Oh hey, don’t ask me how but it’s the end of October already. This holiday I bring you the winner of The Most Awesome Costume award (as determined by yours truly):
/zomg, now I so want a speeder:)
Happy Halloween!
Posts Tagged ‘star wars’
Winner, Winner, Ewok Dinner!
Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged #ThingsILike, awesome, creativity, entertainment, fun, inspiration, science fiction, sff, star wars, yay on October 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Mashup Monday
Posted in Funny, tagged #briankesinger, artists, awesome, calvin and hobbes, fun, inspiration, star wars, Thoughts, work, yay on March 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Here’s hoping you have a good day, even if it is a Monday:)
Get Your Lightsaber On
Posted in Science!, tagged awesome, NatGeo, neil degrasse tyson, physics, science, science fiction, star wars, StarTalk on October 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »
While we wait to see if the European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission and its Schiaparelli lander makes it to the Martian surface intact, here is Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, taking on that most important of questions: are lightsabers physically possible?
Curious? I know I am!
Popcorn Means Love
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, tagged #C3PO, #ThingsILike, entertainment, family, food, history, home, old tech, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, star wars, Thoughts, writing, yay on June 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I had a post in mind for today that I thought would be cool but, sadly, it’s not ready. Rather than go with something that’s not right, I’m setting it aside until I can do a good job or come up with something better. So in the end, what did I choose as Today’s Thing I Like? Popcorn:)
Here’s an excerpt from the family cookbook to tell you why.
Popcorn
My whole family can make this with their eyes closed, but Dad really deserves credit for setting new and higher standards for butter and salt consumption. He is blessed with a genetic tolerance for such unhealthy behavior; his blood pressure and cholesterol levels are lower than mine.
For years he’d head to the kitchen after dinner, and a few minutes later I’d hear pop pop! as hot oil turned the first kernels inside out. A few minutes more and we’d be piled on the couch with huge bowls of popcorn and masses of paper towels.
There was no television in the house growing up but at some point we acquired a copy of Star Wars and a video monitor. This was back before Blockbusters popped up down the street (or closed down, for that matter), and there were certainly no DVD players.
The tape was black and white and we watched it on a Beta machine. (Don’t remember Beta? That’s funny, no one else does either.) My brother and I watched that tape until it died, literally came apart from use. To this day I can still reel off an annoying amount of dialog and get excited when I see Star Wars in color. What could be better than a cold drink, a hot bowl of popcorn, and reciting C3PO’s lines with people you love?
Always!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, tagged #Maythe4thBeWithYou, awesome, fun, star wars, Star Wars Day, yay on May 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »
thestarwarstrilogy.com
#nospoilers Please!
Posted in Entertainment, Holidays, Likes, tagged #nospoilers, #WhyIWrite, awesome, entertainment, family, J.R.R. Tolkien, science fiction, sff, star wars, Thoughts, yay on December 16, 2015| 2 Comments »
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has premiered and the hype it is a-ramping! I’m excited. Really excited, like Fanboys excited, but I can’t see the movie just yet. Why not? Why am I not suited up in a Han Solo outfit (complete with super cool hip holster) and posting this from the ticket line at my local theatre? Because Star Wars isn’t just my thing, it’s a family thing.
See, I grew up without a television. My father had a minor (read major) TV problem and realized that having one meant watching one. All the time. So no TV. What we did have was a black and white lab monitor and a tape of Star Wars. On Betamax:)
We watched that tape a lot. Until the video track died, actually, and for a while after that. Most nights after dinner, Dad would make giant bowls of popcorn spackled together with butter and salt and we’d settle on the couch for the movie.
The. Movie.
Yeah, I was that kid, the geeky one who could quote the whole thing. (Droid dialog included, of course. I can’t tell you what it means to have your mostly secret childhood obsession become the new cultural darling, but I may not have to. Maybe you were that geeky kid too. Awesome, right?)
The original Star Wars was a great movie but it was also an anchor in turbulent times. My parents split up around then, my mother had health issues, I moved to a new school. The usual kinds of transitions children go through, and need a foundation to weather well.
