Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Mace Windu is like the Christian Bale of Star Wars… he can do anything in the world except smile. Don’t get me wrong, it works for him. While Obi-Wan and Anakin seem to get their jollies by slicing and dicing through droid armies, Mace knows that just because you’re good at creating carnage doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it. So it’s appropriate that his big spotlight turns out to be the most solemn episode yet. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Liberty on Ryloth’”
‘Innocents of Ryloth’ is the middle chapter of a three-part story involving the liberation of the Twi’lek homeworld of Ryloth during the Clone Wars. Last time we saw Anakin and Ahsoka break the blockade around the planet, and now we see Obi-wan and Cody start the ground assault, to clear the way for Mace Windu to make a full landing of troops. So does this make it The Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy – only if by Empire, we mean Republic. Continue reading “The Clone Wars: ‘Innocents of Ryloth’ reviewed”
The inherent problem with The Clone Wars is that the main characters are never in any real danger. We’ve all seen the movies, and we know Anakin’s not going to die. We know Obi-Wan’s not going to die. We know Padme’s not going to die (I mean, we know she is going to die, but not until her iddle-widdle heart gets broken and she loses the will to live). Thankfully, the Clone Wars writers also know this, so they load the cast with vulnerable secondary characters… most notably Little Miss Spunkadelic, Ahsoka Tano. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Storm Over Ryloth’”
I started doing capsule reviews of the books I had read a back in January on my own, but it occurred to me this might be a feature you guys would enjoy. I’m honestly not much of a reviewer (or, if you’ve known me long enough, I’m way out of practice) but what the hell.
Territory by Emma Bull
I read this in bits and pieces over both months, and I’d probably need a dedicated reread before I could review it fairly. My first impression: It was okay, but it never really grabbed me. (Though to be fair, since I was reading in spurts it might not have gotten the chance to.) Maybe someone with more of an interest in the Old West (I have about zilch.) would get more out of it. [Amazon]
Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli
Anelli is best-known in fandom as webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron, one of the biggest Harry Potter fan sites, and her book traces both the rise of the books in popular culture and the fandom surrounding them. I like HP, but I was never obsessed with it, and while I know some about the fandom, it was only in general terms and what made it on Fandom Wank. So I was rather surprised to find this book absolutely fascinating. It’s about three-quarters exploration of the fandom (covering such things as wizard rock, religious protesters and that one oh-so-controversial Rowling interview) and one-quarter memoir, and, if nothing else, a great primer on how fandom in general works. I suspect it might not be half as interesting to those who actually had front-row seats to things like the shipping wars, but for those of us on the periphery… Recommended. [Amazon]
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
I’m going to be honest: I mainly bought this because the cover art of this particular edition is gorgeous. And of course, as a child of the 80’s, I adored the movie. (Please don’t remake it, Hollywood.) Alas, I found the book much less fascinating. Of course, the movie only adapts half the story here… And maybe that’s why I was bored through the second half. I don’t know. Was it worth it? I’m not sorry, just a little sad that it didn’t live up to my childhood love. At least the cover is still pretty. [Amazon]
Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle
Like any good geekling, I read the bulk of L’Engle’s Murry-O’Keefe books (A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet) back in grade school. But I never tried her other, more earthbound series, featuring the Austin family. This is the first of them, and while I can’t say it’s going to knock Planet out of my top spot it was a nice quick read. I really need to remember to pick up the next two… [Amazon]
An Alphabetical Life by Wendy Werris
Werris has worked as a bookseller and publisher sales rep, and this book is a memoir of her life in the business. It was a nice peek into how things worked back before the chains took over, but I can’t say I was fascinated. [Amazon]
Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin
(I actually read this book late last year. Consider it a bonus.) The title character is a pivotal yet all-but-unexplored character in Virgil’s The Aeneid, the daughter of the Latin king that Aeneas marries. LeGuin tells the tale from her perspective, giving her a voice in the story of the founding of Rome. There’s far more to it than that, but I should probably defer to the professionals on this one. Recommended. [Amazon, but you may want to wait for the paperback in April]
“Fear is a disease. Hope is its only cure.”
Hope may be a good cure for fear, but keep your hazmat suit on – there’s an outbreak on the horizon. This pair of episodes form a single story arc over an attempt to release a lethal virus across the galaxy being contained on Naboo, which means – yup, Jar Jar gets more heroics. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Blue Shadow Virus’ and ‘Mystery of a Thousand Moons’”
Editor’s Note: We’re trying a little something new! Please welcome our first guest poster, The Stooge, with a review of Friday’s episode!
Well, finally. After two weeks of stories about innocent bystanders versus sneering baddies, The Clone Wars delivers the goods. From the start, ‘The Hidden Enemy’ is a definite change of pace, as the newsreel informs us that it takes place on the planet Christophsis, which was last seen in the theatrical Clone Wars movie. And for a second, I worried that they were just broadcasting the movie instead of showing a new episode. But then it became clear that this installment was a prequel to the animated movie! Yes, a prequel to the pilot set between the prequels, airing sixteen episodes after the pilot’s theatrical run. Hooray for confusing continuity! Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘The Hidden Enemy’”
After going through practically every holiday since 1999 with some sort of “coffee table book” from the Star Wars franchise, you would think that I’d be mentally prepared for the weight associated with it. Well, I was fooled again with the latest edition of The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. I nearly dropped the blasted thing (all 12 pounds of it — I weighed it) when I tried to pick it up.
Still, this baby’s beautiful! Three hardcover volumes in a shell. (Which is making it resemble, more and more The Encyclopedia Brittanica.) That beautiful Empire red and black coloring. Images subtly glowing out. Each hardcover has its own different cover design. Each book has its own quote for the dedication page. A lot of fun! Continue reading “Review: The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia“
Okay. So a certain online bookseller apparently has the street date for Carrie Fisher‘s Wishful Drinking a wee bit early. But I don’t care, as it has allowed me to get it and read it.
If you like snark, then this book is for you!
The interesting part about this book, compared to her other books, is that it is very blatantly autobiographical, as opposed to the psuedo-biographical nature of her fiction work. And she just gets right down to it: her family dysfunction, her brain’s dysfunction, the more interesting events in her life.
A bit disappointing to this Star Wars geek is the general lack of actual Star Wars stories. She mentions getting the role and the oddness of being a collectible, but basically stays away from stories about the production or other behind-the-scenes tidbits. But, then again, the way she describes her state of being at the time and episodes since then, one might have to forgive her. She might not actually remember it!
In spite of that, this is a really intriguing look at mental illness and life in Hollywood. And it’s nice to have some things cleared up that have been a bit obscured by tabloids and internet gossip.
And, when you get right down to it, it’s hilarious. Her sarcastic wit and style of writing makes you feel like you’re right there having a conversation with her. So the conversation rambles a bit. And you come out understanding someone just a little better.
The pictures are enlightening and the captions even better (Check out the tabloid headlines. Brilliant!) I laughed at least once a page.
Of note, this might not be the best book for those under high school age. There is profanity. There are some serious situations she has dealt with. Parents might not be so thrilled with younger minds (and maybe not even high schoolers) reading it.
But if you do not fall into this age group, I’d highly recommend it.
We haven’t had much time to discuss it yet, but none of us seemed particularly impressed last night. My personal take: It’s far too long, and adds very little to the (real) movie experience. If you’re absolutely dying for more prequel, you might get more out of it, but as someone mainly apathetic to the whole era (and bridge stories in general) my impression was “Meh.” I’m glad I got to see it with Jaders, but it’s not something I would recommend to anyone without a basic working knowledge for the prequel EU.
But: Stinky is adorable.
Jaders, (I know you’re reading this in the suite!) leave your reviews/thoughts in the comments!
Dante Maddox of Crave reviews Knights of the Old Republic #25. Words of wisdom:
At no point have I ever looked at the expanded universe and thought, “What a mess!”
Clearly, a man who has never visited the TFN boards. More power to him: I’m not sure how many EU fans even realize how good we have it, even with the occasional gaffe.
As for Vector… I’ve never picked up KOTOR before, but I was not impressed by the issue. Maybe I’ll warm up to it as the story progresses (it took me about ten issues into Legacy to see it as anything more than fanboy wish-fulfillment) but for now, my verdict: Whimper. That’s not to say it might not pan out in the end, but for now, I remain skeptical.
Is anyone else jumping into KOTOR cold? Or, old-time readers… What do you think?