Welcome to Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace special edition of The Barak Ori Times. Don't worry, you can read forward. I really hate when people spoil movies for me, so I'm not going to do it myself. No spoilers here. If you're not a Star Wars fan, well, I think you'll find interesting things here anyway...

Bits of information

	The final verdict: I liked the movie. There's a certain charm that was in the earlier Star Wars and is missing here. Maybe it's called Han Solo, and maybe it's because I'm not a kid anymore. If you liked the original movies, rent them to get prepared, and go see the movie when it comes to Israel. Plus, you'll be contributing to a good cause - the pocket of George Lucas.
	The lines: In most theaters in NY there are no reserved seats. Either you come early, or you sit in a bad place. In most cases it's very good. It eliminates the "late people that make everyone stand up" problem. In this case, we came at 5:54PM for the 7:00PM show, and there were already 300 people before us. There were also lines for the 8:00PM and 9:00PM shows, and there were a few people there. I remember 2 stories about the USSR - Bring your own toilet paper, and beware of the lines. Well, you now know about the lines but I'll also let you in on another secret - bring your own toilet paper to the US too. They have here these very thin toilet paper (single layer, of course) that simply cannot match the outcome of my ass. I have to buy special baby toilet paper.
	Jar Jar Binks: This leading part character is fully computerized. There's a battle scene with thousands of his friends, all computerized. That's how George Lucas maintained a low budget of $115M for the movie. Oh, and did I mention that they still can't create computerized characters that look real? Well.. they still can't. We're getting closer, but we're not there yet. This Jar Jar is supposed to be cute, but he's quite annoying. Look for the "car dealer", he's the funniest (no picture).
	Anakin Skywalker: See this child on the left? See Darth Vader on the right? I can believe that Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't die when he was hit by the light saber, but I can't believe this sissy blond kid could become Darth Vader. Maybe he fits to play the kid in "Home Alone 12: American in Paris". The last thing I would expect from the kid Darth Vader is to shout "Yipeee" every time he's happy. On the other hand, he really drives a Pod Racer like a pro.
	Jabba the Hutt: He's alive and well, and has a small cameo in the new film, thanks for asking.

And for the conclusion

I know you always wanted to know how the Light Saber works, so I found out the schematics for it. I've started building my own Light Saber, and I'm waiting for you to build your own, so we can fight and kill each other: