"Star Wars:" A tale of two viewings

ANNIKA and I were about the same age when we saw "STAR WARS" for the first time.
Only a generation of pop cultural saturation stood between us.
I was 11 when I saw the George Lucas classic in 1977 at a cinema.
Annika watched the film for the first time last night, on DVD.
I had originally watched the film with a blank slate -- the initial shot of the massive starship chasing Princess Leia's much smaller craft taking my breath away in 1977.
Annika watched the film connecting the dots in her existing knowledge.
"When does Darth Vader say, 'Luke, I am your father?'" she said.
That's another one of the movies.
"Why did his uncle tell Luke is father's dead, when his father is Darth Vader?"
We don't find out until Luke finds out.
"If that is Luke Skywalker, which one is Anakin Skywalker?"
We learn about him later in the series.
Now, Annika wants to watch the rest of the series of films. She wants to catch up on the story that has become part of our cultural fabric in the years since 1977.

He could sing anything

I have listened to the excellent JEFF BUCKLEY album "GRACE" several times during the past few days while reading a book-length treatise on the disc by DAPHNE A. BROOKS.
The gifted vocals of the late Buckley never cease to amaze me.
Brooks shares my view: "Throughout 'Grace,' Jeff Buckley re-imagines the use of voice in relation to guitar; he manipulates voice in similar ways to a guitar virtuoso. Moving from guttural growl to searing falsetto, from mediated whisper to aching yelps, from Sufi-influenced Qawwali scale-jumping to gospel-inflected call and response, Jeff 'plays' his voice on 'Grace' with all the fever and passion of a fast-fretting prog-rock axe man."
I turned to Jill once while we listened to "Grace" and said:
"Jeff Buckley could have been an opera singer."
What I should have said was:
"Jeff Buckley could sing absolutely anything."

Be thankful Stacy London and Clinton Kelly never read ROUTE 1

ROUTE 1 EDITORIAL INTERN KERSTIN has a new favorite article of clothing
after her birthday.
That brings up this week's FRIDAY QUESTION:
"What is your favorite article of clothing?"
JIM S. -- I have two: A flannel, long-sleeve "shirt of many colors" given to me by Kris very early on in our relationship (I believe on a Christmas - forgive me if I'm wrong, honey); and my Boston Red Sox T-shirt, bought in Boston just a few months ago on my (finally) first trip to Fenway.
BEKAH P. -- My skinny jeans. Just because I can't fit into them doesn't mean they're not my absolute favs. I think it's the HOPE of wearing them again that maintains their favored status. However, once I got them on, I think I would realize how dreadfully out-of-date they are...
SASKIA M. -- In public: Denim blue jeans. At home: pj's.
JEFF T. -- There's a tangy yellow golf shirt that my wife and I disagree on. I love it and think that it brings a ray of sunshine into an often gloomy and predictable wardrobe. She thinks that I look like Spongebob Squarepants.
RICK T. -- My FSU (Florida State Univ.) Sweat pants! Go Nole's!!!!!!!!!!!
BOB H. -- My bathing suit on a sandy beach!!!
MIKE M. -- I like my woolly mammoth pants, especially in wintertime.
KERSTIN H. -- My Mrs. Edward Cullen shirt!
STACEY B. -- It's a pair of 4-year-old blue pajama pants that are covered in paint. I
wear them whenever I paint a room, and each of the little splotches of paint is a little colorful piece of a memory.
JOHN S. -- Any one of my Cubs hats!
MIKE D. -- I've been known to wear clothes until they fall off my body. In fact, a couple of my mid-1980s T-shirts are clinging to life as grass-cutting apparel. But this summer, I came upon a second-hand pair of khaki shorts. I've been wearing them so much that my wife is pleading for me to swap them for a pair of jean shorts.
ERIK H. -- My Portland Trail Blazers hooded sweatshirt, especially on chilly days like today. Brrr!

¡Estudiantes Campeón!

