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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren, and this is Joshua P. Warren Daly. Well, here in Las Vegas, I have continued to explore weird things to do. And oh boy, there's so much. It's going to take me years. And I think when I finally get toward the end, if that's possible, I will just discover a whole new generation has begun back at the start, and so it'll just be a a never-ending circle of entertainment. But if you go to my Twitter page right now, you will find a link I posted, and it says something like, Well, you don't see this shit every day, do you? And you will find that linked to a short, very short YouTube video that I uploaded showing a sculpture of a gigantic praying mantis shooting fire out of its antenna and sort of dancing to a song in the background. One person immediately said, My God, Godzilla has his work cut out for him. And I will just tell you, I'm sure that that video will be deleted soon because uh YouTube and Facebook and a lot of these sites nowadays have this stupid software that will automatically detect if there is some song that uh is copyrighted, and then they will automatically go in and delete it or force you to delete it without making it uh easy for you to clarify the circumstances, because there are many, many circumstances under which it's okay to use a clip of music. Uh fair use is protected under copyright. Also, you know, in many cases I've gone out and bought licenses to use music, and it doesn't matter. The software doesn't discern. So sometimes you just have to expect that when you post something on YouTube or Facebook, it might not be up there very long if it just has some little snippet of music. And you know, when I think if you're walking down the street and somebody has a giant sculpture that's dancing around and playing a song so that everybody on the street can hear it, uh, you should have the right to record a snippet of that because you're being subjected to it in a public environment. I mean, this is on a street corner. It's not like I'm in a shop or a restaurant. This is on a street corner for God and everybody to hear. So anyway, like I say, go to uh Twitter at Joshua P. Warren, uh that's my Twitter handle, and you'll see a link if you care to the footage of this giant flaming praying mantis that sits outside at the edge of Container Park on the north end of the Vegas Strip. So, um, you know, yeah, I could go on and on telling you about little things here, and I'll do that over time that are um are kind of freaky and shocking. But I I want to stay focused on the fact that uh Lauren and I we finally went to see the newest installment in the Star Wars saga. We went to see the movie Solo, a Star Wars story. And of course, uh Solo, we're talking about Han Solo here. Um he was the sort of rugged swashbuckling uh non-Jedi pilot who was a smuggler and all that, and everybody always loved Han Solo. That's the role that made Harrison Ford famous, and his sort of gruff sense of adventure and and being that you know practical kind of action guy is what um helped him so easily transform into the role of Indiana Jones that made him a true icon. But um, you know, Han Solo has always been one of everybody's favorites, and uh it's because you know he he doesn't use the force and all that, he just has his blaster and he's got a real no-nonsense kind of demeanor. And so um you know I've I'm a Star Wars geek. I my my childhood coincided perfectly with the release of these movies. So I uh the the these movies were you know meant for people like me, you know, my generation. And so um, of course, when I wrote the book Um Use the Force, A Jedi's Guide to the Law of Attraction, it became it was like second nature for me to write that book, taking these metaphysical concepts and then um overlaying them with the Star Wars mythology. So anyway, Lauren and I we went to a really nice theater here in Vegas, they have plenty of them, to get a full-blown 3D experience. And I had already seen in the media that this movie solo is performing more weakly, uh, well, I should say weaker, uh, so I don't d confuse you. It's it's not doing as well, okay? It has a weak performance so far at the box office, especially compared to the other Star Wars movies. And they had trouble making it, they had to go through a few directors, and finally Ron Howard took control of it, and so the whole project was kind of a shaky project, it became very expensive. So, you you know, there's kind of this sense that this one is not doing as well, and so it might not be playing as long. So that's why we definitely wanted to go and see it. So we go to this theater, and uh this theater, uh it's an AMC, and it has a full liquor bar right there in the lobby, which is wonderful. And so Lauren and I, every time we go there, we stop at the bar and we grab a drink, you know, and then you know you take the drink inside and have a little uh beverage uh as you're watching your film. So we go up to the bar and we're standing there, and uh the