Okay, we’re about a week late on this update. If this upsets you, you need to re-evaluate your life.

But it’s pretty unfortunate that we decide to take a break when a ton of news happens.

Last Monday, Edinboro graduate Dave Filoni decided to pay us a visit to talk about his work in the animation field. He’s most recognized by…

Ugh. His fedora hat… Come on, man.

Stupid hats aside, it’s pretty cool that a recent Edinboro graduate has his own wikipedia entry. This, however, isn’t as cool:

Filoni’s hobbies include playing ice hockey; he currently plays goaltender. He is also a level 80 Night Elf Hunter in World of Warcraft, a longtime Godzilla fan, and an unofficial Dúnedain.

If yourboro is ever privileged with a Wikipedia- our entry better now have anything to do with Night Elf Hunters or *shudder* Dunedains.

Also, a big THANK YOU to Erie Blogs for linking us and the kind words, and all that.

The blog has a young, recent graduate vibe to it, complete with strong community knowledge and the given sarcasm. I think the author, who is unidentified, has  potential to be an excellent writer, but often falls into profanity when trying to make his/her point. To me, that’s just a poor excuse to not bring out the thesaurus.

None the less, Your Boro is often up-to-the-minute topical…

Shucks, you guys!

James Arnold Taylor, who voices Obi-Wan among other characters, interviews Catherine “Padmé” Taber on Taylor’s YouTube channel. Link to the interviews here.

Do not put it in your nose…

The third installment of the Geonosis arc finds Luminara Unduli and a red shirt, er, clonetrooper pursuing Poggle the Lesser. Despite Weather Channel warnings of a sandstorm, Luminara stubbornly presses on. Looks like Anakin’s not the only reckless guy in the Jedi Order. Anakin wants to go and help her, but Obi-Wan and Ki-Adi-Mundi tell him they must wait. Luminara and the trooper take shelter in a temple, where Poggle was heading. The trooper doesn’t last very long and Luminara is captured. Unfortunately for her, she lost her lightsaber in the sandstorm. Despite delivering some roundhouse kicks to her buggy captors–who was her master, Chuck Norris?–she is taken away.

Knowing Luminara’s in trouble, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and a fresh batch of red shirts, er, clonetroopers track her down to the temple. From this point on, they are chased around in dark creepy caverns by maurading Geonosians. Anakin figures out that short of decapitation, they’re unstoppable. Obi-Wan explains that they are zombies, part of a hive mind control so powerful, that it can even control the dead. I bet they wish they brought some of those flamethrowers used in “Landing At Point Rain.”

At last, they end up in a huge cavern, the lair of the Geonosian queen. Like any other insect queen, her job consists of plopping out larvae. The queen is big, ugly, ancient, and has a voice that sounds like a combination of Marge Simpson and nails screeching across a chalkboard. She is holding Luminara captive. Anakin wants to go in lightsabers and guns blazing, but Obi-Wan wants to take a different approach to see what the queen wants.

It’s then revealed that the “zombie” Geonosians are being controlled by these green worms that enter through the nose and ear. The queen wants to stick one in Luminara. Anakin has had enough and so has Luminara, but Obi-Wan “wants to see what happens.” (There he goes, using others for his purposes again.) Finally, Obes gives the orders to start shooting and all heck breaks loose. In the end, the Jedi blow up the cavern, ending the queen’s reign.

The creepiest episode to date, I think this was originally meant to be a Halloween episode but somehow the scheduling ended up not working out that way. It vaguely reminded me of “Aliens,” with all of those scenes of people getting picked off as they run through darkened corridors. It was also kind of gross, what with decapitations, squooshing, and yucky worms dangling out of nostrils like long crawling pieces of snot.

Balancing out the horror element is the humor in the script. Not even danger can stop Anakin and Obi-Wan from exchanging banter. My favorite line was Obi-Wan telling Anakin he always thinks with his lightsaber. No, my thinking didn’t go right into the gutter . After Obi-Wan whines about Anakin squashing a green worm because he wanted to study it, Anakin quips, “Study the bottom of my boot.” Just as the Geonosians are about to administer the worm to Luminara, Obi-Wan asks, “Do think it’s going in through the ear or the nose?” and a resigned Anakin says, “Through the nose.”

References to the movies are in every CW episode, but I particularly enjoyed Anakin’s, “That can’t be true! That’s impossible!” Heh heh.

I’ve read a few complaints that Obi-Wan was a little out-of-character because he delayed rescuing Luminara, or at least it wasn’t clear why Obi-Wan wanted to go the diplomatic route all of a sudden. I think Obi-Wan is the sort who tries to learn as much as possible before acting and like I’ve said, isn’t above using others for his purposes. He probably figured there was valuable information to store away for later. Anakin, as we all know, simply likes to act and ask questions later.

I’ve also seen a couple of questions on whether the Jedi committed genocide by killing off the only being on Geonosis who reproduces. ladyaeryn thinks it’s likely the Geonosians would have a queen in the wings in case the current one croaks. It’s also possible that there are several active hives with their own queens on Geonosis. Just because the Orkin or Terminix man kills off the ant colony outside of your house doesn’t mean he single-handedly made ants extinct.

