Han is the best character in the whole thing. It would just be a bad decision to kill your best character, because all the charisma and humor would be almost instantaneously gone from your movie. And that's half of what made Star Wars great to begin with.

But there's something to be said for that initial jubilation at the news of the Emperor's death. Like all the Iraqis that celebrated Hussein's fall, knowing full well that the war was nowhere near over (and probably never would be).

The Empire was largely held together by fear and the fact that (if I'm not mistaken) military service was compulsory. So it's not unreasonable to determine that even those "loyal" to the Empire wouldn't abandon the cause upon first news of the Emperor's death. Also, the Empire lost *both* of its mystical, godlike…

Lucas didn't direct Empire or Jedi, so it was more like a 32-year layoff between films for him.

Even the fish-monsters?

Judging by that picture, it's more like men be poopin'.

Han Solo dying wouldn't do shit to merchandise sales, that's for sure. Especially since a huge amount of merchandise was purchased well before the films premiered.

I agree. I can't envision Star Wars effectively concluding in any other manner than with victory and jubilation.

re: Robuttnik

I'm going to come out and say it: Killing Han Solo might have been risky, but it would have enraged Star Wars fans far more than anything in the prequels.

You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man, you're a backwoods Hyperchicken

The suspenders were super-funny until it was pointed out that he was wearing them. They should have lingered onscreen without any acknowledgment from anyone that Bender was wearing them.

It would have been cool if another bending unit had evolved, but this time with a killer robot mustache.

They almost got at the argument that evolution does not necessarily refute the idea of a supreme being, but glossed it over to protect their scientific dignity/street cred.

They forgot to mention that according to Darwinism, all species are transitional species, meaning human beings too are links to the next evolutionary level.

No spaghetti monster link if you meant to include one
This one had a lot of promise, but was way too rushed and featured a B-story that was superfluous and went absolutely nowhere. If they'd have used the time spent on Cubert/Zoidberg on the main plot, they would have been able to actually settle on a decent pacing,…

The pilot doesn't give you any read at all on what the show is actually about or how good it is. It was one of the vaguest hours of television I've ever seen, probably purposefully so. I don't think you can judge that show even slightly based on its pilot.

Now that Atomic Records is gone, The Exclusive Company is the last bastion of vinyl excellence in Milwaukee. They carry basically every major new vinyl release, plus an absolute literal butt-ton of used vinyl. My last trip netted me used copies of Darkness on the Edge of Town and Songs of Leonard Cohen, each for…

"Early" indie rock like Pavement, Silver Jews, and Dinosaur Jr. had definite songwriting structures in common. The genre name has continued to be used for the infinite number of microgenres to have split from the original indie sound. It means about as much as "alternative rock" ever did.

I rarely buy music anyway, and when I do I want something tangible — not flimsy, clattering plastic. It has nothing to do with sound and everything to do with the substantial nature of the album.