Weekly Quote: Princess Leia Organa for Star Wars Day
background image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Ebeling
This week’s quote comes from Princess Leia Organa, delivering this well-known line in Star Wars: A New Hope.
In this iconic and memorable scene, Leia’s distress message is delivered by R2-D2 with the assistance of C-3PO to an awe-struck Luke and a knowing Obi-Wan. This scene sets the stage for much of the story and introduces us to something called The Clone Wars, explored in greater detail in the prequel trilogy, and animated series released several decades later.
I wrote a little about my love of Star Wars last year, and my enjoyment of the universe continues with shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandolorian as well as my current favorite of the Disney+ streaming era, Andor.
I’ll celebrate today by sneaking in a few minutes of A New Hope, which I began rewatching earlier this week as I worked on this post. I’ve seen it dozens of times since I was a kid, and I still get a thrill when the opening crawl begins, and the main theme music hits.
Happy Star Wars Day. May the force be with you!
Weekly Quote: Ted Lasso on Feeling the Love
This week’s quote comes from AFC Richmond’s head coach and all-around nice guy Ted Lasso, promoting the beauty and the practicality of how much people can do when they care about each other.
Coach Ted’s big and imperfect heart is one of the reasons his namesake show has become such a beloved hit. The first season’s light and humorous approach was a beacon during the early days of the pandemic. The second season had a slightly darker tone, with a twist at the end that, with a careful rewatch of the episodes leading up to it, isn’t as surprising as it first seems. Hope abides for the third season to provide an equally entertaining mix of humor and drama. The new season premieres today. I’ll be watching, will you?
Ted Lasso Returns to Apple TV+ on March 15th
I'm excited for the third season of Ted Lasso premiering on March 15th. There have been conflicting reports that this will be the final season. However, there's no mention of that on the Youtube page or in Apple's press release announcing the new season. British GQ has a rundown of the new season, including what those involved in the production say about the future (spoiler alert, no one knows for sure).
One of the aspects of British TV production that I've always enjoyed is the comfort with which they sometimes take lengthy breaks between series and use one-off specials to move the story forward. While it's fun to speculate if the show will continue and in what form that might take, I'm thrilled that one of my favorite shows is returning, and I hope the creative team does what serves the story best.
Happy Star Wars Day!
As a kid growing up in the early 1990s, I vividly remember watching the original Star Wars Trilogy on television and receiving the reissued “faces” VHS box set for Christmas in 1995. I watched all three movies many times, especially The Empire Strikes Back, my favorite of the original three.
We live in a bountiful time for new Star Wars projects, particularly from the non-feature length side of things with shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Bad Batch, and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi all landing on Disney+. I know there are plenty of comic books and novels available too. I can personally attest to the very cool Lego sets available because they are slowly beginning to take over parts of my desk!
During the last few months of 2021 and early 2022, I rewatched all of the films and decided that my favorite from the newer batch of films is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Do you have a favorite?
Chain Bookstores Aren’t Dead Yet (Thank you, TikTok)
I came across this article about the bookstore revival on Bloomberg CityLab by Alexandra Lange. It offers some history of the big-box booksellers, and dives into how Barnes & Noble is staging a comeback thanks mainly to nostalgia (check out the photos!) and by acting as the backdrop for the BookTok boom that has racked up over 40 billion views on TikTok. Gen Z is apparently finding its way to the mall.
There’s also talk of the concept of these stores becoming the third place. From the article:
It’s not until you add the coffee shop to the chain bookstore, circa 1990, that it becomes the best illustration of sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the “third place.” The chain stores were pick-up joints without the alcohol, teen hangouts without the style pressures of the mall, opportunities to explore identity both socially and via reading material out from under the thumb of parents and teachers. As with the malls and shopping centers that often support a bookstore, these private enterprises offered accommodation to a broad range of people, in terms of class, race and age.
Thanks to the efforts of Starbucks once and again CEO Howard Schultz, this is a concept associated with that coffee chain at least before the pandemic.
I grew up without a Starbucks nearby, but we did have a large Barnes and Noble that opened when I was in my early teens. I spent many hours exploring books and magazines about technology, business, cooking, science fiction, and fantasy. I also developed my taste for coffee at the cafe. Yes, they did serve Starbucks, but as part of a licensed program, so sadly, they weren’t nearly as good at misspelling our name in wild ways.
Ted Lasso on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes did a segment on Ted Lasso, one of my favorite television shows and one of the shining beacons of hope, love, and kindness that helped many of us get through some of the darkest days of the pandemic.
It’s a great watch if you want to smile and know a little more about this show that no one, including its creators, was quite sure would find an audience.