Monday Morning Movie Review: Portly’s Top Ten Best Films: #1: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

As far as I can tell, the very first installment of Monday Morning Movie Review—simply “Monday Movie Review” back then—was a review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980).  I wrote it on 28 September 2020, which seems like just a few days ago.  Pretty crazy to think it’s been almost three years since this blog started running movie reviews on Mondays.

Indeed, in the interest of saving time (today is my school’s big Spring Concert, and I’m chaperoning a trip to Washington, D.C., later in the week, so time is at a premium), I’m quoting extensively from that original review.  Work smarter, not harder, eh?

Growing up as a chubby kid in the 1990s, I was a huge Star Wars fan.  That was long before the new trilogy retconned/soft-rebooted everything and destroyed the legacy of classic Star Wars, and even before the prequels made the flicks even more cartoonishly ridiculous.  I’m not even a huge critic of the prequels—they were never going to live up to the perfection of the original trilogy—and I enjoyed some of the fun world-building and thorny trade blockades of Phantom Menace (1999; although that’s all a bit too technocratic for a space opera).  But the magic of the original trilogy is more than the sum of its parts, and it’s based on rich storytelling and exceptionally strong character development, with nearly every major character growing and evolving over the course of the three films.

So it is that I would argue that The Empire Strikes Back is not just the best Star Wars film, but the best film of all time.

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Lazy Sunday CXCV: Arizonan Sojourn, Part II

A quick blurb before today’s post:  I’ve released my second book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures.  It’s a collection of travel essays I’ve accumulated over the last four years, and it’s available now on Amazon.

Here’s where you can pick it up:

Pick up a copy today!  Even sharing the above links is a huge help.

Thank you for your support!

—TPP

***

With the release of my second book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures, it seemed like the ideal time to post the second half of the six essays that make up the first section of the book (apologies for that confusing sentence of numbers and ordinals).  These three essays are Chapters 4-6 in the book, and were originally published on my SubscribeStar page, and cover my trip to Arizona with my older brother:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT: Inspector Gerard eBook is Coming 1 April 2021 (Out NOW in Paperback)!

I released my first self-published book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot, two years ago.  Two years on, I have finally released my second book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures.  It’s a collection of travel essays I’ve accumulated over the last four years, and it’s available now on Amazon.

Here’s where you can pick it up:

With the release of this new book, it seemed apropos to glance back at the release of Inspector Gerard, and all the excitement of yours portly at the time.

With that, here is 26 March 2021’s “Inspector Gerard eBook is Coming 1 April 2021 (Out NOW in Paperback)!“:

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Lazy Sunday CXCIV: Paintings

A quick blurb before today’s post:  I’ve released my second book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures.  It’s a collection of travel essays I’ve accumulated over the last four years, and it’s available now on Amazon.

Here’s where you can pick it up:

Pick up a copy today!  Even sharing the above links is a huge help.

Thank you for your support!

—TPP

***

I love working in miniature.  That’s probably why I love LEGO and Nanoblocks, and generally small bits of bric-a-brac.  I like composing short pieces, and painting small paintings.

I’ve been reblogging a lot of my painting posts lately, so I figured, “hey, why not put all those posts into an edition of Lazy Sunday?”

So I did!  Not much more to it, but it’s been motivating me to produce some more paintings after a bit of a hiatus away from it.  It’s a fun way to pass the time, and I occasionally make some money from it, which is always a nice little perk.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT: Even More Little Paintings

Last week I “threw back” to a post about some of my little paintings.  I’m tinkering with the idea of applying for spots at some upcoming festivals, and it’s gotten me thinking about my little paintings.  I ordered some more of my tiny canvasses, and if I have a bit of time this week, I hope to do some more.

Several of the paintings in this original post have sold, mostly to family members, but also to outside buyers.  I sold several at a school art sale, and the remaining originals are for sale on my Bandcamp page.  Additionally, I’ve incorporated digital images of many of these paintings (and some of my doodles) into merchandise over at Society6, so you can get pillow shams, coffee mugs, and even bath mats with these and other paintings printed on them.  Eventually, I’m going to treat myself to these notebooks featuring my painting “Desert View.”

With that, here is 8 March 2022’s “Even More Little Paintings“:

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Lazy Sunday CXCIII: Walks

I watched my older brother finish the Myrtle Beach Marathon eight days ago, the second time he’d completed the race (he first ran it in 2016, and did the half-marathon for a number of years since then).  While waiting for him to cross the finish line, I witnessed runners of all backgrounds and experience levels finish the half- and full-marathons.

