When I saw everyone’s excitement for Star Wars: The Force Awakens this week, I thought maybe this one would be worth watching because if the force is finally awake, maybe I’ll be too.
Fast-forwarding thirty years, Han, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca are back in action for Episode VII, which came out officially on Friday, Dec. 18. I can’t say I’ve stayed awake for any of the galactic installments in the past, so I didn’t take my chances on this one either. It did, though, get high ratings on IMDB with 8.8 stars and an impressive 95 percent on Rotten Tomato. I actually wish the Star Wars saga would grab and hold onto my attention because all the positive things I hear about it, but I guess you can’t force everything (heh). Fortunately, I didn’t feel any FOMO, despite how popular the premiere was. I still felt involved with the whole experience given that advertising for the seventh entry was everywhere, from Facebook photo filters to my coffee creamer container.
While en route to a movie I was actually excited to see, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Sisters, I did get to witness all the Star Wars hype with all the dedicated fans who were dressed head-to-toe in character. There was Han at the concession counter grabbing himself a large ICEE, and Chewbacca was standing in line, dreading the crowds between him and a popcorn refill. With only a 62 percent Tomato rating, Sisters won’t be winning any Oscars, but it definitely filled my laughing quota for the week. It honestly could’ve been better given Tina and Amy’s natural chemistry, but in the end, it was a good time. I mean, girls just wanna have fun, right? And so did all three guys who showed up in our theater.
Characters with bad hair and bad jokes didn’t just grace us in theaters this past week, but came home with us as both the Republican and Democratic debates aired. On Tuesday night, the GOP took center stage in Las Vegas, and I must say, Wolf Blitzer was the best part of the entire debate. There was more arguing and finger pointing with this group, and that was just Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. I did, however, start to gain a little more respect for Carly Fiorina, but that only lasted until she endlessly mentioned Silicon Valley and how they hold the U.S.’s golden ticket to eternal security. Sen. Ted Cruz spoke out of turn one too many times and forgot to do his fact checking homework. There was also a moment of silence started by Dr. Ben Carson, a ton of Obama-hating by everyone especially Gov. Chris Christie and more familial storytelling by Sen. Marco Rubio. Much blab. So disappointment.
The Demorcats were a little quieter on Saturday night, since it was just Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton (and Martin) going at it, but some shade was thrown here and there. The debate was held in Manchester, New Hampshire with the moderators being Martha Raddatz and David Muir, aka the new Brian Williams *winks seductively*. Former Secretary of State Clinton continued to back Obama on all the progress he has achieved in the last seven years, which she hopes to continue to build on as POTUS. Sen. Sanders reiterated the fact that he thinks all public universities should be free and our healthcare system needs to be fixed – taking a page out of almost every other developed country’s book in the world. Gov. O’Malley didn’t hold back from attacking his opponents, that is, when he got a chance to speak. #WheresHillary trended after Clinton came back (fashionably) late from a bathroom break. This happened at the first Democratic debate back in October too. When Anderson Cooper called her out, she promptly responded with, ”You know, it does take me a little longer. That’s all I can say.”
And the current Family Feud host, Steve Harvey, is the bud of Sunday night’s news when he wrongly announced Miss Universe 2015 during the renowned pageant. He called second runner-up as Miss USA, which was correct. Then, the cringe-worthy moment came when Miss Philippines took first runner-up, or second place, and Miss Colombia was crowned first place. Harvey did come out and clear up the mistake, which was that Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, was in fact Miss Universe 2015. Miss Colombia, aka Sofía Vergara 2.0, didn’t look too happy.