Maybe Han Solo likes to dance, you don't know

And now, Spring Break is over. Today I have to grade papers and do lesson plans, and next week our yearbook is due so I'm going to be wrapped up in that. But this week was great for screenwriting. I got a ton of work done - work I can't talk about, which is awesome.

I also got and played Kinect Star Wars. Overall, pretty fun. It's not a perfect game, but I'm enjoying it. The weird thing is, the constant clenching of my fist is actually making my bad hand hurt. I have to start playing with an open hand or something. And my shoulders hurt. This game is an excellent substitution for an upper body workout if you're like me and can't really pick up weights.

I know people have been complaining about the whole Han Solo dancing thing, but I don't think it's that big a deal. In case you don't know, there's a side game that involves dancing in the Star Wars universe, structured like the game Dance Central. The first level is dancing with Princess Leia in Jabba's palace. Later in the game you dance with Han Solo.

And everyone's losing their shit about Han Solo and how undignified his dancing is.

Hey, people, Leia is undoing her chains and dancing for Jabba, and then gets all pissy when she doesn't win the contest, as she walks back to put her slave chains back one. How is this more dignified than Han getting his swerve on in Cloud City? But nobody's talking about Leia.

But whatever. It's just a game. The game is meant to be fun. It doesn't even have a good plot.

Sure, I miss Knights of the Old Republic. I miss that brilliantly constructed plot with the love story and the side missions and the characters that had more depth than any of the Star Wars prequels. But this isn't that game.

It probably would have been cool to have a story like KOTOR where it's in the same universe but without any of the same characters. Then you don't have to worry about offending people with Han Solo's dance moves or that rockin' tune about how glad he is to be free from the carbonite.

I don't mind the Han Solo dance or the Leia dance. I don't think you needed that, but it's not like I'm offended. A game should get a little more leeway than a film. It would be nice if every game could be KOTOR, but it's not. This is about throwing lizard guys through the air and waving your light saber around. And then dancing and raging around as a Rancor and podracing, at which I am fucking terrible.

Anyway, whether it's right or wrong, I'm gonna go play it until I can't fake grip a light saber anymore.

My rant about remakes or reboots or sequels or whatever continues

School started so I got busy and then time just flew by and screenwriting didn't really get done. But this week I read a screenplay and did a set of notes for a colleague, so I'm back on the screenwriting train. I should be back to posting regularly now. And this weekend I'm going to sweep through my first draft making major changes and cleaning things up so I can get notes next week.

I posted on this recently, but I was thinking more about the whole "why remakes upset us" thing. Because they do. Some people don't get it, and all the time on Done Deal someone will ask why the hell everybody cares so much if a movie is remade.

I've never been a huge fan of Scarface, but I think I get why people are up in arms about the remake. So I guess this is part two of my remake rant.

It can be summed up in one anecdote, really.

The new Star Wars Blue Ray commercials have plastered the TV lately. I love Star Wars. I've been a Jedi for Halloween on three occasions. I own life size cardboard cutouts of Han and Leia and an official Jedi robe and a pair of light sabers that light up and make noise and I played Knights of the Old Republic like five times and I've already pre-ordered the Kinect game and I own the original Gendy Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoons on DVD. So I'm a fan. And a dork, but obviously a fan.

But when I see the previews for those Blue Rays and that little Anakin wanders onto Tattooine with that silly bowl cut and a scowly face, I get irritated. And then they show Jar Jar or Hayden Christenson doing whatever the hell he was doing in front of that green screen, and I just want it to go away. And then they pop in a shot of Luke in front of the two suns.

That shot. That beautiful shot, is ruined. All I think now when I see it is how much Star Wars sucks now. The magic is gone.

Maybe other people can separate what they love from what they hate, but I can't. A remake is a completely different film, so maybe they don't have to ruin the movie you love. After all, the Scarface everybody loves so much was a remake in its own right. But I don't know. There's something magical about a movie you love, and when someone comes along and fucks with it, that magic just sort of fades.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk about this awesome Drink Along thing they've got going on over at the Downtown Independent.