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!

Review: The Girl Who Waited

Is it corny to say I'd been waiting for this episode almost above all the other's? Except for maybe The God Complex. Well, I've been waiting for this episode since I first realized that Amy gets some pretty badass sword skills and cool but strange looking white armor as seen in the trailers. What I didn't expect from this episode was how emotional it would turn out to be. Things like that seem to jump up from behind and surprise me with this show, although you'd think I'd know better by now. Guess not. "Spoilers!"

Sherlock Holmes

“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

- Sherlock Holmes

“A Study in Scarlet”

Review: Night Terrors

Got a chance to watch Night Terrors while I was home the other day. I have to say that this episode I was looking forward to almost as much as The God Complex because that episode had a really awesome extended scene that was shown at Comic Con. It was all "The Shining" and spooky. But to me, Night Terrors has an awesome title. As usual, spoilers abound from here on in.

Chances

Take all your chances while you can
You never know when they'll pass you by
Like a sum the mathematician cannot solve
Like me trying my hardest to explain

It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over

Take me over

If I had the chance to start again
Then you would be the one I'd come and find
Like the poster of Berlin on my wall
Maybe there's a chance our walls might fall

It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over

It's all about your cries and kisses
Those first steps that I can't calculate
I need some more of you to take me over

I know I because I cant calculate

How to respect you
How to start again
How to start again
How to start again

It's all about you

- Athlete

This is the song that was at the end of the Doctor Who episode "Vincent and the Doctor". As seen in the following video. Not sure why it's a mirror image, but it looks fine anyway.

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:

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when Spring began
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends
Wake me up when September ends

- Green Day

I'm Not Okay

Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say.
I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way.
For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took,
Remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor?

[Chorus]

I'm not okay
I'm not okay
I'm not okay
You wear me out
What will it take to show you that it's not the life it seems?
(I'm not okay)
I told you time and time again you sing the words but don't know what it means
(I'm not okay)
To be a joking look, another line without a hook
I held you close as we both shook for the last time take a good hard look!

[Chorus]

I'm not okay
I'm not okay
I'm not okay
You wear me out

Forget about the dirty looks
The photographs your boyfriend took
You said you read me like a book, but the pages are all torn and frayed

I'm okay
I'm okay!
I'm okay, now
(I'm okay, now)

But you really need to listen to me
Because I'm telling you the truth
I mean this, I'm okay!
(Trust Me)

I'm not okay
I'm not okay
Well, I'm not okay
I'm not o-fucking-kay
I'm not okay
I'm not okay
(Okay)

- My Chemical Romance

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!

Gears of War 3 opening

Someone on theforcebook.com posted this video. I know it has nothing to do with Star Wars, but we're all nerds, and I know that I was really excited to see it! I love that Karen Traviss is now involved with the game, as well as the books. What's more is that it reminded me I picked up "Coalition's End" at my local Borders 'going out of business' sale and need to get on reading "Anvil Gate" as well before the game come out! Well, actually, I have until December because that's when my Star Wars Xbox 360 is coming in and my current Xbox doesn't work so I have to wait anyway. If anyone else has any good videos or thoughts on the books (without too many spoilers since I haven't read them yet!) feel free to share in the comments!