Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens- Teaser Trailer Thoughts

As a HUGE Star Wars fan, I have been cautiously excited about the announcement of the new movies. We all know what happened when Original Trilogy fans got all excited about the Prequels…and look what happened. As one young enough to have grown up with the Prequels (so I understand they are underwhelming but I still like them) I worry that this is going to happen to me with these new movies.

So I’ve tried to stay as spoiler free as possible. I haven’t been keeping up with the news. This is only working slightly well, what with social media and all, but I don’t look at pictures, I don’t read news announcements; I want to go into the theater opening night with as little expectations as possible so if it’s not great I won’t be hugely disappointed. And if that happens, I’ll just disown these movies and stick with the Expanded Universe timeline that I’ve spent hours and hours of my life delving into through books, comics, etc.

Despite this, I decided that watching the teaser trailer would be harmless. And, once I found out that there were only 30 theaters playing the trailer and I was a 10 minute drive away from one, I decided that I HAD to go to the theater to see it for the first time.

The following are the thoughts that ran through my head while watching the teaser (in italics):

Ok, this is it. Finally! 

Desert, Tatooine…this better not be a trailer where I watch the desert for eighty seconds while someone talks.

Oh, stormtrooper! Though is he a stormtrooper or is he pulling a Han/Luke and disguising himself as a stormtrooper for some reason? If he is a stormtrooper, I’d be pretty excited to see what his story is. Either way, this looks like some fan made movie. It’s so surreal. Like, some really intense fans got together and shot this, right?

Aww cute little droid! What’s behind him? Podracer engines? This guy better not replace R2D2.

SWEET new stormtrooper helmets! And they are still active. Hmm, does evil still rule the galaxy?

Oh pretty Tatooine lady. I wonder who she is. Han and Leia’s daughter? (Side note: Han and Leia BETTER be married in this movie!) I also wonder who this actress is. I don’t think I recognize her. She’s riding a weird new speeder thing. Again, this still feels like some super fans got together and made a Star Wars movie.

X-Wing pilot! Or I assume X-Wing. Interesting new pilot designs. It looks like they went the way of the Original Trilogies in the sense that technology seemed to go backwards…for people outside of the Empire that is. This STILL feels like a fan made thing.

X-Wings! I was right! I love X-Wings. 

Ohp, here’s the bad guy. I like this new snowy forest setting, it’s something we haven’t seen before.

Wait, what is this lightsaber? Are we just trying to make it look cool by making the lightsaber look like a broad sword or is there a purpose for those little side lasers? This, for some weird reason, makes me the most nervous for this movie. I don’t want things to be done just for the sake of looking cool…

Millennium Falcon! Is it just me or does it look a little souped up? Maybe it’s because this is CLEARLY a CGI Millennium Falcon? Wait, what is this shot? This shot doesn’t feel like Star Wars. Oh, lens flare. It feels like JJ Abrams. More nervousness. I don’t want to think “JJ Abrams” when I see the movie, I want to think “Star Wars.”

Titles. I like that they’ve placed the subtitle between “Star” and “Wars.” This still feels surreal, like some fans made this. It wasn’t excitement that hit me at the end of the trailer, it was more…”hmmm.” I don’t know how to describe that feeling. And after more than several viewings afterwards I feel the same. Does this mean that I’m not going to like the new movie(s)? I’m not really sure. 

I do worry that on first viewing of this new movie I’m not going to be able to accept that this is actually a real flesh and blood Star Wars movie. Because I really didn’t believe it when I saw the trailer. Like my brain doesn’t associate this as being Star Wars. My brain’s all like “Aw, silly people who think this is really Star Wars. You’re cute.” Not to say that this is how I want to feel or how I’ll always feel. It just doesn’t connect right now.

Now, I’d like to talk about the other big trailer that came out this week in comparison: Jurassic World. This trailer got me REALLY excited, and I’m a fan of the original movie, but I’m not a die hard fan like I am with Star Wars. To be fair, the teaser for Jurassic World was meh. But the trailer (despite having some sub par CGI) got me really excited! What really hit me was the music. It was a lovely haunting spin on the original theme. And I kinda wish they would have done something like this with Star Wars; taken something loved and recognizable and used it to transform the emotional experience into something more powerful. Maybe they will do this with the movie, it just wasn’t clear from the teaser.

And again, this was just the teaser, so maybe I shouldn’t put TOO much thought into it. Hopefully the full trailer will spark something inside me. Right now though, I remain cautiously excited.

The Electric Run! Nov 8, 2014, Dodgers Stadium- Los Angeles

I usually run alone so when my friends invited me to The Electric Run I was SO PUMPED! If you’re not a runner, let me just say that running is so much better when you’re running with other people. I immediately marked race day on my calendar, planned and executed an outfit, and started counting down the days.

From looking at The Electric Run’s website, it appeared that this race would be a lot like The Color Run. For one, it was an EXPENSIVE 5K. I won’t tell you how much, but geez, it hurt a little bit to register. But my friends had invited me and I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to run with them. For another, it looked like “the hip thing to do.” Meaning, there was dance music playing in the preview video, DJs encouraging you to be happy and dance, etc. Immediately I knew this was a race for people who wanted to have fun, not real runners. And lastly, it was at Dodgers Stadium, exactly where The Color Run was.

Despite all this, I had a lot of fun at The Color Run and I wasn’t expecting anything less with The Electric Run. It took place at night lit by the most amazing light designs. I was definitely excited!

On race day I met up with my friends at their apartment. We hopped in the car and made our way to the

Looking a little flustered while trying to put my outfit together...

stadium. I had purchased a lot of cheap glo jewelry from the dollar store and between trying to put these together and putting the entirety of my outfit on, I was a bit overwhelmed for the first 20 minutes we were there. I had picked up my bib the night before but my friends had to wait in the extremely long line to pick up bibs on race day. We had to move forward once every minute or so; I was constantly trying to juggle putting things together with keeping my place in line.

