It looks like George Lucas’ inexhaustible “Star Wars” money machine is finally running out of steam. The animated midquel “The Clone Wars” opened to just $15.5 million over the weekend, well behind “Tropic Thunder” and “The Dark Knight”.
I knocked Lucas around some for his craven strip-mining of my beloved childhood memories at Sympatico/MSN over the weekend — Josh, you’re right, I was a hair too old to get into the Transformers, so Michael Bay’s movie was an annoyance rather than a wholesale assault on my youth.
And I wasn’t alone. Jim Emerson, over at the American MSN site, made the same argument at a much greater length in this fine essay.
And speaking of making the same argument, did you catch Michiko Kakutani’s article in yesterday’s New York Times about Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” becoming as trusted a news source as, well, the news?
It’s a fine piece — of course, I’m a little biased, since I made the same point in Starweek four years ago. Nobody believed me then, but if the Paper of Record has come around to my point of view, well, I feel all nice and vindicated.
Also, I have met Jon Stewart’s dog, and he is a sweetie.
What kind of dog does he have?
His name is Parker, and he’s the very model of a mid-sized mixed breed. At a glance I’d say there’s some terrier in there, some retriever and maybe a little border collie. Very happy little guy.
I wonder if I should be telling anyone this.
I wouldn’t worry. I don’t think anyone will look down on Parker on the basis of his pedigree. And I don’t think there are many dog-stalkers. Well, okay, maybe Triumph. But he’s too busy getting in trouble with underage Bichons.