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hjwaves
Reviews
Restaurants on the Edge (2019)
Wrong approach
This show is cringeworthy and unwatchable.
It is a shallow travel documentary, with none of the altruism it claims.
It occurs to me while watching a second (and my final) episode that, rather than the hosts frolicking and exploring the featured culture/country, it might do more good to help the restaurant owners themselves experience the cultures and foods around them, to facilitate their own growth towards sustainable change.
Also, the hosts' very shallow and one-sided interaction with locals is frustrating. For example, despite being corrected, they pronounced Pura Vida wrong EVERY TIME. Really undermines their credibility.
Ugh.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Balance between Light and Dark
As a very avid fan of the expanded Star Wars universe, I came into this movie bracing myself for another bad movie like TLJ.
I was happily surprised. It's not perfect, but that's an unfair expectation. It's fast paced but not chaotic. It's dark at times and effectively light at others. The chemistry between characters is believable, and it really encourages you to invest in their development...and I will admit I was emotional in several scenes.
Star Wars has always been about balance. If we understand that this trilogy moves beyond Anakin's rise, fall, and redemption, and his bringing balance to the Force, then i suppose we can accept this trilogy as a story about balance between and within the two most powerful Force-sensitive families in the Galaxy...and what finally becomes of their fate.
In that light, this movie delivers in spades. Its treatment of TLJ will be met with ferociousness from people who really don't understand the Star Wars universe. My response is a grateful nod to JJ Abrams for creating something new and fresh while respecting tradition, and for realizing that in this, there is balance, too.
Thank you for this.