civilized or just dumb?

i went wednesday to see the midnight showing of star wars episode 3 (benefit of living in europe: seeing the premiere at least 6 hours before anyone in the US). and i just have to say: well done, george. seriously. i wasn't a huge fan of 1 or 2 (i considered joining the 'i hate jarjar' fan/antifan club), and certainly didn't hold any sort of special place in my heart for anakin, thanks to the walking plywood performance of hayden christensen in 2. i have since heard that george directed him to be as oakish as possible and can only say to that: whatever.

in 3, hayden has aged and looks less *Nsync-y and more Nirvana-y as he moves with stealth (and oh so much less whine) toward Darthdom. and now i feel free to love darth again with that love reserved only for the truly evil. so much better. and ewan, thank goodness, has lost some of his beardliness and looks less wookie and more jedi. now, lest you think all i did while watching the movie is check out the hotties, let me say the story was fantastic and answered so many questions that i, as NOT a fanboy, did not already know the answers to. (man, just wait for darth's first breath through the mask!)

the first two episodes were decent movies in themselves but didn't feel very connected to the initial three. however, watching 3 made me want to pop in 4 and go, oh yeah. what can i say? the whole thing is clearer and *sniff* even better now.

alright. enough of that. the title of this blog refers to a common practice of prague cinemas (movie theaters to the north americans out there): assigned seats.

usually i consider assigning seats in a movie theater a bit of a pain and kind of useless, like when there are only 10 or so people in the auditorium and the ticket person has put you in the back row left. then, i move. you would, too.

but as i finished getting ready at home before the midnight show (braiding the hair and fashioning my best attempt at leia's sticky-bun headphones—that takes a lot of dexterity and bobby pins to do yourself, fyi), i began to have flashbacks to premieres i attended in the states and to the long lines and *gulp* pushing shoving biting and running into auditoriums so as not to be stuck in the front row left. as my breathing sped up and i found my braids slipping through my clammy hands i suddenly remembered the way czechs do it: assigned seats. aaaahhhh.

rob and i arrived at the theater with about 20 minutes to spare and found tons of people crowding the entrance but, on closer inspection, realized everyone was just standing around having a very civilized group smoke before heading in. four auditoriums were hosting the show and as we took our seats—calmly, with no running or pushing or shoving—i thought to myself, 'well now, isn't this civilized?' isn't it? choose your seats the hour, day or week before you plan to see the movie. keep the system loose when the theater is mostly empty, but for the big shows and premieres: what a relief.

then, of course, the panic set in that we might be watching a dubbed version of the movie. rob kept trying to reassure me that it was for sure titled. i believed him, sort of. i was all ready to scream 'NNNNOOOOOOO' and go running from the theater when the titles didn't appear and a czech voice started reading 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.' but, thankfully, the czech subtitles came onscreen when the english words did.

sorry to say, the braided buns came out the second lucasfilm started glowing. but i wasn't alone. i saw two girls on the metro in full leia regalia: the white flowing robes and belt of bling. way to go, girls.