Phew!  Thank God.  Thought I was losin' my mind there for a minute.  I would hate to have ruined Brad's chances to get into a good college!  See Brad, you were right all along!  You don't need us accountants and engineers to help ya' out!  

So does that mean that I goofed this up Scott?  I didn't really understand what his questions had to do with Physics, but from a purely mathematical point it looked like his examples and answers checked out just fine...

If I just caused you to fail your class, let me know Brad, and I'll send a note to your teacher explaining that it was all my fault!  

I caught this epic again for the second time just recently, and all I've got to say is AWESOME.  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is what I was truly hoping the Star Wars prequels were going to be all along, but they've fallen far short of Peter Jackson's excellent LOTR work IMO.

I love that most everything just looks and feels real in both of the LOTR flicks.  Not nearly as much CG, and when there is, it's not nearly as noticeable and overwhelming.  Someone said it very well elsewhere, when they said that Peter Jackson uses CGI to advance the overall story when necessary, but George Lucas practically uses CGI as his story.  There's just too much of it in the Prequels.  I often find myself realizing that not a single thing on the screen at that moment is real, and thinking that I'm essentially just watching a really well done cartoon.

I also love the added length to the LOTR films.  I understand that some people don't care much for 3 hour length movies - usually due to drinking too many sodas and needing to bust a squirt doing the movie, but I love a good, long movie.  Certainly more entertainment value, to say the least.  There's so much more story to tell and character development that should take place in the Prequels, but Lucas absolutely refuses to go over 2 hours and 20 minutes total for any of his movies (and it's certainly not a cost issue).  At this day and age, that's plain silly.  There's been tons of very lengthy movies (over 2.5 hours) that have done huge box office over the past 5 years.  Why can't Star Wars jump into that mix as well and give us more of what we want to see.

I could go on and on about what I've enjoyed in LOTR so far, but I won't.  Basically, Tolkien's already excellent stories have just been brilliantly interpreted into film by Jackson.  They're just epic all the way through.

It should be very interesting to see what George has in store for Episode 3, 'cause there's a hell of a lot of story left to tell, loose ends to tie up, parts to tie into the O.T., etc.  Please Mr. Lucas:  Return to the OT magic, and give us a kick a$$ Episode 3, so the Saga can go out in style...

But at this point, the Prequels have virtually no chance of catching LOTR for second best trilogy of all time - behind the Original Trilogy of course!  Just my opinion, of course...

Just caught this link that Scott posted to an interesting debate over the two film franchises at USAToday's site.  Interesting...

JediMAC: I'm just a lowly Sophmore in High School as of now.

Nothing lowly about it BobaShek!  Some of us old farts 'round here would give our left n*t to go back in time and spend a few days in the tenth grade again.  Those were some good times back then!  Enjoy it while you can - 'cause the "real world" and all of its mind boggling responsibilities awaits you a few years down the road...

Of course, you could always stretch out your college career for a good 8 or 9 years like I did, and it should make things much funner and easier for you.  Until you meet your wife that is, and she starts asking about your career, finances, etc.  Hmmm, bad advice I'm giving you.  Maybe you should just GET BACK TO YOUR STUDIES, so you can better support that future family of yours!!!   Well, what are you waiting for...  Chop, chop!  

Word on the street around here is that one of our members finally snagged himself one of these bad boys off of eBay...  Congrats!  I'll try to hide my jealous rage...  

#1  I've got one MOMC, but need one more to open up and keep loose
#2  NEVER saw one at retail.  Picked one up in a Jorg Sacul trade a while back.
#3  Didn't open the one I've got.  Will open the next one.
#4  $40 is a fat chunk of change for this piece, but the Vader is really top of the line - the best one for an ANH likeness, and the Maul is pretty decent as well.  These are finally starting to drop down to the $30 range on eBay of late, so they're getting slightly more affordable.

But considering this was by far the toughest piece to acquire from the POTJ line, it's worth trying to pick one up just due it's rarity (NOT necessarily value).  I'm still losing my eBay auctions for these by a damned buck every time - I refuse to bid $30 yet!  $27-28 is my current max, which just ain't gettin' it done (for me at least)...  

Some day...  

Sounds good Mike!  I'd be happy to go another round with ya'!  They'll run you $10.78 each (retail, with tax), plus shipping.  Is that cool?  You could always trade me that Deluxe Clonetrooper that you just won off our site for one of the droids!     A couple trash compactor sets for the three droids would also do the trick, if you've got any of those hanging around your area...  

Like I mentioned above, the Mint cards can run a little slim at D-land on occasion, but I'll see what I can dig up.  I'm due to make another trip down that way next weekend (January 25th/26th).  If you come across anything in the meantime, give me a hollar, otherwise I'll try to pick these 3 droids up for you.  Is it safe to assume I should only get them in MOMC condition?  Nothing with a fat crease on it if that's all that's left, right?  LMK.

My choices are the only correct ones
NFL:
Minnesota Vikings (The 2004 Super Bowl Champs)
MLB:
Minnesota Twins (The 2003 WS Champs)
NBA:
Minnesota Timberwolves (The 2003 NBA Champs)
NHL:
Minnesota Wild (The 2003 NHL Champs)
NCAA:
Mighty Minnesota Golden Gophers (2003 Basketball Champs!)

Have you been drinking again Scott?  Poor fella...