A Star Wars what?

In the past 33 years Star Wars has been out and floating in the mind's of viewers and merchandising rights have been given out to various manufacturers, there have been quite a few interesting and strange things that carry the Star Wars label. Anyone who has seen any part of the Star Wars Holiday Special knows that George Lucas has not always been that particular about what he produces. However, there are some things that even I would consider a stretch. Or just wonder who had the idea to make such random things.

What's your New Year's Resolution?

I think New Year's Resolutions are silly. If you're ready to make a change or some attempt to make yourself better, why limit yourself to doing so only once a year? Besides, years are long, and if people waited to change that long, nothing would get done. So, no, I don't have a New Year's Resolution because I don't need a specific time to make any changes to myself that I want to make.

Ask me anything

The Force Unleashed II- Wii review

As I mentioned in a previous blog post I received The Force Unleashed II for Wii for Christmas. I want to start by saying I really had a blast playing this game, so much so that I'm actually motivated to 100% the game which I have never done on any past game of mine. Normally when I beat a story line in a game it's rare that I go back to unlock everything. In some cases, like Battle for Naboo, once I beat the game I rarely even go back for a second look. Not so with this game.

This review/opinion post hinges on the belief that you've played the game before, and if not, beware because spoilers can sneak up on you without warning.

My Star Wars Christmas

Now that it's after Christmas I can sit back and inventory and catalog my super awesome Star Wars Christmas gifts. This year was a good year for my Star Wars loot. That's because my family who knows me all too well gets me all the coolest Star Wars stuff. Allow me to elaborate:

'Twas the Night Before Christmas... Star Wars Style

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Ani's shack
Not a creature was stirring, not even a sarlaac;

The stockings were hung by his racer with care,
In hopes that a Jedi soon would be there;

Young Ani was nestled all snug in his bed,
While visions of distant worlds dance in his head.

Shmi in her 'kerchief and Ani in his cap
Had just settled their minds for a Tatooine nap

When way in the outskirts there arose such a clatter,
Ani sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.


Away from his room, he ran like a starship,
Tore off to the doorway and tried not to trip,


When what to his wondering eyes should be seen,
But a ship with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, a young queen,


A pilot named Ric, and a Gungan, Jar Jar;
He knew in a moment they’d be landing not far.


One deal with Watto, and his trusty chance cube,
Let Anakin go with the queen of Naboo.


He left his dear mother and went with Qui-Gon
To reach far off planets and what lay beyond.


When the shiplifted off he called into the sky,
“Merry Christmas to all, from a soon-to-be Jedi!”



(‘Twas the night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Boba Fett)
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the stars
Things were all right, except for some wars;
The stockings were hung in my smuggling freighter,
In hopes that St. Bobafett would stop by here later;

The clients were nestled all snug in my ship
(They promised 17 thou for an Alderaan trip);
My first mate in fur and I in my vest
Napped, eager for the pay from our guests.

When out on the hull there arose such a buzz,
I checked the ship’s sensors to see what the deal was.
I picked up visual scanning and looked into space,
Pressing against the canopy the nose on my face.

The stars in the distance lightened the Falcon in motion,
Making things brighter than a TIE fighter explosion,
When, what to my wondering eyes looked upon,
But an elephant-looking ship, and eight tiny taun-tauns,

With a masked, armored pilot, if I were to bet,
I would in a flash have said it was Fett.
More rapid than speeders, his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

Now, Johnny! now, Ralphie! now Benny, and Gary!
On Irvin! on Frankie! on Richie, and Larry!
To the top of the Falcon! to the ship’s quadrant rear!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away near!”

As mynocks onto your ship they will hug,
Whenever you’re in the intestines of a giant space slug,
So on to the Falcon the tauntauns they flew,
With a cargo hold of toys, and St. Bobafett too.

And then, on the hull, I heard the beasts walk about
(They smell worse on the inside than they do on the out).
As I left the cockpit and snuck through the lounge,
In the exhaust port St. Bobafett came with a bound.

