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George Lucas: "I'm Done With Star Wars"
HughPickens.com writes: Entertainment Weekly reports that George Lucas has compared his retirement from Star Wars to a break-up – a mutual one, maybe, but one that nonetheless comes with hard feelings and although Lucas came up with story treatments for a new trilogy, those materials, to put it bluntly, were discarded. "They decided they didn't want to use those stories, they decided they were gonna go do their own thing," says Lucas. "They weren't that keen to have me involved anyway. But at the same time, I said if I get in there I'm just going to cause trouble. Because they're not going to do what I want them to do. And I don't have the control to do that anymore. All I would do is muck everything up. So I said, 'Okay, I will go my way, and I'll let them go their way.'" Lucas says he was going to tell a story about the grandchildren of figures from the original trilogy. "The issue was, ultimately, they looked at the stories and they said, 'We want to make something for the fans,'" says Lucas. "So, I said, all I want to do is tell a story of what happened – it started here and went there. It's all about generations, and issues of fathers and sons and grandfathers. It's a family soap opera."
Although the team behind The Force Awakens acknowledges they're taking the story in a different direction from what Lucas intended, they maintain affection for his original creations and the man himself. "Before I showed up, it was already something that Disney had decided they wanted to go a different way with," says J. J. Abrams. "But the spirit of what he wrote, both in those pages and prior, is everything that this movie is built upon." Some fans question why there was no "Based on" credit for Lucas in the poster for The Force Awakens. "I don't know why it isn't on the poster, but it's a valid point. I'm sure that that will be a credit in the film," says Abrams. "We are standing on the shoulders of Episodes I through VI."
Although the team behind The Force Awakens acknowledges they're taking the story in a different direction from what Lucas intended, they maintain affection for his original creations and the man himself. "Before I showed up, it was already something that Disney had decided they wanted to go a different way with," says J. J. Abrams. "But the spirit of what he wrote, both in those pages and prior, is everything that this movie is built upon." Some fans question why there was no "Based on" credit for Lucas in the poster for The Force Awakens. "I don't know why it isn't on the poster, but it's a valid point. I'm sure that that will be a credit in the film," says Abrams. "We are standing on the shoulders of Episodes I through VI."
There used to be laserdisc rips of the original trilogy on bittorrent. That is about as close as you'll get.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Just more Cheez-wiz American cinema. Lucas ruined the first three movies when made the last three.
It helps to assume that the last three never existed. Kinda like "wow The Matrix was good. Too bad they never made any sequels".
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
There used to be laserdisc rips of the original trilogy on bittorrent. That is about as close as you'll get.
Not true! There are much better ones available! As an Anonymous poster noted below (and deserves to be modded up!) you should look for Harmy's "Despecialized" versions. Much of the source was actually taken from film and it looks really good at 720p. Look for version 2.5 of episode 4 and version 2.0 of episode. His current version of Jedi isn't quite as good yet, but hopefully a better version will be out soon.
Some info here.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Han didn't shoot Greedo first. Han shot Greedo, and Greedo didn't shoot at all.
I suppose I'll post this as AC.
I realize that people think $250,000,000 is a lot. It is. It's a metric butt-ton of money. However, those of us who have managed to acquire that much wealth aren't all that wealthy comparatively speaking. We can not, realistically, buy a mansion everywhere and buy a jet. Jets are expensive. Maintaining a home is very expensive (but not as expensive as a jet). At that level, well, you're getting a huge tax bill - plan on about 1/3 of it (or more) in Federal or State taxes. This is usually paid in the quarter that the income was earned.
Then, say, you sold your business for 98,000,000 in cash and 120,000,000 in stock in the new parent company? You can't actually sell, trade, or touch those stocks (you could, in theory, take loans out against them) for six months or you'll end up in Federal prison. (It might be 60 days, actually.) You're probably not taxed on the full amount - if you're smart and have an accountant. With the above numbers, you're looking at somewhere $155,000,000 which is still a bunch of money but when you start buying things like a jet AND paying to keep that jet functional then you're looking at some serious expenditures.
Now, assuming you do the "right thing" and you reward all the people who helped you to get where you are and make a bunch of anonymous donations you're looking at somewhere around half of that money being kept aside. So, call it $80,000,000. You're now going to want some privacy and a house out in the middle of nowhere. Something like 10,000 acres in the NW part of Maine, with a nice house, and the amenities is going to cost you something along the lines of $20,000,000 assuming you are also setting aside for taxes for the next ten years.
Then you want a place in Florida, nothing special, and a place in Nevada - again nothing special. Plan on another $10,000,000. You want to set your kids, grandkids, etc up for life and pay off your ex-wife? Plan on another $20,000,000 - it could be more but you want the kids to have a trust that doesn't pay for everything so that they're still productive members of society and not just resting on their laurels. Throw in another $20,000,000 for friends and family.
You want to maintain your land and property after you leave? That's another $10,000,000 or so. Throw in seeding a trust that enables a few kids to go to a nice private school? That's another $10,000,000...
These are rather rough numbers but you get the idea? Point being, at the $250,000,000 level you still have to budget and don't get to go spend a metric ton of money on things like a jet. Well, you can if you want but it's really not prudent and is not a responsible thing to do. No, you charter a small plane when you want to fly. You do have a driver but you only hire one in a rented car when you're out on the town. You don't actually own a limo or anything but you might have a bunch of old cars and hire a mechanic on the weekends - you might even get your hands dirty and do some of the work yourself.
If you're smart, and lucky, and aren't lazy - you can actually put your money into a few risky investments and then make your assets equal what they were when you first were paid for your business. That takes some work and some dedication. They don't seem to teach this sort of thing in college or anything. I understand that they do have special coaches for this but I've also heard that they're a scam - mostly. People who win the lottery usually end up broke for a reason.
Really, though, you don't spend like that. What you do is you invest it - almost all of it, and then build up the other funds slowly on earnings from your investments. This keeps the money from being taxed as you're still keeping it in the investment pool and not spending it. Well, if it's taxed then it's at a lower rate. It depends on where you move it and *how* you move it. So, it's not quite as bad as I'm depicting above and you can certainly avoid a lot of that. That doesn't mean that you go spending on things like a jet, however. Sure, you can