I finally got everything assembled and on me (a glitter tutu that exploded glitter everywhere, pink hair spray, glo jewelry galore, a string of Christmas lights, and my typical race gear) and after my friends had picked up their bibs and put everything on themselves we were ready to go. We just made the last wave. The race started at 7:00pm with waves being release onto the course every five minutes. I think we got to the start queue around 7:45pm (despite arriving at 6:45pm…that bib line was LONG y’all). We had to wait for a couple waves to be release before us and I was getting SUPER antsy. I just wanted to run already! 

At the starting line!

Like The Color Run, there was a DJ at the start telling people to scream and dance and do crazy things to get glo sticks. I. Just. Wanted. To. Start! And we finally did! And we all started running. Even though my friends weren’t runners, we ran until the first “event.” Running was difficult though. Not because it was running, but because people insisted on walking in the middle of the course. It’s typical race manners to stay to the sides of the course if you’re walking so the runners don’t have to dodge around you. Well, I think real runners were in the minority here so this wasn’t the case. I was even heckled by people after I asked them to move to the sides. Because I almost ran into them. It was for our own safety. Geez.

Anyway…the first event! Like me explain what events are. Every so often along the course there is an event a.k.a a specially designed light show. The first event was a light tunnel. There were a bunch of tubes arced back to back each changing color with the music that was playing. It was pretty cool and fun to run through.

The first event!

Oh, let me warn you, this was a race of selfies! It was literally designed to be so. I usually hate taking selfies but in order to capture everything it was pretty necessary to have your camera pointed at your face the whole race. 

Alright, back to the race. My friends were ready to stop running so I took off on my own for a little while. I passed the second event which was just this weird wall playing videos with shapes and colors. Kind of lame. I stopped at the start of the third event (about a mile in) to allow my friends to catch up.

This is when I stopped running for the most part. I realized that despite wanting to run the course, I wanted to experience it with my friends more. I waited for them because there were some prime picture spots up ahead, spots that just would not be satisfying as selfies.

The next event was all lit by black light and featured umbrellas hung from trees. We got to take these cool pictures where we looked like our umbrella was being blown away and we were trying to hang on to it.  This was definitely the most crowded part of the course. People were very nice and offered to take pictures.

Moving along and we hit the water station. All the cups were clear and there were fun colored lights hitting them so they all looked like they were lit up. 

Cool water station

My friend skipped the next event, as it was a looped part of the course and easily avoided ( and on a hill, which didn't make it easy for her injured knees) , but I went down to explore. It was filled with jellyfish, and sea anemone and bubbles. I think this event ran a close second to the umbrella event in terms of most people taking selfies. It was fun and I took selfies like all the rest of them, but I was eager to move on. At this point everything was feeling a little old. “Light shows and selfies.” “More light shows and selfies.” I think it would have been a little better if running was more encouraged. 

Jellyfish!

I even thought at one point I’d finish the race then go through it again running. It was a LOT of fun to see and run through, it was just such a task to get a picture of everything there. You couldn’t really do both.

Anyway, got through jellyfish lane and met up with my friend at the start of the event I like to call Candyland. There were giant blow up gummy bears, giant blow up candy canes, giant blow up cupcakes, and fog that smelled like cotton candy. The most spectacular parts of this event though were the views of downtown LA. I love downtown LA at night! AND if you were clever enough, you could use the lights from the blow up candy and get a stunning picture that exposed both your face and the city without using the terrible flash on your camera. 

Candyland was full of selfies. It took us a long time to get a picture with everything and by this time lines were forming so there was a lot of waiting. 

We got through though and made our way to the last event which was basically for the sponsors: a large tunnel that changed colors with huge blow up cans of Rockstar Energy Drink standing guard. It was fun to take pictures in but sort 
of lack luster for the final event. 

This WAS however the first place I saw a professional race photographer. Yep, right at the end was where I got my one professional picture while on the course. I mean, I get that it was dark. I understand that it’s not just a point and shoot situation here. But hey, there are things called flashes! And it would have been nice to get a pic with some of the light displays. Alas, I just got one professional running picture and one professional semi finish picture (it was at the finish but there was really nothing to indicate that you were at the finish. It was a disappointing finish line).To be fair though, we got to download the professional photos for free with no water marks. So you win some, you lose some I suppose.

But speaking of the finish…we were finally there! But instead of a nice display, there was literally a crowd of people just standing around. Because the finish sort of emptied you out onto nothing. There were some blow up pillars that said “Finish” on them and there was more water, but it was pretty sad. I couldn’t even get a good finish picture, professional nor selfie.

The after party was pretty fun. My friends and I spent a good amount of time dancing. Alfonso Riebero from Fresh Prince of Bel Air made an appearance. We got free work out shirts from Target! But again, there was no professional photographer to take your official race photo. You know, the one against the backdrop with the race logo and such? Yeah, there were long lines but in order to get a picture you had to be bold and ask someone in line behind you to take it for you. For as much as I paid for this race, it would have been nice to have more professional photos taken.

There were some free Rockstars, which were a nasty flavor according to my friend, and some free Southern Comfort but the SoCo booth was closed by the time we got around to it and the line for the bar was hella long.

So since we were tired and hungry we cut out a little early, before the party was over. We were much more eager to get some food in our bellies.

All in all a pretty good race. Cool course, fun music playing. If I would do it again, I’d definitely go through twice, once taking pictures and once running. They definitely need to step up on the “race” experience though. It was definitely a “party” atmosphere but it was missing a lot of things that people who run a lot of races, especially races that cost as much as this one cost, expect.