Random Star Wars Memories

I blame my cousin Cristina for my Star Wars obsession. If she hadn’t left that Star Wars book lying around almost 12 years ago I would never have picked it up and been sucked into the Star Wars galaxy.

It’s also because of her that I know so much. She answered every question I ever had about the movies, and since she already owned a good portion of the books she loaned them to me so I could read them. When I became an addict she became my supplier.

Then came Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. We used to play against her brother David, and there were a few lucky times when he actually beat us (but he cheated, he used to read the question cards ahead of time, that stinker). And then came a time when everyone stopped playing with us since according to the rules a player keeps going until they get a question wrong. Well, Cris and I would pretty much dominate the game and everyone else would get one, maybe two turns if they were lucky.

So then we started playing each other. I have never been more challenged in my life!! We always roll the dice to determine who goes first, and then we’ll just start answering questions, and usually whoever goes first gets almost all the little chips you need to go to the final question before the other person gets to go.

However, it’s always a close game. There was one time when Cris had all the chips and went to the “for the win” question, and I had only a few chips, and then the “for the win” question was “who was the commander of the second Death Star?” We both just stared at the screen going “we know WHO it is, but what the hell’s his name?!” (for those who are curious his name is Moff Jerrjerrod) But that kept the game going for a little bit longer since neither of us knew the answer.

Or there was one time that I was on a roll, I had only one chip left to get and then I get a question “what does the acronym AT-TE stand for?” I was stumped. I know almost any of the others, I know what AAT means, AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-PT, MTT, STAP… but I was drawing a blank on AT-TE. Well, I remember it now! It stands for All Terrain Tactical Enforcer. But that question effectively ended my question run.

When I went away to UVM a few years ago we thought we weren’t going to get to play each other for a while, and then Cris came up with an ingenious plan… She got her laptop and put it in front of the desktop computer, turned on the webcam on the desktop and then set up the game on the table and she would roll for me and ask me questions, and I could watch and be sure she wasn’t cheating when it came her turn to read questions, and we used her laptop to play the DVD. It was so much fun!

Whenever we play our games whoever wins is almost purely determined by the rolls of the dice because sometimes of us can get all the chips really quickly because the dice lets us get to those questions really quickly. Other times the dice screws us over and it takes forever, and the more questions we have the higher a chance to get something crazy like “what does AT-TE stand for” that we know the answer and are just drawing a blank on it.

Since Cris spent a few months serving as an Army nurse in Afghanistan we haven't gotten to play in months. I miss it because we always have fun no matter who wins. Now that she's back stateside hopefully we'll get a chance to play again, even if its our tried and true webcam method.

The Phantom Medley

Well a long time ago in a galaxy far far away
This guy in black was on the track of the rebels led by Leia
Hey! Luke Skywalker, they fried your uncle and aunt
So he left Tatooine with lightsaber in his pants

You can bet I wanna be a Jedi, there is no try only a do

Use use use the force, trust me Luke its neato
Listen to Ben, he’ll tell you when to launch your torpedo

It’s a ship that is flown by that Indiana Jones
And the Falcon goes flying along

He is Darth Vader, he’s a Jedi hater,
He dies much later, in Episode six

Obi-Wan Kenobi, all covered in brown,
He may cut your arm off, if you screw around

Ba la la la la la Boba, he’s the bounty hunter
After Han under that armor he’s got nuthin on

I love the Star Wars movies, the trio with out equal,
and now its time for episode one pop goes the prequel.

the phantom menace, phantom menace
who you gonna see it with, share a cola with Sebulba or have some popcorn with the Sith

Jar Jar Binks, Jar Jar Binks, his floppy ears are giant
They rendered him with a Pentium lets hope he’s Y2K compliant

Watch Pod Races in the heat, Kaboom, Kaboom
Anakin needs a booster seat, oh Tatooine day

They’ll be flying around Naboo when they come
They’ll be fightin’ Battle Droids of the Federation
Hey those light saber sounds just like electric razors
They’ll be flyin’ around Naboo when they…

Come all ye forceful, join the team ancient speeder

Queen Amidala, Amidala, Amidala
She’s a hot tamale, Natalie marry me

The saga starts with Obi-Wan Kenobi
and Qu-Gon Jinn those guys were Jedis with lightsabers and hair extensions

Anakin is a little boy but some day he will destroy the Jedi Knights and
galactic fights with ships and battle droids

He knew R2-D2 on Naboo, Luke and Leia
Ben and Yoda , Jabba, Chewie, Han and Boba, ewoks jawas and the Gungans
and the guy from Pulp Fiction

Ships attacking creatures biting and
and Darth Maul is kung fu fighting good and evil fade into history
the coolest toys in history

Episode one!

