Closed, The Circle Is

After 28 years, we can finally say we've come full circle and seen all six Star Wars films. The day: Friday night. The place: Hollywood's ArcLight Cinemas on the corner of Sunset and Vine. We gathered an assortment of friends and purchased tickets in advance to share in this six-times in a lifetime experience.


The force was with Tim, Laura, James, Tom, Everett, Christine, Courtney and Justin outside of the ArcLight Cinemas. (05/20/05)

Getting to Hollywood on a Friday night from the OC was a huge pain in the butt, but I wasn't going to miss this for anything. At least Tim and Everett had already been at the LA Convention Center that day for E3.

With light sabers in hand, we made our way to the theater. The place was crazy! Lines of people everywhere ... some in costume. Fortunately this theater allows you to select your seats in advance, which was perfect since due to the crowds, we got in the theater in the nick of time.

The movie had some great moments (and some not so great moments), but is nonetheless a MUST SEE, especially if like me, you've been a Star Wars fan since you were eight years old.


"Professional" stuntmen re-enacted some of the movie's light saber battles outside the theater. (05/20/05)

Afterwards, we watched some guys re-enact some of the movie's light saber battles (it was just okay). Then they got members of the audience together to do a Chewbacca sound-alike contest, which was a hoot.


A C- list celebrity sighting: Fame's Harlemm Lee. (05/20/05)

While there, we had a celebrity sighting (albeit with a C- list celebrity): Harlemm Lee, winner of the 2003 reality show Fame, NBC's ratings-challenged answer to American Idol. And as you would expect, I watched every episode, so I knew Harlemm quite well. He had many memorable performances, including "Get Here," "Careless Whisper," "Lean on Me," and "Vogue." Unfortunately we haven't seen much of him since then, and I don't think anyone there (besides us reality TV geeks) even knew who he was.