Darth Vader Was The Name Of Luke Skywalker's Sled

Spoiler alert: My family and I made it out to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Thursday night. This will probably come as no revelation whatsoever to any of you who have experienced my own fascination with the popular side of culture. The driving force, if you'll allow the pun, was this: I didn't want anyone telling me anything before I sat down in my seat and was forced back into the spare cushion by the opening fanfare. Additional spoiler alert: This is not a review of the film, but rather a recounting of my experience leading up to that moment previously mentioned.
The makers of Star Wars, producers, directors, stars, caterers, best boys and grips did such an amazing job of keeping this great beast of a film under wraps for so long that I could not imagine that once the cork was officially out of the bottle that there would be any way to avoid getting the odd hint or additional footage that would make my own viewing anything but pristine. I live in a world of smart phones and Twitter and TMZ and Al Gore's Internet and four hundred kids on a playground who have access to all of that an more. There was, in my paranoid fantasy of a Friday morning, no way that I was going to make it through a day much less a week until my family and I had quietly discussed going to see "a movie" on Christmas Eve. We had made similar journeys in years past, traveling to the exotic foreign land of San Francisco to take in a holiday blockbuster to distract us all from the night before Santa makes his deliveries.
I was so impressed by the embargo placed on the reviews and the tight lips of the crew who made it all happen but I was sure that the lid was just about to blow off Mos Eisley spaceport. I couldn't imagine going into that theater with any preconceived notions. Well, that's not exactly true. I had a boatload of preconceived notions, most of which were based on the sour taste I had from the last flurry of movies, the ones we now refer to as My Son's Star Wars. Those first three were the Star Wars of My Youth. And now, later on a Thursday night before the last day of school before break than I had a right to be out, I was about to watch what we agreed can be Our Star Wars. Yes, it was a school night, but I decreed it to be totally worth missing that extra couple hours' sleep to be a part of what will surely become the next big thing. When I look at that first weekend's box office tally, I will have the absurd connection to thirty-six of those dollars. That and two hours and sixteen minutes of rollicking good fun in the cinema.
Oops. Sorry to anyone who hasn't made it out to the movin' picture show to see The Force Awakens, and you were hoping not to have the running time revealed. My bad.