ten and eleven, preempting the just finished twelve, which matched them. So seven to five isn't too bad. But the odds that this next series will be average as well are on, which means that fourteen had better be a good mix up to keep everyone interested, like another All-Stars, this time with complete All-Stars and a lot of them. Twenty would be ample and enough spots to get everyone's favourite in. And put it in-land, like I said. Islands, yeah, sure, great. But alternate with them. I rate Amazon, Australia and Africa three of the best, and they are all in land. Africa had a great twist in that they had a village-esque set up. Great idea: do it again! But, no, it's the Cook Islands this time. The only saving grace will not be Exile Island (It was good in the beginning, but after Terry found the idol, it was pointless. One way to solve this is have one main idol that counts across all the weeks and then, say, fourteen other "this counts for this week" idol buried there from day one or day to day. This would make the game extremely unpredictable and exciting.), it will be the people on the islands and whether they are great and memorable characters or not. Whether they will be or not, well, we will have to wait until the end of the year to find that out.

Thomas.

Something I thought seems to be happening in Australian politics:

"The right is getting right and the left lost its e and f."

That is to say, the right has slowly, but undeniably, been taking a more hard-lined right-wing stand on social and political issues, while the left has lost it's content. While John Howard appears to be taking steps towards fascism (not in the literal sense, but then again, that s questionable), who knows what the Labour party stands for any more, what they plan to campaign on and what their fixes are for Australia. Sure, the A.L.P. oppose I.R. reforms, but what do they plan on doing to better "Industry" when they get in. And at least the Greens AND the Liberals had people speaking out against the hard-lined laws against homosexual marriage. But who can the average Joe Blo remember from the A.L.P. speaking out against it. I can't, for one, and I even watch Question Time.

It's time that the A.L.P. got some opinions, policies and remedies out there to counter the Liberal's attempt to re-define right wing politics in Australia.

Clayton Northcutt.

Can anyone get past level eight on this game?

http://allthingsflash.com/files/games/curveball.swf

Try as hard as I might, I can't do it.

Clayton Nortcutt.

This is the response that I received from the delightful Samuel Gordon-Stewart in response to my previous question:

Hi Clayton,
Sorry I wasn't available to chat earlier. That's a good question and it deserves a lengthy answer, as such I'll star[t] it and come back to it when I have more time to answer...this afternoon or evening.

Cheers,

Samuel

It is great to see that my simple question wasn't taken lightly and that young Samuel is interested enough to plough ahead and give me, as he stated, "a lengthy answer". Also, it would appear that e may very well read my blog (after I sent him the link) as he responds to my speakings on not chatting to me earlier on. What a true gentleman.

Clayton Northcutt.

My latest email to the talented, patient and great Smauel Gordon-Stewart is as follows:

Samuel,

I would like to know where you got the banner for your "Samuel's Persiflage". It seems quite simplistic, however, poinient for today's modern world. It has a post-modern feel to it, in that it has reduced it's meaning to the bare, however, is complex in it's layering and depth. It screams out "this is the world, save me" but at the same time whispers "I don't need wing-dings to be better than you". It is also on the verge of the art-deco movement in the geometry of the whole thing, as well as the spacing. Have you happened to use and feng-shui in the out-lay as well? Anyway, I would like to know your source and thoughts on the banner when you have a free moment.

Clayton Northcutt

I would have liked to have Instant Messaged him, as he was online at the same time, however, he seemed to not respond to my messages. I doubt that it was any "ill-will" on his part as there is probably no bad bone in his body. However, I would expect a hastey reply if this is the case.

Clayton Northcutt.

My response from Mr. Gordon-Stewart:

Hi Clayton,
Thanks for the feedback, although I think you'll find that all of the Dolgnwot cartoons have had adjacent boxes drawn in the same colour.

Cheers,

Samuel

I only sent the email in response to the increase in frequency of this 'adjacent box' problem. Also, no thanks for the citing, but, we can't have everything.

Clayton Northcutt.

From here-on in follows my most recent email to the talented young Samuel:

Samuel,

I felt that this needed to be said. In regards to your latest "Samuel In Dolgnwot" episode (Gordon-Stewart, 2006), I have to say that I am disappointed in your apparent lack of colour arrangement for your background. Far be it from me to tell you how to draw and design your own cartoon, however, in the bottom left corner you appear to have used the burgundy colour in two boxes beside each other (Gordon-Stewart, 2006). Perhaps in the future you might like to use something like a cyan, an aubrey or something more distinct?

