Quote of the Week: Doctor Who

"The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and... bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant."

- The Doctor

Vincent and the Doctor

Quote of the Week: NCIS

“Do you know what a ‘clog’ is?”

“A wooden shoe or a blocked drain?”

“No, like on the internet.”

“I thought that was a ‘blog’, but then my English is often wrong.”

- Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David

This week’s quote is thanks to NCIS and the writer’s ability to come up with some really great scenes between the characters. I have more to say about NCIS, particularly about Gibbs’ latest actions, but that is a post for another ‘clog’.

And no, I don't think this will become a regular post thing, but I do list posting quotes every now and then.

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.

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”

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

Gears Oath

I shall remain vigilant and unyielding in my pursuit of the enemies of the Coalition.

I will defend and maintain the Order of Life as it was proclaimed by the Allfathers of the Coalition in the Octus Canon.

I will forsake the life I had before so I may perform my duty as long as I am needed.

Steadfast, I shall hold my place in the machine and acknowledge my place in the Coalition.

I am a Gear.

(Oath of the Coalition, Sworn by all Recruits)

Gears of War: Aspho Fields

Karen Traviss

Baltan Carid

What’s a hut’uun? A coward. Physical coward, moral coward, any kind of scum without the spine to stand their ground or do the right thing. We don’t have a word for hero. Being prepared to die for family and friends, or what you hold dear, is a basic requirement for a Mando, so it’s not worth a separate word. It’s only cowards we had to find a special word for.

- Baltan Carid

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force- Revelation

Karen Traviss

These quotes speak for themselves so I'll keep my commentary to a minimum. This one is one of my favorites, though.

Republic Commando: Order 66

*Note: I wrote this two years ago with the release of Karen Traviss' Republic Commando: Order 66

The other day I hit the halfway point in ORDER 66 and I stopped reading for a moment to marvel at how carefully crafted the book was. Any Star Wars fan who pays half-attention to what’s going on in the SW universe (because I know there are a few ‘fans’ out there who’ve only seen EpIII once or twice or even not at all) has seen Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and sat in that movie theater (or home) and seen that scrolling text go by and thought “holy frak, this is it, the beginning of the end”. When EpIII was first coming out everyone was all uppity about theories about the movie and what was going to happen and how. To me what mattered was that it was over; and I don’t mean the end of all Star Wars movies, because I KNEW George wouldn’t leave us hanging for very long, and anyway there were always the books to keep me going. No, I knew that the Jedi had to be killed, and I knew that Palpatine had to declare himself Emperor, and of course I knew that Obi-Wan and Anakin would have some great face-off and Anakin wasn’t going to be in one piece by the end of it (no pun intended… well, maybe a small one…). However, it was entirely different to sit in that movie theater (at midnight surrounded by a bunch of other crazy nutters who still had to go to work and school the next day) and see the scrolling text start and hit that point in the movie when Palpatine is talking to Anakin and finally reveals he’s a Sith… I don’t know about anyone else but I was sitting there wanting to scream and cry all at the same time. Because at that point it was nearly over. There was nothing anyone could do to change anything because, well, we were watching history. Everything that was going to go wrong already had, we have the Original Trilogy to prove that.

Star Wars: Contingency Orders

Order 66: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specifc orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.

- Contigency Orders for the Grand Army of the Republic: Order Initiation, Orders 1 Through 150, GAR document CO(CL) 50-95

Star Wars: Republic Commando- Order 66

Karen Traviss

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.