Accentuating his armor were a red velvet cloak,
a hat, and two gloves (all were blackened by smoke);
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
Careful not to set off his touchy jet pack.

His mask — it was weathered! His cape was all torn!
His boots had small holes, his pants were all worn!
While his bounty hunting skills left much to be desired,
One who gives gifts and good cheer must be admired.

He downed the blue milk and wolfed all the cookies
That were set there for him by me and the Wookiee,
He sure loved dessert, since he sported a gut
That shook when he mumbled, like a certain vile Hutt.

He clumsily sneaked, without right jolly old guile,
So I let loose a sheepish grin, in true Harrison style;
His glance towards me, his salute as I peeked,
Soon gave me to know ’twas not bounty he seeked;

He murmered a bit, that guy so laconic,
While filling the stockings with gadgets ‘lectronic.
Then laying his finger aside his trademark mask “T”,
And giving a nod, out the exhaust port he fleed;

Towards the stars he then flew, only without his starship;
His jet pack had fired ’cause the Unlucky One had tripped!
I heard him cry out — though effeminately like Ma –
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD– AAAAAAAHHH!!!.”

I've collected these over the years and I don't remember where I've found them or who wrote them, so if you wrote these I'd like to thank you for being awesome.

I hope everyone has a very good holiday season!

Talk about a dream job...

This week has been finals week. That's significant because aside from the past two weeks being a test of endurance and sleep deprivation it also means I've been looking for new ways to procrastinate/ distract myself from schoolwork in order to maintain what little sanity I have left to me.

Under the guise of looking at career goals and options for myself, I came across this site with some job openings that I would sign up for in a heartbeat.

Having been a biochem major you can bet that I would switch back to that in a heartbeat! Sorry, did you say you want me to sit in a lab and genetically engineer dino DNA? Is that some kind of trick question? Where do I sign up?

Or if I really don't want to switch back to biochem and I want to stay with a criminal justice major, I could apply for this job:

I could completely overlook whatever empty graves they wanted. I would do really well in that position, I don't have herb-based allergies, I love animals and when the shit hits the fan I'd have no trouble head-shotting those zombies. I'd take work at a creaky creepy Victorian Mansion no problem.

I'll just keep pretending that I'm actually aiming to apply for one or both of these jobs and hopefully it'll keep me motivated to finish the last of these damn papers.

For more fictional jobs, check out the original link at collegehumor.com

Thoughts on Revenge of the Sith

“You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!”

*grabs tissue* Ok, so I don’t cry anymore, but I DID the first few times I saw this movie. You all hopefully know I’m talking about Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and if you don’t, just stop reading now. You’ll be bored to tears with all my Star Wars babble.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Last night I got the chance to watch the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. Let me start by saying that I was a huge fan of the first two movies. Way more so than the books. For the record, I have read the books, but the movies are far superior to the books in so many ways (and this is probably the only book series you'll hear me say this about). Anyway, here's what I thought about Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Star Wars Ornaments

In my earlier post I promised videos of my Hallmark ornaments. I'm sure all dedicated fans out there already have seen these ornaments, but for my own entertainment I'll put up the videos I took anyway.

This was my new ornament in celebration of 30 years of The Empire Strikes Back.

I've had this one for a few years. But it's still awesome.

Christmas Decorating

This year I started wanting to put up the Christmas decorations early. Normally the trees go up the week or even days before Christmas, and we haven't put lights up outside the house in three years, since my dad moved out. This year was different. I put the tree up Monday, and then by Tuesday the Star Wars tree and ladybug tree were up. And Wednesday saw the bird tree go up. Anyway, I'll stop just talking about the decorations and go into putting up some awesome pictures of all the decorations!

Quick Rant

Today, December 7th 2010, I had tickets to go to the advanced screening in New York City of the Star Wars: Clone Wars episodes featuring and introducing Savage Oppress. Instead I am going to be stuck in two of my least favorite classes taking a useless test that I should have had the opportunity to take last week. But I have to take it this week and miss the advanced screening.

Did I mention I already had tickets? This is killing me. I want to be getting ready to go to the city. I want to see Clone Wars on the big screen. I want to know about Darth Maul's brother since I learned about him back at Celebration V. I don't want to go to class.

I want to be with my fellow enthusiastic Star Wars fans. I want to walk around with a lightsaber and not feel weird for doing so. I hate having to sit in class pretending I'm actually learning something.

I wish I didn't have such good restraint as to skip another of these classes so that I could go have fun.

However, I do hope that anyone who was able to go has a great time!

November Catch-up

November has been a busy month for me. Even before my Halloween candy haze wore off I launched myself into a frenzy of writing known as National Novel Writing Month. It might not have been one of my best ideas considering how busy November gets. Between Thanksgiving, my grandma's arrival from Mexico and midterms that got pushed until random times in November, plus NaNo, my month was pretty busy. Later I'll 'retcon' in some blogs posts that I never quite got around to publishing. In a meantime, my month in a nutshell.

My grandma arrived November 13 and it has been quite different around here since. I'd go so far as to say my grandma is slightly OCD when it comes to cleaning. Or else when she gets bored it's an extreme way to keep busy because the other day I saw her climb to the top of the stairs with like a little broom from a dustpan and sweep each and every step on the way down. Each step took her at least ten minutes to get to her satisfaction. That's a little obsessive in my book. Now, what keeps things interesting is that my mom hates when other people clean her house. Especially her own mother. I guess it's kind of like when my mom goes and clean my whole room- after she says she's only going to remove the one spiderweb from the corner of my room. Anyway, I get my kicks out of listening to my mom and grandma because it feels slightly like karmic justice when my grandma drives my mom crazy in the same way my mom drives me crazy.

I also started writing a story for National Novel Writing Month. For those who don't know, National Novel Writing Month is when people all over the world, in some kind of collective mass hysteria, all decide to write a 50,000 word novel. They start on November 1st and end by midnight on November 30th. This was my first year officially trying it, and lo and behold, I actually completed the task! Now, my story isn't finished, but I hit the word count so I was pretty proud of myself. Getting there involved putting off many homework assignments and word wars with a friend of mine. I had a lot of fun doing it, though!

That about sums up my November. Now to head into December and start getting ready for the holidays!

"I can't believe he's gone..."

Today the internet is buzzing with the news that the director of "The Empire Strikes Back", Irvin Kershner, passed away at his house in LA today. I know this blog will just end up getting lost amid the other blogs and websites and Facebook posts and Twitter messages commemorating him, but that's not why I write here.

It may sound odd, but when I heard (or rather, read) this news, it made me even more glad that I had to opportunity to go to Celebration V in Orlando. Sure there was a lot of general Star Wars excitement going on during those four days, but overall it was meant to celebrate the fact that thirty years later Star Wars is still going strong and to commemorate the fact that "The Empire Strikes Back" is often viewed as the best Star Wars movie. Of course a lot of that credit goes to all the people involved in its production, but everyone knows that Irvin Kershner played a huge role in its success and in a lot of ways that was one of the things that was important at the convention. Although he wasn't there in person, Kershner recorded a nice little clip that was shown before many of the panels, during which he thanked the fans and said how "The Empire Strikes Back" is his favorite movie just like most Star Wars fans. Kershner did an incredible job with the movie and I know that I for one am glad that he was put in charge of its production.

My condolences go out to Mr. Kershner's family and friends. I hope they know how important he was to Star Wars and its fans and that because of that he will never be forgotten.

May the Force be with you, Irvin. Rest in peace.



*Picture courtesy of towerofyouth.org

Rules for a Safe Halloween

Just in case you have forgotten the rules for a safe and
Happy Halloween.

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER
check to see if it’s really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a
joke.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has
gone out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other
language which they should not know, shoot them
immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long
run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill
them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak
with somebody else’s voice.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off
and go it alone.

6. As a general rule, don’t solve puzzles that open por-
tals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt.
This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

8. If you’re searching for something which caused a loud
noise and find out that it’s just the cat, GET THE HELL
OUT!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not
check for short circuits; just get out!

10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there’s pro-
bably a good reason for it. Don’t stop and look around.

12. Don’t fool with recombinant DNA technology unless
you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

13. If you’re running from the monster, expect to trip
or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the
fact that you are running and the monster is merely shamb-
ling along, it’s still moving fast enough to catch up
with you.

14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit un-
characteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for
blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on,
kill them immediately.

15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some
of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Tran-
sylvania, Nilbog (you’re in trouble if you recognize
this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in
Maine (or Alabama).

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road,
do not go to the nearby deserted looking house to phone
for help. If you think that it is strange because you
thought you had half of a tank, shoot yourself instead.
You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

17. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery,
now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This applies
to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or
died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who
performed satanic practices in your house.

Ok, so I got this in an email from my mom, I don’t know who wrote it, I sure as hell didn’t, and I don’t take credit, I’m just putting it up because I think it’s an awesome and I don’t feel like waiting until next year to post it because I’ll have forgotten by then. Hence the double post. Deal with it.

As an added note, remember that if you enter a dark place with no light you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

I think Stockholm Syndrome is setting in. I laughed at iCarly today. On another note, that's a good Blink 182 song...

My Top 10 Scariest Movies

As Halloween fast approaches bloggers everywhere come together with a blogger's seeming favorite pastime: List making.

There's the ever popular 'Top 10' lists, the 'Top 50' lists and of course other variations for people who seem averse to nice round numbers. Me, I am a nice round number person and because there aren't all that many movies out there that I would consider truly frightening I compiled a list of my personal favorites. I'll start with least scary and move up from there and try to explain why I think they deserve that place on my list. There aren't any specific spoilers, but if you don't know the general storyline you may not see my point of view.

Back to Spongebob. Now we're encouraging kids to move into their jobs in order to be more effective? Don't even get me started on Fanboy and Chum Chum.

Star Wars Writing Role-playing

A friend that I have online and I spend a lot of time doing online role-playing. We don't follow the typical role-playing format, though, and use dice or anything. We do it fairly uniquely, and just make up our own stories and characters and play through different scenarios. I guess it's probably more like practice writing exercises than role-playing, but we've always referred to it as such.

I started and met my friend when I was 13 and we played on and off until I was in late high school but then of course high school got the better of us and we stopped. We started again a few months into my first year of college when she was already two years into her college experience.

After that we've pretty much kept up since then, though we've been taking a break since July. But that doesn't mean I have to take a break, right?

Writing is one of my hobbies that keeps me sane. I do some writing on my own, but I have the most fun writing with my friend.

Anyway, I wrote a short story involving one of my main characters and a new character I'm planning on introducing. Thought it might be cool to stick it up here.

After many mornings of watching Spongebob I wonder if its really a good idea for kids to aspire to flip Krabby Pattys when they grow up...

Discovering Star Wars

As I mentioned in one of my other posts, the little boy I babysit has been watching Star Wars since I loaned him my dvds. Over the weekend he watched Episodes IV and V. He loved them! I was so excited. He had a few questions, understandably, and I again tried to be careful to answer his questions when it pertained to confusion, not to things that would be a spoiler to him.

I asked him which movie he liked better, and he said he liked Episode V better. I couldn't have been more proud! I then showed him some videos from when I was at the convention in Orlando. The first one I showed him was this one:

I thought he'd enjoy it because it's a little kid about his age, going up against a guy dressed as Anakin Skywalker in Episode II. That's when he made the cutest comment. He gets excited and looks at me and goes, "wow! they're using the real props like in the movies!" Needless to say, I didn't have the heart to tell him that they're just using FX lightsabers. 

I've also been showing him a few things that I bring from my house that I think he'll enjoy. I brought a small pop up X-wing book, and a few different toys that I have. Yesterday I ordered my Star Wars sneakers from Adidas, and when they come in tomorrow I'll definitely show him those!

He's in the middle of watching Episode VI right now, and I'm looking forward to what he thinks of the end of the saga. He hasn't asked me about Darth Vader being Luke's father, or Luke and Leia being siblings even though he's up to when they all arrive at the Ewok village. I haven't yet asked him whether or not he believes Vader is Luke's father, but I'll approach that with him soon.

I'm really enjoying re-discovering Star Wars with him because even though I was also 10 years old when I fatefully became engrossed with the universe, I saw things differently than he does, and it's fun to see things the way he does. Especially things like Vader being Luke's father because I had seen the movies before growing up with my dad, so there were very few things that were surprising to me, I just simply understood them better and had a better understanding of how vast the Star Wars universe was, and continues to be.

The Saga Begins

This week I started a new babysitting jobs for one of the families that I teach at tae kwon do. The whole family, mother, father and two kids all take classes at the school, and I've worked with the kids since they started. A little while back they informed me that they would be needing a babysitter for the mornings to get the two kids up and ready and drive them to school in the mornings. I'm only there for 7am to 9am when I drop the two kids off at their school which is fortunately quite close to their home.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share my excitement about one of this week's occurrences. The kids are 10 and 6, and neither have seen Star Wars. The older one, the boy, showed me his Star Wars pop up book and then said that he'd never seen any of the movies. Needless to say, I smelled a mission. The little girl didn't show his interest (what a surprise, she prefers, like most 6 year old girls, to play with her barbies) but that's ok. For babysitting purposes, I can sit and watch iCarly and play barbies if necessary.

I told him to ask his parents if it was ok for me to lend him my Star Wars dvds so he could watch them. The next day he said they thought it was alright, so I brought over my dvds this morning, and gave them a disclaimer about the two scenes in Revenge of the Sith that I thought they should be aware of. Now, anyone who has seen the movie knows which two scenes I'm taking about. Specifically, Anakin cutting off Dooku's head, and Obi-Wan leaving Anakin to burn on Mustafar after cutting off his legs and an arm. I personally would not let a 10 year old watch that movie, I'd let him wait another year or two, but his parents approved it so I guess they think he'll be ok.

I also made a decision that I know George Lucas would sorely disapprove of. I told the little boy to watch them starting from A New Hope and then move on to the prequels after having completed the original trilogy. I don't care if The Phantom Menace is meant to be a fun kid's movie, I still firmly believe they should be watched in that order, and if (a big if) I ever have my own kids that is how the saga will be presented to them.

I'm looking forward to hearing what the little boy thinks about the movies probably more than is necessary, but mostly it's because I can't wait to see and hear what he has to say about the whole thing. When we were going through his pop up book he kept asking me questions like which animals were in which movies and which scenes from the book were in which movies and I told him basics but I was sure not to reveal anything big like the fact that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader and Luke and Leia's father, or even that Luke and Leia are siblings. I told him that Yoda is a wise Jedi Master who speaks backwards but that was it. I also told him that the Emperor was Darth Vader's boss, but not that he orchestrates the deaths of hundreds of Jedi and a whole Clone War. When he asked me what the Clone War was (it got mentioned through something else), I simply told him it was a war that happens in the movies that he will get to see.

When I left this morning he was so excited to watch them, and I'm excited to babysit on Monday to see what he thought of whatever movies he got to watch. It's going to be so interesting to see it from the view of a child who really knows very little. When I got into Star Wars I was his age as well, but I had seen them many times growing up so there was very little mystery in it for me. The little boy, on the other hand, has a whole new galaxy to discover and I think it's kind of cool that I get to introduce him to this huge wonderful (and when it comes to the Expanded Universe, frustrating) universe that George Lucas created 33 years ago. For him, the saga is just beginning, and I think it's going to be one hell of a ride.

