In This Town We Call Home, Everyone Hail To The Pumpkin Song

Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems,
In a place I have often seen in my dreams
For the story that you're about to be told...

...Is that Nightmare Before Christmas is 20 Years Old...this month....

WW: Rolling for Purples All Week Long

I meant to post this months ago, but I was too busy playing WoW. Then work sped up and I found it hard to find enough spare time in a sitting to even do that.

But I'm a full-blown raider now!

You And I Have Unfinished Business

There are two directors I know who can make films that are little more than gigantic homages to the films they grew up with, and have me enjoy it through them even if I've never seen what they're homaging.

The first is George Lucas, the second is Quentin Tarantino.

Kill Bill turns 10 this month.

MM: Pokémon Y Version Review

Well, I did not expect to be able to write this so soon, but I was luckily somehow able to get my hands on Pokémon Y version recently. I've played through the first seven gyms and most of the main story, so I'd like to give you my thoughts.

October Anniversaries

There will be some special Anniversaries this month, but for now...

A Post A Day!

Next week we'll have a rare occurrence: I will make at least one post every day through Saturday November 2nd. Stay tuned and enjoy!

This will stay a rare occurrence, by the way.

Think of the Children

(Originally Written for Jedi News)

Revenge of the Sith remains so far the only film in the Star Wars Saga to receive a PG-13 rating, even retroactively. There are many sequences that contribute to this, but one of the most unsettling is during Knightfall, the combined execution of Order 66 with the purge of the Jedi temple. Anakin Skywalker, newly christened Darth Vader, walks into the council chambers to find a number of younglings huddled in hiding. Seeing a familiar face, they ask “Master Skywalker” what to do, only to be greeted with the ignition of a lightsaber. Though we are thankfully spared what Obi-Wan and Yoda would later see on the holorecordings, we know the younglings’ fates are sealed.

"Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic..."

For some ghoulish individuals, this is what they wanted to see Vader doing from the start. For most of us, though, it was heartwrenching but inevitable. Anakin had fallen to the dark side, and we see just how dehumanized the Jedi are in his eyes.

But was it really necessary beyond tying up a loose plot thread?

Dig on This

A while back, the Nostalgia Critic did a list of the "Top 11 Dumbest Spider-Man Moments." Regrettably, I watched it again recently because I had forgotten.

Now, he's pretty fair in theory - he likes all three movies, and says that even though they all have these moments, they all have good moments as well. This is true, and this attitude is why I continue to watch and enjoy NC...most of the time. But his list in the end seemed to devolve into the general mindset of adult geeks expecting "serious business" out of something they really shouldn't be (oh yeah, Lucasfilm digs abound).

Now, a couple of points I actually agreed with to a degree (I understand the flags in the first one even if they were shoehorned, being after 9/11 and all, but the other two should really have not gone there). Some I disagreed with, but understood where he was coming from (I don't blame Venom fans for wanting more of him, but his limited screentime made sense and is hardly an objective flaw). But many I thought were missing the point and/or making a subjective issue objective (Never. Insult. Willem. Dafoe. As. Green. Goblin. In. Front. Of. Me).

His number one pick, though, threw me for a loop.

Coming Soon (tm)

So, some of you may have noticed that my article isn't up yet.

That's because things got crazy at work and I barely handed it in by deadline, and things are even crazier at Jedi News and my editor didn't have time.

So the article is set to go up next week, and my Editor is taking some time off and told me I earned it too.

So while I'll be preparing a bit, no new Star Wars articles after the next one until my editor returns.

That's not to say that there won't be updates here. We have the October Anniversaries coming up, and some Monday Mons-Day and WoW-Wednesday stuff I've been meaning to do for a while.

It'll take me a little bit longer to get used to my new schedule and find time to write all this stuff, but I swear to any and all deities that may or may not exists that they WILL be here and in a TIMELY FASHION!

For real this time!

The Han and Boba Show

(Originally Written for Jedi News)

The more I listen to the kind of Star Wars “fan” who mercilessly bashes I-III and the people who love them, the more I see a common thread. Not all such folks fall into this category, mind you, but a fair number of them seem to act as if they view the Saga in a specific way. What way is that? Well, if asked for a synopsis of IV-VI, something tells me they would say something along the lines of:

“Han Solo jets around space with the Millennium Falcon, falls in love with Princess Leia, and reluctantly helps the Rebel Alliance battle the Galactic Empire with his roguish charm and wit. In the process, he takes on such baddies as Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, and most dangerously Darth Vader (who incidentally is the father of Han’s friend Luke). There’s also lightsabers and The Force.”

"C'mon, who could say no to this face?"

This. Just...This.

Way to go, LazyPadawan! Way to go!

The Great Warrior

(Originally Written for Jedi News)

“I’m looking for a great warrior,” says Luke Skywalker on the swampy, dark-infested world of Dagobah. The old goblin hermit who has surprised him hops off a tree root giggling, “Ohhh, great warrior! Wars not make one great…”