I have been a great fan of the "Samuel In Dolgnwot" series, both the first (Gordon-Stewart, 2005) and second (Gordon-Stewart, 2005/2006), and eagerly anticipate the third. However, I would not like the high standard and quality of these picture, as well as the individuality (as these pictures, clearly coming from quite a uniquely talented nineteen year old, are not something you see every day) to slip, and ultimately affect the entire standard of the third series, in comparison to the supreme first (Gordon-Stewart, 2005) and second (Gordon-Stewart, 2005/2006).

Keep up the good work Samuel.

From,
Clayton Northcutt.

Sources:

Gordon-Stewart, Samuel (2005). Samuel's Blog. Retrieved August 6, 2005, from http://samuelgordonstewart.com/

Gordon-Stewart, Samuel (2005/2006). Samuel's Blog. Retrieved March 14, 2006, from http://samuelgordonstewart.com/

As I say, far be it from me to tell the young lad what to do with his pictures, they are, after all, his pictures. However, I felt it needed to be done: that someone get onto the boy about this creative lapse and, before if begins to affect any more of his pictures, thus he can remedy it.

I also thought that, for his convienience, I should cite the works of his that I was discussing with him. Hopefully he appreciates my efforts and comments.

Clayton Northcutt.

My World Cup selections are as follows:

To win - Germany
Expected to impress but probably won't - England (unfortunately)
The darkhorse - U.S.A.
Will turn out to be over-rated this time round - France

Clayton Northcutt.

In addition to the previous post, this was the email I have recently sent as my reply:

I quote from the "appology" email that I recieved concerning my comments on the ticketing fiasco that was the "Australian Cricket Family":

"We didn't think it was fair to say: Thanks for your support in previous years but we now have a really popular series, so you can't do this any more."

Perhaps you could explain to me why you are saying that I along with two other person who have been going to the New Years Test's First Day for 12 years cannot do this any more?

Clayton Northcutt.

Clayton Northcutt.

I'm a big cricket fan. I love the sport more than any other. And for the past 12 years I, along with other family members that never amount to more than 3, have gone to the first day of the New Year's test in Sydney. No matter who the opposition was, and for many of those years, there was some horrible competition, we've been.

Well, as other Australians would know, this year's ticketing system was a fiasco. I'd be happy to explain the whole problem to you, but I'll let my email and my reply from the A.C.B. do the talking.

I am extremely disappointed in the lack of foresight and 'security' made by those responsible for the ticketing problems that have occurred. Prior years seemed to have worked fine without the bullshit that has gone on this year, what with the stupid "Cricket Family", tickets being permitted to be sold on eBay and further crap that has gone on. Why implement these failed policys to register online for tickets when, in fact, I can't get a mere three. And as for being able to buy TEN TICKETS in one go, who in God's honest name requires ten tickets for one day!? I, my father, and my grandfather have been attending the first day of the New Year's test for the past TWELVE YEARS, and never have we had a problem like this. Also, I might point out, have we never not been able to get tickets. Now, I can't not only get the prefered tickets, I wasn't able to access the website and the phone lines were a catasrophe. I don't honestly expect any sort of response to this mere comment as the minds behind the "great" Cricket Family idea and further chaos involved with getting three tickets, just three tickets, honestly would not be intelligent enough to be able to string two words together or smart enough to employ anyone who could.

Clayton Northcutt.

The reply was as follows, uneditted and complete with grammatical errors:

Thank you for contacting Cricket Australia. Our apology for the experience you had trying to buy cricket tickets. And our apology for not sending you an individual reply. There have been a lot of emails, which have not made it possible to send each and every correspondent an individual reply. However, most people have made fairly similar points about their frustration and disappointment with their experience buying tickets to 3 mobile Ashes games and other international cricket over summer.

It has been a mixed experience.

On the up-side, the systems used by the three ticketing agencies who sell Australian cricket tickets operated at full throttle and managed to sell nearly 300,000 tickets in the first two days on sale.

On the down side, many people had to wait a long time to get on, or found they couldn~t get through, or found that the tickets they wanted had sold before they could get through.

And in some places, demand was much higher than supply, as can happen with premium events.

Our apology for those frustrations.

Some particular suggestions and issues you have made or raised included:

Q: Why not stagger the selling so tickets for different states go on sale on different days?
A: This is something we will have to look at in future, including when normal tickets go on sale on 19 June. The experts told us it would work by having everything go on sale on the one day but this might be the way we need to go in future.

Q: Why are there tickets for re-sale via on-line organisations?
A: We have structured the terms and conditions of sale to give ourselves theright to cancel tickets which appear for sale on line, and have been talking to on-line retailing to ask for their help. One of our messages to the public is to be aware that there is risk buying on-line - - you could find the ticket cancelled and lose your money. We congratulate the Trading Post and other organisations that have refused to help scalpers.

Q: Will there be more UK fans getting tickets than Australians?
A: The experts advised us that setting up the Australian Cricket Family system would give Australian fans the best opportunity they could have for getting access to tickets. However, we were always aware there was no absolute guarantee that UK or other overseas visitors will not get tickets through the system. Leakage, they call it. Indeed, various estimates we have seen predict between 10,000 and 30,000 UK fans here over the full summer, and a lot of red and white (the colours of the St George Cross) in the stands. But we are still confident there will be more Australian than UK fans in the stands.

Q: Why let people buy up to 10 tickets in one transaction?
A: We are reviewing this in the light of this experience. However, we let people buy between 6 and 10 tickets per transaction, depending on city. This was based on local historic experience, although we did cut back the ~ration~ in a number of cities. Historically, a lot of loyal Aussie fans come in groups and like to sit together for their big day out at the cricket. They might be a group from one street, or from a footy club, or members of one family, who have traditionally got one of their group to buy on behalf of the group to get tickets together. We didn~t think it was fair to say: ~Thanks for your support in previous years but we now have a really popular series, so you can~t do this any more~. What we tried to do was seek a balance between their way of buying tickets and ensuring others could still get tickets.

The ACF allocation today, exceeding 700,000 tickets over all international cricket, was the biggest allocation per day for any ground, not counting members~ enclosures. Some tickets have been held over for general public sale on 19 June. For example, over 2000 tickets for each day of the Sydney 3 mobile Test will go on sale that day.

Our apology for the disappointment you had. And thank you for letting is know how you felt. All of the feedback we get - - positive and negative ~ helps us improve how we do things. If you are still having an issue with any membership details of the Australian Cricket Family, please call the Help Line on 1300 553 234.

Thank you

Cricket Australia Public Queries

I am sending another email in order to clarify that they are, in fact, not remaining loyal to the fans in that they will not deny massive, bulk purchases, but they are remaining loyal to their bank balance and would prefer to make more money out of one purchase than risk only selling, say, 5 of those tickets and having a few of them go unsold.

Clayton Northcutt.

Something that never occurred to me, though seems entirely logical in this technology day and age, is video-blogs. I've, for a year and a bit now, been a YouTube-a-holic. When it first hit the Internet last February, it was big and word spread like a bushfire. Now I headed over and looked for things that interested me, but nothing like that of a blog or the like. But recently, purely by accident, I loaded a movie that was, in fact, a video-blog. The author, I later found out after some research, was a YouTube-Icon. Her screen-name is FilthyWhore. She appears in the "Most Subscribed" list (2181 subscribers gets her the 4th postion of all time). Her videos garner a high-quantity of comments, though unfortunately an amount of them are negative. She's well know and has quite a fan base. Be this far from some sort of 'fan post', though I appear to be, I'll bring it back to the point I intended.

As lame/ isolationist/ pathetic as it sounds, I'm absolutely loving watching these things. I don't really know why either, probably has something to do with some psychology crap that I slept through during class that I might be able to flesh out, but for the sake of myself, I won't. But I can't stop watching them, especially the afore mentioned user. There's something interesting about hearing a person speaking about, really, nothing. But it's more than reading some random written blog (something I used to do much more frequently), it's as if you are listening to the mind 'work'. A person speaking without a script, on what ever springs to mind. It's pure free-speech at it's finest. It's not like Reality T.V. where poeple are playing for the camera for one reason or another. It's not like a conversation where people are speaking to a reason and point. These video-blogs are really unique. If you have a chance, or not, whatever you want, I'd really encourage you to check out a couple.

Clayton Northcutt.