The hijinks continue on December 4 (sob!) with the fourth and final part of the Geonosis arc, where the green worms somehow make it onto a ship and one possesses Barriss Offee. She is seen chasing Ahsoka around with a lightsaber. Uh oh! Personally, I’m ready for this arc to be wrapped up. They’ve been terrific episodes but I’m eager to see some characters we haven’t encountered in a while and get some new adventures.

Hinter dem zwar durchaus passenden aber doch etwas uninspirierten Namen “Weapons Factory” verbirgt sich eine der wohl besten Folgen der gesamten Serie. Und das liegt nicht nur an der Qualität der Animation (ich weis, ich wiederhole mich), die inzwischen – zumindest was die Landschaft, die Schiffte, die Droiden, die Waffen (also so ziemlich alles mit Ausnahme der Figuren) auf dem besten Weg ist, Pixar-Niveau zu erreichen. Wie sehr die Animateure (nein, nicht die Vorturner in den Ferienclubs, sondern jene Personen, die CW machen!) auf Details achten, sieht man zum Beispiel auch daran, dass sogar die “Schnittstelle”, die Barriss Offee in den Fels schneidet “abkühlt” und von orange in  rot übergeht.

Und es liegt auch nicht nur an der Musik von Kevin Kiner, die sich im Gegensatz zur ersten Staffel bisher stark am Stil von John Williams anlehnt ohne ihn wirklich zu kopieren. Jimmy Mac wird es freuen!

Die Folge setzt fort, wo “Landing at Point Rain” aufgehört hat: Obi-Wan und Ki Adi Mudi sind weg und Anakin und Ahsoka sollen die Droidenfabrik von Poggle dem Geringeren (auch nach 7 Jahren klingt der Name für mich irgendwie ziemlich krank – aber was soll’s) in Schutt und Asche legen. Interessant ist in diesem Zusammenhang, dass die Kleidung der beiden Jedi am Ende der letzten Folge ziemlich verdreckt war und nun wieder sauber ist, was meine Theorie bestärkt, dass Jedi ihre Kleidung immer gleich palettenweise kaufen, da es dann Mengenrabatt gibt (oder es handelt sich einfach um einen kleinen Regiefehler?!). Ebenfalls interessant ist, dass Anakin und Ahsoka hier zu Beginn ziemlich heftig aneinander krachen, was zwar in Hinblick auf das Ende der Folge Sinn macht, in dieser Heftigkeit aber doch etwas überrascht. Bin gespannt, ob das ein Vorzeichen für die Zukunft ist.

Jedenfalls treffen wir in dieser Episode wieder auf Luminara Unduli, die humorfreie Zone des SW Universums und auf ihren Padawan Barriss Offee, die sich zwar problemlos 200 Kreuzungen in einem Labyrinth merken kann, dafür aber heillos überfordert ist, wenn es darum geht, was zu tun ist, wenn man in einem Panzer sitzt und dringend einen Reaktor (der übrigens eine interessante Ähnlichkeit mit jenem des zweiten Todessterns aufweist!) zerstören muss. Mit Luminara und Barriss hatte Anakin übigens schon in dem Prä-Episode II Roman “The Approaching Storm” zu tun, was vermutlich die Begrüßung erklärt.

Luninara Unduli und Barriss Offee

Ferner feiern die taktischen Droiden in Person von TX-21 ihre Rückkehr in die Serie. Dieser kann zwar Geonosianisch und sich somit mit Poggle unterhalten (C-3PO wäre wohl stolz), zeichnet sich aber sonst nicht durch besondere Intelligent aus:

Die letzten Augenblicke im Leben eines taktischen Droiden

Das Labyrinth unterhalb der Waffenfabrik erinnert mich übrigens mit seinen irgendwie organischen Strukturen und den an den Wänden hängenden Geonosianern an jene Szenen aus “Aliens”, als Ripley in die Katakomben des Atmosphärenwandlers steigt um Newt zu retten. Und nachdem ja bereits die kleine “Numa” eine Anspielung auf dieses Mädchen war, ist dieser Vergleich vielleicht gar nicht so weit hergeholt. Insgesamt sind diese Szenen durchaus spannend gemacht.

Die Geonosianer scheinen sich übrigens von Menschenfleisch zu ernähren, oder es hat schon einmal jemand versucht, den “Keller” zu durchwandern und ist daran gescheitert – jedenfalls sieht man in einer Szene ein Skelett am Boden liegen (rechts neben Ahsoka):

Für eine Handvoll Knochen

Jetzt aber zum Wichtigsten und zur vielleicht besten Szene der bisherigen Serie: der Explosion der Waffenfabrik. Jene, etwa 30 Sekunden von dem Moment an, als Ahsoka die Waffen des Supertanks abfeuert, bis zu jenem Augenblick als Anakin und Luminara in den Krater hinab starren kann man einfach nur als großartig bezeichnen. Die Geräusche der Explosion und der einstürzenden Fabrik sind gedämpft, die Bilder laufen fast in Zeitlupe ab und die Musik (und was für eine Musik!) trägt die gesamte Szene! Als ich diese Bilder zum ersten Mal sah war ich absolut davon überzeugt, dass dies das Ende von Ahsoka (und Barriss) ist! Absolut! Beim näheren Betrachten ist das natürlich Schwachsinn, denn es macht wohl keinen Sinn, eine komplett neue Figur zu erschaffen und mühsam zu animieren, um sie 17 Minuten später auch schon wieder sterben zu lassen. Aber beim ersten Mal Ansehen dieser Szene war ich vollkommen davon überzeugt, dass die beiden tot sind und ich war ja geradezu geschockt!

Da unten sind unsere Padawans!

Wenn sich GL und Dave Filoni dazu entschließen sollten Ahsoka tatsächlich sterben zu lassen (und ich bin mir zunehmend sicher, dass sie das nicht tun werden!), so möchte ich, dass ihr Tod genauso ablaufen wird: schnell, vollkommen überraschend und ohne ihn direkt zu zeigen oder lange Abschiedsszenen ala “Es tut mir leid Meister, ich war nicht stark genug!. Nein, es tut MIR leid, Ahsoka, ich konnte Dich nicht retten, aber ich werde nie wieder jemanden verlieren, der mir etwas bedeutet!”

Denn wie sagt Luminara am Ende so treffend zu Anakin: “I am prepared to let my student go. Can you say the same?”

Die obigen Fotos und noch viele weitere gibt’s wieder auf meiner Flickr Seite.

Hooray! This week, Clone Wars decided to be a cartoon again (albeit a rather scary one). And not only was it not a WWII-era bloodfest, it actually featured genuinely heroic moments. Double hooray!

The “Legacy of Terror” set up: Jedi Luminara is captured by zombie aliens and Jedis Skywalker and Kenobi take a platoon of clones into the spooky caves to save her.

Heroic moments:

• Jedis Luminara and Mundi express their regret over the clones who have died in the campaign.
• As Jedi Ahsoka leaves the battlefield, she expresses her regret that the clones must remain and continue fighting.
• When the Jedi fall back from their first encounter with the zombies, the Jedi guard the doorway and make sure their troopers escape first.
• When the clone messengers are attacked, the Jedi go running to save them.

Other points of Excellence:

• The annoying sidekicks were sent away, putting Skywalker and Kenobi center stage, which is really the only relationship worth watching.
• The animators and director get full marks for creating a horror setting in the caves. Scenes are dark, illuminated only by the troopers’ helmet lamps, and when the zombies attack, they are creepy in a broken-puppet sort of way. I was frequently reminded of Aliens, and that is high praise.

And judging from the preview of the next episode, they will be continuing the horror theme with more alien zombie possession. Unfortunately, it will feature the sidekicks.

That’s all! I hope the aberrations of “Point Rain” and “Factory” were only that: aberrations.

Klutz Books, a famous publisher of various how-to books, is challenging you! All you need to do is create your best drawing of Star Wars: The Clone Wars bounty hunter Cad Bane ad submit it at http://www.klutzdesignchallenge.com/. You can win an original full-color illustration of master Yoda,  drawn and signed by illustrator Grant Gould. Ten runners up will receive a copy of “Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars” book, which teaches beginning artists to draw their favorite Clone Wars characters like a pro.

If you don’t know where to start, the best step is to download a free PDF containing detailed step-by-step drawing instructions available for download at the Klutz Challenge web site and start working and submitting.

It’s here.  I got it.  Went out and bought Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 1 just like I said I was gonna.  I am proud to say that I love it.  I love it so much I thought I’d put it on my Ipod.  Unfortunately, getting a protected DVD onto your Ipod ain’t that easy.  First of all, there still seems to be dispute about whether or not it is legal or illegal to copy a commercial DVD as a backup for your own personal use.  From what I can gather it is okay to copy for personal use, provided you don’t override any digital rights management (DRM)copy protection such as the Content Scramble System (CSS).  In other words, you’re not supposed to copy DVDs that are copy protected, and according to one poster even copying unprotected DVD’s and change the file format qualifies as copyright infringement.  Well, you can rest assured that Lucas and company have copy protected their DVDs,  and even though that means it can’t be copied legally, I don’t have a problem with them doing so.  I am all for copyright protection.  I am not in the business of pirating movies or music.  I use to be, but that was before I understood that it takes away from the artists and the creators rather than the multi-million dollar companies that produce them.  That was also before I came to understand how little most artists make, even the good ones.  Unless you’re selling multipaltinum records, you’re barely making a living and paying off what it cost to make your record in the first place.  I other words, I used to pirate music and movies before I realized that I’m taking the money away from the people I’d want to be friends with if I knew them.

Will Hoge: LIVE • 2009 • 04/23/09 • Evening Muse • Charlotte, NC

So, as I was saying, I don’t have problem with Lucas and friends protecting their investments and their creative outlets.  I just wish they’d grant me the rights to put it on my effen Ipod.  I downloaded several DVD backup programs, none of which could copy protected DVD’s.  I can’t even transfer the DVD directly to my harddrive anymore.  I gotta admit, that’s a little upsetting.  On top of that, no conversion program that might even possibly convert a DVD to Ipod format can convert protected DVD’s either.  Consequently, if I want to put this on my Ipod, I’m going to have to resort to using heavy duty pirating software, which I don’t trust or like to be involved with.  Or, I may even have to resort to torrenting, something else I’m not too keen on.  Not into the I’m-sharing-bits-and-pieces-of-my-files-with-a-whole-bunch-of-random-people-thing.  And I don’t like taking from those people and then saying, thanks, but I’m not sharing it back with other people.  Even then, the movie itself is tainted.  I will never really know if it has some kind of tracking or spywhere.  Sure, my internet security software SAYS everything is okay, but is it really?  Is that why my computer slows down, because everything is okay?

I suppose if I wanted to do the completely legal thing, I could go to Itunes and purchase the season all over again for $34.99.  Are you kidding me?  78 bucks just so I can watch the damn thing on TV or my Ipod?  Not only that, but for forty bucks, I don’t even get the featurettes or the production journal that come with the DVD set.

When I bought the Clone Wars movie, it came with a code for downloading the digital copy to my computer.  Only thing is, when I went to download it, the code had expired.  I’d only bought the thing that day.  What kind of a deal is that.  You can have the digital copy for your ipod, but ONLY IF you manage to buy it and register it with the first few weeks of release?  Twenty years from now when my DVDs start to corrode, I’m going to be pissed if I have to buy another set.  What if it’s out of print, or worse, locked up in the vault?

The whole thing is infuriating.  Should I not have the right to at least protect my investments and watch it either in a DVD format or in an Ipod format?  Sure I understand how difficult it may be to police this, but if you can give me a code so I can go online and download it, then why can’t that be available to everyone all the time?

I think, anytime you purchase a DVD, you ought to be able to go somewhere online, Itunes, or whatever, type in a code similar to a UPC code, but not visible on the outside of the packaging, and with that code you acquire one-time rights to a digital copy of the material on the DVD.  Let there even be a choice of the file format you wish, but you only get one copy and maybe put limits on how it is transferable.  Itunes is already pretty solid in how it protects music and other purchses through the Itunes store. I see no reason why this couldn’t be carried over to DVD digital rights.

So those are my thoughts on the issue.  I find it ironic that when I started this article, I didn’t even realize that it was such a hot issue.  I thought I was being original.  Oh well, it just means there’s more of us out ther ready to Fight for your DVD Digital Rights!  Let the war for my Ipod begin!

starwars.com has posted a new episode guide for Friday’s “Legacy of Terror” and a new interview with Olivia D’Abo, the voice of Luminara Unduli. She discusses this week’s upcoming episode and SW/sf in general.

Well, not exactly…

Minor league hockey team Lake Erie Monsters will be hosting a Clone Wars-themed night this Friday, sponsored by Time Warner Cable. More details available here.

You can win a full color Yoda illustration by artist Grant Gould or a free, signed copy of How To Draw Clone Wars just by submitting your own best shot at drawing popular bounty hunter Cad Bane.

Get the details here at starwars.com.

Isso mesmo, a cantora Ivete Sangalo virou animação 3D e já tem filme na forno! Ainda não há maiores informações a respeito da história ou data de lançamento. O estúdio que está produzindo é brasileiro, com direção e produção de Renato Barreto. Se liga no trailer:

Clone Wars #feelings.

You can read my latest Clone Wars review here.

I’ve got my eye on Star Wars: Clone Wars now because I’m concerned about it wobbling between being an action show for adults and being a cartoon for children. Either would be fine; both would not.

“Weapons Factory” is a moral improvement over last week’s “Point Rain.” The heroes have resumed being concerned with each others’ well-being and generally acting in a good manner.

But, I have a bee in my bonnet.

The clone troopers may be a bit faceless, and as copies of the same man, they even sound very similar. But they are still people, still soldiers, and they’re still being treated like expendable garbage.

Key moments:

• Trooper Cody calls for air support, and is denied. Minutes later, Jedi Skywalker calls for air support, and the Admiral finds a spare squadron (that must have gotten lost in the sofa cushions) to send down.

• The plan is to send the Jedi apprentices into the enemy’s factory to blow it up. Meanwhile, the senior Jedi will keep the enemy “distracted” by launching a full frontal assault on the factory, leading their troopers “parade style” down an indefensible open roadway. Many troopers die. Why is this the best distraction? Why is a distraction needed at all?

• During the lengthy firefight on the road, the Jedi never once use their Force powers to attack the enemy or to save the troopers. However, at the end of the episode, the Jedi use the Force to lift enormous boulders and chunks of the destroyed factory to save their lost apprentices. Did they forget in the middle of the battle that they had magic powers? Or are only Jedi worth saving?

Am I nit-picking? Yes. Is this petty? No.

If this cartoon wants to seriously portray war, then great, I’ll watch. But if this show is just a platform for semi-immortal space wizards to act like jerks while hardworking soldiers are dying by the thousands all around them, then I can’t help but wonder what impact that imagery might have on a young viewer.

Does it convey that there is a hierarchy of people who deserve to live and those who are expendable? Does it convey that soldiers’ lives are less valuable, and that their contributions and sacrifices are less heroic?

Clone Wars is back on at Friday 9 p.m. (Cartoon Network) beginning with this week’s episode “Weapons Factory.” Hopefully this will be the last of the schedule-hopping for a while!

In the meantime, starwars.com has an interview with Meredith Salenger, the voice of Barriss Offee.

Fans can take a short, simple survey on the Clone Wars series here. They won’t say what it’s for, only that it’s for an upcoming project.

Wie man’s macht, ist’s falsch!

Bestand bei Folge 4 “Senate Spy” noch die Gefahr, dass einem in der Mitte der Folge langsam der Kopf auf die Brust sinkt und man sanft einschlummert, ohne bis zum Nachspann noch besonders viel zu verpassen, so genügt es bei Folge 5 “Landing at Point Rain” schon, nur einmal zu blinzeln und schon versäumt man 3 zerstörte Gunships, 7 erschossene Klone und 11 verkohlte Geonosianer.

The “Wars” are back! Und wie!

Wer das Ende von Episode II mochte (nein, nicht die Hochzeit zwischen Padme und Anakin, sondern die Schlacht um Geonosis), der wird auch diese Folge von CW mögen, dann das ist es worum es hier geht und so ziemlich nur um das. Same planet, same procedure!

Was man daran auch erkennt ist die Art, mit der die Republik mit Planeten umgeht, die sie befriedet hat: scheinbar belassen sie keine Truppen dort, die darauf achten, dass es nach Beendigung der Kämpfe auch weiterhin mit rechten Dingen zugeht, sondern sie vertrauen (wohl aus Ressourcenmangel) darauf, dass die befreiten Völker wohl ausreichend dankbar und zivilisiert sind und nicht bei der erst besten Gelegenheit wieder zum Feind überlaufen, oder von diesem erneut besetzt werden.

Nun ja, mit Geonosis hat das wohl nicht so ganz funktioniert.

Insofern schließt diese Episode auch an die vorherige an, in der Padme unter Einsatz ihres Lebens und ihr Dekoltees’ die Pläne von Poggles neuer Droidenfabrik sicherstellen konnte.

Was die Animation betrifft, so schlägt diese Folge alle bisher gezeigten um Welten. Nie zuvor gab es in CW so viel Bewegung und so viel Action gleichzeitig auf dem Schirm zu sehen. Der Vergleich mit der Schlacht um Geonosis aus AOTC passt nicht nur in Bezug auf die Handlung, sondern auf die Umsetzung der Kampfszenen! Dies führt auch dazu, dass “Landing at Point Rain” die bisher mit Abstand “brutalste” Folge ist. Sah man bisher hauptsächlich “nur” Klone sterben und Droiden zerhackt werden, so werden hier nun auch Geonosianer erschossen, zerstückelt und sogar gegrillt. Diese sind zwar potthässlich, aber nichts destotrotz Wesen aus Fleisch und Blut.

Sind sie nicht attraktiv?

Für wirklich junge Kinder ist diese Folge daher vielleicht weniger geeignet!

Aber es gibt noch eine Reihe weiterer Premieren in dieser Folge: erstmals tritt Ki Adi Mundi in seiner animierten Form auf. Ich finde ja, er sieht mit seinen Kulleraugen viel weniger respekteinflößend aus als “in echt”:

Edmundi Sackbauer

Dann sehen wir Y-Flügler mit einer roten Bemalung. Wie es zu diesen kommen konnte erklärt Pete Vilmur auf der offiziellen Seite.

Rot 5 bereit

Weiters sehen wir erstmals die republikanischen Gunships mit den Geschützkugeln an der Seite, die zwar in Episode II waren, in der ersten Staffel von CW jedoch auf wundersame Weise irgendwie verschwanden. Wobei ich diese Kugeln ja für einen strategischen Irrsinn halte: viel mehr auf dem Präsentierteller kann man ja wohl gar nicht sitzen! Arme Hunde, die da drin Dienst tun müssen:

Gib Dir die Kugel!

Schließlich sieht man in dieser Folge unsere Helden zum ersten Mal dreckig und verwundet. Vielleicht legt sich Ahsoka jetzt doch endlich neue Fetzen zu.

The first cut is the deepest!

Das dreckige Dutzend?

Schließlich feiern in dieser Folge Waxer und Boil, die das kleine Twi-lek Mädchen in “Innocents of Ryloth” gerettet haben und Luminara Unduli ihren Einstand in der zweiten Staffel. Letztere hat immer noch nicht den kleinsten Funken Humor, aber irgendwie mag ich sie trotzdem.

Schmunzeln musste ich über die Szene in der Obi-Wan und seine Truppen im Gunship stehen und sich an den Haltegriffen festklammern, während das Schiff heftig hin und her schaukelt. Erinnert mich ein bißchen an meine täglichen Fahrten mit der U-Bahn:

Nächster Halt: Burggasse - Stadthalle

Schließlich sei noch die Szene erwähnt, in der Anakin und Ahsoka Captain Rex recht plötzlich und überraschend von der Festungsmauer bugsieren. Hier sieht man, dass die kleine Togruta schon recht gut auf den spontanen Irrsinn ihres Meisters eingestellt ist. So etwas wäre wohl mit Obi-Wan nicht möglich gewesen!

Die obigen Fotos und noch viele mehr gibt es wieder auf meiner Flickr Seite!

            One of the benefits of writing this column is the mail I receive from readers.  I’ve been surprised, however, by a recent spate of missives from folks seeking my counsel in their personal affairs.  After all, I’m not an advice columnist.
            Or am I?  
            As I see it, there are really just three requirements for an advice column:  (1) Space in a newspaper.  Check!  (2) Questions from people seeking guidance.  Check!  (3) A self-righteous, didactic crackpot to answer those questions.  Check and double check!  Let’s light this candle!
 
            Dear Jimmy,
            I’m a 38-year-old man.  While I was at the SciFi Expo last year, I met the Padmé to my Anakin.  But recently, she made the jump to hyperspace and is hinting hard about marriage.  The thought of moving out of the Jedi Temple (Mom’s basement) gives me tummy bubbles.  The walls of this relationship are closing in like the garbage compactor in a Death Star detention block.  Help!  –Jittery Jedi
 
            Dear Jittery,
            Help you I can, yes.  A sewing room in her basement your mother desires, but in her way your bed with Ewok sheets is.  Always in motion is the future.  Of doing your laundry, tired is she.  Adulthood and marriage, fear them not, and a momma’s boy, be no longer.  Choice of you by girl I will understand never, but die alone you will, with action figures as only companions, if this one chance you miss.
                    
Dear Jimmy,
            Please settle an ongoing dispute my wife and I are having over the upbringing of our only child.   We both love our son “Roger” very much, but we have vastly differing ideas about how he should be raised.  I want him to try out for football and engage in other manly pursuits like mixed martial arts cage matches, ding-dong-ditch, the Sun Dance ritual, and belching the alphabet.  My wife, however, is adamant that Roger must spend all his free time doing nothing but scherenschnitte, collecting Hummel figurines, and perfecting his Trout Almondine recipe for the state fair.  He recently refused to watch “True Grit” with me because the Bravo Network was airing a “Project Runway” marathon.  His classmates have started calling him “Baron Dainty Von Prancengiggle.”  Now, I don’t know what that means, but I’m certain it’s not a compliment.  I’m scared.  Am I too late to raise him into swarthy, high-fiving, NASCAR manhood?  Is there anything I can do?   –Desperate Dad
 
Dear Desperate,
            You’re too late.  There’s nothing you can do.  Sorry.
 
Dear Jimmy,
            After a whirlwind courtship, I recently became engaged to the man of my dreams.  The problem is that my parents despise him.  Whenever I try to emphasize my fiancé’s good qualities, they only point out his flaws.  For example, when I describe him as a courageous man of action, Dad mocks him for his fear of flying.  When I praise him for serving our country as a member of a crack commando unit, my mother condemns him for being sent to prison by a military court.  “But it was for a crime he didn’t commit!” I’ll say, only to have Daddy immediately remind me, for the millionth time, how my future husband and his three friends promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground, how they’re still wanted by the government, how they survive as soldiers of fortune, blah, blah, blah… 
            All the conflict is stressing me out, and my fiancé is growing tired of all this jibba-jabba.  How can I persuade my folks to give this marriage their blessing? –Wanna-Be Mrs. T
 
Dear Wanna-Be,
            Simply arrange to have your parents abducted by a band of ruthless Bolivian drug smugglers (check Craigslist.com) or a bizarre mind-control cult (check Scientology.org) and instruct the kidnappers to hold Mom and Dad hostage in a heavily-guarded desert bunker.  Then have your fiancé and his friends infiltrate the compound by posing as renegade arms dealers with military-grade weaponry for sale.  After the enigmatic, sinister leader of the cult/cartel sees through the ruse, his army of henchmen will chase your Mr. Right and his three confederates to an abandoned mine nearby.  Once barricaded inside, they can use a rusted mining cart, some pipes, and a crate full of discarded dynamite to construct a crude tank.  Blasting their way back into the villains’ lair, they free your parents and bring them home.  Having won your parents’ blessing, you and their now-beloved son-in-law-to-be jump in the van and go get on the bridal registry at Pier 1 Imports.  Your mother prepares a baked custard with a layer of caramelized sugar on the bottom to give to her rescuers as a thank you gift.  This is sure to delight their cigar-chomping leader; he loves it when a flan comes together.
            Next week’s column:  Jim’s Graceland diary!

There’s another significant disturbance in the Force in this week’s episode of Star Wars Clone Wars that I did not mention in yesterday’s post.

Heroism. Actual heroism, not implied or assumed heroism.

There are two notable scenes in which clone troopers deliberately put themselves in danger to save the Jedi. And as far as I can tell, there are no instances of the Jedi returning the favor.

In the first half of the show, Obi-wan Kenobi’s gunship is shot down, killing everyone onboard except for the Jedi and one trooper, Trapper. While under heavy enemy fire, two other troopers, Waxer and Boiler, dash out from their defensive position across the battlefield to pull the survivors out of the wreckage and help them limp back to base.

In the second half of the show, Anakin Skywalker and his annoying sidekick are trapped between two powerful droids. Trooper Captain Rex leaves his platoon, scales an enormous enemy fortification (alone and under heavy fire), sneaks up behind one of the droids and shoots it, saving the Jedi.

These are clear, deliberate acts on the part of the troopers to put themselves in lethal danger to save the Jedi (who have magic powers). Not once did I note a Jedi putting himself in danger for the sake of his troops. In fact, the only instance I saw of a Jedi “helping” a trooper was when Anakin used the Force to slow Rex’s fall from the enemy fortification…after Anakin threw Rex off said fortification.

Now I realize that Anakin “Vader” Skywalker might not be in the running for Jedi of the Year, but what about all the others? Aren’t the Jedi supposed to be mildly…what’s the word…good?

On the way home from work, I swung by Target and checked out the licensed Christmas goodies already stocked on the shelves. If you love Clone Wars, you will love this year’s Star Wars crop o’ stuff. There’s a flat ornament with the Republic sigil and some clonetroopers, two different Clone Wars-themed Christmas stockings, and a blue Clone Wars ball ornament featuring your favorite characters. Usually more stuff appears over the course of the weeks between Halloween and Thanksgiving, so keep an eye out.

You can complete your Star Wars-themed Yuletide decor with Artoo string lights, glass character ornaments from the movies, and a Yoda tree topper. His lightsaber apparently lights up.

Hey everyone.  Can you believe it’s Friday already?!  I got up this morning and got myself ready for my upcoming day.  By the time I got going for the day and joined the family in the living room, Heather had the kids already going for the day.  We ate breakfast together and Heather left for work as I got into the shower to get ready for work.  After my shower, I then got myself together and watched “The Early Show” on CBS with the kids.  They were focused on the incident in Fort Hood yesterday.  Knowing what we know now, all I can say is that this guy was OBVIOUSLY some sort of radical Islamic fundamentalist.  When in the world are we going to finally realize as a country that this group of individuals in the world is dangerous?  There are fundamentalist Christians, fundamentalist Jews, fundamentalist Buddhists, and fundamentalist Catholics as well as others.  But NONE of them go as ballistic over their viewpoint on the world as bad as Islamic fundamentalists.  They are a dangerous group of people and it’s the only religion in the world that actually encourages violence instead of discouraging it.  Now they are showing up in our own military.  I don’t care what anyone says, this incident is an example of a homegrown terrorist attack.  This country is now open to all sorts of terror attacks and I believe that the incident in Fort Hood is only the beginning and it’s going to get worse unless we start to do something about our borders and how we view other countries and other groups in this world.  We are TOO open in this country  and we are going to regret that in the future.  Even our military is no longer safe.  this country is in grave danger.

Anyway, getting off my soapbox.  I then got done watching T.V. and headed off to work while the kids were off to school.  I got to work and set things up for a usual Friday of projects.  The eighth graders filmed their videos and most of them are done now.  My seventh graders finished recording their podcasting projects and even my student that struggled with this project finished with it today.  My sixth graders struggled to get their music history pages done, so they were unable to do anymore of “American Idol” in class today.  I got through my work day with little to no problems.  I got to the end of my work day and found out that I would be playing trumpet with the Stage Band for the concert and baritone with the Concert Band and now I’m going to be playing String Bass with the orchestra group.  Fun and exciting, but scary for me to be playing the bass.  Time to brush up on my String Methods course from Roberts Wesleyan.  I got done with my day and came home.

I got home and helped Mike Wilkerson by getting show notes to him and he put up Episodes #14 to #18 of “The Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute”.  Just to clarify something for all my fans out there.  The CWGMs are NOT to replace the regular episodes of the show.  Instead, I’m producing them as place fillers until Ian and I can get together and catch up on Season 2 of “Clone Wars”.  Unfortunately, our lives have not allowed us the time to get together and record and the show is not going to change.  Once the regular shows get recorded, they will come out with those CWGMs in the show itself.  I got done getting those together and it was time for dinner.  I went upstairs and had a nice dinner with the family.  After dinner, I played “Call of Duty 4″ on the PS3 until about eight o’clock when Ian came over.  We watched the first two episodes of Season 2 of “Clone Wars” online and then recorded Episodes #14 and #15 of “Galaxy Cast“.  Ian got done and headed home and I edited out one of the episodes and then Heather and I headed to bed.

Okay, so no book reading tonight.  Instead, head over to the “Galaxy Cast” website and check out the “Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute”.  Thanks!

It’s on my LiveJournal page here.

When Lucasfilm released The Clone Wars movie late in the summer of ‘08 I was anything but thrilled. The visual style, which seemed to borrow a bit of its cartoony exaggeration from Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars shorts from ‘04/’05, came off as pretty lacking on the big screen, especially when you look at what Pixar and Dreamworks were up to. Add that with a story that, in my opinion, failed to deliver on the promise of showing the Clone Wars–it was the damn title, for crying out loud!–and I had nothing but a masochistic interest in what the weekly, half hour show would be like.