Shut-up the movie has begun

- Richard Cheese

To celebrate the release of The Phantom Menace 3D today (at the time of this post I am sitting at the movie theater waiting for the movie to start), I made a video so you can enjoy the song and watch a cool slideshow to go with it.

Updated Product Page

I made another few designs of bracelets so I updated my product page with the new pictures of the bracelets. I have three new designs, seen here:

I made this one to wear at the midnight showing of The Phantom Menace in 3D, but if anyone wants one I can make it!

This one is similar to other designs I've done, but with red instead of green or blue.

This is a new design as well.

Hope everyone likes them! And maybe even wants one...

One Week!

Well, it's February 3rd! To many of you, this date probably means nothing. To me, it means that is is only one week until the release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace in 3D.

Now, admittedly, this is my least favorite Star Wars movie of the six. Second only to Return of the Jedi. However, because George Lucas has me thoroughly whipped and brain-washed to his will, I will be spending the $10 to see a 3D movie at my local theater. What's more, I'm planning on going to the midnight showing with my cousin and some friends. I might even dress up. 

I love midnight showings, though because that's when all the hardcore nerds go to the theaters. It's all the fans that know how to get along with each other because we're all as hyped up about something that not every understands. We'll all be there with our lightsabers and Star Wars t-shirts and maybe even a costume or two. It's a little bit like the crowd that goes to conventions. The kind of people that I'm the most comfortable around. And that's really why I'm looking forward to going- no judgments. 

So while Episode I isn't my favorite Star Wars movie, and my cousin and I are likely to spend most of the night making fun of whiny little Anakin and Jake Lloyd's atrocious acting and how many different ways to kill Jar Jar, I'll be taking advantage of a large crowd of nerds and geeks to have a great night where we all get to be ourselves. 

Pumpkin designs

Carving pumpkins for Halloween or just for fall in general is one of my favorite things to do in addition to the obvious dressing up aspect of this time of year. When I was a kid I just did the standard face, with a few variations over the years.

One year we used the pumpkin 'guts' to spread in and out of the mouth of the pumpkin to simulate it throwing up. That was probably my favorite pumpkin.

Last year I carved a pumpkin with the Rebel insignia in it.

This year because my Halloween weekend is so busy I doubt I'll get a chance to carve anything fancy, but here are a few cool websites I found in case you want to carve some cool pumpkin designs!

This site has a Boba Fett, Yoda, Jabba and Darth Maul carvings.

This one has David Tennant's Tenth Doctor with the Tardis.

And this one has some pretty complicated, but extremely awesome, instructions on how to make a Death Star pumpkin.

If you're looking for a cyberman, this site is the one to look at. If you're talented also check out the template for an Eleventh Doctor that last site mentions.

If anyone actually attempts any of these way cool pumpkins let me know! Or let me know if you find any other cool sites with more templates, I'd love to keep them all in mind to work on next year.

Reasons I Love theforcebook

1. All Star Wars all the time- This should be pretty obvious from the name but it's great to have a place to talk about the latest Star Wars news, the new episode of The Clone Wars, your action figure collection, comics books, novels, how none of your friends understand why Jar Jar sucks or even how much you're looking forward to the next convention.
2. The 'atmosphere'- I have yet to see people not get along on this website. Sure there are differing opinions, but everyone is respectful of other people's opinions and thoughts and sometimes you can even make someone see something about Star Wars they never would have noticed before. Even though everyone is of different ages it hardly matters because we all share an incredibly strong interest that brings us together.
3. The administration- John Doyle has done an incredible job creating this site and making it easy and fun to use with some awesome features like the ability to post pictures or photo albums or write articles. The moderators also do a good job of blending in and getting along with everyone and keeping things in check if need be. I'd just like to say thanks, guys!
4. Occasional fandom overlap- every so often I see conversations about other movies whether it be Indiana Jones, Transformers or some other movie or tv show and I think it's great because so many of us share other common interests aside from Star Wars.
5. It's hard to put this last reason into words but basically... everyone on this site is awesome. I've made great friends through the forcebook, and even some virtual siblings. It doesn't matter whether you're a Jedi, a Sith, a Light Sith, a Dark Jedi or a Mandalorian because we all love Star Wars and that's the most important thing.

