Chapter 1

I got this scene from Return of the Jedi from YouTube.

This connects to the first chapter because of the riot that starts the book off at St. Basil's Roman Catholic Church. Yes, the video is from Return of the Jedi, and yes, the Rebel Alliance is not attacking a place of worship just because they want to be let inside. In the video, Han Solo and Leia are trying to get into building holding the controls to the deflector shield of the New Death Star so they can help the alliance, who are heading to the location of the Death Star to destroy it. They can get inside if the shield is not operational. The visual imagery in the book with everyone being attacked by cops dressed as ushers of the church oddly reminded me of this scene. Well obviously the scene is a lot longer because in the movie eventually the Ewoks of Endor's Forrest Moon help the Rebels because they believe C-3P0 is a god. The Ewoks help the Rebels take over the Imperial Fleet which leads to the shut down of the deflector shield. But its the imperial forces taking Han and Leia prisoner that flashed in my head as I read the book. For some reason, Acosta reminds me of Chewbacca, only because of the description that Hunter S. Thompson but in my head of this fat, big Mexican lawyer. Chewie is in someways Han's lawyer, because he always fights for his pal. Chewie was also able to evade the Imperial forces and take over one of their vehicles. Just as Acosta would not get arrested no matter how hard he tried. Then again, Acosta was not trying to evade them either. Anybody in this class who hasn't seen the original trilogy...*sigh* I don't know what to say to you...

I really liked this chapter. It goes with my, I wouldn't say philosophy, but...I can't seem to find the word, but it goes with my (fill in blank) that stories should start off with a boom. That's how you get the audience interested, and then fill the rest of the movie with cool-ass moments. Look at how many movies started off with a bang: Star Wars, Live Free or Die Hard, Dawn of the Dead, I mean some guys head explodes within the first 10 minutes of Dawn of the Dead (the original 1979 version, although I do like Snyder's 2004 version). It starts off with a bunch of radicals trying to get in a church and bam! as soon as the doors open, the shit's hit the fan. Guys who we believed were ushers, were cops in disguise, and are now attacking these people with batons. All while the choir sings without skipping a beat which is reminscent of the napalm explosion in the opening scene of Apocalypse Now playing to "The End" by The Doors.

What I find most memorable in this chapter is the disguised police. How they were just waiting for the people to give them an excuse to show no mercy. And the fact that no one touches Mr. Buffalo Brown and he just walks out like nothing was going on.

(Professor please excuse my delay. My father had a stroke this week and have been unable to do any of the blog posts, but I assure you by the end of tonight I'll get the other two in. Thank you.)