My sonic screwdriver

I finally got a chance to order my sonic screwdriver and it came in Friday. Perfect timing, since that's when I got back from Orlando! I thought that for my own amusement (hopefully someone else out there is amused too, but if not that's ok too) I'd take a picture of it in action. Here's me trying to use my sonic screwdriver to deadlock my door in an attempt to keep my mom out.

"Can't you sonic it?"
"It doesn't do wood!"
"Doesn't do wood? That is rubbish!"
"Oy! Don't diss the sonic!"

I guess I should have remembered that bit of wisdom from the 11th Doctor and Rory before I attempted (and failed) to seal my door. Oh well, I can still use it to attempt to keep my computer in line, I suppose...

Otherwise, I'm quite pleased with it! It lights up, makes sounds and it's a pen! Can't ask for much more, I think.

Thanks, ThinkGeek!

Mandalorian Fathers

Jusik recalled a comment Kal’buir had made a couple of years ago. He couldn’t remember what had led to it, but it had moved him deeply, and every so often it surfaced in his memory: Bard’ika, if you ever want a father, then you have one in me. Yes, Jusik often wanted a father. He’d been handed over to the Jedi long before he was old enough to have any memory of his own. But he was now part of a culture where fathers and fatherhood mattered- not lineage of bloodline, but the long and infinite duty to a youngster who depended on you. He badly wanted to be part of this family, a real part, formal and permanent.

“Kal’buir,” Jusik said, “have you got room for another son?”

Skirata looked baffled for a few seconds, then smiled and held out his hand to grasp Jusik’s arm, Mando-style, hand to elbow. “Ni kry’tayl gai sa’ad, Bard’ika. I recognize you as my child.”

Mandalorian adoption was fast and permanent, a few words to recognize someone as child and heir regardless of their age. Given the emotional weight behind it, the oath seemed almost inadequate.

“Buir,” Jusik said. Father. Everyone called Skirata Kal’buir, a mark of affectionate respect, but the word was now changed forever for Jusik, because it was suddenly real and literal. He was finally someone’s son; someone with a name, someone he knew and cared about. For a man with no past, that sudden sense of completion was heady and unexpected.

- Republic Commando: 501st

Karen Traviss

I took this directly from the last Republic Commando book because it was one of the scenes from it that will stay with me forever. It’s just another scene that shows how important fathers are in general, but even more so to Mandalorians. It’s the reason why Kal Skirata is my favorite Mandalorian.

I hope it doesn’t cheapen the impact of this post, but for anyone out there who wants to talk about Mandalorians, check out and join this message board: http://mandoade.proboards.com

I used the term Mando’ade because it means Children of Mandalore in the Mandalorian language, Mando’a.

Also, I took this post directly from another blog I had, located here at Echo Base. 

Too Much Tv

I watch too much tv. This is just a fact of a life, but I take comfort in the fact that this is a recent phenomenon. Up until I started college I had two shows that I watched when they aired on tv and those were Battlestar Galactica and Lost. I watched Lost since the second season, so that maked it my longest watched show on tv. Which is why it is sorely missed now that it's been over for a few months now.

Anyway, back to how much tv I watch. Let me give you the run down; right now of the shows that I watch whenever they are on the air my week goes like this:

Monday: House, Castle

Tuesday: NCIS, White Collar, V

Wednesday: Law and Order: SVU

Thursday: CSI, Burn Notice

Friday: CSI: New York, (and if I'm really in the mood) Clone Wars

There are other shows that are currently filming and won’t return for a few months that I also watch when they air, assuming they don’t conflict with a show I like better: Burn Notice, White Collar, and Dollhouse before it ended.

Now, here’s the shows that I also watch but I catch online somehow whether it be the next day, in re-runs or after an entire season is over and it’s on Netflix: In Plain Sight, Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Law and Order, CSI: Miami and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

Whew, I’m tired just listing all of them! Basically, my point is I watch a LOT of tv. Something should be done about the number of hours in a day, because it’s hard to keep up! And USA certainly doesn’t help with the number of good shows it suddenly seems to have. And CBS as well (when they actually AIR the shows on schedule). Oh, and there’s also ABC’s contribution. And Fox’s. Though they both recently just dumped two shows that I watched regularly: RIP Lost and 24.