So basically, if you like Star Wars, go check it out. You won't regret it. 

Mandalorian vs. Jedi/Sith

Lately among my Star Wars friends there seems to be this divide. On one side there's the Force users whether they consider themselves a Jedi or a Sith, and on the other side there's Mandalorians. I think it's pretty clear where I stand in this divide, and it's rather nice knowing that the Mandalorian side is growing so much. However, because of this divide I think it's easy for people to think one is better than the other; especially when the topic turns to the ethics of the Jedi which is, I think, a touchy subject since the Jedi are meant to be the 'good guys'. But every time Jedi raising kids away from their families and possibly taking those kids in not so nice ways comes up that 'good guy' title gets a little murky. It also gets murky when the idea of Jedi essentially using a slave army to fight the war is mentioned. Because of the murky waters and many opinions I thought I'd go ahead and jot down my own thoughts on the subject.

Mandalorian Saying

In case I haven’t mentioned, Mandalorians aren’t big on bloodline. Family to them is more about relationship, who is there for you and who takes care of you rather than actual lineage.

Aliit ori’shya tal’din.

Family is more than bloodline.

Adoption is pretty common to the Mandalorians. Kal Skirata legally adopted almost every single clone trooper he ever trained, not because they had no family, but because he cared. It mattered to him what happened to them, and he helped them set up real lives outside the war. They called him Kal’buir, or “Papa Kal”. And sure, you may think adopted nearly a hundred clone troopers is obvious since, well, they never had parents to begin with. But Kal didn’t stop there. When a Jedi Knight named Bardan Jusik left the Jedi Order Kal adopted him too, and when his boys started to get married, he called his new in-laws ad’ike, or “little sons/daughters” (because there’s no gender specification in Mando’a). Family is family, blood or not, in-laws or not. You’re either family, or an aruetiise, which means anything from “outsider” to “traitor”, though it most often is used to talk about anything non Mandalorian.

And Kal didn’t do this because he didn’t have a family. He did; at one point. But his wife divorced him, and his two sons declared him dar’buir which means “no longer a parent”. Again, a legal term for Mandalorians. But even though his sons divorced him, his daughter never officially did. Despite all that Kal never stopped supporting his family, he still sent his kids money, even after 30 years of not having seen them. It may seem like nothing, but then after 30 years when his daughter reappears and needs his help he helps her, and she asks for cin vhetin, or “a fresh start”.

I meant this to be a quick little blurb about the Mandalorian saying “family is more than bloodline”, and it seems to have turned into more of a Kal Skirata bio. But I think that says something. There are all these little sayings that give aruetiise an understanding of the Mandalorian mentality, but it’s easier to prop Kal up and say, “Look! This man right here just about embodies everything that the Mandalorians stand for, and how they think”. Sometimes that helps.

Review: Jedi Academy on Steam

As my friends on theforcebook.com are aware, sometimes we all get together and play the game Jedi Academy online. They all recommended picking it up and because I wanted to be able to play online with my friends I went ahead and got the game from Steam.

When I bought the game, I discovered pretty quickly that Steam has a rather strange setup for playing their games. That could just be because I'm an absolute novice at downloading and playing PC video games, though. I purchased the game and then before I could download it I had to download Steam. Initially I had quite a few problems with the download process. I got as far as Steam telling me it was updating, and then it would close, and when I tried to open it, it complained about the following error:

Steam.exe (main exception): To run Steam you must first connect to the internet.

I sent an email to the Steam support people, but I really wanted a quick answer so I took to the internet. None of the solutions I came up with were very helpful, though. After some time working on it, though, my dad figured out that thanks to the firewall settings of our router Steam couldn't properly retrieve updates. So we lowered our router firewall settings and I was able to complete the install, download my games and I only need to lower the firewall when I want to play online with my friends. Otherwise as long as I'm only playing locally it doesn't impact me playing my game.

Overall, I enjoy playing the game. I'm not used to PC games because I've played Jedi Academy on my xbox, so going from a button system I'm used to, to a keyboard control system that I have absolutely no idea how to use. It's very distracting. But I like to think I'm getting better at it. Now that I know how to set up my firewall settings accordingly I'm having a lot more fun with the game. If you play online drop me a comment because I'd love to find other players to play with!

