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Frenetic Pony

Disney buys Lucasfilm

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If someone donates a lot of money to charity and someone says "well, donating charity doesn't excuse a tyrant or a bigot," I think maybe it's a fair implication to say that they want to impugn the character of the donor in some sense. Maybe Lucas isn't a tyrant or a bigot, but clearly you think he's done something wrong if donating to charity isn't enough to excuse him from whatever he's done. Or maybe you think it's just possible that he's done something wrong, like maybe he's donating $4 billion in order to bribe whoever is in charge of antitrust enforcement so that Disney could acquire Lucasfilm. Why Lucas of all people would want to do this when Disney is the one to benefit and Lucas himself ends up with nothing (aside from what he gave away to charity) is... confusing to me, but whatever.

In any case, all I've seen are a lot of implications that $4 billion donated to education is somehow insidious: he wants to push free market ideas on educators or bribe elected officials or something. As someone who has seen, firsthand, ACTUAL GOOD done with money from the Lucas Foundation, this strikes me as an unfounded dose of cynicism, but I guess I'll shut up about it now.

One last point: I wasn't calling anyone a hipster. "Hip and edgy" does not mean hipster. It means hip and edgy! "Hipster" means talking about Death Cab for Cutie.

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Ask TEACHERS whether they think $4 billion for education is worthwhile and I imagine you won't find them calling Lucas a bigot or a tyrant.

Granted, I'm still 5 months out from finishing my teaching degree, but I have been working for it for seven years (counting my bachelor's degree), so maybe my say is worth something. That is: Of course Lucas isn't a bigot or a tyrant for donating money, but that doesn't give him a free pass. If the money is used well (a bunch of it probably won't be, but fuck it, that's what bureaucracy does) it will be great. In large part, it depends on where it goes. I'm always given to shudder a bit at the presence that Apple has bought in schools, for example, and that the schools take it without considering the impact on the kids. Still, as long as the teachers are conscious of where the money is from and what implications that has (I'm a fan of critical pedagogy, can you tell?) and encourage their students to be as well, there's nothing wrong with it at all. Earlier tonight, I was having a conversation where a friend interpreted a thing I said as me basically using the phrase "sheeple" (a phrase which causes me to instantly assume anyone I hear saying it is a complete tool) and I had to clarify by saying "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a follower as long as you're aware that that's what you're doing and why". I feel similarly about "corporate education" or whatever you want to call it. Money is helpful, regardless of where it comes from. Just try to keep yourself informed and thinking about things while you're spending it. If you're spending it on kids, make sure the kids are thinking about it too. Donating the money sure is a nice gesture anyway. It's a good thing that he did, and as you pointed out, weird considering that's all he ended up with from the deal (near as I can tell, anyway). That somehow makes it seem nicer. It doesn't give him carte blanche, but nothing ever gives anyone carte blanche in my view. I'm as sceptical as anyone of the big corporate charities, but they still do some good out there, and that's better than nothing. Could he have chosen a worthier cause/better means to support his cause? Probably. Does that negate the good that he is doing? Nope.

Finally, I am a teacher who will call Lucas a bigot, but that's because of the way that minority stereotypes are used as alien races in the prequel trilogy, nothing to do with the money. Also, that's beside the point.

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....using the phrase "sheeple" (a phrase which causes me to instantly assume anyone I hear saying it is a complete tool)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I know! I hate it!

Also just to throw this out there about the deals, but not exactly referring to the charity aspect:

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2012/10/31/now-disney-gets-nice-tax-break

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/10/disney-lucas-fiscal-cliff-taxes-medicare.html

Still makes me raise eyebrows, but I don't know enough (or anything really) about getting the most out of your money by predicting tax rates and timeliness of deals and shares. But I guess in Lucas's defense, I've read Ricky Gervais dickish comment on how he gives a lot of money to charities since it would be taxed away anyway, so I mean if you don't want to give it to the government that's a nice way to do it.

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The only reason the Extended Universe exists is for the Thrawn trilogy. Everything outside of that could be safely swept under a rug. If 7, 8 and 9 aren't that, I'm going to be supremely disappointed.

I'm pretty sure your should prepare yourself for supreme disappoinment, then. Because I'm sure I read somewhere that it would be based off of Lucas' script ideas, which are according to him not close to the Thrawn trilogy.

Also, I wonder if they're going to write Leia, Han and Luke to the sidelines ("I'm too old for this shit.") or just fuck it and hire Channing Tatum as Han Solo..

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Death Cab sold out a while ago, which is sad because I still like them a lot.

Hipsters definitely talk about how Death Cab sold out.

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I was talking about how hipsters talk about how Death Cab sold out way before you guys were talking about it.

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Hipsters definitely talk about how Death Cab sold out.

Sick burn!

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I was talking about how hipsters talk about how Death Cab sold out way before you guys were talking about it.

Lol. What video was I watching where there was a character that boasted he killed bands as soon as he heard them in order to make sure that nobody else could ever get into them? Damn, what was that?

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^ I just got round to watching this. I think Star Wars is is really good hands and my interest has risen 10 fold.

(Not much point watching if you haven't seen little miss sunshine)

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FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!

He was my #1 pick, coming from a huge fan of movies and someone that had his own Star Wars drawings up on his wall when he was 11, this probably couldn't have gotten better. Abram's practically made a proper, non prequel Star Wars movie already with the Star Trek reboot.

I didn't there was much real chance of this, Abrams has made enough money to pick his own projects at will, and with the budgets he wants. And with Star Trek now his own thing, as well as his own original ideas, I'd thought it would take a lot of his own enthusiasm to actually accept.

Not that this means he is ACTUALLY on the project. There've been rumors swirling about who will direct since the announcement, and there's nothing official yet. But I hope its true.

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That would be awesome, I'm a big Abrams fan, but nothing in that news story comes even close to confirming anything. This comes from an "individual with knowledge of the production"? Sounds like bogus rumors to me.

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Yeah he really is. Finally got round to watching Super 8 recently... absolutely brilliant, though not at all what I was expecting. His breadth of skill is impressive.

Couldn't be happier with the news.

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Apparently Disney has confirmed Abrams as director. This is amazing! Look forward to it (and hope his compositors go easy on the lens flare)

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Oh man, awesome news! I've been cautiously optimistic about this whole thing from the start. If I'm not careful, it might turn into excitement! :grin:

Can't be any worse than the prequel trilogy.

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Didn't he also direct the latest Star Trek film? This will either make fans pee their pants or get very angry... which seems to be the only settings most fans have anyway.

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I really hope they lay off the lens flares, when you start noticing it during the new Star Trek it becomes so distracting, it's fucking unreal how much they use the effect.

Hopefully they'll have to lay off the lens flares from fears that the films will look to similar

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