Club Jade

Hey look! It’s Bonnie!
(Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

So, as you may have heard, we’re holding a craft contest. You don’t have to be an expert crafter or even to have experienced the joy of finding glitter in places where glitter should never be to participate. Really!

We’ve featured a whole lot of crafts over the years; Star Wars fandom is rife with the things. So what’s your personal favorite Star Wars craft?

And no, it DOESN’T have to be something you’ve made yourself! Or even something Bonnie made. (Don’t hurt us, Bonnie.)

There’s only one rule: Your choice must be analog. No design, no photo-manips, no computers. It must have been made by human hands at some point! Metal, food and costumes do count, yarn and glitter are optional. Include a link if you can. (Basic HTML works just fine in our comments.)

With all the discussion going on recently about the decline of the Expanded Universe (like that’s news,) we’ve all been thinking about what we’d like to see. And I know that for me, it’s always been about the characters. Of all the beefs I have with the New Jedi Order and (increasingly) Fate of the Jedi, the biggest one has to be the ‘everyone and the kitchen sink’ approach to the cast. And while I’m not reading Star Wars novels for ‘new’ characters, there’s clearly plenty of interest.

So here’s what I’m wondering: What Star Wars character would you most like to see headline a Star Wars novel or comic? For the sake of argument (and last week’s most popular post) we’re using an image of a few Jader favorites, but feel free to pick whoever you like.

Are they a movie characters undeserved by the Expanded Universe? An EU character you’d like to see more of? And please keep your answers vague – you never know who might be watching.

Forgive me for using this week’s discussion for selfish purposes, but spring is in the air (at least, it is here) and I’m finally getting down to business with a cosmetic refresh for the blog. I’m so sick of looking like 2007!

A few things that will almost certainly make the cut: Gravatars, threaded comments, some subtle social media sharing aids, an about page refresh with blogger bios (finally!) and a new look for the book release schedule. What will remain the same? Well, we’re sticking with WordPress, a white background and fairly minimalist design.

But what kind of things would you like to see? Any (technical, not content!) features you’ve seen on other blogs that you think would serve us well? Or are there any types of posts you’d like to see more (or less) of? Now’s your chance to weigh in.

What was the first Star Wars novel you read? What made you pick it out of the crowd (if there even was a crowd of them at the time?) And would you recommend it to someone else new to the EU?

I’ve never really been one for podcasts/fan audio, but over the last year or so I’ve given a couple of them a try. They’re still not really my cup of tea, but some of them are (or seem) wildly popular in fandom.

While some of us have had this conversation on Twitter before, I thought I’d ask: What are your favorite podcasts and why? What makes makes a Star Wars podcast appeal to you?

(Be sure not to miss the sidebar poll!)