Star Wars The Force Awakens Thoughts (Caution - Contains Spoilers)

I saw the original Star Wars in 1977 and remember it being unlike anything that I had ever seen before. Apart from the special effects, lightsaber fights, dogfights between X-Wing Fighters and Tie Fighter the thing that most impressed me was more pedestrian - the chemistry between the three main characters. So despite all of the wonders of film technology on display in 1977 I was more hooked by the strength of the casting than anything else. Moviegoers cared for Luke, Leia and Han and identified with them in a significant way.

That feeling was reinforced in the subsequent films, but especially in the best of the three original films, The Empire Strikes Back. That film was Harrison Ford's show and he delivered big time. So in the world of Star Wars, for me at least, the central character was Han Solo, and the charisma that Ford brought to that role.

Character development was the missing element in the three prequels which followed. Those films were marred beyond repair by boring political backstory, lifeless characters and often wooden dialogue. The insertion of the stupid Jar Jar Binks role in The Phantom Menace felt more vaguely offensive than comic. The lack of any real action simply reinforced the reality that there was no spark at all between any of the main characters. Furthermore the performances of both of the youthful Anakin Skywalkers were often nearly unwatchable. They surely would and probably did cause the most devoted Star Wars aficionado to throw his toy lightsaber at the screen! There definitely was no Han Solo-like character to save the day.

So that brings us to the new film by director J.J Abrams. I saw it this past weekend and certainly felt the excitement others report in seeing action finally returning to the series. Yes we have seen most of this before in the original productions, but it was done with obvious care and respect for those films. Actually this may also be viewed as a weakness of the film as well - we have seen this all before - but it works if the characters and their interactions are compelling. Indeed those character interactions were quite engaging, at least to me. But once again Han Solo is a central figure, and Harrison Ford frankly stole the show for me.

Therein lies the real weakness of the film and the planned series. Han Solo is murdered by his son, Rylo Ken. The actors playing Rey, Fin and Rylo Ken are certainly not wooden, but can they sustain a whole film on their own? If Han Solo and the edginess he brings to the role are not present would this film have received the number of positive views that it has? We can't answer that, but we will find out because now Solo has been killed off. Obviously the filmmakers are counting on the return of Luke Skywalker to be the most compelling factor in the next film, but that's hard to measure when you consider the very odd ending of this film. Abrams used almost the entire film to build up Luke's exile and mysterious whereabouts on an incomplete star map, but the final scene felt tacked on. A wordless meeting between Luke and Rey, who holds out his long lost lightsaber for him as the credits begin to roll just doesn't quite have the cinematic or emotional payoff that the scene demands, in my mind, but then I am no filmmaker. I'll eagerly await to see what they do with this story.

Tackling the Tri-Tip in the Slow Cooker

The tri-tip cut of the beef brisket can be a challenge to home cooks, perhaps so much so that many might choose to not deal with it at all. The cookbooks tell us that the cut can be grilled, but honestly, I have not had great success with that method. The problem is that the cut is very lean, with not much marbling. I don't care for rare meats, so cooking only until pink inside is not my cup of tea.

I have done much, much better smoking this cut, however. It always comes out juicy, tender and beautifully seasoned. But of course, there is smoker setup time, temperature control and clean up afterward. If I have time these steps are no problem for me at all; however this weekend, I had grandpa duties with my 4 month old grandson and didn't want him to smell like a pit-master when went he home on Sunday, so my next obvious choice was to use my slow cooker. It's an easy recipe, and left me plenty of time to visit with the kids:

INGREDIENTS

1 2-3 lb. beef tri-tip, well trimmed (most grocery store cuts are already trimmed well).
2/3 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 cup beef or chicken broth, low sodium
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. liquid smoke
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Turn on the slow cooker and set to low. Mix the liquid ingredients with the chili powder and set aside. Salt and pepper both sides of the tri-tip. On medium high heat, heat the oil and brown both sides of the beef until a nice crust forms on both sides. This should take 6-7 minutes.

Add some of the sliced onions to the bottom of the slow cooker and set the browned meat on top of them. Place the remainder of the onions on top and pour the barbecue sauce mixture all over the top of the meat and onions. Pour the broth along the sides of the meat for added moisture. Cover the the slow cooker with its lid and let it cook for 8 hours. If you are in a hurry set the slow cooker to high heat and cook for four hours. Don't peek!

SLICING

Pull the meat out of the slow cooker after completion of coking and let rest for five minutes. The tri-tip cut looks like a boomerang, with a long lobe and a short lobe. The mid-point of these lobes is the grain dividing line. It may be easier to cut the meat in half at this point. The short lobe can be cut from tip to the centerline cut of the tri-tip. The long portion has a grain the runs across the meat, so cutting along the long side of this lob will yield the best results. Cutting on the bias results in wonderfully juicy and tender slices, which can be dressed with some of the sauce in the bowl of the slow cooker and garnished with the cooked onion.

Serve with a dinner salad and nice crusty bread.

Digital Revolt or Nostalgic Whims?

The media is finally taking notice of a cultural trend this year that may be just the tip of the iceberg - the need of people to get away from the thumb-jamming, ear-pounding demand of our digital devices in order to find some quiet time for themselves away from their phones, tablets, laptops and computers. How many of us walk around all day long with a phone in our hands? And how many meals with family have we seen interrupted by one or all of the gathering disconnect from needed family time in order to text someone or respond to another text? It's maddening.

I was very interested recently to read several articles in the New Yorker, New York Times, Huffington Post and Business Weekly all talking about adult coloring books and their growing popularity. Several have been in the top ten in sales on Amazon.com, and the craft stores can't seem to keep them on their shelves. People are trying to find a way to just put those phones down, de-stress, and find a quiet way to discover some inner peace and creativity.

There are others, like me, who loved to draw and color as a child. I can remember many, many sick days as a youngster growing up when I couldn't go to school (I was sick a lot as a child) where I found comfort in coloring books. I also enjoyed working alongside my sister, whom was a year younger, on coloring projects, showing off our completed works to each other and our parents.

In May I read Thrive, by Arianna Huffington and even took her online course this summer. In her book and in the class Ms. Huffington preaches rest, sleep, meditation, and sorting out people "on our life trains" while putting limits on how and when we choose to marry ourselves to our devices. There were some excellent points to take away from this reading, so I decided to work on these things this summer while I was off from school. The meditation part was hard at first, because our minds are always running. Quieting your mind, I've learned, does not mean ending all thoughts. That's not really possible for those untrained in meditation. But by concentrating on our breathing we can begin to push some random thoughts away temporarily.

The other part of the process was finding projects to do, coloring and crafts, to help me move away from my cell phone. I searched around and found a great coloring set by Creative Designs, which I fell in love with. I have never been a graphic artist and certainly never took a art class, but these sketches are terrific, with suggested color schemes, which I could follow - or not follow. I will say these sketches were exactly what I needed to plug into my inner child. They were so much fun to complete! And the stock they are printed on can be framed, so I also made gifts of some as well. Here are two samples, both now hanging in my home office:

As for my craft side, I've always loved working with my hands. I found some kits and made four wall clocks, giving them out as gifts. These required mechanical clock parts, painting, wood, stain and a whole lot of patience. Here is a clock that I gave to my wife earlier this summer:

I can't say that these projects are for everyone. But I do know that at least for me they provided a much needed respite from my digital world, as well as the ever present television in my home. We all need these breaks; our culture has become so digitized into 140 characters that I fear we will no longer find the time to just talk to one another. Perhaps engaging in coloring or crafts can keep us connected to that very human behavior seemingly lost in the digital noise.