BK Rant 3.0

A couple of days ago I went over to Yahoo! Religion:1 Chat regular Judy0309nj’s message board called “j00dz talkie place”. It was there I saw a thread titled “Fucking asshole A vs. C trolls”. Apparently not only had my “good buddy” The_Black_Knight_of_Myst’s Geocities website been shut down but he had been locked out of his Yahoo! Account all together. With my experience with such things you can bet your he probably won’t be getting it back. This is what he had to say:

“They're reporting people "anonymously" for ToS violations, causing Yahell to lock accounts. I'm trying to get mine back, but just be careful of the little kiddies from the Luser Rooms.”

The “little kiddies from the Luser Rooms” he refers to are the former regulars of the “Atheist vs. Christian” aka “AvC” user chat room that came to Religion:1 chat after Yahoo! shut down all the user rooms.

While some chatters sympathized with BK and his plight against the evil AvC conspiracy Judy herself was good enough to recognize that BK was simply making another one of his patented blanket accusations. BK had this to say in reply to Judy:

“First, it wasn't a blanket accusation, I was quite coherent with my charge that it was one of the many trolls on my ignore list. Secondly, I have the e-mails from Yahell stating that some idiot reported me for a ToS violation. Thirdly, what more just of a cause is there than justice?”

While it is pretty safe for BK to assume it was "one of the many trolls” on his ignore list that reported he was violating Yahoo!’s TOS he DID specifically state not only in his post but the title of the thread itself that he was blaming the AvC chatters. How is he going to sit there and claim he wasn’t? His “what more just of a cause is there than justice?” has got to be the most circular thing I have ever heard in my life. Of course justice is just! Duh!

BK continues:

“You know what? This is just fucking stupid. Ever since Yahell tore down the User Rooms, the self-important jackasses over at gremlin.net have been playing Schutzstaffel in Religion:1. They can pat themselves on the back: The greatest achievement they'll ever accomplish is driving me away from Blahoo Chat while causing mommy's energy bills to increase. I mean, it takes someone with no real ambition to actually drive someone away from a chatroom!”

So he tries to play it off that he wasn’t accusing the AvC people specifically and now he continues to make that very accusation! I went over to gremlin.net and ran a search on BK’s name. It turned up nothing. Maybe I’m just not seeing it but the way BK goes on and on about that site in this and in other posts he has made you would think it was dedicated to destroying him.

BK has a specific list of suspects too:

“1) Rye.
2) Gremlin.
3) Krush.
4) That "birds" thing.
5) Rowan.
6) Deadman.”

While I personally did not make the list of suspects he does mention me twice in his posts:

“We've all had our arguments and had probably ignored a couple of people in this forum while in chat, but it never got this dirty. At least there was some sense of honor involved in the pre-invasion flamewars.”

Honor? Since when?!

You see before BK’s Geocities website was shut down he had a page called “The Rouge’s Gallery” that he later renamed “The Dungeon”. This page listed all the Religion:1 chatters he hated the most. Each name was accompanied by a small paragraph explaining his hatred. My name was on this list. While the other people listed had specific incidents cited BK instead decided to simply insult me.

First he made fun of the fact that I am a fan of professional wrestling and suggested that because I liked it I must be gay. This is funny because BK is now an admitted fan of professional wrestling himself! Does that mean he is gay then?

Second he gave us this gem of a line:

"This has possibly been brought on by the felching accident with moses737."

If you don’t know what felching is then look it up. I will only say it is a disgusting sex act that involves feces. Needless to say no such incident ever took place. Is this BK’s idea of acting honorably?

“I'm being targeted for doing something that others have been doing in Religion:1, Hatter especially (don't deny it Hatter, I've taken you off ignore for a few minutes when it was indicated that you were posting and I saw you make disparaging remarks about Christians, which is why you ignored me in the first place).”

I ignored BK for being an anti-Christian bigot. His only defense for this is to try and paint me as being one myself. This simply is not true. I’ve explained all this before in my past posts about BK. Anyone who knows me knows that I am far from being a bigot. I’m curious as to why BK thinks it was his anti-Christian remarks in chat that got him banned? Is that what the email from Yahoo! said?

In what I was sure was nothing more that a bit of drama, BK then proclaimed he was not only leaving the message board but Yahoo! Chat all together. Just as I suspected this turned out to be nothing more than a bluff. Less than 24 hours later BK entered Religion:1 Chat with the name “Black_Knight_of_the_Isle”. I mentioned this on another chatter’s blog and BK showed up claiming that this was an imposter and wanted me to show him the transcript. While I do keep transcripts of chat the “Black_Knight_of_the_Isle” did not make any posts while it was in the room. I also have room movement turned off in my YahElite so even the “enters the room/leaves the room” message would not have been transcribed. I did check the ID’s profile however and it matched BK’s personal information.

As soon as BK saw this he quickly removed the information on the profile so that it was now blank. Thinking again he ended up deleting the profile all together. Unfortunately for BK my YahElite had been signed in to chat for days and by using the “Quick Profile” feature I was able to STILL bring up the profile complete with BK’s personal info despite the fact he had since deleted it. Here is a screen capture I made:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/mad_hatter2k/liar.jpg

It doesn’t really matter now though as BK has returned to Religion:1 chat again with yet another name, this time “Black_Knight_Albion”.

UPDATE:

I showed the above screen capture to BK in chat and he suddenly stopped responding to me. Seems that in defeat he just ignored me rather than having to deal with looking like a liar.

MadTeaParty

If if you are looking for the MadTeaParty debate group please contact mad.hatter@yahoo.com .

World Racism Entertainment Part 2

A few months back I made an entry about a World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler by the name of Mohammed Hassan. Hassan’s character is that of an Arab-American fed up with the blatant racism that he and other Arab/Muslim Americans have faced in the United States since 9-11. Hassan in typical WWE tradition is a bad guy. But why? Because he is speaking out against racism and bigotry? Well the day after the London terrorist bombings a taped episode of WWE Smackdown! Aired on UPN with a warning that some may find the night’s storyline to be offensive. You see this particular episode of Smackdown! Featured Hassan commanding a group of men dressed as terrorists as they attacked and choked wrestling superstar The Undertaker with a metal wire. They then carried the Undertaker off like some kind of sacrifice while Hassan got down on his knees and prayed. Despite the warning those in charge of programming at UPN have demanded that the Hassan character no longer appear on Smackdown! And rumor has it now that the WWE is doing away with the character all together. It was bad timing on the WWE’s part but they never should have gone that way in the first place. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not some goody-goody that doesn’t want to see terrorist characters on my TV. My problem is that the Hassan character has done nothing but play on the small-minded attitudes of racist Americans. The guy comes on TV talking about how he has been discriminated upon and that his civil rights have been violated and the fans boo him! That’s right, they booed civil rights! Now there is this thing with the band of terrorists. I thought Hassan wasn’t a terrorist and was just bitching because he was being discriminated upon? Now it seems he IS a terrorist? The message the WWE is sending to it’s fans is the idea that Arab Americans who speak out against bigotry and racism and claim to not support terrorism are just lying. If cartoon characters such as Speedy Gonzales have been done away with because they portray racist stereotypes then why should wrestling be any different? If the WWE wanted to have an Islamic militant character come down with a bomb strapped to his chest proclaiming a Jihad against the “Great Satan” that is the WWE I don’t think I would have been offended. It’s the same thing with past characters such as the Iron Sheik. The Iron Sheik made it clear that he supported the new (at that time) Iranian government. He wasn’t some guy that just happened to be Iranian that was angry that Americans were acting like he was a bad guy because of it. HE WAS A BAD GUY! But that was then. . . . in today’s WWE fans are supposed to hate an Arab wrestler simply because of his race/religion. Good and evil has nothing to do with it. So bring on the controversial wrestling characters! Bring on the goose stepping, swastika flag waving Nazi characters who make terrible comments about Jews and the Holocaust! But leave the “This guy is of German heritage so you should hate him” characters in the trash where they belong.

Regs vs Refuges!

Those that frequent the Yahoo! Chat rooms probably already know that all the "user rooms" are no more. There is a story to this that if you were to do a web search could probably find. I won't go into that now.

The problem is that there were a LOT of chatters who frequented those user rooms. Now guess where they went once those rooms were shut down? That's right! They now frequent the official Yahoo! rooms. One past user room in the 'Religion and Beliefs' section of Yahoo! Chat was called "Atheists vs Christians". This room was very popular and therefore could always be found in the user room list. Now that it is no more many of the regulars from that room have become refuges of a sort and now frequent the "Religion" chat rooms. My personal haunt (Religion:1) is so over run with these refuges that I have to wait at least five minutes before I can ever get in! Now don't get me wrong, I welcome the AvC folks. I think Religion:1 chat was in need of a roster mix-up if you will. Problem is there is this sort of "invasion" attitude amongst some of them. Comments like, "We have swamped your room. We have it, its ours." In other words typical asshole bull shit. The whole thing has turned into a sort of 24/7 flame war. I try and be a peace maker but at the same time I don't tolerate that kind of rude ass crap.