Growing Up

The other day I had my dad take me to Target so I could buy some things for the start of the school semester. On my list were shirts, a lunchbox, some notebooks and a planner. We found everything pretty easily except for the lunchbox. I had been to Target a few days earlier and saw a really neat Star Wars lunchbox that I wanted to get. Since we didn't immediately find it with the school supplies I suggested going to look for it with the Star Wars toys. My dad and I then had the following conversation:

Obi-Wan and Beyond

When I was in Disney back in June for one of the Star Wars weekends, I got to see the show Obi-Wan and Beyond performed by James Arnold Taylor, the voice of Obi-Wan and Plo Koon on The Clone Wars. At first I didn't know what to expect when I went, but what I got was a hilarious half hour spent watching James Arnold Taylor showcase the many voices he can create. The show really gave me an appreciation for the kind of work voice actors do. We hear them every day and hardly pay attention! I could go on about how much fun the show was (I saw it all three days I was at Disney!) but I really think you should just sit down and watch the video for yourself. Trust me, it's worth it!

T-shirt Tote Bag

The other day my mom brought me a kid's Star Wars t-shirt that she picked up at the store. I didn't immediately understand why because it was such a small size there was no way it would fit me. She said she planned on making it into a bag for me. Again, I couldn't really visualize it. Then she sat me down, showed me how to make it and how to use the sewing machine and suddenly my shirt went from this:

To this:

Mandalorians: Identity and Language

In five millennia, the Mandalorians fought with and against a thousand armies on a thousand worlds. They learned to speak as many languages and absorbed weapons technology and tactics from every war. And yet, despite the overwhelming influence of alien cultures, and the absence of a true homeworld and even species, their own language not only survived but changed little, their way of life and their philosophy remained untouched, and their ideals and sense of family, of identity, of nation were only strengthened. Armor does not make a Mandalorian. The armor is simply a manifestation of an impenetrable, unassailable heart.


- Mandalorians: Identity and Language, published by the Galactic Institute of Anthropology

Star Wars: Republic Commando Triple Zero
Karen Traviss

Star Wars adidas Originals 2011

In my never ending search to become even more of a nerd than I already am, I came across the following site:

Star Wars x adidas Originals 2011 Fall/Winter Collection | Hypebeast

It has some really great pictures of some of the new sneakers and jackets that Adidas is releasing for the Fall/Winter 2011 collection. I already have a pair of Darth Vader sneakers that I bought from last year's collection. I don't wear them that regularly since I like to keep them in good condition, but they're fun when I want to wear cool sneakers that I'm sure people don't even notice are actually Star Wars sneakers.

Review: Deceived

The other day I was finally able to track this book down at the library here in the city. I'm still getting used to the system here, but I dove in head first and now have about 8 books on hold waiting for me. But back to Star Wars. I know Paul Kemp is new to the land of writing Star Wars novels, and for that I definitely cut him a bit of slack. However, the first book I read of his, Crosscurrent, was much better than I had expected from a first time Star Wars novelist. Going on that I decided to give Deceived a chance even though I typically have a hard time getting through the books that take place thousands of years before anything I'm used to reading about in the Star Wars timeline. It's not so much that I mind not having the usual characters around, it's that I get very confused when they start tossing around the words 'Republic' and 'Empire' and I have to keep reminding myself it's not the same factions that I'm used to because they don't exist for another thousand or so years according to Star Wars history.

More Baby Names for Nerdy Parents

I have a love/hate relationship with coming up with names for characters when I write stories. It's fun to look for new names to give my characters that are unique but still fit in my story. If it fits, I'll sometimes just use names from my favorite characters on other tv shows or books or movies.

One of my most popular posts has been when I compiled a list of baby names for parents who are fellow nerds like myself. I thought it'd be fun to come up with some more names to add to the list!

Again, the point is to pick names that you, as the parent (or writer in my case) are aware belong to a beloved character, while not saddling your child with an obvious name like Anakin or a boring name like Matt. Even if it is the name of the current Doctor.

Girl Names:

Amelia- This name actually serves double duty if you're a Doctor Who fan it's obvious, if you're a Star Wars fan it might not be quite as obvious. It's the name given to Jacen and Tenel Ka's daughter after she is taken in by Han and Leia at the end of the Legacy of the Force series
Alanna- Yet another that serves two separate groups of fans. This is the real name of Jacen and Tenel Ka's daughter, but it is also the name of the Lady Knight in Tamora Pierce's book series
River- Do you think of Tam or Song? Either way it's one of my personal favorite girl's names since I love both characters with this name
Melody- If you've seen the Doctor Who episode A Good Man Goes to War then the reason this name is on here is self-explanatory
Rose- And why shouldn't you name your child after one of the Doctor's most famous companions?