What I noticed was that the runners were not just the super athletic, ridiculously (even scarily) lean types like my brother, but included quite a few husky folks as well.  A tiny, fluffy, elderly Jewish lady finished the half-marathon.  Another runner was a man so fat, his back fat formed what looked like a second butt above his actual butt.

These examples shamed me into action.  If a woman with the dimensions of a bowling ball and a man with an upper butt could run thirteen-miles and change, why couldn’t I?

I don’t have any ambitions to run any marathon—full, half, quarter, etc.—but I have been rising early every morning since returning from the trip and jog-walking about a mile.  Each day I’m able to push my jogging/running distance a bit further, and reduce the amount of time I am walking.

Who knows if I’ll stick with this latest round of self-improvement in the long-run (just ask my dentist about my flossing habits), but I’d like to see it through and keep improving.  It is a good feeling coming back to coffee and breakfast covered in a healthy sheen of sweat.

So it is that I thought I’d look back at some past posts on walking this Lazy Sunday:

  • Walkin’” (and “TBT: Walkin’“) – I made the mistake of starting a long walking regimen right before school started back—and back in the days before I woke up before 5 AM.
  • Walkin’ II: Early Morning Strolls” – My neighbor and I spent the mornings three times a week walking and doing some light calisthenics.  It became difficult for both of us to maintain.  Ironically, I find it easier to do it without someone else.  I’m at that point in my life where, rather than the other person being a source of accountability, doing stuff with other people—even stuff I want to do—sometimes feels like a social obligation (in other words, a form of work) that I have to fulfill.
  • Revisiting Walking Across South Carolina” – The ultimate dream.  It’s dangerous, impractical, and would probably be incredibly dull for long stretches, but I love the idea of traipsing across my State, walking stick in hand, and engaging in a Tolkien-esque journey of physical, mental, and spiritual growth.  Note:  I love the idea; the execution is a different matter.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT: More Little Paintings: Hearts and an Octopus

My passion for bizarre, Primitivist artwork has been reignited of late, thanks in part to my setting up a hokey artist page on Society6.  I’ve had a great deal of fun uploading some of my paintings and doodles as designs to the site, and the idea that someone could purchase a duvet cover with a doodle of Roger Stone saying, “MAGA, baby!” tickles me to no end.

I’m also toying with the idea of getting a stall at the upcoming Egg Scramble Jamboree here in Lamar—and, later in the year, getting on at the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival in Westminster, South Carolina—to see if I can, y’know, actually sell some of these paintings.  If I try and fail, then I’ll know it’s little more than a self-indulgent hobby that I can keep to myself.

So I thought I’d throwback to a post from last March, one in which I showcase some of my wacky paintings.

With that, here is 1 March 2022’s “More Little Paintings: Hearts and an Octopus“:

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Lazy Sunday CXCII: The Beach

I’m returning today from a weekend in Myrtle Beach, where my older brother and I have been celebrating his participation in the Myrtle Beach Marathon.  We’ve stuffed ourselves with seafood, but he actually earned the right to eat all of that.

As such, it seemed like a good time to look back at some beachy posts of yesteryear:

Here’s to more beach trips in the future!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

TBT^2: Hawkworld

This weekend my older brother will be running the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which means we’ll be feasting on seafood and good times (and he’ll be running 26.2 miles, so he’ll have earned the festivities; I’m just driving him to the starting line).  I’m hoping that’ll mean a trip to Player’s Choice, an amazing comics and collectibles store that is, improbably, the anchor store (essentially) for a failing mall.

The idea of picking up three comics for $7 (as I did when I scooped up Hawkworld in 2021) seems unheard of in this Age of Hyperinflation.  I don’t know how much inflation has affected the price of used comic books, but the idea of getting three of anything for seven bucks seems like some kind of fevered fantasy these days.

I really enjoyed this comic and its storyline of a decadent empire in decline, and the message seems eerily prescient for us in these latter days of the American Empire.

Gulp!

With that, here is 3 March 2023’s “TBT: Hawkworld“:

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Lazy Sunday CXCI: Ponty’s Best Films, Part III

We’re nearly there!  Tomorrow I’ll be featuring my Honorable Mention flicks, and Ponty’s Honourable Mentions after that (in a pared down two-parter, according to Ponty, as opposed to the possible three-parter he originally envisioned).  Then it’s on to our picks.  What will they be?

Until we find out, here are Ponty’s picks for slots 4, 3, and 2, and they’re all quite good:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: