JanJans Blog

Schon wieder sind zwei Jahre rum. Das bedeutet, dass wir wieder bei R und M eingeladen waren, um ein schönes Wochenende mit Freunden zu verbringen. Das ist dieses Jahr besonders wichtig, da wir in der Corona-Isolation langsam bekloppt werden. Daher waren wir sehr froh, als uns Bingo bereits an der Haustür freudig kläffend begrüßt hat. Gut, auf den Fotos hängt er einfach nur so ab, aber glaubt mir, der kann ganz schön Terz machen!


Als dann alle da waren, haben wir uns erst mal über den Kuchen her gemacht. Ich Idiot, ich wusste doch, dass ich noch was machen wollte: Muffins! Was mache ich jetzt mit den ganzen Ananas und Eiern, wenn ich wieder heim komme?! Alles selber essen? Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich dieses Wochenende eh schon 20 Kilo zunehmen werde...


Da das Wetter noch mal wieder richtig schön geworden ist, haben wir draußen im Garten gesessen und den Schnecken zugeschaut. Das ist auch gut, weil man da nicht so viel Abstand halten muss. Doofer Virus!

Überhaupt haben wir uns erstaunlich viel draußen aufgehalten: Der Hund muss ja auch regelmäßig entwässert werden. Deshalb sind wir alle einmal ums Dorf geschlichen, wo ich die Gelegenheit hatte, mal so richtig viele Fotos zu machen, angefangen beim Vogelhaus der Nachbarn:


Ich glaube, das alte Schild mit der Werbung für Wilh. Knorr habe ich schon letztes Mal fotografiert. Ich find's aber noch immer witzig. ISt halt nebenan vom Friedhof. So, wie das Schild aber aussieht, werden da schon lange keine Grabmale mehr gebaut.

Weiter über die Felder kamen wir dann an ungefähr 10.000 Sonnenblumen vorbei. Vor ein paar Wochen muss das unglaublich ausgesehen haben, aber jetzt waren sie leider alle schon abgeblüht. Hält mich nicht davon ab, den langsamen Verfall zu dokumentieren. Herbst hat nämlich auch was. Leider hauptsächlich Sturm, Regen und kaltes Wetter. Aber das alles kann ein Foto zum Glück nur indirekt festhalten...


Ich hätte gedacht, dass hier mittlerweile mal mehr Windräder stehen würden, aber offenbar sind auch auch die Anwohner dagegen. Anders kann ich es mir nicht erklären, dass da noch immer nur zwei rum stehen. Naja, vielleicht haben sie die ja auch hinter der nächsten Hügelkuppe versteckt.

Eine einzige Sonnenblume habe ich übrigens gefunden, die noch nicht abgeblüht war. Die stand zusammen mit den anderen Rainkräutern am Wegesrand und guckte mich traurig an. Gar nicht so, wie man das von Sonnenblumen gewöhnt ist. War allerdings auch ein sehr niedrig gewachsener Nachzügler.


Ansonsten hat es mir die Frankfurter Skyline angetan, die man hier ja von jeder mittleren Erhebung unten im Tal liegen sehen kann. Leider war es sehr dunstig, deswegen habe ich nachher sehr am Kontrast drehen müssen, das bringt die Vignettierung des alten Tele sehr stark raus. I apologize.

Die Besitzer der Apfelbäume, bei denen ich vor zwei Jahren noch fröhlich welche vom Boden eingesammelt habe, haben mittlerweile übrigens reagiert und dieses Schild aufgestellt. Ist das klauen, wenn man einen Apfel vom Boden einsammelt? Die waren, wenn ich mich recht erinnere, sehr lecker, deshalb: Schade. Aber auch egal, dieses Jahr war es wieder so trocken, dass die gar nicht richtig groß und rund geworden sind.


Nachdem wir dann noch R vom Flughafen abgeholt haben, war es auch schon Zeit für das Abendessen. M hatte beim Mexikaner vorbestellt, bei dem wir sonst immer einen Abend verbringen. Dieses Mal halt als Take-Out. Wie gesagt, blöder Virus. Aber im kleinen Kreis ist es einfach sicherer.


...und der arme Hund hat einfach nichts abbekommen! Sowas!

Recently we've been rewatching everything Star Wars in chronological order. (Streaming has been the best idea since the invention of the movie camera.) So we started with the first two prequel movies, moved on to the Clone Wars and the Clone Wars series (which I only had seen about half of before), followed that up with the third prequel film and then Solo, and now have just finished Rebels (which I quite liked, hadn't seen it before). So the next item on the list was Rogue One. (Yes, we have skipped anything that is not considers canon anymore. No Droids nor Ewoks, which are not on Disney+ anyway.

So, Rogue One it is: There are some issues with this movie that back in the day I didn't notice. When you see a film on the big screen for the first (and only) time, you are bound to miss some things. But here are few of the points that came up during rewatch. Yes, it is time for some unpopular opinions!

1.) First thing I noticed: The movie didn't age well. That's something to say for a film that's only three or four years old. The CGI used for Tarkin and Leia looks somewhat arkward and stiff. OK, Tarkin is somewhat stiff, but he looks even more unhealthy than in the animated series...

2.) Next up: The blind Asian guy is good at martial arts? Really, Disney? I mean, isn't that a bit stereotypical, even for you? And the black character is only slightly mad, kills civilians and Imperials alike, and is blown up by the Death Star after about 10 minutes?

3.) Let's get to the more serious problems: I like my characters to have a motivation and a purpose. Call me old fashioned, but that's just the way it is. So, why did Mr. Genius Engineering Guy not want to work on the Death Star project in the first place? We assume he is one of the good guys with a conscience, but we never really find out what the defining moment, the trigger really was. It wasn't the birth of his kid, as we can clearly see him still working for the Empire through her eyes. Was it when he realized what the Death Star would mean? We'll never know, because he is needlessly blown up by some Rebel Alliance bomber. Probably just because the rest of the script didn't have any use for him. And to crank up Jyn's daddy issues to 11!

Other characters have the same problem: What happened to Captain Stubbles that made him turn a Rebel at the tender age of 6? Not a clue. He throws a tantrum about it, but we never learn anything substantial about his past. How did Miss Troubled Heroin end up in an Imperial prison? Yes, she's a thief among other things; but why, what made her become one? Was it when Saw abandoned her? I guess she couldn't go back to a normal life, but there is so much anger and aggression in her, against her former mentor, against the Empire, the Rebels, practically against anyone she meets. During the meeting on Jedha she states that her part is done, yet then she suddenly is willing to go on that suicide mission, even bugs everyone at the Rebel Council about it? Because of her father's message? Because she saw what the Death Star was able to do? That kind of self destructive behaviour is really not a good role model, in my opinion. Yes, I like strong female characters just as much as anyone, but suicide just for redemption's sake? That's a bit over the top, don't you think?

And what about all the other Rebels they take with them on their suicide mission? Only because the script said there had to be a big battle on the planet and someone has so to do all the shooting and be cut down by Stormtroopers one at a time? I can get on board with Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, they have nothing else to live for after their home and only purpose has been obliterated - see above: self destructive behaviour -, but what about the other guys? Are they tired of living, too? Do orders from their superiors mean nothing?

4.) Then there are plot holes as many as the stars in a galaxy far, far away: Why is the Empire blowing up their own archive? At least it seems like they had an off-site backup somewhere, as they were relatively quick to build Death Star 2.0 in Episode VI. (Where did they get the crystals, by the way, after blowing up the only place they could supposedly source them from?) And, yes, the Empire is totally evil and stuff, but it's just plain stupid to kill the guys who have been building the thing just to teach Mr. Genius Daddy a lesson.

Something Mr. Lucas understood in all the movies and series' that came before: Evil doesn't mean stupid. Quite the contrary: Palpatine is quite intelligent to pull of the destruction of the Republic. Darth Vader has been using fear and intimidation like a precision tool to control his subordinates. It is mostly the good guys who can't see what is happening right in front of their eyes, they are the stupidly naive ones - like the Jedi who need two and a half films spanning, what? 20 years? ...to figure out who that mysterious Sith Lord really is.

That's just some of the problems that make this movie a bit of a pain to watch. Because, after all, the actors are not half bad and the story is somewhat interesting in exploring how the Rebels got hold of the Death Star's plans. Visually it is not so bad, either: Big explosions, huge planets, Death Star construction, everything quite nice to look at. Except for Tarkin and Leia who look a bit like they escaped from one of the video games.

In the end I think Solo was a bit better, at least on the plot hole and motivation/purpose front. Though I still would really like to know why Chewbacca was down in that pit. But I get it, smugglers don't ask too many questions. But Rebels should.

Next up, the sequel films. Let's see how they hold up during our rewatch. "I have a bad feeling about this!" I didn't quite like them back then, I can't imagine I will like them more now. What I mostly remember about them is a lot of lens flare and you know where I stand with that...