Muse by Craig Ranapia

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Muse: The High Aesthetic Line

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  • Ngaire BookieMonster,

    Yay, arty-farties!
    I think someone tried to take me down on Twitter recently about being "arty-farty" but being as I can also be a bit thick-ish unless "take downs" are clearly spelled out to me, it also went straight through to the keeper.

    Uh, the upshot of that all is "Yay, so excited you're blogging!". :)

    At the foot of Mt Te Aroh… • Since Nov 2009 • 174 posts Report Reply

  • Isabel Hitchings,

    Oh lovely! This makes me very happy.

    Funny you should mention Star Wars - we spent the last three Saturdays showing the (proper) trilogy to the kids. I'm not mad keen on Star Wars as it's always struck me as a bit of a Big Dumb Action Movie in space but the kids were completely enthralled. Watching Mr 9's face at the "I'm your Father" bit was well worth the price of admission.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2007 • 719 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Welcome, Craig!

    I fixed one of your YouTube embeds, but I see the other one works now too, so I'm guessing Matt did so too. You need to use the HTML edit window for actual code.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Thanks - one major FUBAR a day keeps the ego in check.

    And I need to stress, Gentle Readers, that Russell is the entirely agreeable kind of mad.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan,

    This makes me very happy indeed. Russell accused me on Twitter of being a fangirl. To which my response is yes, yes I am.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan, in reply to Isabel Hitchings,

    I'm not mad keen on Star Wars as it's always struck me as a bit of a Big Dumb Action Movie in space but the kids were completely enthralled.

    I'll admit to being kind of a Star Wars fan, but only because Star Wars was the first movie I can remember seeing. And we 'played' it as kids. I was ALWAYS Leia.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Isabel Hitchings, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    I’ll admit to being kind of a Star Wars fan, but only because Star Wars was the first movie I can remember seeing. And we ‘played’ it as kids. I was ALWAYS Leia.

    I think that may be my problem - I don't think I saw it until I was a teen so I don't have those memories of wonder associated with it that so many of my generation do.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2007 • 719 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    What a very welcome sight this was, when I opened up the laptop after lunch. (It's the first week back and it's very quiet around here. I'm currently sitting here at the puzzle table with 3 kids, and there are another 2 elsewhere. There's supposed to be 45.) Anyway, I will be very interested to read whatever you write, not because I will necessarily always agree with you, and quite often I won't have the slightest idea what you are on about. But I do love you so. And that makes it worth it.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi,

    Uh oh, now we’re in trouble!

    I watched the Star Wars “prequels” in sequence just last week. I was thoroughly, thoroughly unimpressed with them this time around (I’ve seen them in the past and at the time I managed to find at least a few things to like about them.) The most difficult thing for me though was how jarring it was to go from watching Episode III to Episode IV: despite Aunt Beru having spent all of 5 minutes with Anakin just as he was in the middle of his teenage rebellion-slash-turn to the dark side, and that she knows that he very nearly killed his wife and children (after all, that’s why Luke was fostered with them in the first place), she’s able to casually remark to Uncle Owen about how Luke “has too much of his father in him”. Or Ben Kenobi’s recollections of Anakin as “a good friend” that sound like he met him as an adult, not as a scrunchy-faced 6 year old boy. Or…OK, I’ll stop now.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Andre Alessi, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    I’ll admit to being kind of a Star Wars fan, but only because Star Wars was the first movie I can remember seeing. And we ‘played’ it as kids. I was ALWAYS Leia.

    I was a massive Star Wars fan as a kid. My parents encouraged me-the first LP I ever owned was John Williams' soundtrack, and every Christmas and birthday, I'd get a couple of new figurines to play with. (Most didn't survive my experiments with homemade gunpowder in my mid-teens, FYI.)

    We'd play "Star Wars" in the playground too. One of the most traumatic experiences of my childhood was being told that I could no longer be Luke because my previously ash blond hair was darkening too quickly-that meant I had to be Han. If only I'd known then that Han was the guy every little boy should want to grow up to be like...

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report Reply

  • Ngaire BookieMonster,

    I still remember when my brother (who got to see The Empire Strikes Back first) traumatised me by revealing that Vader was Luke's father. Much gasping ensued.

    Ah. Han Solo... *dreamy sigh*

    At the foot of Mt Te Aroh… • Since Nov 2009 • 174 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan, in reply to Andre Alessi,

    What I don't understand is how, despite there being any number of girls, I was always Leia? We'd have multiple Hans, multiple Lukes, and me.

    I suspect this says something not very good about me. I am going to stop analysing now.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Ngaire BookieMonster, in reply to Andre Alessi,

    Agreed, the timeline is all off.

    At the foot of Mt Te Aroh… • Since Nov 2009 • 174 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    Russell accused me on Twitter of being a fangirl. To which my response is yes, yes I am.

    Do you have to be a 'girl' to be a 'fangirl'?

    Oh, right, probably, sorry.

    Love your work, CR.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    If you are a fangirl, J, you have to squee. Are you into it?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Wegan, in reply to recordari,

    Do you have to be a ‘girl’ to be a ‘fangirl’?

    I see no reason why. Although then we can't use the dubiously spelled "fanboi" to describe you.

    But Jackie's right. You'll have to squee. Craig'll love it.

    Welly • Since Jul 2008 • 1275 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks, in reply to Andre Alessi,

    Or…OK, I’ll stop now.

    No no, do go on. It's good that some have given thought to specific reasons that the prequels sucked, and I like to see the errors and inconsistencies that people pick up on.

    Personally, I didn't like them because they were shit.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    I was always Leia

    In my case, that was simply how it went when you had straight brown plaits at age 6, and played with boys. I had only the vaguest idea who she actually was (that had to wait until we saw Return of the Jedi and got a VCR for the older two), but being a princess is usually an easy sell to your average 6 year old girl.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Andre,

    We drove from Riverlea to New Plymouth to see Star Wars - a mammoth undertaking from an eight year-old's perspective. The sequels were looked forward to for years and then discussed for years afterwards. The prequels weren't.
    With 53,000 choosing Jedi at the 2001 census we know we're not alone (more than there were Buddhists or Hindus for example). Was it partly because Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith were so puerile in comparison that only 20,000 Jedi showed up at the 2006 census?
    Will Jedis even show up at all this year? What does it all mean? Where's Yoda when you need him?

    New Zealand • Since May 2009 • 371 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Steve Parks,

    Also: racist Jar Jar. (Jar Jar : Me :: LOTR : Giovanni)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • recordari, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    But Jackie's right. You'll have to squee. Craig'll love it.

    Squeeeeeeeeeee!

    Actually, I'm more of a 'clappity clappity' than a squee. Does that count? ;-p

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson, in reply to Megan Wegan,

    Craig, looking forward to your columns. I'll be disappointed if the smut quotient drops.

    Megan, Leia's a princess, but not in a bad way. There's very little intimation that she's spoiled. So she's a great character to be landed with.

    I tended to go for Luke, I mistook the kiss in IV and the full on pash in V to mean that he could actually get some princess action. Was I the only one in the theater during VI going "Ooooo! So icky, he pashed up his sister!"?

    I'm going out on a limb to say I thought Episode III was not so bad. I thought it was better than VI, that's for sure. But I and II were the low point, no doubt.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    What a great new feature on PA! I don't squee particularly but am most certainly a fan.

    Craig, looking forward to your columns. I'll be disappointed if the smut quotient drops.

    I agree with Ben though I note Craig's warned us against getting him grumpy... some of his best work is when he's got his twatcock on max!

    I wish I could be a little more high-minded, but I had my sense of womder kicked into gear in a dark cinema at the age of five:

    Ditto for me; in fact I can't think of another movie that so entirely engrossed me but then I was a kid. I regret now that I didn't take care of or keep my collection of figurines and posters and what-not; I even had two albums of the first two movies that I would listen to most weekends.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to recordari,

    I’m more of a ‘clappity clappity’ than a squee. Does that count?

    I think that 'clappity clappity' comes under the general banner of squeedom.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Ngaire BookieMonster, in reply to BenWilson,

    You're not alone, I thought III was okay. Right up until the "RAARRRRR VADER MAD!" bit at the end, then my head asploded.

    At the foot of Mt Te Aroh… • Since Nov 2009 • 174 posts Report Reply

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