Boy Names:

Rory- For Doctor Who fans, this is an obvious choice, I mean, what better honor than to name your kid for the Last Centurion?
Neal- Ok, this one maybe isn't that dorky, but if you're a fan of White Collar, then you know the name Neal Caffrey is just a really cool sounding name. However, it might be avoided if you don't want your child to become one of the FBI's most wanted
Mickey- No, I'm not talking about the Mouse! I'm talking about Mickey Smith, ex-boyfriend of Rose Tyler and one of many heroes of Earth in Doctor Who
Kieran- Another for the Star Wars fans out there who read. It's the name used by Corran Horn when he first started training to be a Jedi

Summer Recap

I always hate the blog posts from people apologizing and explaining their absences from the blogverse so I'll keep this one short. My disappearance was due to my nerd lifestyle taking a brief backseat to my real life as things such as finals, the police test and my job at my tae kwon do school took control of my life and I had to settle in for the ride.

Midtown Comics Free Comic Book Day

Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day! As I mentioned in another post I was going to be attending with a cosplayer group. Most of the members went to the downtown location but I went to the Times Square one because it was closer and easier for me to get to. I had a really great time just hanging out and talking to some of the people waiting in line and hopefully amusing them. Anyway, all the pictures are up on their Facebook page here. From there you can check out all the photos from their three locations.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one:

Also, I was given a free pass for an advanced screening of the movie Priest which I will be going to on Thursday with my dad. We have no expectations from that movie, but it should be a fun thing to do on an otherwise boring Thursday night.

I am now off to enjoy my free comic books!

Free Comic Book Day!

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! That's right, head to your local comic book store and (assuming they're participating, which, if they're smart they will be) they should have a selection of free comic books to choose from! And if they're really cool, they'll be like Midtown Comics here in the city and have a big celebration type thing. And if they're very very cool like Midtown Comics, they'll have people dressed up in costume!

That's right, I'm going to be at Midtown Comics dressed up, because I'm really cool that way. My Jedi costume is 90% finished (meaning it's acceptable to be worn and looks really cool but not good enough for Rebel Legion standards because I'm missing about two things) so I will be there with another group of costumers promoting comics and the store and otherwise just looking really spiffy in our costumes. No, we're not getting paid for it, we're just doing it because it's an excuse to dress up and have a whole lot of fun. When else will I get to take the subway wearing half my tunic and carrying my lightsaber and not feel like a crazy person? Ok, maybe on my way to some other NYC convention, but I don't have any of those lined up.

I've been looking forward to free comic book day pretty much the entire semester! Here's a preview of me wearing most of my costume that I took while I was in Philadelphia visiting a friend of mine.

For anyone wondering, I still have to get my mom to make the undershirt for my tunic (I'm wearing an an inside out Star Wars t-shirt here), she has to make me better pants and the tabards. I'd also like to get new boots for it, but the ones I have for now are fine. They're not shown in this picture.

Anyway, if you're in NYC come down to Midtown Comics and check out all the cool people in costume, and if you're not, still head to your local comic book store and see if they're participating in free comic book day!

Star Wars Day!

*cue grand John Williams theme*

That's right, folks, today is official Star Wars day! May the Fourth be with you! My plans include wearing my Adidas Star Wars sneakers, writing more Star Wars stories with my friend (we don't need a special occasion to do that), and watching at least one of the movies. Probably Episode III, that's kind of my fall-back for whenever I want to watch one and I want equal parts comedy and action. Because, let's face it, anything with Anakin and Padme in it is just lol-worthy.

Also, my friend sent me a link to download Star Wars games and today they are 15% off! Check it out at direct2drive. Use the code MAYTHE4TH when you buy a Star Wars game. I've got my eye on Dark Forces. Kyle Katarn FTW!

Does anyone have any special Star Wars day plans? Let me know in the comments! Maybe next year with some careful planning I'll have a bunch of friends over and we'll have some kind of epic party. Or I'll just spend it watch Star Wars movies all day again. Who knows. Whatever. May the Fourth be with you!