bartender there is a young lady, and uh as I'm standing there, a couple of other uh guys walk up behind us, and the bartender, she's very nice, but uh she asks for my ID. And so I took out my driver's license, and the guy standing behind me had the most perplexed look on his face, and he said, Jesus, you're carding that guy. Now, some people would be offended by that, but I am just the opposite. I am not one of them. I I find that actually um I find that to be an achievement that I have finally reached the point where I have matured into such a fatherly masculine form, there's enough white in my beard that another grown man would be shocked that anyone would doubt my age. And of course at that point she says, I I I know it's just we have to do this with every single person. That's the rule we have to card every single person. And that is pretty uncommon here in Las Vegas. I can tell you this, when I was in Puerto Rico, and you know, I've been going to Puerto Rico now for thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years, um never once have I ever been carded for anything in Puerto Rico. Now, granted, the drinking age there is only eighteen, but still they just don't make that big of a deal out of it. And uh so yeah, yeah, I uh I'm uh I'll this year, this fall, I will be forty-two, that I have apparently made it far enough in life, I have transformed into such a creature that it should be obvious to any logical person that I am old enough to do whatever the hell I damn well please. So we made it into the theater, and get a load of this. Larn and I were the only people in this theater for the entire movie. So we have this gigantic 3D screen in this huge theater, just to ourselves. And so we took advantage of that, you know, we were getting up and moving into different seats the whole time, and uh God knows the crazy things we could have done, which we didn't do. Um but it was I that to me was definitely an indication that yeah, there's something about this movie is um is not clicking with the usual Star Wars fan base. And so here is what I thought of the movie. For one thing, I will tell you that I enjoyed it, and it to me it was it it it was exactly what I expected. You know, it was not lower than my expectations, it was not higher than my expectations, it hit the mark exactly where I thought it was going to be. Now for Lauren, she said it exceeded her expectations because she had seen a lot of the bad reviews and stuff, but um, but both of us ended up walking out of there feeling very satisfied. Um I will tell you, uh I'm not gonna spoil this for you, because you you know I know that there are a lot of Star Wars fans who listen to this podcast. I'm not gonna spoil anything. I will say this. Obviously, it's an origin story, so those are always kind of cool because you know you have things that may have only existed as a line of dialogue in a movie uh 40 years ago, um, but now you get to see where that line came from, you know. So you get to see the the formative stuff, you know, how did Han meet Chewbacca and you know how how how did things turn out between him and uh Lando and you know like all that kind of stuff. But I will also tell you that I think that it did it let me put it this way, it was a much flatter film than any of the other Star Wars movies. And trust me, there are there were Star Wars movies that I thought were pretty pretty terrible uh when it comes to like like like look folks, Jar Jar Binks. I I I think enough said there. Jar Jar Binks, really. I was not into Jar Jar Binks. So there have been some low moments in the history of the Star Wars franchise. This, however, I think it was kind of a flat movie because of two main things. Uh number one, uh it was action-packed, but a lot of the scenery in action was sort of redundant. You kind of felt like you're seeing the same stuff over and over. And it, you know, most of the Star Wars movies have have a lot of diversity in terms of location, the kind of action, the type of person who is up to this or that. And and this was um the wh the the movie very much sort of all looked like uh part part of the same quote unquote uh set design. Okay, I guess you could put it that way. Um but the I think for me, however, the biggest thing that um I thought made it feel kind of flat was that there was just I I I don't want to say entirely, but almost no reference whatsoever to the Force. And I've always felt that without the Force, Star Wars is just another sci-fi movie, and I'm not really into that kind of action space sci-fi stuff. You'd think I am, but I'm really not. It's the spiritual aspect of the force that makes it different. Now I understand that uh uh Han Solo was never introduced to the Force until much later, you know, when we get into the Luke Skywalker days. So it it wouldn't make sense for him to not have any direct uh connection with the force, but I still think that there could have been a way of working that into the movie, whether or not uh he was being exposed to it. There should I think that there should have been some