yodablog.info

Posts Tagged ‘Part’

I thought Fate of the Jedi did a nice job, for the most part, of weaving in some ancillary characters that show up on occasion and give you either a nice side plot or a nice advancement of the main plot.  In this article, I am going to examine just a few of the ancillary characters [...]
Star Wars Book Report

After reading and enjoying Brian’s Fate of the Jedi retrospective found at Tosche Station and their respective podcast episode 14 has inspired me to give you my two cents on the series as well. I have been critical of the Fate of the Jedi series, but I do think they got a lot right that is [...]
Star Wars Book Report

‘Revan’ Short Story – Part 1 I wrote a short fan fiction story which portrays my image of what hapened to Revan after the Foundry encounter. I just refuse to believe that he died there. Tell me what you think and if you like it. If you do like it, I have more chapters in [...]
Star Wars Book Report

Twilight snarkster Cleolinda, whose book recaps are much beloved of many Jaders, has recapped the franchise’s fourth film.
Club Jade

A listener, Mariano, shot me an e-mail and asked me if I had read  Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, and I have not.  As a guy who is always looking for a reason to buy a Star Wars novel, I rushed out to picked this novel up, so I could respond to Mariano, so [...]
Star Wars Book Report

This week’s Friday Update follows on from one made a few weeks ago, where Senior Game Designer William Wallace shed some light on how companion characters work. This second instalment takes a look at companion AI, and their roles at various points in the game. See below for an excerpt. Quote from William Wallace (Source) When [...]
Star Wars: The Old Republic

So my blog brother from another mother hooked this blog brother up with a connect for some Green Lantern swag. I decided to have the party on May 7th in the late afternoon. I didn’t want to throw our usual children’s bash where we have enough children to fill a studio audience for Oprah. So we had to narrow things down. I chose some of the children of some of my students and I sat down with the babies and asked them to pick a few friends to invite. Then we narrowed that pool down. After much deliberation, we made a few more cuts. I got this cool Green Lantern invites and made sure I put on there to RSVP and not to bring any presents. I am sure some parents were like, “the Omi’s got another baby?” No, we are not trying get extra presents. As a matter of fact, we are giving some away. Presents, that is.

My children were hella excited. I can’t blame them. I am an adult and I still love going to parties. I am sure this one was special since they didn’t have to wait around for their birthdays. Plus, they get free stuff. They wanted to pass out the invitations. At first, I didn’t want them to do this. I thought it was a bad idea. I felt that if I went to each child on my own or encountered their parents, I could emphasize the need to RSVP (and yes many of you all refuse to do that in the 21st century when just an email will suffice). I preferred to give it to their parents because sometimes children lose things.

Of course, two of the children lost their invitations. My middle son actually hand wrote another invitation which I am sure looked suspect to the parents when they received it. Another child failed to give it to his mother. Only five days away from the party and I only received two RSVPs and one cancellation. This part is actually understandable. Some folks were just not raised to RSVP. Only a handful of us were taught to RSVP even if the invitation doesn’t ask you to. Yet I digress…

The problem came when other children didn’t get an invitation from my children. My middle son, who we call the accountant, has no qualms telling someone off. He is very sophisticated and can calmly tell someone to step off. He told several of his classmates that their behavior is abysmal and should not expect anyone to invite them to their party. He also pointed out that its a party organized by his dear old dad so the issue needed to be taken up with me. My daughter on the other hand is not as sharp. So the girls in her class gave her a hard time.

The next problem came when some of the students began to solicit me and the wife. Of course, I am quick to say “hey look, it’s a numbers game and you didn’t make the cut, get over it, homie!” The wife wants to come home and bring it up in the middle of the night when the brother is trying to get some sleep.

“You should have seen his eyes,” she pleaded, “you should invite him. You know he needs his daddy time.”

I rolled over in my bed.

“You’re not being fair, you are throwing this party for the children…” she went on.

At school, a gang of children asked me why I didn’t give them an invitation. A few promised to get all A’s if I would only give them an invite. I gave them all negative responses. There was no negotiating this one as I have done on so many occasions. My children continue to tell me about fellow students who pleaded their cases.

Unfortunately, I am not budging….

Comic Books for Colored Folks

First, I have to thank Mocha Dad for hooking me up. Without him, this shindig would not have been possible. Also, my wife gets mad love for hooking up the Green Lantern jello. It was choice! Finally, I have to thank Capoeira Dayton for coming out in full force to support a brother.

It was a blast. Everyone chipped in to help clean up. The children loved it. Although some lost their rings (which I found and shall return to the rightful owners), no one went home with empty hands. Below are the pics. Enjoy.

My wife and I racked our brains trying to figure out how to put the Green Lantern symbol in the jello. Well this is what we came up with:

Here, I was making the masks by hand. I probably saved about .00 doing it this way. It took me about an hour and a half to cut them out and put the transparent string on them.

We decided to have a ring ceremony where we commission new Green Lantern recruits. The children dug it. There was alot of grumbling since we have out titles to particular children (head trainer, sector officer in charge, internal investigator, etc.). Only one parent came late so it worked out.

Despite the fact that I was clear about how to light up the rings, some of them still didn’t get it. Thankfully, some of the children were paying attention.

How come my boys are the only ones to put their masks on? the rest didn’t even feel like putting them on? Oh well, here are the Green Lanterns of sector 2814…!

