Category: Television

So Much Star Wars

I’m a few days late for this, but I’ve been reading up on some of the new Star Wars projects that Disney and Lucasfilm announced the other day. There is little to no info on most of them, so there’s not much to say, but here are a few thoughts.

Rogue Squadron. A stand alone movie that sounds like it’s probably related to the old video games and is directed by Patty Jenkins. Umm… TAKE MY MONEY!

An as yet untitled and still unwritten Taika Waititi film. No info at all. Thor Ragnarok was wonderful, but after seeing Jojo Rabbit, Lucasfilm can TAKE MY MONEY!!

Obi-Wan Kenobie. A Disney+ series staring Ewan McGregor AND Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader? I am more excited about this than all of the others. Imagine… if this is good it could erase a lot of the bad feelings left over from the prequels. Then again, it might require some serious retconing of the events leading up to A New Hope. I’m a little scared about that, but if it works it could be incredible. In short, TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Ahsoka. After about 6000 episodes of the Clone Wars and Rebels, our favorite animated Jedi Padawan finally made the leap to live action in The Mandalorian a few weeks ago and Rosario Dawsom absolutely nailed it. TAKE MY MONEY!!!!

Rangers of the New Republic. A story that parallels The Mandalorian. I wonder if it will center on the two X-Wing pilots we’ve seen this season. No clue, but TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!

Lando. Enough said, TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!

Andor. This one is interesting. A Cassian Andor based spin off of Rogue One. I didn’t think I would be interested in this, and it’s been rumored (at least) for quite a while. Now that I see it spelled out, and knowing that it just went into production a few weeks ago, I realize I really want to see this. TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!

The Acolyte. We know it’s going to be a mystery series that will take us back to the High Republic. All good stuff. Then add that it’s coming from the creator of the Netflix show Russian Doll and this becomes really exciting (Russian Doll is fantastic, go watch it). TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!

The Bad Batch, Visions and A Droid Story. Eh. Given the wildly spectacular success of The Mandalorian, I think my patience with animated Star Wars is pretty much run out. I’ll probably watch them, but mostly just because they will exist.

In summation allow me to make this blanket statement to the folks at Disney, Lucasfilm, and Disney+: TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mandalorian: How Good is it Really?

No spoilers.

I just watched the new episode of The Mandalorian and it’s lead me to ask a rhetorical question of the universe.

Is this show really as good as I think it is, or am I just such a complete Star Wars fanatic that it appears fantastic to me when it’s actually less than stellar?

I think we’ve had six episodes in season two. With the exception of episode two, I have finished each viewing thinking to myself something along the lines of, well they’ll never top this one. The second episode was excellent but probably not better than the first. Three through six just kept one upping the awesome. Some of it is formula; Mando goes to someone for help and they say sure, but you have to do this quest for me first. The season has felt like an old TV western about the traveling gun fighter. The Lone Ranger with a cooler mask. There have been call backs and cameos the likes of which we never expected. The action sequences and special effects are movie quality and the story we’re following is gripping. Even given how good the first season was, I can’t believe how good season two has been.

But has it been that good, really? Speaking as a lifelong Star Wars fanboy, is my reaction to the quality of the show accurate or is it so colored by 40+ years of fandom that I can’t see the Endor forest for the trees?

My one complaint is still that the episodes tend to run really short. This week’s was less than 30 minutes. That doesn’t take away from anything, but it does leave me wanting more.

Just watch it. I may not be 100% objective, but I think it’s pretty close to perfect.

Sunday Night

Sitting in my room waiting for the new episode of the walking dead spin off, World Beyond to start. I had a horrible sleep yesterday, but an epic super sleep last night. I raked a chunk of the front yard this afternoon and I did my 30 minutes of exercise, and somehow all of these things have combined to make me super tired tonight. I’m so tired my eyes are blurring.

I just started tonight’s fast. I’ve been playing with intermittent fasting for 82 days. This is my 82nd fast in a row. I haven’t missed a day. Who woulda thunk it? I doubt my weigh in on Tuesday will go well but given that it’s Thanksgiving, I think anything that isn’t a huge increase will be a win. Also… I might be imagining this… I can’t say for sure… but I think my jeans might be feeling a smidge loose today.

Is Walking Dead World Beyond good? We get the last two episodes of the first season tonight and I still can’t tell for sure. It’s not bad, I can say that with some certainty. I just can’t figure out if it’s good. Gimple, am I right? I just wish AMC would have more variety in their commercials. I mean, if you’re going to blitz us with a commercial break every four minutes, the least you could do is mix it up a little.

Okay. Shows on and my eyes are giving up the fight. I, your humble narrator*, will talk to you tomorrow.

*The “your humble narrator” is a reference to A Clockwork Orange. David Prowse was in that movie. He passed away today. He was in another memorable movie. He didn’t have any lines but his character did. He played the character on screen and then some guy named James Earl Jones added the voice later. What was the character that David Prowse played?

Darth Vader.

Rest in peace, Lord Vader.

How Was Your Thanksgiving

How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Was it socially distanced? Did you stay safe or did you ignore the pandemic and spread the disease far and wide? We stayed safe. If you didn’t, fuck you.

We moved some furniture around to prep for Christmas decorations. One of the things that got moved was the Apple HomePod. Ever since they announced the HomePod mini, I’ve been kinda jonzing for one but Jen wanted to upgrade our Sonos system. Either way is fine with me, but I just like being an Apple fanboy.

Well, after moving the HomePod last night Jen has seemed to be a little inspired. She did a lot of cool stuff with the Home app, including setting it up for our Hue lights, and the new intercom function. I had taken the HomePod Mini off of my Christmas list, but now… woah. Are we getting on the HomePod bandwagon for more than just listening to music?

Have you watched the episode of The Mandalorian that came out today? I didn’t think they could top last week’s episode, but holy crap did they ever!

I was going to do some car singing this morning but given the choice between that and sleeping a whole lot, I chose sleeping. We just got some new flannel sheets and oh the comfy.

That’s the kind of news you get when you read this bloggie… you learn about the new flannel sheets on our bed. Kick ass, dude!

Now, go and watch The Mandalorian while I do a little walking in place exercise and watch the new episode of That Pedal Show and think about all the cool reverb effects that I can’t do without spending hundreds of dollars. Also… is a Wampler Plexi Drive Mini a good alternative to the racism that an OCD pedal represents? Questions, babie. All the questions.

Happy Day After Thanksgiving/First Day of Christmas.

Take the Bad, Take the Good

I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. I’m not sure why, but I think tomorrow is going to be a grade A shit day.

On the plus side though, there will be a new episode of The Mandalorian.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life. Yeah, the facts of life.

This is the way.

I have spoken.

Distraction

Between watching The Flash and playing guitar and writing a few songs worth of lyrics and watching 30 Rock with Jen and Harry I have successfully managed to avoid stressing out of the coup trump is attempting. Mostly.

So Georgia is going to do a hand recount. What is cheeto going to do when the results come back for Biden again? Is he going to want a second recount?

Oh so there I go paying attention again.

Fucking nazis.

A Good Start

I just watched the first episode of season two of The Mandalorian. It was good. No spoilers but Baby Yoda on a speeder bike is my new favorite thing.

So that’s step one.

Up next is eliminating the fascist infestation from our government. Election day 2020. Tuesday, 11/3/20. Yeah I’ve already voted, but I’m so excited/nervous/thrilled/scared/hyped/terrified that I can’t even think straight.

Star Wars and Democracy, just a few days apart. Brilliant!