Joy to the world, Star Wars is born! Thirty years ago today, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope premiered in not that many theaters across the United States. I consider the film's budget to have been the best spent $11,000,000 in history, and I am immensely grateful to have never lived in a world without Star Wars. Seeing it in a theater in the summer of '77 would have been cool as hell, but actually growing up in the '60s and '70s seems like a damned steep price; I'd prefer to time travel back to that glorious summer now thirty years hence, though I'm sure acquiring the necessary time machine would entail quite a bit of bother. Hmmm.... In any event, I owe an irredeemable debt to George Lucas; through his creation, he has given me more than he could ever know. Thank you, sir, and may the Force be with you, always.

This evening, my counterpart and I are watching the film that started it all, and to my way of thinking this is the best and most proper way to mark this most august occasion, though of course I wish that circumstances had permitted us to attend Celebration IV in Los Angeles. Huzzah for Star Wars!

BTW South Song of the Day
Blink-182, "A New Hope" from Dude Ranch (Mt. Love)

Fear and Loathing in the Straits of Taiwan
A pair of Chinalinks, both of a martial bend, one each for the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the plain old Republic of China (ROC). Personally, I miss the days when China was "Red China" and Taiwan was "China," but time marches on heedless of any one man's desires. Will the civil war between the CCP and the KMT be reignited in the 21st century? Will there be one China or two? I have no answers, my friends, but by Jove I find the questions entrancing!