All this recent nostalgia for the late 1960s seems to have extended to the football pitch!
Inspired by the son of the player who led them to three successive COPA LIBERTADORES titles from 1968-70, Argentina's ESTUDIANTES DE LA PLATA defeated Brazil's CRUZEIRO, 2-1, in Belo Horizonte last night in the second leg of the final of South America's 50-year-old club competition.
ROUTE 1 ASSISTANT ANNIKA and I watched the match live ("en vivo") on FOX SPORTS EN ESPAÑOL.
Juan Ramon Verón led Estudiantes to the three successive titles. His son, Juan Sebastian Verón, captained the club last night.
I had also watched the goalless first leg in Argentina a week ago, and throughout the first half of last night's match, I feared I'd see another dearth of goals and the unsavoury prospect of penalties.
Cruzeiro eased those fears, taking the lead seven minutes into the second half when Henrique's long-range shot took a deflection off defender Leandro Desábato, just out of the reach of Estudiantes goalkeeper Mariano Andújar.
The Brazilian hosts didn't lead for long.
In the 58th minute, Cruzeiro goalkeeper Fábio couldn't handle a cross from Estudiantes defender Cristian Cellay and Gastón Fernández tapped in from a few yards out.
Mauro Boselli headed the winner in the 73rd minute from Verón’s corner, and Estudiantes were well on their way to the club's fourth Copa Libertadores title and first since 1970.
At the final whistle, Fox Sports cut to the scenes in the streets of La Plata, 51 miles southeast of Buenos Aires.
The normally quiet streets were filled with dancing, waving flags and burning flares.
"I wonder if they're going to cancel work tomorrow," Annika said.
They just might, I told her. This win is a big deal.

Blues avoid a Maroon sweep

Last night's baseball All-Star game wasn't the only high-profile meeting of sports stars.
NEW SOUTH WALES prevented a series sweep by QUEENSLAND tonight, winning the third and final STATE OF ORIGIN rugby league match, 28-16 at Suncorp Stadium in Milton, Queensland.
The State of Origin is an annual three-game all-star series in AUSTRALIA. Players are selected to play for the state in which they played their first senior rugby league football. New South Wales players wear sky blue jerseys and are known as "the Blues." Members of the maroon-clad Queensland team are called "the Maroons."
Tonight's series finale was apparently a violent affair -- even by the standards of AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE.
The visiting Blues benefited from the first "eight-point try" in Origin history. An eight-point try occurs when a penalty kick is awarded for foul play against the scorer of a try (the rugby equivalent of a touchdown).
Unfortunately, the Blues suffered a late disgrace when Trent Waterhouse was sent off one minute from the end after punching Queensland's Steve Price -- who was taken off the field by medical staff. Waterhouse became the first New South Wales player to be given his marching orders in an Origin match.
Despite tonight's loss, Queensland have won four straight series. Baseball fans could think of the Maroons as the American League in this respect.

Sweets and The Smiths

The only thing I don't like about BIT-O-HONEY is the way the wax paper can get stuck on the candy.
Otherwise, the classic combination of almond bits embedded in a honey-flavored taffy ranks right up there with any of my other favorite sweets.
I have been enjoying some Bit-O-Honey today while listening to one of my favorite compilations, "LOUDER THAN BOMBS" by THE SMITHS.
Bit-O-Honey originated in Chicago. The Schutter-Johnson Company began manufacturing it in 1924. The Nestlé Company acquired Bit-O-Honey in 1984.
"Louder Than Bombs" arrived in U.S. stores three years later. I was in college, and I absolutely adored The Smiths (I still do, actually).
"Louder Than Bombs" combined non-album singles and B-sides with a few other tracks. Although I love The Smiths' studio albums, my favorite discs are "Louder Than Bombs" and the earlier compilation, the masterful "HATFUL OF HOLLOW."
Give me either of those two albums and some Bit-O-Honey, and I am a happy man.

"The Banana Splits meet the MC5"

I've been enjoying "SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF," the debut mini-LP by the SEATTLE grunge pioneers, MUDHONEY.
I like it because the band's songs don't sound like the clichéd sound that grunge descended into once the copyists became involved in the scene.
Instead, Mudhoney remind me of the Australian indie bands that had emerged after the demise of Radio Birdman -- New Race, the Visitors and Beasts of Bourbon.
In "OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE," Michael Azerrad writes that the way Mudhoney's "hell-for-leather garage attack was tempered by beery sing-along choruses" prompted at least one critic describing the sound as "the Banana Splits meet the MC5."
Azerrad also notes that singer MARK ARM often wrote songs mentioning either dogs or sickness, although never together.
"We kept hoping he'd come in with a song about a sick dog," guitarist STEVE TURNER said, "but he never did."