Fun With Bad Translator

I just discovered this neat little site called Bad Translator.

Apparently, it's an algorithm that uses search engines to translate a phrase back and forth from English to a number of different languages, to see how messed up our original intentions can be.

Here's some of mine in the full post. Post any good ones you made in the comments.

Linked There and Back

So both The Prequel Appreciation Society AND The Phantom Menace Holiday linked to my "I Am Jarticus" post. I feel a lot of love in this blog right now.

Also, if you consider yourself even the remotest Star Wars fan, this. Just this.

MM2 - My Pokémon Training Tips

What do I think makes a good Pokémon team?

MM 1: New Skylanders Grades

This will probably be the last Skylanders-themed MM for a while. I can't afford to buy much of anything until my paychecks start kicking in and we need to save anyway. I do have a bunch on my Amazon wish list and my birthday is in a month, but...we'll just see.

For now, here are my final revised grades on my eight Skylanders - one for each element:

Great Star Wars Articles

I usually don't like doing this, especially since his site is already in my links, but if you happen to read this blog and love Star Wars as much as I do, then you need to read this post from "A Certain Point of View" and forward it like a chain letter to all your Star Wars-loving friends.

Also, there's only five more days of Jar Jar June on "The Phantom Menace: The Holiday" (seriously, look at the links section; it's right on the side), so celebrate while you can!

What It All Comes Down To Is: Who's Holding The Umbrella

It took me longer than I wanted to get this to you, but I hope it'll be worth the wait because I have so many strong feelings about this little film.

Batman Returns is 20

As with all reviews, SPOILERS ahead

Site Updates: New Links and Anniversary Reviews

Oh look, an update.

MM pt. 2: First Elemental Set of Skylanders

Not only did Warnado come in, but I was able to procure Hex and Dino-Rang, thereby completing my first elemental set. I still need to work with them a bit before I give you their grades, but on the whole I'm impressed with my choices.

Just so you know, my posting will continue to be sporadic since I just started a new job. I will keep posting, though, so stay tuned.

MM Pt. 1: The Pokémon Journey Continues

So, I regretted my Trainer's Journal the second I posted it.

Pokémon Trainer's Journal: Anakin Skywalker

I do hope you'll indulge me in a small bit of Fanfiction. Normally I'd save something like this for a Monday Mons-day update (and I will go over some of this on Monday), but with my Red Team approaching 30, I decided I wanted to do a journalistic recap of my player characters, and in the voice of their namesakes. I'll do the same with Blue when I reach 30, but for now, here's Red as Anakin Skywalker:

Of Wars and Mons

It gets really depressing sometimes the amount of Star Wars hate I run across on a weekly basis, especially from people who claim to "love" the series.

One Does Not Simply Restart A Pokémon Game

I know I haven't written anything in a week. I was preparing for this post. Also, warning you all now that the Star Wars tag is in relation to references only (I will post something truly Star Wars related this week, and try to get June's Anniversary Reviews started as well).

I've decided to restart my original Red and Blue games.

I Need Warnado, I'm Holding Our For Warnado 'Till The Morning Light

Welcome to a new feature of the blog called "Monday Mons-Day", where I do a post every Monday about collectibles or games where you have to collect things. The name comes from "Mons" games, i.e. Pokémon or Monster Rancher, where you have to "Catch 'em All". And those games will usually be the focus of these articles in one way or another, although this space will also be reserved for collectible card games, action figures, and my brand new obsession with Skylanders.

An Open Letter to "Papa" George Lucas

Dear Mr. Lucas,

I've been wanting to write this for a while. I wanted to send this directly to you, but I feared it would get lost in the sea of letters you must get all the time. And even if it did get to you, I was afraid you'd mistake it for the haters and not read it all the way through. This is why the title of this post has the affectionate nickname, so if one day you decided to brave Google for your name, this might catch your eye.

Simply put, I wanted you to know that I am a huge fan of your work on Star Wars and Indiana Jones (I haven't seen American Graffiti yet, but I promise I will!). I want you to know that Star Wars especially is probably my favorite of all my favorite things, and has been since I managed to see the Special Editions in theatres in 1997 (I was 11).

And now to the purpose of this letter. I adore Episodes I, II, and III of the Star Wars Saga. I love what you did with them, the depth you gave them, the classic Star Wars silliness you imbued them with. I love them from beginning to end. On the whole, I actually prefer the storyline in the newer films, though I do love all six individual films fairly interchangeably. I thought Jar Jar was brilliant, and while it took me a while to see I also thought Hayden Christiansen was the perfect choice. For the record, although I'm not as huge into Indiana Jones as I am with the galaxy far, far away, I did quite enjoy Crystal Skull and find it a close third to Raiders and Crusade (admittedly, I'm least fond of Temple of Doom, but I do appreciate it for what it is).

The point to all this is to tell you how much I love your work, especially your most recent, and thus I want to register my sadness at hearing of your upcoming retirement. Now, I wouldn't dare to be presumptuous enough to try and talk you out of it. What I've said so far indicates that I trust your overall judgement and if you feel you need to step away, I won't argue. It's just that I, like a number of fans who feel the same as me (and there are more of us than people would have you think), can't help but worry that the sea of endless hate had something to do with this.

You're a very smart man, so you probably know what I'm about to tell you. However, when we're at our lowest, it still feels good to hear, so here goes. Mr. Lucas, the people who claim to have loved your older work and yet pile the venom upon your recent ones are, in a word, complete morons who utterly fail at film comprehension. They never got Star Wars (or Indiana Jones, for that matter), and don't understand that they are entitled to nothing from you.

While they are quite vapid, they do have a large megaphone and thus an absurd amount of influence. You certainly saw what happened to your friend Steven Speilberg. While I did and do have a respect for his work as well, he folded like a napkin on the E.T. front and that, to borrow a term from you, is letting the dark side win. This is what my fellow true fans and I are most worried about; that without you at the reigns, these people will step in and finally do what they've stupidly claimed you've been doing for years: ruin Star Wars.

You are the artist. As long as you're alive, you're the only one who can stop this. It does betray my inner-nerd to be so referential, but the fact of the matter is that you are our only hope. Please, if you must step away, don't step away too far. Don't let them win because they haven't got a clue what they're talking about.

Sincerely,
Adam D. Bram
a.k.a.
The Nilbog

***

P.S. To all my readers: Unlike my other long posts, I'm not putting the bulk behind a link. I want everyone who visits this site to read the whole thing whether they click "Continue Chapter" or not. Spread the word. See if we can actually get George to read this. May the Force be with you all.

I Am Jarticus

I am Jar Jar Binks.

No, I am not secretly Ahmed Best (though he is awesome). No, I'm not associated with Lucasfilm in any way other than being a longtime fan. But I stand by my statement.