View From the Bushes

Well, if any of you remember (I'm too lazy to go back and find out), way back, I think nearly a month ago, I said I was going to start reading a Lewis and Clark biography by Ambrose. Well, yesterday I finally finished it. I can say that it saddens me to have taken so long to finish a book, but I guess having read one book in the last month or so is better than not reading anything. It's kind of funny, because I remember hearing that Lewis had committed suicide (actually as part of a program that was suggesting that he might have actually been murdered) but I had forgotten until I was pretty close to the end of the book (by that time the foreshadowing was so thick that my 7 year old would have figured it out). Kind of sad, really, to have this monumental victory and then just a few years later to be so depressed that you decide to take your own life.

Well after that cheerful beginning, I'm not sure where to go. After playing Knights of the Old Republic for the last week or so, I figured that it was time that my kids actually watched Star Wars, so I dug out my videos. My son, who is constantly watching me when I play, initially didn't want to watch the movie, but I told him that he needed to stop whining, sit down and be quiet: I was doing this for his own good. Of course, not more that ten minutes in and he was completely hooked. I think I was right about his age when I watched the very first one. At the time I didn't realize how whiny Luke was.

Now the question is: do I let him watch episodes one and two? (The Slate Hellboy review has a great section on why that latter Star Wars movies are so bad). First off, I don't own them so I would have to purchase them or rent them; secondly, I'm sure that if I did let him watch them that would be just one of the many sins I would have to account for in the afterlife. That being said, for all of it's failings (which are legion) I imagine that my son would really enjoy Episode One. Certainly I would have loved the pod race when I was his age, and I imagine that *shudder* he would probably really like Jar-Jar as well. But that may be a risk I have to take.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross