Classic Movie Monday: The Last Starfighter (1984)

The Last Starfighter, which came out in 1984, probably wouldn't be considered by many to be a classic movie.  It's classic to me because, according to my Dad, it was the first movie I ever saw at the theater.  Granted I was only two, it was a drive in, and I kept climbing over the seats, front and back again, so I don't remember a thing.  But I do remember seeing The Last Starfighter as a kid when a little older, and it does hold a special place in childhood memory.

For those who may not be familiar with The Last Starfighter, it begins in a trailer park in California, and at a small convenient store sits an arcade game, Starfighter, which was meant for Las Vegas, but was delivered to this humble place by mistake.  Alex often plays this game, when he's not helping his Mom, helping those in the trailer park, or hanging out with friends.  He just wants to leave his home and go to a major college, instead of the city college his friends will attend.  Alex then gets a letter telling him his loan request was rejected, losing hope for the future, and simply confused.

One evening as Alex plays Starfighter he's about to beat the high score, and it becomes a community event.  Everyone from the trailer park gathers around, shouting and cheering, and when he does beat the game there's a huge celebration.  It's just amazing he was able to focus with all those people around him.  Well, turns out the game was merely a training tool to find those on Earth who can become Starfighters.  There's a galactic war about, Earth unaware, and suddenly Alex is flown to space to face his destiny.  

The Last Starfighter is campy fun.  It's silly!  Highly predictable.  There's a point where the movie seems to drag on a little.  And goodness, those special effects did not age well!!  The computer graphics, which was cutting edge in 84, looks really cheap now, but I can suspend belief.  (It's a testament to Star Wars and the use of practical effects).  There are things that are in that movie that wouldn't make it into a children's film today, such as the little bits by Alex's little brother who reads Playboy.  

In the end The Last Starfighter is endearing, good ol' nostalgic fun, and so 80's.

 Sarah

101 Goals in 1001 Days, Take Two

Back in January my Sister-in-law Krista introduced me to the Day Zero website, where you aim to make 101 goals that you'll accomplish in 1001 days.  It's a 3 year bucket list.  Back then I spent several weeks planning out perfectly what my 101 goals should be.  I was meticulous, but overwhelmed, and not honest with myself with what I really wanted.  There was a problem of making some of the goals too big, like learn 500 Japanese Kanji.  So, in many ways, I didn't allow myself a chance for succuss.  I did complete 14 goals before giving up, so it wasn't all bad.

Recently I decided to reevaluate my list and start anew, and decided that my greatest chance for success was to keep many of my goals private, so that I can create a list more honest to what I need at this point in my life.  And I devised a way to keep myself on track.

This time around I typed out my goals into categories.  As I'm working on a goal I'll keep track of the details on regular lined paper, but as soon as I finish a goal, I'm going to type out a journal like entry about my experience, what I learned, and maybe include some pictures.  Even with all this I still may not be able to finish all the goals, but if that happens those goals will bump over to the next 1001 days, which will start June 2, 2015.

Some of the goals I'm working on:
Read 6 Young Adult/Young Reader book series
Read 100 Sci-fi/Fantasy Short-Stories
Learn Amigurumi
Learn Wire Art Jewelry
Compose an Original 8-bit Song
Learn to Edit Videos
Take a Cooking Class
Attend a New Exercise Class
Make a Visual Goal College
Have an Original Star Wars Marathon
Lean the JLPT N5 Kanji
Visit Another Country
Etc

This time around I'm going to have fun with this!  And learn a lot at the same time:0)

Sarah