Anyway, that’s about it for my tv watching. There’s a lot of it.

MC Chris - Han Solo (Jason Derulo Parody) - Dorkly Video

Thanks to a friend's Facebook page I came across this site. I'm a huge fan of MC Chris' other song about Boba Fett so seeing that apparently he's got a new Star Wars related song was awesome. I can't stand the song that it is parodying, but this version is awesome. Especially for Han Solo fans who know he really is this cool.

MC Chris - Han Solo (Jason Derulo Parody) - Dorkly Video

Some things can't be made up...

Yesterday I flew to Orlando to spend some time with my dad. So far it's been good here, but as usual, on the flight there were some interesting happenings. The lady I had to sit next to (thanks to Southwest's policy about pick your own seat- which sucks if you're among the last ten people on the place) was an older woman of typical Florida legs and typical American weight.

I'm attributing her weight to the fact that when her husband made me get up so he could go to the lavatory she said "time for some exercise". Wait, since when does getting up out of a seat count as exercise? 

It made me worried, more than usual, about the state of humanity. 

Made it to Orlando to spend some time with my dad. Having a hard time falling asleep without my dog though. Lame, I'm sure, but true.

As a side note I'm trying out this whole mobile blogging thing. Let's see how it works with my Droid Incredible.

Oh Captain, my Captain (Jack)

In addition to being a huge Star Wars nerd (I beat my cousin who introduced me to Star Wars 2 games out of 3 in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit last weekend), I also have come to thoroughly enjoy the latest Doctor Who series and the spinoff, Torchwood.

Or, rather, I did until Russel T. Davies stepped in with his bright ideas for the end of season 2 of Torchwood and Children of Earth.
(Before I continue on this rant, let me insert a spoiler warning here)
If I had a laser screwdriver like the Master's, then I would go after Russel T. Davies with it. Sure, he created the two series that I love, but he also shattered everything I know and loved about Torchwood. I'm not entirely sure why Davies feels that consistent casts are undesirable, but he really needs to stop killing half his cast. When it comes to Doctor Who it's almost understandable to have a constantly rotating companion, but I don't see the reason for it when it comes to Torchwood.

After Owen and Toshiko died at the end of season 2 I was quite sad about it but I also was hopeful for the show's future. I had hoped that with a smaller and more intimate cast that Ianto would be given space to grow even more into his part. Through most of season 1 he was just the coffee boy who cleaned up after the team. I loved when he started becoming more involved and I even loved the relationship that he was having with Jack. To me, Ianto had such potential as a character. And then Davies wrote Children of Earth. *shakes head*

First of all, I think it was an incredibly clever story; I mean, come on, aliens that need kids to use as drugs? Wow. To quote Ianto, "oh, you are warped on the inside." Awesome.

Not so awesome? Ianto's death. On one hand we have Owen and Toshiko who both died very honorable and heroic deaths and on the other hand we have Ianto who got taken out by gas while he asked Jack to never forget him. Argh! Not that Ianto's fears weren't completely valid- how can Jack be expected to remember every single being he had a relationship with when he's lived possibly millions or years?- but I think there were so many better ways for poor Ianto to go.

I'm almost afraid to get started on my intense dislike of Jack after "Children of Earth". What kind of hero kills his own grandson? I understand that it was the only option and it can be argued that it was a very brave action on Jack's part, but I'm not sure I could stomach it. One of the things that I love about Doctor Who is that no matter how bad things get and how many people have died on his watch, the Doctor and the people around him always draw their moral line somewhere and refuse to budge from there and when the episode ends you sit there thinking "wow, if people could really be that awesome then I sure could be proud to be human". Yet I had the exact opposite reaction to "Children of Earth". After watching it I wanted to take a long shower. There was no warm fuzzy feeling (or really any satisfaction at all) from defeating the aliens and I was almost glad to see Jack go. One of the things I love about Torchwood is the fact that it isn't afraid to explore the darker parts of humanity that the lighter hearted Doctor Who won't go near, but there should always be that balance so that in the end you can feel good about the characters winning. Torchwood lost that by the end of "Children of Earth". Among other things.

