We headed out for our normal ride to Starbucks this morning, but this time we did our best to take a longer route. I was actually a bit disappointed to discover we had only gone about five miles (instead of the usual three) by the time we reached the coffee shop, so after we'd inhaled our caffeine requirement for the morning we continued on in our quest for a longer ride by setting off for some of the back roads. We managed to reach 13 miles by the time we made it back home, and I managed to get in my quote of bug-killing (by riding right *into* the things) for the morning too. There is nothing quite like picking bug carcassess off one’s t-shirt to start one’s day, let me tell you.

Then it was home to clean the house and figure out what we were going to do for our guests for dinner, but first we looked up the movie listings and found the nearest showing of Episode II.

I'll admit that I have felt more obligation than anticipation about this movie. Heck, I had to admit I was thinking of partitioning my hard drive and installing Linux on my home computer in order to hang onto my nerd title when my coworker learned I still hadn't seen the movie. But then I've never been a hard core Star Wars fan, and frankly, Episode I killed any desire I had to become one. All the reviews we've seen for the Episode II indicated that it was, at the very least, better than the first. The problem is, considering how truly bad Episode I was, this wasn't saying much.

The dialogue was trite and almost painful at times, and the plot was, once again, thin and predictable. But the special effects and the CGI-generated scenery made it easier to ignore the awkward lines, and Yoda's light saber duel made the entire movie worth the two hours of my life I was required to give up in order to watch it.

I'm at the point now where I might even want to rent the original three movies, just to see how much I've forgotten. And, despite how much I may cringe at yet another movie filled with horrible scripting, I'll go see Episode III when it comes out, if only to complete the sequence and fill in the blanks.