Let's all just get along, okay?

"Who's the new guy?"

- Sid

P.S. If anyone from Funko™ reads this, it is challenging to get the laser rifle to stay in the Lone Wanderer's hand. CHALLENGING.

Indigo Fail II: Close but no cigar.

She remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.

 C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Hello again, Indigo.  So I thought to myself, "Wait, maybe they have all of those Narnia books for sale online.  That would be cool, because really, I did like the cover art."

Unfortunately not, as it turns out, but I feel I should point out that Pauline Baynes illustrated the Narnia books rather than wrote them, although I'm sure she'd appreciate the vote of confidence if she were still alive.

I'm a bit sad that no one at Indigo has noticed that this is wrong. It's understandable to me that the people entering data into the catalogue don't necessarily need to know anything about literature, but surely there must be some kind of approval process in place - hopefully involving someone who is paying attention and cares about this sort of thing.

Or not.

- Sid

Indigo Fail I: All for one, one for all.

Hello, Indigo.  Just a quick note - if you want to tempt me into spending $42 on replacing my beloved 37 year old boxed set of Narnia books, which are sadly suffering from split spines and loose pages, you need to have all seven books for sale, not just four.

- Sid

P.S. And you can't even blame this on people buying books because of movies, because then Prince Caspian wouldn't be available, and The Horse and His Boy would.

So there.

Geekmas 2017: And to all a good night.

 

It's an interesting exercise to make a list of shopping suggestions for Christmas.  On one hand, it's just a practical thing to do.  People are often at a loss when it comes to choosing gifts for the holiday season, and being able to anonymously read a list of affordable suggestions helps to take guesswork out of the process. 

On the other hand, it closes the door on creativity:  here's the list, choose an option.  But even if someone doesn't want to buy something from the list, it points them in the right direction, just in case they were entertaining ideas involving, I don't know, sports tickets or bottles of top shelf tequila.

With those two options on the table, the most unexpected result is C, none of the above. Karli and I went to a pre-Christmas get-together at her father and stepmother's on the 23rd, and although I was grateful for the gifts I received, they were a bit generic in nature:  socks, gift cards, chocolate, a cell phone charging shelf, and so on.  Given that this was exactly the sort of situation for which I'd created my list, it was a bit of a letdown to see that nothing had made the cut.

And that's where perfect girlfriends come in.  When I unwrapped my gifts from Karli on the morning of the 25th, I was thrilled to see that she'd chosen the items from my list that I most wanted to receive:  The Handmaid's Tale, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story*, a blu-ray copy of Rogue One, and the Fallout Power Armour action figure.

And, AND, she got me a waffle maker!!!  I'd love to say it's a clever tie in with Stranger Things and Eleven's Eggo™ fetish, but really, we just like waffles.** (Thereby proving that going rogue can be just as rewarding as sticking to the wish list.)

Thank you again for everything, Karli. As always, words fail to express how happy I am that you've chosen to be with me. I'd also like to thank the people who gave me Amazon and Indigo gift cards, trust me, they'll be put to good use. And the chocolate, thanks for the chocolate!

In conclusion, I'd like to wish a merry Christmas to anyone reading this - I hope your holiday season has been as happy as mine.

- Sid

* I've been casually skimming through Sean Howe's history of Marvel, and just on the basis of looking at random pages, I'm fascinated - it's definitely next on the list when I finish what I'm currently reading. (More on reading plans in my New Year's posting.)

** And it made perfect, delicious waffles right out of the box, no teething pains or setup issues.

Geekmas 2017: "Rebel Rebel, how could they know?"

I received an early Christmas gift tonight from Karli - a little something to accessorize my outfit for The Last Jedi tomorrow afternoon!  Thank you very much, my love, it's perfect!

  - Sid

Tonight, the part of Snoke will be played by...

 

Wait, what if it's Krennic?

Supreme Leader Snoke, that is, the mastermind behind the First Order in the new Star Wars trilogy - what if he's Krennic? When I was listing previous villains that might be Snoke, I completely forgot about Rogue One.

Makes no sense, though - there wasn't even a hint that Krennic might be a Force adept, not to mention having the base on Scarif pretty definitively blown up by the Death Star.  On that basis, you might as well have Snoke turn out to be Grand Moff Tarkin (he said, looking around hopefully).

No? Oh well, back to the drawing board...

- Sid

pReview: The Last Jedi

 

So - large and exciting plans for the holiday season?  Personally, I'll be starting my Christmas break with a trip to the Scotiabank theatre this Friday to see The Last Jedi with Karli and her squad. It is my fond hope to avoid any spoilers for the next four days*, so if you've seen the film, please keep any comments generic.

Normally, I don’t mind having a little information going in:  for example, when I saw A New Hope in theatrical release, I'd already read the novelization (which I still own, although it's in rough shape) and probably a couple of issues of the Marvel comic book adaptation. However, in this case, I’m doing my best to learn as little as possible about the film, simply because I’m expecting - or at least hoping - to be surprised by answers to some of the questions raised by The Force Awakens.

First, the big question, the one that should probably be the focus of The Last Jedi: what has Luke been doing since the Battle of Endor?  Yes, we’ve gotten hints about the Knights of Ren, and obviously something went horribly wrong in Luke’s attempt to recreate the Jedi, but it’s been 30 years - what else has happened in Luke’s life?

 

I'm very curious about this, because life has not been kind to Luke Skywalker. In the first installment, Luke is the New Hope, and the assumption is that it’s him, rather than his father, who is the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force - and where does it get him? 

Poor Luke:  lied to by Ob-Wan and dragged into a conflict of galactic proportions, he ends up maimed, scarred, and a witness to his father's death, the father who still remains the poster child for the Dark Side 30 years after his death. It's impressive that Luke would have attempted to revive the Jedi after everything he's been through in their name, and heartbreaking that his attempt was a failure. Looking at his life from that perspective, it’s not surprising that Luke would bitterly turn his back on everything and everyone - how much disappointment can one person handle?

 

Second, I think we’d all like to know who Rey is – or, more accurately, who her parents are. There’s been a certain amount of speculation that she’s Luke’s daughter, although I don’t see that as being likely, in spite of her extreme reaction to Luke’s long lost lightsaber and the proven tendency of the Skywalker children to be discovered on desert planets. I suspect that if Rey was Luke’s child, it would be immediately obvious to anyone with even hint of Force abilities, let alone her cousin and her aunt. 

Perhaps Obi-Wan Kenobi’s grandchild? Hmmm. Possible but a bit of a stretch, given that there’s not even a hint that old Ben ever decided to ignore the Jedi injunction against attachment after the fall of the Republic.

All that being said, let’s not forget this useful exchange from Spaceballs:

Dark Helmet: Before you die there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing!

Let’s face it, it’s a big universe, it may well be that Rey’s back story is solely one of abandonment, rather than abandonment by someone we know.  Obviously, she has to be someone’s child, but not necessarily the child of someone named Skywalker.

Similarly, are we going to discover that Supreme Leader Snoke (worst villain name ever, by the way) is actually someone from the other movies, like Emperor Palpatine or even Anakin Skywalker?  Both seem equally unlikely, but there aren’t really a lot of other options if they decided to go that route – who else could it be? There actually aren't that many choices for a returning villain.  Snoke’s brutally scarred visage suggests that there has to be some kind of significant back story involving lightsabers and/or explosions, or else why bother having him look like that? 

Both of these questions share the same characteristics: the plot seems to demand some kind of significance for both the puzzle of Rey’s heritage and the mystery of Snoke’s injuries, but none of the options seem to make any sense.

Personally, I'd like there to be no connections with anyone, with just as much of a clean slate as possible for the new characters.  The death of Han Solo in The Force Awakens sends a clear message, and that message is that this is not your father's Star Wars - or his lightsaber.

  - Sid

* We really need to establish a baseline for this. Is four weeks a good spoiler buffer?  At what point can we assume that plot details are common knowledge?  For example, if anyone reading this was previously unaware that Darth Vader is Luke's father, my apologies – but it’s been 37 years, that has to be old news by now.

Geekmas 2017: The system works.

December 15th, 2017: departmental Christmas potluck lunch and Secret Santa gift exchange.

  - Sid