Star Wars, and the bond that formed with my brother and father around science fiction and fantasy, was a big part of that anchor. It’s also a big part of why I write speculative fiction. In the way only fiction can, the movie proved that the good guys can win, that wrongs can be righted, and that a scrappy band of rag-tag rebels can change the course of history. (Also that parsecs are a measure of time, support garments aren’t necessary in space, and that no matter what Obi-Wan says, stormtroopers can’t shoot worth a damn. Hey, nothing’s perfect;)
My father also read us Tolkien, and when the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies came out we all went together. Now those movies are done but we have a new hope (see what I did there?;). This year I’m going home for Christmas, and for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
But, that means I won’t be able to see the movie for ten days. In the meantime? There’s time for a bit of fun:
- Darth Vader Roasting On An Open Fire Is A ‘Star Wars’ Yule Log
- Block potential Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers with this Chrome add-on
- Jimmy Fallon And ‘Force Awakens’ Cast Sing A Cappella ‘Star Wars’ Tribute
- Last but in no way least, we have a game that lets you Transform Your Smartphone Into A Lightsaber. Kiss your productivity goodbye.
So have a great time at the movie whenever you can get there, but #nospoilers please!
Because We All Need Cuddles
Posted in Likes, tagged 501st legion, a better world, animal shelter photography, Capital City Garrison, cats, dogs, Ottawa Humane Society, pet adoptions, star wars, Star Wars Day, storm troopers, yay on May 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Star Wars villains + cuddly animals? Yes, please!
For Star Wars Day (that’s May the 4th to some people), The Ottawa Humane Society had the brilliant idea to pair the Capital City Garrison of the 501st Legion (“Bad guys doing good”) with adoptable animals, and the results are adorable.
Photographer Rohit Saxena put together a terrific series of images designed to help pets find homes. Over 150,000 dogs and cats go into shelters every year in Canada, and more like 6 to 8 million in the U.S., so if you’re looking for a pet or a good cause to support, check out your local animal shelter, Petfinder, Adopt-A-Pet, or the ASPCA.
Today in Awesome
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, tagged Andy Serkis, awesome, Brendan Gleeson, Carrie Fisher, entertainment, Episode VII, Harrison Ford, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Max von Sydow, movies, Oscar Isaac, Peter Mayhew, science fiction, sff, star wars, yay on April 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Yes, a lot of these names come up in previous discussion around the film, but there’s nothing like an official announcement to make things, erm, official. The core cast from the original trilogy is returning, which is terrific. And I’m particularly pleased to see John Boyega after his impressive turn in Attack the Block, and of course “stone cold veteran badass Max Von Sydow” (oh Ming the Merciless, you slay me!). And they start shooting in a couple of weeks. Better and better!
/fingers crossed
Why I Love My Alma Mater…
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged awesome, finishing, Harvard, lightsaber, MIT, science, star wars, yay on September 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »
From Phys.org via the good folks at Tor.com:
MIT and Harvard Just Made a Real Lightsaber. So That’s Done.
Cross another dream off the bucket list, because the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms just created a new form of matter that could potentially be used to create real lightsabers.
… and fine, that place up the street isn’t so bad either:)
And yes, I finished those projects I was working on, thanks for asking.
Those Car Decals…
Posted in Other, tagged behavior, car stickers, family, information, kids, parenting, privacy, stalkers, star wars, Thoughts on May 31, 2013| 1 Comment »
Is it just me or do those family car decals everyone’s suddenly sporting seem like a stalker’s dream? True, some of those stickers (check out the Star Wars version) are super cool. I still wouldn’t use them, though, and not just because my cat might object to being depicted as an Ewok. With all the discussion around privacy issues related to social media and other online activity, I’ve been surprised not to see more reaction to this sort of off-line behavior.
Perhaps I’m oversuspicious but ask yourself this: would you broadcast your partnership status and number of children to physically proximate strangers under other circumstances? Wear a T-shirt with that information on it, for example, or add a sign to your front door? Probably not. Imagine yourself alone at home, when you hear a creak from the darkness outside and realize that anyone with eyes to see your car knows that you are a single mother with one small child and no pets.
Of course, you could always line your car window with the whole Clone Army.
-
Recent Posts
She Said, He Said
-
-
Favorite Posts
Archives
Categories
It’s All So Random
What I’m Reading
J.R. Johnson 
You must be logged in to post a comment.