I introduced to M & J the awesome films of Star Wars. Well, the first trilogy (episodes IV, V and VI) were better than the recent trilogy (esp viz a viz II) and I showed them the back end of III (the turning of Anakin to the dark side) then IV and of course VI when the Jedi returns. I am not exactly sure what VII is about, since it's entitled The Force Awakens but surely having returned wouldn't Luke the Jedi have gone on to restore the force? Hmmm.
Anyways, here I am standing in line at Cinemark in Tanforan Malls in San Francisco. An hour ahead of time because it's free seating and I wanted us all to have the better seats in the house. When I arrived though, there were already 30 people in the queue. Good seats ensure the maximum experience, surely nothing less to feel the force esp awakened one!
We were truly immersed in an other-worldly experience last night. I managed to procure (albeit rather expensively) stall seats where trapeze artists were ha binging just overhead and in the aisles. We were all in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay One, and watched Michael Jackson "awakened" with the help of Cirque de Soleil. It was a true multimedia show and a special "appearance" of the King of Pop in life-like hologram. Science fiction stuff. So, it stands to reason that we follow that up with Star Wars.
We are actually at the tail end of our 16-day trip across the West Coast of the US of A. Those following this blog would have read about our drive to San Francisco to Los Angeles. The last week has been about heading east, to the bright lights of Las Vegas and more importantly, beyond to Arizona the aptly named Grand Canyon state.
In a way, this trip mimics (in many aspects) to the golden triangle I did two dozen years ago. As a newly minted airline executive I flew for the first time (on vacation) in business class to Tokyo, then on to Los Angeles with the obligatory side trip to Las Vegas/Grand Canyon and then on to San Francisco. Then, I was travelling alone (backpacking on a shoestring, I might add) and managed to also pack in a visit to Disneyland, Six Flags and Yosemite National Park.
This time, Yosemite didn't make the itinerary on account of weather and we are all too old for Disneyland, and no longer need thrills from the roller coasters at Six Flags. Instead, we went to Mojave National preserve and its monuments, the Joshua Trees and the wide open natural space was thrilling enough. The sights that I did want to repeat and meaningfully with my family are two sights that awed me the last time: Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.
Hoover Dam stood out as a true engineering feat, of man's attempt to master nature, in this case damming the mighty Colorado River. Another couple of hours drive away, nature 'fights' back, or rather simply re-asserted itself and reminded us what it could conjure up through the simple fact of erosion over the years in the Grand Canyon. The canyon is truly the first place that was the first time that truly took my breath away, and the family found it equally breathtaking!
Vegas was different to everything else we saw before. Everything, from the buildings to the lights to the people (including the tourists there) are just over the top. The buildings replicate Rome, Paris, Luxor and of course New York. The buskers and street performers entertain but without real magic (that used to be there in Las Ramblas). The people are superbly rich in obscene stretch limos and painfully poor begging for change on walkways.
In a way, this is the USA we know. A land of opportunity but with a dark side to it. So it's all quite fitting that I conclude this blog just as the movie that really portrays the human condition so well: the force and the dark side. The drive to excel in the former, the passion of the former, the humanity of the former... All can lead to the other side when taken to an extreme. "Learn from this, you shall" as Yoda would have said.
No comments:
Post a Comment