I hope that this thing will blow over soon.

"Notice of Infringement"

I recieved an email this morning entitled, "Notice of Infringement" from "Yahoo! Copyright Agent". It is concerning a HUGEGANTIC list of messages posted at the my MadTeaParty debate group.

The whole thing started a few months back when a new member at the MTP (MadTeaParty) got off on the wrong foot with some of the other members there. It lead to a series of back and forth bickering and insulting that I as the group's only moderator was having great difficulty attempting to keep the order. In the end this member claimed that she was going to report one of the other members to Yahoo! itself. Now I like to think I run a pretty fair group. Compared with 75% (if not more) of Yahoo!'s other services the MTP is rather tame. I didn't feel there was any reason to go over my head to Yahoo! as if there were any serious problem I would have as moderator taken care of it myself. Besides, reporting things said at the MTP to Yahoo! could possibly get the group disbanned. It's easy to imagine Yahoo! just shutting the whole thing down than have to deal with finding out what really was said. I told her if she or anybody else started reporting things to Yahoo! that she would be banned by me from the MTP. Why would I want such a person in the group? She got all shitty about it and started making threats. I removed her. Later I discovered an email that she had sent me personally (before I banned her) basically asking that I delete every message that everyone ever made in reply to her and she would then delete all the messages she had made:

Hatter,

I thought I'd like to write to in an attempt to see ifn we might be
able to negotiate a peaceful settlement. I am certainly not happy with the
situation as it stands. I think it is fairly clear that Ron, DB and TR
have preexisting resentments which make it impossible for them to deal with
me a/o reason this matter wiith fact or clarity. Honestly they rumor such
garbage, a hodge podge of purposelyfully misrepresentive facts about me.

On one hand, I have my own self serving interests, on the other hand, I
feel some social responsiblity. It is incorrect to harrass folks as they do
+ with character defamation and such obsenities. On the other hand, it
is not my place to stand up for others who suffer their abuses. However I
also feel that I have adequately demonstrated that one does not necc. have
to tolerate such treatment.

So, my concern, is perhaps, better suited to focus on my own self
interests.

To this respect, I am willing to offer you an incentive: if you delete all
Thalprin correspondence since I joined (all replies and responses and
posts concering me and my addy) I will delete all my posts and I will
unsubscribe.

I think it is clear that these three folks are incapable of controling
their anger and actions towards me, and, honestly, I hate to see them get
into trouble as foul mouthed, deceptive and ill mannered as they are.
Besides, I think or hope they've learned their lesson.

So, I am willing to let bygones be bygones and just act like the whole
thing never happened.

Truth is, I well realize, that they seem incapable of being able to
control themselves or stop harrassing me. They started it, and quite awhile
ago and on it will continue because that's how they intend to act + they self
reinforce each other to continue these abusive cycles. So there will
be no fun of discussion for me (and many others ie "everyone on their list" I
imagine) at MPT and MTP is unlikely to be a place I feel welcomed.


I did not realize this when I joined. That's one of the problems with folks
using so many different names. I thought the group looked fun. Then I
thought perhaps I could reason with them. Then I was angry for a bit. And now
I realize who they are and that chip on their shoulder aint going
away.


Having said this, and having made this offer, let me be clear that, I
am 100% certain that if I filed complaints I would see my requests honored
and met.


I'd perfer it not come to this. I really am quite civil. I have no
interest in disrupting your group or seeing it deleted. I had every
interest in adding to it's content. However I simply can't/won't
accept having such obsenities, misrep. and slander archived or in
circulation about me.


Give it some thought, and let me know your thoughts.

Best wishes,

Terrie

If I would have gone along with this nearly two whole months of material would of been deleted. I don't have the time for that.

She also sent me another email:

I have just a note to add, having just received a rather impolite note attempting to bully me from DB.

She claims that I have been responsible for closing more than one list,
and while I understand that she is your friend, I'd like to explain (and
demonstrate that) sometimes friends simply aren't entirely honest.

For example, in the nearly five years I have been on the net I have
seen two groups close.

The first group closing happened like this, and it was a group I liked
alot.

Three new people joined that list and harrassed me nonstop from the
get go until I wanted to leave. As much as I liked the man who ran the
list I simply couldn't remain, which, yes, is probably what they wanted.
So I wrote him a note to tell him I was leaving and he wrote me back to
say that he was going to close the list, which, yes, probably he did it to
piss these people off, which it did and they wanna blame me for. However,
I diid not force him to close his list nor did I ruin it, these other folks
did. They picked a battle, they felt they'd won a battle, and they didn't get
to enjoy the fruits of their labor, this he denied them - justly so, I think
AND unforunately, they wanna blame me.

The next list I was on I also enjoyed until, again, I was harrassed and
then (in addition) censored so as to not be able to respond. Of course,
the ranting was being allowed to be posted, but I was not being allowed to
respond. I understand that folks have friends and feel loyalty to
them, but there is also in all fairness, fairness as a right as well. And
just then the group changed flavor into such as no good/right, no bad/wrong,
and it's all consciousness/not real, instead of history, theory and maths -
basically, that which I found philosophically disharmonic with my own
thoughts. Further the owner of that list intended to keep my maths and
philos in his archive, something I found objectionable, I felt if the
list was going to have a new focus, so entirely different from my own
viewpoints that I was not going to support it or appear as if I did. When
I told the owner that I was going to delete my maths he blocked my e-mail
addy to prevent me from doing so.

I wrote him three times over a six month period to request that he not
deny my right to exercise control over my own materials. I also forewarned
him each time that it was an infringement of my IPRs. He had plenty of
time and plenty of forewarning and three sensible requests to do the right
thing.

At a certain point I had no choice but to file a complaint. There were
several actions that couldn't been taken and I was surprised the group
was closed down. I can only speculate as to why the CR agent decided that
was the correct action to take.


I am really not a horrible person, not at all, rumors and misreps
aside.


Then I get this email today from Yahoo!:

Re: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/madteaparty/

Terrie Halprin has notified Yahoo! Inc. ("Yahoo!") that copyrighted material proprietary to Terrie Halprin has been posted in connection with Yahoo!® Group madteaparty. Terrie Halprin has further notified Yahoo! that the Yahoo!® Group in question has no authorization to post the material in question:

Messages:

43941, 43942, 43945, 43946, 43948, 43964, 43965,

43966, 43967, 43968, 43970, 43971, 43860, 43863,

43865, 43867, 43870, 43875, 43878, 43880, 43883,

43888, 43889, 43767, 43768, 43771, 43772, 43774,

43776, 43780, 43781, 43783, 43785, 43877, 43879,

43800, 43801, 43802, 43803, 43804, 43807, 43808,

43809, 43679, 43681, 43686, 43687, 43688, 43692,

43694, 43695, 43697, 43699, 43702, 43707, 43708,

43601, 43608, 43621, 43623, 43626, 43627, 43629,

43632, 43633, 43634, 43635, 43647, 43649, 43650,

43651, 43652, 43653, 43654, 43655, 43514, 43515,

43516, 43517, 43518, 43521, 43522, 43523, 43524,

43526, 43527, 43538, 43539, 43540, 43541, 43543,

43544, 43549, 43551, 43417, 43418, 43419, 43420,

43421, 43425, 43428, 43429, 43432, 43435, 43439,

43440, 43443, 43444, 43445, 43446, 43448, 43449,

43452, 43259, 43261, 43271, 43272, 43273, 43275,

43356, 43363, 43364, 43365, 43368, 43369, 43370,

43371, 43381, 43187, 43188, 43189, 43191, 43193,

43194, 43195, 43200, 43201, 43203, 43205, 43222,

43224, 42225, 43226, 43227, 43229, 43109, 43110,

43111, 43112, 43115, 43116, 43130, 43128, 43136,

43160, 43161, 43162, 43164, 43167, 43080, 43081,

43086, 43087, 43088, 43089, 43090, 43092, 43094,

43095, 43096, 43101, 43102, 43172, 43175, 43177,

43031, 43053, 43073, 43076, 43077, 43078, 42923,

42924, 42945, 42926, 42927, 42928, 42936, 42939,

42949, 42950, 42951, 42962, 42981, 42982, 42989,

43002, 42845, 42846, 42848, 42859, 42865, 42900,

42902, 42903, 42905, 42911, 42913, 42916, 42917,

42757, 42759, 42760, 42762, 42763, 42770, 42771,

42772, 42775, 42776, 42787, 42792, 42794, 42795,

42796, 42799, 42704, 42705, 42706, 42708, 42710,

42711, 42713, 42714, 42715, 42716, 42718, 42719,

42720, 42721, 42722, 42723, 42725, 42647, 42648,

42644, 42645, 42647, 42648, 42649, 42653, 42659,

42660, 42661, 42663, 42664, 42665, 42666, 42667,

42669, 42674, 42675, 42676, 42537, 42542, 42545,

42549, 42550, 42573, 42574, 42586, 42587, 42593,

42596, 42619

Yahoo! respects the rights of both its users and the owners and rights holders of intellectual property. Accordingly, and in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and/or other applicable federal law(s), Yahoo! intends to expeditiously remove or disable access to the copyrighted material in question. PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT UNLESS THE MATERIAL IN QUESTION IS REMOVED, OR ACCESS TO THE MATERIAL IS DISABLED, WITHIN FORTY-EIGHT (48) HOURS, YAHOO! INTENDS TO DISABLE ACCESS TO THE MATERIAL.

Through your participation in Yahoo!® Groups you agree to abide by the Yahoo! Terms of Service, as well as any additional Terms of Service, applicable to you. The current Yahoo! Terms of Service may be reviewed at: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms. Pursuant to Section 6 of the Terms of Service, Member Conduct, the use of Yahoo!® services to "upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights . . . of any party" is prohibited.

As you know, Yahoo! may terminate any and/or all services and accounts without notice. This notice is provided to you as a courtesy. Without waiving or limiting any rights or remedies Yahoo! has or may have, as the designated owner of the madteaparty group you are hereby advised that our receipt of another notification alleging the unauthorized posting of another party's intellectual property in connection with any Yahoo!® Group may result in not only the suspension of all Yahoo!® Groups for which you are the designated owner, but the termination of all of your Yahoo! services as well as the deactivation of your Yahoo! ID.

If you wish to attempt to resolve the matter by dealing with Terrie Halprin directly, Terrie Halprin may be contacted at:

By Email: thalprin@hotmail.com

If you believe that the madteaparty group was designated by Terrie Halprin by mistake or misidentification, or if you believe that the madteaparty group has not infringed the copyrights of Terrie Halprin, you may submit a sworn counter-notification as to the mistake or misidentification. To be effective, counter-notifications shall be in writing and include:

1. Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled, including the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

2. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification;

3. Your name, address and telephone number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address provided by you is located (or if the address provided by you is outside the United States, you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for any judicial district in which Yahoo! may be found), and that you will accept service of process from the complaining party or its agent; and

4. Your physical or electronic signature on the counter-notification.

Any counter-notification shall be submitted to Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent in accordance with the contact information provided at:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html.

Please be advised that Yahoo! will provide a copy of such a counter-notification (including your name, address, telephone number and any other contact information provided by you) to Terrie Halprin. In providing a copy of the counter-notification Yahoo! will advise Terrie Halprin that Yahoo! intends to replace or re-enable access to the material in question ten (10) business days following the date of the counter-notification unless Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent receives notice that Terrie Halprin has filed a court action seeking an order to restrain you from engaging in infringing activity related to the material in question.

We wish to thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation.

Regards,

Copyright Agent, Yahoo! Inc.

copyright@yahoo-inc.com

****************************

c/o Yahoo! Inc.

701 First Ave.

Sunnyvale, CA 94089

The whole thing is absurd because A) Thalprin was the one who posted the messages! and B) There is nothing what so ever "copyrighted" in those messages! This is not a matter of someone taking text from a website or book and cut & pasting it at the MTP. I looked at one of the messages cited and see that it is nothing more than Thalprin replying to another member stating, "You're funny."

Hardly copyrighted material. If she didn't want her words to be displayed at the group then she should not have posted them there.

I called Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent and left a message telling them to simply read the messages and see with their own eyes that there is no copyrighted material posted. I told them the whole thing is BS and that am not going to be removing anything. If they are seriously affraid they are going to be sued for hosting copyrighted material then why don't they just removed the damn messages themselves?

Star Wars Prequels and Contradictions?

So I saw the new Star Wars on opening night. Let me tell you there was a rowdy crowd there. I only lefthome a half hour before the movie started and needless to say I ended up having to settle with some pretty crappy seats. About five rows back from the front on the far right side! Never the less I truly enjoyed the film which is easily the best of the prequels. In fact I enjoyed it to such an extent that I can't stop thinking about it. I ended up going to see it a second time last week. The Saga truly is compleye. I watched A New Hope (the first Star Wars film) again a few days ago. After seeing Revenge of the Sith you really have a new respect/disrespect for characters like Obi-Wan and Vader. I should watch The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi again too.

Of course not all were as thrilled with this film as I was. Some have even gone so far as to state that it is the worse one yet. Whatthefuckever! I spent a great deal of time explaining to a "fan" on one of the message boards I frequent that Obi-Wan saying , "When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot." is not a contradiction to the prequels! Here is a excerpt of my rant:

Why is it so hard for you to understand that he was talking about two different things? If we are to go by your "logic" then it would be impossible for one to be a good pod pilot when you first meet them and then go on to be a good star-pilot later. But that's nonsense!

When Obi-Wan first meet Anakin he had just won the Boonta Eve pod race. The fact that he didn't see it himself doesn't mean anything. I'm sure Anakin, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar and Padme spent a great deal of time raving about everything that had happened while Obi-Wan was stuck aboard the ship with Captain Panaka once they got back.

Therefore, "When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot." is a valid statement.

Later at the Battle of Naboo as well as during the Clone Wars we see that Anakin is a pretty good star-pilot. Obi-Wan said, "He was the best star-pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior." You may disagree with Obi-Wan's opinion that he was the "best" but it's not as if Anakin was never shown flying a starship in the prequels. He was.

In short, Anakin was a great (pod) pilot when Obi-Wan first meet him and later was a great star-pilot. NOWHERE in the entire Original trilogy did Obi-Wan ever state that Anakin was a star-pilot when he first meet him. That is just a fanboy assumption.

I noticed you have not brought up the Qui-Gon/Yoda as Obi-Wan's master complaint. In that one prequel haters #$## about the "fact" that Obi-Wan said Yoda trained him but the prequels have Qui-Gon as his master instead.

It's the same sort of thing, fans got this idea in their head about something talked about in the Original Trilogy and when the prequels came along they felt it was a contradiction because it was different from what they had figured. But once you look back at what was actually said you see that there was no contradiction at all. Obi-Wan ACTUALLy said ,"There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me," and NOT "Yoda was the Jedi Master who trained me personally and no one else ever trained me," like prequel haters would have me believe. Likewise, Obi-Wan never said that Anakin was a great star pilot when he first meet him.

This same person is also stuck on the whole "How could Leia have memories of her mother and Luke doesn't?" crap:

Go watch Return of the Jedi again. Leia never claimed to have physically seen her mother (though technically she did, who hasn't seen their mother?) she said and I quote, "Just...images, really. Feelings."

IMAGES? FEELINGS? This is beyond your imagination that it was the Force that gave her these "memories"? I'm sorry but you're pathetic if that is truly the case.

I'll admit. I figured maybe Leia had actually lived with her real mother for a time before she died as well. However I am not so stubborn as to allow what I thought years before the prequels came out to be considered a higher level of official Star Wars cannon than what George Lucas ultimately decided on. There is no contradiction or plot hole. Only a difference from your fanboy fantasies.

Of course this guy doesn't believe that Leai had the Force because she wasn't trained as a Jedi and asked me to cite explables of her using the Force in the films:

In The Empire Strikes Back Leia could hear Luke calling out to her from the bottom of Cloud City. How could she of possibly been able to hear him unless she herself had the Force.

Of course there is also the line from Return of the Jedi, "I know. Somehow...I've always known." in reference to being Luke's sister.

When the second Death Star blew up Han says that he was sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew and Leia replies, "He wasn't. I can feel it."

That is THREE examples from the Original Trilogy where Leia uses the Force WITHOUT any training what so ever. They also happen to be 3 examples of Force use that involves feelings. The same kind of feelings that Leia had of her mother. Yet to you somehow Leia having feelings of her mother through the Force is a pathetic argument?

