I've mentioned living in Carnation, Washington. In actuality, I am half-way between Carnation and Duvall. That's pronounced Doo-vahl and they will correct you. Duvall has a population of 5545. Not much more than a hamlet.

How many Teriyaki restaurants does a small burg need? What is the typical "Teriyaki Per Capita"?

I ask because I have a suspicion that Duvall is approaching teriyaki Mecca-ness. We have one Asian food outlet per 792 persons. Four teriyaki specific (though sushi does share top billing at one) restaurants. Toshi's Teriyaki, JJ's Teriyaki, Happy at the Bay Teriyaki #6, and in case you are wondering which to go to, why not try out Best Teriyaki and Sushi. Add to this Twin Dragon Chinese food, a Thai restaurant, and of course Safeway's own China Express.

So I ask, what is your TPC?

And how much is too much?

I'd also love to know what your favorite teriyaki joint name. Personally, I've got to hand it to eTeriyaki. No ordering online, no delivery... eToys, eBay, eTeriyaki. Why not?!?

blast.

Two points today. The first deals with the opening text crawl. Does anyone remember the opening story setting to be so... Juvenile (interesting since Sith is the only one to carry a PG-13 rating).

War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.

In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.

As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor....

War! Nice intro. That first text block is just the worst. "There are heroes on both sides"? What?!? Are there evil heroes? Or do our heroes fall on both sides of a war, some here, some there? I don't get it.

Point two. Yoda's speech. In Empire, Yoda had a curious way of speaking. It wasn't all that technically incorrect, it was just odd.

"Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."

Odd but not incorrect. My guess is that, as with all thing Empire, they are just better for having Leigh Brackett's input. My guess is that Leigh wrote the dialog for Yoda. When it came time for Lucas to write the dialog....

Yoda's speech keeps sliding downhill. From Episode I - "Around the survivors, a perimeter create." Maybe that was the first clue that not all was right. And in Sith:

"The boy you trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader."

"If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find."

But again, I guess this is HIS story to ruin. Perhaps, in his years of seclusion, Yoda learned more than just how to die gracefully. Maybe he studied the MLA Handbook too.

"Not if anything to say about it I have"

blast.

Star Wars is our story. At least, it was.

Everyone in my generation knew and had seen Star Wars multiple times. It was the universal language. We could bypass the small talk and delve into the deeper matters of life. Yoda and Ben spoke the truth. The waxings of the wise old Jedi masters became mantras and entered everyday vocabulary. A wink and a nod was not needed to cite the source, we all knew.

Conversations over soda, and later beer, further galvanized our devotion to OUR story. What kind of gravitational system did the Death Star have? How did it compensate for a gravity differences as you went further towards the center? Any discrepancies were solved, filming mistakes rationalized in OUR story.

We created a flawless world given a simple story and a 6 hour celluloid outline. It was iron clad. There were no plot holes, no gaping questions. There were mysteries of course, but we were content to NOT know. We could discuss those mysteries and debate all the while looking forward to the next installment where some of our skeletons would find flesh.

Then they came. The prequels.

And we watched. And re-watched. We bought the DVD's. And we hoped for more.

What donned on me, as I was going over Sith in my mind, is that it is no longer OUR story. It is HIS story. It is George Lucas's story. I can't say "He should have done this," or "I wish he did this," because it is HIS story to tell. I will ever regard Lucas highly because he sparked my imagination. He gave me a story.

Then he took it back.

It's entirely possible that Star Wars is JUST a movie.

blast.