Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today I thought we'd do another You Should Laugh More post.

Research has shown that laughter is good for us. It has all kinds of health benefits. Despite most of us knowing this, none of us laugh enough. Yeah, I know, being an adult is tough, and furthermore there is a lot of grim stuff happening in the world. These things may be true, but that just is all the more reason for trying to get a little laughter into our lives.

So I started today intending to post about a funny Star Trek vs Star Wars clip I stumbled across. As I started to write about that below, a related but different idea popped into my head, then as I saved that to write about, my mind went in another direction. And so on. So I ran with what was happening and wrote the entire post this way. I guess we could call this the stream of consciousness edition of you should laugh more.

So let's jump in and see where this goes!

Star Trek vs Star Wars

Oh, the eternal argument. Which is better? They kind of can't be directly compared, but that hasn't stopped people from trying for the past 40 years. So which is really better...? I think this video makes a good argument.

But you know, that got me thinking, isn't it crazy how much power creep Vader has? In the first movie, he wasn't even powerful enough to be in full command: he was Grand Moff Tarkin's lapdog. But then with every movie he became more powerful until now he is just this super killing machine. I mean compare the Vader in A New Hope with the one at the end of Rogue One. Are they even the same character??

I miss the weaker more human Vader. You know he ended up in Japan for awhile during the 80s? I'm sure he doesn't like to talk about it.

You know, in his old age he mellowed a bit, but he still liked to terrorize the princess.

But back to Star Trek. I think we all know that William Shatner, the original Kirk, had a strange acting style when he was younger. I've read that it's really not that strange, and that it reflects his theater roots because that was the acting style of the theater when he was younger. Be that as it may, the style has not aged well and he is mostly associated with the style these days, for better or worse. As a result, pretty much everyone has a Shatner impression. Of all of them, I think Kevin Pollak does it best.

You know, he really does a good Christopher Walken too.

Speaking of Christopher Walken, did you know back in the day he auditioned for the part of Han Solo. I think it's probably for the best that Harrison Ford got that part, but can you imagine?

Ok, Spacey's impression isn't very good, but it is the best we have until Walken's real screen test footage is released, if it still exists.

Anyway, back to Star Wars, did you know that Mark Hamill graduated from high school in Japan? His dad was a navy guy, so they moved around a lot, and he spent two years in Yokohama. According to him, his Japanese was pretty good and he loved his time in the country.

So we're back to Japan. And let's end this little stream of consciousness with a Japanese girl explaining Star Wars to us.

So what do you think? Did it make you laugh or was it just stupid? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.

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