It's almost 2am and hard to keep everything straight in my head, but I think I hit all the main points I have now against Torchwood. I know it's coming back for a new season but I'm having a hard time convincing myself it's worth my continued viewing. It lost the spark that initially got me hooked, and I'd rather not watch a show when I wish it would simply fade peacefully rather than get butchered some more by Russel T. Davies and his desire to kill main beloved characters. Let's just say I'm extremely glad that Davies has stepped down in writing the newer Doctor Who episodes. Stephen Moffat has been handling the 11th Doctor wonderfully.

Back to Orlando I go!

I was lucky enough to make it to Celebration V in Orlando, Florida back in August. Celebration V was the hands down best four days of my life, even the part where I had a massive headache (induced by lack of sleep the previous week thanks to my excitement) and I slept outside on an Army bedroll with my cousin and only a free t-shirt we were given as a pillow. Hey, it paid off; we were among the first 500 people let in to see George Lucas and Jon Stewart.

Even though I was in Orlando for a grand total of 5 days, one night of which was spent at MGM (I refuse to call it Hollywood Studios) for the Last Tour to Endor, I really did not do any of the typical Orlando and Disney related fun things to do. Of course, on the bus ride back to the convention we did pass by a few of my childhood memories of Orlando, like Pirate's Cove mini golf, and the Ripley's Believe It Or Not building, but we were too busy with the convention to spend any time there. This next trip to Orlando probably won't have much more tourist type activities, but I plan on making my dad take me to at least a few fun things. After all, I'll be there for a week and he shouldn't be doing any work on the weekend.

My parent's divorce has made my life hell for the past 3 years but I still hold out some hope that I'll be able to have a fairly fun with my dad, even if this trip is coming shortly after not speaking to him for over a year and a half. Though, if I'm to be entirely honest, I'd rather spend a week with him in Orlando, then spend the same amount of time with my mom in the same place. After 3 years it's easy to see that the only one of my parents who really is trying to change and make things easier for me after 3 years of hell is my dad while my mom is quite content to shove all her misery on me and make it my fault.

I pretty much plan on spending this week in Orlando completely vegging out. I'm thinking about taking my xbox with me so I can play a few games I need to catch up on, plus I'm taking the Star Wars and Burn Notice books that I have out at the library so I have other things to do to keep me amused. There will also be some school work wrapped in there, but I'm only bringing what I absolutely have to do.

The sign in front of the hotel we stayed at for the convention.

The only thing I'm going to miss about not being home for a week? My 7lb ball of love, a Pekingese/Shih Tzu mix named Kara (for Starbuck in the reimagined Battlestar Galacitca). As a bonus, here's a picture!

Kara Reiko

The best part about coming home from Orlando will be that I get to be with my dog again. She always has the best welcoming committees whenever I come home from being out, even if it was just outside for a few seconds.

While I'm in Orlando I might spend some time working on this place and putting up more posts, and maybe even a few of my favorite pictures from the convention.

New to Blogspot

Ok, I know everyone hates the "I'm just figuring out this blogging thing and I'm new" post, but in this case it's mostly true. I've had a blog or two in the past but I'm just looking for a fresh start. So far, I think I could get used to this place.

Basically I'd like to use this post as a thanks to my best friend who helped me get this started and for her creativity (if you stick around you'll learn I have my witty moments, but creativity is lacking with me).

I think I'll have a more meaningful post up within the next day or so.

Oya!*

*I like Mandalorians. "Oya" is Mando'a for "cheers".