Color me surprised when I watched a few assorted episodes during the first season’s original run and found myself liking the show quite a bit. It is by no means perfect, but when it hits I have to admit it comes pretty damn close. Season One just came out on DVD so I’ll be writing every few episodes, noting the highs, lows and in-betweens of The Clone Wars.

Episode 1, “Ambush”

The first episode struck me as very similar in plot to the Clone Wars film. In it, Yoda is send to Toydaria–homeworld of Watto the junk dealer–to bargain with their leaders for permission to build a base on their world. In the film, they went to Tatooine to make a similar bargain with the Hutts, which only goes to show they could have used the movies plot for an episode and taken advantage of a theatrical release for something much bigger in scale, but I digress. Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress were at Toydaria to surprise Yoda with a sneak attack in space and putting his skills as a Jedi to the test on the planet’s surface. In the end, Yoda and the three clone troopers he escaped to the surface with come out on top thanks to stronger moral fiber and the fact that Yoda is freakin’ Yoda.

This was a bit of a middle of the road episode. On the down side it had an unnecessary amount of droid humor. The battle droids are exceedingly stupid, which is odd considering they should have, in theory, been built to kill and not in the comedic sense. Their one liners are painful and their ineptitude inexcusable, but my theory is that a) this all makes you root for the good guys even more and/or b) explains why in the original trilogy the Empire uses human soldiers with bad aim instead of robotic soldiers with bad aim and a worse puns. There also wasn’t really much going on or at stake here. It was clearly a case where the good guys would win. It was the first episode after all and though Star Wars does bleak, it never does it right out of the gate. You knew how things would end as soon as the premise was established.

Now for the good side. This was a great showcase for the Yoda that we saw in the original trilogy. He’s wise, all powerful and the physical embodiment of what the light side of the Force stand for, but he’s also a funny, old guy with a really big heart. In one scene Yoda and his soldiers are holed up in a cave and Yoda takes the time to show them that they aren’t just manufactured soldiers, that though genetically they are identical, how the Force flows through them makes them each unique. It was very reminiscent of how he would speak so lovingly to Luke about what the Force is. Later on, when it came to kicking ass we get to see a cross between uber-ninja Yoda from Attack of teh Clones and Revenge of the Sith and the cracked, goofball Luke first meets on Dagobah. He toys with the droids he’s hacking to pieces, by while their slapstick generally goes unappreciated, Yoda’s antics were befitting of the personality that was established for him in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Episodes 2, 3, and 4–”Rising Malevolence,” “Shadow of Malevolence,” and “Destroy Malevolence”

The three episode Malevolence arc are a great example of what this show does well. The action is rooted smack in the middle of an important Clone Wars conflict, namely the Separatists new, seemingly unstoppable super-weapon, the flagship Malevolence. Armed with a powerful ion cannon it had been engaging and destroying Republic forces totally unmatched. The episodes follow the efforts of Jedi Master Plo Koon, and later Anakin Skywalker, his apprentice Ahsoka Tano and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to track down and destroy the ship.

The action scenes in these episodes are well crafted and fast paced. Plus, in addition to being a blast to watch, they managed to get back to that classic Star Wars feel without winking at the audience. From the hulking Malevolence blowing Republic cruisers away three at a time, to some dogfights and to, no joke, soldier-to-soldier combat in the vacuums of space it was the kind of adventure I’ve come to expect from Star Wars. Even the look of it–the technology, the environments, etc.–somehow managed to fit in so well with original trilogy design, something I never felt with the prequel trilogy. I mean they had friggin’ Y-Wings! The behind-the-scenes feature for one of the three episodes hits on the creators dedication to giving it that authentic feel. It’s nice to see that not just did they have noble intentions, but that they pulled it off.

There were also a lot of good character moments. Plo Koon is an interesting Jedi, and I like to see that they are willing to give as much time to characters other than the movies’ main protagonists. He, like Yoda, stresses to his soldiers that he doesn’t view them just as clones and this works well in contrast to General Grievous, who without hesitation will decapitate one of his droid underlings or use the Malevolence against a medical outpost. This is a key difference between the Jedi/Republic and the Sith/Separatists. Despite both armies being mass produced, the good guys value theirs while the bad guys view theirs as being expendable.

Anakin also shows some steps forward. The movies didn’t really have enough time to show him grow organically–plus Phantom Menace more or less sidelined the guy–but this series has the potential to fill in some gaps and make him a much more compelling character than the prequels turned him into. He’s taking some responsibility now that he has taken Ahsoka as an apprentice but he still maintains those sparks of rebellious/dangerous attitude that will lead him to question and turn his back on the Jedi. The jury, by which I mean myself, is still out of Ahsoka. She’s a little too sassy for my liking, especially given that she’s supposed to be a Jedi, but her bond with Plo Koon and her personal stake in the mission to rescue him sort of reigned her in a bit. I flat out hated her after seeing the Clone Wars movie. Now I’ve stepped it down to a dislike/general ambivalence towards her. That there’s maturity and personal growth. Here’s hoping she continues to show some through out the season.

See what I did there?

MTFBWY, kiddos…