My Take On Star Wars

I'm a huge Star Wars fan. When the Special Editions hits theaters during the late 90s I went to each film as soon as I could and saw both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones on opening night. I already have my ticket for Revenge of the Sith (8 more days to go!). I remember saying before The Phantom Menace was released that the prequel films were going to cause a sort of "Star Trek effect" on fans with arguments erupting over which trilogy was the best. In a way I was correct; only I don't know of anybody who likes the Prequel Trilogy best. This leads me to the purpose of this post. I walked out the theater after seeing The Phantom Menace feeling it was possibly the best Star Wars film EVER. I was disappointed not in the film itself but the fans (and let's not fool ourselves many of these people are not fans at all) who said it was trash. The following is my take on the prequel films:

ACTING AND DIALOG

I've heard a lot of people complain about the acting in the prequel films. I however feel that it's not the acting itself but rather the dialog that the actors have to deal with. In the original trilogy you only had two real Jedi characters: Obi-Wan and Yoda. In the prequels there are hundreds. The Jedi are basically warrior monks and therefore speak in a very monk-like manner. Anything else would be uncharacteristic of what they are. The problem lies then in the fact that the prequel films focus so much on the Jedi. In the Original Trilogy it was more of a Rebels vs. Imperials kind of thing with the Jedi sort of just thrown in. The Prequel Trilogy lacks a Han Solo-like character to lighten up the mood from the stale Buddhist-like Jedi. I believe that George Lucas originally intended Jar Jar Binks to fill this role but scaled back on the character’s involvement in the story after major complaints from fans and non-fans alike.

As well there are many complaints about the love story between Anakin and Padme in Attack of the Clones. I feel while the lines may have been corny, they are more realistic as to the kind of dumb things people actually say while in love. Also if you picture Darth Vader himself in the mask with James Earl Jones’ voice saying the lines they don't seem nearly as corny. I think it is the intent of Lucas to have Anakin's lines be the same sort of things Vader would have said in the Original Trilogy. They may seem silly coming from white-guy Anakin's mouth but Lucas wanted there to be a more smooth transition from Anakin's lines to that of Vader's.

FAMILIARITY

The Original Star Wars Trilogy had a sense of familiarity about it. All three films featured as it's main characters: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader played by the SAME ACTORS. Even Obi-Wan showed up in one form or another in each film. In addition to that the Stormtroopers were present UNALTERED along with ships like Star Destroyers, X-Wings, and TIE-Fighters. The Prequel Trilogy lacks all of this familiarity.

Qui-Gon Jinn: He was a major character in the first film but dies at the end. The only thing we have of him in Attack of the Clones is a slight voice-over that a lot of people didn't even notice.

Anakin Skywalker: Played by a different actor in the first film so the "familiar face" effect of seeing him in Attack of the Clones was not there. I'm looking forward to seeing him (different look or not) in Revenge of the Sith.

Jar Jar Binks: Was a major character in the first film but was nearly non-existent in Attack of the Clones. I was actually happy to see a familiar face in Jar Jar.

Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Jango Fett: Unlike Vader who was the main baddie in all three films of the Original Trilogy, the Prequel Trilogy has a revolving door of villains that prove to be failures in the end. I can't help but think that Maul's death would have been much more interesting if he had lasted all three films only to be killed at the very end of Revenge of the Sith by Anakin/Vader.

C-3PO and R2-D2: They were major players in the Original Trilogy but in the prequels they are more or less just thrown in for the hell of it. While R2 is unchanged 3-PO has a drastically different look in each of the prequel films.

Captain Panaka: Remember this guy in The Phantom Menace? He may not of been that big of a player but in Attack of the Clones he is absent and instead replaced by another guy . . . Captain Typho. Why couldn't they have just used the same character in both films?

The only characters that really seem to return are Obi-Wan and Padme. Sure Palpatine, Yoda and Mace Windu are all there but their appearances in The Phantom Menace were not one of action.

In addition to the characters, many of the other things in the prequel films lack familiarity. We were introduced to the Naboo Star Fighter in The Phantom Menace but haven't seen it since. In Attack Of The Clones we instead see the Jedi Star Fighter and from what I have seen of Revenge Of The Sith we shall once again be treated to all new ships. In The Original Trilogy you had your X-Wings and Y-Wings in all three films. Even when new ships were introduced the old ones were still there.

Verdict? Lucasfilm is at fault. I'm not saying they shouldn't have given us new things to oogle at with each new film but there should have been more of a consistency in what we see.

THE SETS

The main difference between the prequel films and the Original Trilogy in my opinion is the setting. In the Original Trilogy it seemed that everything took place in space, In a huge ship, star fighter, or space station. Even when they were on a planet like Bespin there was a very Closter phobic feel to it all (despite changes to Bespin in the Special Edition). The prequels have things taking place on a much grander scale with the use of modern technology. No longer are they confined to these small sets. I feel this difference alone makes the prequel films seem strangely "wrong". I'm not personally complaining but feel that there are fans out there who have subconsciously noticed this and it drives their dislike of the prequels.

Verdict? No fault here. Lucasfilm could have set it up so that everything took place in space but I see no reason they should have been limited themselves just because they were in 1977.

THE STORY

The Original Trilogy was your classic battle of good vs. evil. The problem with such classic battles is that you can’t really go into any details as to why the good guys and good and the bad guys are bad. You can state that villains like Darth Vader were once good but turned bad but showing that turn play out on screen could never be as interesting as a story that simply just says it happened. It’s the same with the rise of the Empire. Saying that the Empire used to be a Republic and that the Emperor was once a senator is easy and everyone will be satisfied with that simple answer. However actually having to show it play out in a movie is another thing. I believe every good story has aspects in it that are left up to the imagination. The Original Trilogy had these aspects. They were magical. The very notion of doing three prequel films however is obviously going to destroy that magic. In addition Lucas wanted to keep there from being even more questions once the Prequel Trilogy was completed. Thus not only were those magical mysteries of the Original Trilogy killed (as they would have to be if you are going to make prequels to such films) but additional ones were lacking in the new films.

Verdict? Again, this is not Lucasfilm's fault. The best they could have done is left us with all new magical mysteries to imagine the answers to but then people would be demanding prequels to the prequels!

NOSTALGIA

A lot of Star Wars fans grew up with the Original Trilogy. Therefore I don’t think it mattered how well the prequels were done, they still would not have been good enough for them. Yes they know Han Solo couldn’t possibly be in these films but the fact that they can’t see Harrison Ford once again secretly keeps them for ever liking the new Star Wars. You see this kind of attitude all the time with other things.

Verdict? Obviously not Lucasfilm's fault. I figure in 20 years the little kids who are gorwing up now with the prequels are going to feel the same was we do about the Original Trilogy (that is if we don't brainwash them about it first).

PLOT HOLES?

Another major complaint I hear from people are the so called "plot holes" in Star Wars. I just read an article on MSNBC about them and found most of their concerns idiotic. Here are some of the most common ones I hear:

1. Q: Why didn't Unlce Owen recognize C-3PO in A New Hope?

A: When C-3PO was living at the Lars Homestead in Attack of the Clones he had grayish metal coverings. Years later when C-3PO returns he is covered in gold metal coverings. As seen throughout the Star Wars Saga there are many C-3PO-like protocol droids out there. Owen had no reason to think 3-PO was the same gray covered protocol droid that once lived on his farm. Furthermore, if you will recall when 3-PO begins to introduce himself to Owen in A New Hope he is interupted as Owen does not care. It isn't until Luke tells him that R2 is looking for someonen amed Obi-Wan that he suspects that the droids may be something from Anakin's past and thus tells Luke to have their memories erased. In case you're wondering 3-PO himself will have had his memory erased (wasn't it obvious?) sometime after Revenge of the Sith and that explains why he doesn't recognize Owen or the planet Tattooine for that matter.

2. Q: Why did Obi-Wan tell Luke that when he first met Anakin he was amazed at what a great pilot he was but in The Phantom Menace when Obi-Wan first met him he was just a kid?

A: This question to me is just idiotic. Anakin had JUST WON the Boonta Eve Pod Race when he meet Obi-Wan. While it's true a lot of people assumed that Obi-Wan meant "star fighter" he never actually said that. There is no contradiction. There is no plot hole.

3. Q: Why did Ob-Wan say that Yoda was the Jedi Master that instructed him when in The Phantom Menance it turned out to be Qui-Gonn?

A: Yoda is the head of the Jedi Council. He instructs EVERY Jedi. Furthermore in Attack of the Clones we see that Yoda personally trains the Jedi Younglings himself. It isn't much of a stretch to imagine that he did the same with a Youngling Obi-Wan.

4. Q: Why was there no mention of midi-chlorians in the Original Trilogy?

A: Why did there have to be? Personally I feel everyone makes way to big of a deal about the midi-chlorians. They are nothing more than a way for the Jedi to measure how powerful a person is with the Force. Lucas wanted to show that Yoda wasn't even as powerful as Anakin so there had to be some way of accurately measuring the Force (this is another case of magical mysteries from the Original Trilogy that are more interesting when left up to the imagination).

All in all I have enjoyed the first two films of the Prequel Trilogy so far and admit that they are not as good as the original films. However if you take into consideration some the points I made above then you should realize why this is.