The youngest Lantern ever! (and the last one to leave!)

Comic Books for Colored Folks

If this cover does not produce a reaction in you, I am not sure what will.  Darth Malgus the next cool Sith that has been introduced in the Old Republic, and the first thing that any Star Wars fan will think when picking this book up and glancing at the cover is, “Why is Vader on the cover of an Old Republic novel?”  You cannot help but to notice the similarities between Darth Malgus and the visage that Luke gazes upon in Return of the Jedi when Anakin utters the greatest line in movie history, “You already have my son.”  Their respirators are the same.  Their heads are bald.  They are wearing black capes.  Their chest plates have similar looking gadgetry.  Their faces have disfigurements.  Darth Malgus and Darth Vader could be twins.  Now, that will produce a strong response whether it is good or bad in Star Wars fans.  My question becomes…is it a good response or bad one?

This past Spring Break I took my youth group, as I am a Youth Pastor, to the beach for a retreat, and Steve Glosson who you all know from Geek Out Loud, Starkville House of El, and others was our Guest Speaker, and if you think he can talk geek, you should hear him share from the Bible.  He makes God’s Word come alive.  One day we took the youth shopping, and Steve and I were walking through a book shop.  He picked up Deceived and said, “You know what bothers me about this?”  To which I responded, “He looks like Vader.”  Steve said, “Exactly,” with a little disgust mixed in with his tone.  It was a strong reaction, and I must admit, I was stunned when I saw this cover because of the similarities between Malgus and Vader, but instead of being bothered by it, I thought and still think it is pretty cool, and here is why.

First, Steve, and I love Steve, but he needs to read more Star Wars novels.  Did you hear that?  Steve just launched into his “Star Wars was meant to be a visual medium speech” at his computer screen.  And yes Steve, I know, understand, and agree that the visual medium should and does take precedence over the written EU, but the secondary canon that is well below G level Canon does make these visual similarities cool.  In Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, James Luceno goes into great detail on why Vader looks the way he does, and Vader’s look comes from an ancient Sith tradition from Sith battle droids, and we have since learned that Vader’s suit also mirror ancient Sith battle armor.  Vader’s suit has a rich Sith tradition, and Steve knows how much I like tradition, and I do.  If this suit does have this rich Sith tradition, than you would expect to see this suit or something similar in earlier stories, so I really liked that Darth Malgus’ suit and respirator gives Vader’s suit’s tradition a little more foundation.  It is cool.  Darth Malgus and his exploits makes Darth Vader’s suit even more intimidating because this black suit has a history of crushing the republic.  I like it.

Second, in the recent written EU, we have discovered that the Sith have a rich history.  I have enjoyed reading works outside of the Darth Bane Rule of Two era, which is where the vast majority of my reading has taken place.  I have enjoyed the Lost Tribe of the Sith, The Fate of the Jedi Sith, The Old Republic Sith, Knight Errant Sith because I have learned so much about Sith history and their teaching.  Again, Vader’s suit coming from this rich tradition is cool.  I really like the fact that Palpatine connected Darth Vader to this rich tradition.  It was a great way to keep this waffling Sith Lord Vader a Sith.  This connection to this Sith tradition by having Darth Malgus’ suit look like Vader’s was a very good idea.

Third, Darth Malgus and Darth Vader make look alike, but they do not think the same.  Darth Vader turns Sith to bring peace and stability to the galaxy and hopefully peace and stability for his family.  Darth Malgus is a Sith because he believes conflict and war is the natural state of the galaxy.  That could not be any more opposing of philosophies, so they may look alike, but they are very different in thought and beliefs.  I liked that too because Darth Malgus is not a Vader clone.  They just dress similarly.

I will say…I would not have had Malgus be bald.  I know an explosion went off in his face, but I would not have had him be completely bald because that does make his face and head look too much like Vader.  I like the suits looking so similar…I don’t feel that way about their faces being so similar.  Lava and an explosive device disfigured them too similarly.

But I love that the suits match.  It makes Sith tradition mean something, and as a lover of all things traditional, I love this.  I want to see more black clad intimidating Sith.  I imagine you too had a strong reaction to the image of Darth Malgus.  I would love to hear your reaction, and that is your Sci-Fi Book Report.

As always send us your thoughts and comments to jesse@starwarsbookreport.com or leave us a voice message for our podcast at 706-760-5782.  Have a great day, and thanks for reading.

Exploring the galaxy one page at a time, Jesse

Star Wars Book Report

Episode 19 of your Sci-Fi Book Report is fully packed…just like the Super Bowl was, and now, Wayne pays up in our Super Bowl wager by butchering the US National Anthem worse than it was at the Big Game.  After our normal sports non-sense at the beginning we dive head first into Timothy Zahn’s Dark Force Rising, which is part two of the Thrawn Trilogy.  We discuss what we love about this novel and discuss our criticisms of this book.  We compare the style and pacing of the Early Post Yavin novels and the Clone War novels, and much, much more.

Next, Wanye and I break down the first half of Eldest by Christopher Paolini, which is the second book in his Inheritance Cycle, and again we discuss our likes and dislikes, as well as compare this novel to other similar tales. 

Finally, we open by announcing the latest member to join our www.starwarsbookreport.com family. 

So come and explore the galaxy with us one page at a time. 

Thanks for listening, Jesse

Star Wars Book Report