reference to it because that adds a layer of richness. Um and I'll tell you something else, just for you Star Wars geeks out there, um when it comes to like throughout the entire first three Star Wars films, A New Hope and uh The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the only non-Jedi to ever wield a lightsaber and in one scene was Han Solo. That's because he takes a lightsaber and he uses it in an emergency to cut open this creature and and dig its hot guts out to put around Luke Skywalker when Skywalker is freezing to death in this kind of Arctic setting. And I know that if you're a real Star Wars fan, some of you might be like, wait a second, you just said he was the only non Jedi, well, Darth Vader Sith. Well, listen to me, my friend. Okay, we're I'm give me a second to geek out here. In my opinion, all the Sith are Jedi's. There are only Jedi's and non-Jedi's, and some of the Jedi's have turned into what was originally called Dark Jedi's. The word Sith was never introduced on screen until Lucas began the prequels. So for the first three Star Wars films, which were really th the only real Star Wars films in my opinion. Let's, you know, let's just be frank about that. Um they didn't talk about Sith. You know, I it doesn't count for me when somebody writes some novel and creates some kind of reference in some expanded universe. No, I to me, you have Jedi's and non-Jedi's, and some of the Jedi's become dark Jedi's, which they are then called the Sith, but they're all still ultimately first and foremost Jedi's. So that's how I feel about that as a guy who wrote a book about Star Wars, which is published by Simon and Schuster. So ha! Now that I've said that, I will tell you that uh you should go see it. Um don't expect to see any real references to the force. Um and um, you know, it's an enjoyable ride. It's an enjoyable ride. So, you know, I'm not in I'm not an official movie reviewer. I did that once in my life, so I'm not gonna sit here and give you, you know, a uh three out of five or a seven out of ten or whatever, but you know, it it if you're into Star Wars, go see it, you'll be satisfied. Um I have so much other stuff going on. You wouldn't think it to listen to this podcast. I talk about these silly, dumb little things. Uh and yet um I am working feverishly to get everything finalized to release my new ebook and audiobook called Finding Your Magic. And I am hoping, I'm hoping that I will have everything ready to finally release in the next few days. But you see, I have a little surprise. Yeah. See, I I I know that you know that this is coming out as a book, as an e-book, and an audiobook. So I wanted to add something extra in there that you're not expecting. A special little treat. So I'm hoping I'll have everything ready with my special little treat. Possibly as early as Sunday. Um but certainly within the next few days, I I believe. So I want you to go to joshuapewarren.com and sign up for my free e newsletter if you have not already, so that I will be able to let you know as soon as this is available. And the little surprise part of it is only going to be available for a limited period of time. So you're gonna get the first heads up on that. So therefore, if you're not a member or if you're not a subscriber to my free e newsletter, please do that right now. I'm pretty excited because uh you know I'm here on my my new condo, I'm going to be uploading a lot of stuff, and they're coming to install my new uh internet connection here in a few days, and I'm gonna be able to process one gigabyte per second. So like if you have if you can do 50 megabytes per second, that's that's not bad. A hundred is really good, but one gigabyte per second, this is unbelievable to me. I would have never imagined I'd live to see a day when we can process information at one gigabyte per second. So I'm gonna be able to very quickly upload and download stuff and um just keep sending you great content. And so when I release my ebook and audiobook, I'm gonna have a video with that that you'll want to see because it includes me doing an experiment, and it was very difficult to capture on camera some of the stuff that I captured, but I think I got it good enough that you'll get a kick out of it. So again, go to joshua pwarren.com and you'll see that right there at the top where you can put your email address in, hit the button to sign up for my free e-newsletter, so you will know immediately when I release this thing. Uh you'll be one of the first people in the world to know about it. I guarantee you that. Also, at my website, joshuapewarren.com, you'll find a link to this podcast. This podcast is called Joshua P. Warren Daily. It's always short, it's always free. You can subscribe through various means or follow me on Twitter at Joshua P. Warren at Joshua P. Warren, and I will tweet when a new one is available. So that's it for today. I'm excited about what I have planned for you soon. Thank you for listening, thank you for your support, thank you for staying curious, and I will talk to you again soon.