CSS, Yoda, Black Horsey Books

August 26, 2006

I've put in a little too much time the last few days working on CSS-- not that I'll ever master something like that, but I adore being able to have some control over my areas of the web. Joel figured out something for me that I had been trying to do for a long time, which was be able to make global changes within table cells. But here's the thing I can do now: I can change everything from pinks, as they are now, with my biggest letters in the funny "Andy" font, to lavender with big red Arial font, very, very easily. Joel actually is learning to write the CSS code: I'm doing a mix of Dreamweaver and code, but it is a feeling of great power, like stapling my little Black Horsey books together when I was seven.

Today: wet Saturday morning, feels somehow like Sunday. Andy off in the rain to see if the bike ride went, the chondromalacia in my knee immeasurably and unaccountably better. Always mysterious how this improves and gets worse.

We watched Revenge of the Sith last night on the new t.v., and it looked splendid, especially the volcano planet. But-- t what stupid character names! How self-indulgent George Lucas is! I'm totally convinced that he has gone over to the dark side himself as far as artistry and fresh ideas go. Extremely bad dialogue and a fair amount of bad acting. Beautiful work by Pixar, of course, and excellent action especially in the light saber duels. Also satisfying to get the back story on Darth Vader and little twin infants Leah and Luke, but oh the stupid, stupid dialogue. A real case of the media being all there is– the message, the content as we say today, having all the texture and nutrients of cotton candy.

One interesting throwaway line in Revenge was something about how the fear of loss turns you to the dark side: i.e., that you will do anything to save your beloved– this is the ostensible motivation for Anikin becoming Darth Vader, although of course he is fooling himself and simply wants mucho power, an infantile obsession, trying to hold on to childhood passion and delight when you are an adult (may be Lucas's problem too? His high point was 30 years ago?) . Anything vaguely interesting in the movie, though, was totally heavy-handed.

Why didn’t they put some more intellectual content in that movie? It would have made just as much money, because the people who watch for the flash would have had it still.

And why didn’t they get an actor to play Anikin/D